Chapter Text
“What keeps you motivated?” Hyuna clasps her hands together and looks at the interviewer, “my drive.”
A page is flipped as the interviewer reads out another line from their clipboard, “who is your biggest inspiration?” She thinks for a while on that one before answering, “my…?” There is the sound of nails being tapped on the table then a brief pause.
“Friends. I only got this far because they are the ones who supported me and had my back even when things got rough.”
The interviewer glances at Hyuna and nods, writing something down on their clipboard before firing another question, “is there any advice you would like to give to people who are inspired by you?” The questions seemed never ending and as soon as Hyuna answered one, there was another lying in wait, this wasn’t her idea of a good time like her teacher had promised.
By the time the dreaded interview that should have only taken ten minutes but instead took thirty minutes finally ended, Hyuna already wanted to leave the building. The interviewer shakes Hyuna’s hand, thanking her for her participation and willingness to engage in the lengthy conversation to which Hyuna politely nods and smiles.
All that was on her mind right now was leaving this room and reuniting with her friend who was waiting for her outside. Staying another minute in here might make her go insane.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, I hope you have a great day.” Hyuna says, wanting to leave a good impression on the interviewer. The woman nods in acknowledgement and waves her off allowing her to leave the area and carry on with the rest of her day. When Hyuna makes it out of the stuffy room, she relishes the cool air blowing on her face. It felt delightful compared to being holed up in that small room with someone she didn’t know.
However, before she can go over and greet her friend she is stopped in her tracks by the teacher who had recommended the interview, “Hyuna, it’s nice to see you. Is it okay if we talk for a bit?” She plasters on a fake smile not really wanting to say yes but ends up in a quiet corner of the school with her teacher anyway.
She surveyed her teacher’s expression, his face was stretched into a wide grin as he spoke, “I knew I selected the right student for this, Hyuna, Marie told me you were amazing.” She was? Hyuna resisted the urge to laugh and smiled sweetly, “The pleasure is all mine, I’m honoured you chose me sir.” Her teacher appeared to be her number one fan as he was always boasting about her achievements to other members of staff, he felt proud that Hyuna was one of his students. She quite liked the praise herself too, it made her feel extraordinary.
The teacher checks his watch, “well I’ve got to get going now, I have a meeting so I’ll see you tomorrow Hyuna.” He patted her on the shoulder before making a beeline to the busy corridor soon merging with the rest of the students until she lost sight of him. She walks to the area where her friend said they would be waiting for her but it’s empty, there’s no sign of them which is strange. She can’t figure out where else they might have gone, the school building was quite large, if she started a missing person campaign she might have better luck but no such thought crossed her mind.
A loud shout coming from near the entrance of the building interrupts her search, bringing it to a close. “Hyuna over here!” The energetic voice belonged to Dewey, one of her closest friends; she follows the call which leads her to a large crowd of excited students. Unfortunately for her, her friend also seemed to be caught up in this crowd which she was getting swallowed up by.
A hand she recognises is outstretched towards her which she takes, pulling her into a pair of strong arms and familiar company. “Hey, took you long enough. What kept ya?” Hyuna felt like she was being shoved on all sides, where on earth did this large crowd come from, it certainly wasn’t this busy in the morning when she arrived for the interview.
“I was talking to my teacher, I didn’t expect you guys to disappear on me?” Dewey apologises with a hearty laugh. If he wasn’t holding her upright she might have been flattened already by this rambunctious crowd. Hyuna peers over his shoulder, “what’s with the crowd? What’s the hold up?” Dewey gestures towards the person attracting the crowd with a tilt of his chin, “ask that guy.” She lifts her head trying to get a look at the centre of attention that he was referring to, only to get ambushed by a hoarse of screaming girls.
Dewey was nowhere to be seen, all she could see was a sea of heads. If she couldn’t get back to him right now then she might as well try to get a glimpse of this guy that everyone was surrounding before looking for Dewey. Just on cue, a crown of blonde hair enters her line of sight, being tall had its advantages and this guy that got everyone’s attention seemed to be just between the average height for a male.
Maybe being that tall wasn’t so great because the only thing she could see right now was the top of his head, but that’s probably because he had his back turned from her. A bouquet of roses is handed to the mysterious man by a petite girl and Hyuna had to stop herself from gasping aloud.
ROSES?
Sure, she might have received some fan letters here and there because she was recognised by her peers for her excellence in education but a bouquet of roses?
No one had ever given her something like that. She felt a little bitter at that sight.
Upon further look, she can see that the guy’s shoulders are sagging a little from carrying all the gifts. So he was popular, popular, even more than her, Hyuna had never seen anything like it. Why had she never seen this person before in her life? On second thought, he didn’t look like someone that attended her school.
The crowd had dispersed a little now that it was no longer break time and Hyuna could see the uniform he was wearing, it reeked of wealth. A neatly buttoned up shirt, a burgundy coloured blazer with an insignia on it that came with a blue striped tie along with dress shoes. He wore an expensive watch on his wrist, something that Hyuna could only dream of buying in her lifetime.
That was the uniform of the rival school, a private academy that had a longstanding feud with her institution that were known to badmouth the students here, looking down on them as ‘simpletons.’ Seeing that he was from that upstanding rival academy made Hyuna’s blood boil. Every year their school would enter competitions and championships only to be blown out of the water by them again and again.
She had been too caught up in her thoughts of destroying this guy in her mind to notice him standing right by her until a voice that sounded like it was made of velvet snapped her back to reality.
“Hello, are you a fan of mine?”
Who the hell had the nerve to assume she was one of those reckless fangirls?
She turned towards the interruption disgruntled, shocked to find that the guy with blonde hair that she had been scrutinising minutes earlier was standing beside her, a bouquet of roses tucked under his arm. The area was near empty since the people that once filled it had returned back to their classes, only a few others were standing nearby uninterested in the newcomer. Staying here whilst everyone else had already left made it look like she was waiting for him.
No wonder he thought she was one of his fans.
She tried to clear up the misunderstanding, a hand rested on her hip feeling irritated at the earlier revelation of him hailing from that academy in particular. “I am not a fan of yours. I don’t even know you.” She made sure the message came across clearly with emphasis on the fact that his assumption was wrong. The man could only muster a knowing smile and chuckled, “I know, but I know you.” Her brows narrowed in concern and suspicion, “what? What do you mean you know me?” His next move was something Hyuna wasn’t expecting, he extended an outstretched hand toward her in greeting.“Let’s try this again.”
“My name is Luka, I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally see you in person.”
Hyuna folded her arms and eyed his hand with a glare deciding not to take it, “you’re one of those annoying people from that fancy school. I’m not gonna shake hands with you. You say you’ve heard a lot about me but how much do you actually know?” Luka let his hand drop to his side, he seemed a little taken aback but answered her anyway, “…I guess you’re not one for introductions. I didn’t know I came across that way.” Hyuna rolled her eyes at how genuine he sounded, “All of you sound like you have a stick up your ass and don’t even get me started on you.” He gives her an awkward smile unsure why he is being targeted, “me..? Did I do something to upset you because I don’t see why- ” “you live in a bubble, you don’t know how hard it is for people like us to succeed. I bet it comes easy to you!” She shot back at him to which Luka frowned, disliking the tone she used. Hyuna’s gaze drifted to the bundle of gifts behind him, it wasn’t helping his case.
Luka asked what brought on this resentment as he believed himself to be innocent in this instance, he was just living as everyone else was, trying his best. Hyuna went quiet for a while before explaining that he was privileged compared to her peers and apologised saying that she may have been too harsh on him since she had based his appearance off rumours she’d heard about the academy students, knowing nothing about the actual person involved. Luka accepted her apology with a nod and reassured her that it didn’t hurt him too badly, he was just surprised that she lashed out at him, which Hyuna was slightly relieved to hear.
She rubbed the back of her neck, “well, you probably already know my name since y’know…but I’ll introduce myself properly to make up for the bad impression I gave you, I’m not always like this I swear.”
“My name’s Hyuna, sorry for judging you so quickly, I expected you to be cockier but you actually seem pretty nice.” Luka extended a hand towards her again which she took this time and shook on, “Luka, pleasure to meet you. I accept your apology.” He picked up the bouquet and gifts from the floor, looked at his wristwatch and turned towards the exit of the school building.
“I should get going now, I've kept you for too long, I just planned to greet you and leave. I had no idea that things would turn out like this.”
“Hang on, you haven’t answered any of my questions!” Hyuna exclaimed as Luka began to walk away which made him stop in his tracks, the smile from when they had first met, returned.
“Neither have you.”
Hyuna’s eye twitched, “I guess I’m not getting any answers then.” Luka hummed with his back turned to her, “don’t give up hope so soon since we’ll probably see each other again.”
“What do you mean by that?” Hyuna asked but he had already left the building, carrying the air of mystery along with him.