~At ShinJung High School~

“*yawn* Can this teacher get anymore boring??” Hankyung whined quietly.

Eunsae didn’t say anything but just chuckled. What to do? Hankyung was right. With his slow teaching and constant pauses, he’s like a sandman except that he sprinkles boring words instead of magic dust. Eunsae closed her text book silently, took out her sketch book and started doodling. Sub-consciously, she drew a portrait of Changmin. Noticing what she had drew, she smiled sadly and looked out the window, letting her mind wonder about a certain someone.

Hankyung, being the nosy boy he is, sneaked a peek at Eunsae’s sketch book. He looked at the picture, then looked at Eunsae who was spacing out, then looked at the picture again. Grinning idiotically, Hankyung turn to face the front of the classroom, where the oh-so-boring teacher was.

‘Looks like Chloe here has a bit of a crush.’

Man, how right can he be…

Briiiiiiiiiiiiing~~~~~~~

“Class…” the teacher paused. “Dismissed…”

“Finally!!” Hankyung quickly stood up and stretched his body after the teacher left. “Come on, let’s go for morning break!”

“Alright. Just let me pack my books first.” Eunsae chuckled as she put away her books into her bag.

~Cafeteria~

“Here ya go, one can of Justea for you, peach flavour of course.” Hankyung placed an orange can in front of Eunsae. “And one can of Justea for me, lemon flavoured!”

“Don’t you ever get tired of saying that?” Eunsae opened her can and sipped a little from it.

“No, why?” Hankyung did the same. “Are you tired of hearing it?”

“Gee… Ya think??” Eunsae rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Hey Chloe, who was that guy you drew in your sketch book?” Hankyung stared at his best friend.

“Oh… Just some random person…” Eunsae lied, gulping down more of her tea.

“Really? Because it kinda seemed like…” Hankyung immediately shut his mouth when he saw tears in Eunsae’s eyes. “Never mind.”

“Well... You’re my best friend. I guess you have a right to know.” Eunsae smiled sadly as she wiped away her tears.

She told Hankyung everything there is to know about Changmin. About their friendship, their bond, her silent love, her cries… All the while, tears never stopped forming at her eyes. And all the while, Hankyung consoled her. Giving her comforting rubs and pats on the back, and hugging her before anyone could see her tears…

~Somewhere in ShinJung High School~

“These are the classrooms. Yours will be right here…” the guide babbled on and on while Changmin yawned mentally.

He did what he was advised to and enrolled for the elite private school. He aced the test, impressed the principle whom interviewed him, ON THE SPOT and now here he is, being shown around the school by some staff of the administration office. As he passed the many students, he hoped to see that one girl that was the reason he was there in the first place.

“And this is the cafeteria where nutritious lunch, breakfast and snacks are served…” the guide continued babbling as they walked to the cafeteria.

There, Changmin caught a sight he did not like. The sight of his best friend being pulled into a tight hug by another guy! What’s even worse is that she didn’t push the guy away. Feeling hurt, Changmin restrained himself from walking over and strangling that guy. Instead, he proceeded to follow the guide, wanting to get away from them as soon as possible.

‘Damn that guy… Eunsae’s mine!’

~Cafeteria~

“Thanks Hankyung.” Eunsae smiled after pulling away from the hug.

“No problem. What are friends for.” Hankyung returned the smile.

Briiiiiiiiiiiing~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whoops, morning break is over. Let’s head back to class.” Hankyung said as he grabbed the empty cans and throw them into the bin.

~Outside A Classroom~

“Now Max, you may have a choice to go home now or just sit and get use to the teachings in class.” the guide explained.

“I’ll choose to stay.” Changmin said nonchalantly.

“Very well then.” the guide then knocked on the classroom door, then said something to the teacher before turning back to face Changmin. “Please behave Mr Shim.” With that, she walked off.

“Come on in then.” the class teacher, Ms Lee signaled to Changmin. “Introduce yourself.”

Changmin sighed and walked into the classroom. Then he heard many gasps and squeals from the girls and can feel the death glares from the boys. It was expected, though he was not exactly being conceited. It’s because he has experienced it so many times that he had gotten use to it.

“Hello. I’m Max.” Changmin said casually. “I’ll be joining your class from tomorrow onwards.”

“Thank you, Max.” Ms Lee smiled at her new student. “Have a seat beside… Kyuhyun!”

“Thank you, Miss” Changmin bowed and proceeded to his new seat.

“Hi, I’m Kyuhyun!” Kyuhyun said with a big bright but somewhat scary smile. “During group projects, you’ll be grouping with us three. Unless of course if teachers ask us to work in pairs. Then it’ll just be you and me.”

“Err… Thanks… I guess.” Changmin stared at him weirdly. “Who’re the other two?”

“Turn around.” Kyuhyun and Changmin turned to looked at the seatmates behind them.

“Hi. I’m Hankyung.” Hankyung smiled slightly and stared straight into Changmin’s eyes, making the boy feel nervous. “The one sleeping next to me is… Chloe.”

‘Bingo. You’re definitely the one.’ Hankyung mentally cheered as he saw Changmin’s eyes widen.

Changmin looked back and forth between the two as he remembered the incident at the cafeteria earlier today. Then he smiled faintly before turning to looked at the white board in front.

“Sorry about Chloe. She’s just really tired today.” Kyuhyun explained when he turned to the white board too.

Changmin just kept his mouth shut. Kyuhyun explained everything there is to know about the school, just like a guide, except he includes a bunch of things that aren’t known to the teachers and other staff members. He wasn’t really paying attention. He was just thinking about Eunsae. He was lucky enough to be in the same class, sitting right in front of her, but unlucky enough to find out that she has a boyfriend.

While deep in his thoughts, Changmin was oblivious to the fact that Eunsae was sitting up straight right now, boring her eyes into his back. She wasn’t really sleeping, just pretending to so nobody would see her red puffy eyes. When Changmin’s name was mentioned, she looked up slightly as she couldn’t believe her ears. Thankfully she kept her head down when he walked over to sit beside Kyuhyun, her other friend. But ‘someone here’ who has a big mouth blabbed her identity to him. She mentally strangled Hankyung as his smirk was the first thing she saw when she sat up.

‘Joy… Now I have to see him everyday…’ Eunsae sighed.

So for half of the lesson, Eunsae just stared at Changmin’s back. Hankyung smiled idiotically. Changmin thought about the girl sitting behind him and the boy sitting next to her, which would be his love rival. Kyuhyun… Well he just paid attention the whole period.

“Alright, please get into groups to discuss about the project.” Ms Lee said as she sat down at her desk. “It’s due next week.”

‘! Now he’s gonna have to turn back and face me!’ Eunsae immediately put her head down once more.

Kyuhyun turned around to face Hankyung and the two began discussing about the project. Changmin remained rooted to his position, afraid to face his best friend since diapers. Eunsae… Still kept her head down. Kyuhyun, upon noticing Changmin’s position, tapped on his shoulder, signaling him to turn around too. Changmin reluctantly obeyed.

“Man, will Chloe ever wake up??” Kyuhyun glared at the head of his friend. “Chloe! Wake up! Group project due next week!”

“Shut up!” Eunsae said inaudibly.

Hankyung continued to smirk as he sees Changmin looking everywhere except at Eunsae.

‘Should I play matchmaker?’ Hankyung thought for a moment. Then he looked at Eunsae, then at Changmin. ‘Oh yeah, definitely.’

“Hey Chloe. Wake up! Or else I’ll tell the teacher!” Hankyung threatened.

Eunsae, being the good student immediately sit up straight, secretly glaring at Hankyung. The second she sat up, she met Changmin’s eyes. He gave her a faint smile which she returned equally. Her heart began to ache as she continued staring into his eyes.

“Hey.” Changmin greeted casually.

“Hey.” Eunsae softly replied.

“Oh-kay!! Now that both of you met…” Kyuhyun interrupted the eye connection. “Project! Due next week! Discuss!”

“I need to talk to you after school.” Changmin whispered to Eunsae, which caused Kyuhyun to glare at him.

“Stop whispering craps and start giving me brainpower!”

After School…

~Random Classroom in ShinJung High School~

Eunsae sat on one of the tables with both her legs on a chair as Changmin was leaning against the shelves, looking at the tiled classroom floor. An awkward silence filling the atmosphere in it. Seem familiar?

“So… What do you wanna talk about, Max?” Eunsae asked, breaking the cold tension.

Changmin just kept his mouth shut, frowning at the fact that Eunsae just called him ‘Max’ again.

“Max?” Eunsae hopped off the table and slowly approach her crush. “Are you alright?”

She then heard Changmin sigh. But nonetheless, he still remained silent with his head hung low. Eunsae gave up on trying to get him to talk. She was about to leave when Changmin grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“I love you.” Changmin whispered into her ears.

Well you can probably imagine what happens after that. The two officially got together and were voted ‘Most Compatible Couple’ by the students on the ShinJung High School newsletter poll. Not that they actually cared. Changmin came to realise that Hankyung was not Eunsae’s boyfriend. Much to his delight. But knowing the fact that he is his replacement in ShinJung made him frown. Whatever happened to Minjung? She dropped off Eunsae’s real letter into Changmin’s mailbox, along with her own letter. Changmin couldn’t be bothered to read Minjung's letter as he would be more satisfied to spend time with his best friend and girlfriend, Chloe Jung Eunsae.

And what about Eunsae’s real letter? He thoroughly read it and was happy for an entire week.

What's in it? That’s for us three to know and you to find out.

~The End~