"추억" - Part II

THE FLASHBACKS (FIRST MEETING)

“KYAAAAAAAAAA~!!!! We will be High School students tomorrow!!! Yoomi!!! Sina!!! I still couldn’t believe it!!! We passed the exams and we are going to the same high school!!!”

“I know!!! Tomorrow… It would be okay, right?!”

“Eiiiii~ Yoomi, don’t be so scared like that!!”

“Sina!! You know I’m afraid of meeting new people!!”

“Oh c’mon, Yoomi!! You know you can make new friends!! You were a captain once!!”

“Yes, Yoomi!! You always made our former school proud by getting those meaningless Volleyball trophies”

“Jung Yoori!!”

Three best-friends were talking through phone and they were excited of becoming freshmen in TOP High School, the quite famous high school in Seoul. All of them are neighbor since their childhood and they always together even since kindergarten. Their parents are good friends. Yoori has one older brother and one younger brother while Yoomi has one younger brother and Sina has one older sister and one younger sister & brother.

Three of them were basically come from a well-known family. Yoori’s family was running a boutique around their neighborhood. Sina’s family owned a bakery shop in their house. Yoomi’s family had a café near Yoori’s family boutique. Yoomi’s parents would always order the breads or cakes from Sina’s family bakery shop for their café.

In the night time, before they enrolled their new school, their families were throwing a small party to celebrate their first time as freshmen in high school. They had fun, of course.

***

Next morning, Sina who was the first one to be ready to go to school was waiting for her friends in the bus stop around their neighborhood. Yes, they prefer to ride on a bus rather than bothering their parents to pick them up. Sina put her earphone to her ear and listened to music. She turned her head to her right and saw a boy wearing the same uniform as her, sat beside her in the bus stop– reading a book. She never saw this boy around the area, “Hmm.. Must be newcomer here”, she muttered.  Then, she saw her friends running towards her. Yoori slipped and almost fell but then, the new boy looked at her – caught her body from falling to the ground. Yoomi and Sina got shocked with what just happened and felt thankful to this beautiful boy for catching their friend.

“Are you okay?!”

“Uhh.. Huh?!?! I’m alive?!?!”

“Hahaha.. Be careful, miss. I see that we are in the same school. Can we come together?? I’m a freshmen and I’m new here”

“Uhh… Sure… Why not?! Right, Sina?? Yoomi?? Btw, thank you so much for saving me”

“You’re welcome. I’m Chanhee. Lee Chanhee. My family just moved here. Nice to know you all; Sina, Yoomi and….”

“Just call me Yoori. Since all of us are freshmen, that’s good!! First friend we got on our 1^st day!!”

By that, they were riding on a bus together, went to their new school. Chanhee sat with Yoomi in the bus and Sina sat with Yoori. Little did they know, Chanhee sometimes took a glance on Yoori, the one he just saved a while ago. He smiled whenever he saw Yoori’s face. Yoomi, who sat beside him also took a glance at him, realized that he’s been glancing towards her friend, made a smirk on her face.

They finally arrived on their last stop and walked towards the school gate where they saw five boys which seemed to be waiting for someone there. But three of them wore different uniforms. Chanhee saw them and bid his goodbye to the girls, ran to the boys there. “So, they are waiting for Chanhee then”, “Are they Chanhee’s friends?!” and “He has friends already?! Oh, maybe just like us, friend since our childhood” were surrounding around the girls brain while they were walking on the school yard.

“HYUNG-DEUL~!!! WE REALLY CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!”, the cutest one made fake tears.

“YA!!Yoo Changhyun!! You are embarrassing us!!”, the most handsome one hit Changhyun’s poor head.

“Aish~!! It hurts, Byunghun hyung!!”

“So?! You still have Niel and Jonghyun!!”

“But we are unseparated, hyung!! Isn’t that right, Minsoo hyung?!”

“Ohh~”

“Don’t tell me you are sleepy again, hyung?! C’mon!! It’s your first day!!”

“Arasseo, Niel!! Now all of yougo to school!! We need to go inside as well!!”

“Okay, goodbye Minsoo, Chanhee and Byunghun hyung~!!! Good luck!!”

As they made their way to the school’s aisle, they could hear some girls whispering, “Whoaa~ Hotties~!!”, “Look at those biceps!!”, “Oh no!! We have handsome boys finally!!”, “They will be popular here, I bet!! Kyaaaa~!!”, “How come a boy have that kind of beautiful face?! Just like a prince”, etc. They were used to it since their Middle School. Most of the girls were of course their sunbaes while the other girls who were freshmen like them just admiring them from a far – scared of their sunbaes.

“1-2”, “1-2”, “1-2”, they said in unison after checking their agendas. They were in one class and they just showed that they were not amused by the fact. They then walked in to the classroom. Chanhee secretly looked for Yoori, in hope that he would be her classmate as well. But sadly, there was no sign that Yoori was in that class. He took a seat along with Byunghun and Minsoo near the window. Then, someone caught his attention. It was Sina walking in to their classroom. Sina saw Chanhee also and she waved her hand towards him.

“Chanhee, can I sit with you?? You are the only one I know here in this class. So…”

“Sure!! Here!! Come sit here!! Byunghun-ah, get away!! Sit with Minsoo!!”

“Whoaa~ Lee Chanhee throws me away just for a girl?? You like her?!”

“Oh, just shut up, Byunghun!! She is just my neighbor. That’s all!!”

“Uhh… It’s okay. I can find another seat…”,Sina was already turned her back, ready to find another seat but then Byunghun held her arm.

“Nuhh~ You can have this seat”, Byunghun said while winking to Sina.

Sina finally sat there and asked Chanhee if Byunghun is really a player or not. She was shocked hearing Chanhee’s answer. Byunghun could hear her gasp and looked annoyed. He knew that Chanhee must be talking about him. But he didn’t know that actually Chanhee just revealed his weakness or we can say, SECRET. In return, Chanhee was asking Sina where was Yoomi and Yoori. Sina said that Yoomi and Yoomi were in one class, 1-1 while she was in 1-2 alone.

The bell finally rang and it was the time for new students gathered together in the auditorium for Welcoming Ceremony. Sina met her friends but since they had to sit based on their class, they were separated again. The whole ceremony was not interesting for both the girls and the boys. Minsoo was slightly sleeping, Byunghun joined Minsoo in his dream, Chanhee kept talking with Sina, Yoomi and Yoori always checked their mobile – whether it was for playing games or texting. None of them were listening to the headmaster.

The ceremony ended in an hour and they went to their classroom. The first subject for class 1-2 was Mathematic and Sina was the only one excited to learn. She listened to her teacher. Chanhee also listened to his teacher but he was not that smart like Sina. Yes, Sina was the smartest girl either in their neighborhood or former school. Both of them were busy taking notes from the teacher while Minsoo was sleeping (again) and Byunghun played games from his PSP.

Meanwhile in Yoomi and Yoori’s class, the first subject was Arts. Both of them enjoyed this class since they love arts. On their first day, the teacher asked them to draw something important in their life. Yoori had no difficulties in drawing so she drew her family. While Yoomi, she had a little problem in drawing. She could draw well but not pro like Yoori. Yoomi was best on music and not to mention, PE.

The bell rang and it was the time for break. Sina ran to her friends’ class that just next to her class. They went to the cafeteria and saw Chanhee with one of his friends as well. Chanhee was calling them but they ignored him since they were surrounded by girls. The three of them then walked out to school’s garden to eat their lunch there. They met Byunghun in the aisle and they saw how Byunghun winked his eyes towards them one by one. While the other girls were shrieking like crazy people, surprisingly all of them didn’t fall for it. They just walked by putting a what-the-fuck-face towards Byunghun. It made Byunghun shocked.

“How come those girls didn’t fall for my powerful wink?!”, he muttered. He then proceeded his way to the cafeteria and sat with Chanhee and Minsoo.

“That Sina girl… She didn’t fall for my charm?? She and her friends were ignoring my wink!! Aaaaarrrggghhh!! I don’t like it!!! I hate it!!”

“You should stop being a player, Byunghun. Not every girl would fall for you just like what they did. Just stop it!!”

“I can’t, Chanhee!! Being a player is a part of my life!!”

“Whatever!!”

Byunghun then took a bite of his sandwich which was bought by Chanhee. Deep in his head, he was thinking on how to make Sina and her friends fall for him. He never liked it when girls not amused by his handsomeness. Because it just made him remind something painful from his past. He munched his sandwich while thinking, not knowing that the bell was already rang.

/Let’s just skip the class/

Time to go home for the seniors, but not for the freshmen. They had to choose a club they wanted to join as an extra. Yoori chose arts of course while Sina chose to join the science club. Yoomi joined the Volleyball club (of course) while Minsoo joined the Basketball club. Chanhee chose music and Byunghun chose dance. Based on the schedule, (Arts) Yoori, Chanhee and Byunghun had the same time on their extra while (PE) Minsoo and Yoomi were together and Sina (again) alone with her club activities. At that time of course they still didn’t know each other except Chanhee.

Yoori, Yoomi and Sina were done with the club selection and they were walking together to the bus stop. In Yoori’s little heart, she hoped that Chanhee would join them again to go home together. Sadly, Chanhee was nowhere to be seen. They sat in the bus stop and giggled each other like best friends usually do. Then a famous brand car passed in front of the bus stop. Yoomi once took a glance and saw Chanhee’s face inside the car while Chanhee also looked at her or probably Yoori, who sat beside her. Chanhee’s head followed the girls made Byunghun who drove the car scoffed.

“What?! You saw a ghost?? Or HOT GIRLS?!”

“YAH!!! I’m trying to sleep here!!! Reduce your volume, Lee Byunghun!!”

“Aigoo, you’ve been sleeping like a day, Minsoo!! So, tell me what did you see??”

“Just… My neighbors”

“SINA?!AND HER FRIENDS!!!”

“LEE BYUNGHUN!!!”

The ride was awful since Byunghun and Minsoo were arguing each other. Byunghun intended that he wanted to go back to where the girls were but Minsoo took over the wheel and started driving. Chanhee was just sat there while thinking about Yoori. He didn’t know or couldn’t believe that he could fall in love at first sight.

“Yoori, what do you think about Chanhee??”

“Ehh?! Why so sudden – YA!! Don’t tell me you like him, Yoomi?!”

“What?!Aniya.. I’m just curious”

“We just met, Yoomi. Nothing special!!”,Yoori lied.

“Oh~ Arasseo”

Sina secretly looked at her friends– eaves dropping what they were talking about. She smelled something wrong with Yoomi. The way she asked the question to Yoori seems strange, like there was something hidden behind her words. Either she liked Chanhee OR Chanhee liked Yoori. But then, Sina just shrugged it off.

***

Days had passed and they had their own routine. Chanhee never rode the bus again since his friends were taking him up with them but he never avoided the girls especially Yoori. They got along really well and sometimes when they had free time after school, they would gather in Yoomi’scafé, but of course without Byunghun and Minsoo since they had their own things (and because Chanhee never introduced them to Byunghun and Minsoo without any reason except Sina who were their classmates).

Chanhee and Sina sometimes did their homework together at Chanhee’s home. Chanhee felt happy since he could ask everything to Sina about Yoori. Those questions answered Sina’scuriosityin past months. Not only to Sina, Chanhee also asked everything about Yoori to Yoomi and one great thing was Yoomi became Chanhee’s someone-to-speak-his-heart-out. He would text Yoomi if she could help him made Yoori became closer with him since they were so awkward around each other. Yoomi was happy to help him but the thing was Yoori herself, she didn’t want to be in any relationship yet. Chanhee knew this from Yoomi, so he made his steps slower.

Meanwhile Byunghun was still trying to catch Yoori, Yoomi and Sina’s attention by acting nice or even super romantic to them, but whenever he tried, he failed. None of them amused by him. That made all the girls students jealous at Sina and her friends. They always thought why Byunghun, the hottest guy in the entire school, wasted his time and energy on those “rocks”. But none of the girls dared to touch Sina and her friends since they were popular with their own talents. The teachers and headmaster really adored them for being smart, creative and athletic. That’s why the school accepted them as their name had been heard many times in some competitions since Junior High.

Byunghun was so frustrated until one day he gave up on them. But one of them still caught his attention. If Yoomi and Sina still gave their blushed cheek to Byunghun’s words, Yoori really didn’t give any reaction to him. She would always havethat straight face to him. So everytime he met Yoori accidentally, he would feel awkward around her.

Therefore, Chanhee and Byunghun also Yoori still had the same schedule for their extra. All of them were awkward when they met each other. For example when they had to go home, Yoori would walk alone and Chanhee really wanted to accompany her but Byunghun would always dragged him to go with him OR when there was a rain, all of them would always waiting for the rain to be stopped in the same spot without talking each other –Yoori would texting her friends (awkwardly) while the boys would take a glance at Yoori once a while. Chanhee sometimes felt that Byunghun had the same feeling for Yoori just by looking at how he looked at her. But everytimeChanhee asked him about that, Byunghun would always denied it.Byunghun, himself, thought that Yoori made him remember his past. But he just didn’t want to admit it because he was sure that Yoori is different.

Meanwhile for Yoomi and Minsoo, they never talked to each other until one day Minsoo noticed Yoomi and admired her. The day when the basketball club had finished earlier than before, he lazily walked to the changing room passing the indoor gymnasium. There, he turned his head to the gymnasium – since he heard some screaming by some girls from inside. He was stunned by Yoomi who just made a high jump to give a smash to her rival’s team. Some sunbaes in the club also admired her for her skills in playing the volleyball game. She made new friends in the club as well and most of them were seniors.

Started from that time, Minsoo would always watch her moves in school and even in extra class. He knew that Yoomi is Sina’s friend so sometimes he shyly asked about Yoomi to Sina. He wanted to talk to Yoomi but he was shy whenever Sina– in deliberately– took Yoomi with her to her class, therefore, ended up Chanhee talked with Yoomi non-stop. Minsoo didn’t like what he saw when Yoomi and Chanhee did skin-ship. He would always clench his fist – looked away like nothing happened but inside he was burning.

On extra’s time, Minsoo would always wait for Yoomi after the extra had finished. He watched her going to the bus stop alone by followed her behind just to make sure that she already got in the bus safely. He couldn’t do that on regular time since Yoomi would walk with her friends. He just watched them walked through the gate and then proceeded himself to go home with his friends.

Everytime the boys passed the bus stop, all of them would look to the bus stop. Sometimes when Yoomi saw their car and waved her hand to Chanhee, Minsoo would get so freakin’ jealous. When it was his turn to drive the car, he would speed-up around the bus-stop so Yoomi couldn’t see Chanhee. Byunghun and Chanhee would be staring at their friend with what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-him face whenever Minsoo sped-up.

At night time, Yoomi and Chanhee sometimes would go together near Han River, place where Chanhee felt comfortable to speak up his heart and mind. Chanhee felt safe so did Yoomi when they were together. But one night when they were together, sat side by side in front of the River, Minsoo caught them and he was mad. He felt jealousy strike him that night – it made him serious about taking Yoomi as his girlfriend. He would take his steps now as Byunghun was also ready to take his steps on getting closer to Yoori.

-TO BE CONTINUED-