Chapter One

8 years ago

Pink, the color of the walkway, as the petals of the tree slowly descended onto the ground. Hundreds of students walked, some of them gossiping to their friends, while others had their noses buried inside a heavy annotated book. One of those students, however, deviated from the path, his back resting against one of the trees as he watched the horde move along. His eyes glanced every so often to his phone, checking the time. Once it struck 7:30, his eyes shot up, immediately locking onto a singular small girl.

Her black hair was let down as she tightly gripped the straps of her backpack. Large headphones adorned her ears as her gaze was focused on the ground. 

The figure at the tree grinned ear to ear at the sight of this. Quickly, he began to sneak into the crowd, blending in as if he were trying to hide his presence. In a matter of seconds, the figure was able to sneak behind the unaware girl. Then extending his arm, he snatched the black headphones from the girl’s head, the grin going ear to ear. However, as quickly as he snatched it…

WHACK

… he was met with a hard collision to his nose

“Ack!” the figure screamed out, falling onto the ground. Nearby students stopped in their tracks, their eyes locked into the situation in front of them. 

This small girl just knocked down a person clearly bigger and taller than her.

 Normally, people would get the teacher in a situation like this, but that thought quickly escaped most of the students’ heads upon seeing the laughter that the fallen student was emitting.

“Y/N!” the girl squeaked out, her cheeks puffed up, “I told you to stop taking my headphones like that!”

“I know, I know,” Y/N said, standing up and dusting off his pants, “I just couldn’t resist, they were right there for the picking. Besides, I know that you can handle yourself in case you get robbed,”

“Yah! Why are you saying that as if I’ll get robbed!” the girl argued, crossing her arms. The students who were once watching began to disperse, the argument not interesting them in the slightest. The boy simply shrugged his shoulders, handing the headphones back to the girl

“Who knows, Minjeong, just tryna help my best friend after all,” was all he said before starting to make his way to the school. Minjeong just stared at him for a couple of moments, her hands crumpling into her skirt. She began to open her mouth to say something, but then, right before the gate, Y/N turned his head around, “Minjeong! You coming?”

“Y-Yeah!” the girl shouted back, immediately running after the boy. The thought of her words escaped her mind for the time being. A soft smile began to adorn itself on her lips as the two of them began to enter the building.

.𖥔 ܁ ˖⋆ ˚❆

A loud bell echoed three times within the school, signalling that it was time for lunch. This caused students to do various activities, many of them rushing out of the classroom to be first in line at the cafeteria. Others just sat at their seats, taking out their homemade lunches and connecting their desks to their friends.

 Idle chatter began to consume classrooms.

 Y/N, who was reading a book at his desk, quickly shut it. After grabbing his bag, he slipped out of the room. He began down various hallways, looking for a specific classroom. Upon reaching it, he slid the door open, “Minjeong!” he screamed, interrupting the students, many of them turning their heads to look at him, “time for lunch. Let’s go!”

Usually, the sound of a chair scraping the floor is followed by Minjeong’s soft voice pulling him away. But for some reason, today was different. No scraping of the chair occurred, and certainly the voice that spoke didn’t sound like her in the slightest. It was deeper and more masculine, forcing Y/N to open his eyes.

“O-Oh hello, Class Rep,” Y/N stuttered, coming face to face with him. His expression was a little annoyed as his lips pursed

“Minjeong went over to the teacher’s room,” the representative informed him, pushing his falling glasses back. “If you’re looking for her, please head there and stop disturbing this classroom before I write you up,”

“R-Right,” Y/N did a quick bow of apology to the classroom before turning around and sprinting down a hallway. “Thanks again, class rep!”

“Yah!” the representative screamed after him, “no running in the… never mind, he won’t listen to me anyway,”

Quickly running through the hallways, Y/N slowed down upon reaching the hallway of the teacher’s room. He could handle pissing off the class representative, but pissing off a teacher is a guaranteed one-way ticket to detention. He nodded to himself, an understanding look on his face, before leaning against a wall. Glancing at his phone, a good chunk of lunch was over by now, but he didn’t have to go back to class once the bell rings, just gotta convince Minjeong the same thing. The boy shivered, remembering the last time he attempted that.

“Never mind…” the boy muttered to himself, “don’t wanna get on her bad side again…”

Then, as if on cue, the door slid open, jolting the boy out of his thoughts. His eyes looked up, and he saw that familiar black hair, thanking a teacher. Her arm slides the door shut after a quick bow. A smile found its way on the boy’s face as he began to walk over, but it quickly began to fade upon seeing Minjeong’s face. It was an expression that he never saw, one of doubt and uncertainty. Her hand lingered longer than it should have on the handle.

“Minjeong?” Y/N whispered, making the girl jump

“Y/N?” the girl quickly responded, trying to put on a smile, “w-what brings you by here?”

“It’s lunch,” the boy raised an eyebrow, “we always meet for lunch after morning classes. My mom packed extra for you again.”

“O-oh,” a nervous chuckle escaped her lips, “y-yeah, let's go to the usual spot.”

Minjeong started walking away, her face still attempting to put on a mask. But Y/N wasn’t fooled; he knew her too long to fall for something like that. He reached his hand out to stop her, but… something crept in, something that made him stop. The air between them felt strangely thick at this moment. In the end, he just shook it off and followed her. The two of them quickly made their way to the rooftop, where various students already hung out. Then, making their way to a corner, they squeezed by some air conditioning units to a small secluded spot.

“Let’s eat!” the girl screamed, her stomach rumbling loudly. This made the boy chuckle as he began to take out two containers full of food. He quickly handed one to the girl, along with her own set of chopsticks, before opening his food.

The air between the two began to change as the lunch period went by. What was once thick began to slowly thin out, restoring what was once there. Jokes and little exchanges slowly began to assimilate themselves again, making the duo give each other wide smiles often. Their conversations began to click once more, making the two feel as if they were in their own world.

However, they were forced back into reality as the lunch period started to end. Y/N began to throw away the trash that the two created from the large amount of snacks that his mom packed. He didn’t mind, of course, since Minjeong was a big eater. He often questioned how someone so small could have a stomach the size of a black hole, but he knew better than to ask. After throwing the last wrapper away, he squeezed his way into the corner again. His body jolted upon feeling the thick air again. His eyes locked onto Minjeong, who was staring out into the distance again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Minjeong beat him to the punch,

“Hey, Y/N?” the girl asked, his tone soft

“Yeah?” the boy asked, feeling uneasy,

“Can you promise me something?” Her gaze turned to look up at him, her eyes unreadable as her lips went into a thin line.

“Of course,” he said almost immediately.

Silence followed for a few moments, Minjeong opening her mouth and shutting it numerous times. Words seemingly never to form in her mind as her hands began to crumple her skirt once more. Eventually, she was forced to take several deep breaths, her hand releasing her skirt as she stared deeply into Y/N’s brown eyes

“Promise that you’ll always be there for me?” she asked, the air thickening once more. “Promise that you’ll never abandon me no matter what happens,”

“Min?” Y/N questioned, raising an eyebrow, “Where is this com-”

“Just promise me,” she cut him off, standing up fully to be on even footing, “just promise me that you’ll stay by my side forever,”

“I…” the boy felt the words pile up in his throat, his eyes looking away from hers.

Why? The boy thought to himself. He tried looking at her, but he couldn’t, his eyes betraying him. 

Why can’t I say it? 

Why can’t I look at her? 

Why does all of this feel wrong…

This made the boy take a few deep breaths of his own. Regaining his composure, he was finally able to look at Minjeong in the eyes, his expression never changing,

“I promise,” he finally spoke, “I promise that I will never abandon you,” A smile began to form on the girl’s face before nodding, “You’re my best friend, Minjeong, you could do anything, and I’ll still be on your side.”

Y/N noticed Minjeong’s body flinching at those words, but didn’t think much of it. Instead, he focused on how Minjeong turned around and stared out into the distance again, her hands at her side and her eyes looking up at the sky.