-Aerin’s POV-   I ran up to the music room at the third floor of the school building, frantically blinking the tears that were threatening to fall and eventually wiping them away furiously when I didn’t succeed on suppressing them. I was crying not because he was hurting me, but because I was getting so frustrated with him. It was enough to set me off just seeing him and now that I was making some effort to be at least civil with him, he was blowing my lid off. I sat at the far corner of the room, controlling my breathing. I leaned on the empty metal lockers, staring at the floor. Try as I might, I couldn’t get myself to hate him. It was as if everything he does had justifications that corresponded with them. I’m not even trying and yet I’m losing against him. This would be the second time and he was pushing me too far.   I understand that he was still sulking about the matter, but making the conflict reach this point was not reasonable. I tried reaching out to him for the last days, but he wouldn’t even look at me whenever I tried to talk to him. He’s acting all high and mighty when he had his own faults, too. I’m over apologizing to him.   I closed my eyes, resting my head on my knees. I was like that for a while until the bell rang. I wasn’t planning to go to class anymore. Everything quieted down as classes began except for my phone which kept vibrating inside my jacket pocket. I turned it off eventually. Chan Yeol and Kai were the ones calling.  Now I even feel guilty for making them worry. I plugged in my earphones and took out a book and began reading.   Moments later, I heard the door to the room opening. I ignored the person, whoever it was, but then, I realized that there was more than one person.  I was about to flip my book on the next page when I saw two pairs of shoe-clad feet in front of me. I looked up and saw two girls in front of me, staring at me with self-satisfied looks on their faces. I remembered seeing the girl that was directly in front of me. She was that girl that Chan Yeol was supposed to have a date with the first time I stumbled upon his private room. She looked pissed then and I sensed the trouble the moment I saw her face again. I didn’t recognize the other girl, but I guess she was after Chan Yeol, too.   I sighed. This girl was also in my French class and the other one was one of her cronies, I guess. I didn’t even know her name. She was as annoying as she could get, but I didn’t realize she’ll approach me one of these days. I guess the time had come. I wonder what she wanted.   Judging by the way the other students seemed to avoid the path this girl and her friends were on, I could tell that she was one of those typical popular, girls who bully everyone outside their group and pigs out on the attention of hall bystanders. That was how she acted, flipping her hair in all directions as if she owned the halls.   She didn’t even exist to me, but it really vexed me whenever I catch her staring at me during classes or whenever she tries to speak pig French. I didn’t know what the girl’s business was for coming to me so suddenly, but out of my innate courtesy, I unplugged the earphones from my ears and snapped the book close, glancing at the page before entirely closing it. Rumors about the girl circulate around the Gen-Ed building. Surprisingly, even the faculty was talking about her. Still, I had to find out for myself if they were true. Everyone deserves a benefit of the doubt. Even her. Waiting for them to speak, I crossed my arms and glanced at them.   As I was expecting, the blond talked first. “Well, well. Look what we have here,” Chan Yeol’s supposed date said in an annoyingly nasal voice. It’s surprising how pitchy it was at the same time.    You’re boring me, I fought the urge to say, but I just stood up, dusting off my skirt. “Do I know you people?” I said blankly at them.   Anyone who was wiser would have gone right after I said those words, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I’m Eunmi and this is Seo Young,” she said, glancing at the dark-haired girl beside her.   “I’ve heard,” I said, sounding clipped and uncaring if she didn’t state her own name as a form of introduction. She could have introduced herself as Miss Popular for all I cared. I sighed inwardly when instead of leaving, the Eunmi girl and her friend just stood where they were.   “So you’re Chan Yeol oppa’s friend?” she asked, evidently irritated both by the prospect of it and my boldness to speak to her in such a way? What? With the way she was behaving, hasn’t anyone stood up against her? The people in this school disgust me!   I chuckled briefly then fixed that blank expression on my face again. “Evidently,” I said then opened the book I was reading again. They were seriously boring for a pair of clowns.   “Aren’t you bothered? I mean, he’s a playboy and all,” she said cautiously, waiting for an answer. I made her wait by reading the entire page of the book and the one that came after it. How low. She was even planning to ruin Chan Yeol’s image to me just to get him for her own. I wonder how he would react when he learns about how vile this girl was.   Finally, I looked up. “No, but right now, I am.” I couldn’t help but give Miss Blondie a sharp look. I just hope it was enough to menace her. “Get straight to the point, alright? I don’t have the luxury of time.”   “I heard you were hanging out a lot.”   “Is there a problem with that?”   With confidence that uncalled for, she nodded. “I heard you were his girlfriend.”   What the hell…I arched a brow at her, but just to annoy the hell out of this dense, dense girl, I said, “What’s wrong with that?”   Her eyes widened with anger and shock. “You stay away from him!” she hissed at me.   Wow! This is crazy. “Was that supposed to scare me?”    At that, she pushed me against the locker doors. I was already upset enough over Sehun and now this? Eunmi leaned close to me as she grabbed my collar. “Heed this as a warning, Aerin. If I see you with him, I’ll make sure you would be