Previously on “The Girl You Left Behind”: Emma Park and Kim Jongin are two former childhood friends reunited after years of separation. But being a teen brings its own struggles with it, one of them called love. Emma is an A-student and Jongin is a trainee and future idol, so starting a relationship does at that point not make any sense, does it? But on one stormy night, Jongin is forced to sleep at Emma’s. In one moment she is in her bed and he is on the floor and in the other their desire takes over in n intense make-out session, finally letting them fall asleep peacefully. But will their morning be filled with the scent of young love or with the smell of regret? And what if another boy gets in the ring in the fight for Emma’s heart? Find out NOW!

***

Emma kept reading the message Jongin left by her bed.

‘Had to go, got a message from our manager, we’re having some trainee stuff to do. I’ll explain later. Gonna miss school for a few days, might won’t be able to answer my phone. I’ll talk to you ASAP. Jongin.’

And that was it. No ‘Good morning’, no smiley, nothing. She simply woke up to Jongin’s empty bed side and that message on her night desk. A damn piece of paper. Not the slightest mention of what happened the night before. She didn’t know what to think.

“I knew it…”, she sadly whispered.

She got up and went to the window. It was a sunny morning and the storm left no bigger trace. Emma opened the window and the fresh air hit her face. She took a deep breath and leaned out.

Emma still felt Jongin’s fingertips on her skin and the taste of his plump lips on hers. She thought that his reason to just leave like that were surely legit. If any other boy had done the same thing, Emma would’ve called him a jerk. But Jongin wasn’t that kind of person. He would not hurt her intentionally. Or at least that what she had been telling herself.

Closing the window, Emma decided to continue her biology studying that was so rudely interrupted by Jongin the previous evening. But concentration didn’t serve her well that day.

***

Huang Zitao hated chemistry. Actually, he hated school in general. He hated every school he had been to in China and he hated the three schools he changed in Seoul. After his parents’ divorce when he was only five years old, his mother had been dragging him from one place to another. She claimed to be an artist and that being in one place for too long would kill her creativity. Zitao often thought about living with his father in Shanghai, but he knew he had started a new family and he didn’t want to be the stepchild that is in everybody’s way. So, he endured his annoying mother.

That was his last year of high school and he couldn’t wait to finally get out of that snake pit. Just a little longer and he would be free and do whatever he wanted. As if he hadn’t started already.

Zitao’s reputation wasn’t the best. He had a bunch of older friends who didn’t have the best reputation either. It was the usual: small thefts, easy drug salaries and so on. People knew, but nobody talked about it. Zitao knew that most of his co-students were kinda afraid of him. But that was okay. He didn’t want to be friends with daddy’s girls and mama’s boys.

But in the moment he saw her, she intrigued him. Was it the way she wore her uniform, the way she made her hair or her laughter, he didn’t know. But one thing he knew for sure: she was something knew.

Zitao wasn’t the type to fall in love. But when he got interested in a girl, he knew that in some way, he would get her.

“Not in the company of your possessive bodyguard today?”, he leaned forward and whispered into Emma Park’s ear.

She turned around with that perky look in her eyes she always had while pouting. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Zitao”, she said, staring into his eyes.

Zitao crookedly smiled. He remembered their first encounter. From the moment Emma Park set foot in their school, it was clear that there was something different about her. Zitao wanted to seduce her, like he always did. He walked up to her while she was standing by her locker and smiled at her, saying that it would be such a waste if two beautiful people like them didn’t meet. A trashy pick up line, but, surprisingly, it still worked for Zitao. Well, except that time.

Before she even got to say anything, that prick of Kim Jongin showed up, with his hot-air protective attitude and she looked at him like he was some sort of saint. Whenever he saw one, there was the other. But, that was actually the challenge. To make a girl, who already has her eyes on someone else, fall for him. And when that finally happens, dump her. She would just become another trophy on his shelf.

“Come on, Em”, he emphasized the nickname Jongin always used when calling her. “I have the impression that you think I am some kind of monster”, he grinned.
“Monster?”, she mockingly smiled. “Judging you by your reputation, I actually thought that you are smarter when it comes to seducing the innocent.”
“Don’t you worry, I know you are not my typical…’innocent’”, he made quotation marks with his fingers.

Emma turned around a full circle and got closer to his face. “Zitao, I am your typical nothing.”

Before Zitao could answer, Im Yoona rushed through the door and ran up to her place next to Emma. “Oh. My. Gosh. I so thought I was late. I stayed up late because I had to finish that stupid English assignment, because my friend”, she accusingly looked at Emma, “did not have 30 minutes of her time to help a friend in need because she was waiting for a text or a call from a certain someone but she obviously has time to chit-chat with Prince Non-charming Tao! Where is this world going?!” she dramatically inhaled and sat down.

“Good to see you too, Parrot-Girl”, Zitao casually said, looking at Yoona’s yellow hair-clips and her orange bow-tie combined with a bright-red vest. “Or Better Clown-Girl, it sounds kind of more appropriate today. You have outdone yourself today.”
“Oh shut up, Huang. I guess everything is better than Hippie, though.”
“Is that only because Sehun calls you that?”, Emma grinned at her, but stopped after she saw Yoona’s deadly glance.

Zitao almost fell asleep during the class. He thought about the things he had to do that day: pay his dealer for the pot from the other day and see if that Minzy chick was still available for a quickie later that night. But first, he had to get Emma Park to go out with him.

And then, the bell rang.

Emma and Yoona were just about to walk out of the classroom, when Zitao crossed their path.
“Hey, what do you girls think of some fun tonight?”, Zitao asked, knowing that he will not get Emma alone without dragging Yoona in.
“Umm, thanks, but no thanks”, Emma answered, barely dignifying him a look. “I think we would rather pass on your kind of fun. Besides, Yoona and I have a sleepover tonight.”
“We do?”, Yoona surprisingly turned her head to Emma.
“Yes, at my place.” Emma gave her that look.
“Oh, of course! How could have I forgotten?”

Zitao raised his eyebrow. “Oh, really? What if I decide to crash it?”
“Believe me, you wouldn’t be saying that if you had met Emma’s dad. Mr. Park scares away any guy.”
“I was never afraid of fathers.”
“There is a first time for everything.”
“That I agree on. I’ll pick you up around midnight”, Zitao finally said, walking away from them.
“Sure