Mean to Me | Im Youngmin

Mean - 10

She opens the rolled paper which bears the name of the lucky -- or unlucky? -- one. She reads the name silently, and suddenly, Ji-hye can't feel her hands.

She sighs and thinks to herself, "Why is it that the more you try to avoid someone, the universe just conspires to bring you closer to that person?"

She walks back to her seat. As she is one of the last to pick names, Mrs. Kim, the homeroom teacher, soon announces what they need to do.

"Since today is National Friendship Day..."

Hearing just the first few words, she thinks to herself, "I don't like where this is going." Out of anxiety for what is to come, she begins to tap her right foot uncontrollably under her desk. This somehow gets Youngmin's attention as the boy turns around to look curiously at her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles, and Youngmin gives his attention back to their teacher. She tries to hold her leg down firmly. She can't seem to focus.

"...you must list at least five things you like about the person whose name you picked."

The class then breaks into complaints of all sorts.

"But I'm not even that close to her?"

"The only thing I like about him is the cookies he bake. Does that count though?"

"Ugh... I can't believe we're doing this..."

These, and a whole lot other things that Ji-hye doesn't catch because she is busy gawking at the teacher in front. "What in the actual..." She mutters under her breath.

"Hush now, we're doing this to celebrate friendship! Since we don't have all morning, I'm giving you five minutes to do your lists," to which the students respond by grumbling. Mrs. Kim remains cheerful about her plan though.

"I'll also call a few lucky ones to share their lists to the class later on," she adds. By now, most of the class are wilding. A few have their heads bowed down to their tables, already busy writing. Ji-hye, however, still can't process what's happening.

A good two minutes have passed and the class has grown much quieter when she is suddenly awakened from her thoughts by a soft "Pst" from her right. She looks at Donghyun who seems to have finished writing his already.

"Why aren't you writing anything yet?"

She raises her shoulders and bites her lip in response. "Well, if that's me, you better start doing it now!" He jokes.

But Ji-hye isn't in the mood to take jokes right now. She stares at the small paper which bears the name of the person she should give compliments to. She blinks at it a few times, then finally, she closes her eyes for ten seconds thinking that the characters would somehow change when she opens her eyes again.

However, they don't.

"Im Youngmin" it still reads.

Ji-hye sighs in frustration. "What do I do?" she whispers quietly to herself.

"Two minutes left!" Mrs. Kim announces.

She groans. With a hand that's slightly shaking, she reaches for her pen and thinks hard. "What do I like about him?"

To be honest, there are a lot. A lot that it makes her bothered.

For starters, she likes his eyes. They're the softest pair she's ever seen. He doesn't wear any contacts but they're the prettiest shade of brown. Even when he's mad or sad, his eyes are beautiful.

She also likes his thick accent, and the way he denies that he has it. She loves hearing the deep but gentle voice he has. She adores how the poor boy can't even pronounce his own name properly, and how his 's' sometimes comes out as 'th' instead.