choi jongho.
did any cute young boys caught your attention before?
cause I did.
-
this one? he's actually one year younger than me. but he's so cute, and yet so manly.
there's one time, I'm involved with the music club's concert as the backstage workers. after the concert finished, we went backstage and cheered for the successful night.
"it's a wrap!" the club's teacher came in, and congratulated us.
"for the successful night, I have presents for you guys!" we cheered after she said that.
"here's the gift," she hand over a big paper bag. everyone rushed to see what's inside.
"apples, mrs lee?!" all of us sighed, after the long night we only get apples for presents?!
"yeah, eat the apples for the appetizer before I bring you guys to the korean bbq restaurant," everyone went happy at the statement.
"anyone brought knife?"
"why would we bring knife to concert, you idiot!"
"then how can we cut the apples?"
"hey! jongho can split the apples," someone suggested, bringing everyone's attention to the student named jongho.
"jongho! come here, and do the things you really like," they joked.
a cute looking boy came out, and took out an apple from the paper bag.
"watch my strength!" he said, and in a blink, he splited the apple to half.
I was awed, he looks so cute, yet he can split the apples. I was curious who is this guy.
"who's that? the one spliting the apples," I asked one of the members.
"oh? it's choi jongho. he's one year younger than us and the main vocalist for choir," he explained, before walked away.
one year younger? interesting.
-
one week after the concert, my english class teacher asked me a favour.
"yuna, see me at the office when lunch break, " she told me, before went out from our class.
"alright, teacher."
lunch break, I told eun to go the our usual place first while I meet mrs kim. I went inside the teacher's office and went to her seat.
"mrs kim, anything I can help you?" I politely asked her.
she turned her head when she heard someone called her. "ah, yuna."
"can I ask you a favour?"
"what is it?" I looked at her.
"there's a student, one year younger than you. I need you to tutor him since his english grade is falling."
I was lazy, and I wouldn't want to tutor a kid. it will be a pain in ass. "mrs kim, I'm pretty busy thes-"
"you'll get extra credits for this," she added.
"sure!" I agreed with thinking twice. extra credits means I don't need to get high mark on test, it will help me to increase my grade.
it won't be difficult, right?
"who's the student I'm going to tutor?" I asked her. she took a look at her notebook.
"f-1-3 class, choi jongho." she said.
"choi jongho? the choir's main vocalist?" my eyes widened.
"I'm not sure, did you know him?"
"no, but his name sounds familiar to me," I grinned, not wanting her to be suspicious with me.
"he'll meet you at the library tomorrow. 4 pm, I hope you help me," she put her hopes on me.
"I try my best, teacher."
-
"where is this kid sit at?" I wandered around the library, couldn't find jongho.
"excuse me, are you kim yuna-noona? the one is going to tutor me?" a honey voice spoke behind me.
"noona?" I turned around, and saw jongho. I wasn't familiar with the 'noona'. I got to raise my head up because he's pretty tall.
"ah, I'm sorry. I shouldn't call you noona, yuna-sunbae. I'm, choi jongho," he smiled, introducing himself.
"it's okay. noona is better than sunbae. I feel old when you called me sunbae," I crack up a joke.
he laughed, but not too loud since we're in the library. the librarian isn't so friendly, gotta slow down your voice when you're here.
"okay, yuna-noona." he smiled cheekily. "where did you sit at?"
"there," he pointed on a table beside the windows. both of us went to the seats.
"so, tell me. what's your biggest weakness in english?" I began my question.
"urm, most of it is grammars. I also sucks at describing things and essay," he scratched his head.
"so you're english-speaking is fine?" I asked him. he shook his head, disagreeing.
"nono, my english-speaking sucks too. literally I sucks everything about english," he smiled sheepishly.
"it's okay. let's start with basics," i gave him a reassuring smile, and flipped his textbook.
-
after a few weeks, me and jongho turned into a noona-dongsaeng relationship.
he's a quick learner. maybe the way mrs kim taught his class didn't match with his style.
"yuna-noona!" he called me, when my class is on our way to the science lab. his class is their way to p.e class.
"hi jongho!" I waved at him, and eun beside me gave me a weird looks.
"yuna-noona?" she repeated what jongho called me just now.
"shush, he's one year younger than us. it's okay to be called noona than sunbae. I feel old when he called me sunbae," I explained.
"who's that?" she glanced over jongho that already passed us.
"a student that I tutor. he's cute right?" I smiled, thinking about jongho.
"don't tell me," eun stopped her words.
"what?"
"you like him?! he's one year younger than us," she continued, eyes widened.
"no! slow down your voice!" I glanced our back, luckily there's no one except us in the hallway.
"is that true? you seems like like him," she nudged me, and raised her eyebrows.
"w-well, maybe. I've been thinking about him these days. he actually could be mature enough than his actual age,"
"I knew it! your eyes sparkled when you look over him," she said, and smirking afterwards.
"really? am I that obvious?"
"not really, but if someone paid attention on the way you smile at him it will be obvious," she commented.
-
"noona, what are we going to talk about today?" he asked me when I sat down.
"how about your likings?"
"sure!"
my way of teaching people are by speaking. you will write good essay if you speak before you write. listening to people's conversation in english helps a lot too.
that's why jongho asked me what are we going to talk about today. in english, of course.
"I like singing. singing is my hobby, and fassion." his first sentence are correct even though it's short, but his mispronounced the word passion.
"jongho, it's passion, not fassion." I corrected the way his pronounced the word.
'ah! passion. thank you, noona." he smiled at me, and it does make my heart fluttered.
-
we're walking to the bus stop, both of us going home by public transport. I'm accompanying him since jungwoo couldn't picked me up.
"so, you like to split apples too right?" I giggled at my statement.
he went :o and asked me. "did my friends told you that?"
"no, but I saw you spliting the apples after the music club's concert," I explained, remembering that night.
"you're in music club too? why I never saw you?" he asked me.
"ah, no. I'm one of the backstage worker. I'm just helping out with the audio system."
"oh, I thought you're one of the members," he nodded his head.
"how did you learned to do that?"
"split the apples? I was doing for fun, but then I work out, and turned out pretty muscular," he showed me his biceps.
let me be honest. it's pretty cute when he try to showed me his manliness. like a baby try to act tough.
"anything about you? let chat to kill the time waiting for the bus," I suggested.
he agreed with my opinion.
"erm, I have a older sister, a dog pet, and pretty comfortable home." he said it so simply.
"what about your type of girl?" the question I want to ask him.
"let me think. I like girl that is younger than me by 1-2 years old, short hair, and have charisma," (yes, I made that up for the story)
"you like younger girl more?" I repeat his statement.
"yes, I like to be oppa more. it makes me feel responsible," he shyly admitted.
then, the bus came. we paid for the seats and sit next to each other. on the bus, I kept thinking about what jongho said.
"I like girl that is younger than me by 1-2 years old,"
"yes, I like to be oppa more."
I sighed, this silly crush on jongho ended. he's not the guy I expected for. of course, guys like to be called 'oppa' than call his girlfriend 'noona'.
the bus reached my stop, I went out and bid goodbye to jongho. I reached to my home, without changing my uniform I took out a piece of paper and a pen.
I wrote another letter for him.