Karam thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. Her hard work paid off and she got chosen to attend Tohoshinki High, the best school in the country. Her father was recently promoted so she could even keep up with high profile crowd of the school with her own designer totes and new car. She was already the smartest girl in her class. Rising star of the drama club and went from a reserve to part of the cheerleading squad when one of the girls got kicked out for some reason.

That however, is not why Karam considers herself lucky.

She hardly began high school for a month and already caught the eye of the school’s kingka.

Jung Yunho was the epitome of perfection.

The Senior had the looks of a Greek god, body of a roman one, the brains that could only be rivalled by Einstein himself plus he is the captain of the basketball team, the school’s dance king, part of the music club and student council, all that while preparing for pre-law to be an attorney like his brother. In addition to that, he was the nicest man to ever walk the halls of Toho High.

And this god on earth asked out Karam.

She of course jumped on it and they’ve been dating for a month now and things couldn’t be more perfect.    

“Hey Yunho! Hey Rammie!” Heechul, Yunho’s classmate seated herself on the lunch table. “I heard your Seoul University acceptance letter is here.”

“Already? Oppa, you didn’t tell me!” Karam whined. 

“That’s because it hasn’t.” Yunho scowled lightly at Heechul. “It’s not official. Jihoon hyung just heard of it from his friend there. I have to still receive the letter.”

“Semantics.” Heechul, the ever elegant diva answered. “I’m being polite by asking. You don’t even ask me ever.”

Yunho rolled his eyes, “Fine! Oh Great Heenim, what about your design school tryouts?”

“Got a few abroad and the National arts college. Haven’t decided which one though.” Heechul shrugged.

“You didn’t get the one you wanted Unnie?” Before Heechul could remark on Karam’s innocent insensitivity, Yunho kicked her under the table.

“Rammie….” Yunho began while glaring at Heechul to stand down, “Heechul doesn’t have a specific school. She’ll learn designing in whichever school her best friend goes to.”

“We’re diaper es-”

“buddies.” Yunho interrupted Heechul.

“whatever.” Heechul shrugged. “we wanted to do fashion so we can start our own line together. Which by the way,” She looked at Yunho, “I guess we’ll be going to National Arts college near you. You can’t get rid of me buddy.” Heechul wriggled her eyebrows and Yunho made a face.

“At least Jaejoong will keep you in control.” Yunho commented.

“Jaejoong? Your friend?” Karam asked Heechul.

Heechul took a bit long to answer. Instead, she turned to Yunho. “I forgot to mention.” She stole hesitant glances towards Karam, “Jaejoong’s fully healed. She’ll be joining school tomorrow.”

Yunho put his chopsticks in the tray of half-eaten food. He looked at Heechul seriously, “I don’t know if you're worried about me or Jaejoong, but you have no reason to be. Jaejoong and I are cool.” Yunho took his tray and walked away.

Karam felt the tension when Yunho walked away and she had a feeling it had to do with this Jaejoong. She looked at Heechul intensely, her gaze steady showing that she wanted answers. “Unnie, what happened between oppa and this Jaejoong?”

Heechul smirked, “kid, you're the puppy of the school of staring down. you can never break me.” She stood up, “It’s not my place to talk of this and knowing about this will affect you the most. You will though, tomorrow. You’ll understand everything once she shows up.”

Karam didn’t know Heechul could be this cryptic. It downright scared her. The way she spoke, Jaejoong sounded like a mafia lord or something.

Which she wasn’t.

Karam found out the next day.

When she had gone to Yunho’s classroom before the starting bell rang, she found every senior crowded around a desk. She went closer and found Yunho and Heechul, with Yunho’s friend, Yoochun leaning on the desks while the entire crowd chatted with the girl in the centre.

“Guys! Guys! I love y’all and I missed you too but One. At a. Time. Please.” Everyone laughed with her jovial personality.

“Come on Jae! You don’t know how hard it is when your student council president isn’t here.” Yoochun, the vice-president said as he squeezed her.     

“OW! Yoochun, you're going to break my bones again.” Jaejoong whined.

“Yah! Stop that!” Yunho pulled Yoochun off her.

“Aw! Rammie!” Heechul noticed Karam who was looking over the shoulders of some tall boys. “Guys, let her through.” The boys moved to let Karam pass. Once she was close to the ethereal smiling face, Karam was taken aback by the similar features as her own yet Jaejoong had this angelic countenance compared to Karam’s simple demeanour.

“Jae, this is Park Karam. She’s a freshman.” Yoochun introduced.

“Really? You’ll be my baby bro’s classmate then!” Jaejoong beamed then scowled, “if that brat would stop sitting in random college classes.” Karam was confused.

“Kim Changmin believes he’s too smart to attend high school with mere mortals like us and sneaks into any university and attends their lectures.” Yunho explained.

“I’ll drag him here soon.” Jaejoong waved it off and then beamed excitedly again. “So, I believe you're also the new cheerleader.” Karam nodded. “Well, your captain is back and practice starts today.” Jaejoong did a tiny cheerleading move.

Karam’s jaw dropped, “You're the captain?” Jaejoong nodded, “the one that fell off the first floor and broke 14 bones?” the whole class became silent making Karam bite her lip in nervousness.

“I was just trying some Looney Tunes experiment.” Jaejoong joked, making everyone laugh albeit awkwardly. “You should head to class. I’ll see you at practice.” Jaejoong pat Karam’s head like she was a puppy and sent her on the way.

The rest of the class went to their seats while she left. Karam took a final glance inside before leaving. The last thing she saw was Yunho’s hand cupping her cheek briefly and Jaejoong patting his belly affectionately before going to her place.

Karam had this unsettling feeling in her stomach.

~~~

Karam was talking about the upcoming school play with her club mates until Yoochun interrupted.

“Hey guys, we need the auditorium to rehearse for the inter-school music contest. You can use the music clubroom if you want.” Yoochun asked politely.

 “Yes Sunbae.” The head of the drama club answered. Everyone was leaving while some of the music and dance people entered with their equipment. Karam found it odd, more because Yunho didn’t say anything about both his clubs having some event like this. Two girls approached the guy with the electric guitar.

“Yonghwa, will Yunho-sunbae and Jaejoong-sunbae be collaborating this time?” They asked.

“Of course! How can we win without the school’s best duo.” Yonghwa said gleefully.

“Omo! We have to buy tickets quickly. Lots of people will come to see them.” One girl said.

“They’re so perfect. I wonder why they broke up.” The other girl said. Karam was shocked hearing that, but more when the girl continued. “I find it too hard to believe that Yunho sunbae didn’t want to stay with her because he didn’t want to care for a badly-injured girlfriend. They’re good friends now. They can’t have separated on such a bad note.”

“I agree. They’re the perfect couple. Something definitely happened for them to separate. I don’t believe Yunho sunbae can be so bad to drop her the second she’s a burden.” Yonghwa gave his bit too.

“Guys! Whatever happened, it’s not our business. Yunho sunbae is with someone else now and he’s still going to win the contest with Jaejoong sunbae.” The third girl scolded lightly.

Karam didn’t feel too good hearing that. She excused herself to the drama head and sat in the gallery of the auditorium.

Her eyes were fixed on the couple singing and dancing with the music club playing and the dance club dancing in the background.

The spotlight on the main couple gave Karam mixed emotions. She felt jealous and angry but also awe and admiration.

Yunho and Jaejoong fit like two pieces of a jigsaw, as they danced together. Even their voices were so perfectly matched with harmony of Yoochun’s piano and Heechul and Junsu’s vocals.

For a moment, Karam was scared. She had this feeling that even if she was as good as Jaejoong, she’s still not going to win.

~~~  

Karam feigned a case stomach cramps to get out of cheerleading practice for two days. She didn’t want to see Jaejoong because she was afraid she would yell out to her face to back off from Yunho. She didn’t want to show her jealousy but she’d have to control it today because a co-cheerleader brought to her notice that she can’t skip too many practices. They all practice even if they’re ill too. Jaejoong’s only kind enough to let them skip.

She just changed into the uniform and stepped out of the changing rooms. She heard loud whining with Jaejoong’s voice and wanted to run but curiosity got the better of her and she waited to see who was the person whining.

“Will you stop nagging!” The tall man tried to pry the vice-like grip on his shirt which said Kyunghee University but Jaejoong was very strong. “I don’t want to go to school.”

“Shut up! You have the nerve to sneak into another university when the cops were almost called on you yesterday!” Jaejoong yelled at him while dragging him. Karam guessed he’s the infamous Changmin who goes off to colleges despite being the same age as her.

“That’s why I’m going to ‘another’ one. I was compromised. I didn’t pay the security guard enough.” He replied.

“Do you hear yourself?” Jaejoong shrieked, “Dad should have just let the cops have you. You would’ve learnt your lesson then.” Jaejoong let go of his shirt roughly which made his stumble a bit. “Look Min, I know you're very intelligent and you should probably skip classes and all but you're not that mature. You won’t be able to deal with the social life of older kids.”

“How do you know I can’t handle the social pressures of college life?” Changmin sneered.

“Oh Yeah? Remind me again what happened last month when you joined drunk college kids on a drug run?” that effectively shut up the tall boy. He’s lucky that his father’s connections got him out scot-free but his family would never let him live it down. “Listen Changmin, if you try this stunt again you're going to be shipped off to London and you’ll spend the next 7 years in a school to college boarding school. So you better be a good HIGH SCHOOL boy.” Jaejoong smirked when Changmin was silently pouting, a sign that he agreed.

She turned around and found a wide-eyed Karam staring at her. Immediately, Jaejoong put on her charming smile. “Rammie!” Karam wasn’t sure if she had allowed Jaejoong to call her by her nickname but she wasn’t going to tell her otherwise or it would be awkward. “I was just looking for you.” Jaejoong again dragged Changmin by his shirt, “this is my brother. I want you to keep an eye on him in class. Can you do that?” Karam mutely nodded.

Changmin rolled his eyes, “Great, your doppelganger is going to babysit me now?” Changmin made an ‘oof’ sound when Jaejoong elbowed him in the gut. “Go find Yunho. He signed you up for basketball so he’ll keep an eye on you.” Changmin slumped and trudged to the court where the basketball team were warming up.

When Changmin had gone, Jaejoong turned to Karam. “hey, do you not like me or something?”

Karam was stunned by the straight forward question. “Why would you ask that?”

“You didn’t deny.” Jaejoong said dejectedly, “you never talk to me since the first time and it’s more than obvious that you're avoiding me.”

Karam looked anywhere but Jaejoong, “it’s not that. I just…”

“You heard of Yunho and me, right?” Karam was surprised by her bluntness but then, she nodded. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Yunho and I dated for a long time so the feelings just died. We’re good friends and nothing more now.” She smiled reassuringly, “You're Yunho’s present. Don’t dwell on his past.”

Karam looked down. She felt like a bad person for judging Jaejoong when she has such a good heart. She smiled a bit, “I’m sorry for behaving like that with you.”

Jaejoong waved it off. “It’s normal to be wary of your boyfriend’s ex. I just want you to know there’s no reason to be.” Karam looked at Jaejoong for a long moment, her eyes searching. “Jaejoong-sunbae, what made you two break-up?”

Jaejoong was taken aback. Some unreadable emotion was in her eyes but her smiling mask came back just as quickly as it went. “Nothing as such. Come on. Practice is going to start.” Jaejoong skipped out of there while Karam stared at her back.

~~~

It was a rare chance for Karam and Yunho having a date after school. With both being busy lately, they haven’t spent much time with each other.

Today, they’re hanging out at a café before Yunho drops her home. Yunho though was doing most of the talking, while Karam just sipped on her ice tea. Most of her silence was owed to Yunho going on and on about Jaejoong going paranoid about the contest, Jaejoong making changes in the set list, Jaejoong tripping over wires, Jaejoong looking cute while pouting because everyone was fussing over her. He didn’t exactly say cute, he just said that she looked like a bunny whenever she did that.

When her tea was over, so was her patience, “You know you talk awefully lot about your ex in front of your girlfriend.”

Yunho’s face went pale. He only realised now that she mentioned it and he knows that he’s being a world-class jerk talking about his ex.

Karam laughed lightly, “Relax. I’m not angry or anything. Anyone can go on and on about her. Jaejoong-sunbae is….is….well, she’s perfect.”

Yunho’s stance relaxed seeing that Karam wasn’t that angry. He was still sheepish though. “she’s not that perfect. She’s nice and friend. Nothing more.”

Karam put her hand on Yunho’s, “I trust you. But I’m a bit sad that I learnt about your past from other people. I thought you’d be open enough to tell me that you’re still friends with the girl you dated since you were 15.”

“13.” Karam frowned but Yunho continued hesitantly, “the people at Toho think we dated since the start of high school but actually we’ve known each other since we were 5. Our parents, Heechul’s, Yoochun’s and Junsu’s are friends so we all knew each other since forever and we dated since we were 13 till last year……don’t look like that, I’m being honest with you here.”

Karam was shaken out of her staring. She didn’t mean to but she was listening too intently and processing a lot of emotionally burdensome information. “Sorry…..since you're being honest, will you tell me why you and Jaejoong-sunbae really broke up?”

Yunho had this same indecipherable emotion flicker in her eyes like Jaejoong but instead of putting a façade like she did, Yunho looked away. he kept his eyes on the scene outside the window of the café. “I can’t be that honest yet.”

Karam nodded. She put some money on the table, “talk to me when you can.”

She wished he would stop her. she wished he’d call her name, hug her and tell her to stay. But he didn’t.

She passed by the window where they were sitting and this time, Yunho wasn’t looking out. His right hand supported his head while he ruefully stared at his finger.

Karam knows what he’s looking at. The thing that used to puzzle her and now breaks her heart because she knows what it is now and the fact that Yunho still wears on his left hand’s little finger that’s most probably related to Jaejoong.

Karam walked in the direction of her home. She wanted some distance so they could both clear their heads.

~~~

Karam took another entrance to the school because the main one passes right by the seniors’ class and she didn’t want to chance upon Yunho or Jaejoong.

The sight of either of them would just muddle her brain more and she needs to be clear-minded so whatever happens in the end, she’ll not lose herself in the ‘whys’ and what ifs’.

When she was about to enter her class though, she found Changmin stomp out of it with a disgusted look. He was going up the stairs and she followed after him to get him back in class.

“ing birdbrains! My IQ’s going to drop for every minute I’m going to hear them jabber about s and .”

That was the soliloquy Karam heard when she finally caught up with Changmin on the school terrace. He was yet to realise her presence though. He just muttered profanities while munching o