“Crap, woke up late,” I muttered as I got up and started getting ready for school. No, I wasn’t rushing. My excuse for being late had already been made up the moment I realized I was going to be late for school. Not forgetting to lock up the house since my mother was at work, I started to make my way to the taxi stand. Not too long later, a taxi pulled up with its windows down.

“U-uncle, I need to get to school, my brother had an accident there a-and I don’t know what to do, I don’t have any money with me! Please, help me!” I begged, expression completely flustered and helpless. The taxi driver hesitated. “Please!” I cried out once more. He nodded, and then asked where I was heading. Once I told him, he sped off, not caring about the speed limit.

“Don’t worry, miss, your brother will be fine. Calm down, okay?” the taxi driver attempted to make me feel better. I took in a few deep breaths and tried to smile, knowing that he was looking at me. “We’re here. Hope your brother will be alright!” he smiled and drove away once I had started sprinting towards the school gates. I climbed over the school gates and ran towards my new class. It wasn’t my first time being late for school; the skill of climbing over gates had to be learnt.

I bit my lip as I knocked on the classroom door, keeping my eyes on the floor. “Nam Jinkyung?” the teacher questioned.

“Y-yeah.” I stuttered, still keeping my eyes on the floor.

“Why are you late on the first day of school?” he questioned, the fury in his voice evident.

“M-mianhae,” I said, dumping a tenth of the sadness I could manage into that simple sentence while looking into his eyes while tears were starting to pool at my own. His eyes widened upon seeing my tears, along with the perhaps regretful voice. Clearing his throat, he told me that I could get to the only empty seat at the back of the class, and that he let me off since it was just the first day of school. “Thank you so much!” I replied with a smile while wiping off my tears.

“Woke up late?” Eunmi asked, giggling a little. Of course the last seat in class would be next to her. She would never give up my seat, my seat always being the one next to her. I nodded, then asked her about what I had missed.

“Nothing much,” she replied, looking around the classroom, thinking about what had happened before I had arrived. “Oh yeah, that guy,” she whispered, and then pointed at the boy who sat at the other corner of the class. I had noticed him when I was making my dramatic act in front of the class just moments ago. He was the only one who was sleeping during the entire act. I nodded, prodding her to continue. “Those girls,” she said, letting her eyes fall on a group of girls who were lazily poking at their matching iPhones which were placed on their tables, “they said that…”

“What?” I asked, impatient with the suspense Eunmi was putting me through.

“They said that he was hot,” she said dreamily as she smiled foolishly, “Of course, I think so too. I mean, look at that guy. Who wouldn’t?” With that, I flicked her forehead. She frowned at me, “What, don’t you think so?”

“I haven’t even looked at his face yet you pabo,” I responded, then let my head fall onto my arms which lay on the table. Occasionally, I’d hear Eunmi sigh, along with the background noise of the teacher rambling on and on.

“What’s wrong?” I finally decided to ask, while lifting my head off my arms to face her. It was more than obvious to someone like me who was so sensitive to feelings and emotions to realize that something was wrong.

“Nothing,” she said and forced a smile. Perhaps it would look like a normal Eunmi-smile if others saw it, but no, not me. It was obvious. It was forced and there was something hidden under the smile.

“What’s wrong,” I decided to ask again, making it sound more like a statement. I looked into her eyes seriously, hoping that she would sense my sincerity in wanting to hear her problems.

She sighed once more, before she spoke, “My parents… They want me to meet this guy who’s apparently a son of some big shot. Doesn’t sound like much, I know. But I could see in their eyes, they want me to get together with him. You get it?”

“You’re seventeen.”

“I know! It’s just… I don’t know,” sighing once more, she muttered, “I hate being the child of some big shot company director sometimes.” I patted her shoulder a few times, and then decided to try to distract her.

“Hey you know that guy really is quite hot. So what’s his name?”

Her eyes lit up at the mention of the boy. Eunmi was boy crazy. It was confirmed. “Kim Myungsoo,” she said, once again glancing at him.

“Stupid boy crazy girl, go confess or something!” I whispered, giving her a playful look of disgust.

Her eyes widened. “No no, I must not! I definitely cannot! Omo, did I forget to tell you about this rumor about him?” My expression of confusion led her to greater excitement. “It’s rumored that he rejected every girl that has ever confessed to him. Wait, how can you not know him? He’s the infamous guy of our level. We’ve been schoolmates for a few years, how can you not even recognize him?!” she lightly chided.

“Well I’m sorry my eyes aren’t on every boy that walks past me, Ms Boy-Crazy,” I simply stated, only to earn a slap on my arm.

“Yah, I am not boy crazy okay! He’s just hot,” she argued.

I smirked, “What about your previous obsession… What was his name? Oh, right. Dongwoo?”

“His red hair is gone,” she muttered sadly.

 “Yah girls, stop using your phones in class. Kim Myungsoo, Lee Howon, Kim Sungkyu, stop sleeping in class. Everyone else, stop talking and pay attention!” the teacher finally snapped.  

“Mr Kwon, I’m trying to sleep, so could you please lower your volume?” Myungsoo said with so much confidence in his voice, that one who was not aware of the current situation would probably think Myungsoo was in the right. That, caught my attention. The confidence that radiated off that one sentence was amazing. It wasn’t the type of stuck-up, I’m-all-that confidence, it was more of a threatening kind of confidence.

Flustered, the teahcer assigned work for us to do. “It’s pairwork, so work with the one beside you. No changing of seats!” he said.

“Oh my god did you see that? Did you did you?”Eunmi excitedly whispered.

“Yes, I did. I was right next to you the whole time, okay?” I sighed.

“That has got to be the hottest thing ever!” she continued to talk about how hot Myungsoo was when he said that one sentence.

That Kim Myungsoo certainly was different; different in a way that nobody has ever been different in my eyes.