Two months had passed since Jungmin entered Shinra High School. It was late November and the breezy autumn weather was soon about to turn into the snowy winter weather. Jungmin was beginning to be comfortable after moving into the neighborhood. Although he was friendly with his classmates, Jungmin had not made any close friends at Shinra High. One day, Jungmin was leaving the school grounds after classes. He was passing by the basketball courts when Jungmin started to watch a couple schoolmates playing a game. Suddenly the basketball flew out towards Jungmin, who caught it instantly.
A boy ran toward Jungmin, "Hey, nice catch. Sorry about that."
"Sure, not a problem."
"Are you a new student here? I don't recall seeing you around."
"Oh, yes. I'm a new student. My name is Lee Jungmin. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Park Joonhyuk." greeted Joonhyuk. "Hey, any chance you want to join our game?"
Jungmin agreed and walked towards the other boys. Joonhyuk introduced Jungmin to his friends and they all started a new basketball game. Midway through the game, Joonhyuk started to realize how athletic Jungmin was. Joonhyuk was having a difficult time guarding Jungmin. Jungmin seemed to be unstoppable whether he was taking a jump shot from the outside or charging towards the hoop for a layup. Joonhyuk decided to play more seriously. Jungmin felt the intensity of the game become increasingly competitive. Slowly, fellow schoolmates started to gather around the basketball courts and watch the game. Eunjoo walked toward the group of students gathered to see the game. She found Sunghee and Hyewon and asked "Hey, what's going on?"
Sunghee giggled, "Eunjoo-ah. You know that cute boy that Hyewon and I saw two months ago? He's playing basketball with Joonhyuk. He's pretty good too!"
Eunjoo saw both Jungmin and Joonhyuk playing with high intensity. She had to admit, Jungmin was handsome. Still, Eunjoo couldn't help but think that Joonhyuk was better looking.
Counting the score, Joonhyuk realized the score was 20-19, in favor of Jungmin. Jungmin had a sly grin on his face. Jungmin began to dribble the basketball slowly. Joonhyuk kept his arms spread out, unwanting to give up the the final point. Suddenly Jungmin performed a crossover, immediately switching the basketball to his left hand and began to drive towards the hoop. Joonhyuk was taken by surprise and tripped. Jungmin dribbled around a sitting Joonhyuk and leapt into the air, finishing with a slam dunk. Everyone watching broke out in applause.
"Ah...seriously..." mumbled Joonhyuk, annoyed that he was just dunked on.
Jungmin offered Joonhyuk a hand, "That was a good game. You're pretty good Joonhyuk-ssi."
Joonhyuk stood up and dusted himself off. "Nah, you outplayed me." He shook Jungmin's hand, nodding his head to acknowledge the true winner.
As the crowd began to clear out, Eunjoo, Sunghee and Hyewon walked towards Joonhyuk and Jungmin.
"Oh Eunjoo-ah. Were you watching the game?" said Joonhyuk, quickly greeting Sunghee and Hyewon as well.
"Hmm, yeah. Oppa, you played pretty well." replied Eunjoo.
"I played alright. Oh, by the way, this is my friend Lee Jungmin."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Lee Jungmin." The three girls quickly bowed and introduced themselves to Jungmin.
"Jungmin-ssi, would you like to come with us to Blue Sky Cafe?"
“Sure, I’d like that. Joonhyuk, are you coming with us?” asked Jungmin.
“No, I’m waiting for someone. Oh, there she is now.” said Joonhyuk.
“Hi. Sorry, I needed to pick up a book at the library.” said Siyeon. She turned to Joonhyuk and asked “Are we going somewhere today?”
“Would like to come to Blue Sky Cafe?” interrupted Jungmin. “We all could go together.”
Siyeon turned around in surprise. Jungmin smiled and Siyeon couldn’t help but return the smile.
“I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Han Siyeon.”
“Lee Jungmin. Nice to meet you, Siyeon-ssi.”
All of six of them walked to Blue Sky Cafe. Joonhyuk was a little reluctant because he originally wanting to spend some time alone with Siyeon. However, he decided he could always spend some time with her another day. Jungmin was a new friend who just moved into the neighborhood and it was simply good manners to show him around.
After they all sat down and ordered drinks, Sunghee and Hyewon both in particular, wanted to ask Jungmin questions about his life. Jungmin did not seem bothered that they had a lot of questions and was happy to answer them all.
"Jungmin-ssi, where did you live before you came to Shinra High?
Jungmin laughed "We moved a lot when I was younger. I've lived in Jeonju, Busan and now our family has finally settled into Seoul."
"Oh, I can tell from your accent." commented Eunjoo. "I have an uncle that lives in Busan."
"Really? Most people can't tell. I'm impressed actually."
Hyewon asked, "So Jungmin-ssi, what kind of sports do you like? You seem to be very athletic."
"Well, I like basketball and football. But I don't actually play sports a lot. I'm actually more of a fan of playing Starcraft." Jungmin then asked Joonhyuk, "Hey do you play Starcraft too?"
"Hmm, yeah. I play over at Cybernet, the nearby internet cafe. Do you want to play sometime?"
"Cool, that'll be great. Can't wait." Jungmin checked his watch, realizing that an hour had already flew by. "Well, I got to get back home now. My mother wants me to help out with preparing dinner." He quickly bowed, "It was nice meeting you all."
After Jungmin left, Sunghee and Hyewon were talking excitedly about how amazing Jungmin was. "He's smart, he's athletic, he's kind and best of all, he's so good-looking."
Eunjoo laughed out loud, "Ah, really? You guys are just ridiculous."
Joonhyuk seemed mildly annoyed. Joonhyuk knew he wasn't the most popular guy at school, but couldn't help but feel a little jealous from the lack of attention. "Hey Siyeon, let's head out. I'll walk you." He waved goodbye to Eunjoo, Sunghee and Hyewon and walked out of Blue Sky Cafe.
Joonhyuk and Siyeon were walking through Dongsam Park. For the last two months, Joonhyuk had been walking Siyeon home. He enjoyed their chats about everything from school life to favorite movies and songs. About halfway through the park, Joonhyuk stopped Siyeon. Siyeon was confused and asked if anything was bothering him.
"Well, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. These last couple of months have been really fun and I really like spending time with you. I really like you too. I like you a lot. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me. Would you be my girlfriend?"
"Thank you, I'm flattered." Then Siyeon paused for a moment. After collecting her thoughts together she said, "I'm sorry. There is someone else I am interested in."
