Eighteen and I saw her amongst the buzzing traffic and noisy chatter of other high school students who were gathered in their own unique cliques. It was an unusually windy day, so much for gelling up my hair early in the morning. For some reason I had just left for school slightly earlier than I often would.
There I saw her for the first time.
She came running down the zebra crossing- her partially wet hair breezing right behind her petite form. Her very beautiful petite form to be exact, for she had the milkiest white skin there ever was and the most beautiful pair of brown doe eyes.
That girl was just stunning, she was sparkling under the 6:30 am dawn sky. It somehow seemed as if she was walking up to me.
She made her way to the bus stop and stopped a few feet away from me. Even with the distance between us, I could get a good whiff of her scent. She smelled like a heavenly combination of vanilla beans and lavender.
Five minutes and we both stood there without speaking, just like strangers would. I couldn't help myself to steal a few glances at her while pretending to look out for my bus. Eventually bus 147 came and she boarded it without turning back to look- to look at me. Her uniform was made up of red and white while mine was blue and white.
Different schools, different buses, and different routes. I never thought I was ever going to meet that beautiful girl ever again. I was grateful enough to have seen such an eye-candy this early in the morning.
And I thought that it was just another great morning...
***
Nineteen and we somehow managed to garner a smile at each other. For the entire year, we met at the bus stop every single morning- five days a week, 6:45 am sharp. Though we took different buses, she always managed to wait for me at the same spot next to the signboard even if I was a little late.
This little routine started that one day I came running to the bus stop, with unkempt hair and untucked wrinkly uniform. I wasn't running late, but I was 'late' in sense that I could have missed my favorite stranger. I knew she took the 6:55am bus to school every morning, screw the effective Korean bus system.
It was already 6:50am, I sprinted towards the bus stop only to be greeted by her beautiful eye smile. I looked like an utter mess and she noticed it. A small giggle escaped her mouth as she covered her mouth, but her eyes were sparkling with laughter- the pair turned into little downturned crescent moons.
That sight made me smile too, briefly forgetting my unkempt appearance.
"I think your shoelace is untied"
She pointed to my right shoe, snapping me out of the mini trance I was in. I quickly tucked my uniform into my school pants and bent down to tie my lace. Standing up while fixing my bed head, I saw her still looking at me with mocking laughter.
"Thanks...." And then an awkward pause. Why in the world did I get the awkward gene from my father? "Hi, I'm Hyun Bin. Seoul Science High School."- I winced at the rigidness of my tone, I sounded like a freaking robot.
But lucky for me the girl was gracious enough to reply in a bubbly voice which I had imagined. "Hi, I'm Son Ye Jin. Seoul Art High School."
And that was how our story started.
Ye Jin seemingly waited for me every day to give me a sweet greeting smile, showcasing her pretty eye smile. I made sure to show her my dimples to repay her kindness. And as funny and ridiculous as it sounded, we never spoke a single word to each other.
After the first encounter, we didn't talk, other then the one time we exchanged our handphone numbers. Only God knows how nervous I was when I asked for her number. I almost fainted from a premature panic attack.
But thanks to my brave endeavor, we were able to upgrade our relationship with the help of technology, Kakao talk to be specific.
She was a year younger than me, three heads shorter than me, played the piano, and loved to eat. Slowly, step by step we got to know each other as we got chattier by the night.
Months passed by and I was already reaching the end of my high school life and I plucked up my courage and went on our chat to ask her out for a date.
"Would you like to go to my school prom with me?"- it took me a whole week to come up with this pathetic sentence, this simple pitiful sentence.
Exactly 12 minutes later, her reply came. And it was far from what I was expecting, I had originally thought that she was going to think I was a freak and delete my number from her phone. I planned to just go to prom with one of the many girls that had given me shy prom proposals.
"Alright", followed by a string of cute emojis. A short message, but it brought me happiness like no other.
Few days from that night, I met her at the same bus stop. Wearing a black dress shirt and dark blue blazer coat over, I remembered waiting anxiously for her when she came walking down the same zebra crossing like a literal angel.
Ye Jin was wearing a blush-colored knee-length dress, she even had her hair curled loosely. She looked so pretty.
"Am I late?"
"No...of course not, it was me who was too early- it's my fault actually." Babbling, there I go again with the babbling again. Great going Bin!
"Umm...No, an...anyway thanks for umm...coming?"- Awkwardness filled the entire conversation and I waited for the earth to swallow me whole.
"Is that for me?"
Ye Jin pointed to the small purple lilac bouquet I had in hand. Obviously, it was for her- I had spent my entire weekend pestering my mother to help me find the perfect flowers. I clumsily handed the bouquet to Ye Jin while scratching the back of my ear.
"I hope you like them Ye Jin"
"I love them! Thank you, Bin"- she sounded so grateful and happy as she took a small sniff of the flowers.
During prom we awkwardly did a waltz dance together and I for once lived the night of my own romantic drama. I felt like the main lead of a Korean rom-com drama.
We childishly yet vividly romantically ran under the pitter-patter raindrops, sharing the tiny space under blue blazer, I held over our heads- that honestly did nothing to save us from the rain. We were drenched and cold but nevertheless they were one of the few moments in life that I would never forget.
Walking her back to the doorstep of her house, we didn't speak- not even a word. Silence washed us both with overwhelming sadness. This could potentially be the last time we would ever get to see each other.
I would soon be driving around in my graduation present- my Honda civic that my parents had gotten me. There would not be a need for me to be present at the bus stop or much chance for me to meet this beautiful girl.
And I thought that there was as far as we both could go. Occasional message-pals that only spoke through the convenience of the phone.
***
Twenty and I entered university, Uni life was awesome- I only needed to wake up at nine before getting ready for classes. As predicted, I only got to see that girl through Skype, well that was an improvement. But honestly it made no sense talking to a girl who's living in the same state between two glass screens.
I somehow managed to convince her to meet me at the bus stop every Friday, after her school week ended. I remember crossing out the dates on the calendar, counting the number of days till Friday over and over again even though I clearly knew that they weren't going to change after counting them one extra time.
We spent our Fridays together, talking about everything we could in a single day. We always carried Ice creams on each of our hand, hers were always vanilla-strawberry and mine was always the same chocolate-chip and there would be a comfortable distance between each other.
I used to carry her black Gregory backpack on my right shoulder and her thick biology book on my left hand as I matched my speed with hers and just walked together wherever our legs directed us to.
We occasionally took short bus rides and ate at small ramyun shops. We didn't question our relationship since it was comfortable enough to be at such an unspeakable relationship. We called each other 'close friends' when our nosy friends tried to probe on our bond.
But that day soon came by, September 22nd; it was judgment day for me. I practiced my line repeatedly in front of the mirror before wanting to dive in head-first.
There goes nothing...
"Ye Jin-ah"
Ye Jin who was wrapped in multiple fuzzy shawls turned back to look at me. She gave me a beautiful eye smile, questioning me silently.
"Okay..." I remember forgetting everything I wanted to say but my mouth just automatically opened to confess my feelings to her.
"This is going to be really childish, but I think I like you. No, I love you. I know that you might think that this is just infatuation, but I...I...just don't think that we can't love just because we're young."
I had no idea what came into me, but words kept spilling out of my already revealed heart. She didn't speak, she didn't move heck- she didn't even blink.
"I...I...Can you hold onto me before it's too late before I grow older?"
The very next second my world stopped, she- that girl I loved tiptoed right in front of me, trying to match up to my height. She puckered her luscious pink lips and softly crashed them on mine.
Everything happened so fast that I didn't even have time to react. I stood there like a statue trying to piece all the information together. I still cannot believe, I was that naïve at the age of twenty.
That was my very first kiss and the most- well one of the most beautiful moments of my life. And the kiss embarked on our journey as a couple a young couple. We were at the age that people preferably thought that Love was not possible. People around called it puppy love, but I thought differently.
I thought that we would last together forever, that we could walk together forever hand in hand without any problems to face.
***
Twenty-one came in like a wrecking ball. Ye Jin and I were a happy couple, sure we had occasional squabbles, but we always ended up together by the end of the day. Things were sailing fine till one day; something just had to go wrong between the both of us – and to be honest, up till now, I do not know what truly went wrong.
My lover graduated from high school soon enough and enrolled in the same university as me- and that was when the problems started.
"Who was that guy?!"
Just a friend she said, a friend that seemingly appreciated her more than I ever would she said. A friend who understood her feelings and cared for her more than a freaking friend should.
"Bin, he's just a close friend"
"Bullshit! I have seen the way he looks at you Ye Jin!"
The word 'close friends' made me sick. I knew what 'close friends' was, we once had that label too. And we both knew that we had something going on between us.
"I can't stay with a guy who doesn't appreciate me! And don't you have many other girls waiting for you back at the cheer club? Don't you dare think that I don't know what you've been up to behind my back!"
Being the star player of the football team, it was normal to have a bunch of cheers leaders following you around. It wasn't a big deal, all they did was some harmless flirting- it really wasn't that deep.
I would honestly never cheat on her, but for some reason I just had to fight back. A man's ego was deadly, and I didn't know the effects of it till the second I lost my significant other half.
"Ye Jin, you have no idea what you're talking about right now!"
"I think we need a break Oppa" – her demeanor relaxed for the slightest, but the tears in her slightly red eyes told me that this time she was serious.
I remembered looking back at her in fury, I remembered forgetting about how much she really meant to me and I remembered the amount of pain I endured after saying those few words.
"Fine, if that's what you want. Let's break up!"
Everything was normal for the first few days. I could even say that I was slightly happy upon our breakup. Sweet freedom! Those few days made me believe that all these years' movies and dramas had been over-exaggerating the grief of breakups.
I didn't feel a thing; life was still good without her- but that only lasted for the first five days.
Waking up on the morning of the sixth day I felt that as if an important piece of me had suddenly went missing. My heart was heavy, and my mind was blank of everything except my Ye Jin.
Within the span of a few days, I became an overly sensitive man who anti-socialized himself from his group of friends. I spent days in loneliness- at the pavements that we once walked together.
I guess I was hoping to find someone else who was just like her; but it was clear that she was tattooed deep into my heart. No matter how hard I tried to push her thoughts to the back of my mind, I couldn't do it.
I could not forget her~
Those were the days I realized that I couldn't function without Ye Jin in my life. Every day just got worse- my will to live life to the fullest diminished as time went by.
my inner voice kept telling me that 'if it's not her, I can't go on.' There wasn't going to be another person in this universe who I could love as much as I loved her.
I remembered checking my phone over and over again, hoping that she would have left me a call. But the call never came, I only ended up feeling more grief as I saw the wallpaper of my iPhone; we looked so in love and happy in those pictures.
What really happened between us? We were so happy.
I remembered the way she walked past me, just like strangers would. We tried our best to avoid each other as much as we could since it was painful to look at her smiling at another guy. She was a beautiful girl, she had guys flocking her in rejoice the moment she declared
And I thought that we were over- over for good.
***
To be continued...
A/N: Hello, everybody. I hope you enjoyed this short chapter, I wanted to write happy Binjin for a while now. Too much angst was getting to me :) Thank you for reading the entire chapter and please write any comments you have, I love reading all of them.