Promise | J.JK

• thirty two •

JIMIN

2015.

Freshman year at Harvard.

I left my dorm room and hurried to my next class. I'm late.

I ran my hands through my hair to fix it, and fixed my bag strap on my shoulders. I kept bumping into people on the hallways, making me murmur the word "sorry" several times.

I stopped by in front of the door to my first period class. Holding my breath, I turned the knob and made my way inside.

The teacher wasn't there yet, there were no signs of any teachers inside. The students were all quiet though. Some are grouped in one table, some are standing by the huge windows, watching the big structures and the wide campus outside. But none of them made so much noise, they all talked in whispers or low voices. Their hair and eye colors were different, which means they had different nationalities. Some were red haired, some are blonde, some had blue eyes, some had gray. When I was told by my Dad that I won't find that many koreans here, he wasn't lying.

I found myself a seat in the middle of the class. It was one of the two empty seats left, but the other one was next to the huge group of boys by the window, so I picked this one.

"Bro, say something in Korean."

"Why would I?"

"You sound cool, like one of those characters in anime."

"Dude, anime characters are Japanese."

In front of the class, there were 3 boys surrounding someone who was sitting too comfortable in his seat. His feet are propped up in his desk, left elbow resting on the back of his chair. He has black curly hair, big, brown eyes, and pale skin. To me, he looks Korean.

The guys surrounding him sounded british, but I can hear his korean accent with each English word that comes out of his mouth. He has a deep voice, too.

Without noticing, I found myself staring too hard at this guy. I loved the way he shows his boxy smile. The way he played with his long fingers. The way his curly hair falls over his eyes, and every few seconds he would swipe them away. The way his deep voice sounds so sweet when he laughs. The way the sunlight hits his face, making him look so godly, as if he's straight out of heaven.

Then, I stopped breathing when his eyes met mine.

I don't know why, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. He didn't, either. He stared deep into my eyes, his smile slowly fading. His features suddenly became so intimidating. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking confused as he tilted his head. He's probably wondering if I'm Korean, too.

Our staring contest came to an end when our professor walked in and greeted us. He started the class right after he introduced himself to us, and I found myself not understanding everything he said because I focused on him.

I watched as he rested his face on top of his hand, his fingers touching his lips. For the rest of the class, he seemed uninterested, because it really was boring. But for me, it wasn't. Staring at him and admiring his mysteriousness was the highlight of my day.

Spring break came.

I didn't make much friends on the campus, so unlike most of the students, I decided to spend my break by coming home.

"Yes, Dad. I'll be coming home. Don't tell Mom, I wanna surprise her."

I smiled widely as I ended the call, excited to see my family.

After checking in at the airport by myself, I decided to buy some snack while I wait for my flight. I still have an hour since I came here early, afraid that I might be late and the plane would leave me. This is also the first time I traveled alone, and I don't really trust myself. My Dad explained to me the whole process, like where to go and all that, but I'm still a bit scared.