I apologize for being absent for a while. But I hope you all enjoy this update~

A month and a half had passed quickly, and the days were relatively normal. The students of KyungHee Private High didn't start any rumours when EunMi brought lunch for ChangMin every day--they knew the two were just friends. At lunch hour, ChangMin always criticized how "sloppy and inedible" EunMi's cooking looked, but he ate it all anyway. When he finished eating, he would quickly leave to the library without thanking the girl who made the meal for him. Why should he have to say "thank you" for something he deserved?

EunMi and ChangMin were just like always--competing to turn in their assignments before the other and bickering over the smallest things. And though EunMi still had to wear a cast on her arm, ChangMin's ankle had completely healed, and so they would race to the school every morning and sometimes got there so early that they had to wait for the school's security guard to open the gates. The days that passed were normal days.

It was a Wednesday now, and all the students had blasé expressions on their faces, as no one really liked the middle of the week. Even ChangMin and EunMi seemed slightly less-than-happy to be in school that day. However, the monotony of the morning dissolved when SoonLi ran to EunMi's desk and excitedly whispered,

"I have amazing news!"

"Did someone dye their hair again?" EunMi asked, laughing a little.

"Actually, ByungHun did dye his hair white..." SoonLi absentmindedly stated, looking up at the ceiling in thought. EunMi replied,

"Didn't he just dye it pink not too long ago?"

"Well, yeah, but you know that guy," SoonLi joked, but then she suddenly became serious. "That's not the news, though. There's a transfer student coming in today!"

At this, ChangMin glanced at the two girls beside him and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Why are there so many transfer students this year?" he bitterly thought, then returned to reading his History textbook.

"He's a seniour, though, so I don't think we'll get to see him much," SoonLi said, pouting a little.

At that moment, there appeared in the doorway a tall boy, his skin evidently tanned from the sun--which was odd because Seoul hadn't received much sun that winter. He asked aloud,

"Is there a 'Choi EunMi' here?"

But before anyone could respond, the boy made eye contact with the said girl and smiled brightly, showing off his perfect teeth. He quickly stepped inside and practically sprinted to EunMi, picking her up and hugging her tightly, exclaiming,

"EunMi-yah, I've missed you so much!"

The entire class watched in silence with wide eyes and slightly-open mouths as the nameless boy spun around with EunMi in his arms before setting her down. He placed his hands on her thin shoulders as he asked,

"You haven't forgotten me, have you?"

Finally getting a good look at the boy's face, EunMi gasped in recognition,

"YunHo Oppa! Are you going to school here?"

Taken aback, ChangMin (along with the rest of the class) stared at the two, wanting to hear their story. The tall boy nodded fervently and quickly replied,

"I asked my parents if I could live with my aunt and uncle here in Seoul so that I could attend this school, and they said I could!"

"But...Oppa, why did you want to change schools? What about all your other friends?" EunMi asked in concern, though she was unable to stop smiling. The boy laughed and looked at her with gentle eyes.

"I just missed you that much."

EunMi's smile softened as she tightly hugged YunHo around the waist. When she pulled back, she looked up at him and said, "You should get to class before the bell rings. Let's have lunch together, okay?"

"Of course. We have a lot to catch up on. I'll see you later, EunMi-yah," YunHo replied, patting the girl's head softly, and left the classroom, giving her one last wave. Eyes still wide in shock, SoonLi turned to EunMi and urgently asked,

"Who was that?!"

"He's my--"

"All right, everyone. Class is starting. Get in your seats," Mr. Kang announced, unintentionally cutting EunMi's explanation short.

"I'll tell you at lunch," EunMi whispered to SoonLi, still smiling from the recent event. Reluctantly, SoonLi retreated to her own desk, narrowly dodging a running JunSu who had arrived late. A few whispers were exchanged between students as attendance was called, but no one started rumours because they didn't know anything about the new student. The first hours of the day took an excruciatingly long time to pass; the clock tantalized the students with its seemingly perpetual ticking. When lunch hour finally arrived, everyone sighed in relief and went off to eat with their friends. SoonLi hurriedly pulled a chair over between EunMi and JunSu and immediately began shooting questions at her.

"What's his full name? How do you know each other? Exactly how tall is he? Does he have a girlfriend? Are you his girlfriend?!"

"SoonLi, calm down! I'll explain everything when he gets here," EunMi said, then took a lunchbox out of her schoolbag, handing it to ChangMin on her right. Smiling, she said to him, "I hope you like it. It's a new recipe I learned this past weekend."

ChangMin said nothing in response and took the food, wordlessly putting it in his mouth. EunMi's cooking was always good--there was no doubt about that. Maybe even better than the meals the chefs at his house prepared. But today, he didn't taste the food. Well, he did, and it was delicious as always, but it wasn't exactly the same. The image of the new student's face flashed in ChangMin's mind, and all the food suddenly turned tasteless. He finished it all, nonetheless, and took out his Korean-English dictionary. EunMi tilted her head a little at him and asked,

"Are you not going to the library?"

"Does it matter to you where I choose to study?" he coldly replied, his eyes focused on the book before him. EunMi glared at her desk partner briefly before catching sight of a familiar boy in the doorway. She waved to him and called,

"Oppa, over here!"

ChangMin's eyebrow twitched at the word  "Oppa," and he looked up from his dictionary to the new student, who was grinning and making his way to EunMi.

"Does this guy ever stop smiling?" he bitterly thought, sending a glare towards YunHo.

YunHo pulled a seat up next to EunMi, still beaming brightly; EunMi was smiling just as happily as she took charge of the introductions.

"Oppa, these are my friends, Jang SoonLi and Kim JunSu. Guys, this is Jung YunHo. He was my senior at my old school back in Gwangju. We've been friends since the third grade."

"It's nice to meet you all," YunHo politely said, bowing a little to the other two. SoonLi and JunSu shyly nodded their heads in response, feeling somewhat at ease by YunHo's friendly smile and the charismatic aura he gave off. Off to the side, ChangMin was glaring holes into his dictionary as he heatedly thought to himself,

"Tch... Country boy."

"Hang on a second..." SoonLi faced EunMi, continuing, "You lived in Gwangju before?"

"Born and raised there. I just moved here when I started going to this school," EunMi answered. SoonLi then asked,

"Really? What company does your family own? Or did they get a promotion or something?"

"Oh... About that..." EunMi quietly started, shifting nervously, then cautiously went on,

"I'm a scholarship student."

SoonLi blankly stared at her friend in silence before flatly asking, "Our school does that sort of thing..?"

EunMi nodded slightly, and JunSu spoke up for the first time that day.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that. It's really hard to get into this school by scholarship, though. The tests are crazy hard! Wow, EunMi, you really are a genius!"

EunMi laughed quietly and modestly shook her head; YunHo was watching her with kind eyes the whole time.

"Sunbae-nim, how did you get accepted into KyungHee?" SoonLi inquired, looking up at the taller boy. YunHo looked away from EunMi and replied,

"Oh, I got a scholarship for my Hapkido skills, but I also took the academic exams to make sure I was accepted. I'm no EunMi, though. I barely passed."

"You must be really good at Hapkido then!" SoonLi complimented, smiling at the other. EunMi added,

"It's true! He's number one in the nation!"

"Really? That's so cool!" SoonLi exclaimed, to which YunHo smiled pleasantly and replied,

"Thank you, SoonLi-sshi."

SoonLi looked down to hide her blushing face, and she nervously brushed her hair behind her ear. JunSu saw this and looked down as well, swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat.

"Oppa, did you get your teeth straightened?" EunMi asked, making YunHo laugh nervously, revealing his gleaming set of teeth as he answered,

"I decided to fix them after you left..."

"And you've gotten a lot taller since I last saw you. How tall are you now?" EunMi continued, amazed at how much had changed in the last few months.

"Last time I checked, I was 185 cm tall," YunHo replied.

"So tall!" EunMi and SoonLi exclaimed at the same time, making ChangMin roll his eyes in vexation. Sourly, he thought to himself,

"Whatever. I'm 186 cm tall."

"Oh, Oppa, where's your lunch?" EunMi asked in concern. YunHo laughed nervously (again) and replied,

"Ah, I guess I forgot it in the classroom because I was so excited to see you again. I'll go get it..."

"No, that's okay, Oppa. Here, just have half of mine," EunMi suggested, pushing her lunch in between YunHo and herself. YunHo chuckled and murmured,

"Just like old times."

"Oppa... You make it sound like we haven't seen each other in years," EunMi commented.

"That's how it felt though..." YunHo said honestly, to which EunMi responded with and "Awh!" and a small hug.

When lunch was over and YunHo had finally left, ChangMin sighed in relief, glad that he wouldn't be hearing EunMi constantly calling "Oppa! Oppa!" for a while. The rest of that Wednesday was a little livelier, compared to the dull morning it had started off as. YunHo had become quite popular among the entire student body, much to EunMi's relief, as she had been worried that people would have for his country accent. After school, in the Student Council room, ChangMin and EunMi were organizing the hotel arrangements for the trip to Europe when a familiar person stepped inside.

"Ah, so this is where you are."

EunMi looked up from the papers on her desk, and her face instantly lit up when she saw YunHo standing in the doorway.

"Oppa, what are you doing here?" 

"Just checking up on you," YunHo replied, smiling lightly. It was then when he noticed ChangMin sitting at the front of the room, and so he walked up to him and politely held out his hand, introducing himself,

"Hi, I'm Jung YunHo."

ChangMin stared at the other's hand with cold eyes, and then glanced at YunHo's smiling face, mumbling,

"Shim ChangMin."

YunHo's hand was left hanging in the air, so he awkwardly put it down to his side, feeling a little embarrassed. Hoping to lighten the atmosphere, he cleared his throat and asked EunMi,

"So is this all of the Student Council? Just you two..?"

"Yeah, just me and ChangMin-sshi. Hey, would you like to join? We can use any help we can get," EunMi said hopefully. ChangMin glared at the back of YunHo's head, silently hoping he'd say he couldn't.

"Sorry, EunMi-yah... I just told the Hapkido guys I'd join their after-school club. I'm really sorry..." YunHo apologized, giving his friend a contrite look. EunMi was a bit disappointed, but she smiled and said,

"That's okay, Oppa. Hapkido is what keeps you in this school, so it's fine."

"I'm sorry... But, hey, when does this meeting end?"

"In maybe an hour and a half," EunMi replied. YunHo grinned, once again showing off his perfect teeth, and said,

"That's great! Hapkido club ends at the same time. Let's meet up afterwards, okay?"

"Sure!" EunMi enthusiastically agreed.

"I'll see you later, then," YunHo said, giving EunMi a small hug, and waved to her as he left the room. When he was gone, EunMi sighed happily and went back to work, her content smile decorating her face. As she hummed an arbitrary tune to herself, ChangMin glared at her in irritation. He didn't like this "Jung YunHo" and how he never stopped smiling. He didn't like how informally the two childhood friends spoke to each other, and he definitely hated how much skinship they were exhibiting. It annoyed him to no end.  

He hated it all, but he couldn't come up with a clear explanation for the contempt he was feeling.

And that--more than anything--bothered him the most.

Teehee~ ChangMin's so cute. And who's happy that YunHo's here? Haha, I love his Gwangju accent. Those of you thinking what I think you're thinking... Don't worry. There won't be any heavy drama anytime soon. Haha.

Just for those who don't know (there's always "that one person" so please don't bash them!)... "Oppa" is how a girl addresses her older brother, older brother-figure, older male friend, or boyfriend. In this case, EunMi is referring to YunHo as both her older brother-figure and older male friend. Aaand, "Sunbae-nim" is how you address an upperclassman, whether it be in school, sports, or at work. Really, you use it to address someone who's older and more experienced than you.

Gah! I couldn't stop squealing when I was writing this chapter. YunHo is so cool~! But..! JaeJoong is my favourite. Speaking of which...he hasn't appeared in this story. I actually don't know if I'll put him in here, so please don't get your hopes up. I love him though..!

Oh! And the story behind how EunMi got in to KyungHee Private High has been revealed~ Well...some of it. Haha. Why, exactly, did she move? We'll find out later~ And because EunMi's not a rich girl in a rich family, you can see why she was always amazed at 1) how many students bribed the school with money to change their schedules and 2) the freakishly extravagant library. Hahaha.

Oh! And how many of you like ByungHun's/L.Joe's new hair? Haha, I think it's okay. Actually, his pink hair was starting to grow on me, but all of a sudden, he dyed it white. I still like his hair blonde the most, though. Enough blabbing~

Super amazing TYSM cookies to:

Almightycorncake (I love your username.)
shineesjuliette225
hallyterry
MultiColoredRanger

I have sixty-three subscribers now! It's so cool! And, yeah, it's not like all those other authours who have fifty billion subscribers, but I'm still really thankful to all of my readers.

PS I'm on Spring Break right now (WOOHOO~), so I'll be writing/updating more often this week. Please look forward to the next chapter~ ♪