The week passed in a blur.

…or so, I thought.

As it proved, it was a bit challenging to work right after school – with only five working hours per day because the crazy boss of mine insisted that we were still school kids! – and be up early enough the next day for school. It took me two days and the help of Jong Suk to memorize my way to school and I made it by Thursday. I thanked the heavens for giving me the chance to be less dependent on that sleepyhead neighbour of mine, and had two days worth of chances to smirk at him from my seat when he was tardy for homeroom, panting for breath. Ah well, one must take pleasure from all the little joys in life. Muahaha!

From the boys, I had to admit that I am now close with Jong Suk (for he is such a cutie who is so darn helpful, I can squish him in thanks!), Young Kwangie (we have been walking to the same place after school together and, being the gentleman that he was, he made a point of walking me home too), and I hate to admit this, but Jae Hyun too (since we bicker so much to the point that if we see each other at our respectable rooftops, we have petty fights going on till midnight). The rest, however, were still much of a mystery to me. Woo Bin was avoiding me like the plague, quite literally. Aside from the times in class, he did his best not to make any sort of eye contact with me and would only speak to Young Kwang or Jong Suk once both of them were done talking to me. What the hell, dude? Jong Hyun was always too busy. Though he sat right in front of me, I never did want to disrupt whatever he was doing in his seat. He always seemed to be preoccupied with something. As soon as class is finished, he either hung out with the guys for a few minutes before heading to his club – the mechatronics club, blergh! – or headed straight for the club room, or went home right away. Jeez, I couldn’t even squeeze some time to get to know him better! Strangely enough, Sung Joon was also included in this list. Although he sat on my right side, we barely had time to chat. The louder trio on my left side – Young Kwangie, Jae Hyun and Jong Suk – were always making conversations, or poking fun at me that I had no opportunity to work out the awkwardness with Sung Joon at our first meeting. Dang it, I need some closure for that before it becomes like a permanently embarrassing memory.  Lastly… Soo Hyuk, I sighed. That boy will be the death of me. It turned out that the apology to him that I had practiced on Monday was a waste of time, since he passed the folded shopping bags of mine to Jong Suk to give to me, with the message, ‘The grandma said thanks.’ Whenever it was break time and I turned in my seat to talk to him, he would have this dazed look plastered on his face no matter what I talked about. Even when I straight out apologized for recognizing him late by Wednesday, he nodded once and hummed, ‘Hmm.’ I nearly burst out in flames that day.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I mused, WHAT KIND OF A DING DONG HEAD WOULD JUST ‘HMM’ WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS SORRY?! SERIOUSLY!!! Ooooooohhh, if only he were shorter, I woulda given him a decent–

“If I didn’t know better, I’d guess that you’re thinking about your crush. Is it someone I know?” Young Kwangie’s calm voice sliced right through my thoughts.

I felt blood rushing to my face. “N-N-No!!! What kind of p-preposterous thing are you talking ab-about?!” Why’d I have to stutter now~

At the moment, he looked too happy at his successful jibe. “Your face is all red now. Just like a tomato! Haha!”

“Aishhhh! Young Kwangie-ah! You’re not supposed to make fun of meeeeeeeeee~ I’ve had enough of it in school with that idiot Jae Hyun, not you too!” I made a sad pouty face and looked up at him.

He burst out in an honest laughter and patted my head. “I get it, I won’t tease you anymore if you don’t want it.”

“Yay!!! Young Kwangie is the best!” I cheered as I poked him on the cheek.

I saw a faint shade of pink colouring his face before a voice interrupted us, “Shouldn’t you lovebirds make your way home?”

It was an English sentence with an English accent. I turned to the owner of the voice, and true enough, there stood our senior colleague at the bookstore, Stephen. With his beefy arms folded over his chest and his lazy grin on his face, perfectly armored with long-sleeved grey sweatshirt that emphasized his beautiful and built upper body, he was a charmer.

I made my eyes look for his eyes so that they would not stray to any other parts of his sinful body. “Is it already 10 p.m.?” I asked, the same time that Young Kwangie gruffly said, “We’re not lovebirds”.

Stephen arched an eyebrow at Young Kwangie, his green eyes becoming hard emerald stones and looking sharper than ever. Nevertheless, Stephen shifted his gaze to me, “You should head home, schoolgirl. Need a lift on my bike?”

I couldn’t help but notice something almost playful in his eyes, but I was not able to hide my bemused expression, either. After working for a couple of days with Stephen, it was easy to become fast friends with the Englishman. He had this witty air about him that was hard to miss, and most people tend to overlook his mischievous and in-depth brains because they were too enchanted by his disarming good looks. Exhibit A, myself hahaha! Hence, with him generously offering me a ride home on his beloved bike that he had claimed ‘shall not be stained by any female but his mother and five sisters’, I knew that he was up to something.

I chuckled, “It’s okay, hot guy. I like walking home. I’ll get going then. Be sure to lock up the store,” I reminded Stephen and went to gather my belongings in the locker room and left the two boys at the second floor of the bookstore.

I was about ten meters away from the store when I heard someone rushing up to me. When that person paused by my side to take a breather, I immediately patted his back. “You don’t have to walk me home, you know. I can take care of myself, Young Kwangie,” I murmured to him.

“Non…” huff, huff, “…sense.” He huffed for breath for a couple of minutes. “I will never let a girl walk home by herself. Not this late.”

The gentleman appears again, I smiled as we started walking side by side. “Who taught you to be this chivalrous, hmm?”

“My family, mostly, but I think it’s in my nature to be this way too. So, I can’t help it,” he smiled softly.

I fondly chuckled at his answer. Anyone else would think that he was being pompous, but I knew better. “Whoever your partner is going to be, she is going to be one lucky girl.”

“Partner?” he repeated, with a quizzical look on his handsome face, “That’s a strange word to use.”

“Well, I meant your partner as in your girlfriend, your future wife and the future mother of your kids.”

“What…?” He laughed. “Why, though?”

“Because I know that whoever it is that you love is going to be treated right, and she will be the luckiest girl in the world to have you,” I said with a warm smile. All the good guys always have the best heart, and through that, their partners can always feel that honest love flowing right through their very being.

Young Kwangie stumbled and fell on the cold asphalt road all of a sudden.

“OMAGAD!!! Are you okay, Young Kwangie?! Did you step on dog poop or something?” I asked frantically as I tried to help him back up. It must be something like dog poop or a bottle of soju to have such terrible timing to disrupt the momentum I had going on!

“I-I’m okay!” he stuttered out as he dusted himself off. “Just fell because I suddenly lost my step…”

…God help me, I could not understand his reason. “Well, whatever it is, just be careful, okay?”

He just nodded and we continued our way home, making small talks along the way. He dropped me off at my doorstep and I watched him walk away before I came inside and went to bed.

The next morning rolled in like a smooth ball of cotton candy. I did not need an alarm to wake me up, and I just made some light breakfast for myself before I got out of the house with my guitar in hand. When I reached the park, it was still relatively empty, save for the few people strolling about and basking in the Saturday morning.

I looked to my right and saw an elderly couple lazily strolling together, the old lady gently holding onto her husband’s arm. I looked to my left and saw a father secretly taking photos of his wife cooing to their little baby on a stroller.

I felt a smile on my face. “Now this is nice,” I said out loud to myself. I took out my guitar and a list of songs scribbled on a piece of paper that I had prepared earlier. I picked up my guitar pick and tuned my guitar. I placed the open guitar bag by my feet and I closed my eyes. Show time.

I love it when my instincts were right. I tried not to grin too much as I watched Kim Sun play the guitar from afar.

I dreamed of her last night. That would make the third time I had a dream where Kim Sun starred in it.

The first time I did, it was after the first time we’d met. I was walking on an endless asphalt road with the sun high over my head. I could only see mirages as the heat was soaked in the asphalt, and I could hear nothing but my own slow breathing and the crunches of my shoes on my seemingly fruitless journey. Weirdly enough, I had my guitar strapped onto my upper body and it hung on my back like the burden of a dead body. It felt like an eternity had passed before my vision blurred and my knees felt weak. All it took was a wrong step and I stumbled to the hot, rocky ground. My guitar fell with a loud crack and a twang accompanied, resonating on and on till it stopped. By then, I was horrified and I choked as I felt dust and mucus starting to collect at the base of my throat and blocking my breathing. I was lying on a road that was roasting me. Was it the end? Will the only thing that remains by my side when I die be my guitar, and nothing else? …No one else? I was still choking for breath and in pain when she came. At first I only see a silhouette of her with her guitar on her back because she was hovering over me. When she bent down and touched me, all of a sudden I could breathe. It was like she had a magic touch and everything was fixed. I could breathe. She looked at me with a reas