Another dreadful club meeting quickly arrived and this time the past students of chrome high had to actually talk to each other. All of them sat in their assigned groups in order to discuss what they were going to do for their part. There was silence in both groups at first but each group had one person take control. Gummi decided to be the leader of her group and Gongchan decided to lead for his. They knew if they didn’t take charge then they would get nowhere with their assigned parts.

But there appeared to be a nervous look plastered on Minsun’s face that no one but Gongchan seemed to notice, and the reason Gongchan noticed was because he was the cause of it. “Do you have something to say Minsun-ssi?” Gongchan asked, deviously smiling at Minsun. “this ing piece of ” Minsun whispered under her breath. “You promised,” he whispered in her ear. Minsun shot him a death glare as he continued to smile at her. What on earth did Gongchan ask Minsun to do?

~A few hours ago~

“Minsun-ah, I need to talk to you” Gongchan said, interrupting Minsun’s breakfast. He took her hand and pulled her outside of the kitchen before she could even put a bite of her cereal in . “They’re seriously at it this early in the morning” Gummi said to Choa, stunned.

“You’re so embarrassing Gongchan!” Minsun whined as Gongchan took her outside. “Today is the day” Gongchan smiled. Minsun shot him a confused look. “What day? The day you drop out of university?” Minsun joked.

“You wish, it’s the day you do whatever I want you to do!” he reminded, making Minsun’s heart sink.

“I don’t think so Gongchan, Shinwoo ended up finding out so that deal is off!” Minsun refused. “That wasn’t a part of the deal. The deal was I don’t tell Shinwoo, that’s it. You can’t back out of this, you promised!” Gongchan said, putting his foot down.

“Aish” Minsun groaned, “Fine, whatever, what the hell do you want? You want me to kiss you?” Minsun predicted, rolling her eyes.

“Nope, that would be too easy, plus, you like me so you wouldn’t even mind that” Gongchan said, making Minsun scoff.

“You know there’s a club meeting today, everyone from our ‘circle’ or whatever will be there” Gongchan continued, “and….?” Minsun yawned, “you’re going to stand up and confess your love for me, loud enough for everyone to hear” Minsun choked at those words as Gongchan began to laugh at her outraged expression.

“Gong. Chan. Sik!” Minsun yelled. “I will not!” Minsun refused.

“You have to” Gongchan grinned. “You’re too cool to not finish your end of the deal. That’s not that Minsun I know and have fallen for” Gongchan smirked.

“I- I hate you!” Minsun yelled before turning around, furiously heading back to the kitchen. Gongchan continued to laugh as she left.

~

Minsun let out a deep breath of frustration and finally stood up. “I can’t believe I’m doing this” Minsun thought as Gongchan looked up at her in anticipation.

“I- I have an announcement” Minsun suddenly said, making all of the ongoing chatter slowly stop as everyone turned around to look at her. “ my life” she cursed under her breath.

“I…I have a confession to make” she began, some people looked curious while other’s looked confused or annoyed.

“What the hell is she doing?” Gummi nudged Choa, “I don’t know… what the heck does she have to confess” Choa replied, confused. “Why does Gongchan look so excited though?” Gummi pointed out. Choa turned her head in his direction “Oh my god, don’t tell me he-”

“I- I’m deeply in lo-”

“I love Heo Minsun” Gongchan suddenly yelled, getting out of his seat. Minsun’s eyes widened as she turned to look at him. Everyone began to laugh at the current scene. “What the heck are you doing” Minsun asked as Gongchan grabbed her hand and lifted it up “It’s as you heard, she’s stolen my heart, you girl’s better not hit on my anymore, alright?” Gongchan said, making people only continue to laugh.

As everyone laughed, Jinyoung couldn’t help but look at Gongchan like he was crazy. Anger filled his heart at the current scene. Gongchan was smiling, everyone was laughing and smiling, he just hated it for some reason. Was he perhaps jealous that his friends could so easily confess their hearts so playfully while he couldn’t even look Ellin in the eyes without her mentally punching him in the stomach with the death glares she’d always throw his way.

Minsun soon forcefully pulled Gongchan’s out of the room “Ya! Gong Chan sik!” Minsun yelled, still flustered by what just happened. “What? Are you mad I confessed before you?” Gongchan asked playfully.

Minsun didn’t know how to feel. Was she touched? Was she happy? Or was she just incredibly embarrassed. “Aish… you’re so embarrassing!” was all she could bring out of .

“You were actually going to do it, huh?” Gongchan said, smiling at her. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it, but you actually were going to and I just- I don’t know, I didn’t want you to embarrass yourself like that for me. You’re really cool, Heo Minsun”.

Minsun heart was pounding in her chest, she was still so out of it and Gongchan’s words were not helping her get back to reality. “Aish didn’t you say you knew I would do it? Since I’m too cool not too?!” Minsun replied.

“But still… I was surprised” Gongchan chuckled.

“You were surprised? I bet I was more surprised. They’re never going to let us forget this. You know that right? Gummi, Choa, Shinwoo, Baro… they’re all going to be teasing us until the end of time!” Minsun brought to his attention.

“I know, but I don’t care” Gongchan replied confidently.

Minsun couldn’t help but smile at him. She began to shake her head “you’re really full of surprises aren’t you?”

“Let’s get out of here, the day still isn’t over so you still have to fulfill my wishes!” Gongchan brought up, wiping Minsun’s smile off of her face. “And to think I was beginning to not hate you” Minsun groaned. “I just want to buy you ice cream, is that so bad?” Gongchan asked, making Minsun’s eyes light up “well then you should have said so, let’s go!” Minsun said, grabbing Gongchan’s hand without warning. She happily led the way.

Jinyoung sat in his room alone, his thoughts filled with all of the happenings of the past few weeks. He was filled with distress, he thought he wouldn’t have to face these feelings anymore but his problems all seemed to hit him in the face the more he tried to run away from them. He didn’t expect Ellin to be in Korea, let alone in the same university and the same residence. He didn’t expect for anyone but his friends to be here, and yet, the people that hated him the most and caused the biggest disruption in his life were all here, right beside him, where he would have to see them every single day. He came to terms that he couldn’t run away from his problems anymore. Every time he’d see Ellin the pain would hit him, the same pain he felt on the day he let her down and ruined her life for the second time.

He didn’t care about anyone else forgiving him but her. If she was the only person on the earth that didn’t hate him he felt he could live life happily, and maybe the reason he felt this was because he knew she would never forgive him, not even a little bit. “She won’t even look at me, let alone talk to me, how can I get her to just listen to me one more time” Jinyoung sighed, “do I even deserve her attention…I know I don’t but I don’t care, I have to talk to her.” Jinyoung couldn’t stand it anymore; he had to get Ellin in a room with him alone somehow where he could talk to her. “But how?” Suddenly a thought came across his mind, a plan that might allow him to talk to her, even if it’s just one sentence before she shuts him down, he thought it would be worth a try.

“Our group is meeting tomorrow at 4PM in one of the private group study rooms at the main library. Don’t be late” – Jinyoung

“Whatever” – Ellin

Jinyoung’s eyebrows furrowed at her reply. Was she or was she not going to come? He would have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

“What the heck happened today? You know, you and Gongchan’s big scene” Choa asked her sister as she walked into their dorm, quickly closing the door behind her. He turned around and saw Gummi and her sister eating popcorn on Choa’s bed.

Minsun sighed “It was all your fault!” Minsun alerted. “If it wasn’t for your failure set up I wouldn’t have been told to confess to Gongchan in front of all those people” Minsun explained.

“Ah, I get it. Gongchan told Minsun to confess her love for him for that ‘ill do whatever you want’ deal. The sacrifices you make for your sister, I’m quite impressed Minsun” Gummi laughed.  

“Yeah, my ungrateful sister” Minsun mentioned. “Hey, I am very grateful!” Choa defended, “but I’m more interested in what happened after the scene” Choa voiced, Gummi nodding in agreement.

“A-after? Nothing, we just ate ice cream and here I am” Minsun lied, the girls quickly seeing through it. “yeah right, what happened? Did he kiss you or something?” Gummi joked, but her laughter quickly died down at Minsun’s indifferent expression “oh god, he did kiss you. what the heck is up with Shinwoo and Gongchan these days and their obsession with you two” Gummi groaned.

“Did he kiss you out of nowhere? Do you want me to beat him up?” Choa asked, concerned. “No, it wasn’t out of nowhere. He even warned me before, and I just stood there like an idiot! So much for my play hard to get plan! I mean how could I when he has that face!? And that body?” Minsun blabbered making both Choa and Gummi die laughing.

“So how’d it happen? Did he say ‘I’m going to kiss you’ or what?” Gummi asked curiously.

“He first brought up that one time we kissed” Minsun began…

~

“Minsun-ah, you know that time we kissed” Gongchan suddenly brought up. They were standing in front of her dorm door by now and all Minsun wanted to do was go to sleep after the hectic day Gongchan just put her through. From ice cream, to dinner, to a second round of ice cream, he seemed to love watching her eat a little too much. 

“Kiss? That was barely a kiss, it was like a peck you give to your dog” Minsun said, making Gongchan laugh.

“Fine, whatever you call it, anyways, I know we both said it didn’t mean anything and promised to pretend it didn’t happen but I was lying then. It did mean something to me and I knew for sure I liked you after that time” Gongchan confessed.

Minsun’s mind went blank for a moment “why is he acting cute and nice? Why is he making my heart feel weaker!” Minsun panicked, stay cool, stay cool “That’s… nice…” was all Minsun let out. Gongchan’s expression looked hurt at that simple words, making Minsun feel bad since that’s not what she really wanted to say.

“I mean- me too… although maybe I knew I liked you before then” Minsun revealed, bringing a smile back to Gongchan’s face making her feel relieved. “Well…since you said our kiss was that of one you give to your dog, I’m going to give you a real one now” Minsun was taken a back at those sudden words, she stepped back a bit, only making him take a step forewords “if you don’t want me to, then I won’t” he said in a quieter voice, which only made Minsun’s heart sink even more. She was lost in her thoughts, so lost that she forgot to reply and before she knew it his lips had already pressed against hers.

~

“Oh my gosh, I’m going to puke, this is so corny! Stop, stop!” Choa said, holding two pillows against her head.

“His lips were so moist” Minsun went on, only to annoy Choa more, Gummi was hysterically laughing at this point. “What happened after he kissed you?” Gummi said through her laughter. “I committed a Choa and ran into my dorm, so…here I am” Minsun smiled.

“Amazing” Gummi clapped.

The next day slowly arrived for Jinyoung. He barely got any sleep since he was too busy thinking about what he’d say to Ellin. He replayed a bunch of scenarios in his head, and in each one she’d slam the door behind her as she left. But this thought didn’t stop him from going to the group study room he had reserved just for his secret plan. He nervously sat there, waiting for her to arrive. 10 minutes had passed and there was no sign of her, he was about to give up until the door finally opened.

“Sorry I’m late I was- where is everybody?” her apologetic tone quickly turned into an annoyed one when she only saw Jinyoung sitting in the room “it can’t be that everyone else is later than I am” she said suspiciously.

Jinyoung quickly got up from his seat “Uhh…” Jinyoung didn’t know what excuse to make, he cursed himself for not coming up with a plan incase this happened.

“Oh my god, you tricked me into coming here, didn’t you? I’m so out of here” Ellin groaned, about to head towards the door. “No- wait!” Jinyoung called out, running towards the door and closing it shut as she opened it. “Jung Jinyoung!” Ellin yelled. “Will you just hear me out, just for 5 minutes, please!” he begged.

“Why should I? Do you really deserve 5 minutes of my time Jinyoung?” Ellin said, turning around and crossing her arms. Jinyoung looked down as her gaze pierced through him “fine, then just give me a minute” he requested, Ellin didn’t say anything so he took it as a yes.

“Ellin, you know that day I let you down?” Jinyoung began.

“Which one?” she interrupted coldly.

Jinyoung nodded “I deserve that… the day in school when you asked me to go to the office with you but I refused… the day I humiliated you in front of everyone” Ellin’s fists clenched and she turned around to leave until Jinyoung grabbed her hand and turned her back around “I don’t want to hear this Jinyoung!” Ellin yelled. “Just listen to me for a minute!” he yelled back “it took every muscle in me that day not to break down, I felt my insides eating me up that day Ellin! I didn’t want to do that but I was given no choice!” he revealed, grabbing Ellin’s attention, she was shaking now “and what reason was that?” she asked.

“My father threatened he’d ruin not only your life, but your friends lives too if I kept helping you! I couldn’t let that happen Ellin! I couldn’t let him do to you and the girls what he did the year we broke up. So I became a coward, once again I gave into my father… I didn’t know what other choice I had,” he said through teary eyes and heavy breaths. This was the first time he ever told anyone this, it was a new feeling to him to finally get such a big secret off of his chest.

Ellin was in tears now, she didn’t want to believe what he was saying. She was angry, she was upset, and she was extremely frustrated with his sudden revelation. “Why the are you telling me this now Jinyoung! You think this fixes everything! I’ve suffered for how many years and you decide to tell me this now! Who the hell do you think you are!” she yelled, pushing him violently before she turned around to make a run for it.

Jinyoung didn’t have enough energy now to chase after her, his emotions were running wild and all he could do was breath heavily while he thought about what had just happened.

As Ellin quickly walked through the crowd, someone suddenly stopped her, “Ellin, what’s wrong?” Gummi asked, she was going to return some books to the library until she saw Ellin in tears. “Ellin looked up at her vulnerably before she continued to cry “let’s- let’s get you out of here” Gummi said, wrapping an arm around her and leading her back home. She put her hat on Ellin so that no one would see her swollen red face.

Gummi sat Ellin on her bed; luckily Hanni wasn’t back yet so Ellin could have her privacy. “I’ll leave you alone… you can stay as long as you want” Gummi offered.

“No, don’t leave” Ellin said, grabbing Gummi’s hand. Gummi was a little surprised by Ellin’s action but also relieved. Gummi knew she’d go crazy wondering how Ellin was doing.

Gummi nodded and sat beside her. The moment she did Ellin began to cry again. Gummi looked at her pitifully and put her in her arms. She patted her back, trying to comfort her. They stayed like that for a while until Ellin’s tears dried.