Sincerely Yours, Hansol

The Beginning

I was laying down on my bed like any other day, contemplating whether or not to go to my first period of school. It was only the first week of senior year, yet I felt completely drained and my eyes begged for at least another hour of sleep. I had yet to figure out what I needed to get done for my teachers, especially since I always fell asleep for half of them. I was especially dreading the first half of my day, which consisted of math, language, and history. The three classes which put me to sleep faster than any other.
With a long and heavy sigh, I finally got the courage to get myself out of bed. I looked at the clock and noticed that I still had around a half an hour to get ready before I had to leave. Within fifteen minutes I had already took a shower, picked an outfit, and did my hair to make it look less plain. Finally, I sat down in front of the kitchen table and struggled to put my already heavy backpack on the counter. Dozens of stray papers were scattered inside the bag with random pens to match. As I was trying to tame the messy backpack, my father walked into the room. He was wearing the usual work outfit with a white shirt and black tie just like any other businessman. His hair was combed back and his eyes radiated exhaustion. Yet he gave me a kind look when he saw me sitting down at the table.
"Your mother left some breakfast in the fridge this morning for you before she left for work." My father said while combing through the upper part of the fridge. Seconds later he pulled out a small container filled with various fruit and some fresh oatmeal. "There's another one for you in the back, I have to leave in a minute so I hope you have a good day. Call me when you get home." He then leans down and places a small kiss on my head before exiting through the front door, keys in hand.
I sighed again and stifled a yawn before proceeding to grab my own keys. I just recently got a new car, it wasn't much but it was mine. I drive a small, red, compact car that has just enough seats to sit my close friends. I decided against breakfast, which I'll probably regret later. Next to the door I saw my new black sneakers and pulled them on quickly. The rest of my outfit was rather boring, which was a regular white shirt, jeans, and a black hoodie. My heavy backpack weighed me down more than usual, and I was dreading the walk I'd have to make up the school stairs.
After contemplating my attendance again I finally got into my car and ignited the engine. The car roared to life and minutes later I was driving down the highway. The school wasn't far, actually it was rather close. But the traffic made the ride painfully long as hundreds of commuters made their way to both school and work. As if by command, my head reached towards the knob for the radio and the volume suddenly filled the car. Nothing unusual or new was playing, just the top forty hits from the popular station. Which was fine by me since I pretty much liked any kind of music. After another twenty minutes and a handful of songs later, I arrived at school.
Sadly I had to park my car at the very back since I arrived a little late. Hundreds of cars lined up across multiple rows, blending in with each other. Yet the car next to me seemed different from the rest. A jet black finish coated the street car, with silver rims to match. A pendant I couldn't recognize hung over the dashboard. I've never seen the car before and it definitely seemed out of place. Most cars were practical with dull colors and accessories. But this car stood out like a sore thumb. After staring for a little too long, I realized I was almost late to class. I quickly stopped at my locker right down the hall from my classroom and grabbed my math textbook as well as some various folders. When I closed my locker I turned on my heels and before I knew it I collided with a random stranger.
The impact was so sudden I dropped my books and papers without thinking. The stranger, thankfully, did not have anything in their hands that would possibly get mixed up with mine.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going..." The stranger said. The voice sounded deep and rich, and it definitely belonged to a guy.
"No it's fine, I didn't realize you were behind me." I replied before looking up from the floor.
The guy was taller than me, by a good couple inches. His face was shielded by a dark hoodie, which made him seem even more mysterious. I continued to pick up my things, and I didn't even notice that the stranger started to pick up my things as well.
"You don't have to, the bell is going to ring soon anyways." I said while finally picking up my bell schedule. I looked down at the piece of paper to realize that I did not recognize most of the classes on it.
"Ah, I think we mixed up each other's papers..." said the stranger, holding his hand out with my schedule which I didn't realize I lost.
"Oh sorry, thank you." I took back my paper and placed it in one of my many folders that I dropped.
"It looks like we have a couple periods together. Language and biology." The guy was peering down at his schedule to see if he was actually right.
"You have Ms. H first period too?" Ms. H was the current language teacher, she was new to the school, but she apparently had the credentials to teach. So far, from what I have been seeing, I think otherwise. "I haven't seen you in class before."
"I've been out for the past couple of days due to moving. I just came from out of the country. I came back here to study." The stranger still had his face mostly covered by the hoodie, and the dimly lit atmosphere wasn't helping. The only thing I could really see is his soft, pink lips. "Do you think you could show me where it is?" He asked.
"Sure, it's not too far. But I think the bell is about to-" and just at that moment the first period bell rang throughout the hallway and dozens of students scattered to find their classroom.
"Alright then, it's nice to meet you. My name is Hansol. And you are?" The stranger, or Hansol, finally removed his hoodie so I could see him better. His hazel eyes sparked with kindness, which seemed completely opposite from his outfit. His dark blond wavy hair lazily flopped over his left eye and his smile was slightly crooked. Hansol pushed his hair out of his face and held out a hand.
"Oh, I'm Eileen. I'm sorry again that I bumped into you. We should probably get to class, it's not that far away." I almost forgot to shake his hand, as I was preoccupied with the possibility of being late. I shook his hand quickly and then motioned for him to follow. "Hopefully we have time before the last bell rings." I said at the exact moment the second warning bell went off.
• • •
Just as the final bell went off Hansol and I arrived at our language class. Most of the seats were already taken, besides a couple scattered around the room.
"Thanks," Hansol said to me and proceeded to ask, "maybe we could catch up in biology?"
"Sure sounds good." I gave Hansol a smile before sitting down at one of the empty seats in the front. Hansol ended up sitting in the back after talking with Ms. H about his attendance.
The class went by slow as usual, and I was urging my eyes to stay open. Ms. H was talking about who knows what, handing out miscellaneous papers and talking in a boring, monotone voice. I stared blankly at my worksheet, trying to figure out what the passage was trying to convey. I answered half of the questions before retreating to my previous attempt at daydreaming.
I'd probably end up having tons of homework, as per usual. I start my work shift at the cafe down the street after school ends, which I was not looking forward to. And lastly I had to stop by the library to drop off my almost overdue book. I decided that the library should be first, since I didn't want to forget and end up turning in my book months late.
The rest of the class went by extremely slowly, I could hear the tick tock of the wall clock. With the final tick of the period, I packed up my things and made my way to my next class. Four classes later I arrived at my biology class, after climbing up the terribly steep stairs. I sat down in the back of the room this time, since my teacher was supposedly moody today.
I took out my notebook and opened it to a blank page. Twirling my pen around in my hand, I thought blankly of what to fill the page with. I started lazily sketching in the middle of the paper and eventually ended up with the outline of a flower.
"Hey Eileen." I heard a familiar voice say behind me. I jumped slightly and instinctively put my hand over my sketch. I turned around and saw Hansol looking over my shoulder with a curious look.
"Oh, hey Hansol. You scared me a bit." I said and turned back around as Hansol sat down in the seat next to me.
"You were drawing." Hansol simply said as he took out his biology book and notebook. The directions for todays class were to take notes on the new chapter, I don't think my teacher was up to lecturing today.
"You saw?" I asked while secretly cringing to myself. I didn't think I was a very good artist but I've enjoyed drawing ever since I was little. I even had art class forth period.
"Yeah but it was hard to tell what it was, you hid it from me before I could look at it closely." He replied laughing a bit. "Do you think you could show me?"
"Uh, sure." I slowly removed my hand from the page and lifted it up. "It's not finished and I wasn't looking at a photo so it might not be the best-"
Hansol's eyes lit up and he smiled a bit. "This is awesome, it looks just like a real rose." He took the notebook from my hand to look at it in closer detail.
"It's alright I guess but I think it could be better..." I replied quietly, looking down at my desk.
"Artists always think their work is terrible. An artists worst critic is themselves you know." He then proceeded to hand my paper back to me. "I think it's amazing. You should finish it one day."
"If I have time, I will. Maybe I'll even draw something for you." I turned to a new page in the notebook to start my notes from my textbook. Ten minutes have went by already and I didn't want to lose time on a period of note taking.
"That would be great. Hey, what's the answer to number two?"