[Arabella’s POV]

          I thought that after a few months of adaptation here (after what seemed to be a chaotic period; being silently despised by those fan girls, receiving letters of threat every day, getting unnecessary attention from the others everywhere I went), I would finally get the chance to live in peace and comfort here.

          In my mind, I wanted to be just like Shinwoo and the boys; free to indulge themselves in music despite their influential backgrounds and perhaps, the discouragement that came from their family and friends. Like them, I wanted to be ‘drunk on music’. (That was what Shinwoo said)

Apparently, that was not the case for me.

[Narrator’s POV]

          Ring, ring, ring!!

          Felt truly annoyed with the amazingly loud sound of the alarm clock, you simply knocked it off the small ornamental nightstand by your bed’s side – afterwards, the bothering alarm clock had been shushed up, and it was for good – not giving a single thought that you were going to regret it the next time you wanted to set the clock and decided that you had to buy a new one.

          Though you were still sleepy, you forced yourself to wake up and check the calendar for the day’s schedule in the college, which was a routine before you dressed up for the day.

          At first glance of the day’s upcoming events, you just narrowed your eyes lazily looking at the sickly similar activities and deadlines. But as you looked at the last - bolded and highlighted – entry, your eyes practically opened wide while you silently cursed under your breath. In your mind, Gongchan’s voice discreetly haunted your memory.

          ‘Ara, remember that we will be the first one to present the outcome of our research next week. Please, oh, please… I beg you, practice to do the presentation. You can’t expect me to deliver every single thing! Huh… I always wonder how could someone who could sing well without a single glitch in front of a crowd like you stutter so badly during a presentation…’

          Unknowingly, you slapped your own cheek for being ignorant about the presentation. Sure, you kind of memorized the details of your project (given that Gongchan had typed out everything in a script and asked to you to memorize it), but you had no chance to practice on your own. If you screwed this one out, chances were you and Gongchan might get relatively low marks for the oral presentation and that could jeopardize both of your final marks.

          So, being someone who always finished her works in the last minute, you decided to set the alarm clock to ring at six in the morning – which was two hours earlier than your usual wakeup time – to prepare yourself for the D-day.

          When you literally speed walking along the hallway, you saw that Joongki was also in a rush. You could hear him cursing under his breath. For once, you and he were on the same path, which was something that you would not want to go through after that night; but you were too busy to despise his presence there. You just hurriedly walked down the stairs without giving a single glance at him.

          However, unlike you Joongki felt ecstatic within. He could not believe that you were gullible enough to be fooled with a wrongly set alarm clock…

 

[The day before…]

          There was no one home. His father and your mother went to a company event as the honorable guests, whereas you were hanging out with your friends. The maids were down at kitchen preparing dinner for the young master and mistress of the Song’s residence.

          All of these gave Joongki a chance to sneak into your bedroom.

          He had been so curious when it comes to you. He knew that you would never let even the maids to enter your bedroom. This only ignited more of his curiosity about how your room looked like.

          Seeing that you would probably come home late in the evening (like you always did), he stealthily made his way to your room and quietly opened the door without bothering the other people in the mansion (not that they could hear the door squeaking, given that it was a huge one).

          Upon the sight of your once-perfectly-shut bedroom, Joongki’s chin literally dropped as his body stayed frozen at the spot he was standing on.

          He never imagined that someone who looked nothing closer to ladylike (which was you, by the way) could manage to have a sense of femininity when it comes to room decoration. It was as neat as anything a girl’s bedroom could be. The wall was painted in the hues of lavender and sky blue, giving the sense of tranquility for anyone who stepped into the space. Somehow, the thought of your creative and artistic side that influenced your room décor amazed him.

          But then, the thought was dismissed as sudden as it crossed his mind. He had to get back to his purpose of entering here; took a sneak peek of your room and most probably, finding something that would make you miserable.

          Oh yes, he still remembered the night when you rejected his offer to drink together and punched his face. The damage done was not so severe, but he had to lie through his teeth to everyone who noticed a slight bruise on his lips.

          Just like that, he started to dislike you. And as he thought more about his hurt pride, he hated you more; especially when he had to see your face in his dear home every single day and to live as your stepbrother. It might seem to be a bit immature for a man, but not to Joongki the so-called ‘pretty innocent’ man.

          Nevertheless when he thought of it in another way, he knew that this was a chance for him to return the favor. For him, nothing is sweeter than getting revenge at someone who had jeopardized his manly pride.

          At this moment, he knew that the quote saying that ‘keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer’ was relevant in this situation.

          As he took a look around your things, he noticed your calendar and read through the entries for the week. Then, his eyes caught something.

          The highlighted entry on a particular day that indicated you had an important presentation and you had to wake up early for it. Joongki cynically smiled as it was the same day when he had to depart early for a brief visit at the factories outside Seoul.

          Taking a brief glance at your alarm clock on the nightstand, Joongki just had his lighted bulb moment on his first step to make chaos in your life without causing very much a slight wound on you…

 

          Moving nearer to the dining table, you hastily gulped down a glass of milk which was prepared for you while snatching a piece of sandwich served on a large platter. Both of your mother and stepfather, who were sitting leisurely while enjoying their breakfast noticed you and wondered what would make you hurry early in the morning.

          “Bella, could you slow down a bit? You’ll choke yourself, eating the sandwich like that,” Even after you insisted to be called as Ara, your mother could not help but to call you Bella, like she used to. Well, like what she said, old habits die hard.

          “Relax Ara, it’s not like you’re late for the classes. It’s still seven in the morning” Your stepfather was aware that you always took off to the college around nine, around the same time he departed to his office together with your mother. So, it was really odd for him to see you up and awake earlier than your usual routine.

          “I’m late for my class! Gongchan will be furious if he finds out that I haven’t practice to do the presentation yet. It will begin at half past ten… Wait…” You looked at the gentle-looking face of your stepfather. “Did you say…?”

          “Yes it is, Ara. It’s still seven in the morning. What’s wrong?”

          To prove that it was somehow true, you took a look at the grandfather clock situated right beside the way towards the kitchen.

          Oddly, you did not believe your eyes that the hour hand still lingered at the digit seven. At first, you thought that the clock was wrongly set but after you confirmed it with a bit too long glance at the clock for the maids in the kitchen; you realized that it was true. You were so dazed that you inadvertently sat down together with your parents. At the same time, Joongki hurried past all of you while buttoning the end of his long sleeves.

          “You’re not having breakfast?” His father asked him with a voice a bit too cold than the tone he used to speak to you. Joongki just briefly answered, “I’ll have it on my way there” before curtly nodded out of reluctant politeness at all of you and made his way out of the residence. Though your back was facing him, but somehow you could felt that he was discreetly smirking at you. You thought that it was an act out of spite, so you gave a deathly glare at him before resuming with your earlier-than-usual breakfast.

          Just as you were about to help yourself with the second piece of sandwich, your phone was ringing, indicating an arrival of a text message. As you were about to read it, you thought of Gongchan being a worrywart in reminding you that everything should go perfectly smooth for the presentation. However, it was something that you truly did not expect early in the morning.

Joongki:

You should prepare for the presentation.

I hope that the wrongly-set clock would do a bit to help you.

:P

          Huh, a wrongly set clock? Could it be…?

          It did not take long for you to realize who was behind all of these. Without a warning, you screamed while pulling your own hair; much to your parents’ surprise. Before they could say anything, you already went out of the door; the image of you trying to strangle that ert was pictured clearly in your mind and that was what you wanted to do to him.

          But much to your disappointment, he already departed in his shiny black limousine to the countryside.

          In your mind, you knew you would have to return his favor in the similar way. Lots of tricks and pranks went through your mind; besides you would love to make it even with him.

          Sad to say, you were not a step closer to come up with a plan of revenge on the old mean Song Joongki when he did it again. This time, you were completely humiliated in front of your friends, just two days after the alarm clock incident.

          You were discussing about a school project with Gongchan and two of your classmates when your stepfather came in from work and asked you to tell Joongki to meet him in his private study. It was a simple task that you would do halfheartedly, but out of utter respect at your stepfather you did it, though the steps you took to go to Joongki’s private study was as heavy as it could be. You were still not satisfied that you could not come up with a perfect plan to get him back.

          Once you knocked on the door and was given the permit to enter, you just peeked inside to deliver your stepfather’s order. Ever since you hate him, you swore you would not be in the same space and breathe in the same air as him.

          Seeing that he hummed lazily as a reply, you immediately withdrew yourself from the spacious room filled with books, files and whatnots. You thought that it would take a few minutes for the very much despised Joongki to go to his father’s study just to get scolded. But much to your surprise, he light-footedly walked beside you, casting his suspiciously sweet smile at you.

          “How’s your day, my beautiful stepsister Arabelle?”

          “Not so good when I’m in your presence, you ert prankster. One more thing; it’s Arabella, not Arabelle. Another thing, shouldn’t you call me Ara since it’s my Korean name officially?” You gave a glare at him, feeling irritated that he often addressed you with the wrong name.

          “Hmm… For those who just know you, they may call you Ara. But for me, I should call you with your old name since I’m part of your family now. Even your mom still calls you Bella.” You cringed at the sound of your nickname out of his mouth.

          “That’s a different case, I mind you… It’s my mom, my biological mother. Of course she has her way to call me! Meanwhile, you’re just a stranger that people so-called as my stepbrother. What kind of guy would kiss his own stepsister-to-be during their first encounter?” At the mention of the night, his face became darkened. His eyes casted a deep stare at you, unintentionally brought a bit of fear that began creeping on your spines. However, learning to make a stoic expression to not give away any vibes of emotion at your mother’s knee made you shooed away those fear in form of a stare at the Casanova with an equal intensity.

          Nevertheless, those stares were gone as sudden as they appeared; thus was replaced by the initial cheeky look on his fair and dashing face.

          “One thing about that night, I did not have the chance to touch your face” With those words, he caressed your face with his hands and fled away towards your stepfather’s office without giving a single peek at you, whereas you were frozen on the spot; clearly you did not expect that to happen. At the same time, you wondered about his actual mental age. You bet your guitar that his mental age was way younger than his real age.

          As you stepped into the living room, you noticed that your group members stifled their laughter at your sight. At first, you let it pass; perhaps someone told a really funny joke when you were away. But as it went on, you were so annoyed that you could not but to ask them.

          “What’s wrong with you guys? Is there something odd on me right now?”

          Almost immediately, they laughed out loud at your question. This of course irritated you; even Gongchan joined them. Moments later, Gongchan handed you a few pieces of tissue while saying “Could you take a look at yourself in the mirror for a moment?”

          Curious with what was so funny about your face, you hastily took the tissues from the tall boy and went into the guest’s toilet and halted right in front of the mirror. As you took a look into it, you could not help but to scream loudly.

          Black ink was imprinted on your face, specifically on both of your cheeks.

          You were flustered for awhile. There was no way anyone had a chance to touch your face without you noticing…

…except for…

          Could it be…?

          At the thought of being messed around twice by the same time, you could only scream more while stamping your feet on the floor.

 

 

          “Song Joongki!”

          Listening to your scream which could be heard throughout the mansion, Joongki could not help but to smile cynically at his success to bother your life as often as possible. He knew that you would somehow find a way to retaliate his pranks, but he had a lot of fresh ideas in his mind on how to make your life as if it was in hell and he was pretty sure you could not come up with a better way to get even.

          Since that embarrassing day, your classmates often tried to make fun of you in a subtle way as they knew that you always became the target of your stepbrother’s pranks. But what they did not know was you were so caught up thinking about the best pranks that would thwart Joongki, you were unaware of the things happening around you; the jokes, the whisper, the slight change of their formerly cold attitudes towards you.

          Lucky for you, the day when you got to execute your revenge came sooner than you were expected.

          As you walked past the shop lots along the streets after going to the library alone (you preferred to have no distraction while doing your schoolwork; besides, you wanted to feel a bit of freedom of walking around the area by yourself after riding a limousine to school for a while), you noticed someone who seemed to be too-familiar-to-be-ignored sitting in a restaurant with a girl sitting opposite him.

          You would not mistake him for someone else; it was indeed Joongki. And although you only saw her backside, you were certain that she was Miss Moon Chaewon, your mother’s secretary. Based on that fact, you were sure that whatever the reason is for both of them to meet at that place, it was solely about business.

          But as you saw Joongki smiling widely while his eyes twinkling, you know that this was not anything business-like. And knowing that Joongki was capable to charm women’s hearts before showing his true heartbreaker self, you knew that the innocent Miss Moon had fallen for his delicate yet sneaky tricks.

          You know what? It’s payback time…

 

 

          Joongki seemed to be baffled when his sight caught your face as you got closer to both of them. Chaewon was a bit confused with his sudden silence that was immediately understood when she saw you sat next to her.

          “Oh, Miss Song Ara…”

          “What a pleasant surprise, seeing both of you here! Am I interrupting something?” You kept up your seemingly innocent face while trying to contain your laugh at their expression. They looked like they had been caught red-handed while doing something wrong.

          “Err… No, miss. We’re just discussing about a project,” Chaewon tried to cover up the oh-so-obvious situation, while Joongki kept on looking at you intently; he was trying to tell you silently to get the hell out of whatever the thing that they were doing right there.

          “There’s no need to explain it, I understand…” Both of them looked at each other; they were a bit dumbfounded with your statement. But you caught Chaewon’s wide eyes stealing a glance at Joongki who was clearly uncomfortable with your presence there.

          “Miss Moon Chaewon, have you ever seen Joongki oppa drunk?”

          Both seemed appalled; Chaewon with your sudden and out-of-the-blue question (guess that she did not aware of Joongki being a playboy), while Joongki with the cynical sarcasm hidden behind the stressed tone of the endearment in your question. Seeing these kinds of reactions, you gradually became hyped up to just spontaneously humiliate your so-called stepbrother in front of someone else.

          “Whenever he is drunk, he would always try his best to hit on every girl he laid his eyes on. Eventually, when he is close enough, he would ki…” You could not continue your words as someone’s palm (which happened to be Joongki’s) covered your mouth while its owner displayed a charming eye smile to the girl sitting in front of him. Whereas for Chaewon, she was a bit confused with all of this, which was clarified when Joongki said that you were such a naughty girl and that you would try your best to embarrass him by spreading some ‘nonsensical’ rumors about him (which of course were true; if only you could provide enough evidence…)

          He even tried to change the topic by trying to bribe you with something to drink. As you thought that he had never done that before, you took chance by ordering your favorite drink and snacks. Then, he went off to the counter, leaving you alone with Chaewon.

         Just when Chaewon excused herself to the restroom, another naughty idea came up to your mind. After confirming that no one would catch you in the act, you stealthily scooped up a couple tablespoons of the red pepper paste that was served together with their meals and mixed it together in Joongki’s watermelon juice. Just moments after you admiring your masterpiece, the man himself came with your order while his partner looked pretty tidied up after a visit to the ladies’ room.

         “Oppa, thanks for the food but I have to get going right now. I forgot that I have a club meeting today.” You tried your best to convince Joongki with your lies. Though he had not said a word and just calmly handed you the orders, but you knew that in his mind he was glad you would not stay longer around when he was doing his hobby; charming a lady’s heart.

         Just when you stepped out of the restaurant, you could hear a yelp from the way you walked from. You knew Joongki had a taste of your prank and recognized that it was you who did it.

          “Here’s an important and interesting announcement to all the members of Seoul University College Music Club,” the loud, clear voice that belongs to Shinwoo echoes throughout the large hall. “Kyunghee University is organizing their annual festival in May and their Music Club is holding a competition open to all of students around Seoul, especially the members of Music Club.”

          Shinwoo went on explaining about the terms and conditions of the competition. Vibes of excitement could be felt from the crowd as they listened to their club president. When he told them that they could discuss about it, everyone went to their respective group friends to decide what kind of performance they would do for the competition. Some, who seemed to prefer doing solo, went on their ways to think of what song they should pick. Some, like you, just stood by the side looking at the excited crowd, thinking if they should even join them.

          However, your solace did not last long when three of the club members approached you.

          “Ara, why do you just stand there? Would you like to join us?” Minha with two girls who clearly were juniors showed a hopeful expression on their faces. After giving it a thought for a few moments, you finally agreed. Plus, you did not want to miss the fun (though you did not get your hopes up to win the competition actually).

          Then, the two juniors introduced themselves to you. By looking at their composure, you knew that Gaeul and Hyerin were still shy in front of you. As you wondered what made their shoulders to be slumped, you smiled at them. That, for sure, made them look a bit flabbergasted.

          “See, I told you she is a nice girl. You don’t have to be so afraid of her.”

          “I don’t bite, you know.” With such a simple sentence from you, you could see that they became more relaxed and comfortable around you and Minha.

          After considering a few four-member girl groups, the four of you chose to sing a song from 2NE1. As you read the title of the songs that were chosen by the three of them (you were still new to this whole K-Pop genre), a song title that consists of two words intrigued you.

…Pretty Boy…

          And as you read along the lyrics, a smirk came up to your face as it reminded you of someone.

          “We’ll sing this song” The three girls were astounded with your sudden decision. But soon after that, Minha grinned widely as she claimed to know every dance step of the song. Even the timid Gaeul and Hyerin became excited with your choice of song.

          He had been standing there for the past hour, watching you practice your dance routine with Minha, Hyerin and Gaeul. He convinced the boys that he had a lot of work to do regarding the participations of the competition. But the truth was, Shinwoo wanted to see you. So, he just stood by the side while seeing you and your group tried to perfect each and every skill that was still lacking.

          Though he was amazed to see Minha’s superb dancing skills and the juniors’ credible rapping abilities, he was still fascinated seeing you could sing clearly while dancing without any sign of being breathless due to the exhausting routine. Shinwoo could not help but to smile observing you trying to make the performance as faultless as it was possible.

          Then, when the practice was over, he went outside of the building to wait for you as he did not want it to be obvious that he had been watching you all along. He knew that you would walk home alone since his four friends were busy with their own stuffs. So, he grabbed this chance to be with you after those failed attempts before.

          “Oh, Shinwoo sunbae! What are you doing here?” He was startled as the girl he had been waiting for was now standing in front of him. He hoped that you would not notice his blushing face or ridiculous stutters because it would be too embarrassing for him. Luckily you were such a cool head; you did not even notice it at all. (Even if you do notice it, you did not say a word about it)

           “Well, I was on my way back when I saw you still practicing. So…” he took a glance at your face to look at your reaction, “…I decided to wait for you…”

           He expected to hear words like “I can walk home alone”, “Don’t even bother”, “Do you think I’m such a weak girl?” or something similar from your mouth. What he did not expected was a giggle that was so feminine; no one would believe that it actually came from someone tomboyish like you.

           Shinwoo did not realize that his small eyes became widened as he heard the giggle. “Sure, why not? Well, I get a little bit bored just walking alone by the sidewalk. If it is okay for you to walk me home, then shall we walk together?”

           The next thing he knew, Shinwoo was strolling beside you. While you were enjoying the sights of the lush greenery along the street, he was admiring your side profile. He thought that even from the side, everyone could see that you were a good-looking girl.

           As a pregnant yet comfortable silence surrounded both of you, Shinwoo kept thinking of a way to strike a conversation with you. But before he could even say the first word, you beat him to it.

           “It’s quite hot today, isn’t it?”

           Just then, he had a lighted bulb moment.

           “Well, an ice cream would be a delightful treat on a day like this. Do you want one? I know a good place to eat ice creams.”

 

 

           “Oh my word, you’re right! It is delicious!” You kept on exclaiming praises as you continued eating your favorite ice cream with Shinwoo at a small ice cream café. According to him, the ice cream was made with a secret recipe passed from generation to generation. They even had all sorts of flavors served there. Despite the variety of both old and new flavors, you still ordered your all-time preferred flavor; chocolate.

           Meanwhile, Shinwoo just smiled at your somehow childishly cute remarks as he also ate a cone of vanilla-flavored ice cream. He would never thought that he would get the chance to see this silly side of yours, given the fact that you were much closer to Baro and Gongchan. Speaking of his best friends…

           “I thought you were seeing Sandeul.” You were obviously taken aback with the sudden question posed by the guy sitting in front of you. You were just treating Sandeul as a close friend, nothing more than that.

           “What is it about me and Sandeul sunbae?” Before Shinwoo would answer that, you caught his intention.

           “Is it about the performance the other day?” He could not say nothing but to nod at your question.

           “I thought it was a gimmick for his performance. I mean, he did not even say anything about it after the club meeting. So, I guess he did not take it seriously; which is the reason why I was completely annoyed by the fan girls who claimed that I’m seducing him; they even sent me those death threats!” You flailed both of your hands in the air as a gesture suggesting you were quite frustrated with the whole situation.

           Whereas for Shinwoo, he intently listened to you; giving the appropriate responses to everything you said; although he was trying to hide his bewildered expressions upon hearing your feelings.

           “I mean, like, oh my goodness! Sandeul sunbae and I have nothing between us but a good friendship of a senior with his junior. Why couldn’t everyone understand that?”

           To those words, Shinwoo oddly felt relieved. At first, he was clueless about it but as he listened more to your frustratedly emotional spew, he realized that he was actually glad that you were not really interested in Sandeul as your date. Somehow, he felt sorry for Sandeul; that boy did not even get your attention after his romantically planned proposal.

         

 

          After indulging the delectable ice cream, both of you continued your stride together. As the two of you passed the park, both of you saw a bunch of neighborhood kids playing a basketball game at one of the courts. Walking beside you, Shinwoo could hear you sighing.

          When he asked you about it, you mentioned that it has been awhile since you played basketball with your friends and how much you missed them although you still kept in touch with them. Considering that you knew how to play the sport, Shinwoo challenged you to play one-on-one basketball game.

          Well, being a tough girl made you always up for challenges ahead, and you were determined to show Shinwoo your basketball skills.

          Despite his towering height, Shinwoo was proven to be lacking a lot in terms of basketball skills. This was a conclusion that you came up with after you easily scored three goals when he had yet to score a goal.

          Regardless of everyone’s compliments that Shinwoo had a fit and strong body, you realized he became easily exhausted after such a short game. You wanted to play more, but seeing how disheveled and tired he was, you decided to halt the game and sat next to him on a vacant bench in the park.

          As the two of you slowly tried to breathe steadily while resting, both of you caught a sight of a toddler skipping around the park happily without having a clue that his mother was exhausted in her attempt to chase her hyperactive son. You two found that scene to be very cute; that was until the little boy stopped in front of you.

          “Eomma, that boy is sitting with his girlfriend.”

          That was just enough to make both of you astounded as hell. Not to mention that Shinwoo unwarily putting his arm around your shoulders. Anyone who walked past you two would think of you as a pair of young couple having an evening date in the park.

          “Hyunwoo, don’t disturb other people. Let’s go, eomma will buy a lollipop for you,” his mother finally could catch up with her son. She turned towards Shinwoo and you to apologize for her son’s impolite behavior. Both of you did not really mind that, so both of you said to her that it was okay.

          “By the way, you two look good together.”

          You wanted to correct her by saying that the two of you were just best friends, but before you had the chance to say it, the mother already left the scene with her child; leaving Shinwoo and you speechless and blushing at the same time.

          A few seconds after that was a brief yet uncomfortable silence between you two. Fortunately, it was quickly broken when Shinwoo offered to walk you home as it was getting a bit late. Wordlessly you followed his suit and continued walking towards your home.

          That walk was filled with chatters and laughter as both of you talked about the cute boy, the funny stories about the rest of B1A4 and your pranks on Joongki.

          However, without you knowing, someone followed both of you not far behind in a deluxe, foreign-branded sports car. Just looking at you reminded him of the foul taste of the spicy watermelon juice that he sipped the other day on a lunch date with Chaewon; and he seriously despised it…

          He quickly reached his smartphone and called the person that should know about what you had been up to lately… Of course, he would try to twist the real things and made it as if you were the one who should be blamed…

 

 

          “Arabella Daniel!!”

          Both of Shinwoo and you were stunned by the sudden yell that was heard from the front door of your house. You would not have to look at the one who yelled just now because you had gotten used with the same voice for as long as you live. Whenever your mother screamed out your full name, you knew that there was something you did that irked her so much.

          “Get in the house now, Bella!” You could only briefly wave at Shinwoo before you entered the mansion. Guess that he understood your current situation at that time as he quickly backed away from the front of your house and walked away immediately. (Or perhaps he found your mother as someone that looked really scary when she was angry…)

          As you walked into the spacious living room, you saw your mother sitting on the lush sofa; anger was evident on her face. But then you were surprised to see another presence standing right behind her; Joongki.

          It was a really weird sight to you. You knew that Joongki and your mother were not that close enough since Joongki was still upset about his father’s second marriage to your mother. That just kept you wondering, what made both of them to become allies now?

          “You know that I did not allow you to date while you’re still studying, Bella,” Your mother started her rant. You were dying to resist rolling your eyes at that oh-so-obvious warning. You had heard of it for years and to be honest, you knew to draw a line between friendships and love. Listening to the same advice yet again made you feel really drained, especially in your ears.

          “Who is that guy who sent you just now? Is he your boyfriend?”

          Again, you tried very hard to defy the temptation to roll your eyes at those ridiculous questions. “Mama, he is just a senior, a friend. I was practicing until late evening and he was willing to walk me home…”

          “Then, what’s the use of having limousine prepared for you every single day?” You did not really get it. There was really nothing between you and Shinwoo. You really did not understand the major reason of why your mother got enraged when you walked home with a guy. It was not like you were going to do something bad with him…

          “One more thing, how could you put red pepper paste in Joongki’s drink?” Without even looking at him, you knew Joongki was silently displaying his smirk of victory.

          “Not to mention that it was in the middle of a lunch meeting. A lunch meeting, Bella!” clearly she was upset to see her own daughter that she raised to be a good-mannered, elegant woman ended up behaving not even closer to that.

          “More like a lunch date…” you whispered, yet it was caught by your mother’s hearing.

          “What did you say? Bella, just what were you thinking when you did this to your own brother?”

          “Who says he’s my brother? He is just my stepbrother. No, scratch that. He is just a stranger to me!”

          “Just stop your nonsense! Bella, from now on you will be grounded for a week.”

          As it came out of your mother’s mouth, your chin dropped down because you were shocked to hear that. Never before in your life that you were grounded by your mother, so it was the first time that she did that.

          Just as you tried to reason with your mother, a couple of maid servants literally dragged you to your bedroom. You were so stunned that you did not notice Joongki’s cynical smile as you walked past him…

          It was him…

          Joongki told about your pranks- no, he twisted some truths about your pranks to make your mother believe that you were the irrational one in this case…

          He even told her about Shinwoo, who was obviously just a senior friend, no matter how close both of you were.

          Oh, how much you like to beat him up, if you did not remember that you were a girl…

         

 

          Joongki was pretty much fatigued after hours of long, dreadful meeting with the board of directors. He thought that after attending the meeting he would go home as it was already past office hours. But then, he remembered that he had not checked out his inbox for the latest emails that he received for the day.

          As he was about to get done reading those emails, a sudden notification of an incoming email alerted him. Wondering about what could possibly the content of an email that was sent this late at night, Joongki without a hitch opened it.

          It turned out to be a video of a group of girls performing a dance song. At first, Joongki wanted to stop playing the video and straight away deleted it, but as he listened more to the song, he knew it was one of the songs of a popular girl group. He did not like to say that he was a fan of 2NE1, but he did admit that their songs were catchy and fun to his hearing.

          After just moments playing the video, Joongki noticed that they were not the real members of 2NE1; in fact they were just four young girls who sang and danced to the song. Nonetheless, Joongki acknowledged their talents. He even thought that if they had undergone intensive training, their flairs could surpass those of the artistes in the present entertainment industry.

          His mind was full of complimentary and sometimes flirty thoughts of those beautiful girls as they sang and rapped their own part; that was until his eyes caught a sight of one of those girls who was singing her part which was the chorus of the song.

 

Hey pretty boy neon eodinga bujokhae

Amureon maeryeok eobsi yeppeujanghagimanhae

Hey pretty boy neon jogeum deo noryeokhae

Jom deo namjadapge jom deo gaeseongitge

Neol ba-ba-ba-bakkwobwa

 

          Anyone who saw the video would have thought that the girl had a great singing talent, but not for Joongki. He knew he had seen the girl before but he could not put his finger on the idea of who she was, until he caught the meaning of the lyrics she sung…

 

Hey pretty boy, you're lacking something

You don't have any charm, you're just pretty

Hey pretty boy, put some effort into it

More like a man, more with personality

Ch-ch-ch-change yourself

 

          At the moment of the second chorus, Joongki looked into the video – his eyes met her eyes – the girl seemed like she was looking straight at him from the video. The second he looked into those eyes, he knew who she was…

          In fact, the girl discreetly smirked at the camera – literally at him – as if she knew who was going to watch the video.

          It dawned to him that the particular lyrics were to mock him; he admitted that he was often judged as a pretty boy by most of the woman he met. But never before in his life had he been ridiculed, no matter how subtle the way was, by a mere young girl who came off to him as a plain, rude tomboy.

          A punch was hit on the grand embossed teak table. Joongki did not even care how hurt his knuckles was when he did that, he was just so enraged with this kind of mockery.

          Immediately he stopped the video and deleted it. He did not even want to think of what would happen if anyone saw the video in his laptop. The initial intention would be really delicate for most of the people, but sooner or later they would find out about it. By that time, his image would be so ruined.

          On his way home, Joongki held on the wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. He did not really heed other road users as his mind was running wild with ways to get even with that girl.

          Joongki knew that a bad start of a day would make your smile and laughter go away.

          But he did not mean it to be so dramatically depressing and gloomy for you. He just wanted it to be a hell of a stressful day for you.

          This intention kept him pumped up as he juiced half a lemon with your toothbrush. As childish as it seemed to anyone as it was to him, Joongki did not give a damn. If it took him some extremely immature ways to get his revenge, he would do. As long as you knew that you should withdraw from trying to jeopardize his pride in every possible way, it should be enough for Joongki.

          After successfully completed his prank and discreetly sneaked out of your bedroom like a spy, Joongki resumed his morning routine – dressing up, having breakfast and a quick glance at his schedule of the day – with a light head that was full of confidence knowing that you will not try some sneaky tricks to make his life miserable anymore.

          At least, that was what Song Joongki thought.

          Until he was scared to death by the alien presence of a toy squirrel – that looked dead with the fake blood dripping all over, it was too real to be ignored – dangling in front of the windscreen in his sport car.

          It looked like he underestimated you a lot.

          Big time.

 

 

Author's Note:

What's up peeps! It's me again, capribelle96! Sorry for being such a jerk not updating this story for a few months. It's just that I'm super busy with my studies in university that I have neglected these fanfics, sorry again! m_ _m

But now that I have updated this fanfic, expect me to be online quite frequently and maybe I'll drop the foreword of my future projects (I know I haven't finished this fanfic and the others but I just can't help to generate more storylines, especially when I'm procrastinating :D) So, enjoy reading and do comment and subscribe and upvote (optional though)!