Sun & Moon

ONE

The day Doyoung graduated high school wasn't special. It wasn't a day unique to his daily schedule. As he saw his classmates receiving flowers and hugs from their parents and friends, he simply shrugged off the small feeling of loneliness and cleaned out his classroom locker. He could hear the sound of cameras shuttering and gentle laughter enveloping the entire school. It seemed like he was the only quiet person in the entire building.

"Hey, Doyoung!" a gleeful voice called out. Doyoung turned in a slight shock. The voice belonged to the girl that sat next to him for the last year. When Doyoung made eye-contact with her, the bright grin on her face faltered a bit and turned into a nervous smile. "Would you help me out a bit? Could you take a picture for me?"

Doyoung stared blankly at her for a few seconds before silently nodding. He took the camera from his former classmate's hands after standing up from his cubby. The girl's parents stood next to her in front of a desk, and the three of them smiled brightly. Doyoung closed one eye and focused the camera before finally taking the picture.

After hearing the "click," the girl gave a small smile to Doyoung. "Thank you." She looked around at Doyoung. "Do you want me to take any pictures for you?" she asked politely.

Doyoung almost scoffed in her face. Clearly, there wasn't anyone to take a picture with. Instead, he quietly said, "My dad was too busy to come. It's okay."

Behind the girl, her parents stood awkwardly. The girl gave a quick glance at them and suddenly, her mother said, "We'll wait for you in the car!" The two scurried out of the room. At that, Doyoung couldn't help but slightly roll his eyes.

"Doyoung, do you know my name?" the girl suddenly asked, a slight glint in her eye.

"No," he said bluntly.

The girl shook her head as if she was disappointed. "I'm Heiran. I've gone to the same school as you since we were ten."

"Oh."

Heiran gave a sigh of annoyance. "You're going to Seoul National University, right?"

Doyoung looked up a bit and glanced at Heiran. Her eyebrows were furrowing together as if she had approached a math problem she wasn't quite sure she knew how to do. "Yes. How did you know?"

Heiran scoffed. "Oh please. Everyone knows that this school's number one ranked student would be going there." Doyoung didn't say anything so Heiran continued. "Guess what Mr. Quiet and Mysterious, you're looking at rank two." Heiran smiled almost cockily and pointed at herself with her thumb. "And I'm going to Seoul University too."

The only thing Doyoung did in response was to blink uninterestedly. "And?"

"And so are you. Let's be friends."

"It's the last day of school."

"And it's the first day of being a real adult!" Heiran exclaimed with a grin, throwing her hands up. Doyoung wanted to tell her to tone it down a notch.

"I didn't need friends for the last few years. I won't need any later on either." Doyoung leaned back against the cubby and closed his eyes. He just wanted to go home and stick to the same schedule he had been following for the last five years.

"But I do. Come on, we don't need to be best buddies, but just having someone to know at a new place would be nice!" Heiran smiled widely at Doyoung. "Please?" When Doyoung didn't reply, Heiran's smile grew into a grin. She quietly got her Polaroid camera from her cubby and tip-toed next to Doyoung. She stood on the tip of her toes to reach Doyoung's height and smiled as she quickly took a photo. At the sound of the shutter, Doyoung opened his eyes. But it was too late; the photo started to come out of the camera. Heiran stuffed all her belongings into her backpack and started for the door. Before she exited, she turned to Doyoung and waved. "I'll see you at Seoul University, friend!" She blew a kiss and ran out.

Doyoung sighed and rolled his eyes. Then, he picked up his bag and left his classroom for the last time.