Second Chances

Kimchi Pancake

Wooyoung, Taecyeon and Junho were chatting happily when they passed by the food store in the school.

"Hey, you guys can go on first, I'll meet you later! Need to get something!" Wooyoung ran off to the overcrowded food store and cut the queue in front easily due to experience.

"Excuse me, one kimchi pancake please!"

"Okay, right here! 3,000 won please!" Wooyoung digged into his wallet for his cash but to his dismay, he could only find 200 won.

'Damn it, how did I survive with so little money?' Disappointed, he walked away from the store.

"Taeng, I'm sorry I couldn't get the pancake..." Wooyoung hung his head low as he stood in front of Taeyeon, who was sitting at her desk, eating her lunch with Yoona. Wooyoung noticed that her desk had a neat pile of story books. Romance to be exact. Wooyoung remembered that she loved to read them in high school, so much that she almost had an obsession with them.

"Ah... Was it because you didn't have enough money?" Taeyeon looked at Wooyoung knowingly, while Wooyoung gave a guilty look.

"It's fine, I didn't pin much hope on Youngie in the first place..." Taeyeon seemed very disappointed and upset. Yoona was looking at the exchange between Wooyoung and Taeyeon, giving them curious looks.

Wooyoung, not knowing how to face Taeyeon anymore, simply walked slowly away from Taeyeon. Suddenly, it was like something hit him and made him wake up. 'Oh my god, is this why she was upset? This must be it! No, I can't give up like this. This can affect my life! I have to get some cash!'

Determined to get the pancake for Taeyeon, he ran as fast as he could to the lockers where Taecyeon and Junho were.

"Guys, guys! Do you have any cash?"

"Nope, why?" Junho and Taecyeon replied a little too calmly.

"ARGH why are you guys just like me? You need to change your lives before it's too late! See you later, GOTTA RUN!" Wooyoung ran down the corridor, leaving Junho and Taecyeon looking at each other in confusion.

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"Damn, where can I get cash?" Wooyoung muttered to himself as he ran aimlessly around the school for someone he knew.

"WOOYOUNG! Where are you heading to?" A husky female voice called out to him. Due to shock, Wooyoung stopped abruptly in his tracks and lost his balance. He fell flat on the floor, in front of Tiffany Hwang's feet. Tiffany giggled and offered a hand to help him up.

"You okay?"

"Oh! Tiffany!" Wooyoung felt a sudden wave of shyness as he quickly got back up. He realised that Park Gyuri, Tiffany's best friend who was also very pretty, was beside her, giggling.

'Ah I remember now. I used to like her in high school. Tiffany had a pretty eye smile that could charm almost every guy in the school,' Wooyoung thought.

"I'm ok-okay. Gotta go, see you soon!" Wooyoung stuttered before preparing to run.

Before his legs could move, the voice in his head stopped him, "Hey, why not ask Tiffany for some cash?"

The other voice in his head whispered, "NO! Are you insane?! Asking money from a girl? A rather popular and pretty one to add?"

Wooyoung just stood there in a daze while the two voices in his head started a war. Eventually, the first voice won as he himself had realised that there was not much time left. He had to make the most of this.

"Erm.. Tiffany?" He approached Tiffany hesitantly.

"Yes?" Tiffany flipped her hair and looked at Wooyoung straight in the eye.

"Can I... Can I..."

"Go out with me? Yeah sure, when??" Tiffany gave him her trademark eyesmile.

"Huh?!" Wooyoung decided to throw his pride away and say out the favour straight out, "No, can I borrow 3,000 won from you? I REALLY NEED IT!" Wooyoung was close to begging her. On the other hand, Tiffany was utterly shocked at being rejected for a date.

"Erm. Okay, sure," Tiffany took out her purse and gave Wooyoung the bills.

"Oh my god! THANK YOU SO MUCH I'LL REPAY YOU SOON!" Wooyoung gave her a grateful smile, before running off with the bills in his hand, leaving Tiffany staring at his back view with a look of disbelief on her face. "Well... that was pretty awkward." Gyuri giggled, earning a smack on the back from her best friend. --------------------------------------------------------------

"One kimchi pancake please!" Wooyoung screamed desperately and banged the dollar bills on the table.

"Hey there's no need to shout! My hearing is fine, even at my age! Anyway, I'm sorry we ran out of them. Tough luck." The ahjumma at the store gave Wooyoung a little shrug. Wooyoung was about to go crazy inside.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Wooyoung's scream echoed through what seemed like the whole school. "HEY I ALREADY TOLD YOU! I'M NOT DEAF!"

--------------------------------------------------------------"Taengoo! You know what I heard? Wooyoung rejected a date with Tiffany! Yeah, the one with the eye smile!" Yoona ran over to Taeyeon's seat and told her the news that she heard. Apparently, the news was spreading like wildfire in the school.

"Eh? Seriously?!" Taeyeon looked at Yoona in disbelief.

"Yes! Turns out Wooyoung only wanted to borrow some cash to buy something. Tiffany was humiliated in the end." Yoona giggled at the thought of it, as Tiffany was always a competitor to her in the beauty pageant and they just did not see eye to eye on many things.

"Wait a minute! Did Wooyoung borrow cash to buy the kimchi pancake for you?!" Yoona gave Taeyeon a nudge and smiled teasingly at her best friend. "Eh? N-nah, Youngie won't be that nice." Taeyeon didn't know how to react and just smiled.

"Haha that's true. He's not like my boyfriend," Yoona smiled at the thought of Siwon, her handsome athletic boyfriend.

"What?! Did you just say boyfriend? You have a boyfriend?!" Taecyeon, who was listening to their conversation since goodness knows when, exploded in disbelief.

"Yep! He's handsome, stylish and tall. He has everything that my ideal guy has." Yoona gushed in excitement, clasping her hands.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Another scream could be heard throughout the school.

--------------------------------------------------------------The school bell rang and the students rushed out of the classrooms, wanting nothing more but to get out of the school.

"Yah! You really rejected Tiffany?" Taeyeon caught up with Wooyoung, as they walked to their classroom together.

"Not really... She just assumed that I was going to ask her out when I wasn't even intending to in the first place." Wooyoung shrugged.

"Haha I see! Well, what was the cash you borrowed from her for?" Taeyeon asked, wanting to know the truth from him.

"It was to buy your kimchi pancake, duh. Taeng... I'm really sorry, I still couldn't get it. I know no matter how many excuses I make, it's still meaningless because I still didn't get it in the end. I'm really and truly sorry," Wooyoung looked at Taeyeon sincerely.

Taeyeon was touched and stared at him for a moment, before replying, "It's okay, Youngie. I'm really happy. I accept your sincere apology! Thank you," Following that, Taeyeon gave a huge smile and winked, before turning and walking towards their classroom.

'Oh my gosh. She smiled! Does that mean I succeeded?! YESSSSS!' Wooyoung silently cheered. But at that moment, he looked up and happened to see Taeyeon's expression as she turned into the classroom. She was back to being sad once again. Wooyoung immediately stopped cheering and his joy turned back into confusion once more.

"Eh? Why is she sad once again?" Wooyoung mumbled to himself, his spirits crashing down, hoping for some clue.