"She tells me that I have stars on my cheeks, but she has no idea how she has them in her eyes."
~~~~~
Two souls from two completely different worlds collide when the universe conspires for them to meet. Their fire burns to set each others' worlds...
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"I told every star about you."
-----
"Noona!" Jeongin called out from the midst of the crowd of the students in the dispersal time. The school hours were over, finally.
Chaeri waved at him happily, and as he approached her, he noticed the radiant smile on her face.
"You look so happy. What happened today?" he asked her, and she hooked her index fingers of both hands to describe the word 'friend'.
"You got a friend? Wow, noona, I'm so happy for you!" Jeongin rejoiced, and she grinned as well, watching her younger brother stretch his lips into a wide smile.
Even though the moment of having a friend was brief, she still felt grateful for those few minutes when she felt included. She wasn't certain if Felix would talk to her again, now that he had been seated with someone who probably hadn't laughed at his introduction. He could find another dimension of actually friendly people on the other side of the class — she couldn't tell because she hadn't gone there.
But it was all okay. She was used to being alone.
"What was their name?" her younger brother ended her little trance by asking her a question.
As Chaeri commenced motioning his name through sign language, a deep voice called out after her, "Chaeri!"
She turned around, and Jeongin moved his gaze to see the blonde newcomer slithering through the crowd, his eyes fixated on hers. Catching his gaze, she lowered her eyes nervously, biting her lip.
As Felix approached them, he breathed heavily, panting for air, "I ran all across the hallway for you. You could've waited for me."
She raised her eyebrows, keeping a hand on her chest as if to say 'Me?'.
"Yes, you," he straightened up, "I'm sitting with a guy who taught me some Korean phrases-"
"Are you noona's friend?" Jeongin protectively asked.
Felix took a moment to register what he had spoken, and then he vehemently nodded.
"I'm Yang Jeongin," the youngest drew out a hand for the newcomer to shake, and he gladly accepted it, saying, "Lee Felix. Nice to meet you!"
Chaeri's eyes widened, and she immediately drew out a small notepad and pen that she carried everywhere to talk to people, and wrote down: That was great! Who taught you Korean today?
"His name is Bang Chan. I sat with him, and we realized that we're both from Australia!" he giggled, "That guy is really friendly."
She wrote: You're from Australia too? I should've guessed by the accent.
"Um? I don't understand a lot of English so yeah..." Jeongin frowned. Chaeri explained to Felix through writing what Jeongin had just said.
Felix apologetically spoke in broken phrases, "Sorry, I will try use Korean more."
Chaeri chuckled silently at his endearing attempt at speaking the language, and Jeongin attempted to speak English, "It's okay, friend."
The Aussie smiled ear-to-ear, and then looked at his watch, "Oh, I gotta go! My sister is probably here to pick me up. Bye bye!"
He quickly waved at them, and turned around and scurried away.
"He seems nice," Jeongin remarked, and Chaeri could only think of one thing: he stayed.
He didn't leave after knowing that she couldn't speak. He was the one to approach her when he didn't have to do so. And he probably wasn't doing it out of charity, as far as she could tell.
She knew when people helped her out of pity. They treated her like she was a special case; maybe even like a distinct species altogether, but not Lee Felix.
He made her feel included. Perhaps not with the mainstream population of the school, but he made her feel like she was one of his people. She couldn't stress over that fact enough.
"Let's go home, noona," Jeongin put her out of her trance and she nodded, and got dragged away by him to their dorms - which they apparently called 'home'.
-----
It was around one in the night when she opened her eyes and looked at the bed opposite to hers to see Jeongin sleeping soundly. Cautiously stepped her foot on the ground, she felt a shiver go up her spine when her foot came in contact with the cold marble floor.
Tip-toeing out of their room, she slipped her feet into her slippers and exited the room. Thankfully, in their school's dormitories, there were no separate wings for girls and boys. The school knew how separating the two won't make a difference to the students who wanted to "sleep" together.
Climbing the stairs up to the roof of the dorms, she carefully stepped onto the last stair when she had to climb over the edge, and being already used to it. She came here every night when all were asleep, only to look up and admire the night sky, and share the happenings of her day with the stars. She couldn't really speak, but she believed that the stars understood her without words being spoken.
She really did. And it was time for her to share something about one person with her trusted companions.
Lee Felix. The clueless, new boy with a smile that could light up a lighthouse.
(a/n: thank you reading! please leave your comments because i absolutely LOVE reading them!)
