24th☀

A new day, a new start.

Mom would always tell me that when she was still here. When I woke up, I would go and visit her in her room first and she would always tell me, "A new day means a new start, Sarang. Make sure you enjoy it."

I think, in a lot of ways, I've learned to be happy and contented with whatever I have. I may not be the most popular girl in school, but at least I have friends I can always count on. I may not be super rich and live in a mansion, but at least I have enough to live by everyday. 

I've learned that even if I don't have everything, that doesn't mean I'm not happy. Which is why, it's better to appreciate things I have rather than waste my time thinking about things I don't have. 

"Good morning, Sarang," Dad greeted as he sat down on the dinning table, eating porridge. 

"Morning, Dad!" I greeted as I went up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "What's for breakfast?"

"There's some porridge left in the pot. If you don't want it, you can always opt for cereal or cook yourself some instant ramen," he said in return. 

I didn't want to wait so long just for instant ramen so I opted for cereal. I sat down on the dinning table with Dad after getting my cereal and smiled before digging in. 

"Was the trip fun, Sarang?" Dad asked. 

I looked up from my bowl of cereal and nodded. "Yeah! It was so fun. Dad, we should go to Jeju Island together someday!"

"We should, shouldn't we?" Dad asked in return as he chuckled. "It would have been better if your mother could go with us."

I sadly smiled. "She would have loved that. She always loved to see the sea."

"She's probably enjoying a better scenery up there, don't you think?" Dad asked, trying to cheer me up. 

I nodded, still smiling a sad smile. "She is." I looked up at the ceiling, but imagined a world past all the man-made stuff in our home and tried to find my mom's smiling face. "Mom, I hope you're at peace up there."

Dad stayed silent. I know he also shared his fair shares of tears. I know he's hidden those emotions from me just to seem strong just as well. 

I stopped looking at the ceiling to look at the wall clock instead and noticed how late it was getting. Choking a little on my milk, I quickly moved the bowl to the sink and ran to grab my bag. "Dad, I have to go now! I'll see you later after school. Bye!"

"Do you want me to drive you?" Dad asked loud enough for me to hear from the front door. 

"No thanks! I can do well on my own!" I shouted back whilst slipping on my shoes. "Bye, Dad!"

"Oh, okay! Bye! Have fun at school, Sarang!" he shouted back right before I closed the door and began running. 

I quickly took off and enjoyed a little morning jog to school. A few of our neighbors were also awake and so I greeted them. 

Shortly, I had already arrived in my school and greeted a few people I was acquainted with. I didn't see Mijoo or Wonwoo, so I just proceeded to my classroom. I sat there quietly and since it was still early in the morning, I slipped my phone out and played with it. 

A message popped up in my notification all of a sudden and it was from Mijoo. Tilting my head to the side, I tapped on it to read the message. 

Mijoo: yah, today's going to be the best day of your life! anticipate it! there's going to be an amazing surprise hehe ;) 

Sarang: surprise? what do you mean?

Mijoo: later! you'll just have to see yourself :) 

I titled my head to the side even more, confused on what she was talking about. I guess I'll have to wait until later to find out what exactly she's talking about. In the mean time, I'll just continue playing quizzes on Soompi.

☀

Mijoo had finally arrived at school and when she entered the classroom and met my eyes, there was something in her eyes that made things obvious, at the same time, I had no idea what it was. 

"What's with the face?" I asked the moment she sat down next to me. 

"What face?" Mijoo looked around, oblivious about that face she had own. Like it was teasing me about something I should know about, but I had no idea about. "You mean my exquisite face?"

"What—"

Mijoo broke into laughter as she shook her head. "I was kidding. My face isn't exquisite. I was just teasing you."

"Did you eat your mom's tteokbokki again this morning? You're very happy today," I noted, squinting my eyes at her. 

"I did, how did you know?" Mijoo lightly gasped before she hugged my arm. "Let's just say that school will be better from now on."

"Did news leak? Is there a renovation happening or something?" All my attention immediately befell on the girl sitting next to me. What could it be? Could we be getting iPads to study in class with? Something better? A food vending machine in every classroom?

"No, no renovations." Mijoo shook her head before she cast me an apologetic smile. "I wish it would be renovations, but sadly, no. Oh, look! If it isn't Wonu."

My head turned towards the door and found Wonwoo entering the class with a slightly messy hair. Like he had combed it, but he hadn't been able to comb it properly. "Hi, Wonwoo."

Wonwoo looked up from his shoes and squinted his eyes at us. For a few more seconds, he just stood there staring at us. Then, it finally registered to his mind that it was his friends who were greeting him early in the morning. "Oh! Hi Mijoo! Hi Sarang!"

Both Mijoo and I looked at each other before bursting into laughter. He looked so lost that it looked adorable. 

"Anyway, I'm letting the topic drop for now," Mijoo said all of a sudden. 

I paused. "What topic?"

"Regarding what I have been saying the entire time. You were listening... right?" Mijoo raised an eyebrow at me. 

"I was, I was. Don't worry, I was listening, Mijoo." I gave her a reassuring smile, hoping that it would help her be at ease. 

"What are you two talking about?" Wonwoo finally walked up to our tables with his hair fixed and done. "Is it about the talent show thing or something?"

Realization started to seep into my mind as I gasped. "The show! I had totally forgotten about it!"

Mijoo looked tensed up as she slowly fell into a daze. Well, before Wonwoo snapped her out of it. 

He looked at her with a concerned face before he asked her, "Are you okay? It's okay if you're too scared to join it. No one's forcing you to do something you don't want to."

Mijoo shook her head in response. "No. I want to join it." Her eyes moved up until she and Wonwoo made eye contact. "Wonwoo, I need you to help me."

Wonwoo was taken aback. "M-me? What can I help you with? I can't play the guitar. I don't know if I can ever..."

Mijoo shook her head and gave him a sweet smile. "Be my support. Be with me as I practice and just help me out. I can't ask Sarang. She'll be busy practicing anyway."

"Um, guys? Why are you two talking as if I wasn't here?" I asked, staring at the two. Okay, I would be fine if the two of them ever got together. But if we were in school and the two wanted to spend time alone, wouldn't I just be a third wheel most of the times? Being the third wheel sucks. 

Wonwoo hesitated but smiled in the end as he nodded. "Sure. I'll help. Don't worry Mijoo, you can do it."

Oh, well. I guess my presence isn't made known by these two at the moment. So I went back to playing quizzes on Soompi because they were really fun to do. 

I was enjoying the quizzes up until the teacher showed up. When she did, I quickly hid my phone away deep into my desk and patiently waited for her to say something.

"Class, good news! We have a new student with us today!" the teacher excitedly said with a big grin. 

My attention was all on her. New student? I always love it whenever we have a new student. It's always so exciting. 

"I wonder who it could be," Mijoo mumbled to herself. 

"Me too," I agreed, grinning at Mijoo. 

"You may enter now," the teacher instructed, her eyes turning towards the door of the classroom. 

A student entered and my eyes immediately widened at the sight of him. He bowed as his eyes scanned around the room. "Hello. My name is Choi Hansol. Please take care of me."

☀

"Did you know the entire time?" I whispered to Mijoo, my eyes flicking back to Hansol who sat in the front row. 

"Yup," Mijoo answered with a grin. "I told you there was going to be a surprise for you today. What can I say? You can always trust my word for it."

I was absolutely speechless. How was I going to survive school this way? With Hansol being in my class, there was no doubt that I will obviously be distracted by most of what he will do! This wasn't going to be good. At the same time, I was really glad he was in the same school as us. 

Wait. Why'd he transfer in the first place? I'll need to ask him that during break time. 

Speaking of which, the bell had finally rang. I waited for a few more seconds until the students started to flood out of the classroom before I approached Hansol, who was still doing his work. Did I ever mention how hot he looked with black rimmed glasses? 

"Hi," I greeted, knocking my fist lightly onto his table. When he looked up, I smiled. "How's school so far?"

"Oh, hey! Yeah, it's great so far. I'm so glad I transferred," Hansol said, standing up from his seat. 

"I wanted to ask you something. Why'd you transfer schools? I mean, you schooled at an international school. Isn't it better there?" I asked him as we both walked out of the classroom together. I had already lost track of Wonwoo and Mijoo. They probably went together or was just behind us, probably teasing me from there. As usual. 

"It was, but the school lacked one thing that made it a step behind "the perfect school", you see," Hansol told me as we slowly walked down the large hallway. 

"And what was it that was lacking?" I asked. I noticed the way our feet moved in sync and it made me smile.

"Friends."

I halted when Hansol first did it. I looked up from staring at our feet to meet his eyes. I could see how lonely he looked from the look in his eyes. As shy as I was, I still mustered enough courage to hold his arm and gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, you're here now, aren't you? You have us."

Hansol smiled in return. "One of the main reasons why I transferred to this school."

"Right." I laughed. "Come on, I'll show you around."

Hansol and I spent our entire time talking as we ventured around the school together. It was an enjoyable time together. Just the two of us. I also noticed that Hansol's smile has brightened compared to the first time I saw him at Dad's bakery. That was when we first met. When he was crying because his girlfriend dumped him. 

I guess with every tragic event, it will eventually led to a better one. 

Mijoo

For the past few days, Mijoo's schedule has been kept the same, i.e., school, practice, school, practice, school, practice. There were times where Wonwoo wouldn't be with her and she would be alone to practice but Wonwoo made sure to help her out every possible time he can. 

Usually, whenever school was done and over, the three of them—Mijoo, Wonwoo and Sarang—would walk together to Love + Flour and enjoy their time together. But since the show was fast approaching, Mijoo and Wonwoo decided to stay back in school for Mijoo to practice. Not that they left Sarang alone or anything. She was usually with Hansol anyway. 

"From the top?" Wonwoo asked, heading towards his phone that was connected to a larger speaker. The two had booked up the music room in school. 

"Yes," Mijoo answered, warming up her voice again. 

Wonwoo nodded and started the music from the top again. He sat near his phone and waited for Mijoo to begin. 

Mijoo was nervous every time she would sing in front of just anybody. When she thought about being serious, she would mess up the lyrics. Her theory was that she didn't have to concentrate so hard on it for her to do it perfectly. She didn't need to focus. That was how she worked, apparently. 

Mijoo was doing great and her mind wasn't even thinking so much about what she was doing. Mijoo was slowly feeling satisfied and so she started to smile brightly. 

Once the song ended, Mijoo opened her eyes and smiled at Wonwoo. "Was it okay?"

"Okay? It was amazing!" Wonwoo answered in return with his cute smile. 

"You're being honest, right?" Mijoo eyed him carefully, but she couldn't wipe off the smile on her face. 

"Of course I am! When was I never honest?" Wonwoo asked her. 

"Okay, then I want you to answer this honestly." Mijoo hopped off her high stool and began to slowly approach Wonwoo with her hands behind her back. Once she was standing in front of Wonwoo, she asked him, "Remember our trip to Jeju?"

"Of course," Wonwoo answered, "is that your question? I can be honest all day! The questions are so easy."

You seem so confident, Jeon Wonwoo. 

"Okay then. Remember that night where we stopped at a supermarket and I was fast asleep?" Mijoo knew how risky this could be—the questions she would be asking. But she needed an answer. It was either Yejun or him. She needed to know who exactly it would be. 

"Ye...ah?" Wonwoo started to sound shaky, like he was afraid of something. 

Mijoo continued to grab the opportunity to ask. "I was fast asleep then, but when I woke up, I tasted something sweet on my lips. It was Cola. So now... I just wanted to ask, but, were you the one who, um, kissed me that night? There were only two boys who drank Cola that night—you and Yejun oppa. I won't say anything if you tell me yes, Jeon Wonwoo. Just answer me honestly. I need you to do just that. Can you?"

Wonwoo hesitated for a while but eventually, he bobbed his head down and sighed. "Yes, it was me. Let me just explain for a while. My intentions were simple. I'm afraid of what you'll say, but I have to get this done eventually. Kwon Mijoo, I honestly lik—"

Before Wonwoo could finish his sentence, he felt a pair of lips resting on his. At first he was taken aback. Never would he ever imagined that his crush would ever kiss him first. But he enjoyed the kiss, so he kissed her back. 

I hope you hear my heart too, Jeon Wonwoo. I also like you back, Mijoo thought in her mind. 

~Author's Notes~ 

Oooh! A new ship has been born! And a quick warning to you Kimichies: the book's ending in two chapters! Gasps! 

Well, I'll see you in the next update then ;)