Primary Song: TEEN TOP- Missing

Genre: Sad (I'm not going to catergorize these one shots as angst or tragedy. They're just sad. Or melancholy.)

Characters: Chunji/ Female OC (Park Shinae **Note: Not the same Shinae from Chapters 8 or 9)/ Mentions of other 1993 born idols

Throughout the halls of Seoul High, the loud chatter of the students bounced off the walls and drifted in the air. Suddenly, the buzz immediately died down when the sound of heels clicked on the cold tile floor.

With the crowd pressed against the walls to make way, the infamous Park Shinae strutted down the 300 hall, her three inch heels clacking with every step. Her cold eyes didn't take in the frightened stares or the disgusted glares of the other students who had good reasons to be scared. The girl radiated power, and rumors claimed she sent five guys to the hospital. All at once.

Only when she turned the corner to enter her class did the hallway revive to life again with murmurs and mutters of the infamous student who had just passed.

"I see the Ice Queen decided to attend today," noted L.Joe, one of the students who witnessed the girl's arrival.

"I'm curious where she's been for the past few days," Changjo wondered aloud.

Niel shook his head and advised, "You don't want to know. She was probably getting into fights. Again."

"How would you know?" Ricky retorted.

"Well, I don't," admitted Niel, "but knowing her past, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

Chunji, one of the two boys of their friend group who hadn't commented yet, scoffed. "First off, you don't know her past. You only know the past fabricated for her by the rumors. Secondly, who are we to judge? We’re not any better.”

He had a point. Their friendship initially started as weak, tentative alliances to survive in the delinquent world of Seoul before slowly growing into a tighter bond of brotherhood. Though their troublemaking days were in the past, there were a few days in a year when old rivals who couldn’t get over a grudge would start fights.

C.A.P nodded in approval, and the other boys had to agree, albeit reluctantly. Niel eyed Chunji, suspiciously asking, “You don’t like her, right?”

The accused boy shivered at the accusation. “I feel insulted. She’s a cocky, arrogant, condescending brat. Trust me, I had to work on a project with her, and I felt like dying. But I felt like it was unfair for us to accuse her of getting into fights every day simply because of rumors.”

Just then, the bell rang, signaling for the boys to split to their separate ways. The three younger boys- Niel, Ricky, and Changjo- returned to their hallways while the seniors- C.A.P, Chunji, and L.Joe- parted to their own classes. Unfortunately for Chunji, he was in a different class from the other two who had the luck to be in the same one. And he was unfortunate enough to be in the same class as the Ice Queen.

The class was loud and rambunctious as usual until Teacher Son walked into the room. “Alright, settle down, settle down,” he commanded as the students scrambled to their seats and quieted down. “So, today’s announcements. Don’t forget to turn in your worksheets…”

Feigning interest, Chunji managed to bear listening to his teacher’s various announcements until the end of homeroom. When the bell for the next class began, Teacher Son walked out with a “behave everybody” warning, and the room grew alive with the mutterings of the students before quickly dying when Teacher Im- their literature teacher- entered.

“Okay class, I hope you didn’t forget that today is when we start our new project,” she announced. She began to explain the project which required students to present the perspectives of the male and female main characters of the book they were reading.

“Now, you’ll be working in pairs,” she began, and when half of the students immediately began to babble about who they’ll work with, and she raised her voice to state loudly, “Pairs I’ve already decided.”

Cue the groans. Unlike his classmates however, Chunji was rather glad his teacher assigned pairs. He didn’t know that many people in his class nor was comfortable enough to trust them with a project.

“Because this project requires the perspectives of both a female and a male, I tried to pair opposite genders together as much as possible,” Teacher Im explained before launching into a list of the pairs.

“Do Kyungsoo with Kim Hyerim. Kim Wonsik and Seo Youkyoung. Lee Chanhee-”

At the mention of his real name, Chunji looked up, slightly anticipating his partner’s name.

“and Park Shinae. Min Yoongi-”

On second thought, he was not at all glad about his teacher assigning pairs.

He tuned out the rest of the names, partially because they didn’t concern him and partially because he was groaning to himself about his terrible luck. Of all the people in his class, he had to be partnered up with her. He hadn’t been joking when he told his friends that he nearly died working with her the last time he had to.

When Teacher Im allowed the rest of the class time to be used as project time, he craned his next to look for her, and he spotted her head bent over her desk, not bothering to find him like most partners would do.

Cursing Teacher Im, he gathered his belongings and trudged over to the Ice Queen’s desk and plopped down to the empty seat next to hers- empty because no one dared to sit with her.

“Hey, we have to work together.”

He received no response in return. Sighing, he repeated, “Yah, Park Shinae, are you deaf? I said we have to work-”

“I heard you the first time,” she snapped.

Raising an eyebrow but not deterred, he snapped back, “Well, then you should lift your head, look me in the eyes, and greet me like how most people would.”

He regretted his words the moment he let them out of his mouth. The way she glared at him sent chills down his back, causing him to visibly shiver a bit.

“I’ll do the entire project myself,” she snarled, but instead of being grateful and escaping, Chunji frowned.

“Whoa, I won’t allow that. Let me do a little bit at least.”

Shinae shot him an irritated look. “Why? I offered to do the entire thing, so why are you questioning it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t feel right with letting someone else do all the work. Besides, how are you going to write about the boy’s perspective?”

After heaving a heavy sigh that released her annoyance, with much ill concealed control, she said tightly, “Fine. You do that part, give me your papers, and I’ll do the rest.”

Seeing how bothered Shinae became by his bugging, Chunji decided to push his luck a bit more. He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’ll also the boy’s part of the poster.”

Slamming her hands on the desk, she jumped up from her seat with a murderous look in her eyes. “Then you might as well do the entire thing,” she hissed.

“Miss Shinae!” Teacher Im’s sharp voice cut through their conversation, causing the two bickering students to whip their heads to meet the stern gaze of their teacher. “Is there something wrong?”

Although the question wasn’t directed to him, Chunji desperately wanted to shout that yes, there was something wrong; he had to work with the Devil’s daughter. But Shinae merely shook her head and sat down, throwing her partner a contemptuous look that he gladly returned.

“I don’t want to work with you any more than you want to work with me. So we’ll do our separate things until the end when we have to make the poster,” she ordered.

“Aye aye, dictator,” Chunji said nonchalantly, rolling his eyes.

Shinae glared at him. “What did you call me?” she asked lowly.

“Dictator,” he repeated, and when she continued glaring at him, he put his hands up in surrender. “What? You are!”

Her hands curled into fists. “Don’t. Call. Me. That,” she said through her grit teeth.

Noticing her fists, Chunji teased further, “Oh, don’t like it? Alright. I’ll keep using it.”

She continued glaring at him a little longer before turning back to her work. But as she did, Chunji swore he heard her call him an a**hole.

“Whoa, what did you just call me?” He straightened and bristled at her.

“Nothing.”

“No, you clearly called me something. What did you call me?”

“I didn’t say anything, and stop bothering me you, you fu**ing-”

Before she could continue, Teacher Im’s voice cried, “Miss Shinae, language! Both of you, out in the hallway!”

And that’s how the two spent the rest of the class period in the hallway, raising their arms in the air as punishment. After class was over and receiving an earful from Teacher Im and not using profanity, the two were finally allowed to leave. And as they were just about to part, Chunji heard Shinae spit, “I hate you.”

“And I hate you too,” he retorted at her retreating back. Sighing, he ruffled his hair in agitation. He wasn’t sure how he was going to survive working with her; heck, he wasn’t sure if he was going to survive.

Three years has passed since then, and Chunji still remembered those moments. The times when he worried about how he was going to be able to bear working with Shinae. If only the high school Chunji had known then what was going to blossom from that one project, maybe he would have had a different perspective on the situation.

Two years has passed since Shinae and Chunji broke up due to various reasons, one being their inability to be together without fighting.

The moment they got together, everyone except the two knew their relationship was doomed. But they had been through so many ups and downs together, including Shinae’s independence from her abusive father to their graduation and entrance of college, that they believed they’d be able to get through their relationship. They were wrong.

Tired of Shinae’s seemingly lack of compassion for him (or at least visible evidence of it), Chunji thought she didn’t love him the way he loved her. Upset with Chunji’s denseness and lack of understanding, Shinae thought it’d be better for them to break up. So they did.

But within a day of breaking up, Chunji missed Shinae. He was so used to having her around, constantly arguing and bickering in only the way she could, that not having her around was weird. He shrugged the feeling aside, thinking he’d get over it. But days passed, and he still missed her.

Days turned into weeks before morphing into months before becoming a year then yet another. Before he knew it, two years had flown by, and Chunji still missed Shinae. As much as he didn’t want to admit it aloud, the heaviness in his heart whenever he thought of her or thought about dating was proof.

Of course, he never tried to think about her. It just came naturally, just like how speaking or walking came naturally. Thoughts of her especially arose in his mind on quiet days in the cafe, filled only with the sound of korean pop music rather than people’s conversations.

With a blank mind, he wiped the tables so they’d be ready for the next customer, and he only focused when his only co-worker during his shift, Baek Ahyeon, asked, “Hey, Chunji, you okay? You look out of it today.”

“Uh…”

Before he could say he was fine, a familiar song began playing, its tune floating in the air. With a small gasp, he recognized the song to be Teen Top’s Missing, one of Shinae’s favorite song that quickly became one of his as well. It had became their song.

After snapping out of my daze, he reluctantly lied, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He concentrated on a spot on the table, vigorously rubbing it even though it had been cleaned a long ago.

“Okay, whatever you say,” she said, not convinced. The bell chimed, indicating a new customer had walked in.

“Welcome to Caffe Bene! How may I help