Come Monday, Yifan didn’t approach her in school. She didn’t know what to make of that. But she found a dozen orange flowers—tulips this time—in her locker after fourth period. There was no note or anything but did she really want to think it was from him?

The rest of the afternoon went by like a drag. She went straight to the Student Council office after bidding Kyungsoo goodbye. Just thinking of the things she had to do today hurt her head. What welcomed her when she arrived was two of her staff arguing about what courses should be eliminated from the general education classes the school offered.

The administration asked for the council’s recommendation. They were streamlining the current GenEd system they had to offer more useful classes for the students. He saw that there were a few student representatives from each year level watching silently on the side as her secretary and vice president continued arguing like it was nobody’s business.

“Enough.” Just one word from her and they all took their proper places. The secretary turned the projector on and distributed papers that indicated the complete list of GenEd classes they had. She took a look.

Embroidery? What the ? Who ever studies embroidery nowadays?

Soccer? Didn’t they already have a soccer team? Whoever wanted soccer should just join the team.

Media Studies? Check.

Horseback riding? Approved.

Art appreciation? Okay.

“Excuse me, Joonmyeon-ssi? Can we start now? I still have soccer practice to go to.” It was a boy he remembered to be Luhan. He was the captain of the soccer team.

“Right. Good thing that you’re here, Luhan-ssi. We will be removing Astronomy, Embroidery, Poetry, Soccer, Carp—“

“What did you just say?” He slammed his fist on the table hard but Joonmyeon didn’t even bat an eyelash. “You’re going to what? Remove soccer from GenEd? Have you lost it?”

“Lu. Han.” The girl was familiar but Joonmyeon didn’t know her name. Must be someone from one of her classes. She held Luhan’s arm and forced him to sit down. She addressed her directly. “Joonmyeon-ssi, I thought that the reason why we’re called here is to represent our year regarding their opinion about this matter. Why are you making decisions on your own?” Gesturing to the checklist she was holding.

“Won’t you agree with me that none of these classes are important? You know what kind of school we have. Nobody cared if you’re good in embroidery or in soccer for that matter. We are training the students to be future leaders of their own companies—or our country and not to be some stay-at-home mom or a useless athlete kicking a muddy ball for some penny! There are schools for that…stuff.” She said the last word with as much disgust she could muster.

“How dare you! Not because it’s not important to you, it’s not important to everyone else! Just try to climb down your high horse and be a human for once!” Luhan was red in the face when he left, slamming the door in his wake. If that last jab from Luhan hurt her, Joonmyeon didn’t show.

“Let me tell you that my mother is a stay-at-home mom, Joonmyeon-ssi.” Said the girl who looked liked she’s already used to Luhan’s outbursts. “But she’s definitely not useless. She knows everything about me and I tell her everything. The same way those sports are as useful as any performance or fine arts. We just have different priorities and preferences, is all.” She bowed politely before she left as well, leaving the rest of the student council in flabbergast silence. Because! Nobody talked to Kim Joonmyeon that way and got away with it.

The Vice President, Bang Yongguk cleared his throat. “I didn’t know Minseok-ssi had it in her.”

Himchan, the secretary, elbowed him hard on the rib. “Shut your mouth.” She hissed.

But Joonmyeon was too far gone to even notice them. Minseok? Kim Minseok? Her cousin?

*****************************************

Yifan already mastered the art of push and pull so he didn’t contact Joonmyeon when he got home last Sunday. And he acted like nothing happened the next day and she didn’t even look like she cared. By the third period, he was antsy though he tried not to show since the girl in question was just a couple of feet away from him. He texted his butler and ordered for him to get him orange flowers and have someone put it in her locker before lunch period. He saw her taking out the flowers from her locker come lunch time so he thought he had to reward his butler for a job well done. He was fiddling with his phone the rest of the afternoon, half-expecting a call or even a text to say thank you but he was disappointed.

Come Tuesday, he decided he had enough and wanted to take things to the next level. He woke up early (waaay too early actually) much to the surprise of the house help. Their Shao Ye was never a morning person. He drove to the nearest florist and bought orange stargazer lilies and texted Joonmyeon that she meets him at the school courtyard.

He still had an hour before people arrived. He didn’t know he fell asleep in one of the benches until he felt a light shake on his shoulder. He sat up and found Joonmyeon hovering above him, a curious look on her face. He stood up and gave her the bouquet of stargazers. “These are for you.”

“You couldn’t have put it in my locker?” She asked, incredulous. She was battling with herself if she would show up when she received his message. She was always really early to school anyway to finish leftover club activities from yesterday or to catch up with some advance reading. She saw him enter the courtyard, again, with orange flowers in tow. It piqued her curiosity but she didn’t want to appear too eager so she let him wait a little.

“Well, no. Honestly, I didn’t want you to think it’s from some random admirer.” He wanted to convince himself that Joonmyeon thought it’s just from another schoolmate and not from Yifan. “So I wanted to give it to you personally.”

“And it can’t wait until, I don’t know, some sensible hour?” She made a face but accepted the flowers and hugged it to her chest, careful not to crush them.

“I still have another thing I’d like to do before everyone else is here so…” He trailed off. By that, he saw her take a step back, clearly not liking the implication of what he said. “Hey, get your head out of the gutter, will you?” He guided her to sit on the bench he occupied earlier and took his phone out. He fumbled with it a bit and when he found the correct website, he handed her his phone. “The results are out, are you ready to see them?”

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “How did...? No, don’t answer that.” She shook her head. It totally escaped her mind that the SDC results will be out today! “H-Have you..?” She looked at him, uncertainty marring her beautiful features.

He shook his head. “I’d like you to tell me. If you want to tell me, that is.” She was still clutching his phone but made no move to look at the dreaded results. “Do you want me to check for you?” She bit her lip and nodded. Her hands started to sweat profusely and she busied herself by twiddling with the flowers. Yifan scrolled languidly on his phone, reading and rereading the twelve names listed in total. When he looked at her, her eyes were closed tightly. “Hey,” He nudged her a bit. “Look.”

“No. I can’t. I really can’t!”

“You’re here. You’re in. You should see it.”

“I swear, if you’re playing with me—“

“Just open your eyes and see for yourself!” The phone was too close to her face when she finally opened her eyes so she had to push his hand away. He didn’t know if he just imagined slight tingle he felt when she touched his bare skin.

“Under…study?” Her whole face lit up and Yifan thought he’d love to see that smile every morning given the chance. “I am chosen as understudy for the Princess role?!” She shrieked and Yifan found it adorable.

“See? This is the reason I’d like you to do this when nobody’s around. Go ahead and shout to your heart’s content. Only this time, you can’t say you’re unlucky, okay?”

“Huh? W-What are you talking about?” His smirk told her it was no use denying what he saw her doing at the lagoon. “Yah! You’re really a stalker!”

“Technically, that’s my house. So if someone’s stalking anyone, that would be you.” He chortled and Joonmyeon really wanted to hit him. She was about to do just that when he caught her by the waist and ran around the courtyard hooting and howling like a crazy wolf. “If thou remember'st not the slightest folly, that ever love did make thee run into, thou hast not loved!” Joonmyeon stopped pounding Yifan’s back from where she was perched on his broad shoulder and threw her head in laughter. “Princess Odette, will you be my Swan Queen?”

“W-What?”

A/N: Aigoo. The things I do for the ones I love. I hate you jayhan1311!