( ⛅ )

❛ though we're best friends...
he's out of my league. ❜

—

drinking the iced coffee she had just purchased from the school cafeteria, miyong made her way out to the field area under the breezy willow tree where she typically sat for lunch. it was monday— the beginning of another long and dreadful week.

the weather had been great recently, and she tried to soak in every minute of it— not caring if she got a weird tan line as some other girls did. miyong was already pale enough, having iron deficiency practically since birth.

true to his word, mark had come over on saturday to help miyong with her homework.

no wonder that boy was an ace. he had helped miyong finish everything in an hour when it would have taken her the whole day to do it herself.

as her mind trailed to the thought of him, she wondered where he was.

you'd think best friends would always sit together at lunch, right? well, kind of.

growing up, there would never be a lunch when they were apart. but as they shifted into high school, mark would go and sit with his girlfriends on certain days, instead of with her and their other friends.

miyong wished they could go back to the way it was before, but she understood that he needed his space too.

it was fine, because miyong loved all of mark's friends. they were a rowdy bunch, but it was all playful.

when he wasn't around, she enjoyed their company quite a lot.

they were known as seoul high's aces, and that's certainly what they were.

being friends with the aces of the school wasn't all as easy as it seemed. the amount of hate messages miyong had received from girls throughout the years was astronomical.

especially from mark's girlfriends. they were the worst. they loved sending her threatening messages that hurt. a lot.

she tried to ignore them most of the time, but she believed what they said about her every time.

she was weak, like they said. she was dumb, like they said. she wasn't pretty, like they said. she didn't deserve mark's friendship, like they said. though none of it was true, she always believed every word.

miyong never told anyone about the messages because she didn't want anyone to see her — park miyong —the strong-willed, brave, and witty girl — in her most vulnerable state.

and she most definitely didn't want to ruin anything for mark.

looking up at the soft clouds floating in the sky, she wondered where he was, as today was one of those days where he wouldn't be having lunch with her.

miyong scanned her eyes across the field, immediately spotting him in the distance.

how could you not? he was mark lee.

there he was, looking perfect as always.

his hair flowed as the soft breeze swept by. the sun illuminated his distinctive features. not to mention his outfit was also fire.

all was wonderful. except for the fact that he had a girl on his lap, his arm wrapped around her waist.

seong hyejin. the girl who was always around mark these days.

i guess you could say she was his so-called girlfriend.

mark has had more girlfriends than the number of times miyong had gotten lost in a grocery store.

and she got lost a lot. like a lot— having no sense of direction since the day she was born.

typically, mark's relationships wouldn't last for more than three weeks maximum, but what surprised miyong about him and hyejin, was that they had already dated for over two months— nearing the three-month mark. the longest relationship of his that she could remember.

there was definitely something about seong hyejin that was special. she was the typical high school 'it' girl. she was charitable, she was amazing at athletics — yet never broke a sweat when doing them, and she was pretty. very, very pretty.

she had a soft pointed chin, along with brown big eyes that sparkled in the light. her lips were always curved in a pleasing smile— naturally having a pinkish tint, which contrasted well against her rich pale skin. her hair flowed past her shoulders looking soft and smooth as ever.

'i'd be surprised if any guy hadn't had a crush on her at some point in their lives,' miyong thought.

she was just perfect.

something miyong told herself she could never be.

and there hyejin was with mark, looking happy as ever.

she laid her head on mark's lap as he played with her hair. she pulled him into a sweet kiss and mark didn't hesitate for a second to kiss back. miyong could see his smile and the look of admiration on his face as she caressed the nape of his neck.

she closed her eyes and shook her head.

'whatever, they're dating right? they're supposed to be doing that kind of stuff. suck it up miyong, be happy for mark.'  miyong thought to herself.

"mi?"

"you good?" the sound of a girl's voice broke her train of thought.

it was kim seyeon— miyong's girl bestfriend.

she had met seyeon two years ago when seyeon had just freshly moved to seoul from sydney, australia. she had her very first math block with miyong on her first day, and so miyong quickly took her under her wing and they'd been friends since.

she was one of the people miyong trusted the most. seyeon was an extremely smart girl. yet at first glance, you wouldn't expect it. she was a short and tiny girl— but her knowledge surpassed all.

she was also the only person who knew how miyong truly felt about mark.

"hey yeon." miyong smiled at seyeon, as she sat down on the grass next to her.

seyeon's gaze followed miyong's only to see mark and hyejin going at it again.

"you good?" she asked, concern in her eyes, "do you want to talk about it?"

"no. not really," miyong replied blatantly.

seyeon frowned as she heard the disappointment in her voice, but she let it slide— not wanting to push it any further, as she knew that it was a sensitive topic. and that's what miyong loved about her.

"i... i heard you guys hung out together though, yesterday," seyeon mentioned changing the subject slightly. "how was it?"

miyong shrugged. "it seemed pretty normal..."

she stopped. 'yesterday wasn't normal,' she thought to herself.

"...other than the fact that we... there was this moment when..."

she couldn't put it into words.

miyong swallowed, burying the knot in her stomach. "he decided to attack me in a tickle war and... we ended up only being a few centimetres away from each other." a blush slowly crept onto her ears.

"and he... called me cute. but— but that doesn't really mean anything because he does that to everyone..." miyong trailed off, seeing as seyeon was smiling widely.

"so... he called you cute, huh?" seyeon nudged miyong wiggling her eyebrows.

"yeon, we've been over this. he flirts with everyone. plus, he's already dating hyejin— she's flawless. he'd never choose me over her, or anyone as a matter of fact." miyong winced.

"though we're best friends... he's out of my league," she said, pushing seyeon away.

"but mi—" miyong quickly stopped seyeon by covering her mouth.

"no more talk about my love life yeon. we can't have anyone knowing the park miyong has a problem with getting a guy to like her." miyong said playfully, hugging seyeon.

"fine." seyeon sulked, crossing her arms, then proceeded to smirk.

"he's looking this way at you though, by the way."

miyong tackled her.

"yeon!"

( ⛅ )

a/n !

" pre rotten chapter " 💀 jay jill someone save me from autocorrect pls

thank you for coming to my ted talk hope you're enjoying the book so far <3