[CONTENTID1]The field trip[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]A SELECTION OF CHOCOLATE-BOYS[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Nana and Suzy decided to leave for the field trip together early the next morning. They thought they would miss the bus because Jackson was too busy playing on his nintendo and so, he arrived late to pick them up. In any case, they still made it in time to find Prof Lee Junki and Prof Park Haejin glaring at them from outside the bus.

It was a chilly dawn, as was to be expected nearing the month of December. The sky was streaked with pewter and glowing pink shades. An eternal mist sifted through them, breathing ice down their spines and pricking at their skins like a horde of needles.

Both girls were dressed in hiking gear with large bags weighing against their wispy waists. Jackson was preoccupied, eyes glued onto the screen of his game console than to notice the dirty glares that the headmasters sent his way.

A young woman popped out of the bus, and Suzy realised that it was Yoona, the phD student who shared a lab with TOP and Changmin-- the latter two were sitting inside the bus. Yoona folded her arms and clucked her tongue across the roof of .

“What took you two so long?” she asked. “We were waiting for a long time.”

“S-sorry Yoona-nim,” Suzy stuttered.

Nana simply rolled her eyes and climbed her way atop the bus. She pointed excitedly at Ahn Jaehyun and Do Kyungsoo who sat behind Changmin and TOP. Suzy gasped in dismay and pushed her finger aside.

Suzy’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Changmin. The pale bruises on his face struck her like like a sack of stones. She had the sudden urge to throw her arms across his neck and kiss them away. He didn’t so much as glance at her.

The bus was packed with many students. The girls spotted the Sweety gang around the middle.

-

Yoona stared at Jackson, waiting impatiently for him to move forward but the boy was preoccupied with his nintendo.

“Dammit Mark Tuan,” Jackson hissed. “That Nargacuga is getting away, you dope!”

Without further ado, Yoona snatched the nintendo from his fingers. The boy squealed like a frightened pig before glaring at the young woman.

“Give that back!” he demanded.

“Get in the bus, chub,” she answered icily.

When Jackson tried to grab his console back, she only lifted it higher to torment him. The bodyguard wailed like a child who had their candy snatched.

Yoona caught TOP staring at her. When they locked eyes, the older student chuckled and flashed her a thumbs-up.

-

The first person she noticed was Jieun and sitting next to her was Joonmyun. They exchanged demure glances at each other and when the timid boy offered her a piece of his chocolate bar, it made Suzy wonder if there was something secretive blossoming between them. The two were sharing a pair of earphones as Joonmyun flicked through a playlist on his phone.

When her timorous friend met her gaze, a meek smile tugged at her lips and she waved her hand at them. Joonmyun followed her gaze and his eyes lit up with cordial radiance.

“You guys made it,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Just in time,” Suzy beamed, relieved to be with them.

The past few days had all life out her and she was living beneath a storm cloud that hindered all happiness. This was a new start and nothing but copious amounts of good fortune welled within her thoughts and extended to her surroundings.

“There’s a couple of seats at the back,” Joonmyun said, looking over his shoulder. “I made sure they saved one for you guys.”

Suzy contemplated then how much everyone must have missed his blithe spirit and amicable personality. Jieun was indeed a very lucky girl.

As she walked further down the narrow strip between seats, her eyes darted from passenger to passenger, searching with a sense of vigorous eagerness for the one man who contaminated her thoughts and made her feel as if something was swimming in her stomach.

She glimpsed Krystal seated next to Baekhyun on her way down. The poor girl displayed a disgruntled look on her countenance as the occupant next to her attempted to gain her attention, brushing strands of hair behind Krystal’s ear.

Suzy had to refrain herself from emitting a laugh so she bit into her lip. Pity welled inside her when she noticed Krystal turning from Baekhyun to steal a glance at Changmin and then slowly returning a forlorn gaze out the window.

It was no wonder that Baekhyun went out of his way to impress the girl. Her locks were naturally glossy in the morning sunlight that streamed into the bus and her large eyes glistened with effulgence; unfortunately for him, her heart was stolen by the beansprout who sat near the back, and was, quite unsurprisingly, gormandising food with great fervour.

Changmin caught her staring at him, just before he could dive into another munch. He stood abruptly and the familiar, pernicious shadow crossed his features. His posture was so rigid it looked as if someone had replaced his spine with a metal rod. The mere sight of him made her feel as if all the air in the bus was heavier, bearing down on Suzy.

He cleared his throat.

“Everyone take your seats, you’re slowing us all down,” he hissed with bitter distaste. It occured to Suzy that she and Nana were the only ones standing so all eyes turned to them, most scintillating with irk, but one amongst them was glinting with amusement, savouring each second of her humiliation; Chanyeol.

It was obvious that her ex-tutor had done that on purpose and the very sight of him caused her stomach to regurgitate. She wanted to pull his hair and maybe even slap him across the face so his sardonic eyes would roll into the back of his head and she would never have to see them again, but instead, Suzy stared at the ground and hurried further down, searching for any spare seat, steam emanating from her face.

“Suzy!” Sungyeol’s voice cheered and when she looked up, the frolicsome, young man had stood, waving his arms about frantically. Heat at the sight of him.

“I’m so happy you’re here!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and grinning his megawatt smile. “I thought you were gonna bail and then I thought maybe you forgot to set your alarm or that you were kidnapped! Man, I was freaking out so much! I tried to call you and everything and-”

“I’m here now, right?” Suzy grinned, wiggling out of his embrace when she felt the flare of Nana’s eyes scorching through her back.

Myungsoo was sitting by the window next to Sungyeol and when his eyes found Suzy he did not even acknowledge her. Instead, they narrowed suspiciously.

“Myungsuey,” Nana warbled. “Can you move over there? I’m sitting with Sungyeol.”

“What did you call me?” he growled and gave her a look that would wither a plant.

“You heard me,” she laughed, pulling him by the elbow.

Myungsoo wrung his arm with a sharp jerk, causing Nana to release her hold of him. They stared at each other momentarily, battling through the silence with glowerings.

"Oh no, don't be hatin' on each other guys! We can sort it all out!" Sungyeol blabbered in one long breath. A wave of disappointment washed his face. "You can just sit over there," he suggested to Myungsoo, pointing at the empty pair of seats just across his.

The taciturn mumbled something incoherent and obeyed, leaving Nana in a fit of childish giggles as she plopped herself next to Sungyeol.

Something inside Suzy deflated like an untied balloon. Although leaving her to sit with Myungsoo was like hiring a babysitter that spent his time sharpening knives, it was not the cause of her weeping heart.

The hostility between them was hard to miss. Myungsoo ignored her presence, dished his hand into his rucksack and pulled out his ipod. Suzy was still grateful to him for the day he intruded Taekwoon from demolishing Yifan and his cronies, but she could almost taste the bitterness that clung over their heads.

Across from her, she heard Nana and Sungyeol engage into a conversation. Both of them sounded so enthusiastic and when Suzy glanced in their direction, she realised how perfect they appeared together.

Nana was reeking with feminine beauty with her sleek hair, her beautiful face and her curvy figure, while Sungyeol was tall and handsome with a personality that outshone everyone else’s. They were lost in their own world, talking, laughing and sharing experiences.

A menacing tightness disabled Suzy from breathing until she thought her face would turn purple. What was happening to her? Why did she suddenly feel as if her friend was her nemesis? Why did she wish that she was in Nana’s place?

Her thoughts were disrupted when death-metal music blared from Myungsoo’s earphones. He nodded his head in tune with the beat as he stared at the rows upon rows of streets that the bus steamed past.

Suzy cringed as the music grew louder. She was genuinely concerned for Myungsoo’s auditory capability. She peeked at his ipod and realised that the boy listened to an old death metal band called ‘I Killed The Prom Queen’.

The girl crinkled her nose. Myungsoo’s choice in music was a great reminder of the type of person that he was.

“Myungsoo?” she said, hoping that he’d hear her.

Myungsoo was as deaf as a tree. His head bobbed in time with the tune like a ping pong ball.

“Myungsoo,” Suzy said, louder this time.

She might as well have talked to a wall, for Myungsoo was imperceptible. She wondered if he was truly intoxicated by the music, or if he was genuinely ignoring her. Due to his emotionless face, she would never know for sure.

-

As time went by, the bus drove past mountains that soared upwards as if determined to kiss the sky. They resembled gigantic beasts beneath thick blankets of white, lying in dreamless sleep as the eons tickled by like the hands of a clock. She imagined the beast falling into an eternal slumber, their souls still trapped within the hearts of the mountains, waiting to be awoken.

The rocky terrain around them stretched as far as the eye could see; a brown plane colliding with the horizon.

Myungsoo was snoring into this tightly folded arms. He never looked small to her before, but he did now with his shoulders slumped and his body collapsing on itself like crumpled paper.

Seeing him now, Suzy couldn’t deny that he was handsome; his cute nose and cupid lips, which even as he slept were pressed in a hard line, were carved to perfection, but his nefarious accusations cancelled it all out.

The bus shook fiercely on the bumpy path and Myungsoo’s head bobbed around, hitting against the window and then repelled back against his seat. The rigorous impact didn’t have any effect on his deep sleep and Suzy wondered if this man was even human. The more time she spent with him, the less it seemed true.

A silver trail of drool oozed from his lips and formed an unbroken spittle that dangled down his chin. He reminded her of a little baby and it was hard to believe that this was the same punk who lashed out in fury against Taekwoon.

Realisation dawned on her as she discerned how little she knew of this man. And she may never find out anything about him. He was as hard as a shell that resided in sandy beaches and never reached the shores of an ocean; stiff and unyielding.

Suzy rummaged through her bag at her feet, fingers brushing against essentials that she had stocked up for the trip. She plucked out a piece of tissue and turned to face Myungsoo; wondering why her hand quivered. Perhaps she didn’t want to admit that his causticity was somewhat frightening.

Suzy brushed aside all thoughts of fear and pressed the tissue against hi