chapter thirteen            

as it so happened, the girls were all grouped in proficient and advanced levels for all subjects except mathematics, with the exception of kymin. the girls had an immense amount of time to organize their class schedule due to it being the weekend. ji-ae offered to bring the girls out for a treat. eunji and hyusu snapped up the invitation eagerly while minah and chaebyul had to be persuaded but finally relented. kymin declined, preferring to be by herself. ji-ae understood, and left her to her own devices. the girls left the dormitory in their snow boots and large coats. chaebyul pulled on a beanie as they stepped out into the snow. "we should make snow angels.." eunji mused as she spotted the thick blanket of snow. "we've been in the building for the past two weeks.. I've forgotten what the world looks like!" ji-ae laughed and agreed with the younger. "it's pretty." 

they arrived in town a half an hour later. chaebyul had recognized the place and had headed to the familiar bubble tea shop while the rest waited for seats at the cafe. the bells on the doors tinkled softly as she stepped into the store. she dusted the snow off her coat before making her way to the counter. taeyeon broke into a grin as she saw the girl. "byul!" she exclaimed as she continued pulling shots and greeting customers. "are you here alone?" chaebyul shook her head, explaining that her dorm-mates were with her. as they entertained themselves with idle chit-chat, chaebyul noticed a boy that she had seen in school entering the shop. it was her turn in the queue and chaebyul had just decided to get the usual. "mango milk tea." another voice chorused along with her. she looked up at the guy that was standing right beside her. she had seen him before on the school campus but couldn't remember his name. he stared straight into her eyes and chaebyul looked back curiously. when he didn't look away, she snapped out of it and turned back to the counter, looking past the machines at the street outside. what a weird guy. taeyeon came back to the counter, passing the two drinks to the both of them. the guy's hand brushed against hers as he stretched for the cup. "thanks for coming, sehun. byul, do you need anything else?" taeyeon waved her hand in front of the younger's eyes as chaebyul processed the name. "ahh.. I should get some for my unnies too.. ji-ae loves bubble tea!" she thought. "can I have an iced chocolate with less sugar, honey milk tea, passionfruit green tea and oolong bubble tea please?" taeyeon nodded and scampered to the back of the store. "on the house!" chaebyul giggled, not realizing that the boy was still staring at her. she looked out of the window on instinct. the rest were already being ushered into the cafe. taeyeon handed over the drinks and chaebyul rushed out of the store as she promised to drop by again. in the store, sehun scrutinized the figure skipping away admist the falling snowflakes.

on the other side of the road, in a less crowded street, kymin was pacing alone. she had wanted raven high to be a new start for her, but like always, she had managed to screw things up. her friends were all so far ahead of her. even jongsuk, who had followed her back to korea from canada, had been in the top thirty percent of the cohort. and her brother, heechul, who was always so lackadaisical, had scored in the assessments as well. she was the only one in her domitory who had scored lower than a C, and for majority of her subjects, no less. she was lost in her own thoughts, getting more agitated and clomping down the street, when suddenly, in the corner of her eye, she spotted a guy picking up a wallet and slipping it into his pocket nonchalently. kymin could have sworn, in that moment, that the wallet was in fact dropped by the elderly man hobbling along in front of him. being brash and not in the right frame of mind, kymin jumped the guy, wrenching his arm behind his back and pushing him onto the ground. he spluttered as his face was shoved into a pile of snow. a group of spirits surrounded them as they watched on. kymin took no notice. the guy winced and exclaimed in confusion as kymin snatched the wallet from him. the contents of the wallet fell out in the ensuing scuffle and kymin had a chance to glimpse at a picture of - hyusu? before something hit her from the side. two bodies crashed into the asphalt pavement, sending flakes of snow difting in the air. kymin coughed out the dirty snow that she had unintentionally ingested and struggled against her assailant. "he's a thief and a e!" kymin yelled. she did a double-take when she looked up at a familiar face. she recognized the guy who had tackled her.  he was the one who had smirked at her in the corridor when she got called out by her professor. rude. embarrassed but pissed off, kymin lashed out at the guy, hitting him squarely in the jaw. he flinched, but held on to her tighter, rendering her immobilized. the apparitions looking on flickered and pixelated. I must have hit my head. the other guy - the one that she thought was a thief, sat up and groaned. "kyu.. what just happened?" her assailent squinted at kymin as if she was an annoying insect. kymin forced her wrists out of his iron-like grip and sat up herself as he finally let go and wiped his hands on his snow-caked jeans. "she's the one, sungmin." sungmin furrowed his brows. "what one, kyuhyun?" oh, his name is kyuhyun. that bastard. "179." he scoffed. kymin was about to lunge at him again when there was a cry from the end of the street. 

the girls dashed towards the trio. ji-ae and eunji rushed towards kymin as hyusu went up to her brother. chaebyul stayed quietly beside minah, pulling on the end of the elder's coat. minah reflexively extended her arm in front of the latter in a protective stance. "what happened?" they voiced unanimously. kyuhyun was the first to respond. "that girl. she just came out of nowhere and attacked sungmin." hyusu widened her eyes at kymin. "is that true?" kymin puzzled over the fact that hyusu was holding onto sungmin. "he's a thief - and a ert!" now all of them oogled at sungmin. "it's not - not like that!" the next half an hour consisted of them retelling the story over and over again as they gathered in an alley. the wind was less biting there. it turned out that the wallet was indeed sungmin's and kymin had mistaken him for a ert because of hyusu's photograph. "I didn't know he was your brother.." kymin apologized. kyuhyun had demanded an apology as well, but kymin wasn't going to give it to him that easily. it was only after ji-ae nudged her and gave her a knowing look that kymin finally spat it out. "mian." she kicked at the snow on the ground, sending clumps of snow onto - and into the other's shoes. kyuhyun stared at her disbelievingly as sungmin held him back. "YAH! banmal?!" the girls sighed as they intervened to prevent another fight from breaking out. some bystanders had gathered, looking on in curiosity. hyusu spotted a familiar face among the crowd.

"hyusu?" he looked at her quizzically. "minho?" with hyusu's acknowledgement, minho strode over and encased her in a hug. "now who's that again?" kymin's eyebrows shot above her fringe. "your grandfather?" both ji-ae and minah shushed her. hyusu introduced minho to the rest as her long-lost friend. sungmin seemed to know him as well, clapping him on the back with a smile. the girls decided to go back to the dormitory soon after while sungmin and minho dragged hyusu away for some catching up. kyuhyun stalked after them.

kymin got an earful from ji-ae on their way back to the dormitory. comically, minah joined in. eunji and chaebyul listened with amused expressions plastered on their faces. once they reached the dormitory, ji-ae, satisfied that she had finally knockd some sense into kymin, went about preparing dinner in the kitchen. eunji and chaebyul ambled around the kitchen, lobbing the ingredients to ji-ae. kymin had gone to wash up, given that she had rolled around in the dirty snow. minah excused herself from the dorm after changing out of her clothes. the girls waved to her cheerily. 

once she was sure that nobody was in sight, she took off to the school block, sneaking into the studio that she had spent her first night dancing in. it was empty, except for the spectre that had followed her around for the whole of assessment week. he stayed relatively far from her, but it was still irritating. he had not spoken to her at all, prefering to just look at her. minah wasn't somebody to care about the spectres but it was getting too creepy for her liking. in an attempt to block out the spirit, she plugged in her headphones and turned up the volume, drowning out everything thing else. SHINee's replay came on and minah started swaying her body to the tune. she closed her eyes and imagined herself in on a stage, in front of thousands of people in the audience cheering her on. it pained her to know that it wouldn't happen in real life. pushing that thought to the back of her mind, she danced her heart out, feeling each movement with clarity. she was too immersed to notice the ghost mimicking her dance steps in the corner. unbeknownst to her, the door creaked open. a boy stuck his head in, scanning the room as if he was searching for something. his eyes fell on minah, widening in surprise. even though he couldn't hear the music playing from her headphones, he was thoroughly captivated by the way she moved her body to the music. he could almost see the music flowing off her in waves as she danced, oblivious to her surroundings. mesmerized, he shut the door quietly behind him and stepped into the room for a closer look. he stepped around the girl, wanting to see her up close, but not wanting to call out for fear of breaking her concentration. he was analyzing her dance steps when minah finally reached the end of her dance. she emanated grace and passion. he stared awestruck at her, leaning in towards her in an attempt to figure out what she was dancing to. as if on cue, minah's eyes flitted open. her eyes locked with the stranger's a hair length apart. everything went still in the moment as minah froze, her mind still assessing the reverent gaze the guy pinned on her. ultimately, minah jumped in fright before shrieking as she unconsciously pushed him away. the stranger stumbled and began to apologize. "mianhae.. I was just coming back to pick up the hoodie that I left behind.." he explained. "I'm taemin, by the way." minah wasn't paying attention to him, looking around for the spirit that had been following her. he was nowhere to be found. taemin touched her lightly on her elbow. "you're a really good dancer. are you enrolled in dance?" minah shook her head as she thought back to what he had been saying. taemin. why did that name sound familiar? he broke her out of her reverie again as he offered to chauffeur her back to her dormitory. still not recovered from the shock, minah agreed and led the way.

taemin bounded after her, playfully circling around her as she walked, but keeping a respectful distance. he would start chattering to minah about dance and she did try to reciprocate, but had to remain reticent about her double life. as they waved goodbye outside her dormitory, taemin snapped his fingers. "you - you are the cheonjae, am I right?" he seemed really pleased with himself that he had recognized minah. minah silently nodded as the other boy grinned with a tilt of his head, scampering down the corridor.

minah opened the door to her dormitory and walked straight into the glaring spirit. 

co-author's note:     heyyy so this is chapter thirteen and I've made some of them meet their love interests/rivals and the shields are probably working already.. hope you're enjoying it so far.. I might have indulged too much in my own character >.<

p.s. I'm so sorry for the long wait.. I've just been relocated overseas for my studies and will likely not be that active ): (I might still be because of my tndency to procrastinate oops ._. ) the next chapter will be my last chapter.. until sherr finishes chapter 15.. hope to see you guys soon and thank you so much for staying on <3

p.p.s. did the format change for AFF or isit only on my laptop? :o I'm having trouble with it haha.. anyway, while I try to figure this out, I'll be posting the link to my new applyfic later so do check back! I'll have some study breaks now and then plus the summer break is coming.. in three months haha so I'll probably start the new applyfic in mid-november..I'm not sure if I'll be posting much here but I guess we will alternate more! thankyou for staying with us! 

p.p.p.s. and now I'm shamelessly self-advertising here oops xx but here's the new applyfic link and do tell me what you think about it? it would mean so much to me.. thank you! ^^ >> caSTAR§ project - trainees & project group