Taemin coudn't stand the people he had to work with this year. Not only were they not reliable, but they were lazing around, taking their cabinet positions as some kind of joke. The only person who would actually work was the principal's granddaughter, Jung Soojung, but even she wouldn't socialize with him.

He didn't mind that, though. He wasn't much of a talker himself. As long as she worked, he was satisfied.

On the day he got the journal from Byunghun, he began to share his thoughts about how it felt to be the student council president and complained about the others.

"Hey, at least the vice president is working along. Try holding a party or something, you know? Get them to be comfortable with you. I bet that they're just clueless of what to do," Byunghun advised.

"Or I can bring Hyunwoo and use his awesome social skills to help!" Jieun offered.

Taemin heaved a sigh then glanced at Jieun. "What makes you like that guy so much? All he does is fight with me."

"Don't, Taemin. Please don't get her started. It's already torture for me to hang around her," Byunghun said, rolling his eyes.

It was true. All Jieun did was talk about how amazing Hyunwoo was. When the boys first met her (that was back in elementary school), they were fine with her admiring Hyunwoo. However, as time passed by and when her hormones kicked in during middle school, she began to act more obsessed to the point where the boys always had to hear her speak about her "prince". It was annoying, especially to Byunghun, who would always make bad remarks about Hyunwoo unconsciously, causing Jieun to fume in anger and go on and on about Hyunwoo.

The person who probably had the highest tolerance to listen to Jieun's endless flattery about Hyunwoo would be Taemin. Taemin knew how smart and responsible Hyunwoo was. Despite his rival's terrible and childish behavior, Taemin couldn't help but think that Hyunwoo would've been fit to be a part of the student council.

Plus, Taemin didn't really care about love. Love was a topic he had never touched or never experienced. Just by listening to Jieun's love-struck stories, he swore that he knew what love was.

"By the way, where are the rest?" Taemin asked, looking around.

"Oh! I see Junhee over there with that tall dude in her class," Jieun said, pointing at the bench where Junhee and Chanyeol sat.

The red-haired friend was strumming her acoustic guitar, and it appeared that she was annoying her little friend. Chanyeol gritted his teeth, trying to stay calm as he sketched a picture of a flower nearby. Despite the way their eyes furrowed or the way they scrunched their nose, there was a small grin plastered on their lips. Byunghun, hoping that he could send Jieun towards them, approached them quickly.

"Junhee! What's up?" Byunghun called, sitting next to her. Their friend looked surprised, but she remained calm.

"Hi Byunghun. Long time no see. By the way, you did great yesterday. I heard that there are two girls who will be managing the team," Junhee said, complimenting Byunghun.

The basketball boy grinned while he rested his arm over the bench. "Well, you know me. I'm good with the basketball." He looked at Chanyeol. "Who's this?"

"Park Chanyeol. I'm in the same class as Junhee," Chanyeol introduced himself, extending his rather large hands. Byunghun shook it, greeting him with a smile while sharing his name.

Soon, Taemin and Jieun approached them, telling Chanyeol who they were and how they were related to Junhee. Chanyeol seemed almost embarrassed when he saw Jieun, and it was clear that Junhee didn't like it.

"Where's Dasom and Eunji? I haven't seen them all day," Taemin pointed out.

"Dasom is hiding from Myungsoo. Apparently, they made a bet, and so the next time they come to school, she has to be his slave for one day. Um, I think I saw Eunji. She was trying to find you, Jieun. She wanted to see your English notes," Junhee informed them.

"By the way, can I ask you guys something?" Chanyeol asked. The four friends nodded in reply. "Are any of you guys dating Jieun?"

 Jieun blinked her eyes, then stared at Taemin, who stared back at her.

"Nah, but this guy used to have a crush on me in middle school! Though I'm forever loyal to Hyunwoo. He's such an angel!" Jieun cried loudly, squealing as she thought of her crush.

"Woah, wait. Did you confess to her?" Byunghun asked, surprised that Jieun knew.

Back in middle school, before Taemin found out about Jieun having this huge crush on Hyunwoo, he had declared that he liked Jieun. He wasn't sure how, but he thought that she was (in some ways) fun to be around with. Up to now, he wasn't sure if he still "liked" her. Maybe it was because he was comfortable being around Jieun, but he didn't know. He remember telling Jieun about his potential feelings at the end of their third year in middle school, but she had brushed him away, declaring that what he felt wasn't "love" and that she would eventually marry Hyunwoo.

So what is love? Taemin wondered, completely ignoring Byunghun's question.

"So are you dating Hyunwoo?" Chanyeol asked, turning a bit pale.

"No, but she wish. If Hyunwoo wasn't such a jerk, then there might been chemistry between them," Byunghun said unintentionally. After realizing that he called Hyunwoo a "jerk," he widened his eyes and stared at Jieun, who was almost shooting lasers at him. He scurried away, only to be chased by Jieun, who was planning to give the poor boy a ten-minute lecture about how perfect her crush was.

Taemin let out a small smirk, but stopped when he realized that Junhee and Chanyeol weren't laughing.

"So I still have a chance, right?" Chanyeol asked Junhee.

Wait, he likes Jieun? Taemin wondered. Personally, he never really liked competitions, especially when it came to romance. That was one of the main reasons he decided to "give up" on his feelings for Jieun. When he discovered that she was heads-over-heels for Hyunwoo, he didn't want to fight over her, thus he chose to let her go. It wasn't that he wasn't serious. It was more like he was lazy to fight for love.

"No. I told you, Jieun has been liking Hyunwoo for quite some time," Junhee said, obviously annoyed at the question.

"But I need her more than this Hyunwoo guy! She's my sole purpose of art; she's my art inspiration," Chanyeol declared, heaving a dreamy sigh.

"Obviously, you guys are going to talk about love, so I'll be on my way," Taemin interrupted, walking away before the two of them could say anything.

Logic was much easier than love. Everything was done for him when it came to logic. He just had to figure out where to put the puzzles and how the information connected. Love was… different. It was more of a massive web that tangled all over the place, and it was too difficult to untie the messy knot. Every time Dasom talked about her many boyfriends, he would always lose track and be behind while his other friends would join in the conversation. Love was too hard. It was much better to give up on the idea of love and focus on the idea of logic. 

"Oh, Taemin," a voice behind him called. Finding himself back in the school building, he turned around and saw Soojung, the vice president of the student council, approaching him with serious dead eyes.

"Hello, Soojung. Is there anything wrong?" Taemin asked, running his fingers through his hair.

"My grandpa–I mean, Principal Jung wants to see you in his office after school. He wants to ask you to help distribute the new club posters throughout the school," Soojung explained, handing him several different posters.

Taemin frowned. "Didn't we tell the clubs to do this themselves after approving their work?"

"Apparently, the clubs didn't know anything about it," Soojung responded.

Taemin growled. "Are you kidding me? I told the secretary and the treasurer to inform the clubs about this…"

"You know, I thought you were smart. Do you really think that those two would do something productive?" Soojung heaved a sigh. "Look, if you want, I can help you after school. There are some big clubs hanging around, too. I can ask them to spread the word, just in case other clubs haven't submitted their advertisements yet."

"Thanks, Soojung, but I'm fine. I can do it myself," Taemin replied, walking away. He heard Soojung sigh in disappointment, but he chose to ignore her and continued walking.

Not to far from him, he found Dasom and Eunji watching him like a hawk. At first, he planned to run away. However, after seeing Dasom's cold glare, he decided that it would be best for him to approach the two girls.

"Good morning Dasom. Eunji, nice to see you," Taemin greeted them.

Dasom smacked him on the end, causing the poor boy to whimper. "Why do you have to be such an idiot when it comes to love?"

Love?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop kidding around, will you? Eunji saw it, too," Dasom said. She clicked her tongue and pushed the boy back. "Go and allow that girl to help you!"

Taemin groaned. "I can do this myself—"

"Man, you're such a kid," Dasom cried out, crossing her arms. "She's the type of girl who wants to help, but can't really say that." She paused to see Taemin's puzzled expression. "I mean that she likes to work."

"And I like to work alone."

Dasom quickly grabbed his collar and bumped her forehead against his. "Lee Taemin, if you don't go back and allow the girl to help you, you better feel my wrath until the end of the school year. Now. Go."

Knowing that there was no chance of winning, Taemin walked back, grumbling and mumbling until he stood in front of Soojung. The girl seemed shock, but she tried to act calm. She looked out the window while crossing her arms, pretending to be all high and mighty.

"What do you want?" she snapped, surprising Taemin.

"I want you to help me take these back to the student council room," Taemin replied, glancing back at Dasom, who was still watching him. He stared back down at Soojung, who seemed delighted to help out.

"Well, if you say so," she responded, taking a little more than half the stack.

Honestly, I don't need your help, but my friend over there is threatening me so I have no choice but to ask you if I want to stay alive, Taemin wanted to say. Instead, he flashed her a smile and walked besides her, heading towards the room. He looked back once to see if Dasom was still looking. Instead, Eunji was staring at him, gesturing him to go further if he wanted to avoid Dasom's sight. He secretly mouthed her a "thank you" and continued to walk next to Soojung.

"Were you part of the student council last year?" Soojung suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

She rolled her eyes and repeated herself. "I asked if you were part of the student council when you were a first-year."

"Um, yeah. I was the representative for the first years last year, though. This year, I was elected to be class president for the Special Class and had the most votes for the student council president position," he explained, deciding that it would be fine for Soojung to walk with him.

"I see. I saw that you were talking to some girls earlier. Who were they? Your friends?"

"Unfortunately," he said, thinking about Dasom. "Some of them are really demanding."

"Really? Tell me about them."

"I don't know where to start."

"Well, who are your friends?"

He paused for a few seconds, thinking about who his friends were. "Kim Dasom, Choi Junhee, Jung Eunji, Lee Jieun, and Lee Byunghun. All five of them are in the same year as me, but they are in different class."

"Great. Tell me about them," Soojung said, urging him to continue.

He decided to start off with Dasom, mainly because she would want him to talk about her first. "Dasom is in the same class as Junhee. In our group, Dasom is the loud one. She's always stirring trouble, and I think a guy named Myungsoo likes her? I'm not so sure, but the other girls in our group think so. Then there's Junhee, who only loves music. Eunji is the girl with the thick dialect. You saw her earlier with Dasom. I know that she has a childhood friend in her class, but they don't talk to each other anymore. Jieun is the most troublesome girl, even though Dasom is causing the drama. Seriously, that girl is desperate for love. She has a huge crush on Hyunwoo, who hates me. Byunghun is a basketball lover. He loves basketball, but he also loves this girl who helps manage the team. Unfortunately, his crush got a boyfriend not too long ago."

Soojung suddenly let out a snort. "It seems like your entire group is their love problems, huh?"

Did they? Taemin wasn't sure. He was so absorbed into talking about his friends, he didn't realize that he was standing in front of their destination.

When they arrived at the student council room, Soojung closed the door behind them with her foot. She put down her half of the stack on Taemin's table. After watching Taemin put away the posters, she coolly leaned against his desk, the palm of her hands resting at the edge.

Taemin took a seat, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know. I'm not too good with love. I thought I had a crush on Jieun before, but she said that what I felt wasn't love. Then again, that was in middle school, so…"

"So what I'm hearing is that you're kind of left out?" Soojung finally faced Taemin by turning her body. "Think about it. Dasom might be in love, Junhee loves music, Eunji might've already had love, Jieun is chasing after love, and Byunghun has an unrequited love. What does that make you?"

How did you get all that when I told you about my friends? Taemin wondered. "I don't know, maybe a normal boy? I don't really need love—"

"Let me teach you," she said, giving him a smirk.

"Excuse me?" Taemin's eyes enlarged as he stared at the vice president.

"Be my boyfriend." She took a seat across from him, resting her chin against the back of her hand. "Lee Taemin, I didn't just ask my grandfather to take down the other girl who tried to run for vice president so that I can fill in the cabinet slot. To be honest, a first year going up against a second year genius would never win. If it weren't for my grandfather's influence, this would've never happened." She leaned closer, pulling Taemin's tie in a teasing manner. "I've had my eyes on you the moment I saw you on the first day of school."

Oh. I see where this is going.

"So what I'm hearing is that you were stalking me, demanded to the principal to be on the student council after finding out that I was the president of the student council, and now you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked, trying to clarify what was going on.

"Mhm! As expected, you're a smart man," Soojung whispered.

It took Taemin only seconds to realize that she was coming closer, approaching her lips to his. Should he move? That was the big question.

As the seconds ticked by, his eyes were focused on her plump pink lips, which seemed to glow with greed and desire. They begged for his lips, and he didn't know why. He didn't bother to answer his own question, though. Before she could plant a kiss, Taemin raised a random poster, intercepting the kiss. Soojung quickly pulled away, releasing his tie. She looked mad, but he thought that she deserved it.

He slowly placed the poster back on top of its pile and got up, straightening his tie.

"I'm sorry, but life isn't all about you, princess. Unfortunately, I don't give out free kisses," Taemin snapped, getting up.

Soojung glowered at him. "Hey. I work hard, so give me credit. I'm not a spoiled princess."

"I don't care. Go find someone else to play with. I don't want to be involved with a seductress like you." He went to open the door until Soojung ran to lock it.

She blocked the door with her arms, spreading them across the walls. Taemin sighed, obviously disappointed to keep up with the childish act. Soojung narrowed her eyes, not giving up until he agreed to be her boyfriend.

"Why do I have to be your boyfriend?" Taemin finally asked. She was bugging him, and his time was being wasted on her.

"Okay, fine! I guess you deserve an explanation. Over the long vacation, I had a crush on this guy, and I managed to confess to him. I was going to be fine if he rejected me, but he was being blunt and kept talking about how I always had life easy and that if a guy were to date me, it would be to have a steady and nice life. I want to prove him wrong, so I followed him to this school. Then, I saw you and I was thinking how nice it would be to prove my old crush that people don't need me to live a fortunate life.

"You're already smart and focused. I'm sure you don't need me to do anything with your life. Besides, I talked to some girls in my grade, and you're pretty popular. So not only were you ranked number one among the second years, but you were also popular with the ladies and participated in every school activity. Just let me use you for a few weeks or months to prove my old crush that I can get a guy who doesn't want to date me for my family's background," Soojung begged, giving him the puppy eyes.

Taemin didn't want to believe her. He wanted to think that she was trying to trick him, and maybe she just wanted to play with his feelings. However, seeing the sincere look on her face, he knew that she was being honest, and he disliked her for that. The boy took a deep breath, ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance, then bit his bottom lip.

"Fine, but if I hear any bad rumors about you, I'm breaking up with you. If you want to be my girlfriend, you're going to have to match my standards," Taemin warned her. S

oojung grinned. "Easy enough for me! Did I tell you that I was also a genius?"

"No, but I don't want to know."

"Thank you so much! I'll go spread the word, okay?" Soojung said, unlocking the door while tuning a whistle.

Taemin looked at her for a moment, trying to lock his gaze with hers."Hey, but while we're doing this, can I ask you who your old crush was?"

The door opened, and Soojung finally turned around. "I met him over the winter vacation. His name, if I remember it correctly, was Kim Myungsoo. "

Soojung ran off, while Taemin walked outside of the room with a puzzled expression.

Kim Myungsoo? Was she talking about the Kim Myungsoo who was related to Dasom? The one guy who spat gum on Dasom's hair, making her cut it short when she liked it long?

"Achoo!"

Taemin turned around and saw Dasom and Myungsoo walking together. The older boy rubbed his nose, sniffing as Dasom handed him a tissue in an irritated manner. She was holding onto his thick backpack, not to mention that she was already struggling to carry her own bag. Nevertheless, Myungsoo didn't seem to mind about Dasom's struggles as he continued to walk side by side.

"You've been sneezing a lot. Are you catching a cold?" Dasom asked, frowning.

"No… I think I'm allergic to kids like you, though," Myungsoo joked, smiling while Dasom kicked his leg.

She looked up and spotted Taemin, who was still staring at them with a blank look. She ran towards him, taking out her hand as if she needed something.

"Taemin, are you done with the journal yet? I know it's not time for you to hand it to me, but if you're done, I'd like to read it as soon as possible," she explained after figuring out that Taemin was still spacing out. He snapped out of his thoughts and pulled out the journal from the inside pocket of his blazer.

"Um, sorry. I haven't been able to write it in yet. Let me write something real quick. I need to go somewhere soon," he said, taking out a pencil to write. He wrote down his own entry, then closed it as he handed it to Dasom. Dasom smiled, and flipped the journal open to read what he had wrote.

Before he could see her reaction, Taemin turned around, knowing what she would. And as he had predicted, Dasom let out a loud shriek, almost deafening Taemin's and Myungsoo's ears.