Gold | Park Sunghoon

7

Normal Day?

For Jangmi, the weekend ended quicker than expected—maybe because she spent it sleeping and catching up on the minimal homework she had due the next week. 

"Sunoo!" She giggled and jumped as she clung onto his arm. Sunoo, who was still not used to his best friend being so ecstatic in the morning, smiled at her. Her excitement was rubbing off on him. "Yes, Jangmi?"

The girl moved closer to Sunoo and covered his ear with her hand. "I got in," she said just above a whisper. She didn't want to say it so loudly in fear that she would be bombarded by the so-called 'fans and admirers'. When she pulled away, she watched her best friend's mouth drop and form into a smile. "Congratulations, Jangmi!" He pulled her into a hug. 

He was very proud of her for going through the whole process and for not giving up no matter how hard it was on her and her body. Sunoo just was happy to see Jangmi happy. 

"And you were so scared last week."

"Am I not allowed to be scared?" Jangmi exasperated. She glared at the boy playfully, making him chuckle and hit her playfully. "I'm just kidding!"

To say that Jangmi was happy that morning was an understatement. She was no longer trying out, and it felt like she was finally home. Cheerleading has been a such an important part of her life that she wouldn't know what to do with herself if she didn't make the team—the reason why she had been so nervous the whole week. She wasn't scared of getting critiques ("It's completely normal") or looking like a fool ("I mean, we're all still learning"), she was nervous that she would no longer be part of the one thing that made her truly happy.

They walked to Jangmi's locker arm-in-arm so that she could get the books she needed for the day. Before she was able to open her locker, she looked at the top to see two small cartons of strawberry milk. 

"Did you put this?" She asked Sunoo, pointing at the milk. The boy looked closely at the cartons and shook his head. "Nope. Is this another fan or an admirer?" he smirked. He knew Jangmi was annoyed with the sudden surge of attention and decided to tease her a little bit just so that he wouldn't get hit. 

Jangmi unlocked her locker and looked inside to see a letter. She picked it up and opened it quickly to read it. "Dear Jangmi," She started. Sunoo covered his mouth in disbelief. "How do you make my heart flutter all the time? The classroom lights up because of your smile. I wish I was the reason for that smile," Jangmi finished the post-it she found attached to one of the cartons. She blinked twice, unsure of how to feel; while her best friend just laughed at how much cringe he felt from it.

"He was trying to be sweet—"

"It's too cheesy!" The girl complained. As much as she did like letters, most of the ones she received from her admirers were written like that: cheesy post-it, a poem, or a romantic line from a movie.