Quite Exactly Reality

Moonlight

~Gi-Woo~
           And so here we are again, raincoat, phone, and book in hand, going out for another late night walk, except this time I am in a completely different country. At first my mom didn't allow me to do these, makes sense, which mom would let their 12-year-old go out late at night on a walk alone?! But within the past two years she's allowed me to go out, besides I never venture out far and now I have a phone so it's all good. Sometimes when I need to debrief or just catch a fresh breath of air, I like going out on night walks and find a bench where I can sit down and read my book. This time I'm really going to have to go out and find a bench, because I have no idea where anything is. I did grab a raincoat on my way out, because it did say it might rain. And because of that news my mom particularly did not want to let me go out this night but she knew I was overwhelmed and so let me go.
           Now this was the night before my first day of school in Korea. I was going through a lot of things. I wasn't devastated or anything, and I loved being here, I was ready for an adventure, but at the same time I missed everything back home and the idea of starting fresh your senior year was bothering me. Either way, I decided to suck it up and finally found a bench after 10 minutes of walking. It was around 9 o'clock, so I decided to read until 9:30 before heading home. It was already particularly dark on this cloudy day. Everything was set except for one small detail, I wasn't a 100% sure of the way back.
           I was trying to find someone who could probably help give me directions, but I didn't really see anyone outside. After a few minutes of walking in the darkness, I bumped into this dude. He was wearing a black hoodie and dark blue jeans. But I couldn't really see his face. It was weird because he wasn't really saying anything, he just stared at me as if he was trying to detect my face, or try to see it in this darkness I guess.
           "Oops- I'm sorry so sorry I didn't see you there in the dark" I blurted out.
            "Do I know you?"
            "What-?"
            "Have we ever met before? You don't look or sound familiar."
            "Oh- uhm no. Hi I'm Gi-Woo, I'm new here."
            "Oh ok, what was it that you were saying again?"
             Saying?! What was I saying? Oh wait right. "Oh yes, I said sorry for bumping into you, I didn't mean to."
            "Oh, that's alright."
             "And-" before I could say something it started pouring out of nowhere. He quickly put his hoodie on his head, and we started to run. It was really dark, so we couldn't really see each other or anything to be exact. Then we spotted a light coming from a window, there was a garage in front of the window and a street light! The rain sort of calmed down as we decided to stand in the alley. And I could finally see his face...! He had black hair, it fell right below his brow, although it was dripping wet. He had dark brown eyes, and an alluring gaze. All of his features were so defined! He was so handsome- I-
           "And you?" I blurted out again.
           "What?"
           "Your name I mean"
           "Oh, hi! I'm Lee-Jun"
           "Nice." I didn't really know how else to respond, or carry on the conversation. But I did like his name, a lot. Speaking of conversation, should I even be initiating a conversation here, it's literally pouring wet, does he think I'm weird for stopping him in the middle of the rain to start a conversation?! In a moment of panic I decided to look around, to fill in the awkwardness, I noticed someone was by the window but I could only see their silhouette. They were inside, warm and toasty, where I wish I could be at that moment, but at least they had the lights on, so thanks?? But soon they close the window and-
           "Let's go" Lee-Jun just grabbed my hand and said.
          "Uh where?!" I said panting while running behind him.
          "To find shelter, I don't know... where do you need to be? I'm pretty sure it's not out here."
         "Oh right!"
          I told him the name of my alley, and I would know the way home from there anyway. He quickly took me there and told me to get inside and stay safe, then he was on his way. The rain had calmed down by now, and I was just admiring him as he walked away, forgetting that I should've said something.
            "OH WAIT THANKS!" Ugh how did I forgot to say this?! He didn't turn back around, he did however wave his arm, while still faced away and walking. I smiled, thinking that he probably did too, and then I went back inside.
———————-
           And now here we are, the morning for the first day of high school in Korea, I know I keep saying this, but it still hasn't sunk in yet. And how could I have avoided the inevitable last night, getting scolded by mom for coming home drowsed in the rain even though she told me not to go. Her scolding had gotten worse when I had started to sneeze. She fed me some medicine, told me to get dried up and made me some soup before I went off to bed. And although I feel much better now, I do feel stupid for going to the first day of school feeling a little sick, and this is all my fault.
          I put on the uniform that the school allegedly sent out to us. I mean we still had to buy it, but it did save us from going shopping for it, besides we wouldn't know what to shop for. I put on a white shirt, a purple coat on top and a purple skirt. It looked cute. And I was out on my way.
         When I had gotten there I was greeted by a teacher who told me they knew I was new. They told me to go to classroom number 7A, so I would enter the building and go down to my right. I was practically ready to enter the school, but I knew Sanjida would be here soon so I wanted to wait for her instead of going in alone. But the patience was killing me, I kind of felt like I had the pressure of everyone's eyes on me, and it was so unsettling. Not like they were looking at me and making faces, but they were still all looking. But I mean, makes sense, they've been going to this high school together for a while now, I'm pretty sure they would all recognize a new face when they see one. And just when my anxiety was at its peak, Sanjida finally stepped in.
           "Hey!" She waved.
"Hello! I waved back. Suddenly some of the tension had been lifted off my shoulders. She asked me how my morning was, and I told her it was fine, and she said likewise. She said on her way here she saw a guy pulling up to the school in a really fancy car. People around her started whispering about how it's Tae-Jin, and they were all fangirling. They were also whispering that it wouldn't be long before his friend shows up now. But she also looked nervous, I could sense that she could also sense the fact that all eyes were on us once in a while. She probably even felt like that on her way walking here, when I came there were less people, but when she came a lot more people were walking alongside her. So, to help everyone out, I decided to offer her to go inside.
             "Alright let's go Sanjida".
             "Where?"
             "A teacher came and told me where to go, but I wanted to wait for you, as you were new too."
             "Oh that's so sweet of you! Thank you!"
             "No problem, let's head inside, watch ou-!" There was a puddle of water on the ground, from last nights rain. And she had the misfortune, or fortune of stepping into it, and slipping... I tried to help her but someone had already been there to her rescue. It felt like as if I was witnessing a scene from a Kdrama, like all the spotlights were on them, and she gracefully fell into his arms. Her eyes were squeezed closed tightly, but before I could say anything, I actually looked at the guys face. It was Lee-Jun...! Seeing him out here, in broad daylight, made him look prettier than ever before, even though I've only seen him twice now. Now that his hair wasn't wet, it sat slightly above from where I had observed. Soon they both snapped out of it, strangely it looked as if they were both lost in the moment, especially him, Sanjida was just in a panic, it was written all over her face. She quickly got up and apologized and thanked him. A teacher was calling me in from inside so I had turned around and I couldn't hear or pay attention to what he said right after. When I turned back around, he had walked away with the alleged Tae-Jin. So we both entered the school.
When we got into the classroom, the teacher introduced us, actually she told us to introduce ourselves, and Sanjida inched me forward to go first! Normally I'm not so outspoken, but today I was just a little extra nervous than usual. Either way I sucked it up and went first. She went right after and then the teacher showed us our seats. I was the fourth seat down the middle aisle, and Sanjida was right in front of me. But, to my favor there was Lee-Jun, the second row down to my right, the first seat on his aisle. When I had looked at him, I realized he was looking at something else front of me. But then he quickly turned my way and smiled, he probably recognized me. I smiled back as I turned to my left, and there was his best friend, two rows down to my left, also in the front seat of his aisle. He was also extremely good looking, they both were. I would call it a fair tie. His friend had brown hair, a few shades lighter than Lee-Jun's. He also had dark brown eyes, and his hairstyle was pretty similar, except his hair in the back was a little bit shorter than Lee-Jun's. He had rosy cheeks, and rosy lips, but his were a bit more rouge.
Soon class was over, and the bell rang for lunch. Sanjida asked me if I was ready, which I was, but right as I was about to get up, I sneezed. Right when I thought that this cold was leaving me, it was back. However when I sneezed Lee-Jun looked at me. His arm was around Tae-Jin's neck, and then he started to walk forward. I got nervous again, and before I could say anything-
*ACHOO*!