“Hey man!” he greeted as he took a seat beside Yoseob, his friend of three years.

“What’s up Ryeowook?” Yoseob replied with a smile as he tackled his friend’s hand in a thumb handshake. Ryeowook laughed along and squeezed Yoseob hands that caused a yelp to slither from his lips. They had always ‘hurt’ each other during their weird greetings. Not even today, first day of their second year at a prestigious college could exacerbate their salutations in any way possible. A college that was greatly admired by many who wanted the very least, a mere glance at its marvellous, eye-popping architecture but were denied all that due to their social and financial status . Yoseob jerked away his hand and returned to writing in his journal. Ryeowook looked around the classroom and saw all his potential classmates engaged in conversation that he was sure they weren’t interested in what he had to say and he thought Yoseob would be the same way too but he gave it a chance.

“Hey man, you heard about those commoners that are supposed to be coming here?” Yoseob eyes looked up from the half filled page in his journal to find his friend looking back at him with keen interest and eagerness.

“Yeah.” He answered indifferently and resumed writing. Ryeowook sensed the annoyance in his tone but he knew for a fact that he wasn’t annoyed due to talking about people below their standards, people who weren’t worthy of being talked of by them especially but simply because he wanted to finish whatever he was scribbling in his journal. Yoseob made it clear to himself that whenever there was something happening in his life that he deemed important, he would record it so that if his memory failed him then the penned words in his journal would not.

A sharp sound pierced the air when the wooden chair scraped against the ceramic tiled floor as Ryeowook drew nearer to Yoseob. Not deterred by his friend’s attitude he pressed on. “I heard one of them is not hard to look at and the other has an attitude of a rotten egg.”

Yoseob slapped his book shut, finally finished with his journal entry. He slid his school paraphernalia to the right hand corner of his desk and focused his undivided attention to Ryeowook.

“I also heard that they moved into Seoul Leigh Heights yesterday.” He continued his tiny lips moving as he divulged all he heard about the new peasants. That they didn’t own a car, that they were farmers living on the little wage they earned and that the only reason they set foot through that college was due to scholarships that they were awarded. A large breath escaped from his petite body when he finished his account and he looked in Yoseob’s eyes for some sort of reaction or rebuttal.

“Ryeo, do me a favour next time and eat actual food for breakfast and not drugs.”

“Yang, I’m not kidding, yo.” He said exasperated. Who knew it took so much energy to gossip?

“I guess I can’t wait to see them.”

“Guess? What do you mean by guess, Yang?” He asked unbelievingly. “I related the most heated news currently on the campus and all you can say is I guess I can’t wait to see them?”

Yoseob ran his fingers through his black silky hair and gritted his teeth, not absorbing all that Ryeo said. Instead he related what happened to him yesterday: how he met a beautiful girl who recently moved into the neighbourhood and that she lived three blocks from his house, how her long brown hair flowed down her curved back, how amazing her skin looked in the sunlight and how soft her voice was. His black beads widened and swarmed in the calm sea of his white face, his voice’s tone varied from absolute admiration to pure excitement. Ryeo stared at him unblinkingly, astonished by all that his friend had said. The friend who had sworn that he was through with girls for now, that he wanted to focus on his studies and mould his voice and fine tune his body movements.

“Well, what?” Yoseob asked waiting for his buddy’s response.

“Man, what happened to ‘No more girls for me now’ and ‘It’s time for me now. Me, myself and I’?”

“Ryeo, all that I said went through the window as fast as a strike of lightning when I laid my eyes on that girl.” Yoseob countered, sincerity sounding in his voice.

The shrill sound of the bell disturbed the atmosphere and sent adolescents scurrying to the seats they had chosen earlier that morning for class was about to start. Ryeo gave Yoseob one of his ‘You’re complicated’ look before leaving the room to drink from the water fountain in the hall. Yoseob merely smiled as the image of Chanhi floated into his mind.

***

“President!” The panting twenty-three year old male messenger ran into the office. He halted when he realized that he had disrupted a meeting between the President and another member of the school board. An apology spouted from his quivering lips as he clutched a black clipboard tightly against his chicken chest. He couldn’t afford to lose his job only after three days.

“Chang!” The President shrieked, a blue vain making itself visible in her pale forehead. “This is your first and last warning before you have the job of cleaning the outside toilets.” She hissed, bubbles of saliva appearing at the corners of her lips. Her dark black pits seemed to darken beyond the lens of her small spectacles and her teeth shone a dirty yellow. “Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes, Miss President.” He replied after bowing about eight times in succession. Only he would experience the terrible back pains he was sure to get after so many bows. “But Miss President, Ma’am.”

“What is it?!”

“I thought you would” But Chang stopped himself, remembering that the other board member was still in the office. She caught his timid glance and gathered her things and bade them goodbye. Chang ensured that he locked the door after she left and paced closer towards the President’s Desk. “I thought you would like to review the commoners’ files again since some additions have been made.” The President’s mouth contorted into a circle as her ears devoured Chang’s words.

“Changes?”

“Yes Ma’am” He said and shoved the clipboard in her hands. “One of them can sing and the other is a dancer.”

“Sing and dance?” She asked bewildered, her voice slightly breaking up. “But how is that possible? I thought I had chosen talentless peasants.”Chang shifted uneasily as her eyes perused the pages of the files. The clatter of the clipboard to the floor caused him to jump in fright. He quickly picked it up, looked back at the President who was seething before, her face glowing brick red and he didn’t hesitate to dismiss himself from her office.

She tore the gold trimmed spectacles from her burning face and it across the room. It cracked and the pieces of broken glass fell to the floor. Her high pitched yelp resounded with the spacious room only to the effect of reinforcing her plan that had not really started but had already gone terribly wrong. Out of the many thousands of families of commoners she could’ve chosen she just had to choose the one whose children were truly talented. She rummaged the thin sheet of black hair that was evenly streaked with white hairs that sat on her head. How could she have made should a huge flaw? There was no way she was going to back down or even give up, no way. That was the beginning. If she couldn’t have the joy of humiliating peasants on her property then she would make it her will to have lives ruin. She definitely would do just so.

***

Chanhi took a seat at the back of the class as the others headed for the front seats. She was oblivious to the scheme that someone was planning to entrap her in. The butterflies fluttered excitedly in her little stomach and her heart raced each time a person looked in her direction then murmured something in the ear of his/her friends. She knew that they were talking about her. They were ecstatic that they had discovered someone who didn’t wear the name brand clothes like them or even drove onto the compound in a Range Rover. “It won’t be the same “ she reiterated in her mind but each time she said she felt less convinced. Chanhi thought that maybe she could escape from her troubles but instead it seemed like she ran into deeper ones. She took a quick chance and scratch the nape of her neck before she heard heels tick tocking towards her.

“Hi there.” A small girl, whose body was covered in a brown Prada coat that swept at her ankles, her face was small and inviting and she looked beautiful. “I’m Sunny. And you are?” she asked with her hands still planted in the front pockets of her coat.

“H-hi , I’m Chanhi.” She choked.

“Well, nice to meet you, Chanhi and I hope we’ll get along just fine.” Sunny said as she drew a chair close to Chanhi and sat down, a warm smile brightening her cute face. Chanhi turned to look at her and a smile emerged on her face. Maybe it would not be so bad, she thought. Maybe she could actually be herself there. Just Maybe.

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2nd chapter for the lucky

person who's reading!

thanks for reading and comment as well!

This is Eya