*

KIM JONGIN

*

Monday: "Kai, it's been two weeks already. As president, it's your duty to count the votes from the elections and then announce the winners so that we can start filling up student government."

*

Tuesday: "What do you mean you don't feel like doing it right now?! You have responsibilities, Kai. We have fundraisers, and projects, and other senior activities we need to start planning."

*

Wednesday: "Look, we'll split up the work, half and half, that way it won't seem like too much. You can at least handle that much work, can't you?"

*

Thursday: "I'm not going to do this work all by myself Kai. You need to start pulling some of your weight in this too."

*

Friday: "Kai have you finished counting your part of the votes yet? I finished my half."  

*  

Ugh. Duties and responsibilities. These days, that was all I had heard from the female vice-president, also known as Lee Chaerin. The same girl the judges panel had decided to represent the females for the remainder of the school year, in place of Minji.

We had only been collaborating for a couple weeks and already, I had come to the conclusion that I hated her. Before we started working together I used to think she was cool but I guess that was because back then I'd barely knew her. Now that I did I wish I didn't.

And here I had thought Minji took the job of senior president too seriously. Chaerin was worse! If Minji was a workaholic, then Chaerin was a workaholic on steroids! All she had done since the very first day we started working together was nag me, constantly.      

I swear I was on the brink of losing it. I mean it, one more nag from this girl and I was going to flip a damn table.

Then, as if the fates were out to tempt me, said girl suddenly busted right through the door to my office. 

"Kai, have you finished counting your parts of the votes, yet?"

No knock on the door. No "hello, Kai." No consideration for my private office, whatsoever. She just stampeded in and started firing out questions. At least Minji used to knock and say "hi".

Chaerin stopped dead in her tracks once she took notice of my position.

"Why are you kicked back with your feet up?" She continued with her annoying inquiries. "This isn't your dorm room, Kai. This is the office where you're supposed to get work done." 

Sighing, I let my feet drop from my desk, them landing on the wooden floor with a loud smack. I really didn’t need her arrogance right now. I was already in a bad mood, but then it seemed I was always in a bad mood these days (consequences of the consistently growing guilt I felt for what I had done to Minji that left me feeling physically drained). For this reason, I pretty much lived in my office these days ignoring just about everyone, even my friends to some extent.

I just didn’t have the energy to deal with anyone these days, which was why I had mainly stuck to this office for the last few weeks, but Chaerin was really pushing my last nerve by barging her way in and out of it all the damn time.

I brought my hands up to rub at my aching temples as I addressed the bold vice-president. "How many times do I have to tell you to knock first, Chaerin?"

I had learned that closed doors meant absolutely nothing to her, apparently. 

"And how many times do I have to tell you how important it is to get the votes counted, Kai?" She shot back without missing a beat.

I rolled my eyes. This was how it had been since we had started working together. Everything I said was always met with some kind of opposition from her. We couldn't see eye-to-eye on anything. She wanted work done now, I said I'd get it done when I’d get it done. Then when I’d say I wanted to do things one way, she’d want to do them another way. If I said up, she said down. If I said left, she said right.

Then there was the fact that she always had an attitude around me, though I knew that the reason for this was largely based from what I had done to her best friend. When we had first met up in the office to work together, she had set me straight saying that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me other than collaborating for the sake of student government.

"Let me get this clear to you," she had snapped the moment she had come in through the door (without knocking). "I don't like you. Period. You're a liar and an . You’re a lying . My best friend won't even leave her bed right now because of you, but that doesn't change the fact that there's still a lot of work to be done, so I'm going to be cordial with you for the sake of government and the students. They don’t deserve a crappy senior year just because we couldn't get along and do our jobs right. Oh, but be assured. Now that I know all about your tricks and games I will be on guard. Minji is a good girl, but I'm not, so be warned."

After that, she had tossed a paper at me with a to-do list of things that needed to be completed and demanded that we get started on them immediately. Of course, I wasn't too thrilled with the way in which she had tossed the list at me, so I put it off to the side and told her I would get to it later. This didn't sit well with her either, which she had been very vocal about, and we had been fighting ever since.

I let my hands run down my face before finally looking at her for the first time since she had barged in. She was right about not being a “good girl,” or at least, appearance-wise, she didn’t look the part. She was edgy in both manner and style.

She wore lots of thick liner, had long, jet-black hair covered by a snap back, and was dressed head-to-toe in black. Her face was all hard lines, and frowns...some might call it a face. In fact, the look she was giving me kind of reminded me of Kris. I often found myself thinking that in many ways, she reminded me of Kris. 

After assessing her appearance, I finally addressed her question albeit, rather tensely because I was annoyed by her presence. "And I told you I would get it done when I get it done."

But of course, she didn’t accept this answer. She just shook her head. "That's not good enough. We need to get student government started now. There's too much work to be done."

"You do know that you're not actually the female president, right?" I quipped back, rudely, but only because I was feeling extremely irritable (again, consequences of the guilt), and having her up in my face at the moment wasn't helping at all. She looked offended, as I continued. "Last time I checked, you're still the vice-president. The only difference is that you now represent the girls in place of Minji. Vice-presidents only aid the president not tell him what to do. That's my job. I tell people what to do. Now do what I say, and leave me alone."

After I was finished, I was going to go back to propping my feet up, but Chaerin was being extra difficult.

"No!" she argued back. "All people have done is do whatever you say and it's only got them in trouble. Plus, if I leave nothing will ever get done, so, I'm staying."

She then pulled up a chair and sat it right down on the opposite side of my desk, facing me. "I'm going to be right here until you finish counting those votes," she finished, fixing me with determined eyes. 

In response I glared at her but she refused to back down choosing to glare back at me, pointedly. I don’t know for how long we sat there glaring at each, but it felt like an eternity before I finally decided I'd had enough.       

“I'm leaving,” I grunted as I got up from my chair.

She scoffed as she watched me walk away with shocked eyes. “Where do you think you're going? You can’t just take off. You haven't completed anything!”

I rolled my eyes while quipping back, “I'm pretty sure I just told you that I'm leaving.”

“Damn it, Kai!” she yelled after me as I left the office.

I just shook my head as I left, relieved to finally have some breathing room. I felt like the air was out of the room every time she and I were alone together. I couldn't deal with Chaerin. I knew that if we continued this way one day one of us would snap and end up strangling the other.

It would be nice if I had a little help from my own vice-president. Certainly, Kris would work with her better than I, especially considering they seemed to be pretty good friends if what I had witnessed between the two when together had any merit to it.

I still remembered the little kiss he and Chaerin had shared on election day when Yoona was using the girls to participate in her kissing booth to gain more votes. He had been mad at first once he had found out that his golden ticket had been switched from Minji’s number to Chaerin’s, but knowing that Chaerin was up on that podium waiting for the guy with her ticket to come up put the pressure on him and he knew he couldn’t just leave her standing up there, so he had gone on up and kissed her.

And he had done so rather smoothly, might I add.

All the girls had been wooed by the kiss including Chaerin, herself, based from memory. She had had this big grin on her face like she was just so smitten with him. It was hard to believe that that girl up on that podium was the same girl whose face was always fixed with a scowl whenever she saw me. Then again, her attitude towards me was all my fault. 

Regardless, it didn’t matter how much Kris would be better at getting along with Chaerin than myself, because I couldn’t ask him for any favors right now anyways. He hated me just as much, maybe even more than Chaerin, herself.

Ever since the day I had had to lie to the guys about what I was going to do with the two freshman boys, I had realized that going through with the case against Minji meant that I would have to cover lies, on top of lies, on top of more lies. Lies that I didn’t want anyone to know about because I was worried about what they would think of me if they did.

Kris was a prime example of exactly how I didn’t want the rest of the guys to perceive me. He was mad after he had found out what I was doing from Chaerin who had told him, apparently, and had even confronted me about it to warn me not to go through with the meeting, but I had just shrugged it off and told him that she was over exaggerating the issue. After that I never allowed him to bring it up again, avoiding the topic if he ever did.

Then, a few days after the meeting had ended, the day finally came for Minji to make her public apology to the school and to the senior class just as the superintendent had ordered her to, and that’s when he had found out the truth. After that, he had completely written me off.

Now he didn’t want to talk to me, he didn’t acknowledge me, he wanted nothing to do with me whatsoever. The thing was he didn’t even know the part about my parents’ roles behind everything that had happened, so if he already hated me knowing only half the story I could only imagine how much he would despise me if he knew all the lies I was keeping for my parents.   

Without even realizing it until recently, I noticed that I had grown to be just as image-obsessed as my parents were. How embarrassed I would be then if someone were to uncover the lies and expose the ugly truth. It would change everyone’s entire perception of me.

I don’t know why this thought freaked me out so much. Why the thought of anyone exposing the truth and seeing me in a negative light seemed so dreadful. Of course, nobody wanted to be viewed negatively by others, but my fear of being exposed was practically considered to be paranoia at this point. 

Nevertheless, I definitely didn’t want to sit around and think about it too much to figure out why I felt this way. I just knew that I didn’t want the rest of the guys to hate me the way Kris currently did, so I would have to keep on lying to my friends and everybody else for the sake of saving my own image and pleasing my parents.

So far, the guys only knew that there was a meeting with the superintendent, but because it was private they didn’t know everything that had happened or what all was said during the meeting. They just knew that whatever was said it had resulted in Minji having to withdraw from all student government activities.   

Truthfully, because of the guilt I was feeling for what I had done I really didn’t want them to know for I was afraid that if they did they would shun me and I would have no choice but to live with it because I knew I was wrong. They may have been just as much a part of the diarrhea prank as I was, but they weren’t the ones who had told on Minji to the headmaster then turned around and pretended like they didn’t do anything themselves neither did they present a case against her that would result in her forcibly being removed as president.

They were my best friends and all, and we had done a lot together including some pretty devious things in the past, but I didn’t think they would support me on this one. It was just too bad. And the very last thing I wanted was for them to hate me, so I had decided to just keep everything a secret.

But I still had the problem of finding a solution to the fact that my own vice-president currently hated my guts. I needed his help getting things done, but as I had said earlier, he wasn’t talking to me right now so that was pretty much impossible.  

Then there were my parents…

It was time for another family meeting in my father’s office according to the text message I had been sent a little over an hour ago, but had ignored, so I knew whatever it was they were up to now I would find out soon since that was where I was currently on my way to.

I acknowledged the office ladies like usual while heading straight to the back of the building to my father’s office. From down the hall, I could see that his door was already open, and because of this I could hear the voices of both him and my mother in midst of a conversation. 

They must have sensed me because the moment I appeared in the doorway, they both looked up at me.

“Hey,” I greeted simply.  My mother, who was standing beside my father, (seated at his desk), smiled at me.

“Hi sweetie,” she greeted back. 

“Jongin,” my father called, his face expressionless, but he nudged his head, signaling me to come in. “Come sit.”

I followed his instruction and sat down in one of the chairs at his desk.

“You know, I do believe that I sent you a message to come to my office almost an hour ago…” my father commented not sounding too pleased. 

“Yeah, I know but I ended up getting caught up with the female vice-president and couldn’t leave. You know, working with her these last few weeks has really made me start to regret what I had done to Minji. She wasn’t nearly as much trouble as Chaerin.”

“She’s just one girl Jongin," my father said. "The main thing is that you’re the senior president that’s going to be remembered forever with the legacy of this school, not her.”   

“So, what’s up?” I asked moving on. I knew there was something they wanted me to do. There was never a time when they called a family meeting that they didn’t have some task for me to help them in some diabolical plan they were pursuing. “What’s going on now?”

“Jongin, you already know of your mother’s aspirations to become headmaster of the academy, right?

I nodded. Of course, I did. I had had to start an epic food fight just because my mom had told me to as part of her plan to help make Mrs. Jung look bad, in hopes of getting the female headmaster fired someday. This was all in my mother’s attempt to spite Mrs. Jung after having initially been fired from her vice-principal position over a year ago, all because one of the students had lied about my mother having apparently, manhandled her.

The girl had complained that my mom, who had been the disciplinarian of the all-girl’s school at the time, had both physically and verbally abused her after catching her doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing in the bathroom with another student, but when the playback from the cameras taken from school’s campus had showed that it wasn’t true, the student admitted that she had lied on my mom because she didn’t want to get in trouble.

After that, Mrs. Jung had tried giving my mom her job back, but by then my mom was too furious with the headmaster for having fired her without knowing the whole truth, and making her look bad. My mother has been out to get Mrs. Jung ever since.

Today, my mother’s plan to get rid of Mrs. Jung, permanently, was going well, according to her. My “little performance,” as she had put it, during the meeting a few weeks back in which I had been so nervous in the presence of Minji that it had made me physically sick, had really made the superintendent concerned. My mother had used that to her advantage.

Since he and everybody else in the room had misinterpreted the reason for my nervousness as being because I was emotionally affected after being “harassed” by Minji, they had all sympathized with me, but only, none of this was true. My parents, on the other hand, had just thought I was being a really good actor, but that wasn’t true, either.

Now, I really was nervous to the point that I had felt nauseous, but the reason I had felt that way was because of the guilt coursing through my veins as I had had to watch Minji from across the room from look so completely hurt and upset after what I had done to her that it somehow, made me miserable as well. Of course, I never admitted this to my parents or anyone else. It was just another secret I now had to keep covered up, so I just let them go on thinking that I was a good actor.

But my mother said that after my “performance” both she and my father had talked to the superintendent regarding the behavior of the students and how they noticed a difference in the way we behaved when Mrs. Jung was left alone to manage the school compared to when my father ran the school.

She mentioned to him about the food fight which was the same day in which he came to take a tour of the school, and how my father had been gone for a family emergency at that time leaving Mrs. Jung alone to command the academy by herself, but had failed to do so, obviously.

Basically, she had planted the seed in his head to second guess Mrs. Jung’s abilities to run the new co-ed academy, and to bring the issue up with the other board members once he got back to the district office. It wasn’t enough to get the female headmaster fired yet, but it was a start, and apparently, my “performance” had really helped my mom in framing Mrs. Jung, so she was pleased with how her plan was working out.

“Yeah, I know how much it means to mom to become headmaster,” I answered.        

My father nodded. “Right now your mother and I are working on getting her reinstated to her position as disciplinarian to the school, but we first want to make sure that she has a positive image to the other staff members, as well as parents, and even the students of the school. Her having a good image is very important to how well her reinstatement goes."

“Okay, that’s great but where do I come in, in all this?” I asked, not getting the point.

“Honey, I’m planning to host a field trip for the senior students very soon,” my mother started to explain to me. “The school board still has to approve, but I proposed a very convincing idea to them, and I believe they will give me the green light to do it. It’s going to be a bonding experiment for both the boys and girls of the senior class, and if it goes well, then someday, each of the lower classes will get to do it too, but for right now it’s just limited to the seniors. With this fieldtrip, I hope to help you guys connect and end the tension that’s been between both sides since the beginning of the year, but I need your help to get all the senior guys to cooperate.” 

“A bonding experiment?” I repeated, curiously, trying to process what my mother just said. I didn't know what to make of it. It sounded odd.

“Yes, a bonding experiment,” my mother repeated back. "This will be good for both the girls and the boys of the senior class by creating unity between the es." To express this she pressed the palms of her hands together then let her fingers lace together before she continued.

"So far, there's been this huge wall wedged between both sides, but since the school is co-ed it's best if people could see both sides getting along and working together in harmony to make one great school. Plus, when people who hated the idea of a co-ed academy see how well the school is doing I want to be the one recognized as the reason for why the academy is succeeding. Then the board will recognize what a great influence I am and I will be that much closer to proving to them how much better a headmaster I would be than Mrs. Jung."

Oh, so that's what this was really about. I thought, while nodding my head in understanding. It wasn't really about getting the boys or the girls to bond but was all about my mom and her quest to take over Mrs. Jung's job as headmaster someday. Giving my mother the credit for being the one responsible for getting the students to cooperate would make her reputation as an educator skyrocket.  

"You will get to know more about it soon once I get the okay from the board to do it," my mother said now. "But count on it within the next couple weeks. I'm aiming to get it done before winter break."

"Why before winter break, specifically?" I asked.

"Mrs. Jung is going to be taking a leave of absence very soon for personal reasons," my father answered. "Your mother and I think that while she is gone will be the best time to do the fieldtrip. When the bonding experiment turns out to be a success, it will show to the board how much better your mother is able to handle the students compared to Mrs. Jung."

"And then, when Mrs. Jung comes back you after break, that's when you can start causing trouble on campus again to make her look bad and the board will see how terrible a headmaster she is," my mother finished. 

Damn. That feeling in the pit of my stomach was back again. Funny how, despite all the times I had helped my parents in their scheming plans before, I had never actually feelings of guilt until after I had lied on Minji. Now I felt nauseous all the time.

I didn't immediately say anything but simply let their words sink in. It never failed to amaze me the types of plans my parents could come up with to get ahead in life even after all these years...

"Okay, then,” I agreed, finally. “I'll be sure to let the guys know about the fieldtrip and I’ll watch over that they all act accordingly." 

"Great," my mother exclaimed before hugging my head to her chest like she always did. "Oh, I can’t tell you how happy I am. Everything's working out for us, Jongin. Your father is headmaster of the academy. You're the academy's leading senior president and someday soon, I will be the academy's female headmaster. From here on out, there isn't anything or anyone who can stand in our way."

Right then, my stomach in all its upset, gurgled loudly to where my parents could hear it.

My mom straightened up and looked down at me, strangely. “Jongin, are you feeling okay? Are you eating well these days? You look a little drabby.”

“Uh…yeah,” I lied. Actually, I wasn’t. The fact that my stomach felt like crap all the time now made me avoid food altogether. I couldn’t remember the last time I had had a proper meal. I stood up from the chair. “In fact, the guys and I are supposed to grab something to eat anyway, so I’ll see you guys later.”

I had just lied again, but I wanted out of that room, so I immediately bolted for the door and in the distance, I could hear my mother say, “Thanks again sweetie.”

*

Hmph…A bonding experiment.

 I couldn't imagine what ideas my mother had for getting the guys and the girls to bond with each other, but I hoped it wasn’t going to be lame games like stupid trust exercises or something.

I wondered if it would truly even work. Ever since Minji had had to resign as president, the girls hadn’t exactly been fond of the guys very much. Even more, they hated me. 

At first, I couldn’t walk down a single hallway without being casted dirty looks from any of the girls, but now that it had been weeks since Minji resigned, I guess their anger waned down a bit because they pretty much ignored me now.

Right now, I was on my way to the first period of the day—advanced English—a class I had come to dread all thanks to the fact that it was the one class I shared with Minji, and therefore, still had to be faced with seeing her daily.

For me, being in that classroom with her every day was kind of like reliving the day of the meeting with the superintendent over and over again, which is why I avoided her now like the plague. Every day she came into class she looked just as sullen as she did when Mr. Cho had declared her guilty. I didn’t want to see her in that same state everyday knowing that it was my fault. Seeing her like that made me feel even worse than I already did, so, I had changed my seating arrangement over to the opposite end of the classroom, generally closest to the door that way I could be out of there quickly.

Even having done so, I could still feel Minji’s eyes on me from time to time, even from way on the other side of the room. I knew there were things that she wanted to say to me, but I was afraid of what those things might be. Probably that she hated me and wished that I would die or something like that. There were many things I wanted to tell her as well, but I knew I couldn’t because doing so would mean exposing so many secrets that I was forbidden to tell anyone.

I had to keep them. For the sake of my image, for the sake of my family’s image, and for the sake of everything they were trying to accomplish. I would probably carry these secrets to my grave...

Anyways, once I got to English, I sat down in my chosen seat closest to the door. It was early, and the late bell hadn’t rung yet so the classroom was still virtually empty minus a few occupied seats here and there. I kept my head down and messed around on my phone until Baekhyun sauntered in and sat next to me to goof off, but I kind of brushed him off, not really in the mood for it, which, based off the look he gave me afterwards, I knew he had taken offense to it.

“Dude, what's up with you lately?” he asked, curiously.

“What do you mean?” I questioned back, feigning ignorance to what he was talking about. I knew the surly mood I had been in for the last few weeks had long been noticed by the guys. My recent behavior was a far cry from my usual self and the fact that the guys were always wondering what was wrong with me, proved it. It didn't matter, though. I could never tell them the truth which was that I hated myself more and more each day for what I had done to Minji and now thoughts of her and how badly I had treated her roamed my brain twenty-four, seven nearly driving me insane. I was going to implode at this rate.

“I'm fine,” I lied, at last.

Baekhyun stared at me, fixing me with dubious eyes and a scrunched-up mouth. He wasn't convinced.

“Then why are you always so in' cranky these days?” he inquired again, this time more impatiently, which I knew had to do with the fact that he was probably annoyed by my recent but inexplicable change in moods.

Other than Sehun and Chanyeol, Baekhyun was the main jokester of my group of friends. He practically lived to clown and jerk around, something I used to enjoy doing with him, so I knew if anyone was going to be tired of my crappy mood, first, it was going to be him since he just wasn't used to me acting like this and preferred goofing around.

Baekhyun shook his head now as he added finally, “I thought Kris was supposed to be the moody guy in our group with a stick up his , not you.”

I snorted.

This was the first time I had been amused in weeks. Kris Wu really was that type of guy. I remember when he had been in a pissy mood at the beginning of the school year because he was upset about his breakup with his summer fling, Jessica. She had been pretty but all the guys found her annoying, so we had kind of teamed up together and gave her a hard time, on purpose, so that she would break up with Kris.

I hadn't expected Kris to mope around as much as he did after she had broken up with him. His moodiness had started to put a serious stain on me and the rest of the guys' determination to have the best senior year ever which was when I had decided to find him a new girl to focus on and, of course, that girl ended up being none other than…Minji…

My thoughts halted as said girl who now plagued my thoughts, day-in and day-out appeared in the classroom doorway, suddenly. Shocked by her sudden appearance, I stared at her, fixedly, completely forgetting my surroundings, but only for a moment, before I snapped out of it and averted my eyes away, quickly, as if to not be noticed even though I knew it was too late. She already had.

Minji stared back at me as well even though I refused to look back up at her. I could feel her eyes on me, searching for something which I knew had to be answers to the many questions she probably had for me, but I still refused to give her. It was an extremely uncomfortable moment for me. She soon recovered though, and continued to pass me by to go to her own spot on the opposite end of the room to take her seat. The whole time she did though I remained completely aware of each and every step she took until she sat down.

This was why I absolutely hated having the same class as her now. I was too aware of her presence every time we were in this room together. Actually, I was too aware of her presence anytime we were within the same vicinity on campus. It was like I could literally feel whenever she was around without even having to see her and sure enough when I would look up, there she would be. This strange sixth-sense I had recently developed was driving me insane, so I tried to avoid her even more by ditching any scene on campus I knew she was at whenever I sensed her; however, in this classroom, I simply couldn't.

Even now, I could feel her eyes on me, still searching for answers, willing me to look her way, but I forcibly kept my eyes down, unwilling to give in.

I brought my hand up to rub at the back of my neck, feeling uncomfortable. I couldn't wait until this class was over so I could jet out like usual.

Baekhyun must have caught on to that little moment between Minji and I because he looked back and forth between me and her on the opposite side of the room a few times with curiosity, before finally turning back to me.

"Kai, this whole sour mood of yours wouldn't happen to be because of a certain girl sitting on the other side of the room, would it?" He asked nudging his head towards Minji.

I was annoyed that that it had been so obvious, so, in response, I grumbled out, " no," agitatedly. 

"Ooh, someone's in denial," Baekhyun responded with a tease and a chuckle.

"Denial about what?" A deep voice inserted now upon entering the room and when I looked up, I saw it was Chanyeol. His lanky frame came to plop down in the desk beside Baekhyun.

"His denial about his feelings for Minji," Baekhyun replied to Chanyeol before turning back to me. "Kai, I thought we already moved passed the denial stage. You admitted to liking her just a few weeks ago, remember?"

With a roll of my eyes, I scorned him. "Just shut the up, man." I was seriously tired of the joke. I didn't want to hear it anymore, but Baekhyun lived for stuff like this so he kept on teasing. 

"Alright, Mr. Lovesick," Baekhyun teased again and he and Chanyeol laughed together.

Man, I really hated them sometimes, but I ignored them as they continued to goof off beside me.

By now the class was crowded, almost every seat filled, and I knew the bell would be ringing in any moment. Kris was one of the last students to walk in right before class started, but instead of sitting anywhere near us he just sauntered in, glanced at me, and that's when his features stiffened like hard rock as he fixed me with a glare cold enough to turn me ice-solid. Afterwards, he kept on to the other side of the room.

Letting my eyes follow him like a hawk, I watched closely as he walked over to the desk in front of Minji and smiled at her before sitting down. I winced. I didn't even know why he still bothered. She didn't like him either, as far as I could tell with the way she ignored him just like she ignored all the rest of us guys. She and Kris hadn't spoken to each other in weeks, yet he continued to sit in front of her, smiling at her, politely, like he was silently asking for permission to sit there, first, before doing it.

I really hated when he would do it, too. Why couldn't he just take a hint that she wanted nothing to do with him either and just leave her alone?

I didn't realize how hard I had been staring at him until the bell finally rang, startling me, and I jerked in my seat. I knew both Baekhyun and Chanyeol caught it because they both started sniggering to which I just rolled my eyes and ignored. Almost immediately after the bell rang, Ms. Johnson strutted into the room with a coffee in hand.

She addressed the class as she made her way over to her desk to set her drink down. 

"Hello everyone," she greeted the classroom in English. "I know it's Monday, but the weekend is over, so you all should wake up and look alive.”

After setting down her things she came back to the front of the room. “I hope that you all did the reading I assigned over the weekend because I have an assignment for you based off it. If you did the reading then the little project should be fairly easy for you, but if you didn't then you better catch up on the reading quickly because this project is going to be worth 30 points."

The entire class sighed and groaned in response, myself included.

"Oh, class, please try to refrain from showing too much enthusiasm," Ms. Johnson joked, dryly, getting the class to lighten up with a little laughter. Ms. Johnson was still tough, but she had gotten a little better in her approach to dealing with the class. Sometimes, she was even slightly enjoyable…but only slightly.

I listened as she continued to tell the class about the project assignment.   

“Now, I know the last thing you guys want to hear on a Monday morning is that you have a project due, which is why I've decided to let you guys partner up to complete it. You can choose your own partners and it will be due next week. I’m going to write the guidelines down on the white board.”

The project was based off the old Greek poem, the Odyssey, by Homer which Ms. Johnson had been having us read together in class as well as assigning us to read as homework. I had done most of the reading. Since I had been cooped up alone in the office these last couple of weeks, I had had plenty of time to read the book. It was long; sometimes a sentence could run on for an entire paragraph, while a paragraph could run on for a few pages, but the story of Odysseus and his quest to return home despite all the dilemmas thrown at him was interesting.      

I also admired the relationship between Odysseus, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Their family was a stark contrast to my own. Odysseus had so much faith in his wife and son and they, in him. I couldn't imagine my family ever being able to endure so many years apart. Sure, my parents loved each other but let’s be real. If my father ever got banished from the country for an indefinite amount of time thus, losing his important status, my mom wouldn’t stick around. Then again, I didn't think very many women would in such a situation.

Anyhow, once Ms. Johnson turned to start writing down guidelines of the project on the board, everyone in class dispersed, paring up with whoever they desired to be their partners. Originally, I was going to see if Chanyeol wanted to partner up, but before I could even suggest the idea to him I saw he was already signaling to Dara across the room to see if she wanted to partner up. She nodded, agreeing, and in an instant, Chanyeol was out of his chair and going over to her.

My shoulders fell in response, kind of taken aback.

Beside me, Baekhyun chuckled. "Okay, so it looks like Chanyeol is taken," he stated, amusedly. I would've found it amusing as well, especially knowing how much Chanyeol had taken a liking to Dara over the last few months, and therefore, understood how eager he was to work with her, but while I was looking their way, I caught sight of something strange out from the corner of my eye, and instantly, all feelings of amusement vanished from me, completely.

Why was I seeing Minji’s hand outstretching towards Kris right now? The two sat far off on the opposite end of the room, Kris in front of Minji, and she was slowly extending an arm his way as if to tap him with her hand; however, Kris was completely oblivious to her actions behind him. I noticed her face looked unsure, like she felt hesitant with whether to proceed with what she was doing, and she even withdrew her hand once, but she eventually went ahead and patted at his shoulder.

Kris turned around, immediately, looking completely surprised at just having been tapped by her. He wasn't the only one who was shocked. My brows furrowed into a deep frown.

What the hell was going on? What was she doing? 

I was staring hard trying to decipher what was going on between the two, but Baekhyun caught my attention, albeit halfheartedly, as he tried speaking to me; however, because I was so absorbed in what was happening on the other side of the room, all I saw was Baekhyun’s mouth moving but I never actually heard any of the words he said.

Minji was talking to Kris, what about, I had no clue even though I tried reading their mouths to see if I could figure out what words were being exchanged between the two. Then, as the two were talking, Kris suddenly smiled at something Minji had said, which she mirrored back, and even giggled a little and I almost had to double take once I witnessed it. It was the first time I had seen her smile or laugh in weeks.

I don’t know why, but for some reason the fact that it was directed at Kris stirred something dark within me and I soon felt my chest get all hot.

The ? I thought, angrily. What is this ?   

Once I saw Kris nod his head and get up to turn his desk around to face Minji, I knew what was going on.

She had asked him to be partners with her.

Oh hell nah.  

"DUDE!” I heard Baekhyun suddenly yell at me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What?!” I yelled back, annoyed at having been startled by him the way I had.

“Man, I’ve been asking you over and over if you want to be partners, but you were too busy staring across the room at Minji to realize it,” Baekhyun said. “I know you want to be partners with her but it looks like Kris beat you to the punch. You should just give it up, man.”

I sneered at him. Give it up? I wasn’t giving up anything, especially not over to Kris. He could partner with Minji for now, but rest assured, I wouldn’t let it be easy for him to be.

I would be keeping a very close eye on him from now on. He wasn't going to be getting close with Minji on my watch.

“Let’s just get started on the project,” I said.

“You sure, man?” he asked, tauntingly. “You don’t want to stare at and drool over Minji some more, first?”

I narrowed my eyes at him before punching him in the arm, playfully and he laughed at me.

"You got it bad, man," he teased.

*