second lead. | 정원

chapter 11.

xi.

Fortunately for her, the school bell rang before she could even answer. Mira felt relieved because she didn't want to tell them who she liked as she knew that if she had said Kim Sunoo's name, it would be a bitchy move knowing Aerin liked him too.

She could have said she doesn't have a crush, but it would be impossible because most of the guys in her school were good-looking.

Everyone started packing their belongings before leaving the classroom and Mira followed after, leaving from the back door (it was more efficient). She headed towards the lobby, phone in hand and wireless earbuds placed in one ear.

A couple of goodbyes were directed at her by most of her grade mates when she passed by classes 2-3 and 2-4, resulting in Mira greeting them goodbye too.

The girl averted her eyes back to her phone as she scrolled through her playlist in search of a song to listen to on the way home. She chose one of her favorite playlists and pressed shuffle, but kept tapping skip until it got to one she can vibe into.

As Mira lowly hummed along with the music, singing a line or two once in a while, she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked to her right, finding a tall male — really really tall. He was probably six foot or something — standing behind her.

The girl lowered her volume so she can hear better. "Can I help you?" Mira felt so small standing beside him and she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity wash over her the longer she stared at him.

"It's me, Heeseung!" The guy pointed at himself with a wide grin on his lips, his pearly white teeth showing. "You know, the guy who accidentally tripped and fell on the mud while playing football which splattered onto your uniform last year. Remember me?"

Despite the embarrassing moment he explained, Heeseung still had on an innocent expression as if it didn't bother him at all.

"Heeseung? Lee Heeseung?! Oh my god, that's why you looked familiar! You changed a lot from high school, what the heck happened to you?" Mira blinked in disbelief. How can a person change this much within a year? Is that even possible?

The said male rubbed the back of his nape and laughed at her words, flattered. "Ah, thank you. You became even prettier yourself, Mira," He complimented.

The relationship Mira and Heeseung shared was something close friends would do. Ever since their unfortunate first meeting, they decided to become buddies despite having a two year age gap. To say the least, having Lee Heeseung as your friend was probably the best thing Mira could have done.

Second to being best friends with Kim Sunoo.

"I need to go catch the bus but before that, why did you come and visit Daehwi?" Jeon Mira questioned and raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted to hang out with my friends for a while before going back to college," The male pointed behind him with his thumb, "It's been really hard for me so I needed a little break. College can be tiring," He heaved a sigh.

Mira chuckled, "Don't worry. You're one of the best people I know, you can do it."

"Thank you. You should go catch your bus now, you don't wanna miss it, do you?" He nudged behind her with his chin. Mira nodded and turned around to leave, waving a final bye as she watched him stand by the main door to wait for his friends to come.

The girl turned the volume of her music back up and realized that about three to four songs have passed, it being spent talking to her older friend to catch up on things she had missed.

Just in time, the bus arrived and Mira quickly hopped inside and scanned her card before finding an available seat. All of them were mostly occupied but she found an empty seat at the back next to a stranger. She was about to walk over there when the bus suddenly moved, causing her to fall backwards from the momentum.

Mira thought she was going to fall and embarrass herself in front of the passengers but thankfully someone had saved her from her misery. The person's arm was locked with hers as they held onto the straphanger above them with their free hand.

"You okay?" The person sounded monotonous as they helped her stand back on her feet.

"Yeah... Thanks," Mira turned to look at them only to be met with the boy she and her classmates were gossiping about earlier. He stood there with a blank expression on his face.

Park Sunghoon.

"Well? Aren't you gonna sit or are you waiting for another moment where I'm gonna catch you again?" He sarcastically remarked.

As if the world heard him, the bus suddenly halted the next second, making Mira lose her balance and fall backward again. Thanks to Sunghoon's quick reflexes, he managed to grab her arm and keep her upright. "I was all-talk. Never thought it would actually happen," He mumbled and glared at the window for no reason.

Mira flickered her eyes to the window as well to find nothing there. She stared at Park Sunghoon judgingly and stepped away from him.

"Yeah, thanks again... Bye," She bid and turned around to leave if it wasn't for the bus to abruptly start moving again.

Mira wouldn't fall for the same thing thrice so she grabbed hold of the bus seat for balance. She unknowingly looked back at Sunghoon only to find the male staring off somewhere but he eventually looked back at her upon feeling her gaze on him.

Mira sat down on the empty seat she spotted earlier and began to focus on the music that had been playing in her ear the entire time. Tapping her index finger on the beat and waited until she reached her stop, only to realize she had already missed it.

a/n; heeseung and sunghoon's first appearance in this story! the other members will have their scenes soon. hope you enjoyed this chapter!