Saranghae

Ch. 1: Serendipity

Emma's POV

"Hey Jess! What's up?" I asked sitting down at my usual picnic table. My friends and I always eat lunch outside whenever we have the chance. It's a lot more peaceful than the noisy, stuffy cafeteria.

"OMG EMMA!!! I heard one of the members of BTS..." Jessica began, but I quickly tuned her out. She is always talking about K-Pop and how amazing they are. She's even shown me some videos. They are pretty cool but I am no where near as obsessed as her.

Instead I just wish Thomas would notice me. And not when he and his friends laugh at me. I mean I wish he would see me the way I see him. I made him a chocolate cupcake today and I really hope he'll like it!!! I saw Thomas and his football friends walking over to their normal picnic table. They were chatting all the while about sophomore stuff. We were both 16, and sophomore life was actually pretty boring, compared to what everyone told us.

Well, I guess if Jessica is gonna be ranting for a while I should go give it to him now, I thought with an excited grin.

I stood up with the cupcake in my hands and started walking towards their group. Jessica didn't even notice I left.

"U-um Thomas..." I began. Oh great. I sound stupid already.

He and his friends all turned to look at me. I held out the cupcake. "I made this for you."

He took the cupcake and at first I thought this might be it; the time he finally realizes that he loves me to.

That was until I felt the cupcake being smashed against my face, the icing leaving a mark down my cheek. He and his friends just laughed.

"Ha! Thanks for the laugh!" Thomas laughed as his friends all highfived him.

I felt my face heat up, I was so embarrassed, and angry. I wasn't angry at Thomas, though. No, I was angry at my own stupidity. I stormed away, passing our lunch table in the process.

"Emma? You okay? What's wrong?" Jessica asked as I stormed by. She hadn't seen the cupcake smear, but she was still worried about me. I didn't care; I didn't answer her. I even shrugged her hand off of my arm when she tried to stop me.

I made a bee-line for the girls bathroom. Tears stung my eyes and I could barely see where I was going.

The next thing I knew was I ran into someone. I looked up and saw a cute, dark haired, Asian boy. I hadn't seen him around school before... "Oh! I'm  so sorry. I didn't see you there..."

He chuckled slightly. "It's fine. It's my fault, too." It was only then that he seemed to notice how much of a mess I was in. I had icing all over my face, tears in my eyes, and my hair was probably a mess. Great, one more person to make fun of me. I thought.

What happened next surprised me. He handed me a napkin to wipe my face. "Are you alright?" He asked with a sincere look of concern on his face.

I wiped off my face and I felt him smooth out my hair. "T-thank you." I stuttered.

"Now why would such a beautiful girl like yourself be crying?" He asked.

Hold up. Did he just call me beautiful..? Omg what?!? "It's nothing, just a jerk that-"

"So someone did this to you?" He looked slightly disgusted at the thought that someone did that to me. How did I not know that there was someone so sweet and caring, not to mention cute, at our school?

"Yeah, but it's no big deal. I'll be fine! And thank you so much for the help. Oh. I didn't even ask your name?" I asked.

"I'm Jimin," he replied with a smile. Jimin. I like that name. I found myself smiling with him, his smile is pretty contagious, and pretty pretty.

"I'm Emma," I tell him.

"Well nice to meet you Em!" He leaned over and gave me a tiny kiss on the cheek. My face started feeling a little hot. "U-um..." I stammered, a little embarrassed. Man, I sure am stuttering a lot today.

He seemed to notice my slight embarrassment at his little gesture- not that I didn't like it. "Oh, I'm sorry, that's a normal way of greeting people in Korea." He laughed a very hearty laugh.

I honestly couldn't tell if he was just making up an excuse or not. Wait, Korea? "No, it's fine! Are you from Korea?" I interrogated him.

"Yep. I'm a transfer student, this is my first day."

"Really! No wonder I haven't seen you before. What's your schedule? Maybe we have some classes together!" I said, getting a little too excited. He handed me his schedule. Hey, he is in my biology class! And my gym class!.... What a coincidence, the two classes I have with Thomas. Ugh.

"Oh hey! We have the same last two classes! After lunch we can walk to class together if you want." I suggested. After all, why not show him around? He's new, right? And besides, nothing wrong with having a cute boy walk with you to class, now is there? I think to myself with a smirk.

"That would be great thanks!" Jimin replied. Just then, as if on cue, the bell rang. I guess it's time for biology.