basketball ➸ lee eunsang

| 02 |

the weekend passed rather quickly. monday came before haeyoung's eyes, meaning that she had to come back to the hell-like reality called school.

she wore her usual school uniform that she hated at first sight. she bid farewell to her grandmother, before leaving the house and heading towards the bus stop.

haeyoung sat down on the bench, plugged in her earphones, and waited for the bus to come. she leaned on the pole beside her, looking straight forward, not having a care in the world.

she always thought what would've happened if the fire never started. would she be happy like before? or would her life still be the same as now? why does it have to be her that suffered? did she do something bad in her past life for her to have this fate? i guess some people are just destined to have a life full of suffering. she thought.

because haeyoung was so deep in thought, she didn't notice that mingyu and eunsang were beside her. one of them tapped the girl's shoulder, making her slightly flinch because of the sudden touch. the girl unplugged one earbud, and weirdly looked at the person who interrupted her listening time.

however, the weird look faded when she saw who interrupted her; kim mingyu. the tips of her ears started turning red again, and the corners of her lips started curving upward. she tried to stop her lips from smiling, and she luckily succeeded.

"what?" she asked.

"hello." mingyu and eunsang said in unison. haeyoung eyed both of them up and down, before giving a quick nod and plugging her earbud back in her ear and staring forward.

"kwon haeyoung?" another boy's voice said, quite loudly, making the three students look at the voice's direction. she was surprised, this boy's voice must be so loud because i could hear it through my music. she thought. but she was even more surprised to see the owner of the loud voice.

"son dongpyo?" she asked, as she remember who he was. son dongpyo was her schoolmate back in her previous school, before her life went downhill. they were close friends, but eventually lost contact when the girl moved to her current school.

she was even more surprised to see dongpyo wearing the same uniform as mingyu and eunsang.

"it is you!" dongpyo said, running to haeyoung.

eunsang, who was sitting beside haeyoung, leaned to her ear from behind. "you know him?" eunsang said, right beside her ear, making her jump. haeyoung turned around, and was met with the red headed boy's face inches away from her's.

haeyoung gave him a disgusted look because of the distance between their faces. "obviously, how would i know his name?" haeyoung said, pushing eunsang's face away from her's.

"hello, noona!" dongpyo said. "it's great to see you after years!" haeyoung wanted to hide her happiness by trying not to smile, but she couldn't hold it. she smiled, asking dongpyo for a hug.

"you still call me 'noona'?" the girl asked, hugging dongpyo.

"yeah, you're months older than me. plus, you wanted me to call you 'noona' back in middle school." dongpyo said, making both of them chuckle.

haeyoung patted the seat in between her and eunsang, and dongpyo gladly sat beside her. "you're coming to the same school as me?" haeyoung asked.

"yeah! i just transferred here in busan last week!" dongpyo happily said. haeyoung found dongpyo's happiness cute, which made her smile.

"ahhh, you're so cute~" haeyoung said, pinching the boy's cheek.

"you still do that to me? i remember i was so annoyed when you do that to me years ago." dongpyo said, chuckling.

eunsang and mingyu faked a cough, catching the two (already) best friends' attention.

"oh, right." haeyoung said, smile fading. "that's kim mingyu and lee eunsang, the president and vice president of the student council."

eunsang and mingyu waved, showing off their pearly white teeth.

"nice to meet you!" dongpyo said. "are you haeyoung's friends?"

"no, no, we just coincidentally met at the bus stop." haeyoung said. mingyu and eunsang nodded in agreement.

"oh, okay." dongpyo said.

dongpyo was one of those boys in haeyoung's previous school that was too naïve and innocent to know about what happened to haeyoung. in short, dongpyo doesn't have a clue of what happened to haeyoung regardless of the rumors and the gossips back then.

they waited for the bus in silence, dongpyo and haeyoung sharing the earphones while listening to music.

"they must be close considering that the kwon haeyoung smiled when she saw him." mingyu whispered in eunsang's ear.

"i know, maybe they were schoolmates in their previous schools." eunsang whispered back.

after a couple more minutes, the bus arrived and the four students hopped in. they sat on the row of seats in the back, haeyoung and dongpyo sitting beside one another.

a few minutes later, they arrived at their stop and started walking to school. mingyu and eunsang were chatting to one another, while dongpyo and haeyoung just had some small talk and caught up with each other.

they arrived at the campus, and haeyoung went along with dongpyo to the front desk to get his schedule and a locker.

"what's your first?" haeyoung asked.

"korean literature." dongpyo said.

"aw, i have korean history." haeyoung said. "anyway, your class is just beside mine, so let's go."

they started walking to their classes together, and haeyoung could feel the stares of other students.

haeyoung guessed that they were staring at her because she was talking to dongpyo, making them shocked. she didn't care, though, she never cares about what people think about her.

they arrived at their destination, and went inside their different classes. haeyoung laid her head on her table lazily, waiting for class to start.

meanwhile, dongpyo sat on his chair awkwardly, hoping that no one noticed his presence.

a boy beside him tapped his shoulder, and he looked to the boy's direction.

"hey, i saw you talking to kwon haeyoung a while ago, i was just wondering who you are." the boy beside dongpyo said.

"oh, i'm son dongpyo, and we used to be good friends back in middle school. why do you ask?"

"oh, okay. it's just, kwon haeyoung doesn't talk to people, and almost everyone is scared of her because of her attitude."

"scared? huh, weird. in middle school everyone loved her. she was friends with everyone, and she was even one of the top students. everyone adored her and wanted to have her life." dongpyo said.

the boy looked shocked. "really? she was like that? weird indeed." the boy said. dongpyo didn't have a clue on why it was weird.

"what's your name?" dongpyo asked.

"oh, right. i'm ham wonjin." he said. "and consider yourself lucky, dongpyo. every since kwon haeyoung moved here, guys have fallen for her dark attitude, but she just pushed everyone away. you're the only one that she smiled and talked to."

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