“Ming Na!”

The girl looked up from her locker at her name being called.

“Look what I got!” her best friend was holding up a hot pink clutch purse, “It’s the newest edition!”

“Wow that’s…” Ming Na wasn’t interested in bags or purses, but being grouped as a “higher status” person, she was expected to know the name and brands of all fashion items… but she forgot the name of this one.

Her friend stared at her expectantly, thankfully noise at the front entrance saved Ming Na.

“What’s going on?” the other girl clearly had a short attention span and dragged Ming Na towards the front forgetting about the purse.

A group of girls were clustered around two males. One looked like the ordinary Jackson in a snapback and the other… Ming Na’s eyes went wide. His unique circle glasses were replaced with BOSS shades, the cotton country boy styled clothing were swapped for a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a thin leather jacket… in the middle of winter.

“Holly !” Ming Na heard her friend swear beside her, “Is that your boyfriend?”

Ming Na also doubted that herself… the boy with two hands in his jean pockets and a dangling backpack on one shoulder… was he her boyfriend? The sea of fangirls prevented her from taking a closer look.

However her uncertainties were addressed immediately when the male took his right hand out of his pocket and reached up to use one finger to scratch the top of his head. To anyone else, he was itchy, but Ming Na saw his finger rotate in the same motion, drawing a circle. A smile lit her face; she placed her index finger on the side of her neck before making a triangle.

That was the signal between her and Junior. They used it whenever they’re in each other’s line of vision but couldn’t communicate verbally. The signals meant anything from ‘I see you’ to ‘I miss you’, any kind of acknowledgment.

The bell rang and everybody was scattering to class. Ming Na looked over her shoulders several times, she didn’t leave until she made sure that Jackson had safely evacuated with Junior.

*                      *                      *

“I can’t believe this!” Jackson threw his hands up in the air after the bell rung for lunch, “I made you cool, now the ladies like you more than me!”

Junior was putting his book in his bag as he silently enjoyed Jackson’s sufferings.

“Are you ready?” Jackson just upgraded from angry to hangry, “All the good stuff will be gone.”

“You can go first, I need to go to my locker.”

“Are you sure?” Jackson leaned his face close to Junior, “You won’t die in the parade of your fangirls?”

Junior shrugged Jackson off, “Yeah just go.”

Not needing to be told twice, Jackson sprinted towards the cafeteria leaving Junior with some peace and quiet.

He noticed a few girls in the doorway giggling and staring at him. That’s what most of the girls did. They all knew who’s boyfriend he was and didn’t dare to approach him but just admired on the sidelines. Junior was perfectly fine with that. It saved him from having to talk too much.

As he made his way to his locker, more giggles could be heard. In the back of his mind he couldn’t help but feel bothered. He was the same person, the same Park Jinyoung. All he did was change his clothes and that was enough to get the girls come running at him instead of running away from him. The thought of being surrounded by such superficial things called Homo sapiens really frightened him.

Just when he was having enough trouble fiddling with his lock, his vision was suddenly blocked by a pair of hands.

“Guess who?” her sweet voice so close to his ear that it sent shivers down his back.

Her whisper itself was enough to put a smile in his face. They had never, NEVER met during lunch. Junior couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy maybe Jackson’s plan was working.

When he turned around to face her, he was in for a slight shock seeing a bright blue wool toque and a puffy orange jacket.

“Are you cold?” he asked concerned.

“No,” she took the hat off, “But you must be,” and reached out to pull it over his head.

Still dazed, Junior just allowed her to lift his arm up and help him wear the jacket.

“What were you thinking?” Ming Na shook her head, “It’s almost zero degrees out there and you show up without a jacket.”

“You’re worried for me?” Junior asked not feeling cold at all when she was around.

“Duh,” she replied not baffled before zipping him up, “I asked my chauffeur to buy this,” Ming Na scrunched her nose, “I would give you my jacket but…” she looked up at her boyfriend who was more than half a head taller than her.

“But then you’ll be cold,” Junior frowned.

Ming Na chuckled and gave him another hug and mumbled into his chest, “I’ll see you after school.”

In a spit second she was already out of his embrace, “Wait!” Junior panicked. “Eat lunch with me?”

She pouted apologetically, “I would love to, you know I would, but the football team has practice, they’ll kill me if I don’t go.”

“Oh,” Junior couldn’t help but look disappointed.

“I’m sorry,” Ming Na came back, “You understand right?”

For her Junior mustered a smile and nodded. Again, for the nth time he wondered how he could always let her go. It almost seemed like he saw her back view more frequently than her front.

She didn’t belong with the football team. People who watched the practices were the player’s girlfriends or the cheerleaders. Ming Na didn’t fit into any of the two categories. No she wasn’t a cheerleader and heck, her boyfriend was right here. If Junior was being selfish then he’d say no. No he didn’t understand why she had to go. Why she had to watch the football practices or why she spends more time with her “friends” than her boyfriend, the only person who actually cares about her well being the only person that… loves her.

She explained it to him before as everything being a business deal.

“I need to maintain a good relationship with them because any grudges made now could bring the company into danger in the future.”

Sure being the heiress wasn’t easy Junior completely understood that but in a little dark corner of his head he couldn’t help but wonder what she would do if her parents decided to set up an arrange marriage for her.

Would she dump him at first chance? Junior shuddered at that thought.

No, she had douche bag friends, but she wasn’t a douche bag, no way. She was a very nice bag that would make people line up outside of the store at midnight to buy. Yeah she was a precious bag, at least a Chanel.

*                      *                      *

“Jackson it worked!” Junior had never felt so happy at school before.

“Vut Vorked?” Jackson paused from stuffing his face, “And where did you get the jacket?”

“Nana gave it to me,” Junior grinned proudly, “And the plan is working.”

“Oh really?” Jackson snorted, “Where is she then.”

The smile from Junior’s face fell, “A-At the practice…”

Jackson went back to eating without replying.

Junior sat glumly and buried his head on the table, “Jackson what do I do…”

“You know, you have legs, you can go watch with her.”

At that thought Junior sat up and stared at Jackson like he was out of his mind, “Are you kidding me?! It’s not like you don’t know-…”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re uncomfortable. Everybody is going to give you a hard time but that’s only because you let them do that,” Jackson munched thoughtfully, “You lack confidence.”