The weeks that followed after the incident were filled with boring classes and tiring assignments, something that was no longer new to Mark and the rest of the class, since it would be their senior year next year. Being in one of the best public school in the Gangnam district had of course put some pressure on all the students and teachers of the school to maintain their high standard of education. Therefore, all the students were already used to having extra classes even from the start of their semesters every year.

 However, Mark could see that new student in their class seemed to adapt well with the tightly packed schedule and that kind of amazed him, to be very honest. Minus the numerous arguments both Jinyoung and Jackson were in every single day, Jinyoung seemed to be capable of handling the workload pretty well and never had a complaint about how annoyingly busy they were. Well, it’s not like the kid talks a lot anyway.

Since Mark was not one to talk that much, it would usually be Jackson who would be picking fights with the new boy. After watching and observing him the past weeks, it actually made Mark wondered how a nice and innocent looking boy like Jinyoung could act so cold and persistent like that. Every time Jackson picked fights with him, Jinyoung never failed to be the one winning the arguments, after blurting out his spiteful words. Not only that, Jinyoung was not that friendly to the rest of the class as well, being the quiet boy who came to class on time and went back home right after the class bell rang. The slightly taller boy was yet to have many friends even after a few weeks in the school already. Basically he was acting cold to every person he came to meet; well almost all except one.

One person that Mark saw Jinyoung was ever being comfortable with was the class president, Im Jaebum. He did not even know when the two actually met and talked personally, but every time Jinyoung had a choice to choose his partner or groups, he would definitely choose Jaebum over the rest.

There was once in the P.E class when Youngjae, Jaebum’s best friend, had to make an exchange and came to join Mark and Jackson’s group instead of staying with Jaebum’s, just because Jinyoung refused to be placed in the same group with the two. At first, Mark thought that maybe Jinyoung and Jaebum had known each other long before Jinyoung came to school since Jinyoung seemed to trust Jaebum and only Jaebum. However after asking the class president about it, he denied and it made Mark wondered even more. ‘Maybe Jinyoung was just comfortable with Jaebum’s outgoing personality,’ Mark said in his heart.

It was Thursday again, and the first class early in the morning for that week would be the Biochemistry laboratory session. Mark sighed heavily before settling down his things outside the school laboratory and mumbled, “How I hate sciences, really.” The brown-haired boy then took out his lab coat from his bag and put it on, entering the laboratory and took his seat right after.

It was the first laboratory session of the semester and the lab partners assigned that day would stay for the whole semester. As usual, Mark had Jackson as his lab partner for the past few semesters and so he already had Jackson in his mind for this semester as well.

The class was about the start and Jackson was still nowhere to be seen. Mark kept on glancing at the door of the laboratory, hoping that the lad would appear very soon but to his disappointment, Jackson did not show up, even after the laboratory instructor had started the class.

“Okay everyone, get with your partners and these pairing will stay for the whole semester as usual, alright?” Ms Cho looked at her students before later fixing her gaze to Mark who seemed to sit alone at his side of the table. “Mark Tuan, where is your partner? Jackson … is he not here today?”

Mark turned to look at his instructor and nodded slightly, “Yeah, Miss. He’s kinda late and I don’t know if he’d show up,” Mark replied politely while fixing his position on the tall chair. ‘This can’t be good,’ Mark thought silently as he tried to read Ms Cho’s expression.

Ms Cho turned to look at the rest of the class and apparently she realised that there was another student without a partner, sitting at the back of the class. “You, the one at the back there ... You’re the new student, right? Do you have a partner yet?”

Mark gulped. Told ya, this can’t be good.

Mark assumed that Jinyoung nodded when he heard Ms Cho finally said, “Good. Can you please move to sit here at the empty seat beside Mark? You guys will be lab partners from now on.”

“But-“ Jinyoung’s voice was heard out loud in the quiet laboratory but then the one word he said was left hanging just like that.

“Yes? Is there any problem with that? I don’t see another choice for you, though. Get to your seat so we can start the experiment now.” Ms Cho tilted her head a bit before turning to face the white board again.

Jaebum, sitting  at the other side of the class, just watched as Jinyoung took his things and hesitantly put it right beside Mark’s on the table. Somehow he felt bad to the new boy and eventually glanced at his partner, Suzy, who was also Jinyoung’s desk mate in class.

“Should we change with them? I’m kinda worried,” Jaebum said short, while still fixing his eyes on both Jinyoung and Mark.

The girl beside him smiled and chuckled a bit. “Nah, just let them be. They’ll be fine, trust me. Besides, I’m getting sick of seeing the two not getting along with each other, so this might happen for a reason. At least they are forced to be nice to each other and who knows? They might get along just fine after this.” Upon hearing that, Jaebum nodded slightly as well and then tur