Ji Yoo and Heechul’s room was on the 2nd floor of the dorms. Out of Kim Dong Wook’s request, they were made as roommates, which was one of the very few things Ji Yoo was thankful for. It was better that way since Ji Yoo could be careless with her things and who’s to say that she might leave personal things (such as underwear ) lying around the floor.

“Well, at least uncle still cares for you.” Heechul half-jokingly said as they began to unpack.

Ji Yoo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Er, op—I mean, hyung, even if you’re a year ahead do you still know about the guys in my class?” There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Heechul sighed. “I know a little and I can tell you this: they’re a bunch of idiots.”

-♥-♥-♥-

“You are definitely a relative of that Kim Heechul.”

Ji Yoo looked inquiringly at the pudgy teacher in front of her. She opened to say something but he beat her to it.

“What I meant by that is that you look like him. Aigoo. Another one of the flower boys.” He said not too gladly.

“Er, flower boys?”

The man ignored her and went on to open the door of the classroom. A blast of warm air greeted Ji Yoo instantly, along with the loud shrieking—as that’s what she could describe it—voices of the male students. From where she was standing she could only see the teacher’s table but already she could tell that the whole class was in chaos. If she didn’t knew any better, she’d think she was about to enter a circus tent.

As soon the teacher entered the loud shrieking sounds diminished into still-loud murmurs. He stood in front of the class and cleared his throat.

“Class, there’s a new student here today and he will be joining us for the rest of the year.”

He turned towards the door and gave Ji Yoo a look. She took in a lungful of air before finally entering the classroom. Once she entered, everyone got eerily quiet. Ji Yoo felt all eyes on her as soon as she continued to the center. She faced the class and a sea of curious faces greeted her.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Ji Yoo imnida.” She greeted, with the lowest voice she could muster. The hours of practicing last night paid off for her voice sounded like a guy’s, well closely. Ji Yoo bowed down and instantly, the class cheered and howled. Standing straight, Ji Yoo looked at the whole class confusedly, wondering to herself what the hell did she do.

“Quiet down!” The teacher instructed. “Quiet down, you animals! Aigoo!” He turned to Ji Yoo and gave a rather hard apologetic look. “They get crazier than normal whenever they see one of you lot.”

“Er, sonsaengnim, what ‘lot’?”

“Flower boys, those who look like girls. These testosterone-filled apes are so deprived of any contact from the female species that they’ve gone delusional. You’ll get use to them eventually.”

Ji Yoo merely nodded, although she was still as confused as ever.

“Take a seat around the back.”

Ji Yoo complied and finally the crowd returned back to the normal noise. She went to the empty seat at the back, next to a thin, blonde-haired boy with a creepy, wide grin on his face.

“Hi!” He greeted enthusiastically as Ji Yoo settled her things.

“Er, hey.”

“I’m Hyukjae, by the way.” He said, making his grin wider.

“Oh, Ji Yoo.”

“I’m Sungmin!” The guy on her left greeted with a friendly smile.

“Oh, hi Sungmin-sshi!”

“And I’m Shindong!” a voice from behind her bellowed. Ji Yoo turned around and saw a large chubby guy grinning at her.

“Oh, hey.” She turned back to Hyukjae and Sungmin who were both eyeing her curiously. Correction—they were ALL eyeing her curiously.

“Er, can I just ask, why the hell are you looking at me like that?”

“Wow. Your voice even sounds so… velvety.” Hyukjae uttered rather stupidly.

Ji Yoo stopped herself from shuddering and immediately turned to Sungmin who was, thankfully, smiling at her normally.

“Well, Ji Yoo-sshi, do you know about the flower boys?”

“Yes, I’ve been hearing the term quite a lot actually.”

Sungmin smiled more widely. “Well, basically they’ve gone crazy because you’re one of us—the most beautiful of the beautiful: the flower boys.” Sungmin answered, batting his eyelashes like it was the most normal thing a guy could do. “I don’t know if you know the senior Kim Heechul.”

“Oh, I know him. He’s my cousin.” Ji Yoo answered, genuinely smiling for the first time since she entered the room.

There seem to be a unanimous gasp all around and Ji Yoo noticed that everyone was looking at her intently. What’s worse is that the teacher was going on like he wasn’t noticing all the heads are turned towards the back of the class.

“Really now?” Sungmin asked excitedly. “Then that zooms you up the list!”

“List? What list?” Ji Yoo asked, feeling like a deer caught by the headlights… again.

“Flower Boy Official Ranking List. I’m surprised Heechul-sunbae didn’t tell you that… Well, there’s a ranking for the most beautiful flower boys in this school and your cousin and Kim Jaejoong-sshi from the other class are always fighting for the top spot. It’s always different every week. Yours truly is always on third or fourth but I’ll happily step down a rank just for you.”

Ji Yoo returned a confused and sheepish look. “Oh, er, that’s very kind of you but I don’t think I would want to be in that ranking list.”

“Oh, you’re so modest.” Sungmin giggled and Ji Yoo concluded that this guy wasn’t really a guy inside. “Well, that ranking list isn’t actually decided by you. It’s decided by the whole student body.”

As soon as Sungmin said that, most of the guys cheered, saying things like they would vote for her on that list and such. Correction—vote for HIM.

Ji Yoo sighed, sinking down on her seat as if that would make the guys stop looking at her. Heechul was right, unfortunately. Her plans of keeping a low profile now seemed impossible and the task of keeping her secret just got harder.

-♥-♥-♥-

Among the dysfunctional crowd of crazed apes, there stood a lone student at the far corner. Shim Changmin had a habit of just keeping things to himself and not involving himself in the business of the other students. He had no reason to. In his mind, the things that the other students involve themselves into are merely nonsensical things and simply a waste of his time. That is, until today.

Changmin eyed the new student with much interest ever since the latter entered the classroom. Of course, the others showed their interest on him much too obviously but Changmin kept his interest lying surreptitiously. He can’t deny that there was something odd about this new student and he wanted to know what it is exactly. Changmin was the kind of person that never lefts a question unanswered.

Changmin continued watching the guy from the corner of his eyes. He kept his face looking straight in front, not wanting to look like he too was looking at the new guy with interest. A moment or two later, Changmin could see him looking his way. The guy’s gaze stayed on him a moment or two longer. Somehow, the guy’s gaze made Changmin uneasy.

-♥-♥-♥-

Heechul was strutting along the corridor when a hand came out of nowhere and pulled him towards an empty classroom.

“Why didn’t you tell me the guys here were a bunch of apes? And what’s with the ranking list? I don’t want to be in any freaking ranking list! And I don’t freaking like how the other guys look at me like I’m some kind of endangered animal!”

Heechul merely chuckled as he watched his frantic looking cousin go more frantic.

“This is not the time to be laughing at me!” Ji Yoo whined incredulously. “I’m panicking here!”

“Okay, okay.” Heechul said, trying his best to stifle his laugh. “First question, I already told you they are a bunch of idiots. Second question, yeah, there is a ranking list and I didn’t tell you that because it’s to surprise you. And the last part, it’s not my fault anymore if the guys are now going crazy for you.” He leaned in and made his voice softer. “Whose idea was it to go as a boy and enroll here anyway, huh?”

“Aish! Oppa, it’s already too late to lecture me!” Ji Yoo whined again, now in a whisper. She sighed and slumped down on the chair closest to her. “Well, my plan was to stay hidden. Like, really hidden from almost all eyes for one year but, hell, the first day the whole class already screamed their heads off at me.”

Heechul sat next to her. “Look on the bright side. It’s not your fault for being related to me and getting the genes for the good looks.”

Ji Yoo rolled her eyes but laughed anyway. “Gee, thanks, oppa.” She muttered, half sarcastically and half seriously.

“It’s ‘hyung’, by the way. So, what’s your plan now?”

Ji Yoo sighed. “That… I really don’t know.”

----------------------------;♥

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