CH 00

MY STAR

VIC

I am born in an average family and go to one of the most prestigious schools in the country. 

I have always loved and supported Neo, my long time crush.  I have known him since kindergarten and I fell deep ever since. 

I may sound and look like an obsessed person, but I do not do things that would classify me as a stalker. 

I don't follow him to private places and I don't invade his privacy.  Although I always have my eyes on him when I would have the chance.

I do not have close friends that would treat me like their own relative. I am not a loner though. I am talkative when he is not around and usually  interact with my classmates.

Neo and I have talked thrice. 

The first time was when we had to paint the walls of our school.

He helped me take off the paint on my palms which took us almost an hour. He scrubbed my hands gently and it made my heart flutter.

His hands were soft and his eyes are dreamy.  I could not help but blush.

I knew there were a lot of girls jealous at that time. 

Neo's too perfect for a human being. 

He is handsome, kind, smart, and everything you could ask for a man. 

On that same day, I was bullied by my classmates for being too near to Neo. 

I had nothing else to do but to ignore them.

They threatened me that they would hurt my family if I would lay another hand on Neo.  They knew I was head over heels for him and they took advantage of it. 

Since then,  I decided to not go near him.  As much as possible, I would not even talk to him to avoid others getting hurt.

He felt that important to me in such a short period of time.

I knew then that my heart chose its owner.

The second time was when he was one of the three students who volunteered to help me collect our hand outs for our class at the library.

Though we did not talk to each other, I was feeling anxious knowing that he was walking beside me.

When we were walking at the hallway, a lot of students were greeting him.

I knew he was famous for being kind and besides he was the supreme student president.

He would always help out whenever he has the chance to.

That's what made me fall deeper.

Our classmates had five each and left us with twenty more.

He was a gentleman and carried more than half of the hand outs left. While I had to carry only 7 if them.

I clearly remember his words that day. "I could carry 13 of these hand outs, is it okay with you?"

He souded so heavenly then. I had to stare at his beautiful face for a few seconds - or maybe a minute.

I never had the chance to say no to him.

He was already at the door when I was back to reality.

I hurriedly followed him and stared at his back while walking.

Three years went by and he was a lot more popular. He was no longer the president but he was still a part of the committee.

Not long after, he debuted in a group called 'Star'. They were active in promotions and he seldom showed up in school.

Ever since then, I would go to their showcases and events supporting Neo.

Every time I got near to him I would hide my face in my mask and would only show my eyes to him.

He would always hold my hand and I would always lose my mind.

I may sound weird but it's just I can't get used to being close to him. His presence would drown me in cloud nine.

The third time he noticed me was the last and the most unforgettable one.

Just like any other day, our driver had to fetch me from school late at night.

I was busy practicing for our swimming competition which was around the corner.

As soon as I finished, I got changed and waited at the shed near the school gates.

Our driver was unexpectedly late. It was quarter to eight and the supreme government were done with their meeting. They were always the last students who would leave school.

I felt scared knowing that I would be left alone. I checked my phone for messages from the driver when it suddenly turned off.

I forgot to charge it during practice.

It was almost the worst day of my life. Just then I saw him. He was rushing his way towards the gates. Near where I was staying.

He was on the phone and I knew I should not be eavesdropping so I plugged in my earbuds into my music player.

It only had songs of their group. Just as I plugged it in. The music was playing at full volume and the light stick I brought beamed.

It slipped off my mind that the lightstick's bluetooth was connected to my music player.

I was bringing my camera with me and had its lenses.

I panicked at the thought of him hearing their song played.

I love their group and I am proud to be a huge fan but he hates obsessed fans the most. As much as possible, he stays away from fangirls in our school to avoid worse cases.

Still at the state of panic, I accidentally dropped my bag but managed to turn the volume down.

As I looked up at him, he was walking towards me.

'oh no' I somehow felt that I was doomed. He could have misunderstood me and mistaken me for an obsessed fan.

But he was not as angry as I thought.

"Can I perhaps ride with you? I was going to the dorm and our manager could not fetch me here."

A honk was heard and I knew that that was my ride.

I didn't know what to say to him. I walked to the car and totally forgot that he was talking to me. I didn't realize he was following me wearing his beaming smile.

It was not my intention to not answer him. It's just that whenever he's around I lose my mind and my mouth seems to quickly turn dry.

He got inside ahead of me. I was forced to sit at the shotgun seat. I did not want to sit close to him I might hyperventilate.

I told my driver that we would drop him at their dorm. It was dangerous to leave him at a cafe. There might be crazy fans out there.

He was thankful and got off our SUV.

We were halfway away from their dorm when I noticed a wallet on the seat he was sitting on a while ago.

I couldn't help but be curious of who it might belong to. I opened it and discovered Neo's pictures with his family and group members.

It was his wallet. I decided I would return it to him the following day.

I was about to close it when I noticed a solo picture of a girl. I did not like to invade his privacy but my hand had its own mind, pulled the picture and moved it closer to my eyes.

It took long for me to process that the picture was

me

ㅡENDㅡ