Lady Spring

In her first year of high school, Saeun was a thin unattractive girl. When she began her school year, she was extremely depressed. Her closest friends all entered the all-girl school nearby, and she was the only one who was assigned to the co-ed high school. Just thinking about boys used to make her shudder. They were loud distracting creatures who interfered with her studies, so why did she have to be in the same school with them?

But on the first day of school, no one paid any attention to her. It was Min Wooyoung, who was about to make his debut as an idol, who got all the attention. 

“Well, I’m not really good at anything, but I can dance a little because I’m taking lessons.”

When the other kids asked him to dance, Wooyoung didn’t even blink. He immediately began break dancing, which was a very popular form of dancing at the time. When the kids pushed the desks away to create a space, he showed off his spinning sweep. 

She knew he was being a showoff, but Saeun still couldn’t stop staring at him. He was amazing as he moved with perfect control over his body. Having full control over one’s body may sound insignificant, but the way he moved was exceptional. He danced as if he could control every cell in his body. He moved like a leopard in Africa. Saeun found it tiring just to walk, yet he was spinning, jumping, and high fiving the other kids without breaking a sweat. 

An African leopard wearing the boy’s navy school uniform. This was her first impression of him. 

Of course, she never voiced her opinion to anyone. In fact, she even rarely looked in his way. However, when the class president and the vice president were selected based on grades, Wooyoung quietly snuck up behind her and poked her back.

“Hey, Class President. I suck at studying and I will have to skip classes from time to time. So you gotta help me with my homework. You were picked as the class president because you got the top grade, right?”

Why should she help him? She turned towards him to give him a sharp no, but when she saw his smiling face, she became speechless. After murmuring something incorrigible, she turned away from him. 

Idiot. Why did she get flustered by his face? Stop looking at him! Just ignore him. A guy like that would never be interested in you! You know this!

But he refused to leave her alone. Every day, he came to sit behind her by asking the girl who sat behind her to switch with him. Even during classes, he tormented her.

“Isn’t biology super boring? That teacher apparently was fired from his old school because he flirted with a female student.”

He often wrote meaningless notes like this and threw them to her desk. Before classes, he stole her notebooks and copied her homework. Then, he even shared them with the other students as if he was helping them. The other students often thanked him for being so generous. There were even some kids who asked for his autographs because they believed he was going to become famous someday!

Omg.

Of course, Saeun wanted his autograph too, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself. Throughout her first year of high school, she lived a repressed life, justifying her choice by claiming the other kids were being childish. There were so many things she wanted to do, but she called them “childish” and didn’t bother to even try. 

So did she turn out better than all of them? Not at all. Perhaps if she tried all the things she wanted then, she wouldn’t feel so regretful now. If she tried to befriend Wooyoung then, maybe…

***

When they entered her small apartment, pleasant warmth welcomed them. Saeun placed the wet umbrella beside the door and turned around to look at Wooyoung. He was glancing at her place with a frown on his face.

“Come in. There is no one here.”

“You don’t live with your parents?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

After taking off his soaking-wet shoes, Wooyoung looked around the place. When Saeun quickly grabbed him a towel from the bathroom, Wooyoung carefully took his wet socks off as well and wiped his feet. He then walked past the tiny living room into the room that was slightly larger.

“I left home when I was young.”

Saeun shrugged and looked at him as she hung her jacket over the dining room chair. Wooyoung took off his dripping jacket and looked around as if he didn’t know what to do with it. Saeun took it from him and threw it beside the washing machine. With an audible sigh, she looked at him up and down.

“I don’t think I have anything you can wear, but wait here. How tall are you?”

“182 cm.”

“Your waist size?”

“Do you want me to give you all my measurements?”

When Wooyoung asked her teasingly, Saeun rolled her eyes and rummaged through her closet. She was able to find her old sweat pants, which were still too small for him but wearable. She then grabbed a large tshirt she got as a promotional gift when she bought a music album. 

“Wear these. I will wash your clothes and iron them for you.”

“You’re gonna iron my jeans?”

“They won’t dry if I don’t iron them.”

Wooyoung nodded awkwardly and looked around before entering the small room beside the kitchen. He closed the sliding door behind him even as he dripped water all around him. With a sigh, Saeun found a rag and began to clean the pool of water Wooyoung left on the floor. 

What was she thinking when she invited him to her place? It has been 10 years since they last saw each other. She had no idea what kind of person he was now. She acted too impulsively. Seeing him suddenly made her remember her past and it must’ve messed up her brain. It was a surprise that he even recognized her on the street, and it was even a bigger shock that she brought him to her home. Saeun couldn’t understand her own actions.

“I really don’t want to be on the front page of the celebrity gossip page.”

Saeun frowned and threw the wet rag to the bathroom sink. What was her original plan for the night? She was going to take a hot bath and get some coffee while watching TV. But now, she had a guest, so what was she going to do?

After contemplating for a long time, she stood up. The first thing she needed to do was to clean the makeup off her face. Her guest had a swollen bloody face, so there was no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to have a bare face. She may be ugly, but the day-old makeup on her face was grossing her out. Besides, no amount of makeup was going to transform her into a beauty. Saeun locked the bathroom door behind her and began to wash her face. 

***

Hey! Translator of “Spring Lady” here! If you like this story and want to support me so I can put more time into this novel, please buy me a coffee by clicking below! Thanks!