Let Me Be The One

Chapter 5

Mara's POV

I have just beset myself with an unfortunate circumstance that is certainly impossible to overcome.

That is what I am right now, totally screwed.

“Argh! Mara, you truly have lost your stable state of mind! What were you thinking?!” I put my head in my hands as I shuffle my hair and then shove the pillows off the bed because I'm carrying a chip on my shoulder, I express my discontent in a wearisome manner. “What are you going to do now, huh?” I scold myself.

“Slave? Tsk.” I roll my eyes, “What does he think of me, some kind of object that he can just take control of? A toy?”

“Serve me for a hundred days,” I made a silly face while mimicking his words, “Whatever, jerk!” I curse at him under my breath.

I am taken by surprise when my phone rings out of the blue. Furthermore, I glance over to the screen and saw the caller ID, it reads 'Master'.

Who the hell is this? I don't even remember saving anyone's number as Master. This is so lame.

Swiping through the green button, I am about to ask who it is, but I got cut off when the person on the other line speaks before me, “Hey! You!”

“Who—” I am trying to ask but got cut off once again.

“You will be starting tomorrow. Make sure that you will come early or else… you are going to be pushing up the daisies.” And with that, the call just ended.

No more second thoughts. I am absolutely having no doubts about who it is now. He is so lame, I swear.

I bring both of my palms to my face at that and change the contact name to 'Monster' straight away.

But then he is calling once again, “What else do you need now?”

“One more thing, you stupid. Don't you dare change my contact name on your phone, or you're having to breathe one's last sooner than you expected.”

“Why would I-” I am about to counter his argument, but the call had ended already. “I wonder how his Mom would react if she finds out that her son grew up this way. He is acting with lack of disrespect to people.”

Getting the unnecessary thoughts about him out of my head, I change his contact name back to 'Master' but added the eye roll emoji because it suits better.

???

I wake up to the extremely noisy droning sound of my alarm clock at 4 am. I had to be up in the nick of time because I am a slow mover and I have a tendency to be late to class all the time. In the general run of things, it takes me more than an hour just to get myself all set.

I hit the snooze button three times before bringing my drowsy self at a snail's pace to the bathroom.

Even though I am hardly able to keep my eyes open due to lack of sleep, I still managed to successfully brush my teeth, take a shockingly bone-chilling shower, and then use a blower to dry my wet hair just right on time.

After slipping into my uniform, I run down the stairs and because I am living on my own, I had to prepare the breakfast for myself.

I toss my books in my bag, grab my coat and finally race out the front door.

I finish at around 6 am. “Ooh, Mara, I did not expect you to be this early,” I gave myself a pat on the back.

Will I not arrive ahead of time than of the school guards if I start making my way now?

“Ah, that's right!” I click my fingers as an idea came to my mind, “How about riding a bike? It is a good exercise for me anyway.”

I fix my knapsack and ride the bike that I have not used for a long time since my sister died.

I put my earphones on and play the music as I began pedaling, “Geugin bami neol ttara~” I sing along with the song. Not only that, but I even close my eyes as I get into it.

But when I open my eyes, a car is already in front of me. Just a few meters away from my bike.

I hold tightly on the brakes as hard as I could, but I suddenly tremble being in a cold sweat, and my hands start to shake due to frighten out of my wits. With my heart in my mouth, I lose my balance and then fall in the fullness of time.

My things take off in all directions around, and my phone flies along with my earphones in the distance.

“Are you okay?” The driver of the car hops out to proceed towards me, “Sorry, I was sounding the horn loudly, but I suppose you couldn't hear-” he is trying to give an explanation for what happened, but I gesture for him to stop.

“No, it's alright. It's my negligence. I was slow in the uptake for not paying attention, I'm sorry,” I said, still looking at the wound on my knee.

“Can you stand up-” as he is about to ask, I lose my footing and fall back down because of the shooting pain. It stings a lot! Good thing he is quick to catch me before I could even fall again. “Do I need to bring you to the hospital?”

“No, I'm fine.” My jaw drops when I finally get to look at him and see his face. He is very charming, his eyes are so sparkly that it makes me want to stay looking intently at him. I cannot believe I am seeing a living sculpture. (meaning, good-looking person)

“Are you sure with that?” he asked, which awaken me from my thoughts. “I'm sorry, but you look like you're not.”

He keeps on apologizing for nothing, which is making me feel so bad for being dumb and making him involved in such a situation.

I flutter my eyes before nodding, as I could not speak due to the fact that I'm in awe.

“Oh, I assume that we are going to the same school,” he said. It made me notice that he is wearing the uniform of the same school as where I am headed to.

“Ah yes,” I answered, still in his arms.

“Come on, I will just give you a ride. You will not be able to pedal now anyway,” he said, and then lift me like his bride.

Oh. My. God. My crazy little heart.

I carry on with staring at him as he opens the door with his free hand. He made me sit next to the driver's seat and to my surprise, he leans in without any warning just to put the seatbelt on for me.

I swear he is too close for my own comfort that I get a sniff of his scent. Unlike the usual intense scent of men that is unpleasant, he is like a living bar of soap. It is oddly comforting that it is something that I don't want to stop inhaling.

I also could even hear my heart pounding, which made me wonder if he could hear it as well. That would be so embarrassing.

After hearing the click that indicates that it is locked, I finally have been able to breathe freely. I glance at him once again, only to catch him smiling at me.

I furrowed my brows at the way he looks, “What's making you smile like that?” I want to slap myself for letting that question slip out of my mouth. It is supposed to only be in my head, why am I so stupid?

His smile turned to laughter, “It's just that… I'm concerned if you're killing me in your thoughts because I noticed that you have been staring at me strangely,” he said in a joking manner.

Stop doing that, mister. I am begging you.

Little did he know I was actually building castles in the air about him.

“No, I'm sorry if I made you think like that,” I echoed his laugh.

“I was just kidding,” he shakes his head while holding his smile. “Wait here, I will just go to pick your things up,” he said, then proceeds to close the door.

As I watch him walk away, I put my hand on my chest to feel how hard my heart is beating still. “What in the world is the matter with you, Yoon Mara?“ I asked myself.

Suddenly, the other door opened to reveal the man again, “Don't worry about your bike. I have already called someone to take care of that.”

“Aww, thank you.” I blush before I flash a shy smile.

He chuckles out of the blue, which made me furrow my brows. There's nothing to be laughing at now, I wonder what's making him amused this time.

“You know, you should stop talking formally to me. We're just the same age,” he said as he hops in.

How is he even sure about that?

“Here you go,” he hands my phone to me with the earphones still connected to it, “I'm sorry, I feel like we have to keep in touch so when I noticed that your phone was unlocked, I decided to take the chance to save my number… if you don't mind.”

“Ah, no. It's alright,” I said, shaking my head. Telling him that it doesn't matter.

I was about to ask for his number anyway. Lol.

Wait, what?

“Um, by the way, My name is Jihyo,” he reaches his hand out to me for a handshake, “Park Jihyo.”

I hesitated at first as I feel my stomach doing backflips, but still accept his hand. I could see that he is someone that I can trust anyway, “I'm Yoon Mara. Nice to meet you, Jihyo.”