Sorry for being absent for a good month. To make up for it, I present to you an extra long chapter.

History and the next two classes were as normal as possible, what with the perpetual gossiping that came with the curious glances. And now ChangMin using EunMi's pen seemed to have thrown gas into the fire, "confirming" the ongoing rumours. He wanted to throw it away, feed it to a polar bear, or even drop it into a volcano--anything to cleanse him from his current state of embarrassment. But he wouldn't do it, because if he did that after taking it, that would only serve as a blow to his pride. So for now, ChangMin would use the Monokuro Boo pen with all the pride he had left.

When it was time for lunch, ChangMin clumsily stood up, took his bag, and began hobbling away on his crutches, mumbling to EunMi,

"Don't follow me."

EunMi rolled her eyes in annoyance and when her desk partner disappeared from sight, she excitedly turned to JunSu and SoonLi and suggested with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes,

"Hey, why don't we follow him?"

"Uh..." JunSu gave her a wary look. "He just told you, very specifically, not to follow him."

EunMi waved a nonchalant hand, rhetorically asking, "What's the worst he could do to us? He can't even walk properly with those crutches."

Still a little unsure, SoonLi and JunSu looked at each other and meekly shrugged. Soon after, they left the classroom with their lunches and asked a random student in the hallway where ChangMin had gone. They pointed to the left, saying he'd gone right at the second turn. The trio continued using this method until they came to a stop in front of the library. EunMi raised an eyebrow and said to no one in particular,

"So this is where he always disappears to."

Carefully opening and closing the door, the three students silently stepped inside, and SoonLi and EunMi stared in awe. There were two stories, and elevator in the back left corner, an escalator to their right, and further down was a grand staircase made of marble. The carpets were made of red velvet, and all of the librarians' computers were touch-screens. Every wall was lined with shelves replete with books, some of them tall enough so that students would have to use a ladder to reach the books up top. One wall was made of nothing but glass, as it was actually an enourmous window that enabled the students to view the expansive football, baseball, and track fields. Topping it all off, an elegant chandelier adorned the ceiling, illuminating the entirety of the library.

"Why are you two just standing there..?" JunSu nervously asked, looking at his two friends in worry.

"This is a library?" SoonLi asked, motioning to everything around them. JunSu nodded and whispered,

"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I first walked in. Haven't you two seen it before?"

EunMi and SoonLi shook their heads, and the latter explained, "Even though I've been at this school for a year and a half now, I never really had a reason to come here."

EunMi snapped out of her daze when she spotted ChangMin on the second floor, sitting at a table next to the window-wall. Hurriedly, she started pulling the other two with her, but they stopped when they heard a voice call,

"Oh, JunSu, is that you?"

Slowly, the trio turned toward the voice, and JunSu sighed out of relief when he saw an elderly woman with half-circle glasses and a couple books in her hands.

"Ah, good afternoon, Mrs. Sohn," JunSu politely greeted the librarian, then introduced EunMi and SoonLi, who bowed in respect to her. Mrs. Sohn spotted the lunches in their hands and said to JunSu,

"JunSu, you know you can't eat in the library."

The boy put his hands together and pleaded, "Please, Mrs. Sohn? We promise not to get anything on the floors or books, and we'll clean up when we're done!"

Mrs. Sohn pursed her lips into a thin line before replying, "All right, all right. But if I find any food here, I'll find you and make you organize every single book in this library."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sohn!" the three students chimed, bowing quickly, then scampered up the escalator beside them. Once at the second floor, the trio walked in a neat line with EunMi in the front and dashed between bookshelves, hoping not to be seen by a certain student. Making sure they were hidden behind a bookshelf, they saw "the target" reading a book about two meters away from their location.

SoonLi squinted at the book's title and barely whispered,

"Is...Is that a book on the history of Calculus..?"

"Seems like it--EunMi-sshi..! C-Come back!" JunSu desperately called in as quiet a voice as possible, for EunMi had stepped out of their hiding spot and walked to the other boy.

With a calm smile, EunMi plopped herself into the seat across from ChangMin. Noticing the unwanted company, ChangMin didn't even look up as he coldly said,

"I told you not to follow me. Are you deaf?"

"Where's your lunch?" EunMi asked, ignoring the other's snarky remark. At this, ChangMin set his book down and glared at the girl before him, asking,

"What do you want?" 

"Aren't you hungry?" EunMi continued to ignore him, and she opened her lunchbox to reveal a neatly-made dish of jjanjangmyun with a side of yellow radishes. She also turned toward a particular bookshelf and quietly called,

"SoonLi-sshi, JunSu-sshi, you can come out now. Sit with us."

The two peered around the bookshelf, and fervently shook their heads before going back into hiding. Frowning a little, EunMi stood up and went to the two students and came back out soon after, pushing them towards the table and made them sit down. Shrinking under ChangMin's fierce glare, JunSu and SoonLi scooted their chairs closer to EunMi, hoping they wouldn't get hit by the angry boy's crutches if he decided to use them. Shifting his gaze to EunMi, ChangMin muttered through clenched teeth,

"Why are you here?"

"To keep you company," EunMi simply replied and began mixing her noodles with her chopsticks. She encouraged the other two to eat as well, and after a few moments they complied, albeit reluctantly. ChangMin mumbled something incoherent under his breath, but there was a soft rumble from his stomach as soon as he saw the mandu EunMi had pulled out from somewhere in her schoolbag. It was a quiet sound, but because they were in a library, it sounded more like a lion's roar amplified with a bullhorn. Avoiding the other three's gazes, ChangMin averted his attention to the book he had been reading, but he couldn't focus, as he was fully aware of the smile EunMi had on her face.

Quietly, she asked him, "Are you hungry?"

"No," ChangMin quickly answered, but EunMi wasn't fooled by the tough look he put on. However, she pretended to be convinced as she shrugged and turned to SoonLi, asking,

"What are you eating, SoonLi-sshi?"

"Jabche..." SoonLi whispered, remembering they were still in the library.

"That smells really good! Where did you get the vegetables?"

"I got them from my grandparents' farm back in Busan. They grow everything there themselves," SoonLi replied.

"Wow! Home-grown is the best, huh?" EunMi commented in an exaggerated voice, glancing at ChangMin, then turned to JunSu and asked what he was eating as well. As the two went into every detail about how bulgogi was made, ChangMin tried his hardest to ignore them--but to no avail. Soon, the sample Calculus problem in front of him became a cookbook replete with high quality images of delicious dishes.

ChangMin was hungry.

He knew that, and all he wanted was to take all of the food before him and devour every bit, but he instead focused on Calculus--the empty, unsatisfying, meatless subject of Calculus. About ten minutes had passed when JunSu, SoonLi, and EunMi began to pack their things, and--unfortunately--their lunches as well, ChangMin noticed. The trio stood up, ready to leave, but right before they did, EunMi walked up to ChangMin and placed a plastic container in front of him. ChangMin eyed the tupperware warily, half-expecting a river monster to spring out from it. But there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about it, so ChangMin just raised an eyebrow, never taking his eyes of the plastic container. EunMi set a pair of unopened chopsticks on top of the container and softly said,

"If you're hungry, you have about ten minutes until the next bell rings. And don't worry. It's not poisoned."

Right before she turned to leave, ChangMin glanced up at EunMi and saw her smiling, but it didn't look like her usual smiles when she was annoying him to no end. It looked more like the smile she gave him when he had given her a present for Christmas. The very thought of remembering the event made ChangMin's face grow hot, so he distracted himself by cautiously opening the container, waiting for a balloon filled with paint to explode in his face. Instead, ChangMin was greeted with the sweet aroma of food. Inside were some vegetables from SoonLi's jabche, a couple pieces of bulgogi from JunSu's lunch, some jjajangmyun in the corner and a generous amount of mandu in the center, both of which were from EunMi's lunch. For a short moment, ChangMin felt like something was tugging at his heart, but the impatient growling of his stomach overpowered the previous emotion, and he tore the paper wrapping off the chopsticks and began stuffing his mouth with food.

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The rest of class went on quietly; ChangMin and EunMi didn't talk to each other, but they still tried to complete quizzes the quickest. Because ChangMin was injured, though, he was never able to beat EunMi to the teacher's desk. Whenever they changed classrooms, EunMi would carry ChangMin's things and walk with him to the next class, making sure they used the elevator when needed, and despite all that, EunMi didn't seem bothered by the rumours.

To say she was completely unaffected by them, though, would've been an understatement, because she did get a little annoyed by the fact that all the wealthy students seemed to have had nothing better to do than gossip. Initially, EunMi wanted everyone to go ahead and believe that she and ChangMin were dating, but it soon got boring for her, so it was after lunch that she decided to get rid of her "Call ChangMin 'Yeobo'" plan. And because it wasn't much fun at all anymore, EunMi abandoned the whole mission itself. Besides, ChangMin had been through enough, and he was in crutches and his ankle in a cast. He didn't need a bunch of empty rumours weighing him down.

At the end of the day, EunMi figured it was time to put a stop to the gossiping. Taking all of ChangMin's belongings and stuffing them hastily into his schoolbag, EunMi dragged the boy to the front of the classroom, ignoring his nagging, and announced,

"Can I have everyone's attention?"

Curious, the students all looked at EunMi and eagerly awaited her news. Uneasy at all of the eyes suddenly on him, ChangMin lowly whispered to the EunMi,

"What are you doing?"

"Just wait," EunMi whispered back, then said aloud to everyone, "ChangMin-sshi and I...are not dating."

A girl in the back of the classroom raised her hand, and EunMi quickly said,

"No, we're not engaged."

The girl put her hand down.

"And no, we're not going to run away to elope," EunMi added, glaring at a group of boys to her left. "We're just friends."

A few moments of awkward silence passed, and then EunMi stated,

"That is all."

Without another word, she pulled ChangMin out the door by his jacket sleeve, making her silent exit. The students still in the room turned to their friends and started talking again. One girl in a group of five said,

"That's too bad... They looked like such a cute couple."

"I know, right?" her friend replied, and the five of them squealed, whipping out their cell phones to spread the revelation.

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Outside, ChangMin and EunMi made their way home, as Mrs. Shim had restricted her son from Student Council duties until he had fully recovered. Exiting the school gates, ChangMin looked at EunMi and exclaimed,

"What was that?! You just went up there and told everyone we weren't dating! When I suggested that the last time everyone thought we were dating, you said no one would believe it!"

"Well, at least I did something about it!" EunMi argued back, only making ChangMin angrier.

"Yeah, you did something about it, all right. But now, thanks to you, everyone thinks we're friends!"

"What's wrong with being friends?!" EunMi yelled at him. "I think it'll do you a little good to have at least one friend."

"I don't need friends. How do you think I've survived my whole life?" ChangMin rhetorically asked her.

"Yeah, I've wondered about that," EunMi harshly stated. "I bet you've never even had one friend in your entire life."

"So? Who cares?" ChangMin asked indifferently. EunMi abruptly stopped walking and whipped around to face ChangMin, making him stop as well, nearly running into her. Quietly, she asked,

"You really don't know how great friends are, do you?"

With a bitter laugh, she continued, "Of course, you don't. Why am I even asking you that? You don't need friends because your life is just so perfect."

A few moments of silence passed between them; the only sound to be heard was the rustling of the tree branches as the winter wind rushed by. ChangMin didn't know what to feel, but he was sure that the concept of "friends" was a touchy subject for the girl in front of him. They stood in silence, staring each other down, neither one daring to look away. After about a minute longer, EunMi shoved ChangMin's schoolbag into his chest and whispered,

"You can go home by yourself."

As she started to walk away, ChangMin regained his senses, noticing a patch of ice where the girl was headed and called out, "Hey, watch out for--!"

But it was too late. EunMi slipped on the ice and plummeted to the ground, an ominous "crack" heard as her arm slammed against the ice. ChangMin grimaced a little at the sound, then tentatively approached the other, having half a mind to at least check on her. EunMi gingerly touched her left arm with her right and winched a little.

"It hurts..." she whispered, but ChangMin rolled his eyes, thinking she was just acting.

"Oh, please, it's nothing."

"No, I...I think it's broken. It really hurts..." EunMi whimpered, and when ChangMin looked at her, she was on the verge of tears. With a deep sigh, ChangMin looked up at the sky, wondering why he was now stuck with a crying girl with a possibly-broken arm. After a deep breath, ChangMin held his two crutches under his right arm and bent over, taking EunMi's good arm, and helped her to her feet. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, ChangMin dialed a number and began to speak,

"Driver Kim? It's me, ChangMin. I need you to pick me up outside the school. Just do it. And...don't tell my mom."

He quickly hung up and glanced at the girl beside him, who was still crying. A little embarrassed, ChangMin tried to placate her by saying,

"Hey, stop crying. You look ridiculous."

He didn't think it would work, but her tears eventually stopped falling and her sniffling quieted down. Relaxed at this, ChangMin said, more politely this time, "My driver will take us to the hospital, so don't cry anymore."

EunMi wiped her tears with her good arm and looked at ChangMin, who was looking away. She opened to say something but was cut off when a black Mercedes-Benz pulled up in front of them, and ChangMin opened the door for her to get inside.

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The car ride back from the hospital was deafeningly silent; even Driver Kim could feel the awkward tension in the air, and he wasn't even involved in the two teenagers' quarrel. Reaching EunMi's house, ChangMin stepped out of the car to walk her to the door. When EunMi didn't open the door, ChangMin reached out to ring the doorbell, but EunMi stopped him by saying ever-so-softly,

"Thank you..."

Slowly, he looked at the girl beside him, wondering if she had really just thanked him. She continued,

"Thank you for taking me to the hospital. Also, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I shouldn't have done that... And about the hospital bill..."

"That's right," ChangMin interjected. "I should make you pay me back for that. But I don't need money, so...I'll accept payment in food."

Surprised and puzzled, EunMi looked up at ChangMin, who was looking at a leaf on the ground, the blush on his cheeks barely visible in the setting sun. Smiling a little, EunMi nodded her head in agreement. ChangMin then added,

"Lunch. Every day for two months. Except weekends--I'm busy then."

EunMi's smile widened as she nodded again, and ChangMin coughed awkwardly, mumbling,

"Okay, then. I'll be going now."

EunMi watched him leave, how he slightly hopped because he had left his crutches in the car. She then smiled as she looked at the orange cast on her left arm and opened the gate to her house to enter, getting ready to explain to her parents why she had broken her first bone.

I've been dead...but I'm back~! Not as a zombie, though. Sorry to disappoint. Haha. Did you all like the super-long chapter? It took a long time to write, so I hope you all find it to your satisfaction~ Also, I'm really sorry I updated later than expected. It's around midnight now, so it's techincally later than when I said I'd update.

Jjajangmyun are black bean paste noodles, and they're really good~ Did anyone get the joke with the yellow radishes? Don't forget the yellow radishes! (If you don't get it, that's okay~ Tell me and I'll let you know.) Haha. Remember that scene. Remember it, and remember it well. Kekeke. Jabche is Korean stir-fry that includes noodles, onions, carrots, pork, shiitake mushrooms, and cabbage with a spicy sauce~ (Thank you to Asian_Innocence-sunbae, who I stole it from. Please forgive me..!) Mandu--basically--are dumplings. ♥ And lastly, bulgogi is pretty much spicy beef, but it tastes amazing~ Hahaha. I'm so hungry...

Oh, and those of you who aren't familiar with the metric system, two meters is about six feet.  So that's how close/far the three were from ChangMin in the library. Haha. Not a safe distance if you ask me.

The lovely poster up there was made by the wonderful, amazingly talented A+Changjo Poster Shop~! They're moving their site now, though, because they've gotten so many customers. But if you want to request something or just take a look at their work, keep an eye out for them! They're amazing! Credit to ppz_uk and paigehk, the two sisters who manage the poster shop.

I don't know when I can update the next chapter, but I hope you will all look forward to it and stick with me through this crazy journey~

Super fantabulous cookies to:

vannaaaa
500percentoff
HubaHuba
keymintaeonjong
Shazzyx3
CMH911209
Distortion

Thank you, readers! I'm looking forward to your comments~ And expect my replies soon after. I'll be up for about another hour or so. Hahaha. Until next time~ ♥