SS- Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The following Monday, I rode to school with Bom and her parents. They had an appointment with the Principal first thing in the morning and I guess they are going to tell Mr. Kang of Bom’s medical condition. I can see my bestfriend’s anxiety in her eyes although she tried to be her usual cheerful self as she kept on fussing about her purple beanie. The gauze is no longer needed since the wound has closed but there’s a spot of baldness the size of a penny that she tries to hide with her hair. She made me promise not to tell the rest of our friends yet and that she’ll tell them herself when she’s ready. There’s no problem with that since I don’t think I can even begin to say the words without bawling my eyes out.

Upon reaching the school parking lot, Bom and her parents went to the direction of the Principal’s office on the west wing of the building while I proceeded towards the other side where our first period, Math is held. I gave Bom a quick hug before we separated.

It was still pretty early with 20 minutes to spare before the first bell rings so I took my time walking to my locker first and I was arranging and rearranging the books inside and after that, my gaze caught the several pictures of Bom and me and the rest of the gang on the back of my locker door. I must have spaced out for a bit because I didn’t notice Chaerin.

“Boo!” she bellowed, looking like a mischievous cat.

“Hey” I greeted, not even having the energy to scold her for creeping up on me.

She leaned her back on the locker beside mine, crossed her arms in front of her chest and propped one foot back. “I saw you” she said, looking at me intently.

I tilted my head slightly. “Uh ... you saw me … big deal” I replied, not getting what she really means. My mind was not so sharp that morning.

“Last Friday. At the mart. With the new transfer dude.”

My eyes must have gone bigger and bigger by each word that she said. Good thing I was not facing her. Ottokae? What should I tell her? I can’t lie. She saw us. And besides, why should I lie? I mentally sighed and faced Chaerin. “We just ran into each other” I said acting like it’s no big deal.

Her cat eyes seemed to zoom in on me. “Really? Looked to me like it wasn’t the usual run in” she mused. “You were acting pretty close when you hopped in on his motorcycle.”

Ommo! She even saw that? Chae is one of my closest friends but it just didn’t feel right that I tell her about Seunghyun first before Bom. Somehow, with the recent news, my love life seems insignificant compared to Bom’s condition. That’s why I didn’t get to tell her about it.

“It was nothing, Chae” I shrugged, closing my locker. I walked towards our classroom but she followed and walked beside me. I decided to change the subject. “Bom is here already.” I sounded cheerful, hoping to divert her attention.

“Really? That’s great! Where is she?” She started glancing around.

“Uhm, at the principal’s office. You know … since she skipped the first week of classes” I reasoned.

“Ohhh” she nodded. 

We’re near our classroom when she held my arm to stop me from going in. “So, how did you know the new guy?”

Darn.

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The school bell has rung for maybe a couple of minutes before our teacher, Miss Yoon, came inside the room looking suspiciously red eyed, followed by Bom.

“Are you okay?” I mouthed at her and she nodded. She took the seat beside me which I saved for her since last week.

Some of our classmates especially our friends called her attention, just saying hi and it was nice to see her again and a general consensus that she looks great with her losing weight, etc. Normally, Miss Yoon gets prissy when the class is noisy but she didn’t seem to mind now and she has her back against us. I swear I can almost hear her sniffs with her facing the board. After a while, she faced us and started taking the attendance. During class, she didn’t call out Bom from still wearing her beanie. Normally, caps, hats and beanies are not allowed inside the class but it’s no longer a normal setting, isn’t it? Somehow, that little exception bothered me. Bom’s illness is getting more real for me each passing day and it fills me dread.

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Its lunchtime and we are sitting at our usual spot in the cafeteria. We are occupying two tables which we’ve put together side by side so we can all fit. Bom brought a bag of goodies full of snacks, candies and chocolates from the US and we are all sharing and eating them instead of having healthy lunch meals. Bom is sitting across me on the table and she’s glowing being the center of attention and was telling us humorous stories of her adventures last summer and I was laughing along with everyone, momentarily forgetting that she also spent time in the hospital during her vacation.

In the middle of recounting her story in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she stopped and looked at me, eyes opened wide. “Hot guy alert!” She then arranged her beanie and started patting her hair. “Behind you,” she semi-whispered. “Don’t look!” she added, belatedly. But of course, before she was able to say that, I already turned and looked behind me.

It’s Seunghyun.

Oh my God. Oh my God. My head was chanting. He’s like 20 feet away from us but definitely coming into our direction. I did tell him last Friday that he’s welcome to join us any day for lunch so I can introduce him to my friends but today is not a good day for me. How can I tell him that it’s not the right timing? He saw me and smiled. I gave him a brief smile and willed myself to look away. I looked at Bom, practicing her flirty smile and also caught Chaerin looking at me, seemingly amused and expectant. I told her earlier of my brief encounter with Seunghyun before the school term started and how I didn’t know that he was going to transfer to our school. I also made her promise not to tell anybody else of what she saw last Friday since I don’t want people starting rumors about me and him since we barely know each other. It is the truth, in a way.

I felt his presence behind me so I turned and looked up to meet his smile. “Hi.”

“Hi” he returned.

I can sense the tension from everyone around me, or perhaps, the tension is all emanating from me? “I, uhm, … everyone … this is Choi Seunghyun. He just transferred here last week, I’m sure you’ve all heard about him …” I said nervously. “This is everyone …” I looked at Seunghyun and gave a rundown of all the names of the occupants of the table.

“It was nice to meet you all” he said after I’m done. “Don’t worry, half of the rumors you’ve heard aren’t true” he joked which resulted to nervous laughter from some. I bet thoughts are running through their heads which ones are true. Ha!

Taeyang, who is sitting beside me moved and made some space between us so Seunghyun can also sit. “Join us” he said.

He looked at me first then at Taeyang. “Thanks”

Now that he’s sitting beside me, the memories of our last meeting came flashing back and … and that kiss! I feel my face going red from the sudden recollection so I grabbed my strawberry milk so I can hide my blush.

We were rowdy earlier but there’s an uncomfortable silence now and I feel bad because I’m supposed to make Seunghyun feel welcome but then, how can I forget how we parted the last time? My eyes landed on some chocolate bars. “Have some” I offered.

He picked a Mars bar and opened it casually and took a bite. I was looking at his every movement like everyone else so I mentally shook my head to clear my thoughts and get the conversation started. “Uhm, guys” I start “apparently, the transfer guy that everyone was talking about is my friend.”

Seunghyun looked at me when I said that.

“How did you two meet?” asked Bom with a smile at Seunghyun and with a pointed look at me. I can tell from her eyes that she means, “You owe me a story later.”

I’ve imagined a different scenario when I tell her all about this boy who I suspect I’m falling in love with. But with everything that’s happened and with everyone looking at us, waiting for my answer and with what I told Chaerin earlier, I can only tell them of how we met without sounding giddy and lovestruck. I made it sound like I’m telling a boring anecdote when I started telling them about the incident at the tangerine grove. I didn't tell them about the shared lunches, the lighthouse or even the ride with my mare or his Ducati. 

Thankfully, the boys were more interested about the motorcycle and Seungri in particular was lamenting about the fate of Seunghyun’s Ducati more than the accident.

“It’s all working fine now” Seunghyun said. “I already rode it to school this morning.”

“Yeah?! Can I see it hyung? Maybe let me ride it even for just a while?” Seungrat said excitedly.

This rat is amazing. Just last week, he was afraid of Seungyun’s laser beam eyes.

“Sure” Seunghyun answered, gamely.

“Good thing Dara was there” piped Chae and gave us a knowing look. “Who knows what could’ve happened if she wasn’t.”

“Yeah” Seunghyun agreed. “I actually thought I died and gone to heaven when I saw her hovering at me and she took off her shirt.” He looked at me teasingly and I die of mortification. This guy, what is he saying?

“Bwoh?!” was their collective gasp.

“It’s not what you think!” I appealed to them. “He was bleeding and it was the only thing I can think of that time.”

“How come when you hit me with a baseball last year and broke my nose, you didn’t take off your shirt?” cried Seungri, pretending to look offended.

“Because that was during P.E., you idiot. Besides, I did bring you to the clinic, didn’t I?” I huffed. “And just an fyi, it was my pink crop top so I was wearing another shirt underneath okay.” I looked at Seunghyun squinting my eyes and he just chuckled.

“Ommo!” exclaimed Bom. “Was it the pink top with butterfly print?”

I nodded. Bom knows the rest of my wardrobe more than I do.

“Wasn’t that your favorite shirt?”

I face-palmed in my head. Argh. I didn’t want Seunghyun to feel bad about it and I saw in my peripheral vision that he was looking at me. “It was an old shirt” I said, nonchalantly. “And I have a new favorite … the one you gave me from Saks.”

The girls made a reaction to this saying how come I got a shirt and they didn’t. Oops. I didn’t mean to reveal that. Sorry, I mouthed at her. Bom glared at me.

“So, you’re the famous half of Park sisters. I’ve heard so much about you. Where in the States did you go to?” asked Seunghyun and Bom immediately turned charming, looking pleased.

“Oh, we went to NYC and California.” My bestfriend answered. “And yes, I am Big Park and she’s Small Park.” She laughed.

“We lived in San Francisco before my Mother moved to Chicago” Seunghyun shared.

Bom’s doll eyes went rounder. “Oh? So you came from the US before you moved here?”

Seunghyun nodded. 

“You speak good Korean” observed Taeyang.

Seunghyun shrugged. “My parents are both Korean and we speak Korean at home growing up. And we didn’t move there until 5 years ago.”

I was somewhat taken aback by his willingness to share things about him today. He was somewhat secretive before so what changed? I remained silent though and was just filing in the information I hear about him in my brain.

Seungri brought back the conversation to motorcycles and pretty soon, the boys were talking about cars. Seunghyun revealed that he works part time at Yang’s Garage and yes, he can help Taeyang with his father’s old car. They pretty much manipulated Seunghyun’s time and I didn’t get to speak a word to him at all, all through lunchtime until school ended.

Bom, as expected, interrogated me about him after school as we waited for her Mom to pick us up. I guess they don’t want her commuting from now on. Chaerin and Minzy were waiting with us at the front steps of the school. Bom offered to drop them off.

I was again forced to recount the story I already told them earlier. I felt kinda bad keeping something from my bestfriend but telling a different story now would hurt Chae and I don’t want to make her feel like I can’t confide in her. Perhaps, in the future, I can tell them the whole story.

“Are you sure you don’t have any romantic feelings for him?” Bom faced me, as if doing a cross-examination.

“None. He’s just a new friend.” I answered with a straight face. 

I must be doing better at acting because she nodded and said, “Good.”

“Don’t tell me you like him?” Minzy asked Bom.

Bom gave a besotted smile. “He’s exactly my type. Doesn’t he look like a Korean James Dean? What do you think, Darong? Do I stand a chance?”

“I-I don’t know …” I replied, feeling nervous. “Do you … do you really like him?”

She sighed dramatically. “I think he’s the one!”

“Didn’t you say that about Siwon?” Chaerin reminded her. “And Jiyong and Teddy …”

“And Yongwa?” supplied Minzy.

We laughed. Bom is always in love. Or claimed she’s in love with a new person almost every month. Her ideal type changes constantly. When she makes these pronouncements, we’d learned to take it with a grain of salt. 

Still, her latest crush has gotten me nervous and feeling ill. Hopefully, it’s just one of them phases.

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The next day, Seunghyun caught up with me after lunch getting my Science book in my locker. He didn’t join us for lunch today.

“Hey” he said breathlessly. He looked like he had been running. “I thought you were already in your room but I didn’t see you there.”

I was a bit surprised. He knows what subjects I’m taking and my classroom? I looked at him expectantly. “I had to get my book” showing it to him.

He opened his back pack and got something inside which he handed to me.

I took it without fully realizing what it was. 

“It’s an old shirt” he said while I look at the rolled up black cloth in my hand. “It’s my favorite, though” he added. “I-I tried removing the blood on your shirt but it wouldn’t fully come off so …”he trailed, his right hand lightly rubbing his nape.

I look at him standing in front of me, looking shy all of a sudden and uncertain. Meanwhile, my heart is doing somersaults and my mind refused to formulate the words I wanted to say.

He snatches the shirt all of a sudden and I was surprised. “I knew it was a bad idea. I’m sorry” he said. “I’m going to buy you a new one.” He opens his bag to put it back in but I snatched it back from him.

“No!” I burst out. “I want it.” I clutched it in my chest, afraid he’ll take it back.

He looked at me intently. “Are you sure?”

I nod enthusiastically. “Yes.” 

Is he kidding me? Of course I want it! I unrolled the shirt and I saw that there’s an outline of a bear brick in red at the center as the design. I put it in front of my nose and smelled the clean detergent scent and somehow, it also smelled of Seunghyun. I don’t know if it’s his cologne or what but he has a certain smell which I really like. I’ve been in close proximity with him before back when we rode on my Tamtam and then again, when we were on his Monster. I’m pretty sure that his smell will forever be remembered in my olfactory memory.

“Thank you. I really like it.” I told him. “I’ll treasure it well.”

He seemed pleased with what I said coz he reached out to pinch my nose. “I’m glad you do.”

He was about to say something more but then, the bell rang. “Oh shoot, we’ll be late. I’ll walk you to your class but Shop is on the other end …” he said regretfully. 

“Don’t worry. Go” I waved. “I heard Mr. Han is pretty strict.”

He nodded but before he left, he handed me a small paper. “That’s my number” he smiled. “I got a new phone.”

I watched him sprint away from me until I couldn’t see him anymore. I then folded his shirt, my shirt now, lovingly and I found a small paper bag inside my locker where I placed it inside. 

I may look calm but inside, I wanted to squeal. I wanted to dance. I wanted to spazz. I have a boy’s shirt. Seunghyun’s favorite shirt!

I am definitely going to treasure it. I am going to have it framed and hang it inside my room. Or better yet, I am going to wear it to bed every night until it’s nothing but reduced to threads. Gah! I wonder what will happen if I suddenly scream in this deserted hallway just to let out my feels inside?

I know I’m late on my next class but I didn’t care. Nothing and no one can wipe away the smile on my face the rest of the day even after our Science teacher scolded me from being late. 

Bom could only look at me like I was going crazy but I couldn’t tell anyone of what happened. I wanted to keep it inside me and treasure the memory a little longer.

That night, I sent Seunghyun an SMS with a simple “Goodnight.” I didn’t even include my name.

He replied right back. “Nyt, tangerine girl.”

I slept with the biggest smile on my face, wearing his shirt.

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A/N:

Giddy much? I am. =^.^=

 

 *bisous*

~mzbookworm4life