Four; 

The next morning, I got up extra early so I could drop my English notes by Jongin's house. He was still bleary eyed from sleep and in his pajamas, but he accepted the notes with a low thanks. He thumbed through them quickly, eyebrows raising. I was a neat person, an organizer; I wrote my notes in outline for, with color coded sections and a key.

"Well, I'm going to go. Just give them back after the exams," I said awkwardly, turning away. 

"Was Byun over last night?" he asked, calling out after me. "I saw his Audi parked outside pretty late."

"Yeah," I said shortly.

When I looked up at him, Jongin had a carefully blank look on his face, eyes slightly narrowed. I wondered why he asked, when he obvious already knew the answer. 



The college entrance exams took place on a Monday, and lasted the entire day. The tests were comprehensive – math, science, history and politics, literature, and English. There was a quick turnaround, and we were expected to get the results back by Friday night. 

Higher education on Korea was reformed years ago, along with how college applications were handled. The first round of college acceptances was strictly by cutlines. Each school had a score cutline that aimed to recruit the top 25% of its incoming class. If you scored above the cutline for a particular school and picked it as a first choice on Sunday, acceptance was guaranteed. After that, those who didn't make the cutline for their top choice schools could submit their scores to schools that they wanted to attend. Each school then sent out responses throughout the next week, filling the next 75% of the incoming class. 

The colleges in the Seoul area were all highly competitive, with Seoul National, Yonsei, and Korea University holding the record for the highest cutlines in the nation in every subject. It was a little nerve racking to know that my future would be set in just a week, but I was well prepared because I had been studying hard for it.

I called Baekhyun five times the morning of the exam to act as his alarm. My biggest worry had always been that Baekhyun would oversleep his exam and have to wait another year. Or worse, he would have a fight with his parents or something and refuse to take the exam out of spite. It turned out that I didn't need to worry. Baekhyun showed up five whole minutes early. He was still the last student to arrive, but hey, at least he showed. 

"I think I did okay," he said when we were leaving the building together in the afternoon. "I mean, compared to before, just from all the studying I accidentally did with you whenever I was over." 

"Accidentally?" I repeated in disbelief. "Please, Byun Baekhyun, you should be grateful. Imagine how happy your parents will be if you're not ranked in the bottom quartile for once?"

"Out of the bottom quartile?" Baekhyun shuddered. "That might be a little too ambitious." It was hard for me to tell if he actually meant it. 

As we neared the school gates, we found that were a crowd of students, mainly girls, loitering by the entrance, whispering and giggling behind their hands. 

"I wonder what's going on," Baekhyun muttered. "Maybe Kim Jongin has a new girlfriend or something." 

My heart let out a traitorous thump, and I hoped that it was not Jongin with some new girl at the entrance even as I told myself again and again that I wouldn't care, that it didn't matter. 

To my surprise, the person everyone was staring at was Kim Jongdae. 

"Woah, is that…Chen?" Baekhyun asked, letting out a low whistle as I froze in my spot.

By then, Jongdae had noticed me and was waving enthusiastically. I could hear the collective gasp from the crowd, all wondering why famous Kim Jongdae was here, waiting for me, the nobody.

"Do you know him?" Baekhyun was eyeing Jongdae in suspicion, stepping in front of me as years of protective instincts kicked in. He crossed his arms and gave Jongdae a hard looked as Jongdae walked over. 

I realized suddenly that I had forgotten to tell Baekhyun about meeting Jongdae after telling him about the café guy. But the most important thing was…why was Jongdae here? 

"I was hoping I would catch you coming out!" Jongdae said brightly. He glanced at Baekhyun and his smile waivered for a moment. 

"How did you know I'd be here?" I asked, glancing around. Everyone was looking at me again. 

"I looked up your school uniform," he admitted, bowing his head sheepishly. "You never told me your name and I wanted to talk to you again."

"Excuse me, who the hell are you?" Baekhyun interrupted, taking a step forward. Although he and Jongdae were about the same size, Jongdae immediately took a step back. Baekhyun could be really good at intimidation. 

"Oh, hi! I'm Chen – I mean, Kim Jongdae," Jongdae said, holding out a hand. 

Baekhyun didn't take it, but instead turned to me. "You wanna talk to this guy?" he asked. 

I shrugged. "He's harmless, Baek."

Jongdae nodded. "I'm harmless," he repeated. 

Baekhyun just rolled his eyes, but he relaxed and shook Jongdae's hand for a moment. "You better be harmless," he said in a threatening tone. He clapped Jongdae hard on his shoulder as he walked past and headed for his car. 

Jongdae winced a little, rubbing his shoulder. Suddenly, I felt a wave of panic. Jongdae knew things that Baekhyun and the rest of the school didn't. Jongdae knew that I was already Scripted with a soul mate. What if he was to say something? I had to get him out of there until I explained myself. 

"Maybe we should go talk somewhere else," I said, looking pointed at all the students standing around who were watching. I wouldn't be surprised if paparazzi were to show up in a few minutes either. 

"Yeah!" Jongdae agreed, waving toward a black car parked around the corner. "Um, that's mine. We can find another place to talk."
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