1 Love Along with a Shooting Star

KEY:

'Si-young's thoughts'

"Character's speaking"

Si-young was sitting down on the floor having the small coffee table in front of her. She was writing. She was completing her homework whilst listening to the radio. The radio was mentioning about love and the lovely meteor rain that will occur this night.

When hearing that Si-young calmly crawled to the window on all fours and opened the window whilst looking out for the meteor rain.

Si-young decided to clap her hands together in a fist; closed her eyes to help to think about the wish inside her head. 

And aloud she spoke.

'I wish I can tell Hyun-Joong my feelings for him' as she spoke the words the meteor fled by with beautiful glittering light...

The next day was here. Si-young was confidently walking into the school premises with stomping feet. As she walks past the school she sees the sign saying 'Tounan High School'. As she was on the school playground she took a turn to the right where the bike shelter was placed. Hurriedly she ran to the metal fence and kneed down behind it. Slowly peeking out her head over the metal fence she observed the path in front of her, looking out for people. 

As time passed more and more people started to come to school. As time passed the playground became crowded. However, amongst those students there he was. Kim Hyun-Joong saying 'Good Morning' to his friend. Si-young observed him and thought to herself...

'Dear Kim Hyun-Joong, nice to meet you. I'm Lee Si-young from class F.  You wouldn't know who I am, but I know who you are'

As she realized that Huyn-Joong was walking closer and closer to the school gates. Si-young took a deep breath in and exhaled, calming herself down. She kneed back down to the same position as earlier and remembered a memory she experienced two years ago. That's when Hyun-Joong was giving a speech on the first day at school. 

Si-young re-remembers that moment and other precious memories in her head. 

'For two years I've admired you and your intellect that shone on the first day of school. I don't dare expect to be in the same class as you. So I hereby write a letter about my feelings for you. From the first time I saw you, a special feeling started to burst inside me as if I got hit by a shooting star.'

At this moment Si-young was extremely nervous, which made her repeat her deep breathing whilst holding the letter in her hand tightly. Taking a step forward she continued breathing heavily, eventually, she saw Kim Hyun-Joong walking towards her with a calm manner and an expressionless face. Her steps become faster as she gets closer and closer to Hyun-Joong... finally she makes a final step in front and is in front of Hyun-Joong. His calm steps stop and he looks at Si-young with still a cold face. 

Si-young stops and murmurs "Um..."

Before she could say anything else Hyun-Joong spoke up "Who are you?"

Si-young before speaking opens and closes her mouth but finally raises her voice. "I'm Lee Si-young, from class F" as she speaks those words her voice sounds confident but does not glance once into Hyun-Joon's eyes. "Would you read this?" she grabs the letter with both hands and puts it in between herself and Hyun-Joong. He looks at it not surprised nor amused. There's a short pause between them, things go through Si-young's head.

'I like... you.' These simple three words go through her mind, but his words engulf her.

"I don't need it" without hesitation he walks away not thinking twice about his decision and does not look behind him. His calm manner didn't change, he's not bothered. 

Si-young is found dumbfounded, she freezes in the same position when she tries to give Hyun-Joong the letter. Her world collapsed at that right moment. She couldn't think straight and didn't know what to do with herself. Everyone was looking as the letter flew out of her hands. 

'My first love seemed to be shattered just like that' she roughly turns behind her seeing the letter land on the ground, in front of Hyun-Joong as he steps on the piece of paper and marks the light-colored paper. "No way" she mumbled as she looked at Hyun-Joong's back walking further and further away. 'But an unbelievable miracle happens from now on' as she thinks of those words she hurries to pick up the letter and shoves the letter back in her bag.

*** 

She was embarrassed but walked into the school. She was heartbroken and had a dull expression on her face. As she walked throughout the school people laughed, talked, and pointed fingers at her. 

"Hey! That's Lee Si-young from Class F."

"She told Hyun-Joong she likes him"

"That Lee Si-young told Hyun-Joong she likes him"

"It seems like... she really doesn't know a thing"

"Poor thing"

Laughter was growing around the area; people kept on gossiping; everything started to get too loud and overwhelming. The embarrassment was just at its peak. 

Si-young couldn't take it anymore and screamed at the top of her lungs ``LEAVE ME ALONE!" and everything went quiet. As she ran away students' eyes did not stop tracking her every move but suddenly everyone again started to laugh and make fun of her. Finally, she found her friends right in front of her. 

"Si-young! You told Hyun-Joong about your feelings?" as Yong-Soo said that Si-young looked around to make sure that the people behind her were occupied with their laughter.

"Yong-Soo! Please be quiet. How do you know about it?" she asked, still looking heartbroken with bright red cheeks of pulsing blood. 

"You tried to give him a letter right in front of the school gate. That attracts too much attention! Everyone in this school knows" as Rae-In finishes talking, Yong-Soo nodded her head and poor Si-young looked down.

"I'm so embarrassed," she admitted to her friends.

"Why would you do that in front of the school gate?" Yong-Soo asked, annoyed with her friend. They started to make some distance between them and the gossiping crowd behind them. She continued "It's like you are advertising them to know" Yong-Soo stated as she looked at Si-young putting her hands into her school jacket. 

"And to Hyun-Joong..." Rae-In started and let Yong-Soo finish. "Why would you do such a reckless thing?" she rolled her eyes in disappointment. "You know he won't accept it."

"By any chance... I thought he might like me by any chance," she explained with a soft broken voice whilst trying to smile wildly. 

"That would never happen. It's Kim Hyun-Joong!" Yong-Soo exclaimed, hitting Si-young on the back, hoping she could knock some sense into her. 

"As you already know, classes are divided by exam scores in this school!" Rae-In reminded this fact to Si-young as this is one of the biggest divisions between students in the Tounan High School. 

'Hyun-Joong is the highest scorer in Class A, which has all kinds of top scorers. Besides, he got the highest score in the last national exam. There's a rumor that says his IQ is 200. He's a genius and good looking. Besides, his father is the president of a company.' 

"He speaks English fluently. He's an athlete as well. He's a super boy. Compared to him, we are in Class F. We are like the losers of this school. We live in different worlds." all three girls walk up the stairs listening to Rae-In explaining why Si-young's decisions confessing was a stupid idea. 

Whilst looking up Rae-In, Si-young spoke up "But I tried my best. In my freshman, sophomore, and junior year, I did my best to be placed at Class A along with Huyn-Joong." The other two girls stop and stare at Si-young speaking up with a proud expression of her hardship throughout the years. As Si-young was already a little ahead of her friends she looked back at Yong-Soo and Rae-In staring at her with helpless eyes. "What's wrong?" Si-young asks, grabbing a hold of her bag. 

"Si-young" Rae-In starts and pauses. Suddenly she speeds towards Si-young and grabs her arms in her hands and asks. "you know what alphabet is right?" Si-young nods her head and answers happily "Of course."

Yong-Soo then also comes closer to Si-young "Then, count how many letters are there between A and F." 

Si-young looks at them blankly, but then turns around walking up the stairs slowly and starts calculating the letters and numbers. "A, B, C, D, E, F." finishing naming and counting the letters on her fingers, she turns around and looks down at her two friends looking up at her.

"That's right. It might be a miracle for someone in F to be placed in A. The possibility is lower than winning a lottery." Si-young turns depressed again when hearing Rae-In speaking the truth. Turning around she hears her friend Yong-Soo speaking out her mind as well. "The possibility is lower than seeing snow in summer!"

"Lower than getting hit by a shooting star?" Si-young asked, looking in front of her blankly.

"What? What did you say?" both of her friends ask in confusion, frowning their eyebrows. "Never mind." Si-young jumps excited whilst looking back again smiling.

"Anyhow, we live in a different world from him," Yong-Soo mentions again glancing at energized Si-young which speaks again with an inspirational tone. "That's true, but before I graduate, I wanted to let him know of my feelings." She meets the stairs again whilst going downstairs again on the other side of the building. 

"How naive!" both of her friends exclaim at the same time at Si-young, making her look back at them in annoyance. 

'Hyun-Joong is good looking, but he's known for his grumpy personality. He's not interested in girls at all. You can't even count how many girls have given him letters. There was no rumor of him seeing a girl at all.'

Eventually, the three girls finally make it to their class hearing someone call out for Si-young. 

"Hey! Si-young!"

"She told Hyun-Joong she likes him."

All of a sudden Yong-Soo yelled out loud "Shut up! Shush!" making everyone even rowdier. Ignoring the gossiping and laughter, Si-young made her way to her seat next to the window with her friend Rae-In asking if she's okay. 

Whilst sitting down Yong-Soo joined them again sighing. 

"He's 18 years old. There's no way he's not interested in girls. He's not normal." Rae-In started switching her gaze at both Si-young and Yong-Soo.

"That's right. I'm sure there's a more normal guy in this world that would suit Si-young" Yong-Soo answered positively nodding her head making Si-young feel a little better.

"Si-young!" suddenly someone was screaming Si-young's name at the top of their lungs making all three girls look at the entrance of the classroom.  "Hey! Si-young!" there he was, Kang Hyeon-jun and his two other friends. Another friend of Si-young. "Hey!" he ran up close to Si-young, grabbing her arms and breathing heavily. "Is it true that you got rejected by Kim Hyun-Joong from Class A after telling him about your feelings?!" As he said that he got his face closer to Si-young's face.

"Hyeon! Too close!" she squirmed with her eyes wide pulling Hyeon-jun away. 

"You liked such a nerd? I'm here by your side" he said whilst dropping down on a chair dramatically. 

"I'm not yours" Si-young stated plainly and made sure he gets the point.

"I baked this for you this morning" as he clapped his hands, his friends brought his bag to Hyeon-jun and got a box out covered with a blue handkerchief and a white pattern. His friend undone the knot that was made with the handkerchief. 

"Hyeon-jun's Takoyaki," Si-young said excitedly, looking desirably at the box being opened with a grant smile. "Hurry."

The circular Takoyaki was shown in front of everyone. Si-young grabbed a toothpick and poked through the dough. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, shoving a Takoyaki into her mouth, chewing the delicacy with a pleased face.  "So delicious"

"Hey, hey, you need to spice it up," Hyeon-jun said and Rae-In spoke up as well. "You are really quick at changing your mood." she mocked Si-young. 

"Well, Hyeon-jun's good at cooking at least," Yong-Soo said whilst grabbing a toothpick and taking one of the Takoyaki as well.

"What do you mean at least?" Hyeon-jun spoke protectively. "No one's heart can compare to my heart for Si-young." Si-young looked at Hyeon-jun standing up with wide eyes, chewing on the Takoyaki. "Even if it were someone from Class A or a genius, mine's much better!" Hyeon-jun looked around the classroom as he spoke passionately. "How dare he reject Si-young?" Si-young started at Hyeon-jun in surprise, blinking not knowing what to do. Hyeon-jun was annoyed, he crossed his arms and looked in front of him with a sulky face. But then looked at Si-young yet again "I'll take that as a challenge from him. I'm sure he thinks he's something." he sat down on the edge of the window sill with his arms still crossed. 

Si-young looked down at her desk with sad eyes as she spoke "It's all right. Like all of you, I saw too reckless." she tracked everyone's feet instead of faces. Yet again she was embarrassed. "Someone who wouldn't even read a letter is not good, right?" As she said those words she nodded her head in agreement with herself, she knew that there's not a chance with her and Kim Hyun-Joong. She smiles pitifully "I... " but that smile fades quickly. "I guess I'm not good at choosing guys'' she blinked a couple of times and shook her head with a final decision. "Si it's all alright. I'm giving up."

"Si-young" Hyeon-jun started with a soft voice looking at Si-young. He then turned to his friends and smiled knowing that he still has a chance. 

Si-young yawns. "At this moment?" Yong-Soo asks confused, still holding a toothpick in her hand. 

"Well, that's... I stayed overnight." Si-young said whilst turning to her friends with a mere smile. "I was worried if I misspelled words, he would think I'm stupid. I even looked up the kanji letters of my name" she continued looking away into space with tired eyes and remembering how she wrote the letter.  

"How stupid," Yong-Soo exclaimed in shock.

"I was nervous," Si-young answered annoyed at her remark which made her look Yong-Soo. "I even skipped breakfast this morning. So Hyeon, thank you. I think I'll be able to survive morning class with this." she picked the box up and brought it closer to herself, admiring the view of Takoyaki in front of her hands. 

"You look the prettiest when you smile. I can cook you as much as you want, so cheer up." Hyeon-jun smiled proudly and happy that he was useful for Si-young and made her cheer up and he messed around with Si-young's bangs which Si-young had to sort out again. 

Si-young's friends kept on fascinating over the tasty food that Hyeon-jun prepared. "Tasty!"

"You guys are eating too much!" Hyeon-jun rushed to his feet and raised his voice to make his point. Yong-Soo and Rae-In did a cute pose that couldn't make Hyeon-jun angry. "You guys are cute." he leaned on the window with his arms crossed again and looks at the girls eating his delicious baking. "of course Si-young is the cutest."

The day went smoothing for Si-young. Even though people kept on staring and snickering she walked confidently but was truly hurt. 

After school Si-young went to the school track and sat on the bench. Her bag on her lap and her hands intertwined on top of her bag. She observed the baseball player as they practiced. Remembering about this morning, Si-young opened her bag and got out the thing that started this all. The letter. She took it out and looked at it, scanned it carefully. She couldn't do anything but sigh, but suddenly her friends came up running.

"Si-young, sorry! The teacher called us." she placed the letter inside her bag again and stood up putting her bag on. 

"It's all right. I didn't even wait for a long time. Let's go." she walked up to her friends and they all started to walk out of the school. 

"So is your new house all built?" Yong-Soo asked excitedly.

"Yes. We are moving in on Sunday." Si-young answered happily and all ready for moving in. 

"Finally your own house!" Yong-Soo cheered on looking up at the sky with a big smile.

"Right? It will cheer me up." Si-young reassured her friends with a smile.

"That's right. They say your luck changes according to a place you live in." Rae-In also added a reassuring statement which Si-young hoped was right. 

"I hope so. I'd like to believe it that way." Si-young replied full with hope and an even bigger smile. 

"You believe so," Yong-Soo said it was inspirational looking into the sunset.

All three agreed to help Si-young to move in and went home. Days pass.

"Wow, that's huge."

"Here!"

"I brought them."

"Daddy!"

"Work properly, for the sake of Si-young!" Hyeon-jun said to the workers that moved the boxes inside the house.

"Good morning!" Si-young came running out of the garage welcoming her friends. 

"Everyone. Thank you for coming." Si-young's father came out of the garage as well and welcomed everyone just like Si-young did with a smile. 

"Father!'' Suddenly Hyeon-jun came closer to Si-young dad. "I will do anything for Si-young. I'm Kang Hyeon-jun. Please think of me as your own son. You can ask me to do anything." Hyeon-jun bowed and made Si-young speechless by a sudden attack. This made Si-young's friends come into the conversation.

"Hyeon, enough with your introduction! Move them!" Rae-In said whilst poking out of Si-young's new house. 

"Okay!"

"I'm coming too!" Hyeon-jun's friends got included as well. 

"Thank you so much." Si-young thanked everyone for their great help. 

"It's Hyeon who invited everyone else." Yong-Soo was referring to Hyeon-jun's other two friends. "He wanted to comfort you after what happened with Hyun-Joong." Both Si-young and Yong-Soo turned around to glance at Hyeon-jun and his friends working hard. 

"I see." Si-young smiled as she saw the help she's receiving from everyone. 

"All right! Let's do it." Yong-Soo supported her statement by herself grabbing boxes from the truck, following up with Si-young by her side.

In a couple of hours, they are done with bringing all the boxes inside the new house. They all stand outside, as they see the big green-white truck drives away. Everyone bows in a manner of thank you to the workers inside. 

"So we are done with packages." Si-young finally announces the end of the box moving. All turn around and look at the beautiful new house.  

"All right!" Hyeon-jun exclaims with a sigh of relaxation and relief. "Father, it's a good house."

"Even though I wasn't a good man to my deceased wife and Si-young, I finally built this house, along with Si-young's help." As Si-young's father spoke those touching words he started to tear up. He wiped his eyes looking away dramatically. Si-young laughs at her father's dramatic actions and hits him lightly on the arm. 

"Everyone's watching!" Si-young looked down smiling.

"It feels like something will happen when Si-young gets married." Yong-Soo suddenly said sometimes out of context.

"It's all right." Hyeon-jun began speaking whilst looking at Yong-Soo. "I'll always be his son." he turned to Si-young and her still emotional father. Si-young looked at her friends praying for them to help. "Father, please consider me your son from now on. Please call me Hyeon." Si-young sighed knowing that her father won't answer Hyeon.

"Thank you, everyone." Si-young thanked everyone for ignoring what Hyeon-jun had just said and looked at the others around him. "We were able to finish it quickly thanks to you guys." Hyeon-jun took the hint and stepped down and went with the flow with a goofy hand swing. "Let's go in and have a meal together." as Si-young's father finished talking everyone started to cheer.

"Right, Si-young's father's a chef, right?" Yong-Soo made sure to look at her friend. Her excited voice transferred to others soon as well. Everyone took their steps towards the new house apart from Si-young. 

"Wait, wait!" this made everyone look at Si-young. 

"Huh?" 

"Don't you hear something weird?" out of the blue Si-young came out with this sentence looking at the group in front of her in confusion. 

"I don't," Hyeon-jun answered confidently.

"You must be mistaken." Si-young's father also added making everyone agree with him but Si-young still thought she was hearing something. So, she looked up at the sky looking for the mysterious cause of the sound. 

"I have a feeling," she exclaimed, still looking around with her eyebrows frowned. 

"What do you mean?" Hyeon-jun asked laughingly at her. 

Then Si-young saw a light in the corner of her eye, so she decided to cover her eyes from the sun and look up at the sky. I am a flashy light in the blue sky. The light was the dashing towards them which from their perspective looked slow, however, it was violently dashing in their direction like a vicious wild animal.

"Huh? A shooting star?" Her remark made everybody look up seeing the light getting bigger and bigger; brighter and brighter. 

"What? No way. It's the middle of the day." Rae-In laughed at Si-young's surreal suggestion. 

Suddenly the light was getting whiter as it got closer. Eventually, the light reflected on everyone's bodies like a light bulb which made everyone squint their eyes and cover their eyes with their hands. After, the wind came rushing towards them. This was it, small soccer like the ball came from the sky. It went right through the roof of the new house. Everyone looked as it gracefully made a hole in the roof. As it hit the top of the roof, a small soft wind pleased their faces. They were confused and stunned. They heard the wood crack and the ball making its way through the floors. No one could say a word, they just stared. Then... the worst thing has happened. The house started to collapse right in front of Si-young's and the group's eyes. The reflection of the collapsin reflected in Si-young's eyes like a bad memory that'll stay with her forever.  The dust attacked their faces and the wind froze as the building half-destroyed itself. Silence. Only one thing came flying from the house. A sign.

"It got hit by a shooting star?" Si-young finally said it aloud making sure she's not dreaming. Looking at the disaster of a house makes her want it to be a dream. 

There's nothing they could do, they could only stare at the broken into pieces bricks. 

After a while journalists and NEWS Anchors came rushing to the place. 

*

News 7:00

Today at noon, a part of the Lyrids fell and destroyed a house in Tokyo. 

"My daughter asked me what that was...

We interviewed the victim Lee Min-Seong.

"It fell on our roof in a twinkle. It rattled, and then it collapsed. It collapsed... When it made a hole on my roof, it wasn't that huge. Well, luckily everyone was outside... My deceased wife might have saved us... We worked hard to build this house. We don't have any other place to go."

According to the investigation, the meteor was only 3cm long. An expert says that the meteor was only of a small significance and that the jerry-building is the cause of such collapse. Next news.

*

After everything was set and the journalists went away. People went to help the poor Lee family. However, this didn't help at all with their accommodation, so they had to go to their restaurant. 

Si-young filled a small cut with some tea. Her father sighed whilst slouching on a chair looking blankly into space. 

"Cheer up, dad." Si-young stood behind the dad, placing a cup with liquid next to him. Supporting herself against the table in front of her she looked at her dad whilst he was speaking.

"I worked hard up to these days," he answered, dis-motivated, still looking dull. 

"We can do it again." She encouraged her dad.

"How am I supposed to run this restaurant? I spent all my money on that house. I can't even rent a room. I mean... A shooting star? Not even fire or an accident." he stated unbelievably. "How ridiculous," he said, taking a sip of the tea Si-young prepared for her father and herself. "How unlucky I am." 

"That's not true. You are full of luck." Si-young said from behind her dad whilst sitting on a step, holding her small cup of tea. "Well, if the star fell after we went in, we might have all died." Si-young was remembering the time where the star was as close as the light from the shiny meteor was contrasting with everything else and it finally hit the house. "Even if we were to survive, if you got your arms hurt, you won't be able to cook anymore. Then, this restaurant would come to an end." Si-young's father seemed a little bit cheered up by his daughter's words. Si-young stood up walking towards the table again. "Right? And here we are, with no trace of wounds at all." Si-young said relieved at the sign that everyone has escaped from the tragic event unharmed. "We should be thankful. Can you think of a luckier thing than this? We were really lucky." she sat down making her dad slowly face towards her. Her happy and positive voice made him admire a great perspective on the situation from his daughter. He scoffed agreeably. "Why?" she asked laughingly looking at her father. 

"You are really like your mom." he crossed his arms making Si-young laugh. "Your mum was easy going too." Si-young stopped laughing and looked at her father.

"Easygoing? Isn't there a better word than that?" she asked seriously but started laughing, along with her father. "Anyhow, what would be the possibility of getting hit by a shooting star?" Si-young asked, playing around with a cloth.

"Shooting star? It was a meteor." her dad corrected her playfully. 

"Well, it's more romantic to think of it as a shooting star," she said with a wide smile. "It feels like something special will happen."

"My gosh. You are really like your mom." Si-young's father scoffed as he lifted himself to lean on the table. 

Suddenly the restaurant phone rang. The worker there went to answer. 

"This is Lee restaurant... Yes... Excuse me? Okay... could you hold for a second?" The worker places the phone down on the table and walks around a barrier to Mr. Lee. "Sir, there's someone who'd like to speak to you." Si-young's dad looked at the worker as he was speaking.

"Okay." Mr. Lee stood up and followed the worker. The worker passes the phone to Mr. Lee.

"This is Lee's restaurant, I'm sorry for the... Huh? Kim? How have you been? Everything's fine? Oh, I should ask that myself..." Si-young's father kept on talking on the phone as she thought about something.

"Kim?" She seems like she heard that surname before. 

The next day wasn't easy to deal with at school but she had to go.

Si-young was walking on a path full of students. Yet again, the laughter and gossiping were present, but this time it wasn't only about her confessing to the cold-hearted Kim Hyung-Joong but also about her house falling apart.

"Oh, Lee from Class F." a girl said teasingly whilst walking past Si-young with a boy.

"It's her house that collapsed, right?" the boy asked the girl he was walking beside. 

"Have you heard the news? It was in the newspaper as well." another girl walked by with her friend noticing that Si-young was here and was talking aloud about the incident. 

"Gosh, it wasn't long ago that she got rejected by Kim Hyun-Joong..." the girls' friends said whilst glancing at Si-young and giving her a sassy look. 

"Si-young, who got hit by the Lyrids. Bad luck continues. Aren't you haunted or something?" a boy asked whilst making fun of Si-young with his friend. 

Even though Si-young was alone now it wasn't long since her friends caught up with her.

"Si-young! Si-young!" Rae-In shouted from behind Si-young. She turned around seeing her friends running towards her.

"Yong-Soo, Rae-In," Si-young exclaimed, relieved that her friends are finally here and she's not alone anymore. 

"You are always the center of attention." Yong-Soo teased Si-young whilst looking at Rae-In with a smirk.

"I'm burning with shame." Si-young turned into burning cheeks with embarrassment.

"Anyhow, have you found any place to stay? Are you alright?" Rae-In asked whilst playing with her bag and glancing at Si-young.

"Thank you." Si-young smiled. "Well, we are going to stay at the house of my dad's friends," she explained having a positive attitude looking in front of her.

"Really? How did you find it?" Rae-In continued her little investigation.

"He saw the news and called us." Si-young simply described the situation.

 "Wow, what a nice guy. Thank goodness. I'm sure you will be lucky from now on." Yong-Soo reassured Si-young which made everyone smile and full of hope.

"Right? The possibility of getting hit by a shooting star is really low. I'd like to believe such rare luck will come and find me." Si-young smiled yet again but hissed when Rae-In hit her in the back with a strong force.

"That's you right there." Rae-In encouraged Si-young further.

"Right?" Si-young agreed whilst being cheered up again.

All three of them stop and look at the scene in front of them.

"Please donate! 10 won, 20 won is fine! 5 won is fine as well!" Si-young walked towards the group of students, seeing Hyeon-jun and his friends asking people for donations. "Yesterday, because of the fall of the Lyrids, Lee Si-young from 3-F lost her house." Hyeon-jun was standing in front of the school gates stopping the student for donations whilst talking through a megaphone. "We are raising funds for her. As students in the same school, for Si-young who has lost her house." The three girls just stared at Hyeon-jun whilst cringing. Si-young looked at him with hurt and embarrassing feelings. 

"He's really dumb." 

"Well, it's Hyeon..." Her friends murmured.

Not taking any more of the loud scene in front of her, Si-young stormed towards Hyeon-jun.

"Hyeon! Stop it," she said angrily looking up at him whilst holding her bag tightly, but it seems like Hyeon-jun didn't hear her as he brought even more attention to the shaming scenario. 

"Here's Si-young! Even after what happened yesterday, she's all cheerful and bright. She's cute today as well." Hyeon-jun still talked through the megaphone making things even more dramatic. Si-young looked down in an even deeper mortifying way. She couldn't look up, she couldn't look anybody in the eye. It was just too humiliating. "You make me cry." he continued fake crying. 

"Hyeon, stop it! You are a fool!" Si-young couldn't take it anymore. She stepped up and grabbed the megaphone to make Hyeon-jun stop talking through it. 

"What do you mean? I'm doing this for you." he protected himself.

"I don't want to attract any more attention in school!" she shouted trying to get her point across the best she can. She looked at him with disappointment and frustration. 

"Now you are the center of the attention," Yong-Soo mumbled under her breath in a whisper. 

"More rumors coming," Rae-In added whilst Yong-Soo agreed by nodding her head. 

Suddenly the person that Si-young did not want to ever see again, especially in a situation like this. The one and only Kim Hyun-Joong walked into the school. He was right there when she was still looking at Hyeon-jun in a grand frustration. As Hyun-Joong walked in front of them, he stopped.

"Would you move?" he asked with his usual dull expression and holding his bag over his shoulder and the other hand in his pocket.

Quickly, Si-young turned around looking up Hyun-Joong with an astonished expression. 

"Kim!" that's all she could get out of herself being in this situation.

"You are being rude. Si-young's really hurt right now. Who do you think did this?" out of the blue Hyeon-jun attacked Hyun-Joong as if this was his fault. Si-young turned her gaze between Hyeon-jun and Hyun-Joong not knowing where to look exactly. 

"The Lyrids, right?" Hyun-Joong asked motionlessly, holding his straight face.

"That is a different part of the story! It's because you were being so cold-hearted!" Hyeon-jun let his frustration run wild, taking it out on the innocent person. "Your cold heart was the cause of Si-young's bad luck." Si-young looked at Hyeon-jun yet again stupidly astonished wanting to say something but at this moment there's nothing she can get out.

"The chance of an extraterrestrial planet impacting a human being is 1 to 500 million," Hyun-Joong said, looking away from both Hyeon-jun and Si-young. His indifferent manner was the one thing that can drive anyone crazy in anger, and Si-young starts to lose it slowly.

"Planet?" Si-young asked. "Are you talking about a shooting star?" she asked calmly, a little bit confused. 

"So I'm the cause of that 1-to-500 million possibility event?" he asked sarcastically, giving Hyeon-jun an 'idiot' look.

"That's right?" Hyeon-jun answered confidently, raising his chest that had a box with a donation poster which made Hyun-Joong break his cold expression into laughter.

"Hyeon, that's too much." Si-young finally spoke up whilst grabbing hold of Hyeon's school jacket. 

"So I'm quite amazing." Yet again Hyun-Joong spoke up with a bossy aspect. Then, slowly he took his bag off his shoulder and took out his wallet. Taking his time he opened his wallet and took out 5,000 won and nearly puts into the box that Hyeon-jun has on his chest, but he stops and turns his whole and at the same level as Si-young's head; right in front of her face Hyun-Joong holds the 5,000 won. -Si-young looks at him in abashment. "If I donate money, you won't say anything, right?" Hyun-Joong asks shamelessly with his smug face. 

Si-young aggressively grabs Hyun-Joong's wrist making the 5,000 won fly out of his hands. Their eye contact didn't break. She couldn't take it anymore and broke.

"Don't make a fool of me!" she then throws his wrist away and keeps on staring into Hyun-Joong's eyes. "I wasted two years liking someone like you!" what Si-young said didn't bother Hyun-Joong, he kept his smug face and looked down at his wallet. "I don't need your pity." she followed his hand movement but quickly looked back up.  

"Are you sure you are fine with that?" he looks down on her, putting his bag on the opposite shoulder he had his bag earlier. 

"Of course. Do you even have a friend, treating people like that? Look! I have tons of friends who help me when I'm in trouble." Si-young raised her voice in frustration. "Hyeon-jun, Yong-Soo and Rae-In!" she exclaimed. 

"Si-young, good job" Hyeon-jun faked a cry whilst putting his hand on Si-young's shoulder.

"So I don't need your favor!" she said firmly with an angry tone at the end which made Hyun-Joong smirk and laughs. Hyun-Joong decided to finally stop and go into the school whilst laughing leaving Si-young beaten. As he walked past her she turned around to see him walk off. 

Hyeon-jun's friends picked up the 5,000 won that flew out of Hyun-Joong's hand when Si-young grabbed his hand and forced it into his hand.

"Take it, take it."

"What, what's wrong with Class F?" Si-young called out throwing daggers into Hyun-Joong's back. She grabbed the megaphone and put it near her mouth. "Stop treating people like that!" she shouted at the top of her lungs not taking a glance away from Hyun-Joong. 

"So you are the talk of this town again." Yong-Soo irritating Si-young made the atmosphere a bit lighter for her and Rae-In. 

"You would be the only one arguing with Kim Hyun-Joong." Rae-In continued the teasing. 

Si-young realized what she had done and looked to her left and looked at Yong-Soo with regretful sight.

"What should I do? I didn't mean to do that." she looked in front of herself and regretted everything she had done and said, which happened just a few seconds ago.

The day came. Si-young and her father finally are moving in with their family friend, Mr. Kim. 

Driving along the road, Si-young and her father were looking for the house. 

"I'm sorry I made you leave school early," Si-young said apologetically whilst driving the truck carefully.

"No problem. It's an excused absence. The teacher knows what happened." whilst speaking to her father the pair finally made it to the house. Stopping in front of the driveway they observe the house. 

"This is Kim's house. Kim's a president of a big company. He graduated from Tokyo University." Si-young looked at her father with an admiring expression towards Mr. Kim. 

"Tokyo University... He must be someone great. They would be able to hold a barbecue party." Si-young said aloud, smiling to herself. Si-young looked around, she saw a sign and tried to read it. 

"Kim... Fom... Fami..." she said whilst having trouble pronouncing the English word. 

"Ah, Kim. The Kim's... Kim?!" Si-young suddenly released who's that name may belong to, and shocked herself at that thought. "Why Kim?" Si-young continued with disbelief looking at the sign.

"What's wrong?" her father asked, looking in Si-young and his voice made Si-young turn her head towards her father still astonished. 

"Nothing," she answered, turning her head between the sign and the house. Then he started to drive onto the driveway parking right in front of the door. Before both of them could get out of the truck, the owner of the house came out.

"Lee! Welcome!" A small obese man came out running with bright clothes and glasses and a wide smile on his face. "What happened? You are late," he complained childishly. 

"I'm sorry. I went to pick up some packages." Si-young's father replied, walking up the joyful man opposite him. 

"My gosh." Mr. Kim replied with a warm smile. "Welcome!" he then patted Mr. Lee's arms. 

Si-young came out speeding around the truck when seeing Mr. Kim had to look twice before realizing that he looked much different than the cold-hearted jerk at school. Both of them smiled at each other and Si-young came closer to her father and an unknown man. 

"Wow, amazing." Si-young continued laughing and Mr. Kim looked at her questionably. "I was just talking to myself." 

"Lee..." Mr. Kim bent his knees and extended his arms and shimmied his arms; Mr. Lee did the same. Eventually, both came up into a hug and jumped whilst making circles. 

"Welcome." Suddenly a petite woman came out of the house. Her short shoulder black hair was lifting itself at the ends. She also wore bright vibrant colors. 

"Make yourself at home." the joyful Mr. Kim said whilst pointing at his beautiful white house. 

"I'm sorry, and thank you, Kim." Si-young's father thanked the married couple in front of him with a small bow. 

"No problem," he replied with a slight shook with his head. 

"What an accident it was. Please make yourself at home." the gentlewoman said whilst smiling, showing her teeth excitedly. 

"I'm his daughter, Si-young. Nice to meet you." Si-young finally spoke up introducing herself to the cute woman.

"What a cute daughter." the woman replied looking at Si-young with a bright smile and wide eyes in a manner of admiration. "I only have sons." Si-young stuttered at this moment.

"Y-you have sons?" Si-young asked reassuringly. 

"I'll introduce him to you later. Come inside." the woman said hurriedly trying to get the two inside the house.

As they came inside the house you could see the beautiful and perfectly decorated house. Straight away as you walk in you can see the stairs leading upstairs where all the rooms are. The beautifully aging woman welcomes the guests inside the house with open arms, a smile hasn't left her face. 

"Come inside." Mrs. Kim said as she made a way for everyone to walk in. When everyone is in, the lady gives the guests their slippers. "Hyun-wu!" Mrs. Kim exclaims as she looks up at the stairs seeing a young boy looking down on everyone. "Say hello to him. He's Mr. Lee." Hyung-wu plays around the stair barriers but eventually walks down the stairs to do what his mother asked him to do. 

"Oh, that's your son," Si-young says aloud seeing the boys already downstairs in front of her. 

"Good afternoon." Mr. Lee welcomed the young boy warmly with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kim Hyun-wu. I'm in third grade." as he speaks he looks into Mr. Lee's eyes respectfully and formally introduces himself.

"What a smart one." Mr. Lee says looking at the boy's mother still smiling brightly making Mrs. Kim flush in proudness. 

"Nice you meet you." The boy once again welcomes Mr. Lee with a smile and bows, but this time in a manner of thanks for the compliment. 

"Nice to meet you, Hyun-wu." Si-young smiled at the boy whilst he gave her a death stare and rolled his eyes. She was confused but kept on smiling as the boy didn't reply to her. It was quiet for a second until the woman of the house reacted.

"You are all tired, right? Come over here." Mrs. Kim asked whilst showing the way with her hands to the living room. The smile has still not left her face, she seems like she hasn't had a guest for quite a long time. 

Si-young instead of following the adults she was kind of still frozen in one place looking at the boy that aired her a couple of seconds ago. As he walked up at the stairs again she followed his actions with her eyes and head, but when the boy was out of sight she realized that the adults had already gone further inside so she followed them. 

"Go ahead." Mrs. Kim said to Si-young as she passed her a cup of tea. You could hear Si-young being excited and pleasured by the great taste of the cake she was eating. "I'm glad you like it. Take some more." Mrs. Kim pointed at the tray with more beautiful and delicious foods. 

"Thank you," Si-young replied with her mouth full and bowed still holding a piece of another cake. 

"Si-young, you've grown up very much." the man of the house spoke up looking at Si-young as he remembered when she was just a small child.

"Have I ever met you before?" she asked whilst trying to remember the time last she saw Mr. Kim but she can't seem to remind herself the time.  

"I saw you at the restaurant when you were a baby," he explains with a big smile whilst still focusing his gaze on Si-young.

"You've been to my dad's restaurants?" Si-young asked, interested, the cake still in her hand.

"Of course. We were hometown best friends ever since we were in kindergarten." Si-young's father further explains as his gaze shifts from Si-young to Mr. Kim and points at Mr. Kim with happy memories flashing through both of their heads. 

Mr. Kim sighed "Since both my parents worked, I often went to Lee's house to have dinner." he says this in a calm voice looking at Mr. Lee. "When I was in college, I was a poor student, so Lee always used to invite me. I'm indebted to Lee," he says firmly determined to make Mr. Lee feel appreciated and reassured that he is always welcome in Kim's family. 

"What are you talking about? It was you who introduced my restaurant to all kinds of people." Mr. Lee reminds his friend how much he helped him with the business. Si-young was still very engulfed in the conversation and the story finally ate her last piece of cake from her hand. "Your college classmates, business partners, there are tons of people who still visit me. I'm here thanks to your efforts." Both Mr. and Mrs. Kim smile gently at Mr. Lee. 

"After having each one's family and job, we might have become a little distant," Mr. Kim seems a little down as he says those words and sighs which indicated that he wished that he would have kept the friendship kept on going throughout the years but it didn't work out. 'but I was surprised after watching that news." he then proceeds in explanation. "Well... It was sudden, but I'm getting to see you again like this." Mr. Lee exclaimed excitedly looking at his wife as she agreed with her husband's words.

"That's right. Si-young, please make yourself at home." She faces Si-young with her full body and admires the teen girl in front of her. In the woman's eyes, there was a little sparkle where she fully lost her sense from the happiness inside that she'll be able to have a woman to talk to at home.

"Okay. Thank you." Si-young finishes her another cake with a big bite and makes a satisfied face.

"It seems like we have a special connection with you." Si-young looked at her confused whilst munching on her cake. 

Suddenly you could hear the doors open in the background, and then footsteps following to the living room. 

"Speaking of the devil, my elder boy's back." Mrs. Kim states excitedly.

"Elder boy?" Si-young mumbles under her breath as she reaches out for another piece of cake. 

The boy walks in and Si-young gaze slowly shifts up to his face. When she saw the elder boy's face she was astonished which made her scream in confusion, frustration, etc. She jumped towards her dad whilst grabbing his clothes. The shock is clearly shown on her face, with her mouth wide open and big eyes.

"What's wrong, Si-young?" he asks confused and looks at her terrified in shock because of her sudden action and scream. 

"She's powerful." Si-young didn't even bother acting as if everything was alright. She didn't let anything distract her from the view of her now enemy Kim Hyun-Joong. He was just standing in front of her with a white shirt and jeans on. Si-young was still surprised but pulled away from her father and now was closer to Kim Hyun-Joong staring up at him, but eventually, she stood not taking her eyesight away from him. 

"Sorry for being late. I'm Hyun-Joong. Nice to meet you" he said looking past Si-young to her father and bowing in front of Si-young and yet again she didn't blink once. Just followed Hyun-Joong's actions very carefully. 

"I heard it." Suddenly Mrs. Kim spoke and walked up to her son's side making him look down on her because of their height difference. "Si-young and Hyun-Joong go to the same school," she said, looking at both Si-young and Hyun-Joong with the biggest smile yet. 

Now Si-young and Hyun-Joong made eye contact. Si-young was totally out of it, she wasn't able to think straight so staring was all she could do. 

"Is that so? Nice to meet you." Si-young's father stood next to his daughter and bowed in return to Hyun-Joong.

"Si-young, go ahead and greet him." Si-young yet again saw the tip of Hyun-Joong's head as he bowed to her father. 

Si-young being Si-young she didn't hear anything apart from her voice in her head going crazy mad. She looked shocked to the bones and kept on staring as if she couldn't believe it's real life. 

"What's wrong, Si-young?" her father asked from behind looking at her frozen body. 

Finally, Si-young broke out of her daydreaming and looked at her father as he shook her to wake up and then looked back at Hyun-Joong that stood in the same position with his hands in his pockets looking and waiting for Si-young to greet him. 

"Well... I was too surprised," she said with a deep voice and looked at Hyun-Joong's father as well as her own. "Mr. Kim and Hyun-Joong don't look alike at all." her father slapped her head and she hissed from a little of pain which made her rub the stop he hit.

"You are being rude!" her father exclaimed annoyed but in the background, Hyun-Joong's father laughed and so did Mrs. Kim.

"It's all right. My sons all look like their mother. They were lucky." he explains laughingly tilting his head back from the joy, which made Si-young's father loosen up as well. 

"My gosh... Hyun-Joong, sit down." Hyun-Joong's mother said joyfully and pulled him along to sit next to her. 

As the two sat down everyone else did too but Si-young was so uncomfortable her sitting down looked like me she had a pole stuck up her bum. She was very stiff and firm as if she was trying to cover up that she's not there. So, trying to loosen up a little bit she grabbed the cup of tea that Mrs. Kim prepared for her and drank from it.

***

It was a while later and everyone was still sitting around in the living room chatting. Mrs. Kim went to the kitchen to prepare some more tea, she glanced at the group sitting not too far from her and smiled bubbly. 

"Thank goodness both of you are safe." Mr. Kim started. "You weren't inside the house?" he asks worriedly. However, Si-young was too busy staring at Hyun-Joong. She started at him whilst stuffing two different cakes in her mouth, but then looked away from him trying to think how all this is real and rethinking the fact that everything was supposed to get better rather than harder.  

"If Si-young didn't stop me, I would've been inside." as the adults talked Si-young was so confused in this situation that she kept on checking whether Hyun-Joong was still sitting in front of her whilst chewing her full mouth of cake. 

"What a coincidence." Hyun-Joong's father replied. "So how big was that meteor?" they continue the conversation.

Hyun-Joong felt that Si-young was partially staring at him so he turned his head but didn't look at her. He looked in the opposite direction. 

"It was small like this." Si-young's father showed the size of the meteor which was around a small soccer ball. 

"Like 4cm long? Can that make a house collapse?" he thought for a little while trying to see whether it was actually the meteor but there wasn't any other explanation. 

Si-young still nervously was chewing on her food as she looked around the house trying her best to avoid looking at Hyun-Joong. 

"But how thankful. So Si-young knew about Hyun-Joong." Yet again Hyun-Joong's mother started talking about how they knew each other so her not being rude nodded her head avoiding eye contact. "Are you guys in the same class?" she asked that Si-young became even more nervous. Giggling she swallowed some of her cake and finally looked up at his mother. 

"We are in very different classes, but I got to know her with a strange incident lately." Hyun-Joong suddenly spoke up and that's what Si-young was so nervous about. She was scared that Hyun-Joong would find any way to embarrass her, especially using the incident of the letter. As he finished talking he grabbed his tea and looked at Si-young with a mischievous act. "Right, Si-young?" trying to act normal Si-young smiled at him, regretting remembering the time she tried giving him the letter. 

"Well..." Si-young nodded looking away from him.

"How great. You guys can get closer from now on." His mother exclaimed whilst looking at both of them but Si-young looked at her with a definite no, however, she looked away as she didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Hyun-Joong's bit strange, right? Please be gentle with him." She stated looking at Si-young with pleasing eyes and all Si-young could do was smile and nod. 

Then another member of Kim's family came running down that Lee's had already met. Hyun-wu.

"Hyung, I finished today's homework." he came into the living room and sat down on a chair on Si-young right. 

"Yeah? Good Job." Hyun-Joong smiled at his brother and praised him.

"Well, there was a kanji letter I couldn't read. Should I ask Si-young about it today?" Hyun-wu looked over his left shoulder at Si-young sitting now more relaxed, but when she heard that Hyun-wu was going to ask her about the question she went to the same firm position she was before. Hyun-Joong smiled mischievously at his brother and agreed.

"Why don't you?" he nodded looking at his brother, making Si-young completely dumbfounded and nervous again. 

"Unnie, can you teach me how to read kanji letters?" he asked, acting cute all of a sudden but earlier on he gave Si-young a stare that was definitely not a welcome greeting. 

Si-young happily agreed whilst thinking that maybe he had a bad day and wasn't too happy to have people over. "All right." she nodded as she put the two different cakes from her hands onto the plate and clapped her hands to get any crumbs off. 

'He's in third grade. I should be fine.'

Hyun-wu moved over to Si-young and sat next to her opening his book. As she saw the letters she was puzzled and confused whether he's actually in third grade as those seem a little bit too hard. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Her dad looked over the shoulder and when he saw all those letters he moved away swiftly pretending to look at the decoration on the shelf next to him, so when Si-young looked around for help he wasn't near anymore.

"What's wrong?" her father asked holding a glass vase in his hand whilst looking over his shoulder at her.

Si-young's completely hopeless, she has to at least try. So she looked back at the book and laughed nervously.

"Hyun-wu, you are amazing. You are studying very difficult kanji letters for your age. So which one do you have a question about." Hyun-wu kept on looking at Si-young as she got more and more nervous so she finally showed her the letter he's having trouble with. 

"This is..." she laughed yet again with much more effective when she saw the letter. "Bunny's horn." Hyun-Joong thought that she'll answer correctly so he waited for her answer but gave up once he actually heard it. As Si-young said those words though she acted out a bunny with horns. Hyun-wu started chuckling and stood up from where he was sitting.

"You are so stupid!" he suddenly exclaimed still mocking her. "This is '*tonikaku'" (*Anyhow) he corrected her. "You are in high school, and yet you can't even read this?" he said aloud, making Hyun-Joong laugh lightly. Even though he was making a mockery out of her she didn't move out of her bunny position and still had her hands in the air near her head whilst her pointing fingers were up.

"Hyun-wu, what are you doing? Apologize!" Mrs. Kim immediately stepped in, making Hyun-wu look at her, and Hyun-Joong was still laughing to himself. 

"Anyhow, I don't like someone like you." Hyun-wu referred to Si-young emotionless which made Si-young surprised. 

"Hey! Hyun-wu!" eventually the father stepped in as well, warning Hyun-wu. 

Finally, Hyun-wu left the room leaving everyone astonished. However, he then came back and looked through the glass window in the door and stuck his tongue out, and then went upstairs. 

"Hey!" Hyun-Joong was probably having the best time in a while because he didn't stop laughing quietly. 

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Kim said to Si-young apologetically.

"It's all right. I couldn't answer his question." Si-young finally put her hands down onto the lap and intertwined them whilst looking down in embarrassment.

"It's all right! I'm sure he's doing that because he's shy." Mr. Kim explained his son's behavior but Si-young knows that's not the case. "Don't mind that, Si-young." Mr. Kim smiled at Si-young and her mood lifted straight away. 

"Then, Si-young, would you like to take a look around your room?" Then both women disappeared going upstairs whilst leaving the men downstairs.

***

"How do you like it?" Mrs. Kim opened the door with a burst of joy and excitement to show Si-young her new room. Most things were bright pink, the bedsheets, curtains, teddy bears, and more. Si-young walking to the rooms seemed very astonished which made her froze and couldn't say anything. "You don't like it?" Mrs. Kim asked yet again worriedly. "Did I overdo it?" she asked looking around the room disappointed and followed Si-young's actions which were her walking around the room admiring every inch of the beautifully decorated room. "Since I only have sons, I have always wanted to do something like this for my daughter. Princess-like room, dolls." Mrs. Kim explained her longing for a daughter with sadness on her face.

Si-young walked over to the bed and grabbed a net to prevent mosquitoes from coming in whilst sleeping and wrapped herself with it. Turning around slowly to face Mrs. Kim's back she answered.

"I'm very happy," Si-young exclaimed, still quite astonished at the sight of the room. The mother of two sons turns to face Si-young seeing her smiling with happiness which made her look at Si-young also happy and proud of her decorating. "My mom passed away when I was young, so I have never been able to enjoy this girly stuff," Si-young explains with a gentle smile on her face whilst holding a stuffed toy on her hand and playing with the net. "And my dad never cares about this kind of thing." she looks at the woman saddened. "So I was always jealous of my friends with feminine outfits. It feels like my dream has come true. So..." Si-young looks very delighted with the thought that she finally got the chance to say her thoughts aloud. Mrs. Kim appeared to have much sympathy for Si-young but could also relate as she really wanted a daughter.

"It has always been my dream to go shopping, watch movies, and change clothes with my daughter." Mrs. Kim finally comes closer to Si-young emotionally and physically. Si-young looks at the woman with amazement and totally agrees with her feelings. "Let's be friends forever, Si-young." the woman grabs Si-young by hands and pleads for the friendship with her sparkling eyes making Si-young startled at her sudden action but then accepts the request, cherishing it with a big smile. 

When the women were having fun Hyun-Joong came up and dropped Si-young's bags heavily making both women pay attention to him. 

"This room used to be, Hyun-wu's" Hyun-Joong stated whilst standing up straight leaning his back against the wall and crossing his arms. "Thanks to you, his desk is in my room now." he continued staring at Si-young with his usual expressionless face. "He's complaining about sharing a room." he finally states building even more guilt for Si-young.

"We were having fun!" his mother says with an annoyed tone which also made Si-young look back at her still guilty. "Hyun-Joong, don't ruin it." 

'That's why he was like that...' Si-young remembers how Hyun-wu was acting towards her earlier which now she has an answer to why.

"Don't worry, Si-young." the woman says reassuring Si-young. "Just make yourself at home, all right?" even though Si-young was unsure she nodded to make the motherless worried. She felt sorry for intruding into their personal space, especially Hyun-wu. "Then, Hyun-Joong, help her unpack." the woman asked facing Hyun-Joong and pointed at the luggage on the floor that he brought earlier. "I'm going to go prepare dinner," she says, already making her way to the exit. "Tonight we are having sukiyaki. Do you like sukiyaki." the woman asked, focusing on Si-young.

Si-young nodded repeatedly "I do!" making the woman even more excited to show the new guests her skills of cooking. 

"Thank goodness! See you then!" She claps her hands and makes her exit cheerfully leaving both Si-young and Hyun-Joong. 

An awkward silence filled the room. Si-young was brought back to earth and dropped the stuffed animal onto the bed and pulled away from the curtain. 

"Well..." she starts glancing at Hyun-Joong which is still in the same position against the wall. 

"So," Hyun-Joong continued, grabbing Si-young's bag whilst picking them up and walking to the middle of the room because Si-young didn't let go any further. She yanked one of the bags out of his but that made the bag land on the floor making stuff fall out of it. Including Si-young's journal and the letter, she tried giving Hyun-Joong in the past. 

"It's all right. I can do it myself." Both of them looked down at the stuff and obviously noticed the letter. Quickly after they make eye contact and Hyun-Joong looks away, placing the other bag on the ground. 

"Ah, right." he begins placing his hands into his pockets and at the same time looking down on Si-young smugly. "I have no right to help you, right?" Si-young looks back at him hurt but instead answering she knees down and starts picking up the stuff back into the bag. There was a short pause but what Hyun-Joong said next broke the silence. "I don't care whether you exist or not." he said making his way to the door but when he was right outside of the room he turns around and gives Si-young a last intimidating stare and says "Don't interrupt my life.'' However when Hyun-Joong left his younger brother poked out and did the same action as he did earlier, stuck his tongues, and walked off behind Hyun-Joong slamming the door shut when walking into their new shared room. 

Si-young was stunned. She was sorrowful and unwanted but she knew that there's nothing she could do so the only thing she can do is deal with it until she can move into another home. 

'The chance of a man to get hit by a shooting star is 1 to 10 billion. The chance of a high school girl to live with a boy who just rejected her would be like 1 to 1 billion. Is this the beginning of something special? Or...'

***

It was the next day. This morning Si-young woke up extra early to prepare herself better as she has much more to choose from. Now she has different headbands, hair bow, hair clips, and more. She definitely wanted to use all of them but she can't use them all at once so she started choosing what she'll wear today. 

Looking into the mirror in her new room she looked down on the choices she had and picked up a pink hairband and placed it against one of her ponytails to see how it would look, however, it wasn't the one that fits. Instead, she picked up a hairband but yet again no luck... eventually she picked up a ribbon and straight away knew this was the right choice so she started to put them on. 

After a while, she finished placing them in her hair and did some final touches on her bangs and was finally ready to walk downstairs. 

She opened the door slowly and quietly and poked her head out to see whether anyone's out in the hallway. Seeing that it's clear she walked out and closed the door behind her. Whilst walking a little bit she stopped at Hyun-wu's and Hyun-Joong's room listening whether there's anyone inside, nodding her head she started to make her way downstairs. 

***

Si-young was finally sitting with everyone whilst eating her breakfast.

"Here it is. Take some more." Mrs. Kim came out of the kitchen with a big plate of toasts and placed the plate in front of Si-young.

"Thank you!" she replied gladly taking one. Then she moved on to the others.

"Mr. Lee, would you like some more?" she said, walking over to Si-young's father who was sitting right next to her.

"Thank you," he replied, taking one toast and placing it on his plate.

Mrs. Kim then went back into her seat and carried on eating her breakfast.

"Kim, is it all right for you to have bread for breakfast?" Mr. Lee asked his friend when putting butter on his warm toast. "Would you prefer some rice?" he recommended.

"It's alright. It's fresh," he answered whilst reading his newspaper.

Si-young. Si-young after layering her toast with Nutella she went to take a bite, however, her glancing at Hyun-Joong stopped her. Whilst glancing at Hyun-Joong she couldn't fully see his face as the newspaper he was reading was in front of him but that didn't stop Si-young, but she was lucky as whenever Hyun-Joong flipped a page she could get a glimpse of his concentrated face.

'I'm eating breakfast with Hyun-Joong…'

Si-young continued to stare at Hyun-Joong as he lowered his newspaper and placed it on his lap as he grabbed his cup of coffee which made her copy her crush's move without realizing which made her spill some tea on herself.

"How tacky" Hyun-wu exclaimed, disgustingly looking at Si-young wiping her skirt.

Eventually, Hyun-Joong finished his newspaper reading and stood up. "I'm done," he said, turning around to walk off.

"Already?" Mrs. Kim asked, looking at her son. Hyun-Joong stood behind his chair and pushed under the table. Suddenly Mrs. Kim turned towards Si-young.

"Si-young, why don't you leave with him? You go to the same school!" as she was talking to Si-young Hyun-Joong was already making his way out.

"Okay!" Si-young agreed with Mrs. Kim and took another couple of bites of her unfinished toast but decided to take one half the toast with her and finish it on the way which then leaves her with another piece and she dropped it onto her dad's plate. "Dad, here you go. Thank you. Bye!" she hurriedly exited the room as Hyun-Joong was already in the hallway putting on his shoes getting ready to leave. Everyone said goodbye to Si-young and went back to their breakfast. 

***

Hyun-Joong left a little earlier than Si-young which made her follow along behind him and as Hyun-Joong is tall and has long legs he's much faster than Si-young. This made her look like a dog following his owner but eventually, she decided to run up to him and she finally walked beside him at the same pace. However, that didn't last long as Hyun-Joong decided to wreck her morning.

"Hey…" he started and Si-young answered cheerfully with a yes. "Would you step away from me?" Si-young didn't think much of that question so she asked.

"Why?" her smile still hasn't left her happy personality and mood but that didn't last long.

"I don't want to walk with a girl with crumbs on her." Si-young suddenly stopped and looked down onto the chest and saw crumbs. With a worried face, she rushingly wiped off the crumbs and took out a mirror from her bag and checked whether she had any crumbs on her face.  Then when she was ready she started to jog towards Hyun-Joong again, but he wasn't having her next to him anymore. "Stay at least 2 meters away from me," he exclaimed, turning around to face Si-young. Si-young did as he asked, she stepped back a couple of steps. "Just walk behind me to learn the way to school," she said bossily looking down on Si-young and kept his little speech going. "And of course, don't tell anyone that we live together. Don't talk to me at school." When he finished his warnings Si-young didn't let him get to her and spoke up as well. She really didn't like his attitude towards her.

"You don't need to be so cold like that," she said, pouting with offense holding her bag handle. 

"I don't want to get caught in a stupid rumor," he said without turning around. His back was facing Si-young, it seemed like he didn't want to even glance at her but that didn't bother her as much as what he said.

"Stupid?..." she repeated the work annoyed and you could hear the astonished tone in her voice. 

Hyun-Joong turned around to face Si-young and even took a few steps towards her and made it clear about how he felt about this situation. 

"I don't like stupid girls." Then without further speaking, he continued to walk. This left Si-young confused and angry, she stood in one place and glared at Hyun-Joong walking away but he didn't even care to turn back, he just walked off with his usual expressionless face and his hands in his pockets. 

'Gosh! I can't believe I was in love with this kind of guy for two years. I decided I would make him regret it.' as Si-young thought this she lifted her fist and pretended to hit Hyun-Joong by swinging her fist in the air. 

avataravatar
Next chapter