“Let us welcome to the stage the contestants of Miss Korea!”

            Himchan bounced on his toes before remembering that he was in front of the camera and so he discreetly stopped. He glanced at the side as the names were announced and then heard one that was familiar, and unheard by him for nearly five years.

            He turned to the side and saw a girl join the ranks of the other beauties and in a breath. Keep calm, Himchan, keep calm, he told himself. But his heart was still going and so he looked away. She was still as beautiful as he remembered. He wondered if she recognized him. They had only been in one class together.

            She had been the girl who always raised her hand in class. If she had been any other girl, someone less beautiful, someone who gave off too arrogant an air, people would have hated her. But it turns out, she managed to get away with being so smart because she was likeable, pretty, and humble to boot.

            Himchan listened as the rest of the girls were presented and forced himself to listen to the instructions. The announcer was just finishing with introducing the ladies and had moved on to what the pairs had to do.

            “Next, we will announce a couple activity. As this is to select Mr. and Miss Korea, we want to be able to choose the two people who can best represent themselves even in a partnership. The way we’re going to choose partners is we ask everyone to exhibit their talent and then each will choose their top three choice. We’ll start with the gentlemen.”

            Because of his last name, Himchan was placed in the middle so he had plenty of time to think about what he wanted to do. He had a talent planned but now he wanted to up it a notch. Call it lame, call it male ego, but he wanted to subtly remind her who he was, just in case he forgot.

            Himchan had been planning on playing the janggu. But now he wanted to add in something else to give it a little more flair. In their eighth grade, which was the only time she was in his class, he had also performed a series of tongue twisters to the rhythm of the drum he had been playing. If he could pull it out again, then she should definitely remember.

            The other males before him were awkwardly break dancing in their suits and some sang. Very typical talents. One, however, did show off a few martial arts moves, and it was revealed that he was a black belt. Finally, it was Himchan’s turn.

            Everyone gasped when the assistants brought in the drum and he started playing. He started off doing a traditional song and then started mixing the beats to something more modern and then he began rapping the tongue twisters. Himchan was glad that his memory was so intact and that he could still do this, five years later.

            He finished with a flourish, thanking Yongguk and his obsession with rap, and paused for breath. The audience burst into applause and he bowed before stepping back into place. It was when the next guy had gone up that he dared to steal a look at her.

            She wasn’t looking at him, much to his disappointment and he wondered if he had missed it. He watched her talent showcase with interest and was amused to see that she decided to do an improv. Her humor was witty as ever and she was switching back and forth between being herself the beauty queen and the dorky side.

            “What do you think you’re doing? Sit down and study! You have finals coming up! You shouldn’t be concerned about not tripping down the stairs in these heels!”

            Then she lowered her voice a little and continued, “Of course to meet hot guys! Look at this one!” And she reached her hand between the sea of males and Himchan found himself looking at her white glove.

            But before he could react, she had retracted her arm and turned back to the dorky side of her improve dialogue. He let out a breath and wondered if he should have reacted faster and taken her hand. But inside, he was still giddy at the fact that she singled him out among all the people.

            They took a break as everyone went backstage to write out their three choices. The males were separated from the females so he had no idea who she wrote, and wanted desperately to be able to talk to her and make sure she really knew who he was. Himchan contemplated possibly just putting her name down and then nobody else’s but that would be obnoxious so he randomly chose two other girls.

            They placed their choices into a ballot box and he prayed that she would put his name down. Surely after that performance. However, when they went back on stage, the announcer informed that the partners would be revealed during the next round, and that they were just going to be judged on performances only.

            Himchan scored the highest of the males, and his heart thumped when he found out that she had scored highest among the females. Of course. They were the most unique. When they stood next to each other to accept their bonus points, he tried to smile meaningfully at her but nothing in her expression gave away any recognition.

            When they finally went backstage, Himchan caught up to her. He grabbed her arm and she turned. “Hey,” he smiled at her nervously. “Remember me?”

            “I beg your pardon? We just saw each other. You’re the one with the highest talent score.”

            “No, I mean, yes, but do you know who I am?” Did she really not know even after his performance?

            She smiled blankly. “I’m afraid not, Sir Himchan. I don’t quite know who you are.” But now there was a sparkle in her voice.

            Himchan recognized the old nickname the class had given him because of his obsession with knights back then and started to smile. “Ah, well I suppose you may need a reminder? What say you to the old fountains later?”

            She laughed then and turned to go. “Maybe. Only if you chose me as your partner.”

            “I did! Did you?”

            He watched her shake her head back and forth. “See you at the fountains. You’ll find out tomorrow.” But as she walked away, he had a feeling that she had.

time to study for finals~

Good luck to all those who're struggling with me!