An hour later, Kyungsoo finally saw the bus stop outside of his school in the distance.

 

The sun had just risen, casting its soft golden rays over the earth and he blinked his eyes to adjust to the sudden light for he had fallen asleep earlier. He then very meticulously started packing his books into his bag but for some reason, he found himself to still have a rather thick textbook in his hand by the time the bus had reached the stop.

 

When the bus halted joltingly at the stop, he got up and made his way to the front doors while trying to stuff the textbook into his bag. However, the textbook stubbornly refused to slip into the bag, leaving Kyungsoo to stare at it.

 

Feeling triffed that a book he usually could fit in could not, he bit his lip in determination before pushing the book in with all his might. He hastily tapped out at the entrance just as the ends of his book went into it.

 

Yes! he shouted mentally truimphantly as he jumped onto the pavement outside. However no sooner than he stepped off the bus, he collided right into another person.

 

The thick book slipped right out of Kyungsoo's hand easily much to his dismay and landed on the pavement with a loud thud. There was a loud shriek of terror in front of him, followed by a ear piercing crash of metal onto the ground. 

 

"Excuse me can you get out of the way-" Kyungsoo began in a controlled fury as he bent down to pick his textbook in a hurry. No longer than a second, the image pieces and parts of an unmistakable camera greeted his eyes with a glaring shock.

 

The pieces lay scattered on the floor, slightly above where his textbook had fallen. What? he thought in disbelief, opening his eyes wide. Did I just-

 

"You mean, excuse you!" a girl said with an obvious hint of anger in her voice. A pair of faded sneakers came into Kyungsoo's view before the owner of the voice kneeled onto the pavement beside him as she picked up pieces of her damaged camera.

 

Dumbfounded, Kyungsoo watched the girl sieve through the broken plastic anxiously. He could almost feel the anguish exuding from her and he felt extremely guilty upon seeing her almost desperate look as well. 

 

Suddenly, the girl picked up a small rectangular piece and fell back onto the pavement in relief. Kyungsoo heard her mutter something like "It's not broken.." under her breath before she looking up at him and giving him a piercing look.

 

Her expression so furious that it took Kyungsoo quite a lot of will power to look back into her eyes. In that moment, Kyungsoo honestly thought that there could be nothing worse than an angry girl with shocking blue hair giving you daggers.

 

Unconsciously, his eyes scanned her facial feature with mild interest. Mid length blue hair, small eyes, tanned skin, black irises, round face-

 

The girl then opened in an offensive manner as if to admonish Kyungsoo but just as quickly as she opened it, she closed it. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she said, "Stop looking at me."

 

Before Kyungsoo could even say anything in reply, the girl hastily picked up the broken pieces from the ground and dashed off towards the school compound without another word.

 

Kyungsoo felt really puzzled as he stared at her disappearing figure. He then looked down at the pavement again and picked up a random piece of plastic the girl had left behind. Shiny embevellishments reflected into his eyes from it, catching his attention as a result.

 

He read aloud to himself, eyes glued onto the broken piece, "Canon EOS 500D." God that's a DSLR camera, Kyungsoo groaned inwardly. A DSLR camera could cost up to thousands of dollars, and it was no surprise why the girl was so angry.

 

But there was one thing - why didn't she say anything else? She could have lashed out for all she wanted, and Kyungsoo would have gone down without a fight. It was his fault for not looking up to see where he was going anyway. And it was because of his physics textbook. Glaring accusingly at the non-living object in his hands, he stood up and walked towards the school gates.

 

------

 

 

"And the highest score of 98 goes to-"

 

"Do Kyungsoo..." 

 

Their teacher chuckled upon hearing her students' bored voices as they chimed Kyungsoo's name. They were correct. Do Kyungsoo had gotten the top score again. She then walked over to his desk and handed him his paper.

 

"How do you even manage to get above 90?" his table mate asked with a groan as he stared at Kyungsoo's paper jealously. Kyungsoo flipped through the test paper while shrugging. 

 

That question wasn't new. Plus, it was usually accompanied by "You're a genius." or "How do you get top all the time?" or, the most common question, "Can I copy your homework?" Honestly speaking, the only reason why he was not cast out as a nerd and freak was because his answer to that question was a yes most of the time.

 

As their teacher strode over to the next table, his chocolate haired partner snatched Kyungsoo's paper from his hands and began flipping through it. Kyungsoo knew better than to take it back. Byun Baekhyun would always get what he wanted, especially through his annoying whining.

 

With that said, Baekhyun whined in annoyance with his face still buried in the paper, " I got this wrong. That's 6 marks! And this wrong too. God damn it I'm going to fail."

 

Kyungsoo sighed silently in exasperation as he fiddled with his pens atop the desk. "Yeap I failed," the boy beside him declared as their teacher placed his paper on his table. He then slid Kyungsoo's paper back onto his table and Kyungsoo returned to scanning through it. 

 

Their teacher proceeded to go through the questions with the class and Kyungsoo was half tempted to doze off, but the good natured part of him told his brain to stay awake. It was good to refresh information, he had always told himself. Yeah, nerd much.

 

Halfway through the lesson, Baekhyun whispered into his ear with a cheeky grin, "Hey Kyungsoo, you know about the upcoming music festival?"

 

"Yeah...?"

 

"I'm planning to joining the signing competition, and I thought maybe we could do a duet."

 

Kyungsoo turned his head and gave the boy a withering look, "No." Baekhyun pouted in disappointment but he did not argue further. This would have been the tenth time he had asked Kyungsoo about school events since they had begun sitting beside each other and it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Kyungsoo rejected his offer. 

 

Kyungsoo never deemed himself as the socialising kind. He would very much like to keep a low profile until graduation with few incidents, thank you.

 

The lesson droned on and on until the bell rang, signifying the end of the lesson. There was a usual scraping of chairs on the tiled floors and a buzz of conversations around the corridor and Kyungsoo made his way to the library after bidding goodbye to Baekhyun.

 

Along the way, there were guys acting like doofuses, pushing each other around and girls moving around in groups like a penguin colony, giggling and whispering to each other. It really annoyed Kyungsoo to some extent. He disliked the way all of those contributed to endless noise and he sometimes wished that people could be quieter.

 

Kyungsoo took a startled step back as two boys dashed out from a corner while laughing loudly. He gritted his teeth to calm himself down before continuing his route. There seemed to be no sign of peace and quiet along the way, until he spotted a lone blue haired figure in a dark corner. 

 

It was her.

 

The girl was sitting on the steps of a staircase and in her hands were the broken pieces of the camera. A bright red laptop sat open on her lap as she fiddled with the parts with a determined look on her face. 

 

Kyungsoo stalled in his tracks. The forgotten guilt came rushing back at him and he pondered on whether to approach the girl. She would definitely be not pleased at his appearance and would most probably yell at him, but still, he had to at least apologise. He then nodded at this train of thoughts before walking towards the stairs.

 

Completely engrossed in her computer, the girl paid no attention to him even as he stopped in front of her. Kyungsoo swallowed a nervous gulp and said, looking down at her, "Excuse me." She quickly looked up at him and a glaze of unfamiliarity came over her eyes. A second later, she nodded in recognition with a series of rapid blinking, "Ah yes. You're the boy knocked into me this morning. What's up?"

 

For a moment, Kyungsoo was confused. Why was she being so nice? 

 

He then continued in an unsure tone to explain his appearance, "I knocked into your camera and it-" "Crashed and died," the girl cut in as she turned her attention back onto her computer screen, "Not all though. At least the SD card is still working." After saying her piece, she looked up again and smiled cheerfully at Kyungsoo. 

 

"So, why are you looking for me?"

 

"Compensation. I-I mean I knocked your camera into the ground, and it's pretty expensive..."

 

The girl's eyes widened with wonder as though he had dropped down from the heavens. After a stunned silence, she said with unblinking eyes, "It's okay. I was about to get a new one. They're coming out a new model anyway." "Is it the 700D? I'll get it for you!" Kyungsoo said quickly in a gush. He was really sincere about it, even if it would cost him most of his savings. 

 

If she could look any more amazed, she did. Sweeping her hair over her shoulder, the girl asked in a genuinely interested tone, "You know about photography?" Kyungsoo shuffled his feet awkwardly and answered while looking at the dusty ground, "I've read about it. Not really interested though."

 

"Then how'd you know about the 700D?"

 

"I... saw it on an advertisement."

 

"Oh," she said as her shoulders drooped a little, "Ah well. It's okay. You don't have to do anything. It was partly my fault too. I was too busy looking at my pictures." Kyungsoo shook his head stubbornly after looking up at her eyes, "I have to do something. If I don't I'll feel bad for the rest of my life." 

 

The two of them exchanged looks in a strangely not awkward atmosphere. After it had gotten too long, Kyungsoo contemplated springing his puppy eyes move on the girl (not his favourite). The girl finally answered carefully while picking at the dirt on her computer's keyboard, "If you insist... Alright."

 

Kyungsoo smiled mildly at the girl but she interrupted, "But but but, not now. Just take it that you owe me a favour, and I can claim that favour from you anytime. Agreed?" He nodded his head without hesitation and the girl smiled kindly back at him, twirling her blue hair around her finger.

 

------

 

It was evening time when Kyungsoo's classes ended. The sun shone down warmly in an orange hue on the faces of the pedestrians' faces who were walking on the pavement and he leaned heavily against a notice board at the bus stop.

 

1/2 mv squared, 1/2 kx squared, equilibrium, redox reaction, organic chemistry... Kyungsoo thought mindlessly as he waited for the bus to arrive. His stomach rumbled and he could almost smell the food cooked by his one and only grandmother.

 

A sigh escaped his lips before closing his eyes. 

 

Today, Kyungsoo felt more tired than usual. Was it because of the talk between him and the strange blue haired girl?

 

"Fancy meeting you here," an amused voice said. Kyungsoo quickly opened his eyes to see who it was. It was the girl. "I thought I wasn't going to see you anymore." He pursed his lips tightly before answering, "I wasn't expecting to see you either."

 

Pulling her white earphones out of her ears, she shrugged and said, "Maybe it's fate." Kyungsoo stared blankly at the girl at those words. "Fate?" he repeated with slight skeptism. The girl then raised an eyebrow questioningly at Kyungsoo as if she found his question irrelevant.

 

"Yeah. Anything wrong with that?"

 

Kyungsoo wanted to disagree with her strongly, but he had no basis for his argument. Biting his lip grudgingly, he shook his head slowly. A smile crept onto the girl's face upon seeing his reply. 

 

Silence ensued between the two of them and Kyungsoo turned his line of vision towards the busy road in front of them. He then thought blandly to himself, This girl is weird.

 

The constant and low rumbling of the traffic together with the dreary air was slowly getting to Kyungsoo and he blinked his eyes hard, trying to not fall asleep.

 

The girl asked curiously suddenly as she shifted closer to him, "So... How was your mid-year's results? I've heard that you are extraordinarily smart." At first, Kyungsoo was about to roll his eyes in annoyance and just tell her his GPA but he realised something was amiss soon after.

 

He furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion before asking slowly, "You know who I am?" 

 

The girl then widened her eyes which seemed to shine even under the shaded area of the bus stop. "Well, I have to inform you, Do Kyungsoo, you're quite well-known across the level," she told him in a matter-of-fact voice. It took Kyungsoo a while to register her words.

 

"Wait what?"

 

Just then, the bus rumbled into the bus stop and the girl skipped lightly towards the door while humming a tune. Still in a stupor, Kyungsoo sighed before following after the girl. So she was indeed taking the same bus as him as well. Good luck to him, and to his sanity.

 

The door closed behind him as Kyungsoo tapped his card at the device. "Seriously? Does everyone know me? How even- Hey! Wait!" he half-shouted when the girl just strode down the aisle with her wispy bright hair floating behind her. Kyungsoo hastily ran after her after slidding his wallet back into his pocket.

 

Suddenly, the bus jerked sharply shortly after it started moving and Kyungsoo stumbled forward, effectively knocking into the girl. Fortunately, he had quickly grabbed onto a seat to prevent himself from entirely toppling onto the ground. The girl shot him a glare as shortly after she had regained her footing. "Sorry," Kyungsoo apologised immediately. 

 

After narrowing her eyes, she then swung her red knapsack onto her lap before sitting down swiftly on an empty seat. Kyungsoo followed her rather blindly in hopes of getting an answer. Rather fiercely, the girl hissed, "Don't sit next to me."

 

"What makes you think that I'm going to sit next to you?" Kyungsoo asked incredulously as he stared downwards at her. The girl retorted immediately, her eyes still fixated on his with a fiery glaze, "Because your eyes tell me so." 

 

"What kind of logic is that?"

 

"Human logic. You know, and actions speak louder than words."

 

The girl raised an eyebrow at his hand and Kyungsoo realised with a start that he had put his bag onto the seat next to hers. Quicker than lightning, Kyungsoo removed his bag from the seat with a start. From the corner of eyes, he could see a middle aged lady giving the two of them a stink eye two rows behind them. The girl must have noticed it as well since she hissed quietly, "Go and sit down, you ."

 

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Kyungsoo hugged his bag before conveniently slipping into the seat behind the girl. "I'm not a by the way," he answered haughtily after settling down. The girl snorted sarcastically upon hearing his words, "Okay. I'll believe you." 

 

After that line, the bus fell into quietness. But Kyungsoo still hadn't gotten his question answered.

 

"Hey. Why did you say I'm quite well known?" he asked with genuine curiosity as he leaned forward. Without turning around, the girl answered simply, "Nobody just gets an almost perfect score for every paper and exam for three years in a row, sir." 

 

"Oh."

 

Honestly, Kyungsoo throught that it was possible if people would just put in more effort to revise and study. In this case, people were just making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

Another question popped up in his mind which made Kyungsoo not happy that he had to ask about it. Clutching the seat handle in front of him, Kyungsoo asked with sudden nervousness, "What's... You name?"

 

At that, the girl turned around and stared at Kyungsoo's face for a great deal. It was only now that Kyungsoo found her stares pretty unsettling. It was more than just simple looking. She seemed like she was trying to dig out some form of information from his face and Kyungsoo did not like it. 

 

"Stop staring," he said with a pokerface. The girl turned her head downwards in a fast motion as she leaned against the window comfortably. She then told him hesitantly, "My name is Dahi. Choi Dahi. "

 

"Nice name."

 

"Thanks."

 

The atmosphere turned awkward for some unclear reason as Kyungsoo looked away and began staring out of the window. The town passed by the bus in a blur as Kyungsoo's mind slipped into his sub-conscious state of observing the surroundings once again. It was only a while, but Kyungsoo was beginning to feel strangely drowsy.

 

As he closed his eyes to sleep, Kyungsoo saw the gi- Dahi taking out her phone camera to take pictures of the interior of the bus. "If you take photos of me sleeping, I'm going to murder you.." he mumbled sleepily. Just before his world drifted into another, Kyungsoo saw Dahi smiling to herself and nodding.

 

The last image he registered was her aquamarine blue hair sweeping around her shoulders like lulling waves and he fell into a slow, peaceful sleep.

 

When Kyungsoo woke up, Dahi was no longer there.