Attempt 5 from Dear Mr. Ninja

Attempt 5: Slow and Steady Wins the Race I think it’s safe to say that Kai will never walk home with me even though we live in the same building. He didn’t even say good-bye to me. Instead, he disappears, and runs off to ask the professor a question at the front of the class. He even beat the front row people to question the professor. Seriously, that’s how fast he is. Stupid Mr. Ninja. Is he purposely avoiding me? Is that how it is? I mean, I’ve never seen him go ask the professor anything! Before, he’d just leave class as soon as possible....

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Attempt 4 from Dear Mr. Ninja

Attempt 4: Levelling up to Classmates I got this down buddy. I so got this. I’m going to make this a bad romance that you’ll never forget.Exactly my type of chant. You know, when you’re lacking self-confidence, you really have to boost up your morale. So, I end up telling myself motivational words. They’re kind of like TED talks, except way more . . . concise. Let’s just put it that wa...

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Attempt 3 from Dear Mr. Ninja

Attempt 3: The Chase And you’d think he’d walk a bit slower just because we’re heading in the same direction, but no, the man is a lone wolf. He is a ninja, I tell myself over and over again. Okay, it doesn’t really help that I tried to play it cool and packed up faster than him. To be honest, he was packing up way slower than before. Was he even waiting for me? I don’t know, but in the end, he surpasses me, leaving me either to look pathetic and sprint after him or to look very normal but secretly upset that we’re not walking togethe...

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Attempt 2 from Dear Mr. Ninja

Attempt 2: First Impressions Please just tell me that you’re shy, and that you’re not ignoring me, okay? Okay. “Excuse me, I was wondering if I could survey you for my business project?” I ask. “Oh, sure,” he says.   “So, would you read advertisements on a coffee cup?” “No.” “And why not?” “Because I...

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Attempt 1 from Dear Mr. Ninja

Attempt #1: You You’re a little bit funny. You’re kind of cute. I don’t know who you are, but let me tell you, you’ve got my heart. In a room filled with fatigued, keen, bored or focused students, you’re bound to find someone that you can’t take your eyes off of, and by instinct, I find him. My eyes have zoned in on him and I can’t help...

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Final Chapter of Mouldings of Love

Final The house is a mess. We’re packing to move to a house in the countryside for our newborn son, Taemin. The apartment is just too small for the three of us, and Taemin is crawling everywhere. Soon, he’ll need his own room, but Daeun has that all figured out. In fact, she has everything planned already. She likes to tell me that when Taemin is three, he’ll start cello and piano lessons. When he’s five, he’ll begin to learn Mandarin and Japanese. During this time, I should always speak to him in English and Daeun will teach him Korean. When...

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Chapter 3 from Mouldings of Love

03 I know something is missing in my life. I’m feeling it again on the day of my wedding. Maybe, I’m getting cold feet because this is probably the biggest commitment of my life, but I don’t think that’s the problem. Even when Minwoo is casually making crude remarks because he’s pissed that he’s not the best man, I can stand that. I can also stand having Junghoon as my best man. Although he irritated me much through university, he was still a good friend. He helped me secure my job at the clinic through his uncle’s connection...

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Chapter 2 from Mouldings of Love

02 “Wake up, sleepy poo.” It’s Daeun’s sweet voice. That’s why I like sleeping at her place. I get to hear her wake me up, and I feel that that’s something little to look forward to each day. It’s too bad I can’t put it on repeat, then I’d want to keep living.&nbs...

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Chapter 1 from Mouldings of Love

01 It’s like what they always say. It’s only after you’ve lost something do you understand its importance in your life, but I don’t think that way. I’ve never even lost Jikyung in the first place. There was no beginning, no middle and not even an ending. We were friends and still are. She’d probably say that I’m wrong. I use this term too lightly, but I think everyone is a friend. We just have to focus on their positive parts, and that’s what I like about Daeun. She’s always smiling, reminding me of the good things in life. And then, there’s...

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Chapter 2: Again from Dependency

Even if you threw me into a lions’ den, I would not object. It would be better than being with you. You . . . you disgust me. One thought had whizzed by Sou’s and Jihyo’s minds when they both saw each other again in their homeroom class: You again. Jihyo had already nestled in a desk beside the large window with her exact coordinates being first column to the width’s end of the classroom and behind four seats. She liked the position of 1, 5. She liked it even more being adjacent to a window, where she could stare outside. She would have...

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Chapter 1: Individuals from Dependency

credits to dolcee. From the look of your eyes, I never knew that you were in pain. I always thought you were just like ice, harsh, cold and cruel. The typical reaction of students entering the school gates for the first day of school would have been anxiety, fear or perhaps even happiness. Jihyo, however, felt nothing. There was nothing...

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Dependency 00

Chapter 00: Timing So, I guess the two of us weren’t enough to stop it all from happening. You could say that we were strangers, at first, but then we crossed paths quite expectedly. For the two of them, it was one of the worst and inhumane places to be at the hospital: psychotherapy. All of their secrets would be unearthed with a sharp shovel and dumped into a bucket, their infamous beige folders.&nbs...

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Final Chapter of Tracings of Love

This is absurd, almost too absurd. I feel like I’m cold calling for a job interview. I’m a stranger to her or rather I’m just his classmate, Taeyang’s, to be exact. Here I am, though, having a cup of warm tea in her kitchen....

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Tracings of Love 04

I’m at Seoul alone, but I know what I need to do first. I search through my cell phone for the right number at a local park; it’s Jikyung’s home phone. I know I just have to press that green phone button, yet my hand is trembling. I’m being the coward now. I can’t face her. What do I say? Will she forgive me? What if she doesn’t pick u...

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Tracings of Love 03

03 As soon as Lara came back from the washroom, she blurts, “Jikyung caught you with another girl huh?” Several women end up glaring at me; I’m pretty sure they represent the whole female species. What I did was wrong, and foolish. I was even being like my father, who broke my mother’s heart. “I think she knew what I was doing, but chose to be ignorant...

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Tracings of Love 02

02 “What?” Lara hollers, almost frightening the flight attendant passing by. “And she agreed to date you? You suck, Junghoon! You really suck.” “Hey!” I snap at her. “I was young, and lonely at the time.” Lara gives me a suspicious glance, and immediately, I add, “Okay, fine. I did suck, but I did get her.” “Yeah, but you didn’t manage to keep her,” she shoots back at me a painful message. She must have seen my reaction to her words for she quickly remarks, “Sorry, I was too harsh...

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