Meeting he who I dread meeting

So 5 years flew by. Haneul did not see Huang Zitao and Yoon Eunmi since she left that neighbourhood. She is currently studying in Haru college majoring in Music and Science; this chapter too is from her point of view.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and stop. Ok, that is enough for today, you are all dismissed. Thank you, class.”

“Thank you and god bless you, Ms Park.”

I ran to where my gang of friends are always at; the cherry blossom tree just behind the school. It has been years since I last saw the duo, but I couldn’t care less, they are the ones who betrayed me.  But sometimes I wonder how have they been, are they still together, does he miss me. Truth is, I am not over him yet. Five long torturous years of holding this still-lit torch over someone who is with another girl. Yes, that is so me.

“Yah! Haneul! Over here!” shouted a female who is sitting comfortably on a thick tree branch. I smiled at her. “Bori, where’s the rest? You are the first to arrive today?” I asked her as I walk closer to our signature tree.

“nope, Hyunae was the first but she went to get the delivery from the school gates, Airi is with Junghee now so they won’t be joining us today, as for the rest, they are still at class.” She replied fluently before she jumped down from the branch. She brushed off the dirt stuck to her skirt.

Ahn Bori is a unique individual, she looks like that girl from the past but she is a lot purer than that. Bori is a model in Im&Cho Company, that’s where I met her. Like that other evil doll, she had big sparkly puppy dog eyes of dark mousse brown, thick long locks of dark chocolate hair and snow white skin. She always wear the same type of shirt to school every single day; an oversized sweater. She is my age and is also from my class, but despite her having the brains, the looks and all. There is just one thing that ruins this entire perfect doll image of hers…

She slowly ran towards me but before she reached me, she fell face first to the grass patched ground. Yes, she is a doll, a perfect doll with a defect. Her lovely defect is this clumsiness. I winced as I crouched to take a good look at her, “you okay Ri?” she lifted her head, her bangs now matted with soil and bits of grass were stuck onto it. She gave me her signature smile; a cheeky and mischievous smile. “Good as always Sky” she answered, slowly standing up from her painful demise; she sat cross-legged on the grass and smiled at me sheepishly.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. I sat down next to her as she rubbed away the dirt that is plastered on her round face. “You do know that there is grass in your hair right Ri?” I blurted out; she immediately stared at me like i was a fish that lives out of the water. “What? Oh my god, ew, ew, ew, ew! There is grass in my hair, grass in my hair! What if there is worm in it too! Oh gosh no, I need the bathroom and shampoo now!  Someone save me!” she yelled for help.

Bori ran up and down the length of the grass area behind the school. I watched her as she ran around helplessly. I probably shouldn’t have done that and now I feel really bad for her. I sighed; this is so not what I was looking forward to during lunch. “Hello Haneul! What is Ri doing? Is she for once practicing for the the sports carnival?” A shadow casted on the vast green carpet, loomed over me. She bent down, plastic bags of floor cartons placed next to her crouching figure. Long black hair bounded by a single black ribbon in a high ponytail, a red rimmed spectacles (no matter how many time I told her to ditch it for contact lenses, that thing remains on her face), and her signature innocent child-like looks. Her name is Jung Hyunae, also known as the ace sprinter of Haru College.

“Not really, she is just freaking out cos of the dirt in her hair, she is OCD-ing again.”I replied nonchalantly, totally not amused by this scene. Hyunae stared at for a moment and began giggling after she registered what Bori was yelling. She stood up and walked over to Bori; she gave her a lollipop (which Bori really enjoys eating) and pat her bangs clean of any dirt. Well, at least Miss Ahn has stopped running about. “Haneul-unnie, do help yourself with the food first, the boys will join us later with pizza, they called me earlier to inform about their whereabouts.” Hyunae informed me as she took a seat under the tree, staring into the clouds as usual.

Bori, totally brainwashed of the idea of worms in her hair, ran over to Hyunae and sat next to her. Hyunae looked content with her by her side, she smiled a little as she continue to look up at the vast blue skies. There is just one thing about Jung Hyunae that nobody knows; that is her family and her family lineage. Well, the only person who knows is this clueless clumsy companion by the name of Ahn Bori. But despite how many times people ask Hyunae and all, both of them will never say a word about her family. They just raise their eyebrows, smile and tell them a specific four words, ‘It’s a secret.’

The wind was strong that afternoon, I joined the duo to enjoy the package food underneath the cherry blossom tree, and at the same time, enjoy the crisp cool air that blew.

“Sung Haneul! Ahn Bori! Jung Hyunae! We’re back with the famous pizza!” A tall male announced cheerily. Messy mop of dyed silver hair, dark brown eyes, wearing just a black sweater and ripped jeans; he goes by the name of Blaze in public. But with his close friends, he is just Yang Joonha, regular student of the same grade. He is under the record deal of Im&Cho Company, the company Bori is under for her modelling contract. Joonha or Blaze is from a five member group called Lone Fire. He has not yet debut so none of us know the other members.

He ran towards us and spun around in circles, he came here empty handed. “Yah! Joonha! Where’s the food?” A typical hungry monster fumed. Ahn Bori, the monster of five human stomachs, came forward and poked his chest with her pointer finger; hard. He backed away slowly as Bori continued to poke him. I chuckled at this scene, it is cute yet hilarious. “Ri, don’t bully him. I know he is fun to poke fun at but he didn’t do anything wrong. The food is with the other fools.” I scolded Bori jokingly. She pouted and stepped away from him, whining. “That’s no fair! Hmph!”

Two young students came chasing behind him, panting hard and sweating bullets. “Wait up Joonha! We-we- we don’t have so much stamina like you! Aigoo, my leg is cramp again.” “Minwa, you okay or not? need me to piggy back you? Oh my gosh, a little help here guys? Where is that Junghee when we need him!” He carried Minwa on his back and walked a few steps forward before he kissed the ground oh so gently.

 “Dude! Careful when you carry me! I am carrying the freaking pizza! You won’t want it to become a pancake and cheese all over your shirt!”

“Yah! Minwoo! You eating rocks, is it? You weigh a tonne heavier than before! Cut f some clack from your stomach would ya?”

“tsk, Minwa-ah, Minwa, I believe you need to eat a lot more and work out more to woo the girl of your dreams, you cannot even carry me, your older brother. What a shame.”

“Minwoo, don’t you dare rub it in my face. You can’t even lift a 10kg weigh and here you are lecturing me? Wow, ain’t I proud to-“

Hyunae went over and knock those two on their head hard, leaving them yelling a loud ‘ouch’.

“Jung Hyunae! What are you-“

“Shut up and bring the food to the tree.”

She scolded before walking back to the cherry blossom tree gracefully with stealth. But she paused for a moment and turned back to look at the two brothers. “Where is that other moron?”

“He is strolling behind still, empty handed of course.”

Hyunae raised an eyebrow before muttering an ‘okay’ before walking back to the gang. I saw Hyunae strolling back slowly, her long black hair flowed gently as she glided across the grass padded ground. The pair of siblings just rubbed their heads to ease the pain as they followed her back to where we are at. The pizza is still piping hot as they placed it on the grass.

“Look who’s here to join us? Go Hoyoung!” My current best friend has arrived; owning curly dark locks of brown hair and a pair of russet brown eyes. Go Hoyoung, top male model of Im&Cho Company. He carried a bouquet of wildflowers and he presented it to me. “Oh, Juliet, when my eyes first fell upon you in that ballroom, I knew you were the one and only for me. You are my sun, my moon, my galaxy, I cannot live without you.” “Oh, I never knew Romeo was a flirt but thanks for the flowers.”

All of us laughed at his failed attempt to romance me. He just shrugged and sat down in between Minwa and Minwoo, the twins. In contrast to the twins, he is tanned and built while the younger two are skinny like beanpoles and pale (which is understandable because they are both anaemic). “C’mon guys, let’s dig in! I’m starving!” Joonha announced. For the rest of lunch, we just sat there in the silhouette of the big cherry blossom tree and chatted till the end of lunch break before we part ways back to our respective classes.

Bori hooked arms with me and Hyunae as we headed for our science class together while the rest just went off to their own classes.

***

No one’s POV

Ring… ring… ring…

“Okay class, this shall commence the end of our class. Do remember to hand up your Biology project by tomorrow. Class dismissed.”

“Thank you, Miss Park.” The class erupted into cheers as they flooded out of the classroom. Haneul had already packed her bags; she slung it over her shoulders and walked towards Bori’s desk, patiently waiting for her to be done packing, and at the same time, she waited for Hyunae who is going to the exact same place for an interview. Bori was done packing; Hyunae finished wiping the boards clean, they all left to the said location for their respective business.

It wasn’t long before the trio reached the company, Im&Cho Company. It is a tall majestic building for rising stars to train in. This is also the company Joonha is in, he is currently having his dance practice at the top floor. Hyunae had to leave for her interview for a modelling contract with her friends. Before she left, she gave both Haneul and Bori a hug for their photo shoot (for a magazine) later. The duo chatted along the way to the fifteenth floor where the photo shoot is held. The manager was outside of the room and he led them to the room next door for the necessary changes.

"Umm, manager-nim, aren't we suppose to head straight to the changing room in the photo shoot area? Why are we here?" Haneul asked. She is a model too, well, a newbie model. She hasn't have much experience in this career as of now as she just joined the company at the start of the year. She isn't that well known and accepted yet as she is a mix-blood; half-korean, half-arabian. Not a very common face to see in the modelling industry, but this is her selling point once she entered this career.

"There are boys from Jeonju here. They are going to be your partners for this photo shoot as you two got a bit of fame in this industry. Now, enough with the talking and get into that changing room! Time is money!" The manager reprimanded them as she hurriedly ushered them into the room filled with rows and rows of branded limited edition clothings and make up artists waiting on them.

By the time they were dressed and the make up was done, one hour has passed. They were dressed perfectly in branded clothings. Bori wore a simple yellow sundress and a straw hat. Her make up was light and it amplified her innocent looks. Her hair was styled naturally, it glowed with help from the nourishment treatment earlier that week and flowed gently, smoothly down her back. Her bangs partially covered her eyes, giving her and the picture a mysterious look. She wore a plain black court shoe with a big black ribbon that extended from her knees to her ankle. Simply said, she was styled to look innocent, lost and scared.

Haneul on the other hand was styled differently from Bori. She had on a black singlet that says 'Don't judge', paired with a pair of white ripped jean shorts. The front of her shirt was tucked in; she also wore a semi transparent white camisole. The hairstylist placed a couple of chocolate brown highlights on her wavy shoulder length hair and they also pinned a fake dark brown bangs on her hair to give an illusion of a smaller and rounder face. It was a half up, half down hairstyle. Her make up was not really obvious due to her mocha complexion, thus, they only amplify the eye shape. As for her shoes, she wore a very dark blue converse. The end product of the make up was a bold, strong and fierce female.

The two of them walked together into the room next door, only to find it empty with a note that tells them to go to the roof top for the long awaited photo shoot. The duo find this puzzling but still went up and check out the location.

What they see at the roof shocked them.

There stood five tall males and one female. Joonha is there too, so is Hyunae, both of them changed out of their original attire into branded clothings. The manager was there too, he noticed the two of them and quickly got them into a position between two males.

"Okay! Now let's commence today's photo shoot. I am sure you guys are lost so let me explain. Well, as you can see, we have a lovely group of handsome males and beautiful ladies. We will be doing a cover page photo for the famous 18Minus magazine. And here we have, the haven't yet been debut band calles Lone Fire and our newbie model Jung Hyunae. So the members of Lone Fire, can you all shout out your name? So that the three ladies can remember you guys as you will be working together a lot."

A certain raven head kept staring at a certain female. He wondered, 'could it be her...?'

"I'm Blaze."

"I'm Joongki."

"Devil."

"I'm HK, short for Hankook."

"I'm Tao, Huang Zitao."

Haneul gasped after a brief moment of silence. She just stared at this tall, built 'stranger' in front of her.

"Hello Haneul, long time no see my friend." He gave her a full blown smile. He changed indeed. That playful boy whose hair is always in a deranged mess is now styled in a neat mess. His used to be somewhat round face has lost the baby fats, his arms are a lot more muscular than before. He is definitely taller than before, standing six foot right before her. To him, he was happy to see her again.

Haneul just stared at him, mouth agaped. He looked different than before, obviously with the help of make up. It amplified his eyes, making it look a lot livelier and less scarier than it is supposed to. He stared at her still figure, observed her. She changed too. Her hair is longer and more luscious than before, she became more beautiful, her eyes are still the same of course, the same brown that captivated him but he noticed, that glint is still there. That glint of betrayal.

He felt hurt but he hid it under that facade of his. 'So she hadn't forgive me after so long...' He thought. He leant forward towards Haneul and whispered, "so you are still using that apple scented shampoo huh? Same old Haneul."

He thought that would bring back the old Haneul but what happened shocked him and the silent audience.

She slapped him.

"That's a violation of personal space, Huang Zitao. Keep out." She monotonously said as if she did not slapped him just now.

He stared at her, palm clasping his turning red cheek. He though she can never do that but she changed, now he knew, she changed. And he will do anything to know this new Haneul.

Currently, he finds that interesting, but he did not how Haneul felt about this.

Because right now to her, Huang Zitao is no longer her best friend, not a neighbour, not even a stranger. He is someone that will ruin her new life again.

To Sung Haneul, this creature they call Huang Zitao is a monster, something she has always hated since young.

But Tao never knew that.

***

Okay, I am sorry for not being able to update for so long as I had like a little writer's block. but 1 wrote this extra long so I hope you can forgive yea hahaha... Anyhow, do tell me what you think of this chapter. :)