The first day Lu Mei Ting stepped into the school is where this story begins. Mei Ting had moved to Korea because her brother had gotten a scholarship to the Korea National University of Arts. She still had an accent and couldn't quite speak fluently yet. The first day, she was early. She kept everything in her backpack because she didn't trust lockers. Quietly stepping around the empty school hallways, she made sure to know the location of the only important places to her. Her classrooms and the library were all that mattered to her in the school. When she found all of them, she went to her first class of the day.

She looked at the empty classroom and went to take a seat in the back of the class next to a window. She took out a textbook and began to study her Korean. Although a lot of things were easy because they were similar to Chinese, many things were hard. She heard footsteps and looked up to see a boy walk in. He was wearing glasses and his hair was jet black. He was stumbling into the classroom, having a hard time carrying all the books he was holding. He looked up to lock eyes with the only other person in the classroom. Looking around at all the vacant seats around him, he chose the one next to Mei Ting.

“Hello, I’m Byung Hun. What’s your name?” he said in English. She paused, shocked that she heard English out of the first person that talked to her. Luckily, Mei Ting had studied English more in China and could understand him. He noticed her expression and said, “Oh yeah! I’m in Korea now,” he said in Korean.

“It’s okay. I actually understand English more than Korean. By the way, my name is Mei Ting.”

“Well, it is nice to meet you Mei Ting. So, you’re a foreigner too?”

“Yeah. If you’re a foreigner, why do you have a Korean name?”

“I was born here, but my family moved to America. I’m finally back though.” She nodded in response and turned back to her textbook. Byung Hun took out a book and began to read.

They heard chatter in the hallways, signaling that more people were arriving at school. The atmosphere became louder and louder and suddenly they heard a scream. “SUNG KYU OPPA~!” they heard. They wondered what all the commotion was about, but both were too lazy to get up and see.

The bell rang and more people filed into the classroom. They were all talking, catching up with people they haven’t seen since last school year. The teacher entered and everyone quieted down. “Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Dong Min imnida. You may call me Kim sunsaengnim.”

“Annyeonghaseyo Kim sunsaengnim,” the class said in unison.

“Ne, now let’s do seating arrangements. I already have a seating arrangement.” The whole class groaned. They wanted to sit next to their friends. “Quiet down. Quiet down, now.” All the students stood up with their things and stood off to the sides of the classroom. They went to their assigned seat when the teacher called their name. Many girls groaned while Sung Jong, the only Infinite member in the class, silently cheered because he was seated next to no one.

When the teacher finished naming off the seats, Mei Ting was still left standing on the side. “Sunsaengnim? Where do I sit?” she quietly asked. She didn’t want to be bothersome, but she needed a seat.

“What’s your name?”

“Lu Mei Ting imnida.”

“Ah~ you must be the student that joined over the summer. Oh! You’re the Chinese student who skipped two grades, right?” Yes, that’s right. Originally, Mei Ting only excelled in math, but she worked hard and took tests to skip two grades.

“N-Ne.”

“Well, you can take a seat next to Sung Jong. Maybe some of your smartness will rub off on him,” teacher Kim said, whispering the last part. It wasn’t that Sung Jong wasn’t smart; he just isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. Lee Sung Jong, who was previously not listening, listened when he heard he would have to sit next to someone.

“Ugh, and it’s a young girl. Sung Jong-ah, get ready to hear squealing in your ear everyday,” he thought. Mei Ting went to take the seat next to him.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Lu Mei Ting imnida. What’s your name?” she asked, both shyly and politely.

“You don’t know me?” he asked in the brattiest voice ever. He felt offended. How could anyone not know his name? He was the great Lee Sung Jong. His father was the owner of the most famous chain of hotels and she didn’t know him. “It must be because she came from China. Oh well, at least she won’t be squealing,” he thought. She shook her head. “Lee Sung Jong,” he told her coldly.

“Okay, class. Since we may or may not know our new seat partners, we will be doing a partner project. Since this is history class, I want you to find a play that shows what it was like in the olden days. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Korean, as we won’t only be talking about Korean history in this class. It will be a two person play and you can either perform it for us or you will film it and make it into a short film.” Everybody made a sound that showed they didn’t want to do this. Most of the guys didn’t like the idea of acting.

The teacher gave them the rest of the class to discuss what they would do. However, when Mei Ting turned to talk to Sung Jong, he had already put his earphones in and cut himself off from the world. Mei Ting didn’t know what to do, so she just researched some plays all by herself.

When the bell rang, Sung Jong immediately stood up and walked out of the classroom. Mei Ting quickly packed up her things and ran out after Sung Jong. “Lee Sung Jong-ssi! Lee Sung Jong-ssi! Jjamsimanyo! We need to talk about the project.” Sung Jong just ignored her and kept walking. He walked to Infinite, but Mei Ting was persistent. Unfortunately, the fangirls noticed.

“Yah! Who is this girl that’s bothering our Sung Jong oppa?”

“Who does she think she is?”

“Joesonghamnida-”

“Oh, and look how skinny she is. Does she even eat?”

“Is she one of those anorexic girls?”

“I heard she skipped two grades. That makes her a nerd too. Aww that means she’s just a little baby.”

“You look like a stick. Your hair is a mess, and luckily, your glasses block out some of your big and ugly face.”

“Yet, you have the audacity to talk to our oppa.” Mei Ting was a strong girl (mentally), so these girls’ words didn’t affect her. Byung Hun saw the scene and came over.

“Stop,” he told the girls.

“Aww is this your boyfriend? You guys can be the nerdy stick couple.” The girls giggled annoyingly. Their laughing sounded like a cat’s nails on chalkboard. Byung Hun grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the girls.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned for her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Over with Infinite, Sung Jong was complaining about his new seatmate. “Hyung~ she’s so annoying. She actually wants me to work!”

“You know, Sung Jong-ah, it will help you in life if you pick up a book once,” Ho Won, better known as Hoya, said.

“But hyung, we are doing an acting project!”

“Acting? Lucky~! I wanna do an acting project!” Myungsoo exclaimed. Although he wasn’t that great at acting, his good looks and connections will eventually get him somewhere in the business. He loved acting and his father owned a big entertainment company in Korea. He had a free ticket into the place and would one day become the CEO too.

“Then, help me, hyung!” Sung Jong didn’t want to be alone with whom he thought was an annoying girl.

“What play is it?”

“Molla. Ask that girl.” They walked around the halls and found Mei Ting in an empty classroom.

“What are you doing in here? It’s break,” Myungsoo asked her. She looked at him confused.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Oh, sorry. Kim Myungsoo imnida. I am Sung Jong’s friend.” Although he looked like the coldest, he definitely didn’t act like it. He was just another dork in reality, but he can be mean and get angry at times.

“Oh, I see. Sung Jong-ssi, can we work on the project?”

“Fine,” Sung Jong said coldly again. “Which play is it?”

“I chose Romeo and Juliet.” Myungsoo oooohhh’d and ahhh’d at her choice while Sung Jong was confused.

“What is Romeo and Juliet?” She gasped.

“You never heard of Romeo and Juliet before?” The boy shook his head. She threw a book at him.

“Here’s the play. Read it.” He looked through the pages and furrowed his brows. “Oh no, don’t tell me you don’t understand English.”

“No, no, of course I do,” he said in heavily accented English.

“How much English do you know?”

“Uhh… Starting today, you are my princess…?” he answered. He really at English.

“What about you, Kim Myung Soo-ssi? Do you know English?”

“Ani,” he said while shaking his head. “It’s not like you’re all that fluent in Korean!” he countered.

“At least my Korean is better than your English,” she said.

Here's the first chapter! Sungyeol isn't here yet hehe...
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll try to update as much as I can~
So far, Mei Ting has met Sungjong and Myungsoo of Infinite!
Hmmmm... Who's next??

Thank you for reading
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