Minyoung scanned the huge building before her eyes—the stained white wall with some peeling paint around the corners, the wooden windows some students usually put their heads on, the long and familiar corridor she usually passed through on her way to the cafeteria, the green backyard, the swimming pool, the sports field, and lastly, the shiny black metallic gate in the front. She tried to capture every single detail of it. The last lesson had ended half an hour ago, so the school was supposed to be empty. But somehow, Minyoung could hear the voices of students’ chatter and cheerful laughter in her head.

She was so sure that she was going to miss this place so much. Kirin High School—the school she chose to enter with her dear best friend, Hyemi. The memory of her entrance ceremony and first day at school was still so clear. It was hard to believe that today was her last day as a student here. Minyoung wanted to spend some more time here, to memorize everything before she gone, but an incoming call from her mother startled her.

“Yeoboseo?” She picked it up.

“Minyoung-ah, where are you? Isn’t school supposed to be over almost an hour ago?”

“Sorry, Mom… I’ll go home now.”

And with that, she hung up. Minyoung took a deep breath and glanced at her school for the last time. To be honest, she didn’t want to leave. She loved Kirin—her classmates, her teachers, and especially her best friend. But on the other hand, she didn’t want to disappoint her parents. Since she was a child, Minyoung’s mother had an obsession to make Minyoung as a singer. Minyoung’s mother was a singer herself, but she quitted from entertainment industry not long after giving birth to their only child, Minyoung. In order to make her dream came true, Minyoung’s mother decided to move her to another better school. Better in her term, of course.

Minyoung didn’t object that decision because she loved her mother so much. Minyoung’s mother had a poor health. After giving birth to Minyoung, her body had grown weaker. That was why Minyoung always obeyed her mother’s words. She thought that her mother’s poor health was because of her. Minyoung felt sorry for her mother. If there was anything she could do to make her happy, she would do it for sure. Furthermore, she actually loved singing and inherited the talent from her mother.

***

And so, here she was. In front of a super huge building she had only seen in TV. The nameplate with ‘Seoul School of Performing Arts’ printed on it was shining under the blazing sun. Minyoung gaped in awe. She had heard about this school many times before, but didn’t expect that she would be attending this school herself. “I think this building is three times bigger than my old school… No, maybe even five times bigger!” she muttered to herself. Minyoung sighed—for the umpteenth time that day—and said firmly, “Hwaiting, Choi Minyoung!”

***

Jooeun was sitting by her usual place, at the back of the class, while wandering her gaze lazily around the room. A group of girls were gossiping at the table nearby, while a bunch of boys were laughing uncontrollably, teasing each other. Jooeun didn’t know what was they laughing at and not interested at all. She reached her phone and began to check her email when suddenly, the door swung open. Knowing that it was their homeroom teacher, all students stopped chatting and hastily got back to their own seats. Miss Sohee walked inside while Minyoung following behind her like a shadow.

“Good morning, class! Today we’ve got a new student,” she announced. Chatters and whispers were heard all over the classroom. Miss Sohee turned to Minyoung and said to her, “Please introduce yourself.”

Minyoung could feel her getting nausea due to the nervousness, but managed to flash a smile. “Hello! My name is Choi Minyoung. Nice to meet you! I hope we can be friends.” She bowed to her new classmates.

“I hope you guys will treat her nice,” Miss Sohee added. She scanned the whole classroom and then pointed at the empty seat at the back. Jooeun raised her head in surprise. “There’s an empty seat over there. You can sit there.”

Minyoung slightly bowed to her teacher and walked toward the back of the class. She found the empty seat and placed her belongings there before sitting on the chair. Jooeun tried to be nice to her new classmate, so she greeted her with a cheerful smile. “Hello, Minyoung-ssi! My name is Kim Jooeun. Nice to meet you!”

Minyoung looked at the girl sitting next to her. She has a petite frame and her wavy dark hair loosely hanging around her heart-shaped face until it reached just an inch above her shoulder. The girl looked so friendly. “Nice to meet you, too, Jooeun-ssi,” Minyoung replied.

“There is no need to be formal,” Jooeun chuckled lightly. “You can just call me Jooeun.”

“Oh, okay. You can just call me Minyoung, then! I hope we can be good friends.”

“Sure!”

The first lesson was English. Minyoung had no difficulties at all. In fact, she mastered the subject very well. Jooeun thought that Minyoung must be very clever, but the girl tried to be humble. “No, I’m not smart at all. I can speak English fluently because I’ve spent my childhood in the States,” she made an excuse.

“Wow, really?” Jooeun sounded interested. “I’ve always wanted to go there! Well, maybe you can teach me some English since you’re so good at it.”

“Sure thing.”

Actually, Minyoung’s father was a successful businessman in America. Minyoung was born in San Francisco. The whole family lived there until she was seven years old, then they came back to Seoul due to her mother’s wish. Minyoung family was quite wealthy, but to be honest, she didn’t like to live a glamorous life like her parents. She preferred to pretend to be an ordinary girl in public. That was why she chose to attend a mediocre school like Kirin instead of SOPA (Seoul School of Performing Art).

***

Finally, it was the long-awaited lunch break.

“Minyoung, want to grab lunch?” Jooeun asked.

“Yeah… My stomach is growling since I forgot to have breakfast this morning!”

Jooeun giggled. “Okay, let’s go to the cafeteria!”

Minyoung gasped as Jooeun guided her to a large dining hall called ‘cafeteria’. Hundreds of students thronged the place. The smell of various foods filled the air, not helping her protesting stomach at all. “Wow, there are so many students here…!”

“All classes have the same lunch break schedule, so this is the only time you are able to see crowd this huge at school,” Jooeun explained. “By the way, many kinds of food are available here… There are Korean food, Chinese food, and also the Western ones… Which one do you like?”

Minyoung thought for a while. “I think I’ll have some sandwiches,” she decided. Minyoung went to buy her sandwiches, while Jooeun grabbed her usual plate of salad.

“Is that all you’re going to have for lunch?” Minyoung asked.

“I’m on diet, so, yeah…!” The shorter girl winked.

Minyoung was kind of surprised. She looked at her friend from head to toe and decided that the girl standing next to her was skinny enough. Why would she need to diet? Jooeun’s words made Minyoung felt somehow overweight, while in fact, her weight was just right. She guessed girls were never satisfied with their body, huh?

Minyoung tried to shrug off the thoughts and trailed behind Jooeun to find an empty seat. But she didn’t pay attention to her way. When she turned around, she accidentally bumped into someone and the food she carried on the tray fell into the ground with a loud thumping sound. Minyoung gasped. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the shirt of the guy in front of her stained by the orange juice she carried earlier.

The guy groaned in frustration and disbelief, drawing the attention of people around them.

“Joesonghamnida!” Minyoung spontaneously shouted. Panic was creeping through her body. She kept bowing her head, feeling really guilty to him. She tried to remain composed as she looked for the handkerchief in her pocket, and then began drying the front of his uniform with it.

The guy suddenly stopped her. “Hey, stop it! Enough! I can dry it by myself…!” he exclaimed.

Minyoung stopped her action and raised her head to look at the guy. The guy in front of her was tall and a little skinny. He had his hair dyed in a light golden color. Minyoung eyes began to examine the expression on his strangely handsome face. His face is full of anger, just like what she had expected.

“Aissh, this girl…! Can you pay attention to your surrounding when you’re walking with a tray of food in hand?” he asked sarcastically while his soaking uniform. “Look at the mess you’ve made!”

Minyoung could feel a tight knot in her stomach. She kept cursing herself under her breath. How could she be so clumsy and caused a chaos on her first day of school? She could feel the gaze of other students on her and people talking behind her back. It made her feel even worse. Minyoung couldn’t bring herself to look at the guy in front of her because she was afraid to get yelled again. Tears were forming at the corner of her eyes, but she tried to suppress it with all her might.

“Youngmin, what happened?” Suddenly another voice came up to them. Minyoung looked at the voice and found a similar-looking guy standing next to the blonde guy. She was astounded. This guy looked very alike to the earlier one—tall and slender, with the same pale skin and pretty face. The only difference between them was their hair color. This guy had a chestnut brown hair instead of blonde. But the rests are almost like two peas in a pod.

“This girl bumped into me and spilled her juice on my uniform… Damn!” The blonde guy called Youngmin explained to the another boy Minyoung assumed as her twin brother.

The dark-haired guy turned his head to look at Minyoung. When his eyes met her gaze, he was thunderstruck. His already wide eyes were widening in surprise and his mouth unconsciously hanging open. Minyoung gave him a puzzled look as to why the guy looked so surprised to see her. Was he that angry? Or did something stuck on her hair?

“Kwangmin? Hey, Kwangmin…! Are you listening?” The blonde guy shook his twin to make him snapped out of his thought.

The dark-haired guy called Kwangmin blinked his eyes a few times before turning to Youngmin. “Ah, yes… I’m sorry, Youngmin. What did you say?”

Youngmin sighed, clearly irritated by the whole situation. “I was asking whether if you bring another pair of uniform with you today,” he said again.

“Yes, I do,” Kwangmin answered.

“Good. Let’s go to the class and get it! I need to change my shirt now!” Youngmin said as he dragged his brother out of the cafeteria.

Minyoung watched as their backs disappeared among the crowd. She didn’t realize that Jooeun was already standing beside her. “Minyoung, are you okay?” she asked with concern.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine…” Minyoung forced a smile. Deep inside, she still felt somewhat guilty because of what she had done. “I was really clumsy, huh?”

Jooeun sighed. “Just remember to be careful next time! You’re unlucky because the guy you spilled juice on was him. I hope you don’t take his words personally… I mean, he’s well-known for his short temper. He tends to get really angry when someone offends him. That’s why nobody tries to pick a fight with him.”

Jooeun’s explanation made Minyoung became even more curious. “Jooeun, who are those guys actually? You spoke as if you know them very well.”

“Oh yes, I do. In fact, the whole school does.” Jooeun said plainly. “Because they are the infamous twin in this school, Jo Twin. The blonde guy who scolded you earlier is Youngmin, he is the older twin. The other one who has dark hair is called Kwangmin.”

Minyoung bobbed her head up and down. “Then why are the two so popular?”

“Well, as you can see, both of them are very good-looking… They are also very talented in singing and dancing. They are students of the special class.”

“Special class?” Minyoung gave a questioning look since she never heard about that class before.

Jooeun nodded. “Yes, special class. It consists of only the best students in school. There are only a few of them. Jo Twin is actually quite recognized in the entertainment industry. I heard that since they were kids, they have been starring in almost 300 commercial films. They have also participated in various sitcom and TV shows. On top of that, they are going to make their first debut as singers under Starship Entertainment next year.”

Minyoung couldn’t help but gawking in admiration. She didn’t even know that the twin was that famous! “Wow… So I guess they are really adored by the whole school, huh?” That explained everything. Now, she knew the reason as to why people were staring at her when the incident took place earlier.

***

Meanwhile, on their way to the class, Kwangmin couldn’t stop thinking about the girl he saw not long ago. He tried to recall the memory of that day—something that he thought he would never forget—just to make sure that he wasn’t mistaken.

Youngmin who noticed Kwangmin’s strange behavior waved his hand in front of his twin’s face. “Kwangmin?” he called. “What’s wrong with you? Your mind seems to be somewhere else, even since we were in the cafeteria…”

“Uh, n-nothing… Really,” Kwangmin lied.

“Are you sure?” Youngmin asked with concern. He then placed his palm on his twin’s forehead and neck. “Are you not feeling well? Your body temperature seems normal.”

“No, I’m fine, Youngmin. I’m not sick.” Kwangmin tried to convince his brother.

Youngmin shrugged. “Fine, then, if you said so,” he said while picking a new white shirt from Kwangmin’s bag. Kwangmin usually brought another pair of uniform with them, just in case. He then ed the shirt and put it on. It fitted perfectly, since the twin had the same figure. “But, you know, you can always talk to me about anything.”

Kwangmin gave Youngmin a loving smile. “I know, hyung,” he said teasingly, since it was uncommon for him to address his brother who was only six minutes older than him that way. But, deep inside, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about that girl. He had decided to find out about her.