Choi Mujin Imagines

All too well - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: First Meeting

16 – Aera: First meeting

And I left my scarf there at your sister's house
And you've still got it in your drawer even now

She was 16. Busy with homework, projects, and studying. If there was one thing she's good at, it would be studying. Aera stretched her back, groaning as she did. She let her body collapse to her chair as she stared in her messy desk, she's been working on this for hours now.

"Aera-ya!" Someone called after her just outside her bedroom's window. Junghoon climbed the tree that stood just outside her window to call her attention. He's been her closest friend eversince she was a kid. The boy looked too excited as he leaned in closer to the window to share something. "Have you heard? We got a new neighbor. Let's go see if we can befriend him."

Aera only sighed. Truth be told, she wants nothing else but to close her Mathematics textbook and leave her room, but she needs to finish it so she and Junghoon can go to the busking tonight. "I can't, Junghoon-ah. I need to finish my Mathematics homework first." She then resumed answering, not bothering to look at him, fighting the urge to leave her room.

The boy only rolled his eyes and readjusted his position on the tree's branch. "That can wait!"

"Sorry." She mumbled while shaking her head, flashing him an apologetic smile.

Knowing how serious she was when it came to her studies, her friend only grumbled before going down, "Alright, alright. You'll meet him tomorrow at school anyway. Are we still going tonight? You prepared for the song, right?"

"yes,"

"Good, see you later!" Junghoon said as he made his way down the tree, landing on his foot. He groaned a little when he slipped but he's used to that now.

Indeed, she met him the next day. He was in her class, standing with his crumpled uniform and messy hair. He reluctantly introduced himself, eyes on the floor, looking uninterested. Choi Mujin, that's his name, Aera thought that it fits him perfectly.

The teacher instructed him to sit right behind Aera. When he finally took his seat, she excitedly reached out her hand to him. "Hi Mujin, I'm Aera. I hope we become friends."

He looked taken aback. He stared at the strange girl sitting infront of him and then back at her face, wondering what she wanted from him.

Aera only widened her smile upon seeing his reaction. She nodded at him as if to urge him to shake her hand.

He knew, from how she smiled alone, that she was probably one of those people who won't back down even if he just ignores her. So, he reluctantly reached for her hand and shook it quietly. With that, she finally pursed her lips, now satisfied, so she finally brought her attention back to her teacher. Which made Mujin sigh in relief.

After classes, she found him walking back home. Aera matched her steps with him and walked with him side by side. Mujin noticed this.

"What is it again?" He asked gruffly, stopping in his tracks. Aera stopped too as she looked at him with a 'what' look on her face. Mujin saw this and decided to elaborate. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you, we're just going in the same direction," Aera said with a hint of a smile on her face, amused by his hasty assumptions. He scrunched his eyebrows, waiting for her to explain herself.

Gosh, why is he always angry? She thought while she stared back at him.

"Oh right, we live in the same neighborhood. Sorry I wasn't able to welcome you yesterday. I was busy with my Mathematics homework."

Mujin's knitted eyebrows became relaxed as he took in her words. She was still smiling at him. What is with this girl? He started walking away again, and she followed behind him.

"Are you usually like this?" He couldn't help but ask.

She scanned her surroundings, looking from left to right, wondering what he referred to as 'this.'

"Talkative. You speak too much." He was seriously wondering why she was sharing her business with him. As if she knew him. If she finds out who and what he is, she'll probably stop talking to him.

"No, I don't speak too much. You just speak so little."

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's because I don't know you that well?"

"And that's why I'm talking to you, so I'll get to know you better." She tapped his shoulder twice. "Let's get to know each other well. We're neighbors now." Mujin stopped walking and stared at her, clearly unimpressed with the sudden touch.

Aera just chuckled, finding his expression cute. He's like an angsty teenager. Wait, we're really teenagers. "You know, I know you think it's cool, but it's hard to always pretend to hate everyone."

She recognized this defense mechanism of his immediately from the moment that she first talked to him. Before he could even reply, she shivered. Suddenly realizing that it was too cold because it's almost winter. Her eyes fell on the boy in front of her once again, noticing that his clothes were too thin. She just sighed.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone.."

"Thank God." Mujin sighed in relief while closing his eyes as if thanking the gods for answering his prayers.

".... for now...." She continued with a smile again. The look of disbelief on his face was too funny for her that she couldn't help but chuckle. "If..." she took off her scarf. "If you wear this here, it's too cold."

Then she tiptoed to hang her scarf around his neck. She did this quickly, scared that he would reject it again, but to her surprise, he stayed in place.

As for Mujin, no, he didn't stay in place. He was just frozen, surprised by the action. Who is this girl? Why does she think that this is okay? Before he could even comprehend what was happening, the girl beamed at him one last time, "Bye!"

Then she ran away, pulling the straps of her backpack tightly to herself. Mujin stood there, clearly baffled.

"What's with her?" Mujin let his hand fall on the scarf on his neck before he started walking again. He just now realized how cold it was without her scarf, so he let himself melt into the scarf's warmth.

-

18 – Mujin: First meeting

Oh, your sweet disposition
And my wide-eyed gaze

Mujin walked by the street, he just moved here today, and tomorrow's going to be his first day of school, he sighed. Mujin looked around, from a far he can see one corner of the street filled with people, so he made his way there wondering why everyone was huddled in there. He saw so many teenagers watching someone singing.

He let his eyes scan the whole crowd. They were all probably around his age. His eyes finally fell on the girl holding the microphone, she was clearly singing her heart out as the boy standing beside her strums the guitar with a smirk on his face. He liked the song, and he liked her voice. Now that he had found this place, he realized that maybe moving here wasn't that bad after all.