‎ ‎ ‎

★ chapter one ★
✮ BUTTONS ! ✮

MORNINGS AT THE restaurant were mostly quiet downstairs. customers only began arriving a few hours after the closed sign had been flipped to open. ji ryung was glad for this as she scrambled through the house, yelling frustratedly at her lack of uniform shirt.

"i left it right here!" she groaned, the hands clamped to her head dangerously close to ripping her hair out any second.

"it's not like it grew legs and walked away." her mother sighed from her position atop ryung's bed, arms crossed as she watched her daughter fling every article of clothing she owned to the floor.

"i can't be late, mom! i've got swimming practice!" ryung whined exasperatedly, stuffing her uniform skirt and blazer into her duffel bag.

"dad, have you seen my uniform shirt?" the girl called, sticking her head into the kitchen where her father was preparing breakfast.

"i put it in the washing machine yesterday night. it had so much stains it wasn't even white anymore." ji yoojun shuddered jokingly.

without another word, ryung bolted to the laundry room and wracked through the folded piles of clothes until she finally found what she was looking for. without much care for how wrinkled the piece of clothing would be when it came time for her to wear it, ryung shoved it quickly into her duffel bag.

with a quick "can't eat breakfast, have to swim-love you!" to her parents, she planted a kiss on each of their cheeks and ran out the door, ignoring the shouts of protest from her mother.

it was easy for ryung to run to school, thanks to the years of holding her breath and having to stay in shape for her sport. it built endurance to her body. she was what people called 'athletic', or as her mother called it, 'sport-holic'. ryung liked staying in shape and doing something active.

she could hardly stand sitting in a classroom all day, much less sitting down all day. her legs needed to be stretched, and it was more liberating than anything. plus, it kept her mind refreshed (unlike the pile of books stacked in the corner of her desk at home).

'shit, chaewon's going to flame my ass if i'm late!' ryung shivered at the thought of her friend's cold gaze as she looked down at her for being late (for the hundredth time).

with a slightly frantic expression, ryung upped her pace, praying to whoever was listening that she wasn't late.

saebom was quiet when she arrived, the occasional crow flying off in a flutter of black as she zoomed past, her mind too occupied to admire the plethora of colors her school presented in the early hours.

ryung was panting heavily when she swung open the doors to the swimming team's pool, only to find the team all there and waiting for her.

the one that stood out the most was song chaewon, standing at the very front with her arms crossed and an irked expression on her face.

"you're late." she seethed, her hair already up.

ryung smiled sheepishly, giving the taller girl her best puppy eyes. from a few feet in front of her, bae subin gave a small shake of her head as she held in her laugh.

"c'mon wonnie, you know how i am with time..." ryung trailed off.

the girl only stared, as though ryung had no such effect on her.

"come on guys, there's no need to fight-we just got here too. plus, our captain can be a little late, can't she, chaewon?" yoon jihun stepped in with a timid smile, afraid of what would happen if their friend lost her temper again.

na jaeun, a short haired teen with bright eyes and their other friend, gently placed a hand on chaewon's arm.

"let's forgive her for today." she smiled up at chaewon, before secretly throwing a wink in ryung's direction.

chaewon gave a long, drawn out sigh and fixed ryung with a slightly less scary look.

"i would say don't let it happen again, but i know that you won't listen." she scoffed, messing up ryung's hair.

the freckled girl could only grin in response.

"okay guys!" slightly more upbeat, ryung clapped her hands and grabbed the attention of the team. "go change and meet back here to start practice!"

swimming practice was always the best time of day for ryung. in between the hectic school life and having to help her parents at their restaurant, swimming felt more like a freedom than a daily custom. mondays, wednesdays, and fridays were in the morning, and tuesdays and thursdays were after school.

ryung disliked to think people took an interest in swimming simply because she was the captain. she had an open mind to whoever wanted to join, but it was hard teaching the younger kids to swim after they'd been accepted (ryung didn't have the heart to tell them knowing how to swim was a prerequisite to joining the team).

it was a good thing those who actually liked the sport were there to help her. like chaewon, who may be a bit mean at times but loves swimming and strawberry cheesecake more than anything. or jihun, who would do anything to help keep the swimming team at their best. even subin, who'd been reluctant to join the team at first, wouldn't dare pass up practice. and jaeun. well, she just loved the water.

ryung was their golden captain, their symbol of victory, and moreover, their friend.

and she was in turn theirs.

‎ ‎

‎

‎

‎

‎HER TIME IN the water ended too fast for ryung to really remember. soon, she was emerging from the changing rooms fully dressed in her uniform, with her tracksuit tucked safely in her sports bag.

as expected, her shirt was slightly crumpled. no matter, since ryung wasn't particularly fussy on her appearance-if she could, she'd just wear the tracksuit all day.

without much care in the world, ryung hummed to herself as she walked to class, aware of the bustling steps outside of the gym pool. practice took the swim team into the first bell, with only enough time to change and get to class without getting scolded. though with mr. han as her homeroom teacher, ryung hardly ever heard a mean word about her tardiness.

the flowers seemed to smell better with the spring sun gently gracing their petals. every step ryung took felt light, as though she was hardly touching the ground. perhaps that's what made others think of her as eccentric-that she was always so bright to everyone. either that or the fact that her appearance wasn't really considered very feminine despite the obvious skirt against her legs.

a few friendly faces went out of their way to greet ryung on her way to class, to which she gladly returned with her own grin. there was never any harm in being kind to others who were kind to her, so why should she ignore them?

after all, it felt nice to have a friend.

upon entering the classroom, ryung was ushered over to her friend's desk with an excited urgency. without much thought to the death grip her arm was currently in, ryung gently pried sua's perfectly manicured hand off and smiled pleasantly as she listened to her friend's breathless rant.

"jiryu, i heard han seojun is returning to school today, apparently his break from school is over... just thinking about him entering our peaceful class gives me the chills." sua shivered. "do you think the rumors about him almost killing someone is true? maybe that's why he took a leave-wow, is he unhinged?"

ryung only patted sua's hair good naturedly. "since when did you listen to rumors, choi sua? i'm sure he didn't kill anyone, since he took a leave for family reasons. i overheard it when i was passing the teachers' office after leaving the trophy room."

"the trophy room, huh? did you go there to add another trophy to your collection?" soojin laughed, successfully changing the topic into something more playful.

lim jugyeong, the newest addition to their little group, only smiled at their teasing insults. the two girls were always finding a way to embarrass each other.

the tips of ryung's ears went scarlet as she smiled bashfully. "we won it as a team."

"right. it definitely wasn't because of your expert coaching and amazing skills that helped shape the team into an actual team." she bit back, slyly grinning as ryung shook her head in false dismay, hiding her own growing grin.

"don't be so modest, jiryu!" sua, forgetting about the previous topic, gently slapped ryung repeatedly on the arm. "you're their golden captain!"

before any of them could get another word in, their homeroom teacher walked in and clapped his hands to signal their attention.

"good morning, my spring buds!" mr. han smiled brightly at his class, most who collectively rolled their eyes at his cheesiness.

"we have a returning student, so please treat him kindly!" he added, and in walked in one of the most beautiful humans on earth.

ryung had almost forgotten how breathtaking han seojun was. his eyes, which everyone viewed coldly like daggers of ice, seemed to shine against his painfully clear skin (ryung thought this because her own face and body was coated in a multitude of freckles and often times heard that she should find away to rid herself of them to look prettier) which glowed in the morning light. even his eyebrows were pretty, half hidden behind his slightly parted hair. it occasionally poked his eyes, to which he brought a godly sculpted hand with a multitude of silver adoring it to brush the strands away.

yes, ryung undoubtedly thought han seojun was attractive beyond belief. that is, until he opened his mouth and the dumbest things known to mankind spilled out. sometimes they made her laugh, sometimes they made her want to feel embarrassed on his behalf, and sometimes she didn't know what to think.

but beside this, ji ryung didn't have any other feelings towards han seojun other than indifference and slight curiosity. they were in completely different categories, so ryung never had a reason to approach him, and vice versa.

"you're staring, ryu." soojin whispered to the freckled girl, making her jolt in surprise.

"how can i not, when it looks like he just stepped out of the cover of a magazine?" ryung shot back, cheeks dusted in pink as she tore her gaze away from the returning student and back to soojin.

"probably because he did." the black haired girl snorted, nudging ryung playfully with her elbow.

"take your seats, take your seats!" mr. han hummed with a bright smile, making the clusters of students disperse to their chairs in order to start the day.

"good morning, suho!" ryung smiled as she sat in her seat directly in front of the stoic boy.

he spared her a glance and a quick nod before directing his attention once more to the front of the classroom. ryung, quite used to his silence, only maintained her grin and mirrored his actions.

"han seojun, you can take the empty seat next to lee suho." their homeroom teacher announced as he pointed to the empty desk .

ryung almost snapped her neck turning to look at the expression on lee suho's face, just to find that same sheet of ice encasing his features. only through his eyes could the girl see how much he truly didn't want anything to do with han seojun, but she had always been curious as to why.

however, questions would only further ryung in her goal to get suho to hold a proper conversation with her, so she refrained from asking him anything about it.

han seojun, who only hardened his gaze at the boy sitting behind ryung, clearly shared the hateful feeling in common. instead, the boy sauntered over to lim jugyeong and gave her seat a kick.

'wow, she's getting all the guys,' ryung laughed in her head at the expression of shock mixed with terror on the pretty brunette's face.

"this was my seat, move." he stared down at her icily.

hasty and incoherent jumbles of an explanation left jugyeong's mouth as she gaped up at seojun, only to be saved by their homeroom teacher's cheery voice.

"lim jugyeong has bad vision, so she needs to be close to the board." he looked around the room thoughtfully before landing on a curly haired boy sitting all the way in the back.

"taehoon! will our handsome taehoon be willing to give up his seat?" mr. han, the flatterer as always, smiled at taehoon, who immediately got up with a scoff.

"me?" he pouted, looking opposed to the idea before bursting out in a grin and scrambling to take the seat next to the stoic boy. "of course, i'll sit next to suho!"

offering a fist bump that suho promptly ignored, taehoon took his seat and seojun scowled before walking to the back of the classroom.

ryung couldn't help but compare his face to that of a grumpy (albeit extremely cute) cat as seojun slumped his head against his arms, already dozing off as soon as the lesson began.

by the time their lunch break rolled around, seojun was disrupted from his sleep by a couple of scary looking punks. ryung watched curiously as they took him outside to discuss something, having to be pulled away by both sua and soojin in order to stop eavesdropping.

"that han seojun kid seems scary," jugyeong piped up as they took their seats, lunch trays filled with the cafeteria's semi-decent food.

sua nodded along to her words, picking up her chopsticks. "he does have that bad boy image."

jugyeong shivered, remembering the rumors sua was talking about earlier and the helmet she so inconveniently ran off with.

"don't worry about him and just eat." ryung patted the brunette's back soothingly as she gave a drawn out sigh.

"yeah, because ryung's got a little crush on him." soojin grinned, making the freckled girl's face flush.

"i do not!" she replied indignantly, stuffing her mouth with food before anyone else could tease her.

seriously, she mentions the boy's obvious attractiveness and suddenly everybody's convinced she likes him!

‎

‎

‎

‎IT WAS PRETTY much a fact that ji ryung was not the best student academic-wise. thankfully, she had a super smart friend to help her (and occasionally cheat off of) stay out of the dangerous zone called 'failing'.

as she sat beside said girl, her mind completely slipping into a different rhythm, ryung had never been more glad to have partnered up with kang soojin.

"i hope you've all done research on the poets you were assigned." mr. han said as the class collectively voiced their response.

"you're working in groups, so please collaborate and discuss your work as one." he added.

chimes of "yes, sir" rang after their homeroom teacher stepped off the podium at the front of the classroom.

ryung, who read as much as the average student (close to none, that is) was extremely thankful that their poet was william shakespeare, undoubtedly one of the most famous poets worldwide. that, and the fact that soojin easily took charge, leaving ryung to happily listen to orders instead of looking around mindlessly for something she probably didn't know how to do properly.

not to mention sua, who stood on soojin's other side, was a warm and sunny reminder that ryung wasn't the only clueless one in the group. and probably seojun, sitting directly in front of her, knew nothing more than she did either, so it was a relief to ryung.

"han seojun, can you arrange a ppt file?" the raven haired girl asked, resting a bored hand on her cheek.

the boy mentioned looked up from where he was mindlessly tracing the patterns on the wooden desk.

"fitting, you say? of course." he said with a nod, before proudly tugging his blazer with a grin. "i did some part time work as a model, you see."

ryung couldn't help the fit of laughter that tumbled out of her lips at the boy's words, shoulders shaking vigorously through her bouts of giggles. she waved a hand of dismissal as soojin's look of incredulity towards sua at seojun's actions morphed into one of worry and slight amusement at the freckled girl's struggle.

"yah, what's so funny?" seojun asked, his eyebrows pinching together and his lips forming a pout as ryung's eyes finally met his.

she opened her mouth to apologize, but ended up burying her face in her hands at the bubble of laughter that rose once more in her throat.

"why are you laughing so hard?" seojun tried again, this time pointing to her uniform shirt with his own laughter. "learn how to put a shirt on first before you laugh at me!"

confused, ryung's laughter ceased as she glanced down to her shirt, only to find that it uneven. there was one button off, and she never noticed?! her ears went warm as seojun mimicked her earlier action, laughing deeply.

"h-hey!" she tried to deflect his attention from her wardrobe mistake, but nothing worked. instead, she simply waited with embarrassment until seojun finished his ridicule.

this is karma for laughing at him earlier, ryung told herself with a pout.

once his laughter slowly faded, soojin cleared her throat. "ji ryung can help you with the ppt. she knows how to make nice layouts."

ryung looked at soojin in shock, pointing to herself and then glancing at seojun.

"me?"

"no, the other swim team captain with freckles and short hair named ji ryung." replied soojin with an eyeroll.

it was clear what her intentions were, and after ryung's fair share of laughing and being laughed at, she didn't think spending any more time with han seojun would be good for her heart.

however, the thought of not helping someone made her feel inexplicably guilty. it's not like ryung was obligated to help everyone, yet she still did when she could. and she could definitely help seojun.

"i guess." ryung shrugged, trying to keep her voice as level as possible.

"i'm with buttons, then." seojun grinned, leaning his body to rest his cheek against his arms.

his eyes peered up at her through his lashes, and ryung felt her heart involuntarily skip a beat. it felt as though she was a sick person with a probability of heart failure.

ryung shot soojin and sua a dirty look when the boy looked away, both who were quietly snickering to themselves at her hopeless expression when cornered by seojun.

this was going to be a very long year.

‎

‎

‎

‎

BACKPACK AND DUFFEL bag hoisted over her shoulder, ryung bid farewell to her group mates and directed her feet to steer her to the bus stop, where bae subin stood waiting on her and the bus' arrival.

with an easygoing grin, the shorter girl waved a hand to ryung as she jogged over to her. she and subin had been friends since the moment ryung first entered elementary school. the two were from the same neighborhood, so it was easy to spend time together.

it was thanks to ryung that subin fully realized her talent and love for swimming.

"i heard that boy you have a crush on finally came back today." subin grinned up at the freckled girl, who pinched her cheek in response.

"i don't have a crush on him." ryung denied, jutting her lip out in annoyance.

"right." subin replied in a knowing tone, but didn't finish her sentence at the sound of the bus screeching to a halt in front of them.

"just shut up and get on the damn bus, 'bin." ryung groaned, ushering them both inside the crowded vehicle.

it didn't take long for the bus to stop at their designated bus stop, the two girls hopping down the steps with carefree grins painting their faces.

"come by the restaurant some time! i'll make you something good!" ryung called after the girl as they parted ways, waving lazily.

"i will, bye!" subin returned the wave with slightly more energy before bounding up the steps to her house and disappearing completely.

ryung only hummed, fastening her pace in order to get home with time to do her homework before starting her work at the restaurant.

the extra load was nothing much, since her parents didn't even need to ask her to work without her appointing herself. a family owned restaurant has to be owned by a family, and ryung was part of the family regardless of blood relation.

the freckled girl soon found herself waiting tables and taking orders at the restaurant before she knew it, her completed homework hastily stuffed into her backpack and a worker's apron tied over her t-shirt and jeans.

"ryu, go take table 5's order, please!" her mother called from her spot at the cash register, before turning back and handing one of their regular customers her change.

with a notepad in hand, ryung walked over to a table filled with loud teenagers. she plastered her friendliest smile and cleared her throat.

"hi, welcome to man-ji's kitchen, what would you like to order?" ryung asked cheerfully, lifting her gaze from the notepad to the group.

it was a fatal mistake on her part, as she was met by familiar faces gawking at her. especially a certain messy haired boy's shocked expression as he came face to face with the girl who'd laughed at him being a part-time model.

"han seojun?" the smile ryung was wearing dropped, replaced by confusion.

she tilted her head in surprise, blinking down at the boy. he only mirrored her, eyebrows shooting up as the inhabitants sitting at the table paused their conversation.

"buttons?"

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

‎

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

the first chapter of 'starcrossed' is
finally complete!! i was going to
publish this story on jan 01 for a
new year's surprise, but i ended up
not finishing the chapter in time 😭
this is a more light hearted, cutesy
story so it's pretty much just seojun
and ryung being in love without
knowing it!!

the name of ryung & her family's
restaurant is man-ji's kitchen
because of her parent's surnames
( man & ji ) her mother's surname
goes first because it made her dad
look like a more romantic husband.
they had the restaurant way before
ryung was adopted.

just a little background before i
fully get started on this story ^
don't expect much updates bc
i hardly update anymore 😭 but
i'll try my best so i appreciate any
support that is given<33 saying
this, i hope i'll be able to update
as much as possible!!

voting and commenting is
greatly encouraged!! i love
seeing people's thoughts on
my writing and stories, so
don't be afraid to leave
comments or vote ( it gives
me a lot of motivation seeing
people give me feedback!! )

LOVE, A !