It was summer.
As a child, the love I saw in books and dramas seemed grand and powerful. I experienced situations where everything except that person faded away on a street full of falling cherry blossom petals. I thought it was basic to stop at nothing to get the other person and sacrifice your life for the one you love. For me, that was the definition of love I learned from a young age: "Falling in love at first sight and giving everything for that person." Perhaps that's why my love didn't begin so grandiosely, and it took me a long time to recognize what love really was. He was just a troublesome guy who broke all the clichés of love at first sight. A snobbish troublemaker who stole my number one spot. To describe him more, he was the polar opposite of me, a person who was always cheerful and surrounded by people, hoping someone would shine a light on him.
The first time I met him was the day the midterm exam results were announced in my first year of high school. I already knew about him because he was talked about in class ten times a day. He was a handsome, tall, kind, and good at studying, beloved by many girls. He walked around every day with a big smile on his face, but it wasn't until he came to our class on the day the midterm exam results were announced that he first began to attract my attention. I thought there was no way he'd ever known about me.
"Hello, I'm Jeon Jungkook. You're Goo Hyewon, right?"
"Do you know me?"
After receiving my report card, the first thing I heard as I sat there in shock at my second place result was the cheerful voice of Jeon Jungkook, the one who was the talk of the class every day.
"Yes, of course. I heard you're really good at studying. My friends told me you were always number one in your class before you even started high school."
"Do you need help from me? It's not academic related, right? I heard a rumor that you're number one in the whole school. If you are number one, you should brag to the kids around you."
"I was just lucky this time. I didn't come here to study, I came here to be friends with you. But you're too cold."
My mental health had been affected by my initial drop in grades, and yet the fact that someone who came in first place wanted to be my friend made me realize that this was a dream. I could only think of one reason why he had come all the way to approach me, even though he had so many friends around him. I could only assume that because I was second place, he wanted to know who I was.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't come to this school to make friends. Besides, you have so many friends around you, I don't understand why you'd go out of your way to get close to me. If you've finished what you wanted to say, can you please go home now? I have to study."
"Well, let's do this. I'll do my best to be your friend from now on. If you don't like that, try beating me and getting first place in the next final exam. I won't do anything you don't like. But if I get first place then, will you do me one favor? What do you think?"
"Why should I do that?"
"You either hate it or you become my friend."
He suddenly said he wanted to be friends, and then told me that if I didn't want to be friends, I should just beat him and get first place in the final exam. It was all so confusing and gave me a headache, and I didn't have time to waste on stuff like this, so I packed my bag, ignored him, and headed home. On my way home, I remembered what had happened, but after a while I calmed down and kept on memorizing English words.
Time passed, and a week had passed in the blink of an eye. For the week, he had been bothering me on my way home, but fortunately, he only came to see me on the way home from school, so the other kids didn't bombard me with questions. That was until yesterday. On the way home, I told him not to bother me on the way home, and then the next day arrived, not knowing what to expect. Leaving the house that morning, as usual, I put in earphones in both ears to avoid wasting time and headed to class, listening to my online class. The atmosphere was already a little lively, with noisy girls putting on makeup and boys playing games, but I turned up the volume and, upon arriving at the classroom, quickly put away my belongings and put the book and pencil case I'd been using for that morning's self-study on my desk. I was listening to my online class, but my neck started to hurt from studying in the same position for too long. I took off my earphones and turned my head, when suddenly, someone next to me started talking to me.
"Hello, Hyewon."