Hidden Promise (1/2)
Joohyun woke up from the sunlight radiating through her windowpane, giving her too much amount of light over her eyes. Instead of greeting the new day with annoyance, she smiled despite the sunlight. Yawning her sleepiness out, she jumped out of her bed to prepare for another day in school, her last year as a high school student. It saddened her but realizing that she was a few step mile away from her dream of America, she shrugged it off, putting her positive mind ahead of her.
Flattening the blue skirt of her uniform, she expertly slid the straps of her backpack over her shoulder while running down through the stairs. She inhaled the fragrance of toasted bread while making her way to the kitchen. “Good morning, my dear mother” she greeted, barely touching their cheeks together. “I think I’ll be late tonight-or” She mentally tried to remember her schedule for the day. Classes until 3 in the afternoon, student council until 4.30 and…did she put library after or piano practice after? “-Yes I think I’ll be late” She shook her head in confusion, pouting while picking over what to grab while walking to the bus stop.
“Have a great day ahead, my dear” She heard her mother’s kind voice while she was making her way to the stairs, just in time for his father descending through the stairs, looking like the executive that he was with his Armani suit.
“Good morning, my handsome father!” She greeted with a big smile while munching the bread with strawberry jam in it.
His father, just in his forties, looking young and handsome as he flashed a charming smile for his only daughter, “Why, aren’t you a bit too cheery this morning, beautiful?” He asked, giving a kiss on the top of her head.
“Just this morning? I’m like this everyday, Daddy!” She whined, knowing too well that he was just joking.
“Okay, stop it, you two. You better move or you’ll be late” Her mother, in thirty-eight but still looking beautiful with her short hair and her sophisticated aura making her more lovable, greeted her father with a peck on the lips. “Darling, why don’t you let your father drive you to school?”
“Mommy, I told you I like walking more. And it’s autumn, cooler!”
Her parents exchanged a loving look to each other, thanking the gods that they were blessed with a perfect daughter like Joohyun. They never experienced any troubles because of her, she had been a good and responsible child who had been nothing but a dreamer. She had been spending too much time making them proud with her endless achievements that they were beginning to worry about her forgetting how to be a teenager.
The sun was already back in its place at the sky but the wind was cool enough for Joohyun to appreciate the morning glow from the heavens. She had been worked up with the new project of the student council and all she wanted was a refreshing morning walk.
She was fifteen minutes early, her classmates were starting to show up as she plopped over her seat at the middle row, she was showered by dozen of greetings from them and even from her batch mates. She didn’t like to be called popular, she had always liked talking to anyone and she thanked her mother’s personality because of it.
“Hyun!” Nicole, who came from America three years ago, greeted her with her famous eye smile. Apart from being her seatmate, she was also her best friend, knowing each other too well with just a simple nod and nudge. “I’m sure you heard about the transfer student?”
She crossed her eyebrows in quick review of her brain, she almost forgot about it. Their adviser had told her that they were to welcome a transferee from Busan. It confused her since they were already in the middle half of semester, she remembered from the handbook and meetings that the school wasn’t allowed to accept anyone when the second semester started.
“His parents are one of the stockholders of this school so there’s nothing we can do”
She concluded then that they were to have another conceited rich guy who would rely to his parents to pass. So she practically shrugged it off as soon as she left her adviser’s room. “What about him, Nicole?” She loved calling her bestfriend by her English name because she kept complimenting on how good her English was.
“I don’t know. I have this feeling that he’ll be really, really handsome” She watched as her eyes twinkled as if she had already seen the guy. She chuckled, finding it weird that she was into guys too much.
She was looking down at her Trigonometry notes when the bell rang, signalling for study hall. She watched their young adviser making her entrance at the front door with a guy following her. Her classmates abruptly talked out loud, probably surprised by the appearance of a new guy. She rested her chin over her palm and prepared herself to listen.
“It looks like I don’t need to call for your attention” She started with a short laugh. “As you may see, we have a new student and he’s from Busan. Introduce yourself please”
Joohyun’s attention flickered over the guy who looked so bored with what was occurring. Her eyes noticed the mole near his eyes and she somehow found it appealing. His brown eyes were looking at the wall behind them, “Jung Yonghwa” Very short but enough for her girl classmates to swooned over. It was embarrassing for her when even her best friend had a starry expression on her face.
“Oh. That was…short. Thank you, Jung Yonghwa. You can sit beside Kikwang” As soon as Kikwang, their class’ secretary, raised his hand he walked over without any care in the world. He even ignored the warm welcomes of their classmates. She shook her head slightly, disappointment flashing on her eyes while glancing at him. “Whoever wants to tour him around is-“
“Thank you but I don’t need the tour” His voice almost sounded thankful but still rude for her.
It seemed like the hype over Jung Yonghwa was still on even after his first week. A lot of guys were trying to be friends with him due to his sudden popularity among the girls. She heard he kept on declining all the offers, sincere or not, she had been seeing him alone every time they were free from classes.
“I told you, Joohyun. He’s not the typical rebel guy” Nicole nudged her side, one afternoon while they were having their P.E class at the open ground. Everyone but they and Yonghwa were playing, they were sitting by the bleachers while Yonghwa was sitting by himself a bit far from them with a comic book on hand. It seemed like looking bored was his normal expression, it was all she could see from him.
Joohyun glanced at her, eyebrows almost knitted together. “Ji-Young, why do you keep telling this to me?” she asked, finally using her Korean name as a hint that her repetitive words about him was starting to get into her nerves.
“Oopss. My bad. I thought you are curious about him. You’ve been watching him since day one” She stared at her, thinking of reasons to deny her accusation. But her best friend was right, she couldn’t quite understand why her eyes would automatically watched the new guy. “So does Seo Joohyun finally got her first crush now?” She teased, a bit loud to attract the attention of their classmates. They were looking at her with mouth agape and anticipation forming into their eyes.
She gulped nervously. She understood their reaction, they’ve known each other for years and they haven’t heard anything about her and guys. She was too busy to even think about entertaining the ‘suitors’ since middle high school and no one had gotten her attention yet.
“What the!” It wasn’t the smartest and best comeback but she knew it was enough to shut Nicole’s mouth for a while. Crush and Jung Yonghwa did not sound right for her. She wouldn’t like to think that it was something like it, it was simply a force called curiosity.
At least that what she tried to think.
Days passed with more discoveries and confirmations but Joohyun and Yonghwa were still the same. She was still acing all their exams, her path towards being the valedictorian was still clear and despite her own protest, her curiosity about the country boy was still alive. More alive, even. He kept on surprising her with the knowledge he would unconsciously let her now. He was more intelligent than she thought he would be, he could follow their lessons without any help at all and that alone already caught her attention. He was still alone most of the time with his comic books but she noticed the few times he would participate in their P.E class.
“Joohyun” Mrs. Kim, their English teacher, called in a rather loud voice. “Are you alright?” She asked in English.
She could feel her cheeks reddening by the minute, it was her first time to be distracted during her most favorite subject. And it was all because she was thinking of someone whom she had never talked to. “Yes, Mrs. Kim” She replied in perfect English.
Besides the rule of only speaking in English, she loved the subject because she knew it would be a great help once she got in a university in America. “So, as I was talking about, I am assigning you with Jung Yonghwa for your project” Her eyes widened and even her nose flared for a second with the announcement, she didn’t expected that.
“Oh. Okay, I mean, I see. I understand” She gulped as Nicole gave her a playful nudge on her side. She was probably the only one who knew about the weird ‘curiosity’ she had been giving him. She glanced at her right side at the back, Yonghwa had his chin on his palm with the usual bored expression on his face, it was nothing for him at all.
“I am giving you the remaining twenty minutes to start planning about the project. Chop, chop!” Her classmates were groaning as they made their way to their partners. She knew how they found it hard to speak the foreign language, they didn’t have any reason to practice it, anyways. But as she was clutching her notebook over her chest, slowly making her way at the back to where he was seated, she didn’t understand the slight nervousness her heart was feeling.
“Fighting!” She heard Nicole whispered a few seconds before she reached her destination.
“Hey” She greeted right after she took a deep breath, it felt like her nervousness came out from it. “I’m Seo Joohyun. I guess we’ll be partners for this project” She introduced herself with a kind smile on her face, strength coming from nowhere. She tilted her head when a minute passed without any acknowledgement from him. He was too focused on his book that he probably forgot what they were supposed to do. “Uhm…can I-sit? Or I’ll just give you-“ English was gushing into her tongue even before her mind processed it. She was too familiar with the language as if she was born with it. “Oh. You don’t understand?” She covered the side of her mouth from their teacher and leaned a bit. “I said if I could-“
“You can do whatever you want” Oh. His accent struck her. There was something refreshing about his English that made her stare at him for a minute. Again, another discovery about him. He surely was familiar with the language as her. Something inside her tingled for a second with the thought of it. She didn’t even notice the annoyance with his reply.
“Oh okay” She sat on Kikwang’s chair, moved it a bit far from him. It was the first time she saw him up close, he’s got a sharper nose when seen closer, his long eyelashes were curled just like hers and his lips were more profound and pinker than she thought it was. She took another breath, incidentally smelling the sandalwood coming from him, clearly reminding her of how spring was like.
She shook her head, wondering what on Earth just happened to her. She was unlike herself, a fan girl who had just seen her perfect idol, she wasn’t supposed to be like this. Thankful that she could somehow control herself, she opened her notebook with the notes she took down for the project.
“So do you have something planned after classes?” She asked, glancing at him, revising some part on her notes.
“Yes”
“Oh. I see. Is it an everyday thing or not? Because it would be better if we could meet after class so we could further talk about the research. And by the way, I listed here the possible topics we could do. You can select from it or if you already have something in mind, you can just tell me. Here” She was focused too much on speaking her thoughts that she didn’t notice the stare he was giving her. She shoved her notebook on his side, eyes still on the page then finally looked up. Her eyebrows crossed in reflex and confusion when his eyes were piercing right into hers, looking at her like she looked foreign just like the words that were coming out from her mouth. “Oh my gosh. You didn’t understand it? Should I repeat it again?” Her hand covering the side of her mouth again, already shifted to Korean, voice as low as she could do.
“Are you that crazy or you’re just really detailed?”
It took her brain a moment to process his question then eventually pouted then crossed her eyebrows. She forgot that she rarely do cute expressions to anyone but look at her, unconsciously doing it in front of a guy she barely knew. “Hmmm…I’m going to take that a compliment that you are talking to me. Can we go back to our project?”
“You can choose whatever you want. Just tell me what I should do”
She sighed, disappointed that she threw all the works at her with his simple statement. “Okay then. We’ll start tomorrow after class”
And all she got was a murmur before going back to his own world with his book.
“Couldn’t have been later” Yonghwa commented, the next day, right after their classes. Joohyun was late for a few minutes because she had to explain to her piano teacher that she wouldn’t be able to attend the class. They were in their casual clothes, Saturday meant wash day in their high school. She was wearing a gray sweater beneath it was brown long shirt and skinny jeans while he wore a plain white shirt and faded jeans.
“I’m so sorry. I had to inform my piano teacher that I have to attend an important meeting” She explained, panting from the short run she did, gripping on her shoulder bag’s strap.
He shrugged, silently walking beside her. They let the peaceful breeze talked among themselves, the crispy leaves making a soft noise on the ground beneath them. Was it more fun walking with someone or was it just her?
Inhaling the night’s cold air, she gathered her thoughts in her mind as she realized that they were going nowhere. “Where should we talk about this?”
“After my performance” He simply replied, leaving her more confused than even.
She followed him through the thick crowd of Myeongdong, its night life was unfamiliar for her, she usually goes home right after her classes and piano classes or after going to library. “Ooppss sorry” She murmured, bumping a few shoulders while keeping up with him. She held her breath for a second when they entered a bar. The loud music was hurting her ears and the endless number of people was dizzying for her. She wasn’t used to any of it, it was overwhelming her in a bad way. “Yonghwa!” She tried to call despite the crowd she had to walk through to get to him. “Yonghwa!” Her voice louder than the ringing in her ears.
He finally turned and crossed his eyebrows when he saw that she was having a hard time through the crowd. He almost had to catch her when she stumbled into him. “Can’t I just wait outside or anywhere where there are less people?” Her voice tinier than he ever heard. “I’m not really comfortable in places like this”
She was surprised when he held his wrist, pulling her into the bar, just few steps away from the stage. “Wait for ten minutes and we’ll leave” She nearly froze in shocked when he leaned closer to her, his breathe brushing against her ears before walking up to the stage.
‘He is in a band’ She thought, her mind working a bit slow than usual from the sudden close proximity with him seconds ago. She watched him put on the strap of a white guitar over his shoulder, strumming few chords while checking the sound of the microphone in front of him.
The crowd was slowly turning their attention over him and the three other guys, the music stopped as soon as he stepped into the limelight. Her eyes were focused on him, the concentration he had mirrored hers whenever she was working in a Chemistry problem. And yet again, her heart ached a bit from the realization. She saw him shot a glance at the guy on his right and then, a beautiful music reverberated around the bar.
Her mouth was slowly opening in awe by just hearing his voice. It felt like she wasn’t looking at his quiet classmate but a guy who was drowning in his music. His husky voice was softly ringing into her heart as if knocking for more attention. She watched in amazement as his skilled hands were creating the wonderful music she was hearing. She wasn’t into rock music but she was liking her every seconds with it.
She almost jumped out of her seat when he looked at her with his expressive brown eyes. She gripped into the stool when it lingered for more seconds, melting her cohesiveness and the beating of her heart. There was something in his look that made her cheeks blushed lightly.
A loud cheer brought her back to her senses, signalling for their ending. She saw him quickly putting down his guitar and watched him walked back to where she was. She saw the slight smile he gave to few people but finally met her eyes seconds after.
“Let’s go” He grabbed her wrist again, dragged her out of the bar.
It was colder, the thick crowd earlier was slowly decreasing with groups of college students and old men going around. She pulled her sweater tighter around her, resting her arms against her chest to warm herself a bit. She was still replaying his performance, the different Yonghwa she just saw and the feeling she got from all of it.
“That was…really great” Joohyun finally cut the thick atmosphere between them when they were walking along the street side, fewer people around them. “That was my first time, thank you” she added, her eyes watching where her feet were dragging her.
“You looked scared for a moment earlier” he said in a low voice, almost husky for her ears.
She chuckled shortly, glancing at him, realizing that there were both looking down. “You noticed? I don’t like big crowd like that. I’m not used to it”
“And that’s coming from someone like you”
It amazed her. The fact that she was actually talking with Jung Yonghwa, the guy who effortlessly made a name for himself within months, he became the cool and silent type in their batch. She set aside her confusion, she suddenly felt like entertaining the thoughts about him for a while, just for the night.
“Me? What about me?” She watched the light fog coming from her mouth, forming into the nothingness of the night, her favorite season was really just around the corner.
She saw him shrug, “You are practically friends with everyone and seeing you that moment is a bit weird”
“Not because I get along with everyone doesn’t mean I’m friends with them. Have you seen me hanging out with anyone besides Nicole?” She paused for a moment, realizing what she just asked. “-no, of course you probably won’t-“
“I noticed” Then she finally had the courage to look at him for more than a second. His voice was so quiet but she still heard the annoyance from it, as if what she said was a wrong conclusion. “Not because I don’t talk to you doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention at you”
At that moment, where they were just a few blocks from the bus stop, the breeze was getting colder by seconds and they were the only one around, she felt her heart and mind clicked for a moment. Like a lock finally opening, like a puzzle finding its final piece and like a girl finding a boy.
She felt like she couldn’t push away any thoughts about him anymore. Because he already answered her unknown questions, she knew it was that simple.
But she swallowed it along with the tension forming in her throat, she just let the silence of the night understood her sudden contentment of being with him. She watched as his black hair played along the wind, smiling at how her eyes captured the child-like expression on his face.
She sighed loudly, purposely letting him hear it. She extended her hand when they were at the bus station, “I’m Seo Joohyun. And you are?” A big smile greeting him when he gave her a confused look.
He shook his head, finally letting her see his smile. “Jung Yonghwa” He shook her hand and she noticed how it fit a bit too perfectly with each other. She just breathed in realization.
Joohyun noticed the one hour bus ride felt like a minute when her stop was just a few blocks away. They spent their time talking about each other, laughing at each memories they could remember, smiling at the trust they unconsciously gave with the stories they shared.
Jung Yonghwa was far different from the silent classmate she had been watching for months. He finally let her into his shell, letting her see his dorky side, his witty comebacks and his gentleman personality. Her heart couldn’t help but swell in enjoyment of being with him.
“We better talk about our research tomorrow” He concluded as they stopped in front of her house.
“Oh my gosh! I totally forgot about it!” Horror visible in her eyes with the realization, she forgot about an important schoolwork because of a guy.
It was the first time. And at the corner of her heart, she was simply glad.
Nicole wasn’t a bit surprised when her best friend suddenly started hanging out with Yonghwa. There were girls who cried, her long time admirers were plotting some childish plans against him but she was thankful. Thankful that finally someone had came into her life to put some colors in it. She could see the brighter smile on her face, the beautiful twinkle on her eyes was something she was praying to see one day.
“So how are you and your heart, Joohyun?” Joohyun looked up from her book, her glasses already down the bridge of her nose.
“Hmm?” she asked, highlighting a sentence as she dropped down her attention back to her book.
“I meant you and that country boy”
“We’re fine” she replied, indifference in her voice. It crossed her eyebrows for a second, thinking she sounded like Yonghwa already.
“Shut up! You two are practically together all the time!” Her best friend moved her chair closer to her, whispering like they were gossiping.
She glanced at her while patting her cheek, “I enjoy being with him, Nicole. I think we’re really good friends” She confirmed, confident with her words.
She and Yonghwa were still hanging out even though they finished their research earlier than planned. She would still watch him perform, they hung out in a coffee shop near their school most of the time, talking about anything they could about. She couldn’t consider him as the best friend type because she would let him hold her hand, let him pay everything and she would let her heart feel something more when they’re together.
They were more than friends but less than a couple.
She just wanted to spend the remaining time before graduation with him. Happy as possible. She turned her head over her shoulder and saw that he was, as usual, engrossed with his One Piece comic book. Sensing that someone was looking at him, he looked up at her direction and easily winked at her. She crunched her nose in mock disgust, wishing he wasn’t that charismatic.
It was something more than happiness that they were feeling each time they were with each other. The boisterous laughter was already stuck in their system, the loving smiles they shared and the lingering stares were starting to mean deeper. The grip of their hands was tighter than usual, they were spending too much time together and they craved for each other more.
As if their hearts were dreading for the big day as well.
Their graduation.
Omg. This is embarassing! /hides
***