Three.
creepUnder the Oak Tree.
Miyeon:
The same laughs and sounds of coversation filled the classroom. The room looked the same, the students acted the same, the environment; it felt the same. And yet, I felt as though I left my lively soul at home. I sited Myunsik sitting at his usual spot with a group of friends surrounding him. He appeared the same as well, like it was just another day of school. I casually passed his desk to sit by the window, avoiding his gaze. Nobody else seemed to greet me like before, only huddled in their small cliques. I was afraid of what their conversations were about earlier and if Myunsik ever mentioned about me. I looked away from them, placing my books and homework on the desk in front of me and waited. At that moment, I felt like the new student again; lost and afraid.
Over others, I heard Seoyoon's light voice. She was the only girl among Myunsik's group. They were gossiping all about Daehyun's party last night; how crazy it was and how almost everyone is missing class to recover from their five-star hangovers. I realized now that the classroom was half-empty. Kyuha, Seungwoo, and a couple of others were gone. Most of the students were sitting in the front, a part of Myunsik's group. I turned around seeing only four others in the back of the classroom. There was also Seoyoon's boyfriend in the desk on the corner, burying his face in folded arms. He was crying. I returned to sit back straight.
"Byungjoo-ah! Remember when Daehyun's parents came in and we escaped the house by jumping out of the windows and into the pool?! That was sick!" Baekho, one of Myunsik's meaty-friends high-fived the others.
"How would I remember, man?! The last thing I remember doing at Daehyun's house was eating some cold-cuts in the kitchen, then I woke up behind a sofa with a lampshade on my head!"
Myunsik laughed, "Dude, last night's party was crazy! Did you see that look on Dae's parents' faces after they came in from the door yelling, 'Surprise! Happy Birthday!' with a cake in their hands?! It was the most hysterical-ist thing ever!" He hit his friend on the back while chuckling up. "But it for Daehyun, 'cause he's grounded." Myunsik frowned. "But it more for his little brother because Daehyun's all hungover and he has to clean all of the mess up himself!" Myunsik laughed again along with his posse. His friends began talking now as Myunsik sat back, relaxed. He wrapped his arm around Seoyoon. I raised an eyebrow.
I didn't feel jealous. I was only surprised at the fact that Myunsik was already seeing new people, and it's Seoyoon. I knew Seoyoon had feelings for Myunsik, but to think she knew that it was just yesterday that Myunsik and I broke up...
I thought that she was my friend.
Throughout class it seemed that no one couldn't stop talking about last night. Side conversations were passed around during lectures, as if a month worth of stories were packed into one night. I stayed silent in my desk, scribbling the teacher's notes from the chalkboard. I had stories of my own.
At lunch I felt lost. Wherever and whoever I sat with always depended where "the group" went. I couldn't follow that group anymore though. I could not bare looking at Myunsik's stupid face. I regret my first three weeks now, realizing that my doors were closed and occupied by only Myunsik's friends. I never met anyone on my own.
I walked striaght to the cafeteria to get my lunch. I was in line behind the giggly Seoyoon and Myunsik, keeping a distance away from them.
Someone jump towards me from behind, "Hey~MiMi!" I turned, feeling relief to see Kyuha. "Sorry I'm late," she frowned. "I had a massive headache this morning, so I hid in my brother's tree house so my parents wouldn't find out I'm ditching." Kyuha sighed, grabbing a banana. "But they found me... It's alright though. I'm feeling much better!" she laughed. I've never seen a day without Kyuha in such a happy mood. We paid for our food at the register and it seemed that Kyuha just realized Myunsik and Seoyoon in front of us.
"Hey Myunsik! Hey Seo-" Kyuha noticed the two holding hands, she then looked at me. "Since when were you two going out?!" she yelled so loud that the cafeteria echoed her voice. Seoyeon and Myunsik only giggled at her and walked off. "Now that's new," Kyuha pointed. "Come on, Miyeon! Let's follow them so I can hear the det's!" She held my wrist, but stopped as soon a she saw my frown. She spoke in a softer tone, "Oh yeah. I forgot. You and Myunsik must have broken up last night."
"Can we just...eat somewhere else for a change?" I asked.
Kyuha my hair, "Sure we can." She gave me a sympathetic frown. "Oh, you must feel so heartbroken since it was your very first relationship!" She said as if I were a child. I wasn't heartbroken and I haven't told her that I never had a boyfriend before Myunsik. It was her assumption that made me a bit sad.
I followed Kyuha to a different side of the cafeteria. She eyed the chicken sandwich on my plate, "Geez, girl. You need to lighten up your appetite. You don't need more meat on those thighs." I really hated it whenever she judged my lunch.
We stopped by a table at the center of the cafeteria where two girls sat. "Minsu! Hyori-ah~!" Kyuha sang as she slid her smoothie bottle on the table. Kyuha sat in the open chair next to one of the girls as I sat in the other.
"What's up, Kyuha!" one of the girls greeted. I noticed their height difference from ours. They were very tall and their faces were milky- white. "What brings you here? Where's your b.f.?"
Kyuha giggled, "I texted him before coming to school. He's probably still hung-over from last night. My baby...If only his parents weren't there, I would be at his house right now, treating him with some soup or something." Kyuha changed the subject, "I haven't seen you guys in forever since your trip from Los Angeles last week!" she laughed. "So how was your photo-shoot? What kind of clothes can I look forward to in the spring line?"
The girls only giggled, "Kyuha-yah! You're going to have to be patient just like the others!" one of the girls sang. "Although...I'll give you a clue,"
Kyuha leaned in with big eyes.
"Herbaceous-yellow."
"No way! Herbaceous is in?! I could have saved my clothes from freshman year and feel like some hipster!" I thought Kyuha was overreacting, despite me not knowing exactly what "herbaceous"-clothing was. She sobbed in her hands. "Miyeonie...how do you feel about herbaceous-yellow coming back?! It's like we were told the acropolis is happening this spring!"
"You mean...the apocalypse?" Kyuha beamed her eyes at me, which signaled that that is not the point. I immediately jumped back to the subject, "So you're saying herbaceous-yellow is in this spring?!" I acted as if I knew what I was talking about. "I'm not much of a yellow-wearer."
Kyuha looked at Minsu and Hyori and just laughed out loud. "Herbaceous-yellow is not the color yellow, silly!" Kyuha hit my shoulder playfully. "Oh, this is Jang Miyeon by the way! She's the new girl you met last week! She's here because she doesn't have any friends!" Kyuha said that in a too happy tone.
The twins frowned, "Oh. Yeah I remember Miyeon. Poor girl," one of them said to me with a baby-pout.
Kyuha raised her index-finger, "Oh I know! Miyeon, how about we introduce you to new people around the school? Maybe you can make some friends!" Kyuha already got up. "What do you think, girls?"
Hyori and Minsu jumped up as well, "Sure! We know almost everyone's name at this school!"
I was surprised at Kyuha's idea. "But..I thought you guys were my friends," I said in a mutter. Kyuha looked at me, but then quickly looked another direction as if she didn't hear.
Minsu put her hand on my back when I stood too to throw away my only partly-bitten sandwich away. "Oh, you're the girl who dated Lee Myunsik last week, right?" The other girls stood next to me, staring to the table where Myunsik, Seoyoon, and the other football players sat.
"So I see Seoyoon's the special girl of the week," Hyori smirked. "I never thought Myunsik would ever choose her. She seems too easy."
"He's probably going to break his week-system and dump her by Wednesday. Just enough time to get what he wants." Kyuha folded her arms. "Poor Seoyoon. She's too oblivious."
I looked at them surprised, "You knew about this too? Shouldn't we warn Seoyoon?" I turned to Kyuha who didn't seem to care. "Kyuha! Why didn't you tell me when I was with him?"
Kyuha sighed, "We all been there, done that. At least I can say that for the four of us. Myunsik just wants popularity and girls in his bed. I can honestly say that it's messed up."
My jaw tightened, "Isn't Seoyoon your best friend, though? We should tell her before he breaks another heart." I hid my anger toward them, wishing that they had told me about Myunsik's tricks before I fell for him.
"There's no need for a warning. All girls know about his tricks, and if they don't, they most likely have Myunsik on the top of their to do list anyway; circled multiple times with stars drawn around it." Kyuha and the twins laughed.
We passed Myunsik's table and walked out the door."Oh, and Seoyoon is not my friend, by the way" Kyuha added. "I know you weren't here last month, Miyeon, but before, Seoyoon was this crazy girl obsessed with Myunsik. She was the president of the Lee Myunsik fanclub, and some geek that you would see in the library. She only befriended me and dated Jinwoo just to get closer to you-know-who." We looked through the glass wall of the cafeteria to see Myunsik's table. "So I just went along with it. I needed a partner to do our physics project anyway."
We walked around the school to find me some new "friends". It was embarassing enough to think in my head. When I refused, they insisted that they wanted to "help". I felt now that Kyuha was only my friend because she felt sorry for me. I didn't need them to introduce me to people though. I'm fine being alone.
We walked into the gym, "Hi Eddy! This is Jang Miyeon!" Kyuha pushed me towards a guy on the bleachers. "Miyeon-ah! Eddy used to live in America! You're good at English, right? You two would be great friends!"
I was embarrassed when he looked at me. The girls made me look desperate to have a friend. "Uh...Hello," I waved in English.
"Hi..." he awkwardly waved back at me.
We walked around and they introduced me to more people. Hyori pointed at each of the students in the drama class. "There's Yoo Youngho, Hong Jisoo, Kim Sungah, Lee SoEun..." she named the whole class. "Do you like watching plays, Miyeon?"
I only shrugged.
"They're really great! I love watching their improv shows! I'm glad that all of them chose a class to act!" Hyori said cheerfully before leaving. "Because in real life they're all jerks."
Next door was the band room where we heard someone playing the guitar. "Ooo! What do we have here?" Minsu sang opening the door. We walked in to see a student frozen, surprised that we just barged in. "Park Jaejungie!" Kyuha cheered.
He continue to stare with wide eyes. Kyuha put an arm around him to make him feel more nervous, "Miyeon! You like music, right?! Jaejung loves music too! Tell him what kind of music you like!"
"Are you into any bands?" I had to ask first.
He blankly nodded yes at me. Maybe he would be my new friend, I thought.
"Have you heard of Thornapple, Jaurim, and Bad Romance?" I asked.
He raised his eyebrows and looked to the ceiling to think.
"Uh..." Jaejung thought. "I really like EXO, if you call that a band. I also like Busker Busker, AOA, FT Island, and CNBLUE."
"Oh I know CN BLUE! You like them, right Miyeon?" Kyuha added.
I tried to come up with something to say, "Well. They're cool, I guess. I don't really listen to that kind of music though so..."
Minsu and Hyori took me to many people. I felt so stupid following them around. We walked through the gym and out to the big courtyard. Hyori leaned against the wall as the three of us followed, she pointed at more people she spotted. "Byun Hanjoo. She's a junior like us. She's in the school's tennis and basketball team." I saw Hanjoo now eating her lunch with friends. She seemed nice. "Nose-picker since the third-grade. " That was followed by Hanjoo digging up her nose. "Yuck! She's disgusting."
A girl passed by us, flipping her hair in our faces."That's Kang Taehee; fourth year. She shares the name with actress, Kim Taehee and she's just as beautiful as she is. Her father owns a plastic surgery clinic, so her family is very rich.. Rich enough to get plastic surgery from head to toe." Minsu and Kyuha giggled.
"Oh hey!" Minsu pointed to our left where a couple was intensely making out.
Kyuha frowned, "Stop! You're making me miss my Hojunnie"
"That's Lee Seunghoon and Park Ryeora. They've been a couple since the beginning of middle school. I don't even remember what their faces look like anymore. I haven't seen them since then! ...Watch this." Hyori picked up an acorn from the grass and threw it to their heads. The couple had no reaction. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I heard that Ryeora has a kid at home. Seunghoon doesn't even know! She passes her son as her little brother!"
"No way!" Hyori yelled. "Well, I guess everyone has their own dirty little secrets." she grinned.
"Hyori-ah." Kyuha nudged. "What are your dirty little secrets?" She giggled.
Hyori giggled as well, "If I told you they wouldn't be secrets anymore!"
"Ahh...I'm tired of doing this now. Let's go sit!" Minsu walked to the grass of the courtyard as we followed. We walked to an empty picnic table by a tree.
"Oh! Daebak! Hojun's at the parking lot. He wants to take me out!" Kyuha looked at her phone almost jumping. "See ya guys tomorrow. B-Bye, Miyeonie!! I hope you find a good friend!" I waved back at her, smiling to hide my inner-cry.
It was only the three of us now. "So Miyeon, found anyone you're interested in befriending?"
I thought about all of the people that Minsu and Hyori introduced me to, but the only thing I learned from the students were the things that Minsu and Hyori said when they were talking smack about them. I nodded no.
"Geez. I never thought it would be this hard finding a friend! Maybe you have to change something about yourself." Hyori complained. "Maybe it's your hair. I think you should get a haircut."
Minsu carefully looked at my features, "Or your nose. It's kind of big. I know a guy that might be able to help you out."
Hyori's eyes looked off to the distance, suddenly looking alarmed. "Oh, snap," She exclaimed in a whisper, already grabbing on to her bag. "Let's leave...quickly!" Hyori kept the low tone in her voice, sounding a bit frightened. Her legs were already out of the seat.
Minsu and I already got up up, but confused. "Why? What's wrong Hyori?" Minsu asked. We followed Hyori as she quickly walked steps away, behind the columns. Her frightened face worried me, frightening me too. I looked behind to where we were once sitting.
My heart skipped a beat.
Hyori quickly walked under the shade. "The creep! He was just a few of meters away from us!" She was freaked out on the spot. "What if he was listening to our onversation?! Ugh, and his eyes were staring right at me!!" Hyori cursed, stomping on the cement ground. Hyori was overreacting, but the way she acted was terrifying. "I don't want to be the next victim! Th-There's so much that I haven't experienced yet, and I literally just got a perm yesterday!!" she cried.
Minsu walked her towards the doors to go back into the cafeteria, "Come on. Let's go."
"-Wait!" I grabbed Hyori's arm unintentionally.
Hyori looked back at me with her swollen face, "What do you want, Miyeon?!"
I hesitated for a moment, looking off behind the columns to where we once sat, and in front of it where the old oak tree stood. Was it the wrong time to ask? I felt a sense of relief that I wasn't the only one who could see him. Why was Hyori so terrified, though? I suppose, questions are best to be answered sooner than never.
"You told me that your were going to introduce me to all of the students on campus." I began. I felt somewhat shy at that moment. I leaned against the cement column, looking down at my fingers, questioning my affection towards the mysterious student. It felt as if fluffy clouds filled my insides, but Hyori's glare forced me to awaken. I gazed out to the distance once again, to the boy who sat under the oak tree. "Who is that?"
Minsu gave a look at Hyori who wiped her tears away. "That?" She walked forward so that she leaned on the column next to me. "That is Jung Joon. A fourth-year, though he is a year older than the graduating class. He doesn't talk, he doesn't smile, and he's always by himself just reading or doing whatever. I've never seen him anywhere besides sitting under that tree. It's creepy." Hyori said. The word, "creep" sunk into my mind, developing a new character of who now I know as Jung Joon.
"But sometimes I feel sorry for him," Minsu sighed. "He's always alone, and I heard he lives alone too. He's an orphan, his parents abandoned him when he was younger." Hyori and Minsu shook their heads with a frown for sympathy.
He's an orphan. I looked down to the grass. I knew how it felt to live without parents' care, the struggle of learning to care for yourself at a young age. My eyes went to Joon, who sat alone with his earphones on. School could be his only escape to live like a real teenager, but without friends, he probably feels deserted from the whole world.
"We should sit with him," I said.
"What?!" Their eyes suddenly jerked to me, "Why?"
I was just about to yell at them, "To give him company."
Minsu and Hyori chuckled in disbelief, "Miyeon, you don't know anything about him!" Hyori said with serious eyes. She came closer to my ear, "He's a sociopathic maniac! Not only was he an orphan, but he lives on the streets like a dirty vagabond. He talks to himself and was a freakin' juvenile delinquent and shot people."
"You know, I also heard that he can't afford food, so he eats roadkill. Sometimes he sneaks into children's backyard to eat their pets too." Minsu added.
I couldn't help but laugh, surprised of what they told me.
"Why are you laughing?" Minsu glared.
I crossed my arms, "Where did you hear all of this from?"
"People," Hyori answered confidently.
"And you believe them?! Has he ever told you himself?"
"No," they scoffed, crossing their arms.
I felt upset at all of these sick things that people can spread around behind one's back, and yet everyone is too afraid to actually talk to him in person. How can they believe such things? Hasn't he suffered enough?
I took my back off the wall, looking into Minsu and Hyori's eyes before stepping away. "Let's go."
"Jang Miyeon," Hyori grabbed onto my backpack. I turned. "He's dangerous."
The word hasn't offended him more than it offended me. I jerked my backpack off of her grip.
"Then don't mind joining us."
Hyori and Minsu chuckled in disbelief as they watched me walk off. I cared less about them after.
I walked in the direction of the tree with my stomach churning. I questioned my emotions again. I don't even know him. I don't even have a true image of his face in my head, I told myself. Was it his mysteriousness or my curiousity that allured me to walk closer?
"He's dangerous" Hyori's warning caught me before I stood less than a meter away. I wasn't going to befriend him right away, I assured myself. If he were what people say, what were the possibilities of him killing me in front of all of these students? I looked around, feeling my heart beat. Was there a possiblity?
I'm only going to talk to him. That's all.
I walked towards him until I found my feet stopped by his. He didn't seem to notice my prescence, too focused in the book he was reading. Should I be doing this?
_____________________________________________________________
She walked closer and closer, until he realized that she was walking towards him. He held his breath, hiding his face in his book. It wasn't long until he felt her shadow cast upon him, and all that he wished now was to be dead. She stood there for a couple of moments. Was she waiting for him to speak?
He felt relieved when she walked away but instead, she sat next to him under the shade. "H-Hello," she greeted first. He didn't respond, wondering if he should have ran away at that moment, but he only continued to read the page of his book.
The wind blew against them, the tree's leaves shaking whistfully to fall on their heads. Joon's bookmark flew out of his hands as the wind flipped the pages until it was at the very end of the book. He cursed under his breath, which made Miyeon know that he was able to speak. He reached in front of Miyeon for his bookmark. "Here. Let me get that for you." She took the bookmark before he did and handed it to him.
His shoulders tensed, taking the bookmark from Miyeon's hands, avoiding eye contact. He tucked the bookmark on a random page in his book. "So...what book are you reading?" Miyeon asked curiously. Joon blinked a couple of times and showed her the cover. "The Silence of the Lambs? Is that book in English?"
Joon stared at the cover with his mouth slightly open, he nodded.
"Wow, that's cool. You must be fluent to be reading such a thick book," Miyeon commented. "How did you learn?" Joon swallowed, looking down at the cover as his fingers tapped against the corners. He knew her eyes were on him. The pressure was almost unbearable, but he tried his best to hide it. He dropped the book before his hands started to shake.
Miyeon sat back, taking a look at the boy and hoping to come up with something else to say. She watched as he fidgeted with a piece of grass in his hands. His head laid low under tensed shoulders. "Hey, relax." Miyeon nudged his arm with her finger. "There's no reason to be nervous. I just want to talk to you," she gave a friendly grin.
Joon finally lifted his head to face her but at the look of her face, his eyes refused to look back up. His lip quivered, "M-Me?" Miyeon was able to see his face now. Under his messy black hair was a shy boy with glasses.
Miyeon nodded, keeping the grin on her face. "I'm Jang Miyeon," She took a glance at his name tag, despite her knowing his name, "and you must be Jung Joon." She put a hand out for him to shake, but he only lowered his head again. Miyeon dropped her hand and cleared . It was harder to get a word out of him than she thought. For a moment, Miyeon didn't say a word. There was silence between them for a while, and Miyeon was about to give up.
It seemed that he would rather be alone, she thought. One more minute.
Joon took out his music player from his pocket to change the song. He also checked the time, hoping that lunch ended before he was about to die. It was 10:04.
She realized an earphone cord that hung in his right ear. "You were listening to music this whole time?" Miyeon lowered her tone when she spoke louder than she intended. He turned his head to her in shock, his eyes wide. Miyeon covered her sudden burst with a small laugh, "I mean...how can you read a book while listening to music?"
His body twitched as he tried lifting his head a bit. "I-It's not that h-hard," he mumbled in the softest voice. Miyeon couldn't help but feel happy that he responded. She giggled at his response.
"So...what music do you like to listen to?" she asked, watching Joon as he scrolled through music on his music player.
He put it down after, giving an uneasy sigh before slightly lifting his head toward her. He froze, "D-Do...you like..." He moved his shoulders around uncomfortably, adjusting the way he sat. He became frustrated that he couldn't clearly speak to her. "l-like...rock? R-rock...music?" Joon held his breath. He dared himself to look into her eyes.
Miyeon smiled, "I love rock music."
Joon stared at her face with a racing heart. He looked away with a different expression, trying to process the moment in his head. His lips quivered to a grin, a chuckle spilling out of his mouth. "R-Really?" he asked.
Miyeon smiled wider. "Well it depends. What kind of bands do you like?"
Joon held his slight grin, moving his head and shoulders around uncomfortably. He picked up his other earphone from his lap, his hand shaking. "L-Listen..." he whispered. Joon watched her as she took the earphone from his hand, moving closer to him. His face was warm, though he was relieved that a breath was able to escape from him.
As Miyeon put the earphone on, sounds of drums, rhythmic bass, and a roaring guitar filled her. Her head bobbed to the music, immediately liking what she's hearing. Joon stared at her face, trying to process her thoughts through her facial expressions.
The vocalist sounded familiar to her, "It's..." The name was on the top of Miyeon's tongue.
"-Guckksasten," they both said. As the two listened to more songs, Miyeon was able to get Joon to talk a little more when it came to music. Miyeon was impressed by their common music taste.
Miyeon looked over to see an open sketchbook on the left of Joon. "What's that?" She asked curiously.
Joon grabbed it and held it to his chest. His head twitched as he nodded, "It's-It's nothing."
Miyeon gave him a look, "Come on. They're only pictures. Let me at least see one." She took the book from his arms and placed it on her lap. The page was on a sketch of a girl. Joon quickly shut the book. She gave a surprised look at him.
"S-Sorry." he blinked. He opened the book to the first page. "J-Just look at the first ones. The other ones..." he looked away. "-are private," he muttered.
Miyeon looked down again and viewed through each of the sketches. Impressed by each one. Joon watched her reactions to each of his sketches, closely observing her facial expressions and how it connected to the image in the book.
Miyeon noticed how close his face was to hers not long after. "Wow, Joon. You can draw too? Awesome..." she said as she moved an inch away.
Miyeon gasped. Joon jumped at her sudden reaction, thinking that she saw one of his private sketches. "I love this song," Miyeon grinned. I used to listen to The Breeze throughout middle school!" She laughed and hummed along to The Breeze's "What Can I Say" as she continued to look at Joon's sketchbook.
Joon continued to watch her, admiring her beauty as she hummed along to the song. The lyrics played along in his ear, "Looking at you my heart no longer feels the same. What can I say. All I needed was you. That’s what I thought. That’s how it was. One day I became used to life without you. That’s how I could watch over you."
She stopped at a sketch of a rose that filled the whole page.
"Joon," she said softly. She looked at the fine details on each of the petals. "This is beautiful." She read the writing out loud, "'장미(Jangmi/Rose). To not think that every rose have its thorns, but to be thankful that the thorns have its roses.' I like that." Miyeon smiled.
Joon continued observing her facial features as it dazzled against the sun. His heart ached, unable to take in so much of this powerful feeling he had inside him. It became harder for him to take in breaths as his face warmed.
Miyeon looked into his eyes to see tears. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.
He swallowed as if it were that hard to speak. "You're so beautiful," he whispered.
Miyeon furrowed her eyebrows. He seemed very sincere in what he just said, and yet they have only met each other ten minutes ago. Miyeon dropped her gaze to the book and closed it, handing it back to him. "Look, I have to-" she froze when she looked back at him. He raised his hand, reaching toward her face. At that point, she had no choice but to look into his eyes that always looked angry or uneasy, she couldn't tell.
Although, his eyes weren't to her. Joon pulled something out of her hair, revealing a leaf. Miyeon chuckled when she saw the leaf in his hand, and laughed more at the sight of a leaf in his hair as well.
Joon watched her laugh with observant eyes, "What's so funny?"
Miyeon cleared after her good laugh."Um..." She thought of what to say, "I don't know. Maybe it's because we've been talking to each other for a while and we just realized now that we had leaves in our hair." It didn't sound as funny when she had to explain it.
Joon looked down confused with his uneasy eyes, "Oh."
The bell rang for lunch to end. Miyeon slowly got up from the grass, brushing the dirt off her legs. "Well, it was great talking to you, Joon," Miyeon said friendily.
He shook his head, "Don't call me Joon." He lowered his eyes as he played with the grass. "That's what everybody here at school calls me." He sighed, throwing the grass back to the ground and snickered, "That's not even my real name."
Miyeon looked at him curiously before she stood, "Then what's your name?"
He took his eyes off of the grass to face her. "Joonyoung," he said. Miyeon grinned, gripping the strap of her bag.
"Joonyoung," she said in a sweet tone as she got up. "It was nice meeting you."
Joonyoung stood up as well, "W-Where are you going?" She noticed how tall he was compared to her.
Miyeon almost giggled. He probably didn't notice the bell ringing nor the less crowds of students around them, she thought. "We have to get going to class." She pointed behind her to the building.
Joonyoung blinked looking down, "O-Oh, right."
Miyeon waved, "See you, Joonyoung." She walked off.
"W-Wait...!" Joonyoung raised his voice. Miyeon stopped after another step to look back. Joonyoung's hands were in his pockets as he shrugged, "W-Will I...see you again...t-tomorrow?" he asked shyly. Miyeon lowered her head for a moment to hide her smile. She nodded, yes, and waved before walking away again.
Miyeon walked back into her classroom, unable to wipe the grin off her face no matter how small she was able to tone it down. It was the first time she genuinely smiled in what felt like years, she believed. She sat in her desk, dazed. There was a minute before the teacher was to arrive. Miyeon looked out the window next to her to spot the famous oak tree below. Joonyoung wasn't there. She could only see one of the security guards walking around.
He probably only went to class because I told him to, Miyeon thought with the grin still plastered on her face.. From then, it was hard for her to get him out of her mind.
She thought about him during physics. This was the mysterious boy she saw under the oak tree, Miyeon thought with the picture of his face in her head. He didn't seem dangerous nor suspicious, unlike what students have said. Miyeon could believe that he was a loner at school, but the fact that he may be an orphan broke her heart.
Miyeon thought about him during English. He can read English novels too. I wonder if he studied abroad. I wonder if he can translate everything in this textbook. She flipped through the pages of her book.
"Miyeon Jang." her English teacher called on her.
"Yes?" she replied in English. She forced herself to put her mind back in class.
"What is your favorite book?" he asked in the clearest English.
Her head was jumbled, she looked at the board to see what the lesson was about, "My favorite book is..." She read from the board. Miyeon thought about a book to say. "My favorite book is The Silence of the Lambs." Miyeon would have hit herself, she never read that book, but it was the first thing that popped in her mind.
Mr. Hong was surprised to hear her say an English title, "Really? So you enjoy reading horror books?"
Horror? Miyeon nodded and sat. So he enjoys horror books.
During her calculus lecture, Miyeon thought about him again. She wondered if the other things that people spread were only rumors as well. He was a bit weird, she could confess, he would say things that not many usual people would say, but he was also very shy, which could be his excuse.
"You're so beautiful," She remembered him saying with tearing eyes. Why did he call me beautiful? Why did he look the way he did when he said it? She thought about his sketches and how he didn't let her see the pictures in the back of the book, and how he would always twitch when she talked to him. All of his life, he has been deserted by the rest of the world. Did he think differently than an average person would? What did he think when he met her? Miyeon tried her best to understand the idiosyncratic, Jung Joonyoung.
He sketched her perfect visage glowing against sunlight. He sat against the wall of the greenhouse. On the rooftop, the sun shined brighter. He looked down to the courtyard where a security guard roamed. He hoped for him to leave soon, feeling uncomfortable in the open space. Joonyoung sketched in his book until then. The sight of her was wasn't hard to remember, he pictured every detail in his mind.
He turned his head to view a purple rose that blossomed next to him. He picked it off its stem, placing it on the hair of the girl in his sketch. "Jang Mi...Yeon." He brushed his fingers on his sketch. "Jangmi."
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Creep Playlist:
브리즈(The Breeze) - 뭐라할까
The writing in Joonyoung's sketchbook was inspired by Alphonse Karr's quote, “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.”
Thanks to all of the new subscribers and all who have stuck with me! Please comment your thoughts on this rather long chapter. I'm excited to continue on with this story. Yay JJY and Miyeon finally met...^_^
-taegyoelf
Also~ Happy One Year Anniversary to Jung Joonyoung's "병이에요 (Spotless Mind)"
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