Calm Down ~ Jeong Jaehyun

~ 6 ~

I think that Jaehyun would have been better off in America.

He's athletic- he'd get offers at colleges regardless of his grades.

He wouldn't have to stress, and I wouldn't have to tutor him.

Not that I don't want to tutor him- it's just that helping him takes up a lot of my time.
That's the whole reason I was hesitant in the start after all.

If Jaehyun was in America, I think he'd still be popular.
To be honest, I never really understood why people liked him so much.

Sure- he's attractive, but I figured that there had to be more to him if he was so popular that kids from other schools knew who he was.
But now that I've practically become a full-time Jaehyun researcher, I'm starting to understand.

He's charming.

That's all it takes.

Everything he does feels so scripted, as if he has planned out the best responses to every possible situation in the universe.
Except that he hasn't- that'd be impossible- Jeong Jaehyun has such good intuition that he just knows how to act depending on who he's with.

He'd never treat his soccer friends the way he'd treat his childhood friends.
Just like he'd never treat all his admirers the way he treats me.

Unlike Jaehyun, I treat everybody the same way.
Maybe not everybody, but you get the point.

In my eyes, everybody is equal until they give me a reason to believe otherwise.
They could be the most able people in the world, but until I witness their expertise first hand, I have no reason to put them on a pedestal.

I think that's a reason why people see me as so snobby.
But I can't help it- it's just the way I am.

Most of the school thinks I'm arrogant just because I don't treat them like gods, but why should I?
What have they ever done for me?

I used to be hard on myself; I figured that I had to have been the problem seen as everybody else was so hesitant to approach me.
I no longer think that though, it's not my fault that they've constructed a persona for me.

I'm glad that Jaehyun ignored my reputation- had he listened to what everybody else said about me, he probably wouldn't have ever talked to me.
And then I would've never talked to him.

I'm glad I met Jaehyun.

Jaehyun never once treated me like an outsider, he treats me as his equal in every way possible.

"Kim Nari. I am not going to give you another warning, you will listen in my class from now on."
I snapped my head to the front of the room, where my mandarin teacher stood, staring me down.
"I'm sorry Ms. I won't let it happen again," I quickly whispered, loud enough for her to hear.
"There will be consequences if it does," she snapped at me as she walked back to the board.

I should've just taken an elective instead of this class.

My mandarin teacher was so insufferable, I couldn't stand her. She had the option of moving me to a higher level, but chose not to because 'I wasn't fully immersed with Chinese culture'.
...What does that even have to do with fluency?

Mandarin was the class where I zoned out and looked out of the window, but this year I guess I'd have to adjust and find another time to stare outside.

There was no point in being negative though, because that day was intended to be different.

I was finally going back to play badminton.
After assessing my ankle, my mom made the decision to let me go.

Sure she was reluctant, and yes, I borderline forced her into approving me, but that didn't matter.
What mattered is that I'd finally be able to go back to my normal routine.