stars | park sunghoon

three

young teenage alice walked through the halls of her new high school. she felt excited, nervous, and happy all at once. all these emotions gave her an unsettling feeling in her stomach. new school, new people, new life! this is alice's chance to restart.

she felt like she was in a movie. she was holding a printed version of her schedule, trying to find her class.

alice felt stressed. what if she can't make friends? what if she's an outcast? what if people find out about the horrible person she once was?

drowning in her throughts, she did not realize she was about to walk into someone. she bumped into someone's back, making her bounce back onto the floor.

"ouch!" alice yelped.

she looked up and saw a hand reaching out to her. behind the hand, was a handsome face with a beautiful smile.

"are you okay?" he asked.

alice, feeling blinded by his smile, could not process what to do. what was this? she could drown in his perfect eyes, listen to him talk for hours. alice did not understand the weird feeling she had.

she took his hand, which made her feel weird in her stomach. like something was moving around. butterflies?

"ye... yes," she responded shyly.

the boy nodded. "i'm sorry for standing in your way...you-"

"hey, sunghoon! i found our class!"

alice and the named boy, sunghoon, faced the direction of the voice. sunghoon chuckled and gave his friend a nod.

"i have to go, see you around!"

alice watched him rush to his friends, entering the classroom his friend had found. alice slightly smiled.

"see you around, sunghoon."

-

chapter 3
behind the perfect persona

-

after dropping off chaewon and karina at chaewon's home, alice was making her way to eunhee's home.

she kept looking at her mirror to make sure eunhee was doing fine in the backseat. eunhee had fell asleep, leaning her head on the window.

alice softly smiled. she looked ahead, hoping that eunhee lived in the same home. alice remembered eunhee living in a nice family home.

she turned into a neighbourhood. it was a nice neighbourhood. alice remembered playing in the park of that area. she remembered the fun events the community would hold. she remembered the yummy baked goods from eunhee's neighbours. alice smiled as the memories came rushing in.

alice spotted the familiar house. she parked in front of the home, exiting her car to bring eunhee inside.

"wake up, eunhee," alice said softly. "you're home now."

eunhee moaned in annoyance. alice helped eunhee up, bringing her to the doorstep of the house. as alice got closer to the home, she heard voices from the upstairs. alice ringed the doorbell.

after a minute or two, a young boy opened the door. the smell of smoke from cigarettes filled alice's nose. alice gave him a puzzled look, not understanding why a boy his age was up this late on a school night. he could not be older than 6.

"oh uhm..." alice stood their, dumbfounded. "hi... uh..."

"mmmmm," eunhee tumbled. alice quickly caught her.