Chapter 16

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Then Tae-wan, who was sitting next to the window, asked with his eyes open.

“I’m not looking at you.”

Tae-Wan’s eyebrows rose at Ha-yeon’s answer.

“Then?”

“I’m looking at the sky.”

“… … .”

She turned her head back. Somehow, her ears looked red. From then on, Ha-yeon looked at the sky once and Tae-wan once.

The uniform shirt was stiff like new. The white collar wrapped around the shirt was straight. It was nice to see the neatly arranged back and the manly shoulder line that continued from there. It was a little nice to be able to see him to her heart’s content. A slight smile remained on Ha-yeon’s lips. Naturally, she breathed in deeply. Once, twice. It was calm. This tranquility seemed to last for a lifetime. Then she fell asleep without even knowing it.

She opened her eyes to the thought of …, Oops. There was a shadow in front of her eyes. Her neck became hot, but her face remained cool. It was a strange situation. She belatedly realized that Tae-Wan’s hand was creating the shadow over her face. He was blocking the light from hitting her face with his hand.

Ha-yeon stopped breathing for a moment, moving her gaze from his hand to his face. Their eyes met. Ha-yeon looked at Tae-wan stiffly. He was staring at her with one hand resting on his chin. His shimmering eyes contained a muted smile. She thought it might have been her own misinterpretation but she also had some sense of certainty. Thud. Her heart missed a beat, and sank. Ha-yeon, whose mouth suddenly ran dry, woke up. She looked at the desk with an awkward expression.

“Why are you still doing that? I have already woken up.” Ha-yeon tried hard to talk and tidy her hair on her head.

“I want you to sleep well.”

“I should shut the curtain… .”

“You like the breeze.”

“… … .” Ha-yeon looked at Tae-wan with a slightly surprised face. Then her face relaxed into a smile.

“You, your expression changes when the wind blows.”

“… … .”

“I love that expression.”

“… … .”

When he finished talking, Tae-wan smiled gently. His straight lips curled upwards. At the same time, his eyes gently lowered.

She didn’t know if it was because of the mood, but the eyes that were half folded and partially hidden were exceptionally warm. She felt like her body would melt just by making eye contact like this.

“… I’ll sleep better later. I’m tired today.” As she couldn’t look at him any longer, Ha-yeon leaned on her desk, turning her head to the other side.

“That’s a shame.” At Tae-wan’s quiet words, Ha-yeon clenched her fists without knowing.

Although she couldn’t sleep anymore, Ha-yeon couldn’t maintain the same posture. Even though she was still, her heart was pounding, as if she just received a romantic confession.

* * *

Their classmates didn’t know that Ha-yeon and Tae-wan were meeting early in the morning. By the time their classmates came to school, Tae-wan had gone to the store, and Ha-yeon was in the bathroom, and so on. They didn’t even discuss about that arrangement previously, but it spontaneously happened.

Ha-yeon, who went to school an hour earlier than usual, saw Tae-wan lying on his stomach. Not long ago, because she had changed seats, her seat was by the window, and he was sitting next to the hallway.

The wind blew through the cracks of the windows that had been opened beforehand. Even though she quietly approached and sat next to him, Tae-wan was tired or still asleep. He said he was busy with a lot of work these days. As the days went by, Tae-wan’s workload had increased, along with his popularity. As for Ha-yeon, she tried harder to maintain her distance from Tae-wan.

On this specific morning. Tae-wan’s eyebrows were scrunched in reaction to the sunlight hitting through the cracks of the window. As she was about to draw the curtains, she was concerned that he might be awakened by the sound of her dragging the chair.

Ha-yeon raised her hand and cast a shadow over his eyes by blocking the light with her hand, as Taewan did for her a few days earlier. Tae-wan’s eyebrows relaxed in the shadow of her palm. Ha-yeon, who noticed that, smiled unknowingly. Then the smile gradually disappeared from Ha-yeon’s face. Such days will be over soon. Because of the lengthy duration of their partnership, their interactions with each other extended beyond the normal period, so the homeroom teacher swore that he would separate them starting next week.

She felt bad for some reason when she realized these times at the window seat would soon be over. Tae-wan won’t disappear, but why would she miss this? Ha-yeon looked at him while she tried to soothe her heart.

Is it because of the mood? He was in front of her, and it will disappear soon for some reason. His hair being gently blown by the wind, his long lashes, and his straight lips. Ha-yeon lowered her hand a little and brought it closer to his face. She wanted to touch his face. Even though she was directly looking at it, she doubted whether it was really right in front of her.

Then, before she touched his eyes, she stopped, worried that she might disrupt his sleep. No, more than that, she was afraid of what Tae-Wan would think if he knew she had touched him. Just when Ha-yeon raised her hand again. Tae-wan, who had just been sleeping, looked at her with his eyes open.

“Uh… .” Ha-yeon, confused, unconsciously made an incoherent sound, Before she could remove her hand, Tae-Wan snatched it first.

“The back of your hand is hot.”

“… Let me go.”

“What have you learnt from this?” Unlike his blunt speech, Tae-wan was smiling.

When Tae-wan caught her hand, it felt infinitely small. The veins protruding from his hand looked like an adult’s. And for some reason, only her left hand was burning. It was the hand that was covering his face earlier. Then Ha-yeon looked at the back of her hand and before she could remove her hand from his grasp, Tae-wan’s lips touched her palm. His lips touched them again, as if to confirm what Ha-yeon felt earlier was true. It felt soft, warm, and strangely numb.

“… Let me go.” Although her mouth was dry, she managed to spit those few words out.

“Na Ha-yeon.”As he spoke, his breath touched her palm. She felt like all the fine downy hair on her neck stood up.

“Let’s get acquainted, the both of us.”

“… … .”

Like the spring breeze that blew through swiftly, an unexpected confession came.

Ha-yeon looked at Tae-wan, holding her hand tightly as if it were a treasure. She wanted to ask him to stop joking, but there wasn’t any sign of laughter in his eyes.

“I originally wanted to stay friends and only confess when we graduated, but I couldn’t wait.”

“… … .”

“Because you are pretty when you are like this.”

“… … .”

“The other guys shouldn’t be given a chance first.” Tae-wan smiled when he finished speaking, but was more serious than expressionless.

Tae-wan looked at her with such a tenacity that that he didn’t even blink until she answered him. Her heart thumped erratically and eventually stabilized.

“If it’s difficult, think about it a little and then give me an answer.”

“… … .”

“Of course I didn’t know you would worry.” Tae-wan put her hand down.

The air became awkward. Tae-wan got up and left the classroom. Ha-yeon, who was left alone, turned her head in the direction he left only after the back door of the classroom had closed. When she turned her head back to the desk, a cherry blossom leaf carried by the wind floated around and landed on the desk. It felt like it was traveling the same speed as Tae-wan’s confession which was rolling around in her heart.

* * *

A love affair with Kang Tae-wan. She only gave it one thought but not very deeply. She felt it was impossible. Kang Tae-wan was becoming more and more popular each day. Not only at school, but also at a nearby girl’s school and droves of girls came to see him and began wandering around the school gate. There were even classmates who shared Kang Tae-wan’s photos. Friends laughed at Ha-yeon, asking if she was surprised by something like this.

“There must be such a large group of female senior and junior admirers as well? No, it’s definitely there. Not long ago, while going to the bathroom, I ran into a freshman, and on her cell phone LCD screen was an image of Kang Tae-wan. Isn’t he the perfect idol?”

“Yeah. Well, that’s an idol. I heard that there are a lot of offers from entertainment scouts here and there.”

“Huh. Two days ago, MU came to the front of the school gate to scout Kang Tae-wan.”

“No, it’s not a joke. I need to take a lot of pictures in advance. Later, I can boast that I attended the same school as him once.”

Ha-yeon could not say anything while listening to the stories of her friends.

Whenever that happens, Kang Tae-wan, whom she meets every morning, felt like a stranger. Maybe she was dreaming every morning. When she was looking through Kang Tae-wan’s magazine pictorial, she thought about her conflicting feelings more deeply.

He worked with female models who have stunningly beautiful appearances. A female model she admired was also included in this photo. She herself sometimes worked with female idols, and on the day this particular pictorial was published, male students flocked to him. Of course, the students who weren’t close to Kang Tae-wan couldn’t easily approach him and watched restlessly from a distance.

“Hey! Kang Tae-wan! Are you texting with Yoo Ha-In too?!” One day, one of the friends who hung out with Tae-wan shouted.

Ha-In Yoo was a member of the famous girl group with a cute face who was popular among men. Ha-yeon also knew of her. Whenever she turned on the TV, Ha-In’s face will appear on screen.

“Have you taken any pictures together with her? Let’s see them! What do you think? Yoo Ha-In, what is the real thing like? Pretty? Do you like her?”

“Wow, what about her voice?”

“Wow! How about you call her now! Uh? Uh?” Male students flocked to Kang Tae-wan and behaved annoyingly.

“It’s just a customary standard polite text message.”

“Why are you sending just a courtesy text?”

“I’m not going to call her or anything like that. We aren’t dating and I am not interested.”

“Ah.”

“Go to your seat unless you have something nice to say.” Only when Kang Tae-wan became angry with his expressionless face, would their excitement calm to a lull.

All day and night, girls who liked Kang Tae-wan would gather with cold expressions and chat quietly. They said they didn’t know that he would get close with Yoo Ha-in, and their lips would curl in disparaging disdain.

“He communicated with Yoo Ha-In, but how many other girls will he be seeing?” Someone said so.

Yeah. Ha-yeon agreed silently. Such a Kang Tae-wan couldn’t pay attention to herself. Ha-yeon thought so. At the same time, Ha-yeon thought that the reason Kang Tae-wan showed so much interest in her was because they experienced inexplicable emotions while together. A little deeper than mere friendship, but a relationship that can never transform into romance. A secret relationship that certainly exists, but will eventually disappear such that no one can prove that their relationship actually existed.

She originally thought it would be okay if it was like a fog that would eventually dissipate after hanging around for a while. However, Kang Tae-wan did confess to her. It was unexpected, but the fact was it was indeed given.

Reject. Ha-yeon could not accept Tae-wan’s confession. He was too much for her. It’s hard enough to get anyone’s attention because of her height, but she didn’t want to get additional attention because of Kang Tae-wan. Furthermore, she didn’t even want to be involved in a high school romance and become the subject of gossip. So there was only one answer left.

She had decided on what to say, but her footsteps to school were heavy. Ha-yeon, who deliberately entered the school gate 10 minutes later than usual, paused for a while. As she looked up, the cherry blossom leaves were falling. Ha-yeon stood there, but couldn’t grab a single petal. It would be nice if it fell on her face. However, the brutal cherry blossoms avoided her. It was time for Ha-yeon to take another step. Ha-yeon, bowing her head one beat late, looked ahead.

The cherry trees were lined up in the bright sunlight. The leaves of the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind shone brightly in the sunlight and then settled down on the ground with a pale pink tinge. The white school building, the deep blue sky, and the transparent sunshine. Kang Tae-wan, wearing a blue school uniform, was standing in the midst of that astoundingly enchanting setting. It was undeniably beautiful.

Everything looked brilliant, but why did he shine brighter? While Ha-yeon mulled about this in her heart, Kang Tae-wan came over. As they stood face to face, Ha Yeon’s head naturally turned upwards. His head and shoulders were covered with cherry blossoms. Instead of asking  a question, Ha-yeon stared at him.

“After I thought about it, I realized I didn’t prepare any flowers yesterday.” Kang Tae-wan opened his hands wide. There were lots of pale pink cherry blossom leaves in his hand.

“Here, what you like.”

“… … .”

“And to state in advance, I didn’t pick up what was on the floor. I got each one as it fell off.”

Ha-yeon alternately looked at his palms and face stained in pink. How did he get so many cherry blossom leaves while she couldn’t get even a single one?

The cherry blossoms that were sleeping quietly in his hand began to flutter with the gusting wind.

“And yesterday I was nervous, so I couldn’t even say this.” She heard his low voice.

“I like you.” With those words, the cherry blossoms that were laying in his hands flew up like butterflies in the wind.

In the midst of a world that suddenly exploded with an ocean of pink petals, Kang Tae-wan repeated once again and said. “I like you, Na Ha-yeon.”

When she wanted to be pelted by them, none of the cherry blossom leaves flew over her body. In that moment, Ha-yeon’s body was drenched in pale pink.

“I like you.”

Ha-yeon looked at him again. Her original rejection evaporate upon Tae-wan’s words, pulling out the wedge she had planned. She tried to refuse, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t think of a way of rejecting Kang Tae-wan, who smiled more refreshingly than the blue sky, and Kang Tae-wan, who was all covered with pink cherry blossom leaves. That was their first love, the beginning.