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“Dani, you gotta help me,” Hanni, who just got out of the classroom and went straight to her friend’s table and terrorized Danielle’s eating.
“Wha- Hanni, I almost spilled my meal, what is up-” Danielle stopped when she noticed the determination on Hanni’s face when she hadn't seen this once in their whole friendship, “What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” said Hanni who just sat down on the opposite side of the table.
Danielle of course knows it’s not “nothing”, with them being friends since they were kids in Australia and coincidentally both of their families moved to Korea for business. Well, Danielle was the first one who moved then a year later Hanni’s family moved as well.
After a few seconds of observing, Danielle instantly knows what’s up, “How are you and your crush?”
Hanni immediately stood up to cover Danielle’s mouth, “Would you shut up?” then looked around the surrounding area making sure that no one heard it.
But with Hanni’s actions, sure did make an attention. She made eye contact with her crush, Kim Minji, who is just staring at them right now. But with Hanni’s panic, she immediately went back to her seat and continued her lunch.
“I wasn’t even that loud!” Danielle hissed at her, “And by the way, it’s been what? A year now and we’re in our junior year! You haven’t told me who she is. Is she one of our classmates? Ah, but you don’t like the same year as you. One year ahead of you? Possibly hmm. Sunoo-nim? Someone is probably older huh? A year younger? TELL ME!!”
Minji just facepalmed because of what Danielle had just asked. Danielle immediately noticed her question too and immediately apologized. Basically, because she hasn’t come out yet and Danielle was the only one who knew about it.
Because the thought of coming out as bisexual in public frightens her, like what if the people around her would be weirded around her and the fact that she moved to Korea, which is very not welcoming of homosexuality, made her more scared. She’s just thankful enough for her best friend that she still accepted her.
And Hanni did say that she doesn’t like having a crush on someone in the same year as her, just because for her some reason. It’s kind of an odd reason that no one understands.
But right now, her crush is in the same year as her, AND also her classmate. And the president of their classroom is the one and only Kim Minji. One of the popular kids in school, alongside her group of friends.
Hanni just shook her head and held Danielle’s hand, “I’ll tell you next time who it is, I just want to know what to do.”
“Wow, you’re really asking someone who’s inexperienced with that? You know I’m not in those types of things!” Well, both of them have not experienced having a crush. Maybe like a puppy silly crush, but like a real crush? No, not really.
“Wow, says the one who had a thing with Haerin,” Hanni crossed her arms, and timing that Haerin and Hyein went by to their table, “Lover girl is here.”
“What’s happening?” Hyein laughed while Haerin silently sat beside Danielle.
“Well our friend here has a crush on someone,” Danielle said and Hanni just eyed her with a “ Can-you-shut-up” look.
They just laughed at her and Hanni just groaned in frustration because she doesn’t know what to do.
Until she remembered this one time while waiting for their teacher to arrive, she heard Minji having a little chat with her friends, she didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it just so happened that she was sitting beside Minji’s friend and they were there and Hanni was just doing her homework.
~
“Now where did you get these?” Minji asked Sullyoon who just put the box of chocolate on Yeeun's desk. Sullyoon just stared at her, “Oh, from that guy again?”
“Just can’t take a no for an answer,” Sullyoon then rolled her eyes.
“I’ll take these then,” Yeeun then grabbed the box of chocolates, “Say, what are you looking for a person? A lot of the guys have been asking you out, but then you reject them all.”
Sullyoon thought about it, and it never crossed her mind what her ideal person is, “I don’t know. I’ve never thought of it, maybe I’m just not into it.”
“For me, I really like handwritten letters. I don’t care if the handwriting is bad. I just think it’s sentimental to receive one.” Minji said with pure admiration in her tone, “I haven’t received one, but the thought about it makes my heart flutter.”
Hanni didn’t listen to what Danielle was saying because she was busy hearing all of it so she raised her head and thought about it. She realized that they might’ve noticed her quick head raising so she pretended that she was just stretching her head until the teacher came into the room. Minji and Yeeun went back to their seat.
~
Minji saw her classmate, Hanni, standing up in her chair and saw her bid goodbye to her friend. She was confused because first of all, she just got there and second, Minji looked at her watch and they still have twenty-five minutes before they go back to their classes.
She shook her head and thought why was she concerned in the first place. Until she realized she wasn’t the only one who was looking.
“Her Korean is improving,” Rei said while eating her rice cake.
Yeeun threw a piece of lettuce to Rei, “Well duh, she’s smart. Also, yours is improving as well.”
“Oh right, I forgot she’s Vietnamese,” Jaehee said then looked in the direction where Danielle was sitting, “Also, why is she so pretty? Why are they so pretty? And why aren’t we friends with them?”
“Probably is shy, also, I heard they’ve been friends since they were in Australia. So they are stuck to the hip.” Yeeun added, which made everyone turn their heads to her, “What? You know I know all the news. Isn’t that right, Danielle?”
Yeeun asked Danielle, which made her shocked and confused because of what was happening. Minji immediately slapped Yeeun on the arm, “Aw? Just nod, Dani!”
Of course, Danielle is still confused but she just nodded.
Sullyoon then took a bite of her salad, “But Jaehee is right, Hanni and Dani are so pretty I could be part of their group.” Then the rest of the group started questioning Sullyoon on her comments.
But Minji just slightly nodded her head but she does agree with that. Agreed that Hanni is pretty. Actually, she has been curious about her Vietnamese classmate ever since she toured her around the campus a year ago.
Well, Danielle was supposed to be the one touring her but she got sick on their first day and the principal asked Minji instead so that they can communicate well because Hanni can only speak basic Korean words. And Minji homestayed in Canada so she speaks English very well.
Minji was disappointed in herself because of her actions at that time because all she did was point and direct at buildings and rooms of which is which. And after that, both of them awkwardly went to their classroom and never talked again.
So you can say that Minji is shy to approach Hanni because of their first interaction.
But they do talk in their classroom sometimes, wherein Hanni would ask for her help whenever Dani’s presence is not there and Minji would gladly translate it for her. Or some casual small talk like, “How’s your day?”
Minji excused herself to go to the bathroom. Yeeun offered that she wants to go with her but Minji was fine on her own and said that she should finish her food first because she’ll go straight to their classroom afterward.
After going to the bathroom, she went straight to her locker room to leave some of her books since she doesn’t need them anyway for her next class. When she saw her locker, the first thing she saw was a pink-colored note, stuck in her locker. Letters were carefully written, “Every time I see you, my heart skips a beat. Have a nice day, Minji :) - H”
“H?” Minji thought while raising an eyebrow, she looked around to see if someone was there, but to disappoint her, there was none. She removed the note and opened her locker to put one of her books. She then puts the note inside her special notebook, wherein she writes important stuff.
“Who could it be? There’s a lot of H though,” She said while closing her locker, she then just went ahead to their classroom, only to see Hanni who was peacefully taking a nap in her chair while earphones were on.
Minji made sure she made no noise so she wouldn’t wake up the younger one and took a seat in Yeeun's chair, which is beside Hanni.
But she immediately thought that it was a bad idea so she just stood up and went to her own seat. Which is farther and nearer to the front.
Minji sighed to herself and thought to herself that she should do better just because she knows she was not like this. She usually greets everyone but doesn’t know to herself why she gets shy around Hanni.
She just pulled out a textbook and waited for everyone to come to class.
The next day came, Minji was already in her seat when she checked her bag to bring out her book to study for their upcoming Music test when she facepalmed herself internally because she forgot that she removed her book yesterday.
She told her friends she’ll be going to her locker and will be back in a few minutes. When she was about to leave their classroom, she almost bumped into someone because Hanni, who was currently looking at her stuff from her bag, was entering the room.
With Minji’s reflexes, she didn’t know why she grabbed Hanni on her shoulder which made Hanni caught off guard, both of them stopped and stared at each other. Minji realizes her actions so she quickly removed her hand, broke eye contact, and bowed her head.
“I am so sorry,” she said and quickly left the area. Just wanting to go to her locker room couldn’t get any worse.
When she reached her locker, she immediately saw a note sticking to it. Words sayings, “Good luck on your Music Test, later on, fighting Minji! -H”
“How did they know I’m going to have a Music test later on?” she said then just took the note and opened her locker to grab her book and returned to the room.
With an embarrassing moment for Minji earlier, she doesn’t want to go back because she’s sure that it was entertaining to her friends. But she doesn’t have any choice.
With the book in her hand and a note in another, the culprit behind the note saw what Minji’s holding and that she was so focused on going to her seat. Hanni also saw how Minji took her notebook out of her bag and carefully put the note inside it, which made Hanni smile.
But before Minji could do anything and probably look around the classroom, Hanni is too smart to remove her gaze from Minji. It’s better to hide just for now than to confess because of her concerns like what if she’s straight too or just not yet ready to mingle. Maybe stuff like that, she just doesn’t want to ruin her casualty with the older.
Hanni’s intuition was right because Minji looked around the room and the first person she looked at was none other than Pham Hanni, who was unbothered looking at her book. Minji knows Hanni is smart, so she wasn’t surprised to see her studying.
She then looked at Hyunbin, one of her classmates, who was too busy with his phone. She saw Haerin and Hyein who were just talking to each other. After that she looked at Haruto, who she caught looking at her, so he immediately looked away. “ Could it be? ” she thought to herself, but she just immediately brushed it off her mind.
And lastly, she looked at her friends, who were so ready to tease her. But saved by the teacher who went inside the room. All went back to their proper seats and the teacher was preparing their test papers.
Another day came, and her first instinct was to go straight to her locker to see if there was going to be a note.
“To be or not to be, to be my happy crush? I just find you so cute and caring, I hope you have a great day Minji! - H”
A smile formed on her face, it was a silly message but it did make her happy even only for a brief second.
2 weeks later, Minji kept on receiving these notes that were coming from Hanni . It didn’t bother her, in fact, it made her smile. It was like a daily routine now. Just a small note that was making her day complete. Sometimes roses would be stuck in front of her locker too.
She was still trying to find who kept on giving these, but she just couldn’t figure out that it was Hanni all along.
Every morning before classes started, she kept on going to her locker. But today, she didn’t receive one, for the first time ever. Which made her disappointed, she was looking forward to seeing another note that contains a cheesy pickup line, but there was none for today.
She looked to see if a note fell or it just got lost, to her desperation she didn’t give up, so she kept on looking at it. But still, there’s none.
“Maybe they’re just late,” she positively thought and just went straight to their classroom.
When she entered the classroom, Hyein immediately saw that Minji was upset, “Oh? Are you okay Minji? Did you eat your breakfast?” Hyein concernedly asked. While Haerin was looking at them.
Minji was then snapped out of her own world and just nodded. She went to her own chair and dropped her bag to the side. Before turning around and taking her own seat, she took a glimpse of Hanni and she caught her looking at her. Minji just smiled at her and Hanni smiled back.
Minji panicked at what happened and just sat down in her chair almost immediately, she tried hiding her smile, but in the end, she smiled even more.
The bell rang and Ms. Nam then came inside their classroom for the class to start. Minji almost forgot she was the class president, so she gave out a command to everyone to salute their teacher and everyone sat down after that.
Ms. Nam did an attendance first, “I apologize for the inconvenience I made last week as I have been sick and couldn’t give out the test results. But my student assistant just checked this one earlier, so now I’m giving it back to you.” Ms. Nam then handed the papers to Haerin and Hyein for them to distribute to the students.
Both then roamed around the classroom and gave the test papers one by one, Minji was the last one to get it, hoping that she didn’t fail her Music test, “Wow, what’d you do, Minji?” Hyein said laughing and gave her the paper and she got 49/50.”
She took the paper and both Hyein and Haerin went back to their own chair. Ms. Nam stood up after Jaehee gave back the papers, “Alright, let’s give a round of applause once again to Pham Hanni and Kim Minji for they got the highest scores on the test papers.”
All the students clapped their hands, but Minji was so busy looking at the paper to make sure she got most of it right, since she couldn't believe that she got a high score.
But when she turned to page 3, she suddenly saw a note that was stuck onto it.
“Improving? No, I’m just kidding. I’ve always known that you’re smart, so congratulations on having a high score! Keep up the good work :) - H”
Minji looked around to see any suspicious faces, but none of them seemed to be suspicious enough to send anonymous messages.
“ Now it has to be one of our classmates, ” Minji thought about it but couldn’t think straight since she had to listen to what the teacher was discussing in front.
Until lunchtime came and Minji was still wondering who was writing the notes to her, she grew out of frustration that she didn’t want to eat her food.
“What’s wrong?” Sullyoon asked her, Minji then raised her head then turned her head to Sulyoon. She just realized that Sullyoon is Ms. Nam’s student assistant for the Music subject.
“Aren’t you the one who’s checking the papers for Ms. Nam?” Minji asked and Sullyoon just nodded, “Were you the ones sending these notes?” Minji accidentally opened one of the pages in her notebook that was filled with notes instead of just the note from earlier.
All of her friends gathered up and saw what Minji just revealed. Searched through it and was about to tease Minji about it. But Sullyoon just rolled her eyes and continued speaking, “Minji, I wasn’t the one who checked the papers earlier because Yeeun and I were grabbing some breakfast. Maybe someone else did it.”
Minji looked at Sullyoon, without saying anything, Sullyoon already knew what she was going to ask anyway, “I have no idea who. Ms. Nam would just randomly pick other students even if I’m not there.”
Minji just plops down her head on the table, “H, there’s like a lot of H in our class,” Yeeun pointed out, Jaehee then pulled out her notebook in her bag and started writing down names “It could start with the last name or just a name.”
Minji just agreed and started thinking of their classmates' names.
“Hyunbin, Hyunsoo, Hanni, wait it can’t be since she’s a girl, Haruto, Hyunjun, Hee-” Yeeun continued talking but Minji just thought about what Yeeun had said. Minji was slightly disappointed because she forgot that she lives in a society where homosexuality isn’t accepted by the majority of people.
Minji silently wished that it was Hanni who was sending those messages out to her, how she would imagine Hanni’s voice while reading the note. But she didn’t want to assume it was her since Hanni’s action was pretty much neutral whenever she was with her or in the classroom. Like just a normal classmate.
She then was brought back to reality when she noticed that Jaehee and Yeeun were exchanging words about how this controversial issue of girls liking girls. Jaehee was defending how people can like anyone they want, whilst Yeeun was defending herself by saying that Hanni might not be onto girls.
“I’m not saying I’m against gay people, it’s just I don’t want to assume Hanni’s sexuality. I mean Minji is bisexual and I accept her! What are you even thinking?” Yeeun said to Jaehee. Jaehee was about to say something when Rei hushed them down.
“So going back to the topic of the note, it sounds like a Hyunbin type of thing. I remember him doing it to Sullyoon back then,” Rei said, which Jaehee approved.
“Oh? What’s this?” Wonyoung, one of their friends, suddenly came to their table with her best friend Yujin and took a note on their table, “‘Ever since the day I met you, you’ve caught my attention, - H’ ooohhh Minji has an admirer.”
“Sounds like Hyunbin would do it,” Yujin added
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Rei said and made a high five with Yujin. Minji just wants to hide and just wants to know who the person behind the note is.
“Wait, when did this start?” Yujin asked
“About 2 weeks now, I started having notes on my locker every morning,” Minji said that Wonyoung noticed something.
“Could it be Haerin?” Another question popped up.
“I thought Haerin and Danielle had a thing?” Rei asked because it is known to some people.
“They’re a thing?” Yujin asked again and was really curious.
“They are! How come no one noticed?” Well everyone noticed.
“Anyway, but come to think of it, you guys know how I have my locker near Minji’s? I always see Hanni passing by our locker every morning,” Wonyoung said then Minji looked at her, “But then again, she might’ve just gone there and got something by her locker, also she only talks to Danielle, Hyein, and Haerin.”
They looked over at Danielle and Hanni’s usual table near them, but it was only Hyein and Haerin who were there, Minji wondered why. Sullyoon once again took one of the notes and noticed something, “You know what, this handwriting is too pretty for Hyunbin. And that it was written carefully like a foreigner wrote it.”
“Haruto then?” Yeeun suggested but Sullyoon just rolled her eyes, “Hanni?”
“Might be, but we’re not too sure,” Sullyoon said
Minji stood up from her seat, “I need to go to the bathroom,” she said fixing her things first, Wonyoung offered to if she wanted to go with her but Minji declined and then went outside the cafeteria.
She went straight to her locker to remove some of her books, but she was welcomed by a sticky note on her locker, she took it out and started reading.
“Sorry I didn’t get to write you a letter earlier, I was a little busy and didn’t find the time. You were so cute earlier when you walked inside the classroom, just pouting, I wonder why. Smile more Minji, I really do like you. - H”
It was her first time seeing those words, two weeks of just having those letters and it was the first time that the person said she likes her. Yeah, Minji would often get random confessions out of nowhere and she rejects them immediately. But with this one, she’s eager to find who the person is.
One thing was on her mind and she was determined who this person was, she smiled at the thought of it. So the next day she decided to go a little extra earlier than most of the students to put a sticky note on her own locker.
“Hi H, meet me by the rooftop before our classes start. But if our class starts, I’d assume you don’t want to expose your identity and I understand that. I hope to see you - Minji”
She then went to the rooftop, she wasn’t even sure if it was open. But the good thing is it is open. She sat in one of the empty chairs and could see a lot of students coming into the campus. She then just waited for someone to open the door and approach her.
Not until it was 5 minutes before their class, Minji was slowly losing hope so she started standing up and put her bag on her shoulder and she went to the door to open it. When she was about to pull and open it, it was gently pushed to the other side revealing another student.
Both eyes widened as they were in a state of shock, “H-hi,” MInji stuttered and she never stuttered in her life, “What- what are you doing here?”
Hanni was too shy but she just grabbed something from her pocket and gave it to Minji. A note, whilst MInji accepts it and reads it.
“Do you perhaps want to have lunch with me? I know I just can’t keep writing these notes to you forever. Wait in the classroom, I hope you’ll stay, I baked cupcakes for the two of us - Hanni”
Minji smiled just by looking at the note, then she looked over to the person who wrote it, “You like me?” Minji started teasing her which made Hanni as red as a tomato.
Hanni was about to walk away when Minji pulled her arms to face her, “Hey hey, what’s wrong with my question if I like you too?”
Eyes wide open from Hanni, “You do?”
“From the day I toured you around this campus, when I brought you here then I saw you enjoying the view and I thought I might’ve had this little crush on you. As time passes b
y I got to know who you are and here we are,” Minji explained her feelings to Hanni. Which is all true.
Hanni doesn’t know what to say, she wanted to walk away because she is shy about what is happening. So she did but then again, Minji stopped her and embraced her with a hug, “Can you just stop walking out for a second?”
Hanni was blushing hard, she did not expect this to come out so she gently pushed Minji away to look down, “Can we go now? We’re gonna be late for our class,” she said while embarrassed and she went by the door.
“Why are you being shy?” Minji chuckles and followed Hanni to intertwine her hands with her.
Hanni was shocked by the action that has been made but she held it as well trying to hide her smile, “L-let’s just go.”
Minji proudly smiled as they walk by the hallways until they got to their classroom, not really caring about the looks that they were receiving,
They were looking at their friends who were ready to tease them but the school bell saved them as everyone went to their own chair, but Minji said something to Hanni before going to her own, “Hey, should we just go back to the rooftop later on? I think our friends are going to bother us if we just stay here.”
They looked again, as their friends were just grinning and eyebrows going up and down. MInji smiled and just shook her head, waiting for Hanni’s answer.
Hanni smiled at her and chuckled, “I’d love to.”
END