Once Upon a Wish

~3~

Knock knock knock

Sang Ai-mei groaned, covering her face with her covers.

Pound pound pound

She sat up, glaring at the door. "Let's go, little demon! If you don't hurry up, you'll have to walk to school." her brother shouted through the door. "Eomma and Appa already left for work and they'll be mad at me if you don't make it to school on time."

"I'm up!-" Sang Ai-mei trailed off. Eomma and Appa? She never called her parents that, and neither did Sang Ming. Shaking her head, she got out of bed and walked over to her closet, passing the mirror. She froze, turning to look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was different....and her eyes. But other than that, she still looked the same.

'Since when did I have a wold cut? And why do my eyes look different.' She thought, poking her cheeks, 'Didn't I have a monolid...and I never had wocan.' Sang Ai-mei, frowned, 'No wait...it's called aegyo sal.' She poked the aegyo sal under her eyes, tracing the slight double lid. 

"Baek Daesom! Hurry up!" her brother pounded on the door again, startling her. "You're not the only one who needs to get to school." 

'Baek Daesom...? Korean. Okay...' the now Baek Daesom shook her head, opening her closet and seeing her school uniform, definitely different from what she remembered. A blue cardigan, blue bow, white short-sleeve button shirt, and a dark blue skirt were what she found instead of a beige-colored uniform. 

"Whatever..." Baek Daesom shook her head again, throwing on a short-sleeved dress shirt with the school crest. She quickly put her tie on, tucked her shirt into her skirt, threw on an oversized black jacket, and put her hair into a messy ponytail. Grabbing her backpack and phone, she opened her door right as her brother was about to knock again.

"I'm here." Baek Daesom hurried downstairs, grabbing a banana out of the counter bowl. Her university brother muttered something before following after her, throwing her the car keys.

"You can start walking," Daesom nodded, closing the front door behind her and starting down to the nearest bus station. She found it only a minute away from her house, scrolling through her phone, trying to figure out what Sang Ming was named here.

"Baek Yeong..." she came up with before finding it.

"Hm?" she jumped, looking to see her brother already next to her.

"Oh...nothing," she said quickly, putting her phone away and standing up, getting into the bus.

Her brother looked at her for another second before following, sitting down and waiting for the bus, "I'm going to stay after school to play basketball with some of my friends. You're going to have to go home by yourself unless you want to wait and watch. " Daesom nodded silently, avoiding eye contact with her brother. "Don't get in trouble, little demon, okay? I don't want to have to deal with it." Daesom nodded again, burying her hands into her jacket pockets.

Baek Yeong glanced at his little sister, frowning and putting a hand on her forehead, "Are you feeling okay, jamae?" Daesom blinked at the question, "You're oddly quiet."

"I-I'm fine." Confused, but fine. Yeong nodded, taking his hand off her forehead, the bus announcing the school stop. All the high schoolers on the bus moved to the two doors, getting ready to hop off.

"See you later," Yeong called to Daesom, running off to his friends. Daesom nodded awkwardly and hurried off, bowing to the gate guard. Daesom watched her brother disappear, nervously walking farther into the school courtyard.

"Baek Daesom!" A girl taller than Daesom, ran over, hugging her.

"Oh...um.." she racked her mind for the girl's name, "Annyeong, Ha-rin..." Daesom said shyly. Bong Ha-rin frowned slightly, pulling away from the small girl.

"Are you okay, Daesom?" Ha-rin asked, leading Daesom into the school building.

"I'm fine," Daesom answered immediately. Ha-rin frowned, her forehead creasing softly, "No really, Ha-rin." Daesom gave a nervous laugh. Ha-rin shrugged, slipping her shoes off and putting them in her shoe locker, slipping on her indoor shoes. 

"Hi, Ha-rin!" a few girls waved to Ha-rin and Daesom, "Daesom." Daesom waved back, following Ha-rin through the school, taking a couple of stairs up.

"I heard we have a transfer student. I heard she came from Daegu." Ha-rin said to Daesom, Daesom half listening to what Ha-rin said, trying to memorize her way through the school. Ha-rin entered a classroom, and Daesom glanced at the room number: 11-3.

"She's from Incheon!" one of the boys in the back called.

"No, she's not. The teacher said she's from Busan." another girl corrected. Ha-rin shrugged, glancing at Daesom, who sat down at her table next to the window.

"I-I don't know." Daesom stuttered, "Might as well just wait until she tells us." A few students nodded, returning to their conversations. A few moments later, the teacher entered the classroom, a cute-looking girl following him.

"Class rise." the teacher assistant directed, everyone standing and bowing to the teacher.

"Good morning, teacher." we all chorused before taking our seats again. 

"Good morning class." The teacher greeted, standing at his podium. "I'm sure you've all heard that we have a transfer student today. Please introduce yourself." the teacher gestured for the girl to speak.

"Anneyosaho, I'm Jue Young-soon. I used to live in Busan, but we moved here for my dad's business." Jue Young-soon sounded confident and happy, everything Daesom wasn't, "I hope to become great friends with all of you." She finished, bowing to the class. A few scattered applause filled the classroom. 

"Thank you, Miss Jue. You can take a seat next Miss Baek." Daesom sat up straight, raising her hand, scooting her chair over slightly, and moving her books. Young-soon smiled sweetly at Daesom, making Daesom smile back without wanting to. 

"I'm Baek Daesom." Daesom introduced, bowing her head.

"Wow....you're so pretty." Young-soon complimented, "You could be an idol." Daesom flushed in embarrassment. 

"Oh...thanks..." she stuttered.

 Young-soon studied Daesom for a while before saying, "Are you related to Baek Yeong?" Daesom glanced up from her notebook, nodding slowly, "What a small world. My cousin is one of Baek Yeong's friends. They're both in the honors class, 11-1" Daesom nodded for the sake of it. She didn't know any of her brother's classmates. "Wanna be friends?" Young-soon asked.

The question struck Daesom like a nail in the heart. She was surprised by Young-soon's openness and boldness in asking the question. "Uh...sure...." Daesom had no idea how to answer the odd question, but seeing Young-soon's smile, she felt at ease.

"Wanna hang out after school?" she asked. Daesom shook her head.

"Sorry, maybe another day. My brother's staying late and I'm planning on staying with him." Young-soon nodded but smiled all the same.

"Cool." She wrote down a phone number, sliding it at Daesom before turning her attention to the teacher and the lesson.  Daesom, stared at the phone number before tucking it into her pocket, turning her attention to the lesson at hand.

'Friends...' 

Shadow of Mine - Alec Benjamin [Manderin version]