As usual I got up early before Barom so I could use the washroom. It was Monday. Wedding was over and it was time for reality. I made up my mind the day before to walk to school instead of being chauffeured around. Well, no one in the school knew about the wedding except for the teachers so it would raise much suspicion on why I was being chauffeured in a Yu family car. I liked walking anyway, more time to think about life and plan it out nicely, although it was abit useless right now. At the very least I got a peace of mind.

 

As I stepped out of the washroom, I stiffened. Barom was not on the sofa anymore. Did he by chance peep on me while I was showering? My eyes rescanned the room again to find a huge figure lying across the bed cuddling onto the quilt. It was already 6.45am and school starts at 8 yet this idiot had not showered even. I sighed softly as I walked over to poke him once, by all means to wake him up and also so I would not get blamed if he happened to be late for school. I doubt he even cared about attendance and the fact that exams were going to be the whole of next week before the closure of school.

 

Barom covered his whole body with the quilt so I did not even know where I was poking. I assumed it was his arm. I poked it twice before turning around to reach out for my schoolbag. What a waste of my effort he did not budge at all. Out of a sudden an arm grabbed my waist and flung my body onto the bed. I let out a small scream before I realized it was Barom’s arm and before I had a chance to wriggle out of his wrath, his legs and strong arms began to get around me, hugging me like I was a bolster. Did I mention I hate skinship with this man? Each time I tried to escape, he hugged me even tighter. He buried his face onto my neatly combed hair (which had become a bunch of mess because of him) sending tingles down my spine.

 

“If I am going to be late for school, then you should too”, he mumbled.

 

And only on the third day of our marriage did I finally start talking to protest. “If you are going to lie in bed all day, count me out. I have exams to sit for. Can you please excuse me I need to go to school right now?” I growled.

 

His arm around my waist tightened and his left hand travelled upwards and caressed my lips. “Ah, finally my bride is talking to me. After three days of courtship eh? Is it because you can’t stand how good looking I a…OUCH!”

 

That’s it. I was provoked. I bit him hard on the forefinger. He let loose of his grip on my body and I quickly got up and tidied my uniform, grabbed my bag and stormed off. Of course I knew so well that it was not going to end there. I predicted I was going to get from him and his clique in school. The remorse started to blanket over my heart. I picked up a fight with the wrong guy. But he deserved it anyway. Serve him right!

 

Barom was a year senior than me but we attended one same module because he happened to fail that subject. Unlike other rich parents who paid money just so their children would not get demoted, hats down to Mr and Mrs Yu for teaching him a lesson.

 

Lady luck was by my side, I successfully did not bump into him or his clique before recess. However recess was as bad as usual too. The ulzzang girls tripped one of the girls I hung with just because they found out she had a crush on Kangjun, one of the hottest boys in the school, whom, unfortunately, was one of Barom’s clique.

 

My group of friends was not as pretty as those girls but at least we were 100% natural. There were five of us and 2 were beyond nerdy but I let them sit with us three since they were being shunned everywhere they went. In the end I shared my lunch with that girl, Young Hee. She was a year older but she was the crybaby kind. Quite annoying but I felt so sorry for her. The remaining of us tried to cheer her up while the other party was on mocking rampage. Apparently, they went on deaf ears because other students were so used to their outrageous behavior. And apparently, in a split second the canteen door burst opened and the aura began to change immensely. It was the clique.

 

Siwoo and Maru who were the kids of the group were the first to enter followed by Kangjun, TK, Ray, and lastly, the man himself. Everyone became absolutely silent except for the group of girls who were swooning over the boys and making it obvious. Funny thing was eversince I entered the school, the girls had been trying to get their attention by dolling up etcetera but the only thing the received from the boys was a wink and nothing else. Siwoo once had a scandal with the maknae of the ulzzangs, Tara but I heard she was too clingy so Siwoo dumped her. Then shamelessly she tried to hit on Barom and Kangjun at the same time. Tara was the youngest yet the prettiest after JiNa, the second oldest of the group. I guess over the years that group of girls still had not given up.

 

The clique then sat over at the corner of the canteen as usual and TK dragged two freshmen over and told them to get food for the whole clique within 5 minutes or they will need to compensate with their pocket money. The poor boys hurriedly scurried to get into the queue with fear creeping onto their faces. Ridiculous bunch since forever!

 

“There they go again”, Ji Young sighed beside me. “I am officially sick of them and those girls. The whole school is just sick to tolerate these extreme homosapiens!” I pouted and looked away only to meet Barom’s eyes staring deep into my soul. He liked to do that. To him I was a cheap thrill. My face froze as my eyes met his deadly stare. “I wonder what kind of parents they have, like seriously!” Ji Young nagged profusely. All of them were busy staring at their food no one realized what was happening between me and Rome.

 

Then Kangjun snapped his finger infront of Barom’s face, asking what he was looking at so intensely. And that devil broke into his evil smile answering, “Well, I found a prey.” He finally broke the gaze and I swallowed my saliva. For some reason, the food infront of me did not look appetizing anymore. Once again, I hoped that I could vanish in thin air to escape his wrath. His prey was me. But Rome had never once ‘preyed’ on a female student. Oh, I just broke his record then.

 

“Don’t forget to introduce us to that lucky dude, hyung!” Kangjun fisted Rome’s arm excitedly.

 

“This time its not a dude, Jun”, I overheard and nearly choked on my juice drink. “It’s a she this time.”

 

“You better kid us not, hyung. You never bullied girls before”, Maru widened his eyes at his hyung’s confession. “Or is it love?” He teased only to be greeted with Barom’s black face. He backed down, raising his hands as a sign of defeat and scooped up his last bit of rice.

 

Barom could not wait to pounce on me. He stood up and walked towards my table with his signature menacing face. Pity that handsome face for an ugly character, I thought to myself. He signaled to Mana who was sitting in front of me to scram off so he could present himself to me. I could not bring myself to look up to him. The whole canteen was staring at us and the silence was beyond dead. The ulzzang girls stared on, shocked and then letting out giggles, saying how lucky I was as Rome’s first female prey. Being Rome’s prey means he had all authority to do anything to you and even teachers could not interfere. Rome’s previous preys were beaten up badly, made to attend his detention classes if there was any, made to queue for his food while doing duckwalk and more. If I was at home, Mr and Mrs Yu would have protected me from this devil but in school, no one knew about our connection and there was no one to protect me.

 

He pushed my tray of food towards me roughly and locked his fingers. “I thought you were hungry this morning”, he said loud enough for both of us to hear, cringing his nose, smiling cheekily and sarcastically. “Why didn’t you finish up your food? Oh… I got hurt this morning because of you, little commoner”, he raised his voice.  And so, congrats for being Barom’s first female prey.” He reached out his hand for a handshake while his team members cheered on awkwardly. Usually when Barom found a monthly prey, they would take turns to bully that person. I guess they were thinking how to even bully a girl without feeling guilty. The ulzzang girls were laughing aloud at my fate and half crying cause I was lucky to be preyed on by him.

 

“Aw for the first time in my rich life I wish I was Sara, unnies”, Tara let out a fake cry and then burst into laughter. Yes woman, go on and have my luck. Its not even heavenly to be stuck to such stuck up person. “One whole week with Barom and gang. If only that could happen to us I will make sure I will get Rome to love me. Too bad for Sara, Rome doesn’t look at commoners for a soulmate.” Rude.

 

“Are you done talking?” I spoke up. “Cause I don’t think I have the time to entertain you. Anywhere.” I emphasized and rolled my eyes, picking up my tray to the returning point. My group of girls quickly follow suit. The only thing we wanted was to get out of this hellish place.

 

“Don’t forget Sara! Tomorrow is Day One!”

 

The irritating girls laughed again. Barom ignored them.

 

“See you later!” he shouted behind me as I exited the place.

 

Young Hee came up beside me along with the others looking worried. “Oh no, Sara what have you done?” she began crying again. She cries at everything. “Why is Barom picking on you this time?” I was loss for words to explain to them. Ji Young did not say anything but her eyebrows furrowed. I could not tell if she was angry or frowning because of her naturally fierce look. The others were bugging me why was this happening. I knew they actually feared for themselves too. Remember? We were the school’s nerd group.

 

“I..I”, I stuttered. “I bit his finger for self-protection.” I finally blurted out. The girls gasped and stopped me on the track. “Did he try to do something bad at you?” Mana sounded concerned since she was the oldest in our clique. Not to make her worried, I carefully took her hand and assured her everything was going to be fine. “Its difficult to explain, Mana. Don’t worry he wont touch you girls. Just me. Treat it as I have a score to settle with him!” My lips curved into a warm soothing smile for the ladies.

 

Barom got home before me and as soon I stepped into our room, I confronted him. "What was that all about?" I hissed.

"What? An eye for an eye. Like you don't know Barom." He chuckled.

"You said you are not going to interfere with my personal life!"

"Well I didn't, did I? That's just how Barom rolls."

"Look, no one knows about us living under one roof, married. I don't know what you are trying to do but please stop it. Grow up."

"Now", he looked up at me, "little commoner, when we are in school, you are not my wife. I keep it simple as that. Plus we don't know each other. So I, Barom Yu, have all the rights to do whatever I want. Be it to you or anyone else."

He stormed off slamming the door behind him.