Let's Fly

I feel completely exposed now, even though my face is the only new thing showing. I can feel my heart pounding. Jung Hwan is staring at me with a look I can't read.

Suddenly, his face breaks into a smile. He hands me my bag.

"See, that wasn't so bad. You can trust me from now on." he says.

Wait a minute. He doesn't recognize me? Is this even the Lee Jung Hwan I know?

"I'm Jung Hwan." he says.

Well, that clears up my question. I don't know what he's thinking right now, but he keeps smiling. I know him well enough to recognize that look. It's a forced smile.

"Jung Hwan." I say quietly.

"Yes?" he replies, still smiling.

Looking at his forced smile is starting to bother me. I don't care if he pretends to not know who I am. I just wish he would stop smiling like that.

"Nevermind." I sigh.

Jung Hwan's smile fades a little. He looks distracted now.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then. Good luck. If you ever need anything, you can ask me." he says.

He turns around and walks away.

What is wrong with him?

----------

Jung Hwan's POV

What is wrong with me?

I keep thinking of her. I see her everywhere. It's always just my brain playing tricks on me. There's no way that was her. Why can't I just forget her? It'll hurt less if I do.

January 2008

"Hey Soyul! Still hanging out with the pig?"

I'm pretty used to hearing comments like there l these, so I never really care. The thing is, it really bothers Soyul.

"Shut up!" she yells back.

It's another bitingly cold day, and snow is falling fast. Soyul and I decided to meet up today to work on our winter vacation homework together. I'm kind of wishing we hadn't now. It wasn't snowing earlier, but now I'm worried about Soyul getting sick.

The cafe we decided to meet at today is unfortunately packed with students from our school for some reason. I never really get along with them since they all don't really like me. I don't care, though. The girl who Soyul just yelled at is Song Jihyun, one of my classmates since elementary school.

"What's wrong? I'm just asking a question." Jihyun says, with a smirk on her face.

"Well I'm just telling you to shut up." Soyul replies.

Jihyun comes dangerously closer to Soyul. Ever since the start of ninth grade, Jihyun has been rude and mean to Soyul. I'm guessing it's just jealousy. Soyul is really talented and beautiful so who wouldn't be jealous of her?

"Excuse me?" Jihyun scoffs.

"You are excused." Soyul says, not looking up from her book.

Uh oh. That's not good. I sense a very bad fight coming up.

Jihyun snatches Soyul's book out of her hands and goes right up to her face.

"Do you want to fight with me?" she says.

"Not particularly. It's not really worth it." Soyul replies, with a bored look on her face.

"You little–!" Jihyun exclaims.

She grabs Soyul's hair and pulls on it. Soyul cries out, and I leap out of my seat to get Jihyun's hand off of her. Some cafe workers rush forward to beg them to stop, and all the other kids want an even bigger fight to happen. Jihyun's grip is really strong, and I can't get her to let go. She uses her other hand to try and shove me out of the way.

"Let go of my hair!" Soyul yells.

That's it. I grab a handful of Jihyun's hair, and yank as hard as I can. She screams and falls over. I grab all our stuff on the table and shove it into my bag while she's struggling to get up. Soyul's patting her hair, making sure she still has it.

"Come on!" I say.

Soyul stands up and gets her backpack. I lead her to the exit and we run towards the direction of her house.

"I think I still have my hair." she says, when we stop at the end of a block.

I laugh and she joins in.

"So how did it feel to pull Jihyun's hair?" she asks.

"It felt...satisfying?" I reply.

She smiles and whacks my back.

"We should do that more often. Just go around and pull the hair of people we don't like. That would be funny." she laughs.

The snow is starting to accumulate on her head, so I put my scarf around her face. She looks funny, like one of those crazy people who like to stalk celebrities. The ones that wear sunglasses, scarves, and long trench coats. The thing is, she's a lot prettier.

"Thanks," she says. "I feel a lot better with my hair protected from other people who might want to pull it."

We arrive in front of her house, and she turns around to face me.

"We should steer clear of that cafe for the time being. Let's meet somewhere else next time." she says.

"You know, you should just ignore people who make comments about me. I really don't care." I say.

She frowns.

"The thing is, you may not care but I do. I don't appreciate it when people make fun of my one and only good friend I've ever had in my life. I mean, compared to them you're practically a model! You could be a big star someday with those looks of yours." she says.

I know she's probably joking, but I can't help but feel really happy about what she said.

"Anyway, I'm going to go now. I'll see you soon!" she says, waving.

I wave back, and she runs up the stairs to her house. I watch as she opens the door and goes in. I stand there for a while just looking up at the sky, letting the snow land on my face. When I look down again, Soyul's in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I forgot to return your scarf." she says, holding it out to me.

I lift my hand to take it, but then change my mind.

"You can keep it." I say.

She looks uncertain.

"Are you sure?" she asks. "You wear this thing everywhere."

"I'm sure." I answer with a nod.

Her face brightens, and she puts the scarf back on.

"I have an idea." she says. "I'll bring you one of my scarves so we can each have something of each other's. Wait here."

She bolts back into her house and comes back a minute later holding a black scarf in her hand. She hands it to me.

"Now we're even." she says.

Then she leaves without another word.

I sigh, but put the scarf on anyway. It feels nice to wear something that belonged to her. It's like she's still here. I start to walk away from the house, back in the opposite direction to my own home. I never thought much about girls until I met Park Soyul. Now I can't stop thinking about her. What does this mean?

I think I might love her.

Notes

This chapter was especially fun to write :) Enjoy!