003 — new friends.
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"You have a month for this task. I hope you will take it seriously." our teacher said, and handed us the essay topic to each pair. Jiwon, of course, was with me.
From the day she first spoke to me, we became inseparable. We did everything together, we understood each other very well, and we didn't feel the need to be friends with anyone else from our class. Although, the girl never explained to me what actually happened at the gate, but I wasn't going to ask her about it. It was her business, and if she wanted to, she would definitely tell me.
We almost always spent every longer break in the canteen. The priority for us was to buy a large mug of hot chocolate, into which Jiwon (of course) poured all possible additions, and we just had lunch.
Everyone looked at us as if we were aliens. Jiwon with her navy hair was very conspicuous, and after that we had to make a not very nice impression, because no one just wanted to sit next to us.
This time we also took the same table. It was a bit more out of the way where we could freely complain about everything and everyone, without risking the dissatisfaction of other people from the school.
After a short while, a beautiful girl came to our table. She was quite tall, had short brown hair, a slender face, perfect complexion.
She smiled, and nodded at us. "Hi!" the stranger girl said happily. I looked at her, not really knowing what to do for a moment.
"Jungmi!" Jiwon jumped happily, and threw herself on the girl's neck. I felt a bit lost at this point. Maybe even a bit like I was third wheeling.
Jungmi took one of the seats next to us right away, and pulled out some cookies, "You must be Jaeun." she said softly, and I nodded involuntarily.
I felt a little intimidated by the girl's beauty, so I just ran out of words. "This is my older sister, Jungmi." Jiwon explained.
All the siblings Jiwon, Jungwon and Jungmi were just beautiful. I had no idea where these people came from. It was almost unnatural.
Jiwon went back to eating her fries when Jungmi got a word about one of the professors at the university. I knew the girl was two years older than us. Jiwon has talked a lot about her siblings. In the way she spoke, you could feel that note of admiration, and respect for them.
At one point they started talking to each other about the new decorations for Jiwon's room. I wasn't able to interrupt them when they started talking to each other. They also looked excited, so I just sat there, and listened to them. Once again, I felt jealous, that I had no one like that.
There was some chaos in the canteen, so I looked up to see what was going on. The girls were too busy talking to pay attention to it. A group of boys appeared in the canteen, among which I noticed Jiwon's older brother, and his friend — Ni-ki. They looked in our direction, and then immediately started walking towards us.
Jungwon put a finger on his lips, telling me that I have to be quiet, and shouldn't tell the girls that he was coming. So I did just like he prosit.
The unexpected girls talked to each other when their brother stood behind their backs. With a dizzying pace, he grabbed a bunch of french fries from his youngest sister's plate, and shoved it into her mouth. The terrified girl jumped up with a soft squeal.
"I didn't know that so many words can leave your mouth in such a short period of time, Jiwonie." he laughed, while ruffling her hair.
At this point, the table got terribly crowded. The rest of the boys came to us, and Jungmi introduced them all in turn, seeing that Jiwon was too busy yelling at her brother. The last seats were taken by Jungwon, and a few other boys — Sunoo, Jay and Jake.
Jake immediately came closer to Jungmi, and kissed her softly, ignoring the amount of people around. The girl smiled at him brightly, and then returned to introducing people.
Two boys with cute smiles — Beomgyu and Taehyun, sat on the ground next to us. Yeonjun together with Soobin were standing somewhere behind us, leaning against the pillar, and Ni-ki leaned against the edge of our table. He had a serious face, and was not looking our way at all.
It hit me once again how perfect they were. Their faces were just beautiful, and unreal. It was overwhelming me, making me blush a little. Each of them greeted me happily, even when Ni-ki who was as if in his world, and then encouraged conversation.
They didn't act like we had just met. They were laughing out loud, trying to make me laugh, drawing everyone's attention right at us. People were very surprised, that the table that used to be empty is now packed to the brim with people laughing and talking.
I couldn't believe, that all of this was happening to me. I was always alone. At school, and after school I was rather avoiding people. I just didn't feel comfortable with them. And now, I was among a group of people I had never met before, had never seen, and felt perfectly fine. As if I had finally found my place.
When I got home, I couldn't believe my eyes. The boxes that used to be all over the house with things crammed inside, were nowhere to be found. It was all sparkling clean.
In the first moment, I was scared that I had mistaken the houses, and went to the neighbors. But when I stepped back to the door again, and read our name with number 7 on it, I knew I was in my home.
Feeling a bit scared, I entered the kitchen where I found my mother cooking. She was wearing a white apron, and there was a smile on her face, that I had never seen in my life.
"Mom..?" I asked softly, couldn't believe what I was seeing.
My mom looked at me with a big smile. She was holding chopsticks in her hand, and she was boiling the noodles for dinner. "Has something happened?" I asked, scared. After all, she has never acted like this before.
"No, why are you asking, darling?" she replied with a slight smile, and started cutting vegetables, "Um... okay?" I sat on a chair by the kitchen island.
"I passed by your school today," she exclaimed happily, "I saw you smiling in a group of young people. I'm so glad you made friends!" she ran to me, and gave me a big hug.
Well.. she often over-reacted to the good news. She knew I had never had friends, and one of the reasons for that was our constant relocation. I knew my parents felt guilty. They weren't really bad people, they worked a little too much, but they weren't bad to me.
My mother always wanted me to meet someone with whom I could just talk. She didn't quite understand, that I just hadn't met anyone like that before. She was a pure social butterfly, who could get into society no matter where she was. Unfortunately, I did not inherit it from her.
"Ah- .." I muttered when she finally let go of her iron grip, "I met them through Jiwon." I said as if it would explain the whole situation.
Mom looked at me curious, "Jiwon? And who's that?" she asked with her eyes sparkling.
"My friend.'' I shrugged, taking my bag from the chair.
I knew, that she was already my best friend, and not an ordinary friend, but I couldn't say it out loud. I was sure that then my mom wouldn't let me live until she met her. It would be embarrassing, and I didn't want to expose Jiwon to questions from her. The girl was definitely not ready for this.
"You should invite your friends sometime!" she shouted as I was already disappearing by the stairs. I only felt good when the door to my room closed behind me. At the sight of my white walls, a large bed, and one window overlooking the forest behind the house, I smiled gently. It was definitely my favoutite place.
I sat on the windowsill looking out the window. Especially for me, my dad converted this into a comfortable place with a lot of cushions, pillows, plushies and blankets, because I spent most of my day there.
The forest behind the house attracted me like a magnet. I liked to look at the trees, the rustling leaves, and when it got dark and the only source of light was the stars and the moon, the forest grew even more beautiful. There was something mysterious, and dark about it, but I definitely loved it.
I leaned my head against the pillow next to me, and just drowned in this beautiful view.
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