C h a p t e r      O n e 

You stretched your arms and legs that are slowly becoming numb as the hours passed by. Your third period teacher was not present, thus giving the whole class an hour and a half of vacant time. Your classmates chose to play outside, the weather was fine—the sun was up and the warm breeze was refreshing as well, a perfect time to play an outdoor activity. The rest of your classmates had decided to either wander around the campus, chitchat with one another about the latest gossips (especially your female classmates), while some, whose mind is somewhat connected to yours, had chosen to take a little nap.

Yawning, you divert your attention towards the vast soccer field visible in your room. The loud and happy cheers ricocheted around the nearby places. It was around two in the afternoon and just three more subjects and you’ll be off to work.

“Aigoo” you muttered under your breath, cupping your face in one hand. You envy those people out in the field, playing in a place where they truly belong. You had been studying in High School for two years now, and honestly speaking you don’t know where you belong.

There are several of clubs within your school, but you are a member of none. You think lowly of yourself; you believe that no matter what club you choose to join in the end you’ll just receive rejection. And rejection, rejection is the very least you wish to experience. You had had a lot of rejections in your life and you do not wish a déjà vu all over again.

Thus, being the timid you, you have decided to isolate yourself, not that a lot of people took notice of you either. It just seems that way. You’re in good terms with your classmates, they do not bully you, they do not talk to you much either. All there is in your relationship with them is classmate-classmate relationship, nothing more and nothing less.

The remaining class hours passed by, you bid your farewells to your classmates and headed straight to your part-time job.

You’re an employee of one the coffee shops downtown, namely the “Sunflower Café”. You had been working there since you entered High School, around a year now—almost two. You decided to commute there by walking, it was not far, and it’s not close either. Many would protest saying how stupid you are for miscalculating a short distance from a long distance. But that’s just how you are, you enjoy long walks, and in all honesty, you think they’re just exaggerating things, for the café is not that far. They’re just being picky and sensitive—you thought.

You reached your working place one hour later after leaving the grounds of your school (you blame it on the breath-taking sunset you had witnessed just now). You immediately walk to the kitchen. You entered the door behind the counter and slipped yourself into your bear-embroider apron with laces on the edges.

“You’re just in time” Your unnie, Sooyoung, who had been working with you in the same span, had greeted you without turning her head to take a glimpse of you. You didn’t mind though, you’re used to her personality—whenever she’s working on something, she’s a hundred percent focus on it, but not forgetting to mind her surroundings. And now, she’s busy washing the dishes.

You take note of her emphasis, you clearly know what she meant and without passing a second, you answered “The sunset was captivating today, breath-taking” You said casually as you start brewing some coffee.

“Sunsets are always captivating. Tell me, you’re not late because you met with someone aren’t you?” Sooyoung said teasingly, nudging you on your side and giving you a knowing look.

You shook you head before heaving a sigh. Being with her for almost two years, you learned three major things about Sooyoung: First, she’s a hardworking woman who is dedicated to her task—whatever it may be; Second, she’s a woman whose physique is slimmer than you but has a humongous stomach storage, thus she keeps the title ‘Shikshin’ all to herself; and Third, she’s the epitome of tease.

“No unnie, and I’m not going to repeat myself” You answered before diverting your attention back at the brewed coffee.

“As you say, but just so you know… I’m not buying it”

You nearly face palm yourself.

It had been nearly four hours since you had begun working; slowly exhaustion is creeping through your body. You didn’t mind the pressure and lethargy that you feel, because you know only this work can support you financially.

You are not rich, but you’re not the poorest among the poor either. You challenge yourself part-timing when you passed the scholarship examination in Seoul Arts High School to sustain your other necessities. You don’t pity yourself, you just sometimes feel lonely and envious of those of your age hanging out and laughing with their parents.

You shrug the thought away by shaking your head vigorously, thinking that it’s not the right time to reminisce such sad moments of your life. You believe and prided yourself that you are brave, that you do not force yourself to believe you are brave because you know you are. Being alone, you learned how to be independent and how to vie with the harshness of life. You do not social-climb and you definitely don’t do something immoral. For you, you are content with what you are and with what you have, thinking that everything you already have are enough blessings from above.

You whipped your head towards the counter when you heard someone calls your name “Yeah, unnie?” you asked.

“Can you throw the trash? Your Sooyoung-unnie here doesn’t listen to me when I asked her to do it a while ago” Jinyoung, your other co-worker unnie asks you as she pointed at the bin below the counter.

You turned your head to the place where Sooyoung is and found her indulging herself in a not-so-complicated task once again. For you--own opinion, you think out of all the unnies you know, Sooyoung is the most comical. “You know Sooyoung-unnie, once she’s doing something…”

“…she will not mind the rest. I know, I know” Jinyoung finished your sentence for you, adding an exasperated sigh after. “Will you?”

“Of course, it’s nothing” You nodded your head and removed your plastic gloves. You decided to throw the other trash from the kitchen as well.

You grabbed a garbage plastic bag and compile all the trash into it. Once you are done, you make sure that the knot you did was tight so you won’t spill any waste. “I’m throwing the trash!” You yelled to inform your two unnies that you’ll be out and where you will be. You heard two responses: A one loud and clear ‘Okay’ which you are sure belongs to Jinyoung, and the other one is like a mumble which you are definitely sure is Sooyoung’s.

The garbage bin was some meters away from the café; it was around the alley, first right after the shop. You look up at the stars which were vaguely visible through the thick night clouds that are blocking them. You sighed, for the umpteenth time.

You were about to turn into the alley when a swift movement caught your attention. From the other side of the street, you saw a silhouette approaching, you didn’t mind it first. But as it inch closer, panic and fear overwhelmed you.

You quicken you pace and immediately dump the trash into the bin without sorting them. As you were about to turn, you felt a tight grip on your shoulders. In a second, you found yourself hiding in the darkest part of the alley, with someone smothering your yells.

“Don’t budge too much or else you’ll be in grave danger” He whispered. You figure out he was a man, for his voice was husky.

You comply although you can feel your own heartbeat, palpitating against your chest. You felt you legs weaken because of too much anxiety, and not a minute had passed, you heard rapid footsteps passing by the alley. You manage to heed some of their sentences.

“Don’t stop looking, he cannot be that far” One man yell

“Yes boss!” His subordinates chorused that you found your rationality once again.

If there are few people looking for a man, then possibly it’s the man behind you. Random thoughts flooded your mind; is this man a murderer, a snatcher, a drug dealer and pusher, or worst a ? When the sounds of their footsteps dismissed, you tried to break yourself free from his tight grip.

You felt the loosening of his clutch and supposed it’s your cue; with all your force and energy left, you shove yourself away from him and started running back to the back door of the café when…

Someone grabbed your wrist and the next thing you know, someone had kissed you.

~~~~

You lazily climb up the stairs to your classroom. Last night’s incident was still vividly fresh from your mind. Your unnies were worried as hell when you returned to the café, ranting about how long it took you to throw the trashes, how quiet you’ve become when you return, and how futile you have became after you have returned.

You didn’t want them to worry, and honestly speaking, you do not want to share that dastardly incident. How can someone just kissed you carelessly like it’s not a big deal. Well, to some it’s not but for you, it was your first kiss, thus it was a big deal, not to mention you lost your first kiss to someone you don’t know, you don’t even know what’s he looked like.

You suddenly stopped walking when you felt the sudden throbbing of your head, a headache, you thought. You leaned against the railings to support yourself as you dragged your feet towards the room.

You blame yourself for over-thinking too much last night, you didn’t have an enough rest to start school today and you reckon you won’t do well on work either. You touched your forehead—aigoo, slight fever. You close your eyes for a while, hoping everything will be fine when you open them. But you were wrong, the moment you open your eyes, your world suddenly turns blurry and it felt like you're inside a whirlpool, the world is spinning and the last thing you remembered was a distort form of someone and then it’s all black.

You were awoken by the sunlight that was permeating through the glass window of a… clinic. You conclude you are inside the hospital wing. You tried to straighten yourself and wonder how much time you spent inside the clinic ward. You decided to look at the sky; you think it was noon already, since when did you passed out?

“Feeling better?” A school nurse entered your ward with a clipboard on her hand.

You nodded politely before checking your own temperature “A lot better now, thanks. Since when I was here?” you asked, slowly getting up.

“Before class starts” She answered, handling you the form you need to fill up.

“Who brought me here?”

“Not seen his face before, must be the transfer student”

You nodded and didn’t utter another word after. You finished filling up the form and thanked the staffs present on the desk and headed towards your class. You couldn’t help notice the glares and scoffs coming from the students you pass by. You lowered your head and tried your best to ignore them and reach your room as soon as you can.

You had never experienced such circumstances before; no one will waste a second to take a glimpse on you so why are they bothering now? You exhaled gratefully when you reached the door to your room.

As always, the room was thunderous with all variation of voices and pitch; some are even throwing paper balls to each other, while some are playing their instruments with some people singing together with the melody. Some manage to find peace in their sleeps despite the riot happening inside the room. But in spite of the catastrophes happening inside, someone outstands to you, someone you are definitely sure you have not seen before, and you are a hundred percent sure he wasn’t your classmates not until…

Ah… maybe the transfer student the nurse was talking about; you nodded your head before entering the room, trying to scrutinize the newcomer.

The moment you reached the teacher’s desk, as absurd as it was a while ago, everybody stop what they are doing. All those dudes who are having fun playing pranks with one another stopped their little ploys momentarily to look at you, the folks who are playing their instruments and those people singing also did stop. Those female classmates of yours stop gossiping for a while, and if there’s one thing you’re thankful—that will be the sleeping people not waking up just to look at you (although you thought one almost did).

“H-hi?” You smiled awkwardly as they all stare at you blankly; some of the females give glares and scoffs, while some had just expressionless faces.

You see the transfer student stands from his seat, throwing the soccer ball on his hands to one of his peers. He slowly makes his way towards the front, you wonder if he’s heading your way. “So…” he said, you had the urge to pull off that smirk from his face, you didn’t know why but that handsome smirk irks you.

“So…”

“I guess you’re—“

He was disrupted when the door creaked open once again, revealing the frame of your homeroom teacher. He was searching the entire room and was surprised to see the whole room quiet. “Okay… that was rare, I didn’t expect to come here and witness all of you shutting your mouths and—“ he stopped the moment his eyes latched upon you.

“Oh… you’re here, been looking for you. I went to the clinic to check up on you and they say that you had been discharge” He said, a relief smile plastered on his face. “Well… I guess you already know then?”

“Know what?” You asked, sincerely confuse.

“About the pairing-thing”

“What about it? I’ve got no partner sir, and I think you already know that—“

“But you have one already!”

“Who?”

“Luhan. Xi Luhan”

“Who is… Lu… Lu-what?”

“That guy beside you! I thought you already knew since you were talking” You homeroom teacher, Mr. Kang, pointed at the guy smirking beside you.

“I guess, you’ll be my partner then. Please be easy on me partner”

And for the first time, you regretted coming out of the clinic all too soon. This, you think, won’t be as sailing on calm waters as you did last school term. Not when a cocky jerk is now your partner.

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[A/N] So here's the first chapter. I'm sorry if it's kind of sappy. I think it's not the beginning you were all expecting and I'm truly sorry to disappoint you. I promise I will be better with the following chapters. I'll try to express more of 'your' feelings and I'll try to be more descriptive. I am truly sorry for the lame chapter and I've purposely didn't include some information about 'you' for all those information will be reveal in the right time. Please be patient with me, I'll make sure that the progess is swift and not confusing. That's all I can say for now. There's not much to explain in this chapter I guess? Comment and Susbscribe! Tell me your insights =)))