Blind Cupid: Part One

It was spring time, Hani's favorite season. She smiled and tightened her grisps on the handlebars of her bicycle. The golden touch of the morning sun on the small shrubs and flowers on either side of the road was enough to turn her Monday morning into heaven. Hani pedaled faster and released her grissp from the handlebars with a soft laugh. The soft wind tickled brushedup against her face and tickled her hair, causing her heart to burst with joy and exhilaration. A couple of students passed by and smiled her way, and Hani waved at them. 

"Spring! I love you!!!" She screamed and then laughed. 

Suddenly her bicycle hit a rock, causing her to lurched forward and her heart to miss several beats. She wasn't worried about injuring herself, but more about ruining her school uniform. Hani took a deep shaky breath and steadied herself with a smile. A beep sounded behind her and Hani steered her bicycle further to the left. She turned to the vehicle angrily and cursed at it for ruining her happiness, but her breathe stopped when she saw a boy looking at her behind the window. He was smiling at her but when he noticed her looking back at him, he wiped it off and turned to the man behind the steering wheel. Hani pouted as the car drove past. It couldn't kill him if her were to keep smiling at her couldn't it? What's wrong with him? It's not like she's going to sue him for a smile. She pedaled faster and her long dark hair flew behind her. Her mind wandered off to that smile again. This time, instead of feeling angry at the boy, she smiled. What about her that could make him smile like that, she wondered.

.......

"Hey Hani, you're not hungry?"

Hani frowned and looked down at the big fat F on her history test. She was sure she studied hard last night. On Saturday, she skimmed through the entire lessons, memorizing important dates and figures. She even read some chapters again two to three times. On Sunday, she reread her notes and memorized them, and when she took the test she was confident she did well. Hani checked the name again. Hani Kim, thats her name. She should get an A. 

"Hani, come on, we're hungry!"

Hani looked at her friends, and frowned at Yoona for acting like a dying whale.

"Alright, alright, i'm going. If you're hungry, you should've gone without me, you know."

"We could, but we don't want you complaining about us being bad friends."

"I never did that!"

"You did it once!"

"I don't remember! It doesn't count if i don't remember!"

Marsha poked her in the ribs and Hani yelped and jumped away. Her body smashed into another strong one and she fell onto her butt. 

"Ouch!" she cried, her test paper fell out of her hand. 

"Oh, i'm sorry, i didn't see you."

Hani looked up in disbelief. "What? You-"

Her mouth hung open when she looked up at the flawless face of the person whom she bumped into. He looked about a year older than her, but a bit taller than a normal thirteen year old boy she'd seen at her school. His hair and eyes were brown and seemed to sparkle.

"I...i'm sorry, i should be the one to apologize."

He shrugged and bent down to pick her test paper, smirking slightly at the score. Hani blushed with anger and snatched the paper away. She studied the boy in front of her, who was smiling at what he saw. Something about him seemed familiar; It was maybe the outline of his face or his smile.

"Are you the guy i saw smiling at me in the morning?" she said. He blushed at this and pushed past her. Hani stared at him in shock and opened her mouth to say something rude, but nothing came out. Her friends turned to look at him in awe, except for Yoona who wore the same expression as Hani.

"Rude," they both said at the same time. Hani glanced down at her test paper. He'd seen her score. Embarrassment built up inside her and she turned back.

"Hani! Where are you going?!"

"You all can go to eat. I'm going to rewrite my own history with our teacher."

Hani stomped all the way to her history teacher's classroom, feeling determined to make him recheck her test again. Somehow the fact that the new boy had seen her score triggered something inside her. She yang open the classroom door and poked her head in. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who were in there. The new boy was sitting comfortably in front of her teacher and he was saying something like "uncle". Her teacher laughed and slapped him on the back.

"I'm just going to stay in this school for a few months before i can go back home. Dad told me that i should spend some time with you and Aunt Fiona," said the new boy.

"Ah, that's sad. I wish i could be your teacher but i don't teach eighth grade. It's quite sad, i wish i could see how intelligent my young nephew is. Your Dad said you were a genius, Shane."

"Really? Wow, i wish i could hear that myself."

Both of them laughed and Hani squirmed. Slowly, she pulled her head away, but the new boy noticed her and smiled at her. Hani starred at him, mainly at the smile. She smiled back, but caught herself and frowned. Her history teacher was busy looking through a pile of papers. Shane raised one eyebrow at her, his smile still visible, and Hani brought her finger to her lips. Silently, she pulled away and closed the door. Her heart was pounding furiously, not from fear at being caught eavesdropping but from the fact that Shane had smiled at her. 

She looked down at her test and finally remembered the purpose of her coming here. With a sigh, she walked to the nearby bin and threw the paper away. She felt a tingling feeling around her neck and looked back to see Shane looking at her in alarm and at the bin. She ignored him and walked away. Halfway, Hani bit her lips and looked back at the bin; Shane's expression somehow haunted her and made her felt guilty. She'd thrown away her tests many times, and she never felt guilty like this. With a sigh, she turned back and dig her test out of the bin. Luckily the new boy was no where to be seen.

"I hope you're gone sooner. Somehow you changed me in less then a day and made me do things i normally won't do, first apologize and then coming to argue my test score, and now this," she said to herself and walked away neatly putting away her test into her folder.

As Hani walked away, Shane appeared and starred after her. Everything about her looked majestic like the flow of her long dark hair, the way she walked, and the movements of her clothes. He'd heard what she said and somehow he felt rejected. He was starting to like her for the fact that she's beautiful and how she smiled and laughed that morning. It was the first time he smiled like that to a girl he just met.

"Fine," he said, "Fine, i will go after a few months and i will stay out of your way since you disliked me so much. I will make sure you won't do things you don't want to do."

Five Months later.

Shane dribbled the ball slowly in one place. He had no feelings at all to play soccer, and his friends were starting to look at him strangely. This was the last day of him at this school. He had to go back, far, far away from here. However he didn't want to say good bye, not to his friends at school, not to his uncle and aunt, not to people he came to know. He didn't want to go away from the girl he'd grown to love over the past few months. He sighed. Love is the wrong word. He just liked her more than he intended to. Sometimes she seemed to dislike him and sometimes she seemed to like him. 

Why her? Why did it has to be her? He didn't know her name and they didn't even talked because Shane had promised to stay away from her in case she disliked him even more. He ran his hands through his thick hair and groaned in frustration. For heaven's sake, he's just thirteen he shouldn't be facing this kind of dilemma. 

Hani looked around searching the familiar brown hair. Normally she would caught him starring at her, but today, he was no where to be seen. She felt empty inside and followed Yoona into the classroom.

"If you liked him so much, you should go talk to him," commented Yoona.

Hani wanted to talk to him, however every time they met, Shane seemed to walk faster than before as if he's afraid to talk to her. She recounted the millions of times they actually had eye contact, close enough to speak, but if its not him, it was her who didn't know what to say. When she got into the classroom, she dropped her bag and starred outside. She missed spring so much, especially the smell of fresh flowers, the cool rain, the dazzling sun rays along the path she rode to school, the soft breeze. Spring was the season she'd met Shane, who reminded her of the weather with his bright smile and vibrant personality. She smiled at the thought of his smile. 

Suddenly the classroom grew silent and a couple of girls beside her giggled. Hani looked at the doorway and her heart leapt. However, he didn't look at her. Shane walked to her teacher, his uncle, and said something to him. A girl named Tracey walked toward Shane with a smile and held his hand. Shane smiled sadly at her. Hani grimaced. Those two were always together, and she knew Tracey thought of Shane more than just a friend. Shane's eyes caught hers and they lingered there. Hani could see a hint of sadness in those gorgeous hazel eyes and she looked back, confused. Finally, he smiled at her, the way he used to and walked out. Hani smiled at him and her gaze followed him out. Shane stopped and turned back, but Hani was already talking to her friend as if nothing had happened. 

..........

"What?!" Hani screeched.

"Shane's leaving," replied Marsha sadly. 

It couldn't be. How could he leave without a good bye? She knew that they never talked, but at least he could indicated that he was going to leave.

"When is he leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Hani looked at her watch. It was 8:00 at night. She hung up her phone and went to the window. A lump formed in her throat and she closed her eyes. It wasn't enough to stop those tears from falling. How could he left like that? He'd come so suddenly and left so suddenly. How could she be so stupid? She could've talked to him before he left.

"Why should i cry? Of course we had  moments with each other, of course i learned to like you along the way, but you are not that important.We'd never even talked. I don't know anything about you and you don't know anything about me. Maybe...maybe you are nothing more than a passerby."

Hani grabbed hold of her windowsill as she cried harder. Something inside her told her to stop lying to herself. Something inside her told her that she's never going to forget him, that she's going to be a fool and love him forever. She  closed her eyes and whispered, "This is all a lie. Marsha is just playing a trick with me." Hani looked up at the moon and smiled, "See you tomorrow, Shane."