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A long yawn came out of his mouth.
Yuta slumped against his desk, arms falling off the edge, and resting his head in between both of them. Students were still in the classroom with him, having conversations with their friends. If he paid enough attention, he could most likely hear the recent drama, but today he was just too tired to even try.
Turning his head to stare out the window, little snow flurries were falling down, drastically compared to the seemingly clear sky. He silently hoped the snow didn’t pick up because his walk home would be much more difficult, if so.
The school day was almost done, and Yuta could not wait to return home and play video games with his sister. Being a transfer student at his school was much more laborious than the nicely edited “Transferring to a South Korean school!” youtube video made it seem. Moving because his parents thought it would be better for his sister and his’ education was not as good of a reason as they made it out to be.
It also turns out learning Korean last minute just to be able to get into a school was also a horrible idea since Yuta learned almost no basic conversation skills, and rather textbook sentences. “Thanks a lot, mom and dad” , he sarcastically said in his head.
But, over the few years, Yuta has made two sweet friends along this burdensome adventure.
Taeyong. He was caring and would constantly ask Yuta if he needed help on anything, always sticking close by his side. Even though he had a few friends to himself, Taeyong always found time for him, mostly because his friends were in a different class. The boy was also there to beat up anybody who dared to do any evil to ‘his’ Yuta.
The other was Johnny. Johnny, himself, is a transfer student from America, but he learned Korean at a young age and can communicate better than him. Both of them found out their houses are near each other when walking home from school, and Johnny struck up a simple conversation in English, asking him where he was from, slowly forming their friendship.
Rather than being super sweet like Taeyong, he was more protective on the sidelines, coming to Yuta’s aid whenever he felt appropriate. Yet, between the both of them, Yuta was closer with Taeyong, for one reason.
Johnny, was quite the popular catch. Yuta could see why. He was athletic, smart, had American charms, and was friendly. He made everyone feel comfortable with him, no matter the person. The Japanese boy was very envious over that, he, too, wished to have that power on people.
Students started piling into the classroom, signaling the teacher was going to come in soon. Taeyong walked in and sat at the desk next to his, handing over a bottle of tea.
“Thanks, Yong,” Yuta said, giving him a slight smile, while Taeyong just waved him off.
“No need.”
Opening the bottle and taking a sip, he saw Johnny walking in with a group of his guy friends, sitting down near the front of the room. They were all laughing, talking amongst themselves. Yuta shoved the bottle into his backpack, and leaned back in his chair, waiting for the teacher to finally walk in and teach the last three classes.
“Did you do the homework for our English class? I can help you answer some of them if you didn’t,” Taeyong said while leaning over towards Yuta.
He was an angel in disguise. “Actually, there were a few questions I couldn’t complete, do you mind helping me?”
“Not at all! This is what I’m here for, Yuta.”
Trying to hand the paper over to Taeyong, he accidentally dropped it, and the paper slid across the ground. It landed towards the school bully, Bosong, and he picked it up, snorting.
“I know you are a transfer student, but how can your English be this bad.” Bosong scoffed.
Upon hearing Bosong, Johnny turned around in his seat to look at Yuta.
He smacked the paper on Yuta’s head, “Dumbass,” he declared and went over to his desk.
Taeyong immediately got out from his seat and rushed over to Bosong, “Why you-” he grabbed his school uniform, hushed voices started to form.
A loud squeak of a chair was heard and the entire class was silent. “I would not talk when you have a D in English, Bosong. Yuta is doing better than you and even knows three languages. Try to be at his league before saying anything,” Johnny firmly interjected before sitting back down in his seat. He took a quick look at Yuta, smiling, and continued his past activities.
Pushing him away, Taeyong finally let go, and rubbed Yuta’s back. “It’s okay,” he whispered.
Luckily, the teacher didn’t come in for another couple of minutes, and no one talked about the matter until after school was done.
Bosong jabbed at Yuta when he was walking past him, pain shooting to his arm. “You’re lucky little Johnny Suh was there to stand up for you or both Taeyong and you would have been dead by now.”
Secretly sticking up the middle finger as Bosong walked out of the classroom, Yuta was about to walk up to Taeyong when he saw two girls handing him roses. It was that time of the year again. Both the girls and boys will give roses to those they cherish, but most of the time, it was those they had crushes on.
Taeyong bowed at the women and thanked them for the roses.
“Popular man you are,” Yuta stated while packing up school work, shoving it all in his backpack.
He just chuckled. “It’s not many though, not compared to Mister America over there.” Taeyong pointed towards Johnny. He could barely even stand up from his desk because of the surrounding girls giving roses of many colors to him. Smiling and taking them all, he politely asked the women around him to move so he could stand up.
Giggling, both Yuta and Taeyong made their way to Johnny. He spun around and faced them, “Don’t tell me you have roses to give me as well.”
Yuta shrugged while Taeyong shook his head. “I have nothing, sorry hyung,” Yuta replied.
Johnny just ruffled his blonde locks. “It’s fine, I was just joking anyway. Wanna head… um, yes?” He was looking at someone behind them, causing both men to turn around.
“Uh, sorry to bother you, but… here!” The student he discovered to be known as Ten was holding out two roses for Taeyong.
Eyes wide open, Taeyong could only stand there until Yuta nudged his side, knocking some reality into him.
“Oh, yes, thank you, Ten.” He took the roses from his hand and bowed.
The other boy frantically ran out of the room, almost tripping over his own feet, and disappeared.
“Well well well, what do we have here. Ten gave you a rose? Two, infact?” Johnny jeered.
Rolling his eyes, he carefully held the roses in his hands, the other two given from the girls probably destroyed in his backpack.
“As I was saying, Yuta wanna head out?” He raised his eyebrows.
Yuta nodded and waved Taeyong goodbye, leaving him to deal with his feelings when the latter goes home.
They both walked down the three flights of stairs and finally out of the school building. The snow flurries ended up stopping a while ago, allowing Yuta to walk home. He didn’t wait for Johnny behind him since he was getting his bike, and would eventually catch up anyways.
Yuta was not that upset; he didn’t get a rose, but something inside did feel empty seeing everyone in his class get a rose from someone (even Bosong, somehow) but him. Hearing something behind him, he turned around and saw Johnny with his bike basket full of roses. Yuta sighed and waited for Johnny to ride up next to him.
Most of the kids left school before them, so the walk to their houses was peaceful. Even with it being a cold February day, it was still sunny out and warmed him up a bit. The only sound they could hear was Johnny’s bike wheels against the hard road, and Yuta’s footsteps.
After a bit of silence, Yuta decided to speak up. “Thank you for today.”
Johnny looked at Yuta.
“For speaking up for me, against Bosong. It means a lot.”
He slowed down on his bike and looked at Yuta.
“That jerk should have not even dared to speak up in the first place. Who makes fun of one’s own language skills when they aren’t any better. Stupid of him to do.” Johnny had a stern look on his face, annoyed at the Bosong’s past action that day.
Yuta walked over and squeezed the tight hand on the handlebars. “Sorry I couldn’t get you guys a rose, the only shops I knew of didn’t have any I wanted.”
“Yuta, I told you it was fine. I understand.”
He just nodded, accepting Johnny’s response.
The boys slowly approached Yuta’s house and Johnny stopped in his tracks to open up his backpack, making Yuta wait for him. After a few seconds, a beautifully wrapped red rose was handed to Yuta.
Johnny cleared his throat. “I- um… I hope you like it.”
Yuta took the rose and his face lit up. “Thank you, Johnny. This, I will treasure this forever.” He continued walking while Johnny behind him smiled in relief, glad Yuta didn’t understand the meaning behind roses.
Dropping Yuta off at his house, Johnny quickly sped up on his bike, yelling out of happiness once he finally went inside.
On the other hand, Yuta smiled to himself, sniffing the rose. He skipped towards the kitchen to grab a vase from a cabinet, filling it with water and taking it up to his room.
Yuta placed the vase on his desk, making sure it got enough sunlight, and later on submerging the singular rose’s stem into the water. He picked up the wrapping to throw it in the garbage until he noticed a small note inside.
Yuta smiled once more.
When you’re happy, I am happy. Cherry blossoms only bloom in April, so let's plan a visit to Han River, okay? - Johnny <3.