School

School, Part 1; Shin Hye Sung

"Well good morning there, you little ball of sunshine," a velvety voice said from above. "As beautiful as your sleeping face is, I'm afraid you're going to have to wake up."

You jolted awake, and immediately sat up, accidentally colliding your head with the man who was talking just now. 

As painful as it was, you simply smirked. That was what he got for teasing you, after all. 

"Good morning, Hyesung," you cheerfully chimed, and pushed him aside to get out of bed, heading straight for the washroom. 

"Good morning," he mumbled, a grin slowly spreading on his face as a realization dawned upon him. He was the only one that was able to see you, the perfect student, in such a state, and he was happy. 

Only he could see you at your most vulnerable. 

And he intended to keep it that way. 

The walk to school was long, having to take the train, and then switch to a bus. At times, you wondered why you even entered that high school. 

"Because it's a good school," Hyesung whispered into your ear, as if able to hear your thoughts from just now. 

You blushed. You would never admit it, but you had harbored a crush on the young man since junior high. Although you two were the closest of friends, knowing each other since birth possibly, whenever he got too close nowadays, you couldn't help but freak out a bit. 

"Oh yeah," you mumbled in response, turning the other away to hide your blushing face. 

At school, you were known as the perfect student, getting perfect grades, and placing first in all of the tests. You were desirable to the opposite gender not only in terms of looks, but also in brains. Not that you ever cared, that is. 

Hyesung was the only one you truly loved, after all. 

Hyesung on the other hand, got grades that were above average, and ranked in the first half for tests. You knew he had the potential to even rank higher than you, but why he never tried was still a mystery to you. Desired by the entire female population for his handsome good looks and slim body, he was quite the womanizer. 

Much to your dismay. 

"Hyesung! You didn't reply to my texts yesterday!" A girl suddenly popped up at your side, clearly angry and shoving her cell phone screen into Hyesung's face. 

You merely let out a giggle, to ward off any suspicions that you might be in love with your childhood friend. 

Nobody needed to know. 

"Hey, I'm sorry. I just got preoccupied, that's all," he claimed, winking at the girl in hopes that she would forgive him. 

With the young man being so handsome, the girl was completely entranced, and simply nodded before running away to regroup with her giggling friends. 

With a shake of his head, Hyesung gave a quiet chuckle, and turned his head back towards you to continue on rambling about whatever he was talking about just now. You nodded your head in agreement, but you had no clue what he was trying to tell you. Your mind was too preoccupied to pay attention to what he was saying. You were focusing too much on his voice alone, after all. 

"Hey, {Name}!" A masculine sounding voice suddenly shouted, sounding eager and excited. A black haired man suddenly ran towards you and stretched out his arm to high five you, which you replied by promptly mirroring his action. 

He was the grade's second best student. After you, of course. He was always ranked second for tests, much to his happiness.

"I don't think I can beat you, so second is good enough," he once said with a foolish grin on his face. 

The student body commonly referred to you two as the "Perfect Couple", much to his happiness and your disdain. Unbeknownst to you, Hyesung felt the exact same about the nickname. 

Nonetheless, you two were good friends, frequently studying together whenever Hyesung claimed that he was too "busy". 

Now that you think about it, he was quite busy lately. 

"Hey! Early as usual," you cheerfully greeted him. Hyesung simply grunted in acknowledgment. 

He would never acknowledge the man in front of him. That guy... No, that thing was nowhere near compatible with you. You were too perfect for him. You were too perfect for anybody, really. 

"I'll meet you in the classroom," he mumbled into your ear, turning around and leaving the scene before him nonchalantly. 

You simply nodded in response, oblivious to the inner turmoil your best friend was suffering and continued on chatting with Mr. Second Place. 

"Hyesung~ Can you please teach me this?" A girl asked during work period, purposely latching onto his arm. She reeked of perfume, and it was obvious that she had spent a good five hours on her makeup. 

Five hours that could've been used to learn the material herself. 

She absolutely disgusted you. 

Who was she to latch onto your Hyesung like that? Taking a deep breath, you calmed yourself down, and awaited to hear the man in question's reply, hoping that he will deny her request. 

But he didn't. 

Still jealous from this morning's event, Shin Hyesung was feeling quite devilish, wanting to toy with your emotions the same way that you (unknowingly) did to him. Sure, he'll probably regret it in the future, but he wanted to see you, the perfect and innocent you, fall into the same amount of jealousy that he did. 

If you liked him, that is. 

In reality, he just wanted to move on from his hopeless crush on you. That was probably why he had accepted the request. 

"Sure, that sounds great," he replied with a kind smile, radiating an aura of that of a prince. 

You left the room in disgust, unable to bear with the girl's flirtatious advances any longer. 

Needless to say, you avoided the young man for the rest of the day. 

Until you saw that, that is. 

With a girl's back against the wall, his face was inches away from hers. What they were doing you didn't want to know. You just wanted to leave. 

Leave and forget it all. 

From the shock, you had accidentally dropped your books, successfully created a large "bang", that alerted Hyesung of a spectator. 

The second he saw you, you had turned around and ran away crying, leaving your books on the ground. 

You were crying. 

His heart suddenly hurt with guilt, and he grabbed the item from the girl's clutches and ran after you, picking up your books along the way.