“Okay class! It’s that time of the year again,” Kim songsaeng-nim clapped his hands gaining the students’ undivided attention. “Who would like to run for class president?”

Immediately, Chanyeol’s arm shot up in the air along with Baekhyun and Chen yelling out, “Me! Me! Me!” repeatedly.

“And remember, the class president must be passing all classes with straight A’s with a GPA of a 96 and above.” That brought their arms down and got them to shut their mouths.

“With those requirements, only Jaehee-ssi can run for president,” a female, who was unknown to me, said scoffing.

“That is not true,” Kim songsaeng-nim picked up a piece of paper and read out names, “Kim Joonmyeon, Zhang Yi Xing, Xi Luhan, Kim Taeyeon, Seo Joohyun and you too, Park Sunyoung, can also run for class president. Tradition goes that the top student, which is Miss Lee Jaehee, will be class president, but if she refuses, it can’t be helped.”

“And who says she’s going to refuse?” a voice came from behind the door turning all heads, except Jaehee, to its direction.

The door blew open revealing a tall, lanky boy with combed-back, dyed-red hair. His cheeks were chubby despite his sharp jaw line. His eyes were hard as if he only had one expression. He wore the same uniform as everyone else: navy blue blazer, dark red tie, and light brown khaki pants, though I have never seen him before. He walked in the classroom with cat-like movements, silent and intimidating. His hands were shoved in his pockets giving him the typical “cool” appearance. His face held a grin as his eyes roamed around the classroom, jumping from face to face, and halted once it reached Jaehee.

Behind him, tailed a girl looking about a foot shorter than him. She had the same movement as him with her arms by her sides. She held on a cold face, something like how Jaehee’s face would look like. She had dyed dirty-blonde hair which was held in a braid. Her uniform, clean and crisp with the skirt hanging just above her knees.

Though they look nothing alike, to me, it was like looking at another Jaehee but shorter. They had the same posture: back straight, shoulders straight, feet placed neatly together without a knee bent and arms resting by their sides. The way they wore their uniform was also alike.

“Lee Jaehee will be your class president,” the male said as he stood in the front of the class. “And I will be your vice president and she,” he pointed to the girl standing beside him, “Will be your secretary.” His tone was filled with a sense of authority, something I have heard from my father.

My eyebrows furrowed at the mention of Jaehee’s name. How does this stranger know her?

Kim songsaeng-nim had a devious smile on his face. He looked at the male in particular as he spoke, “New students I see. Well that was a nice entrance, but I would appreciate it if you knock before entering.”

“Well songsaeng-nim,” the male said with a slight tone as the same smile played on his lips. “I couldn’t help myself but hear the commotion, sir.”

“Haksaeng! Introduce yourselves to the class,” ordered Kim songsaeng-nim.

The male started first. He took a step forward. His hands still shoved in his pockets and spoke in an uninterested tone and barely kept eye contact with anyone in particular. “Choi Junhong. Your new vice president. ‘Nuff said.”

After his short, rude introduction, he stepped back to his original spot and nudged the girl to introduce herself.

She took a small step forward and placed her other foot besides the other, just like how she stood earlier. Her introduction was greatly different from the male named Junhong. She bowed as a greeting and said, “Hello, my name is Lee Hayi.” She kept it short and simple. Without a message in the end.

“To add on,” Junhong spoke up, “if anyone hurts Lee Jaehee and Lee Hayi, I will personally kill you.” He had a grim look on his face. His face and tone both held this serious factor that it made the class slightly tremble in fear. Kai, who sat behind me, slightly ducked and hid his face on my back.

“And I was saying-“

Before he could finish his statement, Jaehee rose up from her seat, maneuvered behind me and quickly walked up to Junhong grabbing him by the ear.

Junhong yelped in pain as the three of them turned towards Kim songsaeng-nim. Hayi placed her hand on the back of Junhong’s head and lowered it down as they bowed. “We apologized on his behalf for his misbehavior. We will try to not let it happen again Kim songsaeng-nim,” Jaehee and Hayi said together. The pace of their words was in sync, not missing a beat, without a word being said a second late. It was in perfect harmony. It was as if they rehearsed this several times beforehand.

As they raised, Jaehee, who still held Junhong by the ear, pulled him with her as Hayi followed along. Junhong whimpered all the way until they stood in front of the seats that were in front of my and Jaehee’s seats. There sat upon it was Tao and Luhan. Jaehee gave them a glare telling them to move to the vacant seats beside Kai. They quickly gathered their stuff and moved without a second’s thought.

Jaehee let go of Junhong’s ear and he rubbed it right after. He walked to the seat next to the window, in front of Jaehee’s seat, while muttering incoherent words. Hayi followed behind and sat at the desk in front of mine.

As the two new students settled in their new seats, Jaehee went back to hers. Eyes followed her until she sat down, excluding one pair of eyes – mine.

I looked at her for a while. Debating if I should talk to her or not. I had question and those question can only be answered by her. And I want these questions to be answered at this very moment. Curiosity was eating me up, pulling my strings. It was as if it was the puppeteer and I was the puppet.

But I tried to pull myself together and sort my thoughts out. In the end I realized it would only anger her if I do talk to her. Especially now.

“Okay, we will push aside the class council for now. For those who want a position in office, please stay after class.” Kim songsaeng-nim started with the lesson, turning his back to the class and began writing words on the black board.

I quickly followed him, writing down the words he wrote down in my red notebook and half-listened to his lecture. On my left side, I could hear some whispering. It was quite strange since Jaehee never, as in ever, talked in school unless she was talking to a teacher or any school administration.

“Hey princess,” I heard someone say.

“Zel, get up. We’re going to get in trouble,” I heard Jaehee say.

I slightly turned my head to the left, taking a glance. My eyes widened. It was really something out of the ordinary. Seconds later, my eyebrows started to furrow and my vision became green with envy. On her desk lay the head of the new student. He was looking up at her as his fingers were playing the tips of her hair. Anyone would have believed that they were dating. The scene was too intimate.

How dare he?! How dare he do such a thing? Who does he think he is to interact with her like that? Who does he think he is to call her princess? Who does he think he is to lay his head on her desk? Who does he think he is to play with the tips of her hair? And what the hell is she doing?! Why is she just letting him do those things? What is he to her?

“It doesn’t matter anyway. We learned this ever since junior high, remember? This is just like a refresher for us three. Look at Hayi, she’s bored,” he said taking a glance at the girl seated next to him who held no emotion on her face.

How can he tell?

Still not noticing that I was glaring at the two, I lightly kicked Jaehee’s foot to gain her attention. She took a small glance towards me and looked back at the boy on her desk. Thinking that she ignored me, I kicked her feet once again. She turned her face towards me. Looking at my annoyed face and my eyes glaring at the boy’s head on her desk, she pushed the boy’s head up and whispered something in his ear which angered me more. The boy nodded and laid his head on his desk. Jaehee gave me another glance and pointed to the front telling me to pay attention.

I obeyed and looked forward trying to drown into Kim songsaeng-nim’s lecture. Once in a while, I can’t help myself but take glances at Jaehee. I guess the way the new kid just started talking to her and laying his head on her desk got to me. It was bugging me so much. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Every time I try to concentrate, my thoughts would always drift off to those two.

Before I knew it, the bell had rung, indicating the ending of the class.

“Okay class, again, if you wish to be a representative for your class, please stay back. You may all go,” Kim songsaeng-nim dismissed the class.

Everyone stuffed their belongings in their bag and shuffled to the door. Everyone, except my friends, the two new students, and Jaehee. My friends slowly packed their things. Jaehee and the two new students sat in their seats quietly, not packing anything since they didn’t bring out any supplies in the first place.

Five minutes passed by and Kim song-

I mean Key (school hours are finished) began, “It looks like the triplets are back together.” A smirk was plastered on his lips. He was looking towards the two new students and Jaehee.

Triplets?

Reading my mind, Kai spoke up, “Hyung, what do you mean triplets? They look nothing alike. And I doubt they are triplets, that guy doesn’t even have the same sir name as the two.”

Ignoring Kai’s question, Key began talking about the student council. “So Jae, you’re going to be president?” His eyes were twinkling with that thought.

“I guess,” replied the girl.

My friends rose and slowly headed to the door. Luhan and Kai, noticing that I wasn’t getting up, stopped half way.

“Hun, aren’t you coming? You can wait outside,” Luhan said.

I stayed put, not moving a muscle. “Hyung,” I called. “I want to run for the student council. Vice president.”

The heads of my friends’ popped at the doorway, Luhan and Kai looked at me wide-eyed, Jaehee was giving me a nervous look and Key was looking a bit confused.

“Sehun, with all due respect but, why?”

Honestly, I don’t have an answer to that question. Why did I want to run for vice president? Was all because of that Junhong kid? Was I jealous of him?

“Because I want to?” It came out more like a question than a statement.

“Sehun, I’m sorry to say this, but your grades just won’t cut it. I’m not saying you’re a bad student,” Key said defensively with his tone getting softer as he speaks, “You’re a pretty good student and you had great improvement on your grades. But the B’s just won’t make the cut.”

“So why can the two new students?” Kris piped up. “We don’t know their academic performance. Why is it that they can go for an officer position?”

Key looked at Jaehee with a questioning look. She blankly looked back. It was as if the world stopped for a moment as everyone focused on Jaehee.

“They don’t know?”

“No.”

Of course they did not know. I didn’t tell them. She didn’t tell them. No one knew about this other than me (her family and friend excluded). If they knew, their dignity would have flew south, and not just for the winter. Mine did when she told me. It was unbelievable. She hid it so well.

“These three,” Key pointed to Jaehee and the two new students, “are younger than all of you. About two years younger.”

There was a moment of silence. Nothing could be heard. It was as if everyone held in their breath. You were able to hear the cars as it ran along the dark pavement, the sound of the leaves rustle when the wind blew, and the sound of civilization.

“THEY’RE JUST 16?!” my friends gasped a minute after.

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I tried making long to subside the long wait. Like I mentioned before, school has started and I get super busy due to my involvement in extra-curricular activities and student council. I was lucky enough to find the time to write this chapter. And like I said, I tried making it long. It is approximately 2,142 words. Anywho, thank you for reading. Subscribe, comment, upvote, etc.