The Real You || Jung Sungchan

Chapter 1

(A/N: This book was written in 2020/2021 when Sungchan was still a member of NCT!)

Miyoung:

"Have you seen Miyoung today? She looks so pretty."

"Doesn't she always look pretty?"

"Did you ask Miyoung out yet?"

"I wish I could go on a date with Miyoung."

"Is Miyoung even human? She's beautiful."

"Oh wow.... Miyoung is so pretty."

"She's so pretty... I wanna be her friend so bad!"

"I would die to look like Miyoung."

This is all I hear when I walk in the hallways. Guys saying that I'm pretty and wishing that they could date me and girls also calling me pretty and wishing they could look like me or be friends with me. I greet all of them nicely, making them smile and greet me back. I enter my classroom and I could already see that my desk is full of food, gifts, and love confessions. I smile, hiding the fact that I hate this so much. It was 40 minutes before our first class started so I had a lot of time to relax. I put some of the snacks and gifts in my bag and I gave the rest to my classmates that sat behind me.

"Eat up." I smile at them, they grab the snacks and laugh.

"It feels so nice having a beautiful and popular friend." My classmate, Minji, says, patting my back.

"I know I can skip breakfast when I have Miyoung." My other classmate, Kyungmi, laughs, I let out a small laugh as well.

They started talking about what they did over the weekend while I took out my notebook and started to write down my thoughts. I do this everyday: I get to my desk, give my extra snacks to my classmates around me, take out my notebook, and write down everything that made me sad or mad. I started off with: "Why do they have to compliment me every time I walk by?"

Most people love compliments, there are so many people that fish for compliments everyday. But I get annoyed by them and sometimes scared. It's not just my face they compliment, it's my body, the way I walk, the way I do my hair, every little detail about me. I could be wearing a different earring and cover it with my hair and they would still point it out. Some girls would love this attention, but I absolutely hate it.

I don't want to sound self-centered or annoying, but I do acknowledge my outer beauty. My mom has been beautiful since she was young and my dad is famous in Korea. But the one thing I hate is only being seen as a pretty face. People at my school, whether I know them or not, will walk by and compliment the way I look and ask if I want to be friends or hang out. I hate it because they don't even know my personality, yet they still want to be friends with me. What does a pretty face have to do with being a good friend? That's why I just stay friendly to people, I don't have a set of close friends. If anything, my close friends are the fish at the river I go to after school. There are many girls and guys that want to hang out with me, but I just pretend that I don't have time.

Soon it was class time and everybody got to their seats. My desk mate always bothers me during class, asking me if I have a pencil he can borrow, asking me where we are and what we're learning, and once again, complimenting my looks. I stay friendly to him because I don't want to hurt his feelings. The whole time during class, he would poking my arm and asking me if I'm real or if I have a boyfriend or not. When class was finally over, I got up and went to my locker as quick as possible.

I get to my locker and open and of course, it's overfilled with love confessions and snacks. I hear the girls around me whispering:

"If only I looked like Miyoung... I would get those confessions too."

"Miyoung had every guy in school after her, I want to be her so bad."

"Did you see what Miyoung posted yesterday? She is such a model. I wanna be like her one day."

I also hear the guys:

"I sent her the pink one... if she doesn't open it or accept it I'm not going to school anymore."

"Good luck trying to compete with every guy in school for Miyoung."

"If Miyoung accepts my love confession, I'm going to brag to the whole school that she's my girlfriend."

I roll my eyes, grab my textbook for my next class, and close my locker, leaving all of the snacks, gifts, and love letters in there. I hear the people around me gasp as they follow behind me to my classroom. Before entering, I turn around and smile at them, causing them all to blush and run away. I guess that's a good thing, being able to get them away from me just by smiling.

My desk mate has his head on his desk, fast asleep. Minji and Kyungmi are putting makeup on each other, using my Instagram page as inspiration. Once they see me come up, they close their phones and act like they weren't just looking at my page.

"I like that eye look, but it's hard." I sigh, sitting down as I hear them laugh nervously.

"Can you... teach me?" Kyungmi asks, I shake my head and pull out my phone and headphones.

I plug in my headphones into my phone and listen to some music. I usually put my head down and listen but since my desk mate is putting his head down, I just stare outside the window. Outside, the leaves are falling and there are many students with their friends, laughing and talking. I've never once hung out with someone from my school, even in elementary school. I was scared of people at one point.

And I still am.

.