Some Kind of Wonderful

The Friendship Begins

Cha Eun Sang ran outside the gates of Jeguk High trying to catch up to Rachel.  She looked around and saw no trace of her.  "Boy, she's fast," Cha Eun Sang thought.

She made a move to turn around and walk the opposite way when she thought she heard a voice. She stopped in her track.

She looked around again and this time she saw Rachel sitting on the curb, phone held against her left ear. Cha Eun Sang walked towards Rachel but decided against it when she saw that Rachel was still talking to someone over the phone. She practically sat on the road so Rachel's parked car provided her a good cover; not near enough, not far enough either. She could still see Rachel's face and hear her voice clearly.

"Just forget it, mom," she heard Rachel.

She frowned. This was the first time she saw Rachel this upset. Sure, she always looked high and mighty and intimidating and fierce and angry over things, but, never upset.

Looking at her now, Cha Eun Sang realized that she could never blame Rachel for having this air or sense of entitlement. She must have grown up with a sense of entitlement; that's how she must've been brought up.

"I don't know! You tell me! After all, I'm just a means to justify your business ambitions! It doesn't even occur to you that, you know, I might have gotten hurt," Rachel tugged at her pony tail.

She saw Rachel breathed deeply. "It doesn't even occur to you to check how I'm doing because I'm not a daughter to you! I'm just a commodity that you can trade with anyone who—"

Rachel's voice broke in mid-sentence. Cha Eun Sang saw Rachel end the call and put the phone in her blouse's pocket. Rachel had both of her hands on her face, and she could tell she was crying by the way her shoulders shook violently.

She felt like a criminal watching Rachel in her almost if not most vulnerable state. She decided to leave. She stood up from where she was sitting, but, Rachel was already in front of her before she could even step away.

Rachel glared down at her. There were no signs of tears in her face, no signs that she was crying just a few moments ago.

Wow.

"Just how long have you been here, Cha Eun Sang?"

Rachel's voice hinted more at surprise than anger.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Not that long, really. Just long enough to hear and see everything. No big deal."

Rachel's eyes grew wide. "What?"

"What?" she asked back.

Rachel crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her. "If you're here because of that, don't bother. I don't need anyone's pity!"

"Don't be so defensive," she countered.

"I'm not defensive!"

She smiled. Rachel sure sounded defensive.

"Nope. I don't pity you." She paused. "Why would I pity you when you're twenty folds richer than I am?"

Rachel smirked. "So, what are you doing here?"

She smiled sheepishly at her. "I just wanted to thank you."

Rachel frowned.

"For what you did earlier," she automatically supplied when she thought Rachel must have forgotten about it.

Rachel stayed poker face. "Poker face game way too strong," she thought.

Rachel uncrossed her arms and walked towards the driver's seat of her car. "I didn't do it for you."