Chapter One: First Day of Snow

I stood still in the middle of nowhere. I could feel my surrounding cold. I was cold. All I could see was a pure white blanket of snow covering the earth and a distance forest. A freezing gust hit me out of nowhere that caused me to hug myself to obtain warm. I could also hear the sound of the frozen wind blowing quietly as it passed me. I looked up at the dark gloomy sky. The white snow was still falling gracefully. The gentle way it fell from the sky above. The coldness when it touched my warm skin. The pure white innocent color. How it looked soft from a distance. How it managed to cover the ground completely. I love the snow. I closed my eyes to feel the coldness devoured me.

“Yah! SeulGi Bae! Pay attention!” At that very moment, I felt something hit my head, hard. Continued by a tumbling sound. I immediately raised my face to see a frightening glaring teacher. And of course pairs of staring eyes, all looking directly at me. So, it was just a dream. A snow-dream I called it. I looked down at my desk and saw a mess of white powder along with two pieces of white chalks. Maybe it broke into half when it hit my head. I rubbed my skull where I guessed the chalk knocked me. Ms Shim sure could hit her target accurately. She was one of the teachers who were in charge of the Archery Club.

“SeulGi, are you ok?” My friend, SooYoung whispered softly. Her alto voice was a mixed of concern and confusion. You see I rarely slept in class. I stared at her worried face blankly before my brain finally received the message. I just woke up so I was a bit slow. I noticed her eyes were emerald green than the usual chocolate brown. She must be wearing contacts. I preferred her with brown eyes. It suits her clear pale oval face, small straight nose, high cheeks bones and long brown straight hair. Her hair was all tied up in a ponytail today. Normally she just let it down.

“Ms Bae, if you want to sleep. Do it after my class.” The teacher hissed menacingly and glared at my direction. She emphasized the word ‘after’ so I would think twice before taking another trip to dreamland during her lesson. She is history teacher. She stood in front of the class for another fifteen minutes before the bell rang indicating lunch period. She finally exited the room after reminding us of the history test that she would give next lesson. We all groaned in respond. I immediately lean back on my chair and sighed. I’m going to fail that test.

“SeulGi, You haven’t answered my question.” SooYoung pouted. Her pout was a bit unique in someway. It made you feel guilty in fact. In her hand was a Hello Kitty key chain, which was given to her by her boyfriend. He’s a sweet guy. He enjoys singing and dancing, in fact, he’s so good in singing he could be a singer. He is very cute too but he studies in a different high school. They met during a sport event sometime last month, they like each other a lot.

“I’m all right, SooYoung.” I smiled trying to convince her. I’m very glad she trusted my fake smile. The truth was I’m not fine. Last night, my parents were fighting again. I could not even close my eyes or think straight, let alone sleep. They were loud, shouting actually. Luckily InHwan, my six years old little brother was staying over at a friend’s house. He would cry if he ever heard their arguments. They were getting divorce. The worst part was they were fighting about who will take custody of InHwan and me. None of them wanted us. All they want was the house and the possessions in it.

“Good, because I was thinking of meeting SungMin later. Why don’t you tag along?” She beamed saying his name. Yes, SungMin was SooYoung’s boyfriend. Now I know why SooYoung was wearing contacts. She was going for a date. Since she does not want it to be awkward, she invited me along. They are still shy to each other, how sweet.

“Sorry SooYoung but I can’t. I have to take care of InHwan.” I force a fake apologetic face. It was not like I hate SungMin. It was just that I do not want to be the third wheel. Plus with my state of stress now, I really do not want to ruin their date. The part about InHwan was true though but he can always go to a friend’s house again. SooYoung seemed to understand and let it go. She then talked about something else. She does not know about my parents though. In fact nobody know or even care. Unlike SooYoung who was pretty, smart and athletic, I’m just average. I do not excel in anything.

“Want to go out for lunch?” SooYoung asked raising her right eyebrow. I looked outside from the classroom square window. The trees have lost all of their leaves, leaving them bare with their wood dark brown branches. It was winter in Seoul. The sky was dark and cloudy. It looked like it was going to rain. It also looked freezing outside with the wind blowing the tiny branches lightly. I smiled and nodded. I love the cold. I took out my lunch box from my bag and exited the warm classroom to the busy hallway. Students were staring at me again. I tried to ignore them as usual. Just because I was not born in Korea and did not take my stepfather’s family name, I have become the center of attention. I moved from my birth country when I was three years old. People treated me somewhat different, because of my mother. It was a long story and rather painful to recall. I do not like to think about it. From a distance, I spotted SiWon. He was one of the well-known students in the school and also my neighbor since I moved to Seoul. He was both manly and very polite. He looks very handsome when he smiles. His cheekbones made his face unique, it’s high and define like a model’s. He is a gentleman too. He also has this habit of moving his hand; in other words gesturing. He always makes me laugh when he gestured; not only his hands are moving but the rest of his body follow. Ok I admitted it. I used to have a crush on him, used to. As we passed each other, I saw his soft brown eyes glanced at me. Even though we are childhood friends, we never talked to each other in school. I’ve requested him not to speak to me when we’re in school. It might expose me to the student body. I don’t like attention unlike any other normal person. I like to blend in with the background with no one discovering me and be invisible. I tend to runaway if there’s a problem. I’m just a coward I guessed.

We finally reached outside where all the tables and chairs were. It was colder than I thought and the place was deserted. I wondered why SooYoung took me here. She hates cold deserted places. However I love being alone where it was quiet like this. Makes me wonder more how we managed to become best friends despite our differences.

“SiWon was looking at you” she grinned. We sat down on a clean table and I decided to ignore her by eating my lunch. Even though SooYoung was my best friend but she doesn’t know about SiWon and I. I’m very good with keeping secrets that always make me somehow mysterious. SooYoung noticed I was ignoring her and she began eating her food too. I looked up at the dark sky and saw something white falling lightly. My face immediately formed a smile. I felt happiness building in me.

“Snow” I muttered. SooYoung looked up and agreed with me. Today was the first day of snow.