first love

01. First meeting

The first time I saw Baekhyun was in sixth grade, when I was 13. I saw him, smiling as beautifully as the cherry blossoms beneath the beautifully blooming cherry blossoms. I think I truly understood the phrase "love at first sight" that day. That beautiful smile was the first I'd seen in a person like Baekhyun.

I'd only watched from afar, and then, just a step behind, I went to the same middle school as Baekhyun, whom I'd always admired, and we ended up in the same class. I didn't know anyone in the class, but the news that I was in Baekhyun's class made me feel like I was flying through the sky. I felt like the happiest person in the world.

On my first day at school, it felt like God was helping me. Unfortunately, our numbers were a bit far apart, but I ended up sitting next to Baekhyun, with an aisle between us. I was incredibly happy, but I pretended to be indifferent, afraid he might think I was weird.

변백현

Hello? What's your name? I'm Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun. Let's be friends.

김여주

I'm Yeoju, Kim Yeoju. Let's be friends, Baekhyun.

Baekhyun nodded and showed me his signature pretty smile. It was a smile he'd never shown me before. Of course, I'd seen that smile many times, but it was the first time he'd shown it to me. Baekhyun was a child who was overflowing with charm the more I looked at him. He was not only friendly with everyone in his class, but also...

Baekhyun talked to every single one of the so-called "outcasts" and made every effort to become friendly with them. Thanks to this, Baekhyun was almost unanimously nominated by his friends and became class president. The battle for vice-class president was quite fierce. All of them were girls, with very few exceptions.

It seemed like she wanted to be vice-president because of Baekhyun, not because she truly wanted to. Because I'm more of the latter type myself. I'm not the type to be outgoing, so being vice-president never even occurred to me. Of course, that was until Baekhyun became class president.

From the moment they registered to run for class president, the kids all heard that Baekhyun was running and received letters of recommendation to run for class president. Baekhyun, of course, became class president, and my friend and I were handed the title in a close race, a mere one vote difference. The odds were against us.

Unfortunately, it was Rain, not Hee. Baekhyun looked at me and said he was really sad, and thanks to him, I learned what it felt like to feel like your heart was going to burst. I think I learned a lot thanks to Baekhyun. I thought about it even before I went to bed that day.

I was going crazy. I stayed up all night, wide awake, until 3 a.m., and was late the next day. Since I need at least seven hours of sleep to stay awake, I woke up at 8 a.m., even though I was supposed to be at school by 8:20. Luckily, my house was close, so I avoided being tardy.