[A/N]

Hi guys!

Here’s the chapter for this update, it’s after this short message from me=)

First of all, I’ll love to thank all for the continuous support that you have shown for “The Many Faces of Love”. (I’m starting to think my title sounds so cliché… Hopefully my story isn’t going in that direction?) Special thanks to the many people who have taken the effort to leave comments for all of my updates, you guys have been the source of my motivation to keep the story going, and also to my silent readers who have been giving me their unspoken support!

Don’t worry, this is not a notice to drop the bomb that I am discontinuing the story, although it is true that I have been having some difficulties in writing the lines lately- the sentences sounds very odd no matter how I phrase them.

In case you all didn’t notice the story feed that I posted some days ago, here’s another reminder about the change in the structure of the story. Because of the numerous characters’ thoughts that I need to increasing include as the story progresses, from this chapter onwards, I will cease writing using 1^st person, and instead, change to using 3^rd person. This is to facilitate the flow of the story especially in the later parts. (You will understand what I mean soon =D) And not to mention I am running out of colours to use for each character… Hehehe…

Of course, feel free to leave any ideas on how I can improve on the story.

So, with that over and done with…

Enjoy, my darlings=)

Yours Forever,

elf_verl

Jinnie and Yonni froze when they heard the scream coming from down below. Rushing over to the barrier at synchronized speed, they leaned over and saw a figure that was covered by the dead leaves that the duo had pushed over the edge just mere moments ago. To Yonni’s utter horror, as the poor soul swept the leaves off her face and body, it turned out to be Inhyeon.

“Ji-Jinnie… I think… I think we’re in trouble…”

Yonni stammered as she turned towards her partner in crime, who hurried to pull her away from the barrier before giving her a stern look in response.

“Hold your tongue and let me do all the talking if you want to live through this,”

Leejin answered curtly while unintelligible yells and curses came from below. Though unsure of what her partner meant, Yonni nodded hesitantly. Drumming her long fingers against her chin, Leejin’s mind whirled for a way to save Yonni’s skin. The righteousness in her screamed for them to take up responsibility for their actions. After all, they really were the ones who pushed the load of fallen leaves over the barrier.

But Yonni is already in enough trouble with that crazy girl… Inhyeon-sshi would probably skin her alive if she finds out Yonni had a part to play in her current plight.

Leejin glanced worriedly at her partner, who stared back at her with a frightened expression similar to that of a sheep that was about to be devoured by a ferocious lion. If not for their dire situation, Leejin would have burst in laughter due to Yonni’s exaggerated reaction.

“Babo-ni, relax a bit. That expression would tell Inhyeon everything she wanted to know,”

Leejin chided as a plan formed in her head. Ordering Yonni to sit down on the bench by the door, she was going to shoulder the entire blame by saying her partner was resting on the bench when she pushed the pile down.

She must already have a plan?

Yonni reasoned as she hastened to follow Leejin’s instruction to sit on the bench in the far side of the roof, her heart running on double time in fear of the impending storm. Running over to grab a broom, Leejin had barely returned to her position when the roof door burst opened with such a force that it creaked loudly in protest.

“WHO WAS IT?!”

The enraged Student Council president bellowed as she passed through the door and onto the cement ground of the roof. Turning abruptly towards Yonni who was sitting closest to the door, Inhyeon stomped up to her before pointing a finger accusingly at the trembling girl.

“An Yonni! It was you, isn’t it?!”

“I-I…”

“Inhyeon-sshi, if you were to jump to conclusion this fast, I can’t help but think that you are acting out of capacity of your position,”

Leejin shot out as she nailed the older girl with a confident stare. With a fiery glare that matched up to Leejin’s steady stare, Inhyeon started advancing towards her. Yonni jumped to her feet, squirming with uneasiness as she observed the explosive situation before her.

“There’s only the two of you here. It doesn’t take much to pin point the culprit. But naturally, it’s just like the two of you to try to shirk the responsibility. After all, acting innocent is Yonni-sshi’s forte, isn’t it? And they do say birds of the same feathers flock together…”

Inhyeon smiled dangerously as she faced off Leejin. She knew that her words had gotten onto the younger girl’s nerves for she could see the vein throbbing profusely in her temple. A manipulative teenager, Inhyeon knew how to work her way around people since young. She was always able to make others dance to her tune, and took pleasure in it. She savoured the power she had as the president of the student council. Everyone has to bow down to her, every student has to cater to her whims.

Well, everyone but Kyuhyun.

As Leejin fought hard to regain the hold she had over her slippery temper, Inhyeon was losing hers. She turned around abruptly, causing Yonni, who had been advancing cautiously towards them to halt in her steps. Ever since the first day she had seen Yonni with Kyuhyun, Inhyeon hated that girl. She hated it when the two of them come to school together. She hated it when they had lunch together. She hated it when they laughed together. She hated the way Kyuhyun looked or smiled at Yonni.  The thing she hated the most was that Yonni had the attention that she would kill to get.

And what did she do to deserve all that? I’m the one with the better looks! I’m the one with the smarter brains! Why is she the one getting Kyuhyun’s attention?!

Her angry thoughts were adding to the anger that she had previously. The issue now was no longer about them sweeping the fallen leaves onto her. It was about revenge, about getting even with the girl who had stolen her man from her. The images of the times when she saw Kyuhyun and Yonni together filled Inhyeon’s mind, fuelling her rage as she closed in on Yonni, who was beginning to back away when she saw the fury in the SC president’s eyes.

What does she wants? Why is she coming closer? I’m so scared! Jinnie… Jinnie! Save me!

Yonni’s throat had tightened due to fear, making it impossible for her to scream for Jinnie to come to her rescue. She had backed away from Inhyeon because she felt intimidated by the anger in the older girl’s eyes. She did not understand what she did to make Inhyeon this angry. The fury in Inhyeon’s eyes was not simply from them pushing the dead leaves onto her. It was something else…

Kyuhyun?

Just as she came to the realization, Inhyeon reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling Yonni towards her. The younger girl yelped in terror as Inhyeon’s free hand rose up in the air before descending straight towards her face. Closing her eyes in dread, Yonni braced herself for the impact of the looming slap.

But the pain never came. A few silent moments passed before Yonni began to open her eyes tentatively. However, her eyes widened immediately when she took in the scene before her. The hand that Inhyeon had raised previously was still in mid-air, held back by Leejin, who had dashed forward the instant she realized that Inhyeon was going to slap Yonni. Leejin was wearing a livid scowl as she resisted Inhyeon’s hand without much effort.

On the other hand, it was easy to tell from the veins that were popping out on Inhyeon’s neck that she was using all her might to try to break Leejin’s hold on her. Despite her efforts, she was much weaker than the Taekwondo Champion. Releasing the grip on Yonni’s arm, Inhyeon was now using both hands in trying to pry off Leejin’s fingers.

“Lee Parkjn! What do you think you’re doing?! Let go of me! I’m going to inform the teacher in charge that you are using violence on the student president! You are going to be kicked out from the student council! Both of you!”

“And you will be right behind us,”

Leejin answered calmly as she yanked Inhyeon away from Yonni. After staggering for a few steps backwards, Inhyeon lost her balance and collapsed on the ground. When she next looked up, Leejin was standing in front of Yonni with her arms crossed, shielding the shocked girl.

“Wha-What do you mean by I’ll be right behind you?!”

“Just because I’m not saying anything about the duties that you have assigned us to doesn’t mean that I am afraid of you. If you push things too much, I’m not guaranteeing that I’ll keep mum. I’m sure the teacher will have something to say about your… Methods of fair assignments,”

With that, Leejin her heels and started walking in the direction of the door while Yonni was torn between her desire to go help Inhyeon onto her feet and her fear of the older girl. Inhyeon was staring after Leejin’s retreating back with opening and closing like a goldfish out of water, unable to recover from the shock of Leejin’s unexpected words.

Leejin had barely taken a few steps when she recalled that she had not apologized for having pushed the leaves onto the SC president. As much as she disliked that girl, having proper manners was at the top of Leejin’s principles list. Halting in her steps, Leejin pivoted her body around and walked back to her previous position. With a 90 degrees bow, she apologized to the older girl who was still on the ground.

“Oh, and by the way, I was the one who pushed the leaves down. I had no idea that the pile would hit anyone. I’m sorry that it had to fall on you, sunbae. Come on, Yonni,”

Yonni snapped out of her dilemma-induced trance when she heard Leejin calling her name. She threw another look at Inhyeon before breaking into a run to catch up with her partner, who was already walking towards the exit without a second word.

What’s so good about that An Yonni? Why is everyone going against me because of her? An Yonni… AN YONNI! I swear this isn’t the end!

Letting out a frustrated yell, Inhyeon slammed her fists onto the cement ground a couple of times. Just a floor below her, Yonni shuddered at the sound. She had seen the anger in Inhyeon’s eyes after Leejin stopped her from slapping her. Worries flooded her head as she trudged slowly down the stairs of the building, moving her hand along the side walls for support instead of using the stairs banisters.

Sunbae… Inhyeon-sshi… She was really angry. Aish… An Yonni! You’re nothing but trouble! Now you’ve done Jinnie in as well! Who knows how sunbae would make our lives hell now… She’s never gonna let us off now! Maybe… Maybe I should ask her one day and trash things out… Yes… Yes, I should do that! Ask Kyuhyun along too… Ask him to clarify things with that scary woman… If she knows that I am not Kyuhyun’s girlfriend… Maybe she will let the tw-

“Babo-ni, did you hear what I said?”

“E-Eh?”

Yonni almost jumped out of her skin when Leejin’s voice pulled her out her thoughts. Leejin was wearing a irritated look on her face as she had been trying to get some response from her ever since they left the roof.

“I asked where are you going now?”

“Mi-Mianhae Jinnie… I was thinking about something… Where am I going? Maybe home? I… I’ve had enough for today…”

“Don’t you have to photocopy the flyers? 2000 cop-”

“2000 COPIES BY TOMMOROW! I FORGOT CLEAN ABOUT THAT!”

Yonni gasped as she suddenly recalled her task. Consulting her watch, she was relieved to see that it was only 3 in the afternoon. Their whole duty had only taken a little over one and a half hour. Dashing down the stairs at top speed, Yonni dragged Leejin behind her as she rushed to the library.

Shaking her head helplessly, Leejin allowed herself to be pulled around half the school. In her frenzy, Yonni took the wrong set of stairs, resulting in the duo having to travel twice the distance before they saw the library. When they finally reached the glass doors, Yonni was panting so hard that she couldn’t even talk, resorting to pointing repeatedly at the doors while she tried to catch her breathe. As Leejin worked out often, she was not as worn out as the wheezing bundle that had collapsed at her foot.

“O-Okay… I’ve got my breath back… Woo… That was intense… Jinnie? Why are you here too? You should go back… I can hand-”

“You pulled me here,”

Leejin answered simply as she pulled both bags onto her shoulders and walked into the library, leaving Yonni to her shock. By the time Yonni recovered from her astonishment and pushed the glass door opened, Leejin was already standing beside the photocopying machine.

“Okay… Here it goes… My darling copier! You’re looking so beautiful today… Please don’t die on me later okay?

Amused by the sight of Yonni crooning at a machine, Leejin tried her best to push the corners of down. She was here on a mission- A mission to save her partner from having to suffer the wrath of her fellow students. As soon as Yonni photocopied the first copy, the loud whirl of the old copier already reverberated throughout the whole library. Wincing from the annoying noise, both girls wondered how they were going to get 2000 copies done on this noisy monster.

“Crap! Paper jam again!”

Yonni whispered exasperatedly as a loud beep sounded, bringing the machine to a stop. They had already been at it for almost two hours but all Yonni managed was 50 copies. It seemed impossible that she would be able to make 2000 copies by the next day. Throwing a pleading look at Leejin, she found her partner leaning against a nearby wall with her hands crossed and a stern look on her face. When Yonni realized that Leejin was not making any moves to help her, she gave a resigned sigh before kneeling down in front of the machine, proceeding to clear the paper jam for the fifteenth time.

I’m sorry, Yonni. But if I help you with that, I would lose this deadly aura around me.

Leejin apologized silently as she scanned the whole room with her eagle-eyes for displeasured faces. She had been doing this for the past hour, sending a scowl towards any student who displayed any irritancy towards Yonni and the groaning machine.

Her intimidating reputation as the taekwondo team captain had aided them greatly. If any of the students wanted to walk up and kill Yonni for disturbing their study peace, they were all deterred by Leejin’s presence. She had already glared away a couple of students who had mustered up courage to approach them- The bravest one only advanced three steps under Leejin’s intense glare before changing his mind.

You darned copier! I’m going to personally smash you into pieces if you dare to jam up one more time!

Throwing a death stare at the machine and Yonni, who was still trying to pull out the jammed paper, Leejin shook her head before returning to her task at hand. All of a sudden, all the girls in the library started getting excited. All of their eyes, which were focused in one direction, were filled with an unnamed desire while they exchanged soft words with their neighbours.

Puzzled, Leejin unfolded her arms as she pushed her body away from the wall which she had been leaning against for the past hour. When she turned around to seek the source of the students’ attention, she found Kyuhyun strolling in their direction with a huge black plastic bag in his hands. Glancing at her partner, Leejin found Yonni still struggling with the jammed paper. She did not appear to have noticed Kyuhyun’s presence.

What does that brat want this time? Did he come to rub salt in Yonni’s wounds? What is that he’s holding?

Questions filled the girl’s mind as she narrowed her eyes at the boy, emitting hostility down to the roots of her hair. Leejin’s aggression did not go unnoticed by Kyuhyun. However, instead of being worried, he was very much amused by this girl. Besides from Yonni, he had never truly met another girl who could resist his charms. Even the ajummas that he met were enamoured by him.

Even Yonni can’t escape my charms sometimes… But this one is a tough case… Maybe… She’s of the wrong orientation?

Kyuhyun laughed inwardly as he nodded politely to Leejin who was standing somewhere behind Yonni, earning a frown in return instead of the usual dreamy looks. Ignoring Leejin’s response, he came to a stop just behind his housemate, who didn’t seem to realize he had arrived.

“Yah, Pig-ni!”

Kyuhyun tossed the bag unceremoniously onto the carpeted ground beside Yonni, causing the latter to jump almost a metre into the air from shock. Holding her hand against her chest as she breathed in deep gulps of air, Yonni stared at Kyuhyun blankly for a minute before she recovered from her shock.

“YAH! CHO KYUHYUN! ARE YOU TRYING TO SCAR-”

Yonni’s sudden outburst was cut short when she realised that she was yelling at the top of her lungs in a library. After bowing sheepishly in all directions apologetically, she yanked Kyuhyun closer to her before whispering angrily.

“Yah! Are you trying to scare me to death? What are you doing here?”

“Coming to the rescue of my useless housemate,”

“Yah! Who are you calling useless?!”

“How many copies have you made?”

“5-50 copies… But! But it was beca-”

“Useless,”

Kyuhyun teased as he hit the shorter girl playfully on her head before he gestured for Yonni to open the bag that he had just dropped beside her. With a disgruntled pout, she squatted down as Leejin came closer out of curiosity. Reaching in, Yonni pulled out a stack of papers.

The flyers!

The sharp-eyed Leejin recognised the black and white design almost immediately. Blinking in surprise, she rested her eyes on Kyuhyun, who had a smug smile on his face as he stood with his hands resting on his hips, waiting for Yonni to discover the life-saving contents of the bag. Leejin was greatly astonished when her partner had pulled copies of the flyers from the bag that Kyuhyun had brought. Without a good impression, Leejin had originally thought that the boy was here to disturb Yonni, maybe even to torment her. But it was totally unexpected that he was actually here to render his help.

His bark is worse than his bite after all…

“Yeah! Kyuhyun, you’re the best!”

“All in all there are 2500 copies, in case you lose any in your stupidity,”

“Yah!”

Yonni, who had wrapped her arms around Kyuhyun in a huge hug of joy, tore away immediately and landed a soft punch on his chest at his taunting words. The boy simply gave a hearty laugh at his housemate’s reaction.

“Kyuhyun-ah, can you help me get the paper out? The machine has been wrestling me!”

“Nope, you’re on your own with that. Yah, aren’t you going to thank me for the flyers too?”

Kyuhyun’s question was aimed at Leejin as he looked straight at her with an amused glint in his eyes. Any desire to change her viewpoint of him was instantly wiped out of her head at his arrogant tone. Walking in the direction of the door, she stomped hard on Kyuhyun’s foot when she marched past. Hopping around on one leg immediately, Kyuhyun bit hard on his lips to prevent any yelps of pain from escaping. Leejin pumped an fist into the air mentally as she glee over her successful payback before calling out to Yonni.

Yes! Score one for Leejin, score nil for Brat-hyun!

“Yonni-ah, come on. Let’s go and put the flyers in our lockers. We’ll hand them in tomorrow,”

“Arasso!”

Yonni replied without looking up from the machine, still trying her best to clear the paper jam. She felt that since she was the one who caused the machine to jam up, she had to be the one to clear it for the next user. With one final tug, the damned paper finally came loose. She turned around happily, waving the piece of crumpled paper in victory. She found Kyuhyun leaning against the wall that Leejin had been leaning against previously, holding his left foot.

“Kyuhyun-ah, what are you doing over there?”

“I-”

“Never mind, since it is still early, I’ll meet you at the gate in 15 minutes okay? I’ll meet up with Leejin first! We can still head downtown to get Heechul oppa’s gift!”

Without waiting for Kyuhyun’s answer, Yonni heaved the heavy bag onto her shoulders and ran out of the library after Leejin. Still wincing in pain, Kyuhyun glanced quickly across the room and realised that there were still a lot of attention on him. Setting his throbbing foot back onto the ground, Kyuhyun left the library as stylishly as he could, trying not to limp from his pain.

That girl! I can’t believe she stepped on my foot! Is she even a girl? She must be an elephant! She’s too strong to be a girl!

He grouched as he stepped into the elevator, tearing off his shoe to inspect the damage once he was alone in the enclosed space. Luckily, even though it felt like Leejin had crushed his bones to powder, it didn’t look like she had done any permanent damage. He had always taken pride in his fast reflexes, given his frequent practice at dodging the kicks that Yonni sent out at him almost on a daily basis. Being ignored and out-gamed by a girl was not something that he could swallow easily.

I’ve got to go find out more about… What’s her name? What did Yonni call her? Something jin… Aish! Regardless. I’ve got to find out more about her… Game on, Elephant-jin… Game on!

As the elevator door opened, Kyuhyun’s foot had recovered enough for him to walk normally. Trudging over to the school gates where he was supposed to meet Yonni, Kyuhyun mused over his unlucky day. Just the night before, he had lost a bet with Heechul which resulted in him having to buy a present for his hyung. Next, his plan to shop with Yonni after school got disrupted. Then after that he had to spend a sum of money to help Yonni out because, even though he’s always teasing Yonni, he couldn’t bare to let the poor girl suffer through the ordeal of having to make 2000 copies.

And to top it all off, I just had to meet someone like that Elephant-jin at the end of the day. Damn. I won’t be surprised if the bus breaks down later…

Kyuhyun sighed as he held up his watch to see the time. It was almost 6pm and he was starving. Luckily he at least didn’t have to wait till they get home from the shopping before he could eat anything for the four housemates had decided to have dinner separately that night. Looking around out of boredom, Kyuhyun was about to pull out his phone to call-haunt Yonni when he suddenly spied a familiar figure.

It was Sungmin, who came out of the café that was to the opposite of their school.

He was still in his school uniform, so Kyuhyun guessed his after-school activities must have just ended. Sungmin was in the school’s guitar club, and had meetings with his club members every Monday. But just as Kyuhyun was about to cross the road to get to him, he saw two other men following out behind Sungmin.

They were too far away for Kyuhyun to see them clearly, but he could tell that one of them was probably a middle-aged man. The other man was clad in a black casual suit and had a pair of stylish sunglasses upon his face. Suddenly, the older man laid a hand on Sungmin’s shoulder and Sungmin turned around in response, nodding to whatever the man had told him.

However, there was a certain degree of relectance to Sungmin’s nodding that aroused Kyuhyun’s suspicion almost immediately. Pulling out his phone, he hastily dialled Sungmin’s number before pressing the phone to his ears.

Come on, Sungmin hyung… Pick up your phone…

“The number you just called is currently unav…”

The pre-recorded voice of a woman rang out on the other side of the line as the call failed to connect. Kyuhyun was getting anxious, and was debating whether to cross the road to get to Sungmin when a black limousine suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stopped directly in front of Sungmin and the two man.

Kyuhyun looked on in confusion as Sungmin made the first move to open the car door and got in without hesitation. The two men followed suit and the car drove away after all its passengers were onboard. He his phone nervously as he watched the black vehicle disappear round the corner, an unnamed uneasiness inching its way into his heart.

“Kyuhyun-ah, what are you looking at?”

Yonni’s sudden voice almost caused him to jump out of his skin. She had a blank look on her face as she stared down the deserted road that he was looking at moments ago. Not wishing to spoil their shopping mood, Kyuhyun gave her a small smile and assured her everything was fine before pulling her in the direction of the bus-stop where they were planning to take the bus downtown.

Regretfully, moving away from the gates did not erase the questions that were now flooding his head.

Why did Sungmin get into that limousine? And who are the two men with him?