CHAPTER FOUR

*YOUR POV*

After leaving Kuma’s store, I headed aimlessly on the street. I told him that I had other errands to do… but that was a total lie.

Seeing his family so close made my heart ache.

I never knew what a loving family was like.

My father is the owner of several of the largest companies in Korea as well as America. He was rarely home when I was a child.

My mother is the daughter of one of the wealthiest businessman on Earth and she too was scarcely present throughout my life.

The moments that I actually spent with them weren’t happy ones, either. They would instruct me on how to be a proper lady so that one day I will marry rich, connecting my father’s business to a company he wanted.

I was just a tool.

A car swept by me, startling me from my thoughts. I gazed around the streets, surprised at my location. Totally absorbed in my thoughts, I hadn’t even noticed where my feet were carrying me.

Hmm… that boy works nearby, right?

I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

“Yo, Kikwang Oppa!” I chirped when I heard him pick up.

Blaring music could be heard from the background. “Oh? Is this my adorable ________’s voice that I hear?”

“Oppa! Where are you?” I found myself shouting because of the club sounds coming from his end of the phone.

“Ah, I’m working at RR nowadays. Are you back in town?”

“OPPA! I told you that you shouldn’t waste your looks by working at clubs,” I told him disapprovingly as I headed in his direction.

“My break is starting in two minutes. You wanna come through and hang out with your handsome Oppa?” I could hear him smirking while he said that last part.

I picked up my speed. “Be there soon!”

“________ DONGSENG! MY ADORABLE DONGSENG! COME TO OPPA!” The moment I turned the corner where the club RR was located, I heard my name loud and clear.

“KYAAA~ KIKWANG OPPA!” I hugged him with all the strength I had stored in me.

We chatted while strolling on the street, catching up on the two years that I was gone.

Kikwang and I met during middle school when he transferred to Japan from Korea.

A grin spread across my face as I recalled our first meeting.

“Excuse me, you’re in my seat…” I stared at the handsome boy who was perched uncertainly in my assigned seat.

“Gomenasai,” he bowed as he got up from the seat.

“No problem,” I replied, puzzled by his strange Japanese. “Sumimasen, you’re not from Japan, right?”

“Anio,” he cheekily said in Korean.

“Babo.” I scolded him. Just then the teacher walked into class and called the boy over to her.

“Class, please welcome Kikwang! He’s going to be studying with us from now on.” She pointed to his seat… right next to mine.

“Anneonghaseyo!” He greeted me as he sat down.

I rolled my eyes and opened my textbook.

During lunch, I noticed that Kikwang was sitting by himself. Taking pity on the poor boy, I plopped down next to him and starting conversing with him.

“Kikwang-ssi,” I took a bite out of my apple, “how do you like school so far?”

He looked surprised that I was talking to him. “You know Korean?”

“Ne. Sukoshi wakarimasu. Anyways, answer my question.” I continued eating, pausing only to talk.

“Ah, well, this school is alright.” He shrugged.

Soon we became best friends and were always around each other. Rumors started to spread around the school, saying that we were a couple, but when we heard those thing we would laugh. He, along with Kuma and the gang, were like brothers to me, and nothing more.

“Aw CRAP!” Kikwang stared in disbelief at his watch. “I really got to go, sorry! My break is almost over and I can’t be late!” He hugged me and took off running. “Call me and we’ll hang out again!” He called over his shoulder.

That Baka-chan. 

I hummed as I walked the streets, happy that I got to meet him again.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks.

What’s Yankumi-sensei doing in this clubbing district?

I inched closer.

She was in the back alleyway of a club talking to someone.

I sneaked even closer.

It was a boy.

“Odagiri, you need to come back to school,” she was saying to him.

“No I don’t and besides, it’s not like it matter to you,” Odagiri retorted.

Is this Odagiri... Ryu?

Earlier today I overheard Yabuki talking trash about a former classmate named Odagiri Ryu, calling him a traitor and saying how he better not show his face ever again. Naturally I became curious and snooped around the school for more information.

After asking around, I had found out that when Odagiri attended Kurogin, he was the leader of class 3-D, not Yabuki. I also heard that Odagiri and Yabuki were the best of friends, along with the tall guy called Tsuchiya Hikaru, the cutie-pie who was known as Takeda Keita and Average Height who was Hyuuga Kosuke.

What happened? Yabuki seemed like the guy who kept his friends close and protected them. To make Yabuki hate his best friend like this…

I crept another foot forward, hidden in the shadows.

“I’m your homeroom teacher! Of course it matters to me if you come or not.” Yankumi was trying her best to convince this guy to come back.

“I don’t trust teachers,” Odagiri said quietly.

“You should trust Yankumi though.” I stepped out of the shadows.

They both jumped back, startled by my sudden presence.

“______! What are you doing here?” Yankumi gasped.

I shrugged. “Visiting old friends.”

I redirected my gaze back to Odagiri and studied him. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable with my stare.

He cleared his throat. “I’m not going back.”

Yankumi stood in front of him and looked him in the eyes. “You can trust me. I will protect you.”

Odagiri watched her face carefully, unsure of what to do.

“RYU! What do you think you’re doing, chatting to girls during working hours? You can only talk to customers!” A man busted through the door and barked at us before heading back inside.

“Quit this job and come back.” Yankumi whispered.

“I can’t…”

“Why?” She demanded.

“I need to pay them… 300 dollars back,” he muttered and headed back inside.

I raised my eyebrow at my teacher. “Yankumi, what are we going to do now?”

She grinned at me. “We?”

Then she became sober. “Don’t worry about it, you’re too young. Let me handle this.” She patted my shoulder and left, leaving me standing in the alleyway gazing at the club’s backdoor.

Customers only, huh?

I walked around to the front of the club.

“How old are you?” The bouncers asked me.

“21,” I lied.

They unhooked the rope and let me pass.

I loved being Asian- it was hard to guess my age, especially since I looked more mature than most people my age. Many people guessed that I was seriously 20 years old when in fact I am only 17.

I strolled up to the counter.

The guy there smiled suggestively at me. “How may I help you?” His gaze fell from my face and traveled down my body.

How disgusting. I wanted to punch him in the face.

“I’d like to request a host,” I purred, mentally slapping myself in the face for acting like this.

“That’ll cost you money, little lady.”

“Oh I know,” I replied, twirling my hair between my fingers.

“Who would you like to serve you?”

“Odagiri and for an hour, please.”

The man laughed. “You’re going to pay money for him? He’s not even a full time host- he usually works in the back!”

He lowered his voice and edged closer to me. “I’m free after 11:00 PM,” he winked.

Calm down ______. Don’t get mad. Take a deep breath.

That’s good. Breathe in, breathe out.

I forced a smile on my face. “Not tonight, sorry.”

His smile fell. “As you wish,” he snarled, holding his hand out for the money.

He finally left to go call Odagiri for me and a female worker directed me to a booth.

I sat there, gazing around the nicely decorated room, waiting for my classmate to show up.

After waiting for a while, I finally saw Odagiri make his way toward me. Once he saw my face, he stopped short.

“What are you doing boy? Keep walking! Don’t keep that beautiful young lady waiting,” the annoying man jabbed at his side.

Hesitantly, he continued walking. Forcing himself to look pleased, he slid into the booth next to me, waiting for the guy to leave.

“You… you’re the girl who was with that teacher earlier, right?” He got straight to the point.

I nodded. “Yeah. My name is _______.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I figured I’d give you a break and let you just sit here for a while and make money at the same time.”

He snorted. “I’m serious.”

“What I said was true.” I looked at him. “And I wanted to ask you to come back to school.”

His eyes grew wide. “But you don’t even know me!”

“I barely know anyone in our class since today was my first day of school.”

“Then why…?”

“Because you should trust Yankumi.” I grew silent.

“As if I would trust a teacher.” He clenched his teeth.

I looked at him.

“I hate teachers too,” I said slowly, “but Yankumi is different.”

I told him about how Shin, Kuma, Uchi, Noda, and Minami were total rebels and the “black sheep” of the school and how, after Yankumi was finished with them, they turned into much more respectable people. Most importantly, I told him about how my closest friends trusted her and, for those feelings to come from Shin and the gang, that meant a lot.

“They probably hate teachers just as much as you do.” I sighed.

Odagiri looked frustrated. “I don’t know. It’s just… I can’t go back to the school. I literally mean can’t. I got in a huge fight with Yabuki and in order for me to not be expelled, my dad and the principle came to an agreement that said as long as I don’t show up to school, I can still graduate with my class."

I was shocked.

What type of dad is that?

Reminds me of… my dad.

“Odagiri, since when have you followed the rules like that?”

He burst in to laughter and smiled for the first time. “True that. I’ll think about it.”

I smiled. “I better see you at school sometime!”

He shook his head. “Don’t count on it.”

We stood up and said goodbye.

I stopped by the counter on the way out and paid for the extra time I had spent talking to Odagiri.

I frowned the moment I stepped out the door and sighed.

Even though Odagiri said he would think about it, I really doubt he actually will act on his words.

He’s going to need a lot of convincing…

I pointed my feet in the direction of my apartment and headed home.