It was yet another groggy Monday morning in the classroom. Most were either cherishing what’s left of their talking time or yawning away. So far, everyone was already present—except for one.

“Where’s CL?” asked Hyuna sluggishly, her head faced down against her desk with her arms slapped across it.

“She’s back in our room, remember?” replied Yura with a hint of pent up anger in her tone. “She nearly literally punched me in the face just ‘cause I told her to get to class.”

Remembering the moment, Hyuna just nodded and said a monotone, “Ah, that.”

CL’s new modeling thing had taken her being a badass to a completely different concept. When people said she was badass, they meant chic, tough, and cool. Now, her friends just see her as someone who’s bad and at some point to Yura, an .

“Whatever. Just let her be late again for all I care. She’s ticking me off,” Yura remarked. “I bet Onew’s already caught onto her routine.”

Just timely, Onew came into the classroom. Everyone took their seats and class soon began.

“I see everyone’s present excluding CL who will be late because that’s already so obvious,” said Onew with the same hint of annoyance that Yura had in the way he spoke as well. He pressed his hands against his desk then added, “Whatever. I don’t care if she will get punished. I can be strict when I want to and I can’t always keep telling her to be more punctual. She will have to deal with the consequences when the time comes."

Yura mouthed an “I told you so” to Hyuna.

“Moving on to a more exciting topic,” Onew continued, “I’d like to remind you guys that our four-day beach trip’s tomorrow so get packing if you haven’t yet. And speaking of packing, for the girls, please no overly y bikinis; I don’t wanna see strippers walking around shaking their tatas for the men to see. Be dignified, please.”

Snickers were heard everywhere sending the Monday mood nicely uphill.

That is, until CL came into the picture. She made her entry by slamming the door open and going to her without even a single greeting or apology. She was chewing gum, her hair was a total frizzy mess, and her clothes consisted of high heels, a wrinkled black jacket paired with a wrinkled white top and a pair of denim shorts, and her trademark black glasses. Onew was repulsed just by looking at her.

“Do you have anything to say, CL?” asked Onew.

She shook her head, still chewing her gum and sitting so arrogantly. “Nuthin’.”

Seeing that there was no point in wasting time on her, he just gave a long sigh and carried on with the class. The laziness went back once again even in Onew who was usually giddy. Looks like CL was enough to tick him off, and everyone knew that one day, he’d go around flipping tables all over her.

That day was the day.

Onew abruptly halted his discussion, cutting his voice sharply and turned his view to a sleeping CL. Her head was faced upward, her drool dripped down to her jaw line, and her feet were spread apart by the front legs of her desk. It was gross, appalling, and disrespectful in his view.

“CL,” he seriously called.

She didn’t budge.

Onew wrinkled his brow and repeated louder, “CL.”

Dongwoo yanked his seatmate’s shoulder only to be shoved away and fall on the floor. Slightly embarrassed, he timidly got back to his seat looking like a poor puppy.

The teacher approached the rebel and smacked his hand onto her desk so loud that it produced a kind of thunderous noise that echoed across the room. “Get out of my class.”

CL lowered her shades, barely intimidated. “Make me.”

“CL, don’t do this,” begged Dongwoo. “Please, apologize.”

Onew yielded Dongwoo. “It’s fine, Dongwoo. She’ll never apologize and even if she does, I won’t forgive her until she feels enough remorse to actually show some decency. I don’t give a crap if she has some lame excuse or a sugarcoated sentence to get herself out of this; I’m done with that . I know a lying student when I see one. And this one,” he scoffed, “developed a hard so cold that it’d melt in my freezer.”

“You’re right. I’ll never say sorry. I’ll do what I like and when I hear something I don’t like, I’ll put it in the part of my brain that stores bull. This class is bull and so are you—“

“Shut up!” scolded Onew. “Just,” realizing that his voice may have gone off to ragingly, he took a deep breath and let some of his anger seep out for a bit he said, “just get out of my class and head over to the principal’s office. Now.”

“Fine.” She simply stood up and left. The moment she was gone, the sound of her clacking heels became a ringing cacophony in the class’ heads. Onew went on with the lesson, but wore a low frown the entire time. The most fun and interesting teacher became average—monotonous even. He was that upset.

Just as he ended the class, he clenched his books tightly, almost holding back tears. “I know I’m a twit sometimes and that I’m clumsy and seemingly gullible. But I just want to let you guys know that I’m not bull. I love what I do and try to put meaning to it. I’m not bull, okay?”

The whole class was enveloped in emotion; they always appreciated Onew, but they never thought that he’d be so offended by CL’s remark.

Standing up for the class, Dongwoo remarked, “We don’t think lowly of you, Onew. We never have and never will.”

The class chimed in with yeahs, duhs and other affirmations.

Onew gripped his books even more and smiled upon hearing their comforting words. Trying his best to fight back his emotions from flowing out even more, he simply said, “Thanks guys. I appreciate it so much.”

---

“He took it really hard, didn’t he?” questioned Sunggyu as he prepared for a mic check. “Mic check. One, two, three.” He then felt a few taps on his shoulder.

“Hey,” whispered Sungyeol.

“What?” Sunggyu whispered back.

Coming from behind, Myungsoo joined into their conversation and pointed over to Dongwoo who was being comforted by Sungjong at that moment. The bassist just sat there while Sungjong kept patting his back and talking about random happy things, hoping to brighten him up. That didn’t seem to be working, though.

“Don’t you feel something different about him these days?” asked Sungyeol privately. “I haven’t heard his ‘HAHAHAH!’ laugh for ages. And look!” He glanced at Dongwoo then continued, “He’s actually frowning! Like, frowning without tears!”

“I can hear you guys over there,” Dongwoo calmly stated in a mature tone so rarely heard from him that everyone took a few seconds to just sink it in. “And yes, Sungyeol, I am human therefore I am capable of frowning—without tears. I’m sad and I have the right to be.”

Sunggyu leaned against the wall and sighed heavily. “CL’s changed drastically ever since she took the job. It’s only normal that you feel that way. But I know you; you’re not the type to bottle up your feelings like this. I can tell you’ve been holding it for a while now so…” He rolled his eyes over to Sungyeol who completed his sentence.

“Do tell, bro.”

“Very well,” Dongwoo put his bass down and continued, “Whenever I see her, I can’t help but feel so sickened by the thought of what she’s become. To everyone she looks pissed, but she's beat up. I can see it; I can feel it. I want to console her but she won't let me. Whenever I try to, she says that I make her feel worse and shoves me away, telling me to off. You know how much that , right? But... I'll make her happy, 'cause I know I can. I feel I can...” His face scrunched up in frustration and he bit his lip. “Because, deep down, she’s there. The real her is there. The girl I love is there.”

Hearing his words, the room fell silent.

Breaking the ice, Dongwoo forced a slight smile and picked up his bass. “Shall we practice?”

The four looked at each other then telepathically agreed. They assumed their positions and soon began to play their usual songs. But all of them knew that Dongwoo was shattered inside because his raps had a different feel that day; with every word he uttered, they could feel the sadness eating him up alive. And they knew if that keeps up, it’ll come to the point where Dongwoo won’t be able to take it anymore.

So Onew's got some screen time on this one and man, I kinda like that emotional part over thur. @w@;;; Oh, CL; she hurt him so bad and meant something. As for Dongwoo, looks like his crazy antics had come to a halt in this chap. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed it~! :D