Whispers of the Past

The Sketchbook of Memories

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The early morning sun spilled across the pristine corridors of Hwayang High School, casting golden slants over rows of lockers. Outside, cherry blossoms fluttered like confetti, their petals dancing in the breeze, whispering secrets of spring.

Yoon Hae-rin walked quietly with her sketchbook pressed tightly to her chest. Her eyes scanned the familiar walls she’d passed a thousand times, yet her heart pounded as if it were her first day.

She had a secret.

A secret she kept between the pages of graphite and paper.

A boy.

Lee Jun-seo.

The name itself sounded like the strum of a melancholic guitar chord—smooth, intense, unforgettable. He was the school's top student—smart, athletic, dangerously handsome. But what drew Hae-rin in wasn’t his looks or grades.

It was the loneliness in his eyes.

He always sat by the window, headphones in, staring into the distance as if waiting for someone who’d never return. Hae-rin had watched him for months—never with the courage to speak. Instead, she drew. Page after page. His expressions. His silhouette. His eyes.

“Earth to Hae-rin,” her best friend Jung Mi-soo chirped beside her, waving a sandwich. “You’re staring again.”

Hae-rin flushed, quickly looking down. “No, I wasn’t.”

“You literally tripped on air. You're in deep.”

Mi-soo smirked knowingly and nudged her shoulder.

They turned the corner toward their classroom. That’s when they saw him.

Jun-seo.

Leaning against the window frame, hands in his blazer pockets, eyes half-closed as sunlight kissed his sharp features.

Hae-rin’s heart skipped a beat.

He turned. Their eyes met.

⏳ One second.

⏳ Two seconds.

Hae-rin quickly looked away, clutching her sketchbook.

Mi-soo whispered, “That was intense. Like a K-drama scene. I swear I heard the OST playing.”

“Stop it,” Hae-rin muttered, face beet red.

But even as the teacher entered and began the lesson, her mind was stuck on that glance. Did he recognize her? Did he notice how often she watched him?

She flipped open her sketchbook. A fresh page. Pencil in hand.

She began to draw his eyes—haunting and deep, the kind that made you feel seen and invisible all at once.

---

The day passed in a blur of lectures and whispers. When the final bell rang, Hae-rin slipped away to her secret place—the rooftop.

It was quiet, the kind of quiet that let your thoughts breathe. She loved drawing here. The sky above, the city below. A canvas of emotion.

As she sketched, the door behind her creaked open.

She turned, startled—

and dropped her pencil.

It was him.

Lee Jun-seo.

He looked surprised too, but not annoyed. Curious. He walked over, slow and casual, as if this meeting was destiny, not accident.

“What are you drawing?” he asked, his voice deeper than she expected. Calm, like the sea at dawn.

Hae-rin froze. “Um… nothing important.”

He looked down at the sketchpad on her lap. His eyes widened slightly.

It was him. The drawing was unmistakable.

Her heart sank. Stupid, stupid.

“I—I can explain…” she stammered.

But he didn’t laugh. He didn’t mock her. He sat beside her instead.

“You draw really well.”

Hae-rin blinked. “You’re not… mad?”

He shook his head, a ghost of a smile appearing. “No. It’s kind of flattering. But also strange.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her voice small. “You always looked like you had something to say. But no one to say it to.”

He looked at her then—not just glanced, but looked, like he saw through the armor she wore.

“You’re not wrong.”

For a few minutes, silence stretched between them. Not awkward, but comforting. Like the quiet before rain.

Then he said something unexpected.

“People think I have everything, but they don’t see the rot under the surface.”

Hae-rin turned to him. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you looked like you’d understand.”

Their eyes locked again.

Thump. Thump.

Her heart was no longer hers.

---

The next few days changed everything.

Jun-seo started sitting closer in class. He’d nod when they passed in the hallway. Once, he even offered her half of his tangerine.

To others, it meant nothing. But to her, it was the beginning of something beautiful.

Mi-soo noticed too. “Is it happening? Are you two, like… having a moment?”

Hae-rin smiled softly. “I think we’re becoming friends.”

But good things never lasted long at Hwayang High.

---

One rainy morning, everything changed.

An announcement shook the entire school:

“Mr. Kim, the physics teacher, has been found dead under suspicious circumstances.”

Gasps echoed in the hallway. Whispers followed like shadows.

But what shocked Hae-rin most…

Jun-seo was gone.

No one had seen him. His seat remained empty. His name was quietly removed from the attendance register.

Rumors spread like wildfire.

“He was the last one to see Mr. Kim.”

“They say he hacked into the school system.”

“I heard he was in some secret group.”

But Hae-rin didn’t believe any of it. Not him. Not her Jun-seo.

Still, days turned to weeks.

Weeks turned to months.

And then, the school year ended.

---

Five Years Later...

The rain fell hard on the neon-lit streets of Seoul. Hae-rin, now 23, walked home with her umbrella tilted against the wind. She’d just finished a meeting with her webtoon editor—another romance piece, another fantasy.

But her thoughts weren’t in the clouds. They were five years in the past.

She still carried that sketchbook.

Still drew his face when the nights got lonely.

Jun-seo.

Where did you go? Why did you leave me?

Suddenly, she heard footsteps—rushed, heavy.

A man stumbled into the alley ahead of her, collapsing.

Her eyes widened. “Are you okay?”

She stepped closer—then froze.

Blood.

His shirt was soaked in it.

He looked up slowly.