I was sitting on the bleachers in a plain white T-shirt and gray shorts, watching the boys play basketball and the girls in their groups, talking about the latest fashion or events. Almost everyone was in the official gym uniform. All except for me.

Strictly speaking, I couldn't afford to pay an extra 15 dollars just to get a plain white T-shirt with the school's name stitched onto it and black shorts with the logo printed on the side of the shorts. The logo of this school was... pricey. I've never been the important one, so no one ever notices my gym uniform or criticizes it. Maybe a bit every now and then when the girls were bored and had nothing better to talk about, but it wasn't too much for me to handle. I sigh and prop my elbows on my knees and rest my chin in the palm of my hands and observe the people around me.

My eyes landed on a boy playing basketball. Kim Jaeseop. I heard that he already got accepted to Columbia. Full scholarship, rides paid. Lucky. To my right, there were groups of girls swooning over him and making up scenarios of possibly having him as a boyfriend.

Pft. Good luck. He was a prince and a complete gentleman. Not to mention, he was part of U-Kiss. The most popular boys in our school. There were plenty of ordinary girls drooling all over him and I'm certain that there are plenty of rich, pretty girls that are after him as well.

My eyes landed on Hoon and I felt a blush creeping up my face as I watched him shoot the ball into the hoop. Rich, popular, and extremely good looking. Sweat drenched his shirt and he took it off and I forced myself to look the other way. 

He was good looking and was indeed a prince like Jaeseop, but... he was known for being cold. But... what made me like him? His smile.

Rumors flew around the school about how he never smiled. How cold and mean he was. To be honest, I didn't have a good impression of him either.

But by chance, as I was strolling through the school library, I saw him sitting in the corner of the library all by himself, staring out into space. His mouth was twisted into a frown and he looked lost and everything looked so familiar to me. 

Those nights where I looked in the mirror, my heart beating quickly and my head buzzing with thoughts, trying to process everything that was happening. Everything that would happen. The things I'll have to forever live without. Thoughts of how to move on with life. Pity got the best of me.

It was spring and the yellow dust season had just started. I was wearing a mask covering my mouth and my nose and it was rather bothersome to take it off and on. I could've walked away. His problems weren't mine. I had enough on my mind. I didn't need unnecessary problems too.

But for some reason, I didn't walk away. Like a fool, I stood there staring at him for a bit behind a bookshelf. I watched him for a bit, before realizing his bothersome thoughts wouldn't go away on it's own. I dug around the pockets of my dark blue jeans and pulled out a piece of salted caramel, still wrapped in its silver wrapper.

"Here." I slid my last piece of salted caramel towards him and he stared at me for a moment before sliding it back over to me.

"No thanks." He turned back to the book he was "reading" and pretended to concentrate. He was trying too hard to pretend that everything was alright. That he didn't need help.

"Salted caramel. Sometimes we need a little salt with sugar to balance things out. You'll be surprised to what it can do." I slid the piece back to him as he ignored me and I walked away, before tossing one glance back at him. He stared at the piece of candy and slid it out of its wrapper before popping it into his mouth.

His face contorted into disgust at the overwhelming taste of salt and sugar. I stood behind a bookshelf, watching his reactions and expecting him to spit the piece of candy out. But he sat there and smiled to himself. He looked up, his eyes searching for something or someone. And I hid behind the bookshelf as he looked at my direction.

For the first time in twelve years, my heart opened up. For the first time in twelve years, I liked someone again.

"Yeah!" The sound of Jaeseop's voice brought me back to the small, silver piece of candy in the palm of my right hands as I wrapped my fingers around it. I turned my attention back to Jaeseop, who gave Hoon a high five as Hoon ree back without a smile. I sighed and hated myself for being a fool and an idiot for falling in love with the impossible. What were the chances of him remembering something as stupid as that?

I hastily unwrapped the caramel and threw it into my mouth to rid my head of thoughts. As the flavor hit my taste buds, I turned back to him, reminiscing. And for some reason, he looked my way. His eyes seemed to pierce into my soul and I nearly choked on the piece of candy as I struggled to look away.

"Min Jung!" Jae Hee smiled at me as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Jae Hee had recently dyed her hair brown because she felt as though she could use a change. She looked good with black hair, but she looked better with brown. "Sorry, I took so long in the bathroom. It's that time of month, you know." She whispered as she sat next to me.

"It's fine. It's not like we have anything better to do than sit."

"Mmh. I suppose you do have a point." Jae Hee smiled and nodded. "I don't get why we have to take gym anymore in college. Shouldn't we be using our time for... more important classes to prepare us for the social world?"

"We're having an increase of unhealthy food. If we don't want to go down the same road America has then we have to have some sort of-"

SLAM.

The bright orange basketball hit the bleachers and missed my face by a centimeter and my heart almost stopped right then. Jae Hee was equally left in shock as we watched the ball roll towards Jaeseop, who apologized.

"Sorry, ladies." AJ apologized, charmingly as Hoon stood a few feet behind him.

"It's not like any of them got hurt. Why are you apologizing?" Repulsive. Disgusted. Disinterested. That was the things I read from Hoon's brown eyes. "And you, in the fake gym uniform, stop staring at me. I'm not interested."

Hoon turned away and was walking towards the basketball court as my face flushed red and I turned away. My hands were curled into fists. Did I really like this bastard?

"Don't be such a jerk." My head snapped towards Jae Hee, who sprung out of her seat. Hoon's face turned hard as he clenched his jaw.

"Am I being a jerk? I'm a jerk for telling her that I'm not interested and for telling her not to even bother with me?" I grabbed a hold of Jae Hee's left hand, pulling at it a bit. Whispers were starting to flood the gym as all the attention was now on Hoon and Jae Hee.

"Jae Hee, it's not that big of a deal. Let's just sit back down and avoid trouble. Okay?" I tried to persuade Jae Hee, but the Jae Hee I knew... wasn't here.

"No. This guy thinks that he's everything and he's not. He's one of the reasons why people have misconceptions about rich people." She ignored me and glared at Hoon, who didn't seem to be putting up much of a fight as Jae Hee was. "She doesn't like you. So what if she did? By now she probably doesn't even like a jerk like you. Even cockroaches don't like you." Hoon kept his face straight and a spark rose in his eyes.

"That's great. I don't need a loser like her to keep liking me." Jaeseop touched his shoulder and shook his head.

"Hoon, let's stop. Other people are watching us. Don't let your reputation go down the drain because of this." Jaeseop tried to persuade Hoon just like I had tried to persuade Jae Hee. However, Jae Hee didn't stop there.

"You're the real loser. You don't know what a gem you've lost." Jae Hee said, defending me.

"Let's not make a big deal out of this. Jae Hee, stop-"

"What's going on?! Yeo Hoon Min, Kim Jaeseop, Baek Jae Hee, and Park Min Jung! My office now." Our gym teacher, Mr. Han pointed towards his office door and I bit my lip.

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"Just exactly were you guys doing?" He huffed as he placed his hands on his hips. "I may not be a good gym teacher, but I let you guys do whatever you want. Fighting however, is not an option. I could get fired!"

"Mr. Han, we're all very sorry. We had never intended to make a big deal out of it. We're sorry that the argument has even gotten so far." Jaeseop apologized and I nodded.

"It was just a bit of a heated debate." I added, hoping that we could get away with this with a clean record.

"Jaeseop, Min Jung, you two can leave my office. You two are not the problem. The problem lies between these two." He pointed to Hoon and Jae Hee, eyeing them.

"But Jae H-" Jaeseop's hand flew over my mouth and Mr. Han looked up at us for a brief second and then turned back to focus on Hoon and Jae Hee.

"What are you doing?" Jaeseop asked as soon as he pulled me out of the office. "Mr. Han's letting us go. We should know better than to talk back."

"Jae Hee was only sticking up for me." I muttered and looked at the light blue office door.

"The less people in trouble, the better." He reminded me gently. He wasn't wrong. We both had to be smart enough to understand it.

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"Great news!" Jae Hee slid into the seat next to mine as soon as I got settled in the Japanese classroom. "I have detention."

"What?" I looked at her incredulously. How was detention a good thing?

"It sounds bad when I say it like that. Technically, he didn't give me detention because we're in college and there is no detention. But," her lips curled up into a smile. "He said that the gym needed to be cleaned and that if the gym is clean, he'd keep my record clean."

"Well, there is a bright side to this, but are you sure you can make it through with cleaning the gym? If you haven't noticed, it's huge." I pointed out, pulling out a pen and a notebook, getting ready for class.

"I'm not too sure about it either. But the jerk has to clean the gym as well... though I fear that the hours I'm going to be spend with him will be..." Jae Hee buried her small face in her hands and sighed. "Aggravating."

"You'll be tired. Guaranteed." I pulled a small Ziploc bag out of my black backpack and handed it to her. I remembered cleaning the gym all by myself a few years back just so that I could pay for a couple of textbooks I needed. I didn't have a job in Seoul yet and my last job was way back in Busan. I wasn't about to go back and forth just to go to school and work. "Take this. It'll give you a sugar rush and possibly help you pull through detention." The sunlight streaming through the clean and clear classroom windows reflected off the silver wrappings and Jae Hee beamed at the sight of them.

"Well, it is candy!" Without a second thought, she popped one in and her face scrunched up immediately. "What's in here? It tastes... weird."

"It's salted caramel, so naturally... there would be salt." I was amused with her reactions as she spit it out. "Nonetheless, it's still candy. Sometimes we need a little salt with sugar to balance things out. You'll be surprised to what it can do. It helps me think when my mind is a bit cluttered. Not to mention, during times where I feel as if I have no more energy to deal with anything."

"I can see why it helps you think clearly. It makes you wonder why you even bothered torturing yourself by eating this." Jae Hee pulled out her purple water bottle and took a sip of it, hoping that it'll wash the taste of salt out of . "You know what? I think it should be illegal to add salt to candy." She made a face and then turned back to me.

"Ahem, thank you for your harsh criticisms. You might want to keep this in mind next time." I leaned forward, as if I had a secret to tell her and she leaned closer to me as well. "I made them myself." She pulled back and gave me a nervous smile. Her smile changed into a sweet and innocent one and tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear as she took my hand.

"Min Jung, you know how much I love you, don't you?" I allowed myself to make a face and I edged away from her as she touched my shoulder. "I was just... kidding! You know how lame and mean my jokes can be sometimes right?" She batted her eyelashes, hoping that I'd give in to her creepy actions and forgive her.

"What a great joke! Thanks for spitting the candy out. I laughed really hard at that part." I answered sarcastically and then faced her with a serious look. "Whatever you've been watching recently, please stop. Honestly, they're teaching you how to be really weird." I raised an eyebrow at her and I turned back to my notebook as the teacher entered the room. Jae Hee pouted as I turned back to my work and picked up the bag of salted caramels.

"Don't worry, Min Jung. I'll eat the rest of the happily and most definitely not let them go to waste! Fighting!" I shook my head to shake off the feeling of having to laugh and tried to keep my poker face on.

"Just focus on Mr. Lee." I mumbled, unable to conceal my smile. She nodded and began to scribble down the Japanese notes in her composition notebook.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Hoon's Pov*

I leaned against the wall of the gym as the last class evacuated, running my fingers through my golden brown hair. As the gym became increasingly empty, I spotted the bleachers in the corner of the gym. I touched the bleachers, feeling rather annoyed at having to waste my time here after school. But I suppose I'd be better off here than back at home where my parents were constantly bickering.

I felt a sigh threatening to leave my lips as the door to the gym creaked open and I turned out to see her. Her bright smile left her face immediately when she saw me and I scoffed inwardly, before turning back to the bleachers as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Mr. Han stepped out of his office with a bucket, a rag, and a mop.

"I expect to see this gym clean early tomorrow morning." Mr. Han handed me a rag and handed the girl the mop, leaving the bucket aside. He dusted his hands and smiled. "Well, work hard!"

I stood still, feeling rather annoyed and defeated, staring at the rag I held in my hand. I leaned against the bleachers and let the rag drop to the floor. The girl ignored me and moved past me, grabbing the red bucket and heading to the showers to get water. Meanwhile I sat on the bleachers, pulling my black Samsung Galaxy S4 out of my pocket to see that AJ had texted me. Just as I was about to read the text, an annoying voice stopped me from doing so.

"Aren't you going to help me?" I looked up to see the girl huffing at me and trying her best to carry the bucket to the middle of the room. I ignored her and turned back to my phone, trying to read the text.

"Do you seriously have to hold grudges?" My phone was yanked from my hands and the girl held it firmly in her hands with one of them on her hip. "I'm sorry to inform you, sir, that we're here for detention, AKA cleaning the gym. Not to text your twenty girlfriends."

"Is it that you're interested in me? If you are, just remember what I said to your friend earlier. And frankly, it isn't any of your business on how long I hold my grudges." I replied ever so heartless. "And also, you'll be cleaning the gym yourself since you were the one that got us into this in the first place."

"How exactly in the world was I the one who got you into this?" She protested, clutching my phone as she sent me a glare. She backed away from me as I approached her to take my phone back.

"It's your fault because you couldn't keep that big mouth of yours shut." I shot back. "Now, if you don't want to get into more trouble, you'd give me my phone back." I took another step towards her and she took another four steps back.

"I'd be an idiot if I listened to you. You're every bit as responsible for this as I am. In other words, I'll be cleaning one half of the gym and you can go ahead and clean the other half." She was now standing in the middle of the gym next to the red bucket as I stood my ground and held back a sneer.

"What makes you think I'd do that?" I couldn't hold it back anymore and I sneered. She smiled ever so innocently at me and shrugged her shoulders, pretending to frown and look clueless.

"Well.... you don't have to. But mind you, it'd be wise to." Her eyes moved to the red bucket and her hand hovered above it, waving my phone around just above it. For the first time in a year, she made me smirk.

"You're stupid." Her eyebrows furrowed together as I kept my composure and kept a safe distance from her as I circled around her. "If there's anything I'm known for, it'd have to be my money. A phone like that... it's fairly cheap, don't you think? But, I suppose it'd be a good thing to break this phone. I've been wanting a new one. So, what phone do you suggest that I get? An iPhone or another phone from the same company?" I taunted her as she remained frozen in the middle of the room.

She became flustered and the smirk left my face as I became disinterested. I stopped right in front of her, causing her to unfreeze herself and back away from me. When she took one step, I took another. When she stayed still, I took yet another step. She began to move backwards quickly and her back soon came in contact with the cold, gray walls of the gym. I could tell that she was growing nervous with each step I took as the space between us became smaller. I glanced at her coldly as I had her trapped between me and the wall. 

I allowed my face to lean towards her and she closed her eyes out of fear. I scoffed inwardly and grabbed my phone from her hands, feeling no attraction towards her whatsoever. I moved back to the other side of the gym with my phone in my hand and sat on the bleachers, checking the time.

3:56 pm.

Approximately eight more hours until I could head home without hearing any ruckus. My father would be out of the house at the company, relieving his stress by yelling at his assistants and my mother would be at a club, drowning out all her sorrows with a couple shots of vodka. After this, I'll be off to AJ's condo, waiting for the clock to hit eleven.

I typed in my password as my phone unlocked, revealing the text from AJ.

Listen, my father wants me to watch the company from 4 p.m. to 12 p.m. while he's attending a meeting and attending a dinner party. Eli's going to be helping me out so don't bother calling him to hang out! Anyhow, have fun in detention! I would love to see you scrubbing the floors, but unfortunately my help at the company is needed. Fighting!

I mentally sighed as I read the message, remembering that Kevin was in California to visit his sister, who was studying at some sort of college there. Kiseop on the other hand was attending the same dinner party AJ's father would be attending. As of right now, he would be in the middle of preparations since his father was the one hosting the party. How about that? Alone again.

Feeling frustrated, I yanked my black earphones out of my pocket and plugged it into my phone, listening to 0330. The soft piano notes reminded me of the white grand piano I used to have at home. Speaking of which, it would still be sitting there if my father had smashed it to bits when things had gotten tense between him and my mother five years ago.

"Oh- oww..." My attention snapped back to the girl who had slipped as she was mopping the floor, causing me to stifle another growing smirk. Feeling bored in this jail cell called "school", I got up and headed to the door, walking past her as she grabbed the sleeve of my jacket.

"Care to help me up?" She asked, using the other hand to hold the mop. I brushed her hand off of my white jacket and dusted the part of my jacket she had touched.

"It never even crossed my mind." I replied, the honesty in my voice proving to be harsher than I had expected. I turned away and that was when I felt a yank at my sleeve and I came falling to the wet floor, my landing right in a soapy puddle she had created when she was cleaning. "You-"

"Well if you had helped me up, I wouldn't have pulled you down in the first place." She muttered as she scrambled up, fixing her clothes before offering me a hand. "Anyhow, I'll take the blame for this one. I'm sorry." I looked up at her and then back down to her hand, smirking mentally.

"The last thing I'd do is accept your apology." With that, I took her hand and pulled her down, hoping that she'd fall in the huge soapy puddle besides me. What happened next took me by surprise as it took her by surprise as well. Her weight on me, caused me to go from my sitting position to a sleeping position as my back hit the soapy puddle behind me and I grimaced. Walking out of this building in wet clothes was going to be very.... unpleasant.

She planted her hands on the ground on both sides of me and pushed herself up. Her face was centimeters from mine and it took her a while to realize it as her face grew red and she panicked, her hands slipping and she fell back down on top of me, her lips meeting my cheek. It took a bit of time for me to react as it did for her and we pushed each other away the best that we could.

"Watch where you plant that dirty rag of yours." I said, scratching at the spot she had kissed. She scoffed and stood up quickly.

"Well, I wouldn't be planting this 'dirty rag' anywhere if you hadn't pulled me down!" I ignored her and helped myself up and inspected my wet and soapy clothes, mentally sending her glares that her dense mind would never get.

"Aish... my clothes." I mumbled as I tried to brush the tiny bubbles on my jacket off. I took a look at her to see that her clothes were perfectly dry. Maybe a bit on her... bum, but that was the most that she had. I had it even worse than she did. "Don't tell me that this isn't your fault." I pointed at my wet jacket and my wet pants as she bit her lips, smiling a bit.

"Fine, I won't deny this... but honestly, it looks as if you've gone in your pants." She cracked a smile and let out a laugh as I mentally frowned and crossed my arms, but everything physical about me stayed neutral. When she saw no reaction coming from me, she cleared and wiped the smile off of her face. "I'm sorry about your clothes too. I'll pay for new ones if you want."

"I don't care about the clothes at all." I was steaming mad, but I hid it and kept my poker face on. "As of right now, I look like a lunatic. Not to mention, I am not the least bit comfortable like this."

"I'll say. He looks worse than a hobo." She muttered and I was so close to sending her a glare, but I held myself back. "I have my gym clothes in my locker. If you don't mind wearing clothes two times smaller." She joked, cracking another smile. Seeing that I was showing her no reactions, she quit it and bit her lip. "Well, the girls' locker room has a hair dryer... I suppose we can use it to dry your clothes off."

"Bring the hair dryer out here so I can dry my clothes." I went back to inspecting my clothes, expecting her to scurrying off and bring me the hair dryer as she stood there awkwardly, playing with her fingers and twisting the hem of her shirt. "Quickly. What are you waiting for?"

"Um... well you see..." She sent me a nervous smile. "The hair dryer isn't exactly portable. It's connected to the wall of the locker room." Mentally, my mouth was hanging open like one of the cartoons on T.V., physically I was in disbelief. 

I understood what she meant a few moments later after being forced into the girls' locker room. It was a giant rectangular box that resembled a hand dryer but was placed four feet higher than it normally would be placed. Sighing, I took my jacket and shirt off and placed it on top of a stack of chairs to get it closer to the hair dryer as she was standing in the corner, facing the wall.

"What are you doing?" I questioned as she refused to turn around and look at me.

"N-nothing. It's just.. um.. when was this wall painted pink? Ha, I guess I'm not too observant." She laughed nervously and edged her way towards the door. "Um... I should get back out and continue cleaning." I raised an eyebrow at her as she kept her back faced towards me and made her way to the door.

Finally alone, I took my pants off and left it on the stack of chairs to get it dried as well. It was still unsettling to be in the girls' locker room, but on the other hand, I knew how it looked now. I was in absolutely nothing except for my scarlet boxers and a clean white tank top and sat on the wooden platform that resembled a chair. My phone began to ring and I pressed the green button, accepting the call. 

"Hello? Hoon? Are you there?" AJ's voice travelled to my ears as I managed a dry reply.

"Yeah?"

"Hmm... nothing much. But just to let you know, Kiseop's cousin... Jun Young can house you for the next few hours after your detention so-" AJ's voice was cut off by the slamming of the locker room door. 

In came the girl and she looked scared. No, she was extremely scared and worried. And for some reason it made me worried too. Perhaps it was because I was in the girls' locker room. Wearing absolutely nothing. I snapped out of it, convincing myself that the worst wasn't going to happen. 

"What-" I was about to snap at her for barging in without permission when she slammed the door shut.

"You have to hide." She tossed a look at the door behind her. 

"Now."

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*Yes! My second chapter is done. I meant to update sooner, but after writing a long chapter for my other story, "Arranged Marriage to.." I felt kind of tired, so I took a small break. ^^ This chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I had anticipated, but nevertheless, I hoped you guys will enjoy it :) To be honest, I want this story to be at max thirty chapters so my chapters can be a tinyyy bit lengthy. Unlike my other story that has 44 chapters to it, (I totally didn't expect it to be that long) I hope that this can be a short, interesting, and meaningful story. (That's never going to happen with my level of writing skills, but one can only dream :P). Well, enjoy!*