cupid's bow ; park sunghoon

chapter 1

Youth. A time that is supposedly the best time of your life. Adults always say that you should enjoy your youth while you can, becoming an adult would only be stressful.

Mirae was not sure if she would consider her youth the most beautiful moment in life. More than anything, she always wanted to escape from her school life. She couldn't wait until she finally graduated high school and started university. For her, her teenage years were mediocre at best and she always imagined how great her college life would be.
Parties, doing a major she likes, and most important of all, a love life.

"I actually liked you ever since you sat next to me in the lecture," she said while looking down to the floor. He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face up to look at her eyes. "I like you too." Slowly, both of them moved inches closer and-

"My god this is so cringe," Mirae said, rolling around on her bed. She covered her face with the opened book she just held in her hands and started kicking her feet out of second-hand embarrassment. Even though she found the story quite cringy, she couldn't help but smile. Mirae might not seem like it but she actually really enjoyed romance novels and movies, it was her guilty pleasure. Even the ones her friends would define as cringe and embarrassing, she still enjoyed them.
She could spend hours reading or watching anything of the romance genre until late at night, even though she has classes the next day.
Her eyelids already felt heavy so she took a look at the clock. 02:34. Shit! I have classes at 8 tomorrow...
She quickly put the book on her bed table and turned off the light.

***

The next morning, Mirae could barely make it out of bed.
Mental note to myself: never take 8 am classes ever again. She thought while taking her jacket and leaving her small apartment. She was thankful to the universe that she was able to find a small apartment near her university, so she didn't have to commute for too long.
Arriving at the lecture hall, Mirae sat down in the back in hopes to take short naps if she was too tired.
She put her arms on the table and rested her head on them while waiting for the lecture to begin. If I still have 15 minutes I might as well...

It only felt like she closed her eyes for 3 seconds, yet she already heard the professor walking in and talking. How was that already 15 minutes?? She thought but still stayed in that position.
A loud thump from her right and a slightly panicked "Hey!! Hey Mirae!" made Mirae shift her attention, though.
She looked up to see her best friend Yumin looking at her with panicked eyes.
"Yumin, morning. What's up?" Mirae said, still with a sleepy tone in her voice.
Her friend sat down and inched closer to her. She started whispering so that only Mirae could hear, "Did you not look at your surroundings? How can you sleep like that on the table while he is sitting next to you?"
Mirae's eyes widened. He?
Trying to act as normal as possible, Mirae leaned back in her chair and put her bag on her lap, taking out her notes and a pen for the lecture. While doing so, she tried to glance around the lecture room until she turned to her left.
He sat next to her, eyes concentrated on his phone, fingers tapping on the screen. His dark brown hair slightly covered his eye as he looked down. He looked so pretty, like always. He didn't notice her at all, but she was okay with it. She was used to it after all.
Mirae tried not to stare too much and turned her head towards the professor who just started the lecture.
But her mind wandered to the guy sitting next to her, the one she started to develop a crush for since the semester orientation party. Park Sunghoon.

Three months ago...

It was loud and bustling, people wherever you went. Mirae had one plastic cup in one hand and her other hand reached out for her friend Yumin who was eager to go around and make new friends at the start of the semester. They were at the orientation party for people starting university and Yumin asked Mirae to come along. Mirae was more of an introvert, not really the kind to party a lot, but she thought it could not hurt trying to make more friends at university before it would be too late. She didn't want to end up being a loner afterall.
It was nonetheless difficult for her to open up and strike up a conversation with strangers which was the reason why she tried to stick to Yumin the best she could.
Yumin and her were friends since high school and decided to go to the same university. They both chose to major in business while some of their other high school friends were in different majors at the same university.