After having lunch, Hwang Minhyun went to the rooftop, his usual place for napping. He sat down at the corner where no one would find and leaned his back against the wall.

 

He closed his eyes and when he was about to fall asleep, he heard girls’ voices. He heard one of the girls asking whether another girl is Kang Daniel‘s girlfriend or not.

 

Ahh! Right!! Another Kang Daniel drama, he thought.

 

When he heard the voice that replied to the question, he felt the familiarity.

 

Isn’t it Kim Nuri? he wondered. 

 

Then further into their conversation, it’s confirmed that the girl being questioned is Kim Nuri.

 

He didn’t want to get involved, so he just ignored them arguing. Although it’s disturbing to hear them threatening Nuri, he just tried to stay uninvolved. But, when he heard Nuri’s low pitched shouting, which indicates they started using physical on her, he couldn’t just turn a blind eye anymore.

 

He got up and came out of the corner.

 

“Kim Nuri!!”, Minhyun called out.

 

Nuri was really surprised and shocked to see him there and to hear him call her by the name. She was still staring at him without blinking. Mina let go of Nuri’s hair, at the sight of the class president, and her two friends released Nuri from restraining.

 

Nuri starting to feel embarrassed to be in this situation, right in front of Hwang Minhyun. But, it’s also satisfying to see Jung Mina and the gangs looking terrified. Because Minhyun is not only their classmate, but also the prefect of the whole grade. They could get in trouble if he report this.

 

“Do you already have a lab partner?” he asked, looking at Nuri.

 

“Huh~?” she is shocked that he is talking to her.

 

“The Chemistry assignment...”

 

“Oh! ... no, I don’t have... yet~”

 

“Good! Be mine...” he said with no emotions on his face.

 

“Uhh~~”

 

“Be my partner!!”

 

“Oh~ okay...” she replied.

 

Then he walked past her. After a few steps then he stopped, turned to look back at her. They are still staring at him.

 

“Aren’t you coming?!” he asked.

 

“Me?! Ahhh!! Okay...” she quickly walked towards him, leaving the other girls behind.

 

Minhyun and Nuri were walking side by side. None of them started a conversation on the way to their classroom. They walked much slower than they normally do. Once they reached the corridors leading to their classroom, Nuri started the conversation.

 

“Thank you~ for earlier...” she said with all her courage.

 

“I didn’t have a partner for the assignment anyway...” Minhyun replied.

 

“No, not for that... I mean for the other one... with the girls...”

 

“Well, I was just looking for a partner...”, he just kept on saying this in order to save her from embarrassment.

 

“I see. Okay, if you say so...”, Nuri replied, “so, about the assignment, shall we — “

 

“Kim Nuri!!”

 

Before she could finish her question, Daniel shouted out her name and came running towards her.

 

“I was searching everywhere for you. Where have you — Ohhh” 

 

Only then, he saw Hwang Minhyun beside her. Minhyun turned to Nuri.

 

“Then, I’ll get going ...”

 

“Okay~ see you around!”

 

Minhyun walked away from them, towards their classroom. Daniel is still shocked to see them together.

 

“What?!!”, Nuri snapped at him.

 

“Sorry sorry! I didn’t see him beside you..”

 

“Nevermind... what you want to talk?”

 

“Okay!! I signed up for the school play!!” he said in such excitement.

 

“What? You? Kang Daniel in school play? When did you lose your cool?”

 

“Hey, it’s not about cool or not cool, okay!! It’s about love and rivalry and dignity~”

 

“Stop stop!! Even now, you starting to sound cheesy...”

 

“Hehe...” he gave her a pretty wide gummy bear smile.

 

“So, it’s just because Park Sua is in the play?” Nuri asked.

 

“Not only she’s in play, she’s the lead...”

 

“Well, not a surprise, she got a talent in that area...” she remarked.

 

“And that’s not the only reason I joined. Guess who’s the male lead?”

 

“Don’t tell me it’s Winwin!!”

 

“Yes, it’s him!”

 

“I get it now. Okay. Great move!! You should be there. You must be on the watch.” she finally agreed with him.

 

“Yeah~ but, do you think I’m putting myself out there, wayyy too much?!” he’s worried.

 

“No no. We only got this one year left. Must do everything we can, not to regret later in life.”

 

“You’ve become wiser and wiser day by day, you know that?” he said jokingly.

 

“I’m very much aware of that, thank you for noticing~” and she did a bow.

 

They both laughed. Then Daniel asked her about earlier with Minhyun by her side. She told him how Minhyun asked her to be lab partners but she left out the whole part about Jung Mina and the gang. Daniel congratulated her.

 

—

 

At night, when Nuri reached home, she logged onto the school website to register for lab assignment. But, she found that Minhyun had already grouped them together. She couldn’t help but smiled a really big smile.

 

She kept staring at the page where it says: 

 

== You are grouped with Hwang Minhyun for Chemistry Lab Assignment 2 ==

 

Then later that night, she received a message from Hwang Minhyun privately for the first time. Normally, the only messages she received from him were in the group chat made for their classroom and he sent those messages as a class president.

 

Now, the message says, what materials she should read up in preparation for the assignment. 

 

“So, that’s how it would be like to partner up with the class’s number 1 student... being ordered around to read up!!”

 

She laughed out loud.

 

“Then, Kang Daniel must be in trouble too... haha... being in the same group with the class’s number 2... 

 

Ohh!! Poor us!!!”

 

...

 

..

 

.

 

~ to be continued ~