CHAPTER 1 : OneShot

Jinyoung is living his daily life. Nothing’s different, unless the fact that he’s the most prominent boyfriend candidate at the moment. Rumors about his breakup spread like a wild fire.

People didn’t bother asking him if it was true, since the news was from his inner circle. Instead, they looked at him in pity. Sure, the boy wasted a day and half flying back and forth for nothing.

“Bambam saves you a press conference. Seems like everybody knew the details already,” Jackson chirped, at the same time Jinyoung threw him a can of coffee he precisely caught.

“Well, you are ending your basically-never-ending love stories with the Princess. If she’s not away, it must be awkward seeing you not together anymore.”

Smiling faintly, Jinyoung sipped on his coke that’s pretty much his lunch today.

“But then again, if she’s here she wouldn’t cheat on you. Whoa, she hardly ever leave you alone,” Jackson continued rambling.

“Jackson, you know,” he finally responded, “I always wonder if that relationship is all I ever wanted.”

Siding him, Jackson nodded. “Can I guess the rest? Now you feel relieved you weren’t the one to initiate breakup.”

Jinyoung snickered at his response, Jackson was sure his best friend for years. “Even the pity glares seem okay.”

“You are too uptight.” He mocked. “Loosen up, Jinyoung-ah! School is over. She’s out of your life. University’s pretty much settled. The only concern you have now is to find a substitute date for the Prom!”

Dramatically turning his head at Jackson’s direction, he acted as he’d just heard it for the first time.

“Graduation is in two weeks, Ahjussi!” he kicked him in the shin playfully. Jinyoung smiled smugly in an attempt to avoid his attack.

“Nah, can’t show people I moved on that fast.”

“Oh please, Park Jinyoung! You are just going to be 20, not 50!” Jackson rolled his eyes for the ninth times. “I’ll introduce you to someone.”

“Thanks, but, no. Most of your friend is also my friend.”

“Ohoo, got it!” Jackson clapped out of sudden. “You want girl who doesn’t know your past.”

Jinyoung was annoyed that Jackson could always see through his unspoken mind. “You make it sound like I committed crime in my past.”

“Because you did!” he exclaimed full in spirit, glaring at Jinyoung hatefully. The latter reacted with both eyebrows raised.

“You became a boring perfect Prince!”

It’s Jinyoung’s turn to roll his eyes.

♪♪♪

Jinyoung actually took Jackson’s advice into consideration. The next day, he went off to school earlier, leaving his chauffeur behind.

Loosened up, Jinyoung-ah! Don’t worry about everything and just enjoy life.

He sneered, can’t really comprehend whether it’s Jackson’s or his subconscious mind’s voice going in his head.

Jackson’s right. He’s too conservative. The 19-years-old Park Jinyoung is a perfectionist who can’t bear to see things falling out of his perfect life. Truth is, he also wanted to live carelessly like Jackson. He wanted to talk gibberish like Bambam. Or just didn’t care about anything like Jaebum and Mark.

So Jinyoung decided. The first step of becoming less reserved, was to date and get a new girlfriend (at least that’s the easiest task when you have a face like Park Jinyoung).

And if he were about to do it, it must be someone with no knowledge of who he is, whose son is he, which district he resides in, how good is his grade.

He wanted to story tell about him, himself.

He wished to tell her how his day’s going, his hobby, his friends, and every single thing because she knew nothing about it before. At some point, he didn’t want to be passive, just because she already knew every of his story before.

He wanna be more like his old younger self.

The bus arrived at the same time he walked through the station. He was the last person on the queue, in front of him was a girl with a thick coat, visibly struggling to find something on her bag.

“Miss, please hurry.” The driver said after waiting for some time.

“I-I’m sorry, Ahjussi, looks like my wallet is missing. Can’t you let me go just this once?” The girl pleaded. He couldn’t see her face but looked like she really had a bad morning.

“Sorry-”

“Let me pay for her,” Jinyoung butted in, quickly gave some cash to the driver. With his manner hand, he motioned for her to move forward as the bus had started setting off with the driver mouthing, “you’re lucky this nice student is willing to help you, miss.”

“Thank you so much!” the girl bowed repeatedly. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll make sure to repay you later.”

“That’s fine,” Jinyoung responded but before he could catch a clear glimpse at her face, she hurriedly turned away from him and found herself a seat at the very back of the bus.

During the trip, Jinyoung numerously stared at her direction. Something about her bothered him: her swollen eyes.

Did she cry all night? Why?

Most importantly, why did he care?

He shook his head. No way. I don’t even know her.

There’s a saying curiosity kills the cat.

Jinyoung found himself standing at the same bus station, everyday for the next 3 days. Continuously tapping his feet, he kept glancing at his wristwatch. The bus should be coming in 2 minutes, but the girl from last Tuesday was still nowhere to be seen.

I couldn’t see her uniform clearly. But her school must be on this bus’ direction, right? So why haven’t I seen her again?

Honking sound from the arriving bus ended his daydream. He ruffled his hair in frustration, still hoping until the last minute that she will show up.

Unfortunately, like 3 consecutive days before, he was the last to enter the vehicle.

♪♪♪

A week later, our handsome young man looked brighter than ever. Worrying less actually made him feel more relaxed and… alive. Graduation ceremony was only week apart. At this time, it’s not mandatory for senior to attend school, but since Jinyoung had no better reason to escape home rather than going to school, he did it anyway.

“Have a nice day, Jinyoung-ssi.”

Jinyoung mouthed thanks and took his coffee, oblivious of the barista trying to impress him. He headed toward the sofa seat beside the glass walls that surround the café.

With the buzz sound coming from his phone, he opened the message from Mark. “Bad traffic. Wait.”

Jinyoung typed, “Ok. I’m at the café.”

He was planning to help the oldest run some errands, then play basketball in the afternoon with Yugyeom and Bambam. Mark was driving so he mustn’t reply quickly, Jinyoung thought as he placed his phone on the table.

Now that he had no girlfriend, he can give his phone some time to breathe. Being in a long distance relationship was burdensome, moreover when the other party was on the other side of the world. When he woke up at 7 am in Seoul, she would already be sleeping in Paris. When he finished school at noon, hers would just start. It’s either he sleeps less or has no sleep at all only to have a proper (boring) conversation with her. And he hated both options.

His trail of thought was disturbed by some noise. He got back on earth and checked his phone but Mark hadn’t replied yet. It took him quite some time to make out that the noise was actually coming from behind.

He frowned, realizing it was sound of someone crying. A girl. She’s trying to muffle the sobs but it’s still audible.

So basically him and the crying girl are backfacing each other with the sofas between them. Somehow it made him uneasy, seeing people cry always makes him uneasy. That’s one of the reasons he could never end his previous relationship.

But this one, he didn’t know her, not even her face. But again, his principle said a gentleman should always treat a lady with care.

He reached his bag and groped inside. He was thinking of something a little crazy when his phone showed an incoming message.

“I can’t park, so wait outside, ok?”

Jinyoung couldn’t care less. Mark was near, and the sobs were still heard. Without thinking much longer, he knocked on the glass wall beside him, at the space between their seats, to catch her attention.

“Excuse me…,” he addressed softly, “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but… Please stop crying.”

The sobbing sound was effectively ceased. The girl was taken aback at his hand that appeared unexpectedly from the next seat, holding two chocolate bars tied with pink ribbon on top.

“Here, please have some chocolate.”

She hesitated but ended up taking it because he kept waving it for her to notice. At his seat, Jinyoung unconsciously smiled when he realized she accepted it and had also halted crying. He quickly grabbed his bag and his buzzing phone.

“I gotta go. I hope you have a nice day,” he sincerely said before taking his call and going away from his seat without sparing a single glance at the girl he just coaxed with chocolates.

“Oh, Mark! I already saw your car.”

The girl heard him say. She looked at his back view in disbelief and chuckled. Thanks to his random act, she forgot she was in the midst of bawling her eyes out. Glancing back, he’s already out the building and now his full face was showing. Her lips unknowingly parted from surprise.

He was the same boy who paid for her bus fare some weeks ago.

She never believed in coincidence, but this one was too funny. Still laughing at herself, she realized she still holds onto the chocolate. Slowly sliding the wrap to the side, the girl found some handwriting engraved at the foil package.

“To : Jinyoung sunbae-nim ❤”

Corner of her lips turned upward in joy. Looks like she had a reason to meet him again.

♪♪♪

She recognized his uniform, it was from Kyunggi High School in Gangnam district. So, the next day, she paid him a visit. It was kinda silly, when the information she had was only his first name. She imagined it would take some efforts, she even prepared additional description about his physical appearance and that he had friend called Mark.

But funnily, only with the mention of his name, she could already figure his whereabouts.

“Senior Jinyoung? He’s in class 12-6.”

“Is there only one Jinyoung in Kyunggi?” She asked out of curiosity.

“No, there are three in total. But I’m sure you’re talking about the visual genius Park Jinyoung!” the tall girl she questioned answered shyly, before ran away while holding her reddened cheeks.

So apparently, he’s the star of this school. Well, she should have predicted. With that kind of face he could’ve been a celebrity.

When she steps into his said class, Jinyoung was with other boys who are, well, as dazzling as him. She braves herself as she takes a step closer.

“Jinyoung-ssi.”

With his name being called, Jinyoung turned at her direction.

And he couldn’t help but be shocked at who’s standing before him.

A girl with wavy ash brown hair falling below her waist, wearing a green long coat on top of her uniform, looking at him with small smile plastered on her pretty face. The same pretty face he’d been longing to see this past two weeks.

He groggily stood up, startling the rest six guys around him in the process. They all simultaneously put attention to the two.

Did his eyes deceive him? He‘d tried to find her but never succeeded. Now she voluntarily appears in front of him, just out of the blue.

“W-what? Why…?” Jinyoung finally let out a stutters, maybe the first time he ever felt nervous in front of a girl. “H-h-how…?”

He can’t even throw a proper question at her. She caught him off-guard and he lost his calm demeanor.

She laughed, shyly, covering her mouth with heads slightly bowed. The simple gestures made Jinyoung more fluttered than he already was.

“You asked anything but who,” she pointed out.

“Girl from the bus…,” he mumbled loud enough for her to hear. His eyes shifted to the nametag on her dress shirt. “Cha Saeri…”

Saeri could feel her cheeks burning hearing him voiced out her name. She nodded, while he was staring intently at her. But before she could let another response out, Jaebum’s voice finally broke in and let them know there were other people besides them two.

“Jinyoung-ah, who’s she?”

The younger gained back his composure, but instead of answering Jaebum’s question, Jinyoung took a hold of Saeri’s palm making her flinch from such unexpected event. She guessed this is how Jinyoung’s true nature is: unexpected.

“I’ll explain it later, hyung.” He grinned before pulling their intertwined hands and running outside the classroom.

“Cha Saeri,” she can’t stop her lip from twitching upwards, “Senior at Hanlim.”

“Park Jinyoung,” he introduced himself also with smile never leave his face, “Senior, here.”

They were sitting not so awkwardly at the bench near the school’s fountain. Since it was past school hours, freshmen had gone home and juniors had already started the after-period, hence they could get some peaceful alone time.

“So, how did you get here, Saeri-ssi?” Jinyoung swifted in his seat, so he could fully face her.

“Oh,” she took out the chocolates from her bag, placing it at his palm. “It was rude to hand out present you received to someone else, Jinyoung-ssi.”

He was taken aback, the unopened snack has his name on its package. His smarty brain was quickly working to fit the puzzles. After some time, everything connects.

“That was you?!” He could’ve saved the heart attack if only he’d taken a look at the girl yesterday.

“I’m sorry! Valentine is near so girls are leaving chocolate at my locker. I’m not fond of one so I am going to give it to a friend,” he hurriedly explained, afraid of her getting the wrong idea. “But I thought you- who were crying, need it more. I thought, girls like chocolate…?”

“Besides, I already took their letter. Didn’t know my name was also written on this. I’m sorry,” he repeated his apology.

Saeri giggled at his nervous state. “I should be the one to say sorry. And… thank you, for helping me. Twice.”

Jinyoung sighed in relieve knowing she wasn’t mad at him. “But, why were you crying? Did someone hurt you…?”

“Boyfriend, no, ex-boyfriend. He broke up with me yesterday before I went to the café,” she smiled bitterly.

As a gentleman he is, he should let a word of sympathy but instead he hissed, “He’s not worth your tears.”

“If he made you cry that often, just leave him.”

Saeri looked up at him. “Right, it’s not like I like him a lot! It just hurted my pride that he dumped me first! When I’ve been wanting to break up for so long but held it because I don’t want to go to Prom alone!”

Her eyes widened when she realized what she did to some boy she just knew, she couldn’t just shut her mouth. But strangely, Jinyoung responded at her rambling with laughter. It somehow offended Saeri.

With his eyes partly closed when he chuckled, his adorable crinkles showed on both side of his eyes. “So, Prom is your true concern?”

“And why are you laughing?” She ignored her fastened heartbeat and tried to act annoyed.

Jinyoung eventually stopped the laughter, and put back his attention to her.

“Because I just got dumped, too.”

There was a moment of silence between the two, until both of them coincidently bursted out laughing together. Saeri just can’t imagine what kind of girl dumped fine man like Jinyoung.

“I’ve been with her since we’re ten years old. She always talked about going together through high school Graduation and Prom. But two weeks ago, I found out she cheated on me.”

“That was terrible.”

“There were more terrible parts but I supposed you don’t wanna hear it,” he shrugged absentmindedly. “Then, how about we being a couple for Prom?”

The sudden proposal had caught her off-guard. “Are you just hitting on me, Jinyoung-ssi?” She teased.

“Birds of a feather flock together, Saeri-ssi. We both don’t have a date,” he let out another laugh, the sound that she was already addicted to.

“To think about it, it’s funny that your name also means bird,” Jinyoung nudged her, emphasizing on the word 새 (sae).

Saeri sneered at his lame joke, but joined the idea anyway as she flocked her imaginary wings while smiling. “I’m more like an angel than a bird, don’t you think?”

He smiled again, showing his perfect rows of teeth this time. “Then would you grant my wish, angel?”

Jinyoung didn’t give Saeri time to think as he continued.

“Be my Prom date.”

Saeri tried her best to keep a straight face. She wanted to conclude that he was joking. But she herself can’t keep resisting his charm when it was too overwhelming. He said the cheesiest line ever in such a gentle tone, and his eyes… she cannot help but falling deeper looking trough his sentimental eyes. He was patiently waiting for her response.

Regaining her cool, her lips still quivered when she let out a simple, “Tsk.”

“I’ll take that as a yes?” There’s a hint of hope in his voice, making Saeri sure the excitement was not one-sided.

It was requited.

But Saeri ended up pouting as she said cockily.

“Only if you insist.”

Jinyoung bit his lips, can’t quite hide his cheeriness. Heart fluttering, stomach churning, fingers curling, are symptoms that he’d lost to feel for long already. And even with the small steps like this, he is willing to try getting back on his youth track.

Enjoy your life, Jinyoung-ah!

He gotta thank Jackson that he won't come to Prom alone now.