[SJFF] Real Face - Chapter 2
Title: Real Face
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
02
Sanghee sighed disinterestedly as she watched her classmates run around the field, laughing happily as they chased the soccer ball at their feet. It was their Physical Education period, but Sanghee had been exempted from attending them because her asthmatic attacks would pose a great problem whenever she strains herself too much. Then again, she wasn't quite complaining, because it was definitely working to her advantage. Even though she didn't deliberately conceal her gender (her school records still indicate that she's a female, after all), she didn't exactly want to go around broadcasting the fact that she's female either.
Deciding that she had enough of staring at the four walls of her deserted classroom doing nothing, Sanghee hopped off the table which she was sitting on and walked out of the room - the first time she had left the confines of it for the past week. She didn't see the need to mingle around with the rest of her classmates, let alone with the entire Neulparan population; it didn't matter if she was seen as a loner. In fact, she would prefer it if people saw her in that light and left her alone. But of course, things wouldn't go her way all the time, though it's not that she wasn't accustomed to it already.
"Look who finally decided to come out of voluntary solitary confinement," a voice came from Sanghee's right the moment she closed the door behind her. Her eyes narrowed automatically upon recognising that it belonged to her classmate who had tripped her the other day. True enough, when she turned towards the direction of the voice, he was standing there with his infuriating smirk along with the guy who sits next to her and several other people whom she didn't quite recognise, though she had the impression that they were in her class as well. Not that she had the tendency to look at the faces of her classmates either.
Deciding that she didn't want to get involved in his childish bickering, Sanghee shoved her hands into her jeans pocket and walked in the opposite direction without uttering a single word. Nonetheless, it seems that the boy was offended by her lack of response, because the next moment she knew, his hand was already firmly placed on her shoulder. Sanghee instinctively broke off the contact by pushing the hand aside, turning around sharply to glare at her classmate for the action.
"What do you want with me?" Sanghee hissed, backing away from the male as she wasn't comfortable with the distance between them.
"Oh, getting defensive now, are we? We're just trying to be… friendly," he smirked.
"Well I'm certainly not interested in your intentions," she scoffed, and that hit a nerve in the male, because he started for her angrily, only to be held back by his group of friends.
"Youngwoon, there's really no point in doing this. Leave him alone," Sanghee's seat mate said nonchalantly, causing the one called 'Youngwoon' to glare at her one last time before stalking off towards the changing rooms with the others in tow. Sanghee rolled her eyes at their retreating backs, wondering what on earth was wrong with them, and went on her own way once again.
This time, Sanghee made it a point to commit the faces of those in the group to her memory, so that she could avoid any confrontation with them in the future. Her seatmate had messy, slightly wavy hair and loved to sleep in class; the tallest of them had chiseled looks, subconsciously giving him a royal air around him; then there was the skinny one with flaming red hair; and the last of them seemed oddly… cute, but there was a dangerous edge to him as well.
While Sanghee was preoccupied with her thoughts, she paid no attention to her surroundings, and accidentally bumped into someone while she was descending the stairs. Jolting back to reality, Sanghee noticed that the person was about to fall backwards and roll down the staircase, so she quickly grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled the girl towards her. They ended up in a pile of limbs on the first step since Sanghee also lost her balance from the impact, and when she regained her composure, Sanghee realised that it was the girl who came up to her on the first day of class. Hye-su… was it?
"Hyesu-sshi, are you okay?" Sanghee asked, and the girl blushed as she nodded meekly. Noticing that the latter was probably uncomfortable with the distance, Sanghee pulled herself off the floor, before offering a hand to Hye-su, whom took it in hers gratefully. Hye-su bowed thankfully at Sanghee, and scampered off to join her friends who were currently giggling along with her in the far distance, much to Sanghee's confusion. However, something suddenly clicked in Sanghee's mind, and she ran towards Hye-su, tapping on her shoulder to catch her attention. The latter blushed when she turned around and realised that her lifesaver was there.
"Ah, Hyesu-sshi, can I please meet you at the rooftop during lunchtime?" Sanghee said, and Hye-su agreed without missing a beat, before strolling off with her giggling group of friends once again. Sanghee scratched the side of her face in confusion, wondering whether she was hallucinating when she noticed that Hye-su's cheeks went a shade of red deeper, but shrugged it off anyway.
* * * * *
Sanghee realised that she might have found the perfect hangout spot for her in Neulparan instead of her stuffy classroom during lunch as she admired the view of her school compound from the rooftop. The cooling spring breeze was definitely a welcome, as it brought with it the smell of fresh flowers and wet leaves. Pulling out a textbook from her backpack, she began scanning through the lines to review for her lesson while waiting for Hye-su's arrival.
Even though Sanghee may not observe the actions of her classmates during classes, she could always feel a certain pair of eyes glancing back at her from the front. It definitely wasn't the teacher's gaze, because Sanghee wasn't one who would sleep in class, in contrast to her seat mate who dozes off most of the time. In the beginning, she shrugged the feeling off and pretended that she didn't know; but when it continued throughout the week, Sanghee decided to see who was the one looking at her all the time. The moment she raised her head last Wednesday, she caught none other than Im Hye-su glancing in her direction. The latter turned scarlet when she realised that she had been found out, and immediately turned her attention back to the textbook in front of her.
Nonetheless, that wasn't the only thing that Hye-su did. Sometimes, Sanghee would also notice the shy smile that Hye-su flashes in her direction whenever their eyes meet, though she thought nothing about it. Many a time, she would also catch the curious glances that Hye-su's group of friends would throw in her direction, and truthfully, it was a little annoying. But that all pointed to one thing - they definitely think that she was a guy.
"Um… Sanghee-sshi, did you want to see me?" A shy voice came from the direction of the door leading to the rooftop, catching Sanghee's attention. She immediately clamped the book shut and shoved it back into her bag when she realised that Hye-su was already here, mustering the slightest smile that she could afford.
"Yes… actually I would like to apologise for my actions the other day," Sanghee said, getting straight to the point.
"Eh? What do you mean by that?" Hye-su asked, seemingly confused about the entire matter.
"The first day I entered the class. You introduced yourself, but I didn't quite respond in the proper manner. I'm sorry," she explained, and Hye-su nodded when she understood what Sanghee was trying to put across.
The truth is, Sanghee felt rather remorseful about the way that she had treated Hye-su, even though the latter was just trying to be nice to the new student. As dense as she may be at times, it didn't take Sanghee long notice that the girl still had the intentions of being friendly with her, even though Sanghee hadn't been the nicest person around. Hence, she had thought over it, and finally decided to give a proper apology to Hye-su for less-than-stellar actions.
"Ah, it's okay Sanghee-sshi. I understand that it might be a little hard to be friends with someone else in the beginning, so I don't blame you for what you did," Hye-su admitted as she fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. "But if you don't mind it, would you like to be friends with me?"
Sanghee snapped around to look at the girl immediately, a little shocked that she still wanted to be friends even after seeing her cold side. "I'm… sorry, it takes a long time for me to be able to call someone my friend," Sanghee admitted, narrowing her eyes at the opposite direction when she recalled how her so-called friends had betrayed her in the past. She was still apprehensive at allowing other people to casually walk into her life - she knew better than to do that right now.
Nonetheless, it seems that nothing can break Hye-su's determination, because she flashed a bright smile at Sanghee. "Then I'll do my best! I'm sure that there'll be a day when you'll call me your friend," she announced, causing Sanghee to shake her head in dismay.
"Do whatever you like then," she said simply, grabbing her backpack and prepared to return to the classroom, leaving Hye-su behind on the rooftop.
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
02
Sanghee sighed disinterestedly as she watched her classmates run around the field, laughing happily as they chased the soccer ball at their feet. It was their Physical Education period, but Sanghee had been exempted from attending them because her asthmatic attacks would pose a great problem whenever she strains herself too much. Then again, she wasn't quite complaining, because it was definitely working to her advantage. Even though she didn't deliberately conceal her gender (her school records still indicate that she's a female, after all), she didn't exactly want to go around broadcasting the fact that she's female either.
Deciding that she had enough of staring at the four walls of her deserted classroom doing nothing, Sanghee hopped off the table which she was sitting on and walked out of the room - the first time she had left the confines of it for the past week. She didn't see the need to mingle around with the rest of her classmates, let alone with the entire Neulparan population; it didn't matter if she was seen as a loner. In fact, she would prefer it if people saw her in that light and left her alone. But of course, things wouldn't go her way all the time, though it's not that she wasn't accustomed to it already.
"Look who finally decided to come out of voluntary solitary confinement," a voice came from Sanghee's right the moment she closed the door behind her. Her eyes narrowed automatically upon recognising that it belonged to her classmate who had tripped her the other day. True enough, when she turned towards the direction of the voice, he was standing there with his infuriating smirk along with the guy who sits next to her and several other people whom she didn't quite recognise, though she had the impression that they were in her class as well. Not that she had the tendency to look at the faces of her classmates either.
Deciding that she didn't want to get involved in his childish bickering, Sanghee shoved her hands into her jeans pocket and walked in the opposite direction without uttering a single word. Nonetheless, it seems that the boy was offended by her lack of response, because the next moment she knew, his hand was already firmly placed on her shoulder. Sanghee instinctively broke off the contact by pushing the hand aside, turning around sharply to glare at her classmate for the action.
"What do you want with me?" Sanghee hissed, backing away from the male as she wasn't comfortable with the distance between them.
"Oh, getting defensive now, are we? We're just trying to be… friendly," he smirked.
"Well I'm certainly not interested in your intentions," she scoffed, and that hit a nerve in the male, because he started for her angrily, only to be held back by his group of friends.
"Youngwoon, there's really no point in doing this. Leave him alone," Sanghee's seat mate said nonchalantly, causing the one called 'Youngwoon' to glare at her one last time before stalking off towards the changing rooms with the others in tow. Sanghee rolled her eyes at their retreating backs, wondering what on earth was wrong with them, and went on her own way once again.
This time, Sanghee made it a point to commit the faces of those in the group to her memory, so that she could avoid any confrontation with them in the future. Her seatmate had messy, slightly wavy hair and loved to sleep in class; the tallest of them had chiseled looks, subconsciously giving him a royal air around him; then there was the skinny one with flaming red hair; and the last of them seemed oddly… cute, but there was a dangerous edge to him as well.
While Sanghee was preoccupied with her thoughts, she paid no attention to her surroundings, and accidentally bumped into someone while she was descending the stairs. Jolting back to reality, Sanghee noticed that the person was about to fall backwards and roll down the staircase, so she quickly grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled the girl towards her. They ended up in a pile of limbs on the first step since Sanghee also lost her balance from the impact, and when she regained her composure, Sanghee realised that it was the girl who came up to her on the first day of class. Hye-su… was it?
"Hyesu-sshi, are you okay?" Sanghee asked, and the girl blushed as she nodded meekly. Noticing that the latter was probably uncomfortable with the distance, Sanghee pulled herself off the floor, before offering a hand to Hye-su, whom took it in hers gratefully. Hye-su bowed thankfully at Sanghee, and scampered off to join her friends who were currently giggling along with her in the far distance, much to Sanghee's confusion. However, something suddenly clicked in Sanghee's mind, and she ran towards Hye-su, tapping on her shoulder to catch her attention. The latter blushed when she turned around and realised that her lifesaver was there.
"Ah, Hyesu-sshi, can I please meet you at the rooftop during lunchtime?" Sanghee said, and Hye-su agreed without missing a beat, before strolling off with her giggling group of friends once again. Sanghee scratched the side of her face in confusion, wondering whether she was hallucinating when she noticed that Hye-su's cheeks went a shade of red deeper, but shrugged it off anyway.
* * * * *
Sanghee realised that she might have found the perfect hangout spot for her in Neulparan instead of her stuffy classroom during lunch as she admired the view of her school compound from the rooftop. The cooling spring breeze was definitely a welcome, as it brought with it the smell of fresh flowers and wet leaves. Pulling out a textbook from her backpack, she began scanning through the lines to review for her lesson while waiting for Hye-su's arrival.
Even though Sanghee may not observe the actions of her classmates during classes, she could always feel a certain pair of eyes glancing back at her from the front. It definitely wasn't the teacher's gaze, because Sanghee wasn't one who would sleep in class, in contrast to her seat mate who dozes off most of the time. In the beginning, she shrugged the feeling off and pretended that she didn't know; but when it continued throughout the week, Sanghee decided to see who was the one looking at her all the time. The moment she raised her head last Wednesday, she caught none other than Im Hye-su glancing in her direction. The latter turned scarlet when she realised that she had been found out, and immediately turned her attention back to the textbook in front of her.
Nonetheless, that wasn't the only thing that Hye-su did. Sometimes, Sanghee would also notice the shy smile that Hye-su flashes in her direction whenever their eyes meet, though she thought nothing about it. Many a time, she would also catch the curious glances that Hye-su's group of friends would throw in her direction, and truthfully, it was a little annoying. But that all pointed to one thing - they definitely think that she was a guy.
"Um… Sanghee-sshi, did you want to see me?" A shy voice came from the direction of the door leading to the rooftop, catching Sanghee's attention. She immediately clamped the book shut and shoved it back into her bag when she realised that Hye-su was already here, mustering the slightest smile that she could afford.
"Yes… actually I would like to apologise for my actions the other day," Sanghee said, getting straight to the point.
"Eh? What do you mean by that?" Hye-su asked, seemingly confused about the entire matter.
"The first day I entered the class. You introduced yourself, but I didn't quite respond in the proper manner. I'm sorry," she explained, and Hye-su nodded when she understood what Sanghee was trying to put across.
The truth is, Sanghee felt rather remorseful about the way that she had treated Hye-su, even though the latter was just trying to be nice to the new student. As dense as she may be at times, it didn't take Sanghee long notice that the girl still had the intentions of being friendly with her, even though Sanghee hadn't been the nicest person around. Hence, she had thought over it, and finally decided to give a proper apology to Hye-su for less-than-stellar actions.
"Ah, it's okay Sanghee-sshi. I understand that it might be a little hard to be friends with someone else in the beginning, so I don't blame you for what you did," Hye-su admitted as she fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. "But if you don't mind it, would you like to be friends with me?"
Sanghee snapped around to look at the girl immediately, a little shocked that she still wanted to be friends even after seeing her cold side. "I'm… sorry, it takes a long time for me to be able to call someone my friend," Sanghee admitted, narrowing her eyes at the opposite direction when she recalled how her so-called friends had betrayed her in the past. She was still apprehensive at allowing other people to casually walk into her life - she knew better than to do that right now.
Nonetheless, it seems that nothing can break Hye-su's determination, because she flashed a bright smile at Sanghee. "Then I'll do my best! I'm sure that there'll be a day when you'll call me your friend," she announced, causing Sanghee to shake her head in dismay.
"Do whatever you like then," she said simply, grabbing her backpack and prepared to return to the classroom, leaving Hye-su behind on the rooftop.