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Eighteen and I saw her amongst the buzzing traffic and noisy chatter of other high school students who were gathered in their own unique cliques. It was an unusually windy day, so much for gelling up my hair early in the morning. For some reason I had just left for school slightly earlier than I often would.

There I saw her for the first time.

She came running down the zebra crossing- her partially wet hair breezing right behind her petite form. Her very beautiful petite form to be exact, for she had the milkiest white skin there ever was and the most beautiful pair of brown doe eyes.

That girl was just stunning, she was sparkling under the 6:30 am dawn sky. It somehow seemed as if she was walking up to me.

She made her way to the bus stop and stopped a few feet away from me. Even with the distance between us, I could get a good whiff of her scent. She smelled like a heavenly combination of vanilla beans and lavender.

Five minutes and we both stood there without speaking, just like strangers would. I couldn't help myself to steal a few glances at her while pretending to look out for my bus. Eventually bus 147 came and she boarded it without turning back to look- to look at me. Her uniform was made up of red and white while mine was blue and white.

Different schools, different buses, and different routes. I never thought I was ever going to meet that beautiful girl ever again. I was grateful enough to have seen such an eye-candy this early in the morning.

And I thought that it was just another great morning...

***

Nineteen and we somehow managed to garner a smile at each other. For the entire year, we met at the bus stop every single morning- five days a week, 6:45 am sharp. Though we took different buses, she always managed to wait for me at the same spot next to the signboard even if I was a little late.

This little routine started that one day I came running to the bus stop, with unkempt hair and untucked wrinkly uniform. I wasn't running late, but I was 'late' in sense that I could have missed my favorite stranger. I knew she took the 6:55am bus to school every morning, screw the effective Korean bus system.

It was already 6:50am, I sprinted towards the bus stop only to be greeted by her beautiful eye smile. I looked like an utter mess and she noticed it. A small giggle escaped her mouth as she covered her mouth, but her eyes were sparkling with laughter- the pair turned into little downturned crescent moons.

That sight made me smile too, briefly forgetting my unkempt appearance.

"I think your shoelace is untied"

She pointed to my right shoe, snapping me out of the mini trance I was in. I quickly tucked my uniform into my school pants and bent down to tie my lace. Standing up while fixing my bed head, I saw her still looking at me with mocking laughter.

"Thanks...." And then an awkward pause. Why in the world did I get the awkward gene from my father? "Hi, I'm Hyun Bin. Seoul Science High School."- I winced at the rigidness of my tone, I sounded like a freaking robot.

But lucky for me the girl was gracious enough to reply in a bubbly voice which I had imagined. "Hi, I'm Son Ye Jin. Seoul Art High School."

And that was how our story started.

Ye Jin seemingly waited for me every day to give me a sweet greeting smile, showcasing her pretty eye smile. I made sure to show her my dimples to repay her kindness. And as funny and ridiculous as it sounded, we never spoke a single word to each other.

After the first encounter, we didn't talk, other then the one time we exchanged our handphone numbers. Only God knows how nervous I was when I asked for her number. I almost fainted from a premature panic attack.