Flowerfield ~ Han Jisung

chapter 27 :#3

Almost the instant Wonhee begins telling her story, Yeona and I leave the sidelines and actively join the discussion, the subject too intriguing to miss out on.

"Lim Seojoon. He's the most popular boy in the grade, and for good reason too. He's perfect. He's smart, athletic, tall, and super pretty. Like K-pop idols visuals. He's my crush."

Reminds me of someone I met in middle school too, I think to myself, with a sour expression.

"Don't look at me like that, Sooyun unnie." Wonhee says, quick to call me out. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not like that. He's also nice. Too nice for his own good. He helps people with their homework, stands up for people, shares his snacks, like hes really nice. That's probably why he has so many friends, he's charismatic AND kind. That's also why I fell for him, actually..."

The girl sighs, like she was just reminded of a fond memory which also hits her with a touch of pain every time she thinks about it.

"One day, it was valentine's day, and I made sugar cookies for the entire class..."

~flashback, wonhee's pov~

It was valentine's day and the last class of the day had just ended. The teacher was out to print a few sheets of homework and in the meantime, Wonhee took the opportunity to pass out the sugar cookies she had baked for the whole class. She took out a big plastic bag containing all the cookies and started walking around the class, handing to each student a little sakura-flower shaped cookie with pink frosting, wrapped in plastic wrap.

"Thanks Wonhee!" Moka said when she got to her friend.

Wonhee reached the back of the classroom and placed a cookie on the desks of two boys. But not even two seconds later, one of the boys kicked the cookie to the ground with a snicker. Wonhee had no time to process what was happening by the time the other one followed suit, kicking the cookie to the ground and crushing it with his foot.

"Sugar cookies are so disgusting." he laughed, like an evil movie villain.

Wonhee was on the verge of tears. She didn't know why they were doing this, but two hours of baking and decorating was going to waste before her eyes, reduced to crumbs, and her heart throbbed with pain. They hadn't even tried it, and they still called it disgusting.

All of a sudden, another boy, sitting one desk away from the two snickering boys that were probably his friends, stood up and walked over to them. When he stood tall over their desks, they stopped laughing instantly.

It was none other than Lim Seojoon.

Seojoon crouched down and picked up the two completely smashed cookies, barely held together by the film wrap which was now covered in a thin layer of dirt from the soles of their grimy shoes, and dropped them onto each of their desks, one after the other. The action was much more gentle than the severe glint in his eyes.

"Eat it." he said.

His two friends gaped at him stupidly, at a loss for words.

"What?" One of them finally managed, "Are you out of your mind?"

"No," Seojoon continued calmly, "eat it and then tell me if it's disgusting."

The boys continued gawking at their friend with incredulity, briefly averting their stare to look around the classroom, noticing the way all the students were staring at the interaction as well. At last, one of them turned back to Seojoon and scoffed in disbelief.

"I can't eat that, Seojoon. It's all crumbs."

"Yeah, because you decided to step on hours of her hard work. This is why you don't get any Valentine's gifts."