Chapter 9.

Hyeon-ji glanced at his wristwatch again.

He was seated on the sofa in Rae-won's sitting room, waiting for his friend. Ever since the day of Yu-min's birthday party, they had become very close. And since Hyeon-ji lived nearby, he always came to hurry Rae-won up so that they wouldn't arrive late at school.

They were in 3rd grade in high school already.

Soon Rae-won came out of his room. He was fully dressed in his uniform. "Good morning, sorry I'm late," he said with a smile.

"It's seven-thirty," Hyeon-ji complained as he landed a knock on Rae-won's head.

"I'm sorry," Rae-won laughed as he rubbed his head in his bid to soothe Hyeon-ji's hard knock.

"It's not funny," Hyeon-ji scoffed as they both walked towards the door. Rae-won locked up. His grandmother had left in the early hours of the morning to get some fertilizers which she would need for her garden from a distant market. Rae-won and his friend hurried down to the bus stop and five minutes later, a bus pulled up and they both got on it. There was no space to sit down so they squeezed themselves among the throng of people standing and held firmly onto something so that they wouldn't fall as the bus went through the bumps on the road.

Soon they arrived at their school. It was just some minutes past eight in the morning.

"Hurry!" Rae-won yanked Hyeon-ji's hand as they both ran along the corridors to their classroom.

"It's all your fault that we're late," Hyeon-ji hissed as he stumbled behind Rae-won.

They both burst into the classroom as the teacher was taking the roll call.

They entered when Rae-won's name was being called. "I'm here! I'm here!!" Rae-won said, a little out of breath. The whole class turned to the door way.

"Late again?!" Their teacher wasn't too pleased.

Hyeon-ji was about to make an excuse but Rae-won beat him to it.

"I apologize teacher," Rae-won said as he sheepishly scratched the back of his hair. "I accidentally overslept."

She looked at him skeptically. "Really now?" the teacher said and placed her hand on her hip and tilted her head in a thoughtful manner. "So, it's not that you accidentally stepped on your favorite gecko while rushing for school and you had to wait to give it a proper burial?"

She brought up his last excuse and stifles of laughter could be heard in some corners of the classroom.

"I had to give Wenky a befitting last rite," Rae-won said quietly and bit into his lower lip.

"Right," The teacher drawled out the word like she didn't believe the story. "So, what happened this time? The reason you overslept? Were you up late last night then?" Normally if it was any other student she would have just given them a detention slip and continued with what she had been doing, but Rae-won had a way of making up funny and unimaginable excuses, such that she was always humored each time.

"Staying up late?" Rae-won made his eyes to almost bulge out. "No." He shook his head as he winced visibly. "My grandmother would kill me."

"Actually, a cock that lives around my area always wakes me up early when it crows in the mornings," Rae-won started, his eyes roaming around the sea of eyes trained on him in the class, not settling on anyone in particular. "But yesterday, the owners killed it. And ate it. So, um... I didn't know; I just found out that fact this morning."

The whole class burst into raucous laughter including the teacher who chuckled discreetly.

Hyeon-ji rolled his eyes and face-palmed himself.

Rae-won was such an idiot.

Even though he was still labeled an outcast by his peers, he was always trying hard to be accepted by them by always doing silly and comical things to make them laugh.

"Silence!" The teacher yelled at the class before turning back to the late commers.

"That's detention for both of you," she said sternly.

Hyeon-ji bowed shortly and started heading to his seat. Rae-won still stood before the teacher to protest. "But...but...the chicken--"

Everyone roared out in laughter again. Hyeon-ji looked back, annoyed at Rae-won. He went to pull his hand and they both soon settled in their seats.

"You're silly," Su-hai grinned at Rae-won once he sat down beside her. Seo-ye, who was seated to her left, snorted.

Rae-won smiled at Su-hai.

Soon enough the English lecture was over.

"Any questions?" The teacher asked, her eyes going round the class.

"No?" she questioned when no hand went up.

"Okay then," she said in English and started to pack all her books.

As she was about exiting the class, a hand shot up.

"Teacher?"

She looked back. "Yes, Rae-won?"

Rae-won put his hand down. "What time do you usually go to bed?"

The whole class burst out into another round of laughter.

"What does this have to do with the topic we're treating Rae-won?!" she asked him with a glare, a deep frown creasing her brows. Rae-won could be annoying sometimes.

"Oh..." Rae-won grinned foolishly. "You wanted me to ask questions about the topic that has just been treated?" he asked stupidly as he looked at the teacher sheepishly. "You know, you didn't specify what sort of question we should ask; you just asked, 'any questions?' And so, I asked because I was curious," he managed to finish boldly as he shrugged nonchalantly.

The whole class laughed boisterously again.

"Rae-won be serious for once!" His teacher snapped crossly at him.

He grinned at her cheekily and replied, "I will think about it."

His classmates burst out laughing once more.

"Enough!" The teacher snapped at the whole class before addressing Rae-won as she turned to him again. "Childish!" she spat at him as she shook her head disapprovingly.

She then walked out of the class as the bell rang. Some of the students chuckled silently as their teacher left. They all started going to meet their group of friends, some people talking about Rae-won's funny attitude while some others discussed about more interesting topics. After a long while, the school closed.

Hyeon-ji jogged up to where Rae-won was putting some books in his locker.

"Aren't you going to tell her?" Hyeon-ji asked quietly as he leaned on the locker near his friend.

Rae-won paused in his task and his eyes briefly went to Su-hai who was laughing and chatting with Seo-ye and his three friends at the end of the hallway.

He turned back to his locker again. "No," he replied curtly and he continued with his task, ignoring his friend.

Hyeon-ji was the only one that knew that he had had a crush on Su-hai since middle school.

"You're so stupid and pitiful," Hyeon-ji scoffed. "I'll tell her myself if you don't." He threatened Rae-won and pretended to take a step towards Su-hai.

"Don't you dare!" Rae-won growled as he pulled his friend's shirt back.

"Go." Hyeon-ji pointed at Su-hai. She was already walking away with Seo-ye.

"Fine," Rae-won said and rolled his eyes at Hyeon-ji. Might as well get it done. He thought as he walked towards the direction Su-hai had taken.

He could hear his heart hammering heavily in his chest as he drew closer to Su-hai.

He turned back uncertainly and Hyeon-ji, who was standing far off, gave him an encouraging nod.

Rae-won took in a deep breath and turned around the corner.

He didn't see Su-hai again. She had left before he could even reach her.

Hyeon-ji came up to meet him where he stood, speechless and gaping stupidly. He followed Hyeon-ji out of the school dejectedly. He had really wanted to tell Su- Hai how he felt about her.

"My place?" Rae-won asked his friend as they walked down the street leading to the bus stop.

Hyeon-ji scratched his head and told Rae-won that he had to audition in a modeling company that afternoon. Since Rae-won was into music, so his friend convinced him to come along with him as an entertaining company was just some blocks away from the modeling agency.

Rae-won returned home in the night, tired and worn out but feeling very fufilled. He had managed to secure a position with the Wic-It Entertaining company.

He told his grandmother all what happened and also showed her the handbill. Wic-It had agreed to train him and he was supposed to leave the next day.

"Your dreams of being a professional singer that you've nursed since elementary school would soon come true," his grandmother said happily as she smiled fondly at him.

Rae-won smiled back.

"Yes," he replied confidently.

"I won't forget you, grandmother," he sniffed as she hugged him to herself.

"As if you can." She chuckled warmly. She blinked back her own tears and embraced her grandson tightly again.

"I'm leaving town tomorrow," he told her while still in her arms.

"I'll help you get ready." She stood up and went to start getting all what he needed.

Rae-won thought about calling Su-hai before he left and told his grandmother before going to a nearby payphone to dial her number.

It rang for about five times but she didn't pick up.

He tried calling her again a couple of times but got no response. He replaced the receiver back to its cradle and sadly left for his house.

He was really moody throughout that night. Even the next morning as he kissed his grandmother goodbye on the cheek and hugged Hyeon-ji goodbye at the bus stop, he still couldn't stop thinking about Su-hai.

The bus drove away.

Rae-won looked at the small crowd of people that had gathered to bid him farewell. Even Seo-ye had been present.

He felt bad that Su-hai couldn't come. He wasn't sure if he would ever see her again and he hadn't even had the opportunity to say goodbye to her.

Well, life goes on.

He thought as the bus drove out of the small-town district.