신 주란 / Visual Art
Full
short fiction
Esther Helen Ra _ Circle
Beginning
I fell in love when he circled my name.
“Yujung,” he said, two round, bright syllables that rang clearly,
like globes of glass touching each other. His pencil traced a circle around
my name, and he said, “You have a beautiful name.”
I leaned across the desk and traced every O in his name. His name
was beautiful, too. “Thank you,” I said. And I slipped the paper into my
pocket. Months later, I took it out and saw my name, circled in his thin,
fragile, lopsided hand. And I watched the blue ink stain and trickled it
down with my tears.
Middle
I pretended not to see him coming into the classroom, biting into my hot
chocolate cupcake, but he came and sat down next to me.
“You’re so engrossed in your food, you don’t even say hello to me,” he
said.
“I skipped dinner,” I explained.
His face darkened. “Why did you do that?”
“Studying. What else?” I sighed.
He shook his head, and I went to the library to return a book. When I
came back to the classroom, three more cupcakes stood in round, glowing
brown circles on my desk. A smile bloomed on my face like a mint flower.
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