Chapter 1: Busted Already?

“! First day of school and I’m going to be late. I should have just taken my Mustang.” Junsu cussed as he dashed through the streets, stepping right then to the left, dodging all the people who walked leisurely on the streets. And after five minutes of dashing, he made it to the front of the school office in no time with about 10 minutes to spare. “Hi. I’m Kim—“ Wrong name. “I’m Xiah Junsu! And I’m a new student.” He introduced himself to a woman, dressed in an office get up, about 10 years older than him.

“Oh! We were expecting you! You look quite better in person.” The assistant exclaimed with a great big smile. She looked at the picture she was holding to make sure he was the right person she was expecting but she ended up cocking her eyebrow in suspicion seeing that the guy in the picture had thick rimmed glasses and gelled back hair. After looking at the picture, she got a little confused because there was no resemblance at all. The person standing in front of her now was more stylish, with his naturally spiked hair and big doe eyes.

Reading her face, Junsu came to realize that he forgot to gel his hair back and put on his glasses. His eyes became frantic. ‘Did they recognize me?’ He gave her an awkward chuckle. “That’s really me there. It’s just that I’m not wearing my glasses because I still need to clean them. And the hair… uhm, my mother told me to make a good impression so she styled it for me.” He smiled and confidently spoke his practiced lie. He didn't have a mother to call a mother, but he had a father, not much of a father though.

The assistant just laughed brightly. “Anyways, here’s your schedule, and the school map. These are the things that would get you through the day. And since you are new, would you like me to you to your first class?” She obviously liked to get to the point. It’s a good quality for a business person. He should know.

“No it’s fine," he gave her a quick gentle smile. "I have head to my locker to fetch my books first. I’ll manage,” he replied a little breathless because of that quick morning exercise he just had.

The assistant gave a small laugh. “Alright! If you need assistance just come back to the office.”

Junsu nodded. “Thanks.”

After he got out of the office, he rushed to his locker and placed a little mirror inside so that he could fix his hair. Taking out gel from his bag, he squeezed a fair amount to gel his hair back. After a bit of time, he stares at his own creation. “Junsu, you look great,” He laughed at his own sarcasm. “One more little touch…” He opened the side of his bag and took out his thick rimmed glasses so that he will not be easily recognized.

If Kim Junsu— the future owner of the largest corporation in Asia gets spotted, then all hell would break loose. Girls would be screaming… everyone would be staring… Thinking back at the life he had lived back then made him shiver. “I want a normal life.” He mumbled to himself as he adjusted the heavy weight glasses to his face. “It's nice to get out of that dreadful house. I don't know why I ended up impulsively following an impulse but I guess, now I am Xiah Junsu… Xiah Junsu. Not Kim Junsu. And my dream is to become an awesome geek.” He gave out a big sigh after slamming his locker door closed which revealed a raven haired man leaning on a locker right beside his.

“That’s quite a nice get up Kim Junsu,” the slightly taller man told him as he checked him out from his head to his toe.

Junsu was stunned and offended by the sudden greeting and rudeness. "Sorry, my name is Xiah Junsu," he corrected the raven haired man.

“You have to do better than that Kim Junsu. I know who you are.”

“But I don’t know who you are," he finally frowned. "And apparently, you don’t know who I am because my name is Xiah Junsu and not Kim Junsu.”

“Tsk. Tsk. Kim Junsu, who are you trying to fool? I know we haven’t seen each other for about 5 years but that’s no reason for you to forget me and a reason for me to forget you. I mean, I could recognize you from across the hallway with that duck of yours!”

“Excuse me. Who are you?” He had a slight idea who this man was but he didn’t want to say it because if he gets it wrong then he’s busted.

There was only one man who called him a duck back then and that was Jaejoong. His first cousin. They’ve been together since diapers but had to split when junior high started because of the need for Jaejoong’s parents to expand the Kim company globally.

The man gave a big exasperated sigh. “You really don’t know? My name is Kim-Ja-e-joong!” He stated his name syllable by syllable, pointing at the air for each sound he made.

Junsu gasped. “Jaejoong?” His eyes brightened as he smiled. "Is that really you?"

"Yeah, in the flesh!" Jaejoong beamed him a smile ready to go give him a hug but Junsu did not respond at all.

"Great," he said all of a sudden, his facial expression changing from smiling to disappointment. He was being sarcastic about his happiness.

Still, Jaejoong hugged him surprisingly and quickly let go. “What brings you here in that geeky get up and that cutesy act? As far as I remember you being cool with that overpowering charisma of yours.”

“Long story. I’ll tell you while we walk.” Junsu said to him still smiling. “I need to get to class.”

“Okay, I’ll walk you to your class. Who do you have?”

“Mrs. Jang.”

Jaejoong gave a short laugh. “Must you always be in my class?”

Junsu’s frown became even greater and bigger and wider. “Wait, what?”

“I'm saying--" Jaejoong tried to explain.

"No, I get it," Junsu shook his head. "Out of the 4 classes I could be at, I just had to placed with you again." He finally laughed recalling old memories of the past when Jaejoong and him went crazy like little kids together.

"It's okay, we're just meant to be together you know? Now tell me what brings you here. We’re almost there.” They turned a corner.

“Well…” Junsu paused to gather the right words to explain his thoughts. “I wanted to start fresh. I got into an argument with the Mr-I'm-so-high-and-mighty-I-don't-need-your-opinion father of mine and I just stormed out of the estate. I impulsively enrolled here so he doesn't know about it yet. But I'm sure as long as I still do my job there, I'll be fine here. I just wanted to get out of there. I’m sick of flattery, uptight stuttering assistants, filthy rich people and girls screaming everyday so I went here to start anew but I see, you're still getting my way!" he chuckled.

“Awesome.” Jaejoong said sarcastically, “But really, Junsu, I still can’t believe I’m seeing you dressed and acting like a geek in public. It doesn’t feel normal.”

“Well it's not normal but I wanted to pursue happiness for a change. Maybe try other things besides money, fame and pride. Let me play a bit. I think this will make me happier—“

“That’s quite a no brainer. All your life you’ve been faking to be perfect in every single way. It placed a limit to what you could do with your life.”

“I'm brilliant," Junsu laughed at himself. "It's been great being able to casually talk to you like this and probably make friends without any benefits since I don't look like I'm so high up that pedestal. But other than school, I apologize if I talk like outside of school. Think of it as maybe, a split personality?” he gave another bright smile to Jaejoong who only smirked. “No one can find out I’m Kim Junsu okay? So keep it a secret?” His big doe eyes now stared at Jaejoong.

“Whatever you want, Su.”

“Anyways! When did you get back to Korea? Last time I heard you were in France.”

“A month ago,” Jaejoong quickly answered. They stopped in front of a door. “We’re here, so we can’t talk more. Later during lunch maybe. Unless you want to be a loner too.” He left Junsu pretending to not know him.

Jaejoong opened the class door and quickly took his seat. And as for Junsu, the teacher waved her hand at him, gesturing him to come to her.

“Are you finding everything fine so far?” Mrs. Jang questioned him.

He just simply nodded with a smile.

“Everyone!” She clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “We have a new student. Please listen.” She faced Junsu and whispered to his ear. “Introduce yourself.”

“Hello,” he said in a squeaky voice which made Jaejoong almost burst out in laughter. “My name is Ki..I mean Xiah Junsu. Please take care of me!” He bowed.

“Didn't you know you were supposed to hit puberty 5 years ago?” One of the guys yelled out from the back.

“Yeah! What’s wrong with your hair and your glasses?! Did your mommy pick them out for you?” One of the girls in the front teased.

“Now class, be nice! I won’t tolerate you guys making fun of others,” the teacher stared at both the guy and the girl who teased Junsu. She was about to walk up to them but Junsu pulled her sleeves.

“It’s okay.” He smiled at her with his eyes and his mouth. “I get it all the time.”

“Then take your seat. I’ll put you beside Park Yoochun.” She looked at the brunette with blue eyes sitting at one of the desks. “Park Yoochun please stand up.” And so he did. Everybody stared in awe.

“Thank you.”

Junsu walked through the desk aisles. They were separated by two’s with 7 rows going left to right and 4 columns of coupled desks going up and down. Just before he reached his desk, a slim leg came out of nowhere and tripped him causing his face to fall first giving him a tiny nose bleed. He clutched his face but he realized that his glasses were no longer intact! His disguise was missing. He got up still staring at the floor so that no one could see his face. Then he meekly squeaked out, “where’s my glasses?”

A hand goes down right in front of his face. He felt a strong sense of relief when he saw that the hand was holding his glasses. He quickly took it and wore it without any hesitation at all. “Thank you.” He smiled at the person who gave it to him as he covered his nose with his hand. It ended up being Park Yoochun, the guy who he’s sitting beside with. Looking at him, Junsu realized that Yoochun was handsome in his own little way. His eyes gave out the icy blue color which contrasted his auburn hair and pale skin. He looked like a doll.

Hearing Junsu’s thank you, Yoochun just nodded and stared up front again. Junsu got the feeling that he didn’t talk much. Not unless he had to.

Junsu was aware that someone had tripped him and inside he was flaming mad but instead he looked at the person behind him and smiled. Anyone would be pissed, but he had to be nice so that he wouldn’t stand out too much. ‘You want a normal life. You want a normal life. You want a normal life.’ He kept on telling himself so that he’ll be strong.

Mrs. Jang saw the whole thing though. She was no fool. “Choi Siwon, did you just trip the new student?”

“No,” he denied. “I just simply stretched legs.”

Junsu could only chuckle in furiosity. But his smile was still intact. “It’s okay Mrs. Jang! His legs are very long so he needs room. Besides, arguing with a spoiled brat is pointless. Please continue the class.”

Seeing Junsu not even showing a single ounce of madness inside him, Siwon had gotten provoked. Surely, he was the bad guy but he didn’t get anything out of what he did so he just felt more stupid.

Jaejoong stared out the window trying not to reveal his laughter to everyone. Junsu’s get up and his natural ty personality blended well together. He couldn’t help but smile.

Convincing the teacher to continue class, Junsu quickly took the seat beside Park Yoochun and took out his books. All the girls stared at him angrily with great jealousy which gave him the shivers. It felt good. At least, it wasn’t the stalking type of look or the Kim Junsu ‘I’m in love with you!’ look. He was happy. But like a sharp eagle, he figured out why all the girls were like that. One hundred percent. It’s all because of this striking Park Yoochun. He’s the type of guy that catches every girls eye.

“Let’s see…” he told himself, “it's pretty simple to achieve this geek status.” He smiled at his brilliancy. Who knew it was so much fun to be this normal?