A few weeks passed and my relationship with Sehun was just as rocky as ever. We even bickered in class, much to the entertainment of the rest of the class. His fangirls still seemed to hate me though. I have no idea why. It's not like I was trying to steal him from them. If I had the choice, I'd hand him over to them without a second thought, complete with a red ribbon and everything. 

My relationship with his friends, on the other hand, grew. Taeyeon and I sat with them every lunch time, or sometimes we sat in the classroom together, chatting and having girl-time. Well, I say girl-time, but really I didn't really have anything to contribute. I wasn't the most feminine or girly out of them all. 

Anyway, today I had ended up coming home quite late. I had to stay behind at school to help the teacher with someone before deciding to study at the library. SNA wasn't the most elite school for no reason. They drove their students harder than any other school in order to prepare us for the business world. As a result, their average exam results were far above other schools. This meant that their expectations were quite high. It had barely been a month the term started but I could already begin to feel the work piling up. 

As a consequence, I stayed at the library until very late, almost 10. I had lost track of time and when I glanced at my watch, I had to muffle a small exclamation of surprise. Checking my phone, my eyes widened at the number of messages there were. Surprisingly, most of them were from Sehun.  Hurriedly packing up my things, I scrolled through the messages.

[From: Oh Sebutt] 

Hey, when are you coming home?

Received at 5:43

[From: Oh Sebutt]

I'm hungry. When are you coming home?

Received at 5:58

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Yah! Are you ignoring me?

Received at 6:13

[From: Oh Sebutt]

C'moooooooon. I'm starving.

Received at 6:14

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Okay, where are you actually?

Received at 6:59

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Were you kidnapped? Abducted by aliens?

Received at 7:00

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Do you want me to starve?!

Received at 7:38

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Fine. Let me starve to death.

Received at 8:03

[From: Oh Sebutt]

Legit, where are you?

Received at 9:34

[From: Oh Sebutt]

My parents will kill me if they find out you were kidnapped.

Received at 9:35

[From: Oh Sebutt]

I hate you. Why aren't you responding?

Received at 9:57

I blinked as I scrolled through the messages. Quickly, I typed a reply.

[To: Oh Sebutt]

[From: Kim Areum]

Dude, calm down. I'm fine. I'm flattered that you're so concerned about my well-being, but I was just at the library and lost track of time. I'm on my way home now. You could have just gotten take out, you know?

Quickly hitting 'send', I dashed out of the library to my car. My phone buzzed not a minute later. 

[To: Princess]

[From: Oh Sehun]

Who said I was concerned about your well-being? My parents would have killed me if they found out something happened to you, that's what I was worried about. Get over yourself.

I snorted at the typical Oh Sehun response, before driving off, not bothering to reply. Arriving home, I opened the door hurriedly, before running straight into a wall. 

Or rather, Oh Sehun's rather solid chest, but hey, they're practically the same thing, right?

He glares down at me when I turn to look up at him sheepishly. 

"Do you know how hungry I was?" He scowled. I raised an eyebrow, stepping past him. 

"Not my fault you have the culinary skills of a 3-year-old," I retorted. "You could have just ordered take-out, you know?"

I turned around to raise an eyebrow as he looked away. I could have sworn he pouted. 

"...Take-out food is gross," He mumbled quietly. I scoff and turn around, stalking into the kitchen. 

"...In comparison to your cooking, anyway." The blonde boy mutters quietly to himself, sighing, knowing I can't hear. 

***************************

It was third period and I had Accounting and Business Management (ABM) with Mr Choi. It was a class taught only here at SNA and one of our core subjects, since many of us were heirs to large companies and would need these skills in the future. We sat in our usual seats and waited for the teacher to arrive. 

"Good morning class," he called as he entered the room and settled his stuff on the desk at the front. "Today, I will be giving you guys an assignment which will be due next week. You are to do it in pairs. I'll be giving you and your partner a scenario and you will work together to create a presentation on what the best course of action would be to take. I want you to include statistics and research to make your presentation look more realistic. This is to be done outside of class time."

Most of us looked up at him in apprehension. Mr Choi was known for completely disregarding friendships when pairing students for projects and often paired up students who didn't get along well. This and coupled with the fact that he was an incredibly strict marker made group projects in his class a rather dreaded task. I glanced helplessly at Taeyeon, hoping I'd be paired with her.

Unfortunately, that hope died when she was immediately called up and paired with a girl named Hye Jin. Hye Jin was actually quite nice and had politely introduced herself on my first day. 

Taeyeon breathed a sigh of relief before glancing at me in disappointment. "Next time," she mouthed, before moving her stuff over to her waiting brunette partner. 

I sighed, crossing my fingers that I'd get someone decent. Anyone but a certain blonde douche-

"Kim Areum and... Oh Sehun," Mr Choi called. My stomach dropped in disappointment as gasps were heard around the room. "I'd like you two to pair up and work on this scenario, please."

He handed me a small sheet of paper and I scowled at him, mentally screaming at him if he was crazy or not. Sehun and I's hateful relationship was incredibly well known, even among teachers, so why the hell was he pairing me up with him!? 

Reluctantly, I turned to glance at Sehun. He didn't look happy with the situation either. "Well it looks like we're partners," I groaned, moving my books to the side with a huff. The only good thing about this was that I didn't have to move, considering he and I were already sat next to each other. 

"Great. Thanks for stating the obvious," Sehun snapped unhappily, dragging his desk closer to mine and seating himself with a huff. 

"Try not to kill each other, will you? Murdering your partner does not give extra credit," Mr Choi added, almost snickering to himself. Sehun and I both turned to glare at him, but by then he had already called upon the next pair, ignoring us. 

Sighing, I read our scenario. My jaw dropped.

'Two large companies wish to join together, however, both sides are worried about future problems arising. Create a presentation on how they should go about this and solve this problem. Include the pros and cons of the decision, including future assets and possible gains or loss in profit. Also, include a way to solve any discrepancy between the two companies so that the merging will run smoothly and successfully.'

"Are you ing kidding me?!" I grumbled, slamming it down onto the desk. Sehun raised an eyebrow and my reaction and glanced at the paper, nudging my hands out of the way. 

"Does he think he's funny?" he growled once he finished reading. "There is no way this is a coincidence."

"This is ridiculous," I scoffed, burying my head in my arms with a sigh. "Well, I guess we don't have a choice. Let's work on it after school today." 

Sehun only shrugged in resignation.

*********************

It was the middle of history when Sehun's phone began ringing. It cut through the silence of the classroom, causing everyone to turn around and look at Sehun, who was now fumbling through his bag. The teacher raised an eyebrow. 

"Do you think you could tell your girlfriend to wait until after class to call you, Oh Sehun?" Mrs Lee uttered sarcastically. I stifled a snort, turning around to glance at the blonde boy. I was surprised when he ignored the teacher and swiped across the screen of his smartphone, ac