one.

Bae Eunmi was the kind of girl that didn't speak too much to people sher didn't like. But Eunmi liked almost no one, so her words were always spared.

She used to have a few friends at school, sure, but they were now college students while she was a senior in high school. She didn't really have friends in her class, she was trying to be social with them but didn't really like talking to them. 

She was picky about making friends, she had taste like she had taste for men. 

So the amount she talked at school would depend.  On some days no one could stop her from talking - those were the days when her senior friends weren't as busy. On other days she would talk a few words out of kindness for her classmates. 

Her friends always called her life grey. Boring. Lifeless. She had never gone to a party, never done anything that would give her some kind of adrenaline. She never kissed a boy, let alone had a boyfriend. She was a colorless, grey, boring, monotone. 

Her life was as grey as her lungs would be - Eunmi smoked after all. She didn't smoke because she liked acting cool or tough; she smoked out of pure addiction. She started at a young age, too ignorant to say no when someone offered her a cigarette.

Eunmi took her seat next to the classmate that she was assigned to sit next to. She always called him by the pet name Pretty Boy.

Eunmi gave him the pet name since the first day she had met him. She had decided that it was the perfect nickname for him, he was after all beautiful. She knew he didn't like being called that by the way his eyes would stay unamused while his nose would scrunch up upon hearing the name she gave him.

She didn't know how to call him other than pretty boy though, she didn't bother to know his real name.

But the thing was Eunmi was also really stubborn, so if she wanted to call him pretty boy, then she did.

"What are you staring at, pretty boy?" she asked, not out of annoyance but out of curiosity.

Yes, Seyoon knew he was staring at her. It had practically become a habit of his. He didn't stare at her because she was beautiful though, he stared because he was amused.

 

Eunmi wasn't his type at all, Seyoon liked tall and cute girls. She was short and her temper was always shown on her face. But somehow for him, she still looked stunning every time he saw her and it puzzled him how she did it. 

Despite that, he found her attractive. His eyes were always landing on her even though he didn't want them to, just like today.

Maybe it was because she looked somewhat presentable today. Her skin glowing in the morning sunlight which came in through the classroom window blinding all the students including him. But it didn't bother Eunmi at all. She made the sun her own personal spotlight. It made her irises shine lightly. Her eyes looked like they were dusted with golden stars, circling in an eclipse. Eyelashes were covered in a dark substance making it longer than they already were. Her dark straight hair was framing her face gracefully. It looked so soft that he almost had the tendency to touch it. 

 

Almost.

 

He asked himself again, as he did almost every day; was Eunmi his type?

Maybe, maybe not.

He shook his head at her words, offering her a small smile before moving his head to look at the teacher. 

 

... 

 

Eunmi was slightly annoyed. Annoyed at Pretty Boy for staring at her but never telling her why, annoyed at herself because she also had the tendency to stare back at him but didn't really dare to. 

Because he was beautiful, because she was not. 

Looking at him would make her crave for more and that was exactly what she didn't want to.

Eunmi climbed the stairs to the top of the school and sat down near the edge of the roof to smoke a few cigarettes. This was the only place at school where she wouldn't get caught. Smoking wasn't allowed at the school territory, so every time she wanted to smoke she would climb all those stairs until she felt like her heart was giving up on her. 

The smoke left Eunmi's lips gracefully and she wondered how she could be so addicted to something so toxic.

Looking down from the roof, she saw students looking at her. Their eyes were filled with wonder and maybe even some concern. Eunmi wasn't one to put her life on the line though, she didn't harm herself.

So she sat there, locking gazes with people and trying to smile at them showing the cigarette in her hand which probably wasn't the best idea. Because after a while she felt a hand grabbing her roughly by her shoulder. 

Eunmi sighed. Why was she so dumb to sit so closely to the edge of the building where everyone could see her openly? One of the students she saw had probably reported it to a teacher.  

So when the teacher had grabbed her shoulder roughly, she couldn't do anything but look with anger in her eyes at him. He had dragged her to the detention room and sat her down with force. 

It was only a few seconds later that she noticed that Pretty Boy was in the detention room too and Eunmi wasn't shocked at all, he was always here, for the most random reasons.

"You dared to do something that stupid!" The teacher screamed to get her attention. 

 "Do you know what will happen to the school's reputation if anyone puts this on the internet? They will talk about how our students would want to kill themselves without the school doing anything about it. Do you want that?"

Spit splattered over her face and that was exactly what angered Eunmi even more. So the old man shouldn't be surprised when she kicked one of the chairs near her across the classroom and when she screamed back. But he was. 

He told Eunmi off, and not only did she had to be today at detention hour, but also the next few weeks.

Eunmi gave in after she dared to cuss the man out behind his back. She sat down biting on her tongue and with her nails slightly digging into the skin of her arm, because she knew that she was about to explode like a time bomb.

Eunmi hated it when people could get her to that state, because in that state she would lose it all, and she didn't want to lose herself. Not in front of Pretty Boy.

 

Because Eunmi had dignity.

 

So when she locked her gaze with Pretty Boy's, she hoped that he would have a nonchalant look in his eyes. But he looked at her with an emotion that Eunmi couldn't pinpoint, and it annoyed Eunmi so much that she wanted to punch that beautiful sculptured face of his.

 

...

 

Seyoon always did something on purpose to go to the detention class at the end of the school day.

He couldn't miss a day, because missing a day would mean going home earlier, and going home earlier meant facing his mothers eyes overflowing with sadness. 

His mother who was once happy and joyful was now a sorrowful wreck after losing someone dear to her; her once husband. 

Seyoon didn't care, he had never met the guy who once had made an artwork of his mother to leave her to her self destruction. 

The guy was his biological dad, but he always felt as if his mom was also his dad. 

Perhaps Seyoon was a coward, he didn't go home to comfort his mother or to be with her, he avoided her. Knowing he wasn't capable of healing her. 

So when Eunmi kicked the table across the room, fighting back for a little bit before giving in, it hit Seyoon that she was as brave as he dreamed to be. Because she at least tried, while he never did.

When she sat down with her nails digging into her skin he realised that she was either going to explode, or she was trying to hurt herself.

 He knew it was probably the first one, he couldn't imagine her hurting herself.

 

Hurting others? Probably.

Hurting herself? No.

 

He liked her a lot already, although the most words he had ever given her was probably one whole sentence.

And thinking about her like that, he again stared a little bit too long.

"You staring again, Pretty Boy?" Eunmi asked him, her voice filled with anger. Eunmi suppressed the feeling of wanting to punch him. Her gaze had met his and she rolled her eyes at his surprised expression.

"You think I don't see it, Pretty Boy?" Her eyes were narrowed, her hands which were flat on the table a second ago were now balled into fists. "Why do you look at me like that?"

Seyoon had no choice but to talk to her this time, normally he would avoid it like he did at class in the morning.

"How do I look at you?" He asked her back not wanting to answer her questions.

"I don't even know," she said, hesitating for a bit, but deciding to shut her mouth.

 

Like you admire me or something.

 

The thought lingered in her head for a long time. 

 She felt her tears sting behind her eyes and suddenly she felt bare. So bare it was as if she had no skin left on her body. He ripped off all of her skin with one question and left her as naked as she could ever be.

He touched her arm slightly where there were crescents into her skin from her nails, he was still expecting an answer. 

"Will you just stop looking at me? I know how you always stare at me and it's just uncomfortable," she said instead of answering his question, looking away. 

If Eunmi had looked at least once at Seyoon's face, she could have seen the slight scarlet hue creeping up his face. 

But she didn't, and he was glad.