P u b l i s h e d   o n : 2 3 / 0 4 / 2 0 1 3
 Chapter Ten  : Run.

"And I still have 20 seconds left to spare." She smirked before letting out a soft sigh.

As she entered the halls of college, she went to her locker which was right beside Brian's. How ironic, they had a locker right beside one another.

"S-So.." Brian croaked out as he leaned against his locker, staring at Hae Jung. She was arranging her things in her locker and was going to get ready for her next class. “A-Are you feeling a bit better?” he questioned as she shut her locker tight. “If those boys hadn’t ruin my morning? Maybe.” She directly answered before turning away to get to her next class.

“About that boy Tao-“ Brian’s voice trailed off when she raised her hand before turning around to face him. “If you’re going to defend him, stop. I’m not going to listen to any single thing you say about him. I really couldn’t care less.”

“But Hae Jun-“

“I really couldn’t.” she turned around to get to her next class as Brian tried to reach for her but ended up just pulling his hand out at her direction. He clenched his fist before pulling his hand back, letting out a heavy sigh. “B-Brian!” a few guys called his name out in unison down the hall. Brian turned around only to be greeted with Lay, Kris and Chanyeol.

“Where’s..?” Chanyeol asked as Brian shook his head. “Off to her next class.”

"Oh well." Brian heard Tao's voice behind him. He spun around only to glare at the boy. "W-What?" Tao stammered as he blinked at Brian. "You," Brian hissed as he pointed at the boy. The others around them gulped, as they could feel the anger boiling up inside of Brian. Brian shut his eyes tight before letting out a heavy sigh. He dropped his hand before shaking his head. He opened his eyes before whispering, "Forget it."

She entered a classroom that she needed to go as it was under her schedule. Sure she could choose the subjects wanted, but these were one of the compulsory subjects she needed to take. She received stares from both boys and girls when she entered the room. Not that she cared or anything. Like how she cared about Tao? She couldn’t care less.

The teacher entered the room before Hae Jung could even find a place to sit. “Oh, you must be Hae Jung.” The teacher voiced out loud, making everyone face to the front and stare at her. She nodded her head before the teacher smiled. He could tell that she was a top student. “Take a seat by Suho over there. I’m sure the two of you will get along just fine.” Mr.Jael pointed at Suho, who pressed his lips into a thin line.

She took her seat beside him and Mr.Jael took out a bunch of papers. “Take 15 minutes to do whatever you want. We’re starting our class by then.” Mr.Jael announced before sitting down. Suho couldn’t stop himself from staring at the girl beside him. He really did admire her. Usually people would go all out in slapping Tao in the face for his rudeness, or feistiness but she didn’t. She remained calm but yet she could throw words that were like knives at him. He knew it was wrong to stare but at that moment nothing seemed to bother him.

“If there’s something on my face, you should let me know.” Suho’s eyes widened, still not tearing his eyes away from her. “I-I was just..” Suho stammered as he couldn’t think of anything to say. She let out a heavy sigh before leaning back on her chair. “If you have anything blunt to say, I’d rather not hear it.” She took a pen and started to write her name on her notebooks. Hae Jung was one of those strong people who held it in within themselves. But even the strongest people break every now and then.

“No!” he raised his voice. A little bit too high that it grabbed the attention of a few people around them. She raised an eyebrow before looking at him. “I-I just wanted to apologize..” he whispered softly when he realized he was too loud a moment ago. “I don’t see why you’re apologizing.” She shrugged her shoulders before looking away from him.

“I..I thought you hated all of us?” he asked as his gaze softened. “No,” he shook his head as he thought carefully before he said anything else. “I thought you were mad at us?” he questioned as she put down her pen. “I was never angry at any of you in the first place. I’m just giving him a piece of my mind. Something I’ve been keeping in for a few days now.” She shrugged her shoulders a little before turning her head to face him when she had written down her name on all her notebooks. Suho couldn’t help but smile and offer a handshake. “I’m Suho in case you forgot.”

“I remember.” She smiled slightly before mentioning her own name. Suho felt warm the moment her lips twitched upwards slightly, considering he’s never really seen her smile before. He was still holding onto her hand as he stared into her brown eyes. He got lost into those two whirlpools that seem to pull him in. She tried to pull her hand back but out of instincts he gripped onto it tighter. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but class is starting soon.”

Her voice rang into his head like bells, signaling him to let go of her hand. He let go of her hand before rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “S-Sorry, I..I was just..” She leaned in closer before shaking her head slightly. “Don’t worry about it.” Suho gulped and she leaned away to face front the moment Mr.Jael started his lesson. “Besides,” she brushed her bangs away from her face. “I like you the best out of the rest. You seem to be the most decent one.”

Suho smiled as he stared at his notebook when he heard those words. No one ever really picked him to be the best out of the pack considering girls would usually pick Kai. Slowly from paying attention to the lesson, his thoughts drift away to the girl that was sitting beside him. When he stared into her eyes, he could see mixed emotions. Sadness was one of them. He frowned slightly as he wanted to know what was going on in her mind. “Suho, would you mind giving me the answer for this question on the board?” Mr.Jael asked Suho, knowing he’s one of the students that could answer the question. But now, he had no clue. He was too busy thinking about the girl beside him, he didn’t even pay attention.

Hae Jung could sense he wasn’t even paying attention. He was clueless. He was about to give it a shot into answering when, “The answer is 25x-9y-9.” Suho repeated the same answer Hae Jung had whispered to him before earning a smile from Mr.Jael. “That answer is correct. Moving on..” He smiled before glancing at the girl beside him, “Thank you.” He whispered as she nodded her head.

Math class was a breeze. Hae Jung understood everything while Suho was just stuck there, as if his brain wasn’t functioning. This never happens to Suho. Hae Jung packed up her things the moment she heard the bell. Before she could walk away, Suho called her out. She turned around to look at him, letting out a soft hum. “I-I don’t really get any of this and.. I was jus-“

“I’ll come by tonight. Expect me by 9.00p.m.” He bit his lower lip before grinning like an idiot the moment she left the room after saying those words. For some reason he felt like he's won a lottery.

“So, is everyone here?” Hae Jung questioned as they were at the same forest they were in yesterday. The boys nodded their heads as they paid attention to her. “You guys will be split up into groups of six. Six of you will be with Brian, the other six will be with me. We won’t split you guys up, you will split yourselves up.” Hae Jung said as she stood by one side as Brian was on the other.

Suho was the first one to walk up to Hae Jung’s side. A few gasps could be heard but that didn’t bother Suho. He smiled at Hae Jung before lightly bumping her arm with his. “Hey trainer.” He smiled as Hae Jung couldn’t help but smile at the boy beside her. “Hey.” He felt like the barrier between him and her was broken down. After he saw her smile, he knew instantly that she wasn’t what people thought she was. He had a lot of questions he wanted to know about her, but he knew at the back of his head that she was a good soul.

One after another, they had split themselves until two groups were formed. Suho, Kai, Chen, Lay, Luhan and Baekhyun were on Hae Jung’s side, while the other six were on Brian’s side. “Very well,” Brian spoke up as he gave nods to Hae Jung. “Note that both of us have different ways in teaching and what you learn with Hae Jung will be different from what you learn with me. So when you guys go back, the twelve of you should be able to teach one another what you have learnt from us. Understand?”

The twelve boys nodded their heads before they followed their respective places to start their training. There was one place Hae Jung loved to train the most. At the peak of the mountain. It would take a lot of stamina to walk all the way up, but as a vampire you need the stamina, strength and speed to be able to climb the mountain quickly without slipping off. Like they say, "Life's a climb, but the view's great."

Need to mention, it takes a lot of effort to enjoy that view peacefully.

“Where are we going?” Suho questioned as a few boys hushed at him. They were afraid to ask anything because they thought they knew Hae Jung’s character. “We’re doing something really simple today. We’re just climbing a mountain.” She answered as she brush past a few trees. She could hear sighs of relief as she rolled her eyes. “If only you knew that it was going to be done my way.” She muttered softly. She stopped walking and the boys behind her stumbled on one another. “What the heck?” Kai groaned as he bumped into Chen.

“Alright, here’s a simple task.” She said as she turned around to smirk at the six boys. They were currently in the middle of the forest. “There will be a few mountains not far from where we are now. I will hide my presence and my scent. The six of you will have to find me and meet me at the mountain where we will be training for the day. You can either choose to go in pairs, as a whole pack or alone. Understood?”

“Oh, one last thing.” She had pointed out with her finger before her eyes changed to a slight shade of purple. “If you fail to find me in 5 minutes, punishment will be given.”

The boys nodded their heads slowly and before they knew it, she was gone. “Jesus, she’s gone already.” Luhan gasped as he placed a hand on his chest. “Guys, let’s move fast and find her.” Suho voiced up as they started to use their senses to find her. “Wait,” Baekhyun said as he placed his hand on Suho’s chest to prevent him from walking. “Do we go as a group or we split up?”

“I think it’s safer to go as a group. We’re still newborns and.. if anything were to happen, we could take anyone on with the six of us. It’ll be too risky to go alone. What if it’s another test of hers?” Lay told his opinion before receiving nods from everyone. “Let’s move.”

She was waiting by one of the mountains that was a little on the other side of the forest. She inhaled the scent of Chen coming towards her when she immediately moved away to another tree. She watched from above as he frowned. “I swear I could sense she was here.” He muttered softly as the others caught up behind him. “She’s not here?” Luhan asked as the six of them made a circle.

“Impressive.” Hae Jung voiced out loud enough for them to hear. Causing heads to shot up to look at her. “H-How-We-You..What?”Suho pointed at a few directions before pointing at her the last. Hae Jung swiftly jumped down from the tree to land in the middle of their circle. The boys backed away as she stood up. “Not bad, but you guys were late by two minutes.” She held up two fingers in front of their faces, causing them to frown.

“But we found you! That’s all that matters right?” Suho tried to make a cute face, which bothered some of the boys but he didn’t care. He was trying to use it on her to see if it would work. To be honest, the guys were wondering how she would react to Suho’s attempt. “Aww,” she grinned widely before leaning in closer towards Suho’s face. The boys’ eyes widened as their mouth gawked open. Is she really giving into the boy in front of her?

Her smile fell instantly before she let out a cold, “No.” The boys’ snickered before Suho dropped the smile on his face. The boys broke the circle before lining up in a straight line facing Hae Jung. “You see this mountain?” she questioned as the boys immediately turn to look at the mountain near them. They nodded their heads before gazing back to her. “You guys will run all the way up.” She nodded once before Chen cocked his head sideways. “That’s it?”

She let out a soft scoff before eyeing the boy that doubted his training today. “I wasn’t done.”

She walked towards the bottom of the mountain before pointing at the trees that was somehow arranged in a zig-zag way. “You have to pass through those trees, in a zigzag pattern. You have to reach the top of the mountain within 2 minutes.”

“What?!”

“Fine, 3 minutes. That’s enough.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest before raising an eyebrow. “Can’t do it?”

“W-Well, can you do it?” Baekhyun questioned softly as she uncross her arms from her chest. They were really doubting her. “Can she do it?” another voice chuckled behind them. They turned around only to meet a smiling Brian. “This is something that she’s been doing for years now. She’s getting faster with time.” Brian smirked before disappearing. “Fine, I’ll show an example. If I can make it there and back here within 2 minutes, you guys have to reach the top within three minutes.”

The boys hesitated to take up her challenge but Kai stepped forward, agreeing to her challenge. “We’re up for it.” She shrugged her shoulders before tossing a stopwatch at Kai. “Start timing now.”

He immediately pressed the start button and Hae Jung was nowhere to be seen. The boys stared at a moving figure dashing through the trees, swiftly dodging them. They knew it was her, they just knew it. Her speed was incredible. She was moving so fast that they could see her figure reaching the top. It wasn’t even a minute and she’s already making her way back down from the peak of the mountain. “Holy..” Kai let out softly as the rest finished his sentence. “...”

They gulped as they stared at the stopwatch ticking. "It's moving so slow!" Luhan cried out as each second felt so long.

Just then Hae Jung reappeared in front of Kai and he reluctantly pressed the stop button, still shaking at her sudden appearance. “And I still have 20 seconds left to spare.” She smirked before letting out a soft sigh. “Now,” she backed away until they had some space to start running. “start running.”

"Wait, you said we would get punishment if-" before he could finish his sentence, a few of the boys had already give him a smack on the head. "Shut up you idiot!" Kai smacked his head one last time before Baekhyun hissed. "Well we did fail.." he muttered softly as Hae Jung didn't have any expression on her face, even though the sight she had just witnessed was pretty heartwarming and hilarious. "There'll be no punishment.." the faces of the boys immediately lit up.

"For now."