Ah/ya/na—In Korean culture, these sounds are added after someone's name to show affection and closeness.
***
Walking back and forth between his class and Seung-joon's, Min-jun knew he was on the verge of losing control. He had thought that seeing Seung-joon would bring him some peace, but instead, every glance only deepened the feelings he was desperately trying to manage.
Initially, he refused to believe that Kim Seung-joon, a prodigy who was famous throughout the school, was the same small, plain boy he had seen at the infirmary. He couldn't understand how nobody knew that Kim Seung-joon had blue eyes (Not that he had gone and asked everybody about a boy with blue eyes-- if he had done so, it would have come out as the top article in the school gossip newspaper).
Chang-min had taken Min-jun to the 11-C class to show Kim Seung-joon, hoping to divert Min-jun's nonstop chatter about Seung-joon. When Min-jun saw Seung-joon from a distance, he finally understood why no one knew about his blue eyes. From afar, they looked like deep black diamonds. However, Min-jun found them to be the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Seung-joon's large eyes seemed to occupy half of his pale face, reminding Min-jun of the serene blue lake near his grandparents' house.
Min-jun stared at Seung-joon through the classroom window until Chang-min dragged him away. He dragged his long legs back to his class. His knees had gone weak, and his heart kept pounding loudly, making him dizzy.
Since that day, Min-jun found himself loitering around Seung-joon's class without meaning to do so.
At first, other students didn't find Min-jun's behavior unusual, as he had friends in 11-C, but later, when he came there and stared through the window even when his friends were absent, other students began to notice, and Min-jun had to make a conscious effort to keep himself away from Seung-joon's class.
The more he saw Seung-joon, the more he was convinced that his feelings for him were not just because of his blue eyes. There was something about Seung-joon, a bit of mystery that attracted his heart and soul toward him. How his gaze calmly traveled from one place to another made Min-jun's stomach flutter. He wanted Seung-joon to notice him, but his eyes never lingered on Min-jun or showed any interest, while everyone else in his class had at least tried once to make friends with Min-jun. But he still went and spent time in Seung-joon's class with his friends. Being able to see Seung-joon closely was more than he could expect to have.
Half of Min-jun's heart still struggled with the fact that he liked a boy; the other half was always madly searching for Seung-joon. These feelings made Min-jun both excited and terrified.
But Min-jun knew he could not let himself be swept away by his feelings, so he started putting all his extra time into practicing basketball to distance himself from Seung-joon and to restrain his uncontrollable heart. He felt lonely and miserable.
Min-jun couldn't figure out what made him miserable: liking a boy or being unable to reveal his feelings forever.
With his family's background, even liking a normal girl was impossible, and liking a boy was out of the question.
But every time he passed 11-C and saw Seung-joon sitting quietly and studying in the back corner of the class, it was the only time Min-jun felt that he was truly alive.
Min-jun slowly realized that the life he had spent so far, happily and comfortably, was one that he had created to suit his family. He had been doing it unconsciously and without questioning anything else until his heart stopped at the most impossible thing in the world for him. It was at that exact moment that his soul was awakened by all the intense feelings that existed in the universe.
Kim Seung-joon, the not-so-plain small boy with blue eyes, had become the center of his world.
Min-jun knew he was acting like a fool, but he could not help it. He knew his obsession with Seung-joon had given Chang-min a hard time.
Chang-min, who had been his best friend since they were little, knew exactly what was going on with Min-jun, and he kept dragging Min-jun away from 11-C.
"Minjun-ah, are you crazy?"
"Argh... I don't know. I must be crazy, right? Changmin-ah, help me... tell me how to stop it... I don't want to be like this either..."
The look in Min-jun's eyes was desperate. Chang-min heaved a sigh and gazed out of the classroom window.
"I don't think I know how to stop it or whether it's possible." He looked back at Min-jun's face with affection.
"You are not a person who lets go of things that you care about," Chang-min said as he put his hand on Min-jun's shoulder. Min-jun touched his hand with affection, and Chang-min's touch gave a little comfort to Min-jun's heart. Throughout the years, Chang-min had been by Min-jun's side, sharing all the ups and downs.
"Ya, what's with this atmosphere?"
Won Han-bin's voice startled both Chang-min and Min-jun.
"Ah.. Bin-ah. You are here. How was the swimming competition?" Chang-min asked, smiling at his friend.
"As always, you are looking at the champion. But that's old news. Tell me, what's going on with you two? You guys have been acting very suspicious lately."
Han-bin's loud voice rang through the empty classroom, and both Chang-min and Min-jun pulled Hanbin towards them quickly.
"Fool, Keep your voice down," Chang-min said threateningly. Han-bin looked at both Chang-min and Min-jun with round eyes.
"Why, what's going on?"
Both Min-jun and Chang-min looked at each other's faces and then at Han-bin's.
"You, you need to learn to speak silently," Min-jun said in a hushed voice, his eyes looking terrified.
"Okay, I'll try, but why?"
Chang-min took a deep breath in and heaved a sigh before speaking. Min-jun put his head on his desk, keeping his ears closed with his hands.
"Our Minjun-ah has fallen in love with Kim Seung-joon."
"WHAT?"
Han-bin's voice rang throughout the 12th-grade hall, and there was sudden silence all around them. Both Chang-min and Min-jun looked up at Han-bin with terrified faces. Han-bin slowly sat on a chair and kept staring at Min-jun. After what felt like hours, he cleared his throat and scratched his head clumsily.
"I'll learn to speak silently," he told Chang-min apologetically, and then he looked at Min-jun with a concerned look.
"Jun-ah, are you okay?"
Chang-min and Han-bin both observed Min-jun's shocked expression. His face had turned pale, and a tear rolled down his face as they watched him. In his heart, Min-jun had never used the word "love" before when it came to Seung-joon precisely because he knew how it would affect his feelings. But hearing Chang-min say it gravely had made Min-jun realize how deeply in love he was and how unattainable his love would be.