I.

“Haneul, detention,” Mr. Lee said sternly, and I knew from that point my whole school year would be terrible.

You know how in movies and shows the teachers are either nice or plain mean to their students? Well that’s obviously not true because Mr. Lee only put me in detention or the sake of his paycheck. He didn’t even investigate the matter and I did not really want to punch him. Yes, him, Kwon Jiyong. I didn’t even want to punch him. It was just, an “accident”.

 ✿

I looked up at the ceiling of my room. I have, been dreading this day. Things have changed a lot since I moved back to Seoul after my parents passed away in a car accident last summer in California. We (my brothers and I) were taken under the custody of our grandparents, who actually owns a pretty major enterprise – I can’t believe we never knew that, and were flown back to Korea. I do not like the idea of that.

Just to fill you in, I am a wallflower. Yes, the shy girl who stays at the sidelines and never speaks, also the one who doesn’t have a date for prom – if I was still in LA – and most importantly I don’t really socialize with people. Also I suffer from social anxiety and which is why I hate meeting people and I don’t really speak up for myself, because when I do no one listens to me.

You see I don’t talk a lot but I sure think a lot. In my head.

A picture speaks a thousand words and silence is the loudest scream. I have a monster in my head and it fills me up with thoughts and up all my confidence. Basically, my self-esteem is not existent low.

“Haneul, don’t be lazy, come downstairs for breakfast! School starts in an hour!”

My brother hollered.

I put on the tacky high school uniforms and proceeded downstairs for breakfast. I didn’t really know what to expect from school. I just didn’t want to attend high school, I mean, there are the bullies, the popular table, and the students and then there’s me. The odd one out, the one who joins the class in the middle of a school term. What could I expect? Everyone to like me? No, I wouldn’t think that way.

It’s hard to make friends.

“Stop staring into space, if you’re done then go away.”

I looked up, obviously startled and found my big brother staring down at me. I nodded my head and I got up from the dining table, grabbed my schoolbag and headed for the door. My plate was swiftly scooped up from the table and my brother devoured the food.

I never touched a single thing on that plate.

So.

School was just a few blocks down the road, which meant that it was surely one of prestige and people of wealthy backgrounds attend it. Why? Because the estate was built for the rich people. It’s an invisible line that our selfish society had drawn to separate the rich from the poor, so if someone of a “lower class” were to wonder into this estate, they would receive weird glances from the residents.

I told the butler that I would walk to school, and even though he threw me a couple of concerned glances, he let me go. I didn’t think that it would be that hard for me to find a school but really this place is a maze and I… felt scared.

I bumped into someone. Or rather, someone bumped into me. It hurt, a little. I stared at the ground, my heart was thumping and I felt like I was going to faint, the monster started chanting in my head, my breathing was irregular and …

“I’m sorry,” I muttered and looked up at the person, catching his eye and then staring down at the ground once more. I hate eye contact. It scares me. Slowly, I got to my feet and stood up, in the process rubbing my hands and noticing the bruise that appeared on my arm. Ouch. I must have hit something hard.

Breathing hard, I lifted my head and looked at the figure that I bumped into, and surprisingly he looked, good. But cold, like me. He had strong distinct features, but his eyes, they seemed to be staring right into my soul, the hazel orbs were fixated on mine and it sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes were sad, I could feel it. He has a monster in him too. But he wasn’t socially anxious like me; I could feel it in my bones.

It scares me how much I could think of in a second.