Yeah, it’s a warning,

Got me burning, up, up,

Wake me up

The way you’re looking at her,

Aye, warning,

Stop, stop, stop right there

Sometimes, people acquire a reputation and they’re not sure where it came from.

To be perfectly fair to Im Jaebum, he had never done anything to deserve the tough, bad boy image that made everyone wary of him. He wasn’t actually a delinquent and he’d never even beat up anyone at school. It was just something about the look in his eyes, the way he carried himself. Im Jaebum looked like somebody that wasn’t to be messed with. So nobody messed with him.

“Uh…Jaebum-ssi…” a voice called hesitantly. He had been resting his head on his arms and he looked up at the girl standing by his desk. It was Kim Seoyeon, the Class President. She was a soft-spoken girl that wore large glasses and was chosen as Class President because she was top of the class, not because she had any sort of leadership skills. Nobody really minded Seoyeon much. Seoyeon was the kind of person that was on good terms with everyone, but who nobody cared much about.

“Hmm?” Jaebum asked, his voice a little gruff from sleep as he looked up at her.

Seoyeon cleared . “Uh, I’m collecting the slips from yesterday? The ones where we all filled out our preferences for club activities?” she asked him gently.

Jaebum stared at her for a few seconds, before blinking. “Ah! The club forms.”

“Yes. Can I have yours, please?”

He reached into his backpack and pulled out his slightly crumpled slip, handing it to her. Seoyeon took it from him with a polite smile. She gave him a slight bow, before moving onto the group of boys sitting behind him. They were talking loudly and Seoyeon had to call out their names a couple of times before any of them would pay her any attention.

“Jackson! Jinyoung! Can you guys please hand in your club forms?” she asked, her voice sounding a little strained. The boys were too busy watching something on Jackson’s phone and neither of them were paying Seoyeon any attention. “Please, I’m supposed to hand them in by the end of the day!”

It took a few seconds, but Jackson finally tore his eyes away from the video to look at her distractedly. “What?” he asked, vaguely.

“The club preference forms? Did you fill them?” Seoyeon asked hopefully. “I need to turn them in.”

Jackson turned back to the video. “Oh. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“But- you can’t do it tomorrow, today’s the last day,” Seoyeon pressed, trying to wave a hand in front of his face to turn her attention back to him. “Jinyoung? If you guys haven’t filled it yet, can you please fill it right now so I can turn them in by the end of break?”

Jinyoung sounded a little annoyed. “Look, we’ll do it tomorrow. You’re ruining the video-“

“I’m sorry, I just really need to hand these in. Mrs. Park said today is the last day. If you don’t hand them in right now, you might not get to do the club activities you want. Wouldn’t it be better to hand the slips in on time?” Seoyeon pressed, although neither of the boys were listening to her. Both of them laughed loudly as something funny happened in the video.

“Dude, that was daebak, did you see the way he-“

Jaebum turned around slightly in his seat. Seoyeon was standing awkwardly near the boys, wringing her hands together as she tried to get their attention again. She looked extremely uncomfortable. She hadn’t wanted to be Class President, she was awful at getting people to listen. She opened to try again, when a slightly gruff voice interrupted her.

“Yah. You two.”

Both Jackson and Jinyoung looked up suddenly at the sound of Jaebum’s voice. He sounded annoyed and he was narrowing his eyes at them. Jackson blinked at him. “What?”

“Aren’t you going to hand your forms in?” Jaebum demanded.

“We told her we’ll do it tomorrow-“

“It’s a damned slip of paper. You literally have to write two words on it and sign it. Do it now.” Jaebum sounded pissed off and he glared at the two boys behind him. “I’m trying to sleep and you’re all creating a ruckus. Do you want to mess with me over a bloody club form?”

Jackson and Jinyoung exchanged glances.

“Fine, we’ll do it. You don’t have to get so pissed off, jeez….”

Jaebum turned around and put his head back on the table, closing his eyes. He was extremely aware of Seoyeon’s eyes on him, watching him quietly as she waited for the others to fill up their forms. She hovered awkwardly near Jaebum’s desk as if she wanted to say something, but then walked away silently instead. 

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 Jaebum was surprised when Seoyeon walked up next to him as he was leaving the classroom.

“Thank you for helping me with Jackson and Jinyoung earlier today,” she said quietly, giving him a soft smile. She cleared awkwardly. “I’m no good at being Class President, I can’t get people to listen to me. You saved me from getting into trouble with Mrs. Park.”

Jaebum hitched his bag over his shoulder.

“You should just be more assertive.”

Seoyeon smiled shyly. “I guess I should. I’m not sure how, though.”

“You can start by not saying please so much. It’s not like they’re doing you a favor by handing in the club forms or the homework or anything,” Jaebum replied. He looked down at Seoyeon. She had a soft, round face and big eyes that made her look rather child-like. Despite his words, he had to admit that it was difficult to be assertive with a face like that. Her large glasses and neatly tied hair would make it difficult for anyone to take her too seriously. “Although your face kind of goes against you.”

Seoyeon flushed. “Sorry?”

“Your face. You look too innocent,” he explained simply.

Seoyeon’s lower lip stuck out slightly. “That’s not fair. Although I guess people do judge by first impressions. Yours is kind of scary, Jaebum-ssi,” she admitted. Then her eyes widened a little. “Sorry! Was that rude?”

Jaebum looked down at her, amused. “I guess not,” he said with a chuckle.

“You have a nice smile, though. You should smile more often,” she said quickly, before her face turned red at her own forwardness. She suddenly felt embarrassed and clutched her backpack strap. “Uh- I have to go… bye! Have a nice day!”

She hurried away quickly. Although if she had stayed for a few more seconds, she would have noticed Jaebum’s ears turning pink and the embarrassed look on his face as he walked away.

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That short moment,

That risky feeling,

My heart beats faster,

Like I’m out of breath

Jaebum was surprised when Seoyeon kept approaching him to make small talk. She would often stop by his desk to say something to him. Sometimes she would simply smile and ask if he was having a nice day, on others she would try to make some small conversation by asking him about homework, or if the baseball club’s practice was going well. Jaebum wasn’t sure why she kept coming to talk to him, but he liked it. He found himself almost anticipating the few words she would say to him during break or he would walk slowly as he left the classroom so she could catch up to him and give him a smile.

“Oppa, you know jewelry isn’t allowed in school,” she said to him one day, playfully, as she pointed at the new earring that he had put in one ear. Jaebum blinked at her, a little surprised until he realized she wasn’t completely serious.

“You won’t tell, will you?” he asked with a small smile.

“Only because it looks good on you,” Seoyeon said, her cheeks a little pink as she smiled at him and then walked past to her own desk. Jaebum found himself feeling flustered. Was she flirting with him? Most girls in the class found Jaebum too scary to approach. Surely the quiet, shy Seoyeon couldn’t be flirting with him, was she?

Jaebum jumped slightly when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Jackson leaned forward and breathed slightly in Jaebum’s ear, a sleazy grin on his face. “So… what’s up with that, huh?” he asked playfully.

Jaebum turned around sharply. “With what?”

“Eyyy. Don’t lie, your ears are all red. Is there something going on with you two?” Jackson demanded, pointing at Seoyeon’s back and then turning his finger to Jaebum. It was the first time he had seen Im Jaebum flustered and he took advantage of it. “She keeps coming to flirt with you. I didn’t think innocent little Seoyeon had it in her. You should do something about it, you know.”

Jaebum bristled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on. I get that’s she’s not really anyone’s ideal type, but Seoyeon’s cute, right? If she took off those glasses then she could be pretty. I heard the innocent-looking girls are sometimes the kinkiest,” he said with an obnoxious laugh, before turning to high-five Jinyoung.

Jaebum glared at them both, making them shut up. Although Jackson was an , he wasn’t completely wrong. Jaebum ran his fingers through his hair thoughtfully. Maybe he should do something about it. Seoyeon was cute, maybe there could be something there.

He never got the chance to do it himself, though.

It was Valentine’s Day when Seoyeon confessed to Jaebum herself. She came up to his desk as usual, looking nervous and asking him in a soft voice if he would meet her outside. When Jaebum followed her out to a rather empty spot behind the gym, she a box of homemade chocolates at him and told him, with a surprising amount of confidence, that she liked him and really wanted to date him.

Jaebum was the one who couldn’t prevent his face from turning red. His mind had gone blank and he had gaped at her a little foolishly for a few minutes before managing to stammer out an acceptance. It was a little embarrassing even to think about it later, and Jaebum wished he had behaved in a cooler manner. All the same, Seoyeon had beamed at him and then shyly wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug.

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Only look at me,

Don’t look anywhere else,

I’m right next to you,

Look only at me.

“Let’s not say anything to those guys,” Jaebum muttered, gently dropping Seoyeon’s hand as they neared the school gates. He had gone to pick her up in the morning and Seoyeon had been extremely flustered to find Jaebum waiting outside her house at 7:30 am and mumbling something about walking her to school.

Jackson and Jinyoung were walking a little distance in front of them. Seoyeon felt slightly disappointed when he felt Jaebum’s warm hand leave hers. “Oh,” she said awkwardly, moving a little bit away from him. “You don’t want them to know?”

Jaebum cleared his throat. He had already behaved like a flustered child in front of Seoyeon yesterday, the last thing he needed was for the other boys to know how stupid he looked in front of her. “Yeah, they’ll just… they’ll just make fun of us and make us uncomfortable. Let’s not say anything to anyone for now?” he asked quietly.

Seoyeon nodded. She walked away from Jaebum and headed to her own seat in the classroom, feeling slightly disappointed. Why wouldn’t Jaebum want his friends to know that they were dating? She was personally dying to tell her own friends about it. Shouldn’t he be excited too? Or was he not that interested in her? Maybe he had only agreed to date her because he felt bad for her? Seoyeon felt her own cheeks flushing red in embarrassment. Maybe she had been stupid to think that somebody like Jaebum would ever actually like her.

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Eyes that want her from here and there,

All over the place,

They’re coming closer

I’m not myself right now,

I need to be careful

“Oh my God. I have never been so wrong about anything,” Jackson declared loudly, as he entered the classroom. “Like seriously, I have never been so wrong. Who would have ever imagined that she could be so hot? I didn’t see it coming!”

Jaebum, who had been dozing off on his desk, lifted his head up. “Can you keep it down?” he grumbled.

Jackson merely turned and shot Jaebum a huge grin, before plopping down in the seat next to his. He waved over Jinyoung and a couple of other guys, making them all gather around him as he pulled out his phone. “You’ll love this, Jaebum,” Jackson told him with an excited laugh. “You know that junior kid, Bambam? He’s working with the dance team to help the girl’s dance performance for the cultural festival. He sent me a video of the girls’ dance practice yesterday. It’ll blow your mind.”

Another boy piped up. “Wow! You got a dance practice video? I want to see!”

“I heard they’re performing AOA’s Miniskirt! I can’t believe they got permission to perform a dance like that, I thought the Principal would lose his mind,” someone else pointed out.

“Nah. That Jieun girl is the one who organized the dance. She’s an idol trainee and all, they let her do whatever she wants because she makes the school look good.” Jackson found the video on his phone and pressed play. The beginning notes of AOA’s Miniskirt began to play. “Watch this.”

The dance started. It was surprisingly good; the video quality wasn’t too clear but they could all see Jieun, the girls’ dance team leader at the front and swaying her hips in an extremely sexy manner. A couple of the girls looked a little clumsy. “Who’s that?” Jinyoung asked, pointing at a girl that was near the middle. “Wow, she’s really good.”

Jackson let out an excited giggle. “Guess,” he challenged.

It was a few seconds before the boys all squinted at the tiny phone screen. “Oh my God!” one of the boys said with a sudden laugh. “Isn’t that Class President Seoyeon? What is she even doing there?”

“But dude…” another guy piped up. “She actually looks really y.”

“I know, right?” Jackson asked with a laugh. “And here I was saying just last week that she wasn’t really anybody’s ideal type. Who knew she was hiding a body like that underneath there, huh? Wow, I can’t wait to see the actual performance!”

Jaebum clenched his fists as he watched the video. He had to admit, it was extremely surprising. Seoyeon seemed to have taken off her glasses and if he hadn’t seen her face clearly, he would never have guessed it was her. He swallowed uncomfortably and then pressed stop on Jackson’s video. The other boys looked at him, annoyed, but he merely pointed towards the front of the class. “Mrs. Park’s here, you don’t want her to  confiscate your phone, Jackson.”

Jackson quickly stuffed his phone under the table and the boys dispersed quickly.

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Don’t look anywhere else even for a moment,

(I can’t just watch, I can’t lose you)

I have to be the only one next to you

(Cause you are mine, you’re mine, you’re mine, you’re mine)

“Can we talk?” Jaebum asked Seoyeon, as she hurried to leave the classroom.

Seoyeon barely glanced up at him, she looked flustered. She was rushing to pack her bag, the same way she had been doing so for the past three days after class. Jaebum had barely managed to get a word in edgewise with her. “I have some cultural festival work-“ she began.

“And by cultural festival work, you mean dance practice, right?”

Seoyeon flushed. How had he found out about that? She was personally really embarrassed to be doing the Miniskirt dance. She didn’t usually do things like that, but one of the girls had injured herself a few days ago and Seoyeon had been forced to step in. It was her first time attempting anything of the sort and she had been so sure of embarrassing herself that she had even asked Bambam to help her practice overtime. “Y-yeah. How did you know about the dance-“

“A lot of people are talking about it,” Jaebum replied.

“Oh. Well, I have to go-“

“What time does practice finish? I’ll come afterwards and pick you up-“

Shit. She couldn’t let him do that. Practice officially ended at 5:30, but Seoyeon planned to stay back late with Bambam so he could help her with the moves. “It’ll be really late, we should just meet some other time,” she replied. When she saw Jaebum’s slightly disappointed face, she felt her heart flutter. “I’m sorry, Jaebum. The cultural festival is tomorrow, I’ll be more free after that. I promise.”

Yeah, he thought silently. But what if it’s too late by then?

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Jaebum was standing awkwardly in the auditorium, as the lights dimmed. He had been feeling uncomfortable all day and he’d barely been able to enjoy the cultural festival. A lot of his friends had put on good performances earlier but he was on the edge of his seat, wondering when the girls’ Miniskirt performance would start.

“Whooo! It’s starting, it’s starting!”

The excited male voices gave away which performance was next. The dimmed lights came on, to reveal a group of about seven or eight girls. They were dressed in short skirts, dangerously high heels and black stockings that covered long legs. Most of the guys were losing their minds. Jaebum had to blink a few times to locate Seoyeon; she looked so different.

The music started and Jaebum clenched his fists. The dance was y originally, it involved a lot of swinging of hips and stretching of long legs. He fixed his eyes on Seoyeon. There was something slightly nervous about her expression, but Jaebum wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been looking for it. Seoyeon was managing to pull off the moves surprisingly well. She wasn’t the most vigorous dancer, but she looked extremely y. Jaebum felt his head spin slightly. Was this really the same shy, flustered girl who couldn’t even get Jackson and Jinyoung to hand in their club forms?

The performance only really lasted about two minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Jaebum. He pushed aside a couple of boys once he head the closing notes of the song. His fists were clenched and there was a serious look on his face as he slipped out of the auditorium and found his way to the door backstage. There were a lot of people getting ready for other performances and he managed to squeeze his way through them in time to see the girls coming back off the stage.

“Wow! You guys were amazing!” high-fives were going around and compliments filled the air. Jaebum managed to spot Seoyeon, and he waved at her briefly. Seoyeon looked at him but her eyes passed over him as though he wasn’t there. Frowning, Jaebum pushed past a few more people and managed to grab Seoyeon’s arm.

“Seoyeon,” he said, his voice surprisingly low.

Seoyeon whirled around and blinked at him. “Jaebum?” she asked, her cheeks turning pink. What was he doing backstage? She hadn’t really wanted him to see her like this; part of her had been hoping that he wouldn’t even watch the performance but she knew it was too much to ask for. She lifted a hand and waved it in front of her face lightly; Jaebum was blurry to her. “Sorry, I can’t see you properly. Somebody has my glasses. I can’t remember who I gave them to…”

“What was that?” he demanded, ignoring her. “That performance?”

Seoyeon’s awkward smile fell and her eyes widened.  “Oh God. It was awful, right? I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I’m no good at these kind of things but Mira injured herself and the other girls pleaded me to take her place and you know how I’m horrible at saying no-“

Jaebum grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to him. Seoyeon stumbled slightly on the huge heels she was wearing, but managed to balance herself by grabbing onto his shirt. “Uh-“

“Don’t ever do it again,” he told her firmly.

Seoyeon bit her lip, feeling like crying. Why had she agreed to do it? Jaebum clearly hated it. Was he going to break up with her? Would he not want to date the girl that had humiliated herself by trying to do a y dance in front of the whole school and failed miserably at it? “I-I’m sorry,” she muttered out. She opened to say something more, but somebody yelled out to her.

“Seoyeon! Seoyeon, get over here! I have your glasses and you need to return the heels, they need them for another performance!” a voice yelled out.

Seoyeon pulled herself away from Jaebum. “I’ll, uh… I’ll see you later,” she mumbled. She hurried away, not looking back at him and trying to blink back the tears that were forming in her eyes.

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Don’t look anywhere else,

Look only at me,

Hold my hand so they don’t try anything,

Yes alright, yes alright,

I’ll be a wolf for you

Give me your heart

Seoyeon was tired as she entered the classroom in the morning. The cultural festival had drained all the energy out of most of them, and Seoyeon had stayed up half the night thinking about Jaebum. How was she going to face him? Would he finally break up with her? If he’d been embarrassed to tell others he was dating her before, how bad would it be now?

Seoyeon had entered the classroom and dropped her bag on her desk. She kept her gaze fixed on the floor, not wanting to look towards Jaebum’s seat. She was too worried to look at him. She instead pulled out a textbook and started studying, completely unaware of the group of boys that were standing two seats behind and jostling each other while staring at her.

“Yah- you go! You talk to her normally, right?” one of them shoved the other.

“No… I mean, just a couple of times! She’s not my friend or anything!” he protested.

“You’re all cowards. I’ll go, okay?”

A hand tapped Seoyeon’s desk and she looked up to see a couple of her male classmates gathered around her desk. She blinked in surprise, straightening her glasses as she looked up at them. A couple of them occupied the seats around her.

“Class President-nim! Don’t open your books so bright and early in the morning! Do you think you could spare some time to chat with us?” one of the boys asked lightly. He pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “It’s a pity that you’re our Class President but none of us know you well. Why don’t we spend some time bonding?”

Seoyeon was flustered. “Bonding?” she asked blankly.

“Yeah. Some of us are going out to a club tonight. Want to join us? It’ll be fun, I promise.”

Seoyeon flushed red. She’d never been invited out by a group of classmates, and the way all the boys were staring at her was making her feel uncomfortable. She bit her lip and shifted slightly. “That’s- that’s nice of your guys to offer, but I don’t really like clubs. I’m no good at drinking or dancing-“

“Eyyy! What are you even saying?” another guy asked with a laugh. “Seoyeon-ssi was one of the iest dancers during the Miniskirt stage, how can you claim to be bad at dancing? We’re dying to see you pull some of those moves again! Come on, have some fun with us!”

Seoyeon shook her head awkwardly. “Sorry, I think I might be busy.”

“Why are you acting so shy?” another boy teased. “It’s fine, you can come out with us! Nothing will happen! It’s not like you have a boyfriend or anything, right? Or is Seoyeon-ssi worried that her boyfriend won’t like her spending time with other boys?”

Seoyeon felt her heart skip a beat. She finally dared to lift her head up properly and turn around to look at Jaebum. He was sitting stiffly at his desk, scrolling through his phone and ignoring the scene happening in front of him. Seoyeon bit her lip and turned away. He clearly didn’t even care anymore. Besides, he wouldn’t want her telling the others that they were dating. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she replied awkwardly. “But I’m busy tonight. Sorry.”

The boy opened his mouth to press further but the teacher entered the classroom at that moment, yelling for them to settle down. Seoyeon breathed out a sigh of relief as the boys all went back to their own seats. What was wrong with them? None of them had ever paid her any attention before, why were they suddenly crowding around her?

Seoyeon glanced behind her. She suddenly made eye contact with Jaebum, who was giving her a sharp, expressionless look. Flustered, she turned away and fumbled to grab a pen.

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Yeah, it’s a warning,

Go away or you’ll get hurt,

The moment you cross the line,

Ey warning,

Stop, stop, no more

“Wow. Look at that!”

Jackson was pointing towards the lockers, where Seoyeon was stuffing books into her bag. Standing next to her was Namjoon, the captain of the school basketball team. He was leaning against the lockers casually as he spoke to Seoyeon, her cheeks flushing pink in response. She was shaking her head quietly, but Namjoon laughed and leaned down closer to her to say something else.

Jinyoung nodded. “Wow. Talk about a change of fortune. She even has Kim Namjoon after her now. I wonder why everyone’s suddenly desperate to get with Seoyeon. It can’t be just because of the dance? Jieun was better than her.”

“Well, yeah,” Jackson admitted. “Jieun was better, but everyone knows Jieun is y. With Seoyeon it was like a punch in the face, you know?” he whipped his head to the side and mimed an exploding noise. “Nobody knew she was that hot, so in a weird way, it makes her hotter.”

Jaebum was fuming. “It’s disgusting,” he hissed.

“Eyyy. You’re not jealous, are you?” Jackson teased.

“Crazy jealous,” Jaebum replied, to their surprise. Both boys blinked at Jaebum as he suddenly clenched his fists and strode over sharply towards Namjoon and Seoyeon. He walked up to them, interrupting their conversation suddenly. “I need to talk to Seoyeon. Can you leave us alone for a minute?” he asked Namjoon bluntly.

Namjoon bristled, but straightened up. He was annoyed but he decided not to mess with Jaebum. The murderous look in his eyes didn’t bore very well. “Uh, I guess,” Namjoon replied lightly. “Let’s meet after class, Seoyeon-ah. We can get ice cream or something.”

Seoyeon’s eyes widened. “Uh-“

Before she could finish her sentence, Namjoon had turned around and walked away. She turned to look at Jaebum, who was frowning down at her. He suddenly stepped closer and Seoyeon found her back pressed against her locker. She stared up at him with wide eyes.

“I have a boyfriend,” Jaebum said lowly. “Is that so difficult to say?”

“I- you told me not to tell anyone-“

“Yeah, that was generally. You’re supposed to say it when guys are flirting with you and throwing themselves at you,” he grumbled. He placed a hand on the locker, next to her head as he leaned closer. “If you don’t set them right, I will. They’re not allowed to look at you that way, you’re mine. They don’t even know you. They just think you’re hot.”

Seoyeon felt tears coming to her eyes. She wasn’t sure what was going on. At one level, the attention was flattering but today had been too much for her to take. The boys all crowding around her and flirting with her, some of them passing borderline lewd comments. Seoyeon had never dealt with so much attention before. She was used to being invisible. She sniffled slightly and reached up to wipe her tears. “I…”

Jaebum’s eyes softened. “Hey. Are you crying? Seoyeon-ah…”

Seoyeon shook her head quickly as she swallowed. “Sorry. Today’s been such a weird day. I thought you were mad at me because I messed up the dance, and you haven’t even talked to me all day. And these guys kept following me around and a pair of them even whistled at me in the corridor earlier. I shouldn’t have let them get away with it, but I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never… never dealt with so many people staring, I…”

Jaebum slowly pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. He pressed her face into his shoulder as he her hair gently. “Hey. Don’t be like that. I’m sorry. I should have talked to you sooner, I was just jealous.”

“Jealous? Because of those guys?” Seoyeon asked, sniffling again.

“Hmm. Everyone was suddenly paying so much attention to you, I got insecure. I liked it better when it was just you and me,” he admitted quietly. He took a deep breath and nuzzled his face into her soft hair lightly. She felt wonderful in his arms. “Don’t worry anymore. I’m here, and I’ll take care of those guys, okay? None of them will mess with you anymore.”

Seoyeon looked up at him, worried. “What are you going to do?”

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “You’ll see.”

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I want to put you in my arms, baby,

Hide next to me so nobody can look at you,

“Move.”

One of the boys who had, during lunch, managed to get a seat next to Seoyeon, blinked up at Jaebum calmly. He had spent a lot of time bargaining with the girl who generally sat there to switch seats, and he didn’t want to give up his seat so easily. The boy folded his arms across his chest.

“Why should I-“

“Because I want to sit there.” Jaebum gave him a sharp look. “Move.”

The boy paused for a few moments and then seemed to think better of himself. He got up and moved away, allowing Jaebum to plop his backpack down on the seat and settle into it. Seoyeon sat next to him, hesitantly. So was keeping their relationship a secret out of the window now? She cleared and looked at Jaebum hesitantly.

“If you’re going to sit here, don’t you think-“

“Seoyeon-ssi!” a male voice called out. A couple of guys from earlier that morning came and crowded around her desk again. He waved a hand at her cheerfully. “Have you thought a little more about coming to the club with us? It’s going to be really fun, we even know the DJ. You’ll really be missing out.”

Jaebum spoke before Seoyeon could. “Yeah? Sounds like a blast. Do you want to go together, jagiya?” he asked coolly, turning to glance at Seoyeon. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed pink. It was the first time he had addressed her by a pet name, did he have to do it in public? “We had plans for a dinner date, but maybe we can stop by the club later.”

The boys looked uncomfortable. “Wait, what? Are you two dating?”

Jaebum raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“But Seoyeon said just this morning that she didn’t have a boyfriend-“

Jaebum chuckled and stood up from his seat, so that he was eye-to-eye with the boy. Well, Jaebum was a little taller so he had the privilege of looking down at him. He gave him a dangerous look. “Did she say that? She was probably trying to protect you from what would happen to you if I found out you were flirting with her. Were you flirting with her?”

The boy cleared his throat. “N-no, we just invited her to hang out with us at the club-“

“Good. You can count on seeing us there. Both of us,” Jaebum replied, before turning around and sitting back in his seat. He put one leg over the other and then shot the remaining boys an irritated look. “Well? What are you still doing here? Get lost.”

Seoyeon flushed as she looked at Jaebum. The slightly aggressive, hostile side of him was just as attractive as his gentle, caring side. She bit her lip awkwardly and turned her head away when he caught her staring. She forced herself to smile awkwardly at him. “This was your plan?” she asked lightly. “To scare them all out of ever talking to me again?”

Jaebum smirked. “No. My plan was to never leave your side.”

“Oh-“

“Because you’re mine.”

Seoyeon pouted lightly. Her fingers played with a pencil on her desk. “So… if suppose a girl started hitting on you…” she said thoughtfully. “Can I scare them off like you just did? Since you’re mine too?”

Jaebum chuckled. “You can. But let’s focus on protecting you from those boys first,” he said. “You can’t be so nice to them, Seoyeon-ah. You need to become a little more assertive so that people know how you actually feel. Otherwise they’ll never know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not assertive enough?”

“Nope.”

 “Can I practice on you, then?”

Jaebum blinked. “Me?”

Before he could question her further, Seoyeon leaned closer to him and placed a hand on his cheek. She felt his warm skin against hers and let her fingers it. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his firmly. Jaebum was shocked when she kissed him. It wasn’t a sweet, gentle peck but a proper, full-blown kiss. Jaebum had to tilt his head as Seoyeon pressed against his lips insistently, her other hand coming up to slide into his hair. A few moments later, she pulled away.

Seoyeon’s eyes were shining slightly and her lips swollen. “Assertive enough?” she whispered.

Jaebum grinned and pulled her back in for another, shorter kiss. This time, though, he was a little more aware of a couple of guys wolf-whistling at the back of the class and Jackson’s loud wails about how he should have seen it all coming sooner.

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A/N - Sorry this took so long! I wasn't getting much inspiration and Jaebum is really hard to write for! I couldn't decide on which song to pick for the longest time. Also, I try to write stories with strong female characters because I'm just that kind of feminist, but somehow this song was just begging for some ism, because I mean... look at the lyrics. Either way, I still think it's a great song and hope you guys enjoyed it! 

I'm not sure who to do next. Any suggestions? Do leave a comment if you liked it!