"Thank you... a-again," I stutter with my words, which I hope to blame the cold conditions and not my distressed self when I talk to boys. He smiles and bows before going on his way to his destination; it happened to be the path I need to walk on too. So ultimately I look like a creep following 5 steps behind him, walking slowly so he doesn't catch on that I was following him.
This is the path I take every morning, fair to say it was the longer path to school. Every season different plants and flowers appear on the stone walls packed with soil. This season, winter jasmines are beginning to grow; the petals edging of the buds they are contained in. A glimpse of the yellow tips of the elegant flowers emerge made the path that much more beautiful. I walk, gently scrapping the ends of the winter jasmine buds. I continue walking and "bump", I walk into someone in front of me. I find myself apologising once again. Looking up I see Hyunjin, he stopped to see the flowers too. Wonderful, I thought, how many more times can I apologise to this boy.
"I see you're following me," he pulls a jokey smirk at me.
Taken back, I immediately announce, "No, I'm not!"
He chuckles. I felt the need to confirm I'm not a creep, "I'm on my way to school."
He nods and replies, "SOPA?", seeing the peeking yellow collar of my SOPA uniform.
I reply simply, "Yep."
Hyunjin makes a 'I understand' face and tells me he's also going there too. "Why are going so early?" I ask him, as it is 5am and school doesn't start until 8.
"I go early to practice, I'm majoring in Practical Dance."
"Oh, me too. How come I've never seen you around? I normally go early too," I was shocked.
"I took a year off dance to focus on my training with my company but now I'm back for my last year," he smiles. No wonder, how could I have missed him every morning. He must be on his way to becoming an idol, having a company and all.
"So you're my sunbaenim then, I'm in the year below you," I smile.
"Can I speak informally to you then?"
"Of course," we smile towards each other as we walk closer to the doors of SOPA.
"It's early, do you want to practice together?" He asks.
I nod and we enter our school.
