Shim Changmin had always been #1. Always. Since pre-school up to now he had always been the top in the class, the valedictorian, the one who always gets the perfect grades. Changmin relished in this glory. He may not have many friends—none actually, none that he can really call “friends”—but he did have his grades. It’s what he lives for. It’s what got him here, in this school.

But when a certain guy named Kim Ji Yoo stepped into the academy one day, Changmin somehow sensed he was trouble. And he was right. Changmin wouldn’t admit it to himself but he feels threatened by the new guy. Just his first day and Ji Yoo already got to the top. Changmin didn’t like it one bit. But there’s also something else. There was something about Kim Ji Yoo. Changmin noticed it the first day his eyes landed on the guy. Ji Yoo was a little different. Something about him was off, although Changmin couldn’t exactly tell what it is. Secretly, he feels weird. It’s like he’s drawn to that Kim Ji Yoo like moth to a light. Of course, Changmin would rather die a thousand deaths than to admit that out loud (not that anyone was listening, really).

“Shim Changmin and…” Changmin’s ears perked up as soon as he heard his name. He felt the whole class tremble, as always whenever his name is mentioned. Changmin ignored them. He was used to it anyway.

“Kim Ji Yoo.”

Changmin almost choked on his saliva as soon as he heard the name. Almost. He managed to stop himself and retain his cold and ignorant countenance. But deep inside, Changmin was a little torn. Half of him was rather grumpy that, out of all the guys in the class, he got to be partnered with the one he feels threatened with. But the other half—the half that was more human and less robotic—was rather OVERJOYED. Why? He didn’t know it himself and it bothered him a little.

In the end, Changmin just chose to ignore that human side of his.


-♥-♥-♥-


I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. Ji Yoo chanted in her head as she pulled up the chair next to Changmin’s seat. If I’m not dead yet, please, let me get hit by lightning. Like, right NOW!

“You’re too close.” A rather cold and mechanical voice bluntly said.

Ji Yoo turned inquiringly at Changmin. “Huh?”

“Move your chair.” He said, not taking his eyes off of the book he was reading. “You’re too close.”

Ji Yoo raised an eyebrow at him but obliged nonetheless. She moved her chair at least an inch or so to the right. “There, happy?” She asked.

Silence.

Ji Yoo half-glared at Changmin. He was still immersed in his book which Ji Yoo recognized to be a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—a book she had read a dozen of times already. Seeing that he and that ice cold boy share an interest, Ji Yoo had to frown.

Kwon-sonsaengnim then cleared his throat and started on with their lesson. Almost an hour had gone by and Ji Yoo had actually calmed down… a little bit. It was around five minutes before the time that Kwon-sonsaengnim ended his discussion.

“Don’t think I’m letting you all go that easily.” He announced just before anyone could let out a sigh of relief. “I’m giving you homework for today.” On cue, more than half of the class whined. “I want you to research the components of a cell, with a detailed illustration. Due tomorrow. Don’t worry, you’ll be working with your partners so the task will be easier for you. That is all.”

The bell rang just in time and the class started to go out of the room, most of them still whining about the “unfair” homework.

“Oh great.” Ji Yoo muttered to herself. She took in a deep breath before turning towards her left. But to her surprise (and relief) Changmin wasn’t sitting on his chair anymore. He looked around and saw the said guy almost near the door. She quickly got her bag and ran towards him.

“Yah, wait up!” She called after him as she got out of the room. Ji Yoo groaned. She took another deep breath before running a little faster. “Yah, Shim Changmin-sshi!” She called, tapping the boy on the shoulders.

Changmin stopped then slowly turned around. “What?” He said in a cold voice as he gave an even colder glare towards Ji Yoo.

She bit her lip, trying to keep her irritation and fear at bay. “Er, shouldn’t we talk about the homework? I mean, we are partners.” She said in the most casual tone she could muster.

Changmin rolled his eyes. “Let me be blunt. I don’t work with anyone. So just sit back and relax. Just let me do the work. You’ll actually be thankful to get the grade without doing anything.” He scoffed and was about to turn around but Ji Yoo stopped him.

“Yah!” She said, her nostrils starting to flare. Ji Yoo had finally gotten over her panic as irritation settled in. This guy was just really something! “Look, I know you don't like me that much. You made it very clear yesterday and, believe me, the feeling is very much mutual. But you can't just go on and do the work and let me just laze around. Maybe you're used to that with your other partners but I'm not like that. I actually care about school work and I care if you'd go around and take on all the work. So whether you like it or not—and let me tell you, I don't like it one bit—I’m gonna do that homework with you and every other homework or project we're assigned with until the freaking year ends!”

Ji Yoo said the last word too strongly that a few other students looked at them curiously. Some even had their mouths hanging open as they saw, for the very first time, someone actually standing up to THE Shim Changmin. No one had ever talked to him like that Ever.

Until now…

If Changmin was taken aback by it, he didn’t show it. Although the annoyed look on Ji Yoo’s eyes were apparent. A few seconds of glaring passed between them before the silence was broken.

“Fine.” Changmin said with contempt. “Meet me in the hallway of the dorms later after class.” With that being said, Changmin walked away.


-♥-♥-♥-


 “Bravo!” Heechul said, clapping his hands as soon as Ji Yoo reached his table at the cafeteria. He wasn’t the only one clapping. Sungmin and the skinny boy Kyuhyun were there, seated at either side of Heechul. Both of them seemed to have a fan in hand.

“Er, what’s with all the clapping?” Ji Yoo asked as she pulled up the only free chair left.

“You are so brave!” Sungmin commented with a smile.

“You’re the best.” Said Kyuhyun, bowing a number of times at Ji Yoo.

“News travels fast, my dear cousin.” Heechul grinned. “A little birdie told us that you just confronted the robot named Shim Changmin.”

Ji Yoo rolled her eyes. “I got angry. He freaking pissed me off. I didn’t know what else to say.”

“Still, you’re brave.” Sungmin said as he resumed his job of fanning Heechul. Kyuhyun did the same. “Not even the teachers or the headmaster had the guts to talk to the devil like that, probably because they know he’s smarter than any of them. You’re a first in history.”

“You’re a rare kind of hero.” Kyuhyun uttered with adoration. “A very rare kind.”

Ji Yoo looked at them incredulously. “Okay,” she said. “There are two things that are bothering me right now. One: the fact that you two are fanning my cousin like he’s some kind of king or whatnot. And, two: what are you saying? I’m actually regretting what I did. From what I’ve heard he might get an assassin to kill me right now for what I’ve done!”

Ji Yoo leaned against her chair. The panic has returned to her after she realized what she had said to Changmin. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest and she started to unconsciously bite her nails—a nasty habit of hers whenever she’s nervous.

“Kim Ji Yoo.” Heechul casually said. “Answer to number one: I didn’t ask them to do this, they volunteered to. I couldn’t say no, could I? Answer to number two: don’t regret it. What you did is actually a good thing. Who knows, maybe the devil’s coldness might be lessened if you keep on standing up to him. Then he’ll actually turn into a normal human being.”

Ji Yoo frowned. “Yeah, his coldness might get lessened while I might just be under six feet of dirt after this week is over.”

“Well, I meant it’s a good thing for US. I don’t know about you though.” Heechul commented.

Ji Yoo glared at him. “As always, you’re the best ever. If I die tonight, you’ll be the first one I’ll haunt.”

“Awww, I’ll be honored.”


-♥-♥-♥-


Ji Yoo bit her lip as her fingers curled tightly around her Biology book. She was standing nervously in front of Changmin’s door, not knowing what exactly to do. Should she knock on the door or should she just wait until Changmin would open it? Knowing that the latter might not exactly happen, Ji Yoo decided to just knock. Taking in a longer and deeper breath, she willed her hand to turn into a knuckle and willed that knuckle to tap the wood. Three slow taps later, the door opened harshly.

“Great.” The ever glaring Changmin greeted with heavy sarcasm. “And I was actually hoping you would just leave me alone for the night.”

“Er,” Ji Yoo stalled. “The Biology homework?”

“I know.” Changmin sighed in frustration. “I’ll do the illustration. You do the research. Goodbye.” He moved to close the door but Ji Yoo stopped him before he could do so.

“W-wait, wait, wait.”

“What?” Changmin spat, holding the door open.

“Do you have an internet connection?” Ji Yoo carefully asked.

He raised an eyebrow.

She swallowed nervously before continuing. “I just settled in so I don’t have a connection yet.”

“Use your cousin’s.” Changmin said bluntly. He tried to close the door again but Ji Yoo’s foot was still in the way.

“I can’t. He doesn’t have one.” She said, getting nervous but she tried her best to remain calm. “He isn’t much of an internet lover. He only uses social networking sites to upload pictures of himself and—”

“School’s computer lab.” Changmin groaned.

Ji Yoo bit her lip. “But it’s late.” She said softly. “And I think I might get lost. I still don’t know my way around here.”

Changmin swore he could see a girl right in front of him as Ji Yoo said those words. But as soon as the image came to him it was gone again. He shrugged it off and rolled his eyes at the annoying guy.

“Come in.” He said contemptuously. He held out the door for her and Ji Yoo slowly walked in. “Don’t touch anything else.” He barked.

Ji Yoo nodded and quickly went in front of the opened laptop at the nearby study desk.

“Sit, go research then leave.” Changmin instructed as he took a piece of bond paper and a pencil out from his bag.

Ji Yoo blew a puff of air out of before sitting down. She bit her lip once more before she started typing.


-♥-♥-♥-


Changmin hated drawing. It was his weak spot. He would usually spend twice the time an average person needs to draw a simple picture. He was that bad. So why did he say he was to do the illustration instead of the research? Simple. Because researching, with just the handy internet, is the easier task while drawing the illustration needed more work. And he was in no way doing the easier task. He wanted to prove to himself and to this wannabe smarty (a.k.a. Kim Ji Yoo) that he’s more intelligent and way more able than him—or her.

“You know, I think you should do the research.” He heard the wannabe breathe next to his ear. Changmin closed his eyes for a moment before turning to glare at the person who uttered those words.

Ji Yoo had stood up from her seat and was now crouching beside Changmin. She was staring rather rudely at his (attempt at a) drawing.

“I said I’ll do this.” He said in his coldest voice yet.

Ji Yoo winced but stayed at her spot nonetheless. “But… Your drawing. It looks like a drawing of a six—” She stopped as she saw the fiery anger in Changmin’s eyes. “A sixty-six year old artist with arthritis.” Ji Yoo chuckled awkwardly.

“Are you done?” Changmin asked with an eyebrow raised threateningly.

“I’m just saying.” She shrugged. Ji Yoo stood up and moved back towards the study desk.

Fifteen minutes later, Changmin was still concentrated into his drawing. But Ji Yoo could see that his “concentration” was really actually just struggle. The so called genius was struggling. Ji Yoo could hardly believe it.

“I’m good at drawing, you know.” She said carefully, trying to hint that she was actually there to help.

Silence. Changmin didn’t even look up at her.

“Just saying.” She muttered, more to herself than to Changmin, not that he was really listening.

“If you’re done, you can leave.” Changmin muttered.

“I’m just printing it.” Came her reply.

She waited for the last page to print before she gathered all the pages, arranged them and placed them neatly next to Changmin’s science books.

“All done.” She announced.

“Great. Goodbye.” Changmin spat again, still not looking at her.

Ji Yoo moved behind Changmin and stuck her tongue out at him. She then took a peek at what he was doing.  Changmin did little progress in the last twenty or so minutes. The sketch on the paper looked nowhere near a biological cell, or any kind of “cell” for that matter.

“Cute pineapple.” She said out loud without thinking. Changmin immediately responded with another glare.

“Well, I said it was cute.” Ji Yoo reasoned, giving an awkward smile then covering half of her face with her Biology book.

“Out!” Changmin yelled, pointing to the door.

“Araso, araso.” Ji Yoo held her arms up as she walked towards it. She quickly grabbed the doorknob and she was out of the room in less than a second. “Jerk.” She muttered as she closed the door behind her. “At least I was kind enough not to call your drawing by its real name: a poorly drawn pineapple.”


-♥-♥-♥-


“Had fun next door?” Heechul greeted, wriggling his eyebrows as Ji Yoo went inside their room.

“Very funny, oppa.”

“What? You were there quite a long time.”

“How would you know?” Ji Yoo challenged. “For all I know you just came in too.”

“No, I didn’t.” Heechul answered simply. “I came in half an hour ago. And in just that time, you and Changmin-sshi could have done a LOT of things.” He chuckled.

“Whatever, oppa.” Ji Yoo muttered as she crawled on her bed. “I’m just thankful I’m actually alive right now.”


-♥-♥-♥-


The rays of early morning sun glinted on the wave of reddish-brown hair as the gorgeous owner walked through the halls of the academy.

“Ms. Lee, welcome back!” The assistant of the headmaster greeted as she entered the room. “How was Japan?”

“Lovely. But Korea is better, to be frank.” Came the reply. “Is the headmaster in yet?”

“He just came.” The assistant answered.

“Thank you.” She bowed before she entered the headmaster’s main office.

“Lee Hyori-Sonsaengnim, good to see you again.” Headmaster Heo greeted her with a bow as soon as she entered.

“Headmaster,” Hyori bowed in return. “It’s good to be back here again.”

“I was delighted when you called and said you wanted to teach here again.” The headmaster said, motioning for her to take a seat. She did. “It meant that Yeoleum Academy will have its best English teacher again.”

Hyori chuckled and bowed. “I’m flattered by that, headmaster.”

“You’ll start as soon as possible, I assume?”

“Of course.” Hyori replied. “Even if I was away to Japan for only six months, I missed teaching in this school terribly.”

Headmaster Heo smiled. “I wish you good luck… However, there is a matter I want to discuss with you. And I think you should know this before you start.”

“What is it, headmaster?” Hyori asked curiously.

“There is a new student who just enrolled here a few days ago. He will be under one of your classes.” The headmaster said, looking straight at Hyori with concern. “His name’s Kim Ji Yoo, and he’s the son of Kim Dong Wook.”

A flash of what looked like shock appeared in Hyori’s eyes but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Will that be a concern to you?” He asked.

Hyori smiled. “No, headmaster, I’m a professional. I don’t let personal matters get involve with my teaching. Besides, he is not Dong Wook. I will treat him in the same way as I treat any other student. You have my word on that.”

Headmaster Heo smiled in relief. “Good. That is what I wanted to hear. You may go now and set your things in the faculty. Thank you, Lee-sonsaengnim.”

As soon as Hyori got out of the office, a curious expression crossed her face. “Kim Dong Wook’s son?” She muttered to herself. “Interesting.”

----------------------;♥

Comments are oh-so loved! :)

Btw, I edited a few details on the last chap. Just the way Su Ae found out about Jae and Su being gay... and some other stuff. ^-^

Just the details, not the story itself. teehee.

Oh, and in case you're asking, yes, Lee Hyori will be an important character here :)

New Yoochun fic: haven't started it yet though >.<

http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/7024/the-perfect-day-to-say-i-love-you-angst-dbsk-korean-romance-yoochun