A/N: Some of you guys might have thought that I based the Nana character off of Afterschool’s Nana?  Haha, no, it’s not her.  Nana from Afterschool is super pretty.  The Nana in my story is…not so pretty… >//<  Anyways, you’ll understand the reason why later on.   Enjoy this chapter! ^_^

“Get away from my girl!” the owner of the ear-piercing shriek declared.

You cringed as you reluctantly turned your head towards the voice.  Aish, Lemon Candy.  What did you get yourself into? 

When you finally made eye contact with him, you saw that his face was bright red.  Why would he say something that would make these dimwits even angrier?  Lee Sungjong, you pabo.  Nonetheless, you were interested in what he was planning on doing, so you kept quiet.

The leader of the gang towered over Sungjong and boomed, “Ah, so you guys are together.  I wonder how Nana’s gonna react when she hears ‘bout this.”  He rubbed his hands maliciously.  “But even if she’s gonna hear ‘bout this later, she ain’t gonna be happy.  How ‘bout I take care of whoever started this whole mess right now.”

You could see that Sungjong’s skinny chicken legs were already quivering.  “Aish,” you muttered as you shook your head.  You projected your voice so that the stupid leader could hear clearly.  “That lemon candy can’t even fight a girl to defend his own pride.  What’s going to be the fun of beating up an easy target like that?” you taunted.  You saw the incredulous look on Sungjong’s face and rolled your eyes at him.

The leader turned back to you.  “Heh, then maybe I should beat up the person who made her cry, then?”  He loomed a foot over you but you didn’t feel the least intimidated.

You didn’t want to get into a fight right this moment, since you still had a bunch of schoolwork to catch up on.  You couldn’t focus in class, since you were too busy thinking up an apology.    Speaking of which, where the heck is that girl?  I’m gonna be late meeting Woohyun!

You glanced up at the guy and established sternly, “Hey, I don’t want to fight right now, ok?  Maybe some other time.  I’ve got a lot of work to do, and all I wanted to do was to apologize to that Nana girl.  But since it looks like she’s not out yet, I’ll say sorry to her tomorrow.”

The guy’s expression contorted into a disbelieving one, so you continued.  “And whatever you wanted to do, what was it- “beat us up”?  Yeah, not gonna happen, arasso?  I’ve got six other guys, not including Lemon Candy over there, that can easily take all six of you guys down.  And you haven’t even seen what I’m capable of doing.”

You strode over to Sungjong and put a hand on his shoulder.  “Let’s go.  We’ll deal with them tomorrow.  Right now, I’m gonna be late meeting Namu.”

Sungjong’s face was still red and you chuckled.  However, you didn’t want to ask him why he had done what he did, since the guys were still there.

You guys began walking past the six guys, when the leader’s arm stretched out to block your guys’ path.  You looked up at him questioningly.

“Tomorrow morning.  Bring all six guys behind the school.  We’ll take care of business then,” he declared.

You processed what he had said.  So he still intends to do so, huh?  Fine, bring it on.

 You smirked, “Sure.  Be prepared to lose, then.”  You thought about the possible outcomes, and proposed, “Winner gets to control the loser for a day.”  You felt Sungjong nudge you in the side to object.  You ignored him and continued.  “Loser can’t protest any order the winner gives.”

The gang leader smirked, “Yeah.  Good luck, Princess.”  He looked over the both of you and sneered.  “You’re gonna need it.”

And with that, you held on to Sungjong’s wrist and sprinted towards the library.

He stumbled from the immense speed and yelled, “Why are we running so fast?”

“I’m late, and I have a bunch of stuff to catch up on.  Now, let’s go!”  You picked up speed.

“Yah!” he complained.  But he continued running anyway.  “You’re lucky that I can’t slow down even if I wanted to!”

You knew that, for a fact, that although Sungjong has lived in this neighborhood all his life, he still couldn’t get the directions down to walk around on his own.

You guys were shredding down the sidewalk where a lot of elderly ahjummas and ahjussis were out performing their daytime exercise.  After a few minutes, you saw how out of breath he was, so you slowed down to a walking speed.  He trudged behind you and stumbled into your back.

“Aish, Lemon Candy, try to keep up.”

“I…can’t,” he panted heavily.  “But don’t… leave... yet.  I need … to catch… my breath.”

You frustratedly stopped walking and pulled him to the side so that the elders could continue walking.  “Chusuhamnida,” you apologized to them with 90 degree bows.

You found a steel bench that was shaded by the giant trees.  You didn’t even have to lead him to it before he collapsed onto the bench in a heap of ragged breaths.  He sprawled out on the bench, and because of how tall he was, took up the whole space.

You were also tired (not as much as Sungjong, despite your heavy backpack) and also needed a place to rest a bit.  “Yah, move over.  I need some space, too.”  You put your hands under his head and lifted it up so that you would have a place to sit.  His head was damp with sweat.  “Ew!”  You quickly released the back of his head and it hit the steel bench with a bang.

“Ow!” he shot up.  “You could’ve just been patient until I got up!”

“Yeah, yeah,” you said as you took a seat next to him.  “Stop complaining.  It’s your fault we had to run here.”

“HOW IS IT MY FAULT?” he exclaimed.

You answered calmly, “Because you were the reason why I had to confront Nana in the cafeteria, which caused you to leave, which caused her to cry, which caused me to not be able to focus in class, which caused her gang to come up to us, which made us late to meet Woohyun at the library.  So that’s why we had to run,” you concluded.

Sungjong’s eyes bulged out.  “Again, how is that my fault?!”

“Whatever.”  You leaned back and tilted your head up to the sky to feel the cool autumn breeze.

Sungjong still held his ground.  “You’re the one who came up to her in the first place, when I didn’t even want to have anything to do with her!  And because of that, you were about to get beaten up by those guys, so I had to do something.”

You remembered what that “something” was and punched his arm, causing him to flinch and whine.  You scoffed, “And what was it you were trying to accomplish by referring to me as ‘your girl’, Lemon Candy?  Were you trying to make them think I was vulnerable or something?”  You punch his arm again.

He winced and covered the spot that you just hit.  “I concluded that if the guys thought we were like, together, they would leave you alone, and then they would tell Nana, and they’d all leave us alone.”  He ran a hand through his bangs.  “But I guess that didn’t work, considering they still want to fight us tomorrow.”

 “You… Pabo!”  You continued smacking his arm.  “How dare you try to make me seem weak by making me your girlfriend?!  Ugh!  I wouldn’t date you if you were the only option I had left!”

“Ow!  That hurts!  Stop hitting me!”  He complained.

You whacked him with one last powerful swing of your fist and crossed your arms.

Sungjong yowled in pain.

“Psh, Weakling.”  You looked up at the sky and saw that it was turning into evening.  You groaned, “No, we haven’t even reached the library yet!  Eottokhae?”

Sungjong piped up, “Here’s a solution: Go home and study.  It’s just as quiet as the library.”

You glared at him, “Oh yeah?  Then how come I hear Hello Venus’s ‘Do You Want Some Tea’ and A-Pink’s ‘NoNoNo’ blasting from your side of the room every day?”

He defended himself, “I exercise through dancing.”

“Yeah right.  To those dainty girl group dances.  What exercise are you gonna get out of that?”

He stood up abruptly.  “Aish, whatever, let’s go home.”

You scoffed, “More like I have to lead you home.”  You got to your feet.  “Ok, let’s go.”  You guys began walking home.  “Oh, give me your phone.  I have to tell Woohyun that I’m not coming today.”  You pouted at the thought of that.

Sungjong grew agitated and said, “Stop with the pout.  He’ll understand.  Woohyun’s your best friend after all.  Or is it that the Grease Couple can’t stand a day without seeing each other?”

“Yah!” You yelled.

Sungjong smirked, but still hadn’t given you his phone yet.

“Hey, I need your phone.  I left mine at home,” you said.

“Careless~” he sang as he fished it out from his pocket.

You rolled your eyes at him and texted Woohyun.

Namu, I can’t come today.  Mianhae!  Sungjong here got us in trouble and so it’s too late to go to the library. =_=” Don’t wait for us!

-Haerin

You sent the text before Sungjong could read it and protest anything.  “Here, take your phone back.”

He took it and read over the text.  3,2,1, “YAH!  I wasn’t the one that got us in trouble!”

The phone dinged, indicating a text from Woohyun.  You tried to retrieve it from Sungjong, but he spun away too quickly.  He began reading, “ ‘Ah, is that so?  Wel-’”

You jumped and clung onto his back, making him fall to the ground.  You took the chance to retrieve his phone and read the text for yourself.

“Yah!  What was that for?!”

You ignored him and read Woohyun’s text.

Ah, is that so?  Well do you want to walk home together then?  I’m still at the library.  Where are you guys right now?

You replied instantly.

Aniyo, it’s ok.  We can walk home by ourselves.  Well I know I can.  Not sure about Lemon Candy.

Sungjong was now getting back up, so you instinctively started speed-walking away from him so that he wouldn’t see the insults you guys were saying about him.

You heard a ding and looked down at the screen.

Haha, I know right?  That guy’s gonna get lost if he doesn’t have someone there to lead him.

You laughed and replied.

Exactly.  LOL.  Ok, bye.  He’s catching up to me, so we can’t talk about him anymore.  See you tomorrow, Namu! ^^

He replied.

Bye!  Good night! ^^

Sungjong finally caught up to you, and you handed the phone back to him.  He scrolled through what you guys said and complained, “Whyyy?”

You chuckled.  “It’s true, dude.  Accept the fact.”

He trailed alongside you until you guys got home.  You got the key out from your backpack and unlocked the door.

You and Sungjong yelled simultaneously, “EOMMA!  WE’RE HOME!”

Sungjong’s mom appeared at the door and beamed, “Ah, good.  You guys came home earlier than yesterday.  You didn’t go to the library today?”

You shook your head.  “No, eomma.”  You didn’t want Sungjong to get into trouble yet, so you didn’t explain the reason why.  “I’m going to go study now and probably won’t have time to eat dinner tonight.”

Her expression grew concerned.  “Oh, you have to eat something, Haerin-ah.  You go study now, and tell Sungjong to get you food when you’re hungry.”

“Gomawo, eomma,” you said as you headed to your guys’ room.

Sungjong followed and collapsed on his bed.  “So tired.  I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Yah, what about your homework?”

He groaned, “I’ll do it before school starts.”

You shook your head disapprovingly.  “I wonder how you managed to pass all those grades.”

“Cause I’m smart, of course.”

“Suuree,” you unloaded your backpack’s contents onto your bed.  You decided to tackle all the easy ones first to get it out of the way, so that you would be able to manage your time better for the more difficult assignments.  “Ok, math first.”

That took you about 40 minutes, which was an extra 15 minutes from the usual amount of time you usually spend on it.  Ugh, why didn’t I focus in class?

You transferred over to your history workbook, and that took another 15 minutes as well.  Ugh, I’ve wasted 30 minutes!  I’m never going to lose focus in class ever again!

Then, it was chemistry, and then English.  English was pretty hard for you, so those last two assignments took another extra hour to complete.

“Done!” You released your pencil and checked the time on your phone.  It was 12 A.M.

Your jaw dropped opened.  You’ve never had to stay up to do homework this late before.  You’ve always had an easy time doing homework since you focus in class, so this was a first for you.

You looked over at Sungjong’s bed and noticed that he was still passed out on it in his school uniform.  He hasn’t changed yet.  Sungjong would usually be the one to shower first, since he likes to sleep early.  He says that it’s healthy to sleep a lot, while you just think he’s just trying to hide the fact that he believes in beauty sleep.

You packed your things into your backpack for school tomorrow and got up to shower.  When you stood up, your stomach immediately growled.  “Aish, it’s so late.  I’m too tired eat.”

You picked out your pajamas and headed into the bathroom to wash up.  Throughout the shower, your stomach growled even louder and you finally gave in.  You dried, dressed in your white tee-shirt and gray sweats, and entered the kitchen.  You saw that Sungjong’s mom had covered the broccoli she had made for dinner in plastic wrap, so you scooped out a small bowl of rice to eat with it.

It was then that you remembered that Sungjong hasn’t left the room since you guys came home, so you made a bowl for him as well.  You grabbed two spoons and brought both of your guys’ bowls back into the room.  Sungjong was still sleeping soundly on his bed.  You hopped on to it, careful not to spill the two bowls’ contents.  You sat criss-crossed next to him.

Since both of your hands were occupied, you used your foot to kick him.  His eyes reluctantly opened a centimeter, but then closed again.

“Aish, sleepy-head.”  You waved the bowl of rice under his nose, but he showed no interest. “Whatever, I’m gonna leave your food here.  Get up and eat when you want to.”  You propped one of his pillows up against the wall behind his bed and leaned back to enjoy your meal.

Sungjong stirred a bit and finally pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“Good boy!” You cheered, your mouth stuffed with food.

He scowled, but picked up his bowl and spoon.  He groggily scooped up some rice and put it in his mouth, chewing with his eyes half-closed.

You saw how he was only eating the rice and thought of how bland it must be.  “Eat some broccoli, too.  Not just the rice.”

His spoon scoured around the bowl scooped up nothing but air.  He brought it up to his mouth and ate as if there was something on it.

You were growing annoyed at how he was only eating the tasteless rice and nothing to go with it.  You set down your bowl and took his.  You slightly slapped the side of his face to wake him up and scooped up a spoon of broccoli, stuffing it into his mouth.  This instantly aroused him.

His eyes shot open as you shoved the bowl back into his hands.

“Now eat properly.”  You leaned back against the pillow and continued eating your food.

Sungjong muttered under his breath and his head jerked up as he realized something.  “Yah!  How come you’re eating on my bed?!  Yours is right over there!”

You answered with your mouth still full with a mixture of green broccoli and white rice.  “If I eat on my bed, I’m afraid I’d spill on it.”

“And so you’re eating on my bed?!  What about the kitchen?”

You dismissed it with a wave of your hand.  “Eomma’s sleeping.  I don’t want to make noises.”

He threw his hands up in defeat, then resumed eating.

Then you thought about the fact that you still had that problem with Nana and her gang.  “Tell me about Nana,” you asked Sungjong.

He scoffed, “Well, what do you want to know first about that brat?”

Even though you didn’t like the group of people Nana hung out with at all, you couldn’t stand Sungjong being so cruel to her.  “Don’t call her that.  Tell me how you guys first met.”

He thought back and cringed at the memory.  “First off, don’t laugh, ok?”

“I’m not promising anything.”

He glared at you.  “Knew you’d say that.”

You grinned, “Yeah, yeah.  Continue!  Tell me what happened that made you cringe so much.”

He resumed, “Nana and I have P.E. together, and so we had to change in the locker rooms.”

You covered your face.  “Please don’t tell me this is going to be a rated M story.”

Through your fingers, you saw that Sungjong’s face had gone as red as a tomato.  “T-that’s not what I meant!”

You released your hands from your face and laughed.  “I was just kidding!”

He scowled, “Fine, but no more laughing.”

“Ara,” you agreed.

“Ok, so we changed in the locker rooms for P.E.  I changed pretty quickly, so when I was finished, Nana wasn’t done yet.  And then-”

“Uh…Sungjong, how’d you know that?”

“Know what?”

“The fact that um, she didn’t change yet...?”

 “Aish, you pabo.  I can’t believe you haven’t caught on yet.  You’re an A+ student but you are seriously the slowest when it comes to these situations,” Sungjong chastised.

You were still extremely confused.  “Yeah… so?  Answer my question!”

“Jinjja, you are so naïve sometimes.”  Sungjong heaved a sigh.  “Dude, Nana’s a guy."