“1,800 won!!!!!” I scream

I run into the bathroom and glare at the mirror that shows a wrecked medusa as a reflection. My hair is everywhere, my eyes are circled with dark circles…my face is just a complete mess! Why…why does he have to see me like this?! He always sees me at my worst! This is just embarrassing. I feel like crawling into a hole, and burying myself in there for the rest of my life. He has already seen the worst of me twice! Is there any where lower and uglier to go?

“Haena?” After a while, my mother knocks on the bathroom and calls for me.

“Is he gone?!” I shout out cautiously.

“Yeah, he’s gone. Do you know him?” My mother asks oblivious to my past encounters with him.

I finally take the courage to open the door and step out into the living room again. My mother looks at me with her worried look and I bet she’s wondering if she’s raised a socially awkward child right now, or she must think I’m getting bullied at school.

“No, mum. I don’t get bullied at school so you don’t have to look so worried. Why was he here?” I ask her as I belly flop onto the couch. I look at the rice cake on the table and move the plate away with my feet.

“He’s a new resident here. He moved in right next to us.” Mum replies while I flip out frantically.

Next door neighbour?!! My next door neighbour can see me through the window…our houses are so close he can practically open his window and climb into my house!

No…You’re joking!! What is this joke?! Is he seriously following me? Or is this still an over-assumption…Oh my god…what if he likes me? That’s right! Oh my bloody God…he actually has a crush on me! That’s why he has been following me everywhere, and that’s why he’s always saying hello and stuff…this makes sense now…

Mission 1: avoid poor guys like 1,800 won.

Mission 2: avoid mysterious guys like 1,800 won.

Missions 3: just avoid 1,800 won.

I raise my body from the couch and walk into my room. I close the door behind me and see my window wide open. I already feel him looking at me! What if he looks out the window to see me?!

Suddenly his window slides open and his face appears across from me.

“KYAAAA!” I scream my lungs out. This feels like some horror movie! The stalker neighbour 2015, coming soon…

“Whoah, calm down!” He called over the windows

I stared at him blankly for a while. “What are you doing there?!” I called out to him.

He gave me a mischievous smirk and replied, “I’m talking to the girl I like over a window.”

…What the ?!! He actually thinks I’m going to believe that crap? I may be naïve, and I admit that sometimes I actually thought he had a crush on me, but the way he just exposed his ‘crush’ on me was definitely not sincere. Not a single bit was sincere at all.

I glare at him for a while and slam the window shut. He gives me a confused look, but I force the curtains down and wipe his face off my window.

What is that douchebag up too?!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Monday again.

Back to school , as always. I stuff my PE clothes into my bag quickly. Looking at the clock, I see that I have exactly 5 minutes to catch the bus…!

Brushing my teeth and face in one movement, I jump into my sneakers and run out of the door. As I run through the snow, I realize I will never make it.

The bus has left…

The immediate statement pops into my mind: Mum is going to kill