CHAPTER ONE

"the laughing stock."

May 11th, Friday

It wasn't unusual for the weather to take a turn for the worst, Sehun knew that. Spring was the time of year where the weather did what it wanted to do and would change drastically overnight.. Not even the weathermen could catch the sudden change in weather, which to this day still surprises them when they mention it in the news.

Oh Sehun was caught out in the rain while waiting for the early morning bus to school. Maybe it was a sign from God that he should've stayed home that day. Avoiding human contact sounded much more promising to him. Yet he stood there with regret and a thin jacket clinging to his lanky limbs.

He was sick of the constant droplets of water reeking havoc on the busy people of Seoul, was sick of having to take the bus home instead of his father picking him up and sick of being the only student at his high school that had to take the bus into the rougher side of the city.

Oh Sehun was sick of being sick.

As the bus whirled to a stop in front of him, the door sliding open with a thud, a flash of mustard yellow and brown rushed past him before he could even blink his eyes. Sehun stepped back a bit, his balance off after 'it' hurried past him. With a grunt of annoyance, he watched and waited as the person- who he had learned to be a girl by her mid-length school skirt- dug through her bag for the money. If it weren't for the fact that he was sopping wet and hungry, he would have waited patiently for the girl to fish out money or a bus pass in that black hole that she called a purse, but being annoyed he did what he assumed was best. Despite the fact he couldn't really afford to do things as foolish as giving away money, he did what he had to do. Pushing the girl aside, Sehun paid both of their fare, grumpily walking away afterward towards the very back of the nearly vacant bus.

The boy sat down in a seat, carelessly, stretching his long legs out in front of him, even when an older lady shot him a rude glare. He rested his bookbag behind his head, eyes closing slowly as the bus began moving towards its next destination. Sehun enjoyed the silence that surrounded the bus, not a single noise could be heard, except for light breathing and the usual noises the bus made. The silence ended too soon in his opinion.

"Would you mind if I-I sat here?" A croaky voice stuttered.

He opened his eyes, slowly, resting them on a pair of big seemingly black eyes. "The bus is almost completely empty yet you want to sit next to me?" She nodded. "Why?"

She simply smiled, carefully sitting in the seat beside him. He never received an answer. He never would.

And maybe that was what scared him the most: that he didn't know. He didn't know why she decided to sit next to him when there were many seats open. He didn't know why she did the things she did and he didn't see it coming. No one did. Oh Sehun had never been one to say no. That was his problem.

The girl placed her beat up purse in her lap, feet swinging back and forth out of habit. “I’m Yoon Ae Ji. We’re in the same class starting today.”

She made him really uncomfortable. He couldn’t put his finger on a reason why. Could it have been the untidiness of her uniform and how it hung on her like a worn out drape? Or was it the look in her eyes that made his skin prick with goosebumps. It didn’t matter. What mattered to him was the words that had come from .

“Do I know you?” It was a pointless question considering that he had never seen her in his entire life.

Ae Ji nodded like an excited child, extending a hand to grab his. “We live next to each other. I just moved in with my mother and we brought your family chocolates. Remember? You might not since I was wearing my glasses then and maybe my hair is a bit different…” She ended her rambling.

It made him uncomfortable knowing that he had met her and couldn’t even remember a single thing about her. He tried to quickly recall someone moving into any of the apartments next to his as Ae Ji looked on in anticipation. Alas, a small memory returned to him.

“Oh..I remember,” was all he said in response.

For the remainder of the ride, Sehun sat in silence as his new neighbor Ae Ji continued to talk his ear off.

Upon arriving at school, the uneasiness in the air wasn’t hard to spot. Sehun could see his fellow schoolmates whispering and shooting him curious almost mocking looks. Usually, people would give him his space considering he barely spoke to anyone except for the few friends he had. Though that day was different