The first time Joohyun saw her, it was in the day and she was Seungwan. They were in the school’s auditorium and Seungwan, the top academic performer for the year ones looked nervous as she went on stage to receive her top academic award. Joohyun was in the same auditorium only because she was there to receive the same award, except that she was in her final year.

Seungwan’s acceptance speech, by far, was largely immemorable as far as Joohyun could recall. It was rather scripted and the girl did not give off the air of a top scorer at all. What caught the senior’s attention however was that this particular first year was not only the top scorer but had a perfect GPA. That piqued Joohyun a little for it had been a long time since the school had a perfect scorer.  

Her friend, Seulgi, who was sitting by Joohyun’s side nudged her. Seulgi was a year junior to Joohyun and was not in the auditorium to receive the award, but rather she was there to show her love for Joohyun. The nudging gesture usually meant that Seulgi had some fresh gossips to whisper into her ear and so Joohyun leant towards her friend.

“Does not seem like a perfect GPA-scorer does she? Heard that this Seungwan’s father is the CEO of Millennium Capital and sits in the board of directors for our university.” Seulgi let out a pitiable sigh.

Joohyun's eyebrows shot up sharply as she looked to Seungwan who was on stage and felt almost bad for the girl as her words tumbled over one another carelessly. Definitely not an eloquent speaker which was not characteristic of a perfect scorer. Misjudging the stunned expression on Joohyun’s face to be a look of confusion, Seulgi then began explaining.

“Millennium Capital, you know? The one that is like the top five hedge fund in our country? The one that just reported that they beat their old record and gained an absolute return on investment of 40%?”

Of course Joohyun knew, how could she not when she was aiming to get into the investment sector and become a hedge fund manager herself. Joohyun found herself staring at Seungwan who had returned to her seat and saw the other top GPA scorers who are seated near her sniggering obnoxiously at the girl.  

“I know,” Joohyun replied her friend curtly and shot her a sharp look. “Seulgi, what are you trying to say?”

Seulgi shrugged her shoulder uneasily at her friend’s rather cold response. “Well… I don’t know… I guess, it is just… I think people in her batch were saying that she was awarded As by the professors because of her father’s status.”

Despite thinking of herself as a rather judgemental person, Joohyun disliked it when there were such malicious rumours floating around the school, especially when this Seungwan girl had seemed rather good natured. She would judge those mean people who had been sniggering at the girl. Which was why even though Joohyun could not remember what Seungwan had said for her speech, Joohyun would remember the girl’s awkward disposition and isolation from the peers in her batch.

With her eyes glued onto the girl the entire time, Joohyun could not help but find this Seungwan girl rather pitiful. The girl looked rather pleasant and seemed like a nice person so why should she be subjected to such rumours? If it was only because she had a privileged family background, then it was so unfair. Joohyun then found herself unable to take the eyes away from the panic-stricken girl, her doe-like eyes, cheeks which were tinted with red, her petal-shaped lips which quivered slightly with each word spoken. She was pretty… adorable looking. Joohyun was surprised by her sudden thought, feeling an own stirring in the pits of her stomach. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Joohyun then shook off that thought and tried to maintain a straight-face.

Joohyun later frowned because she could not deny that it was odd for a girl like Seungwan to be so socially-awkward, especially so because she was smart, rather beautiful, and rich, the type of girl that would be popular in school. Yet, she was not popular.

“Seulgi, do you think the same?” Joohyun asked Seulgi and fully hoped that her friend would not disappoint her.

With her head tilted and her brows furrowed, Seulgi shrugged her shoulders again. “I don’t know. It might be but who I am to judge right. I just thought that you might like to know since she is a top-scorer like you are, but people found her too withdrawn or something… Don’t be mad at me.”

Feeling relieved by her friend’s answer, Joohyun then gave a slanted smile to her friend to show that she was not mad at all. “I am not mad. Anyway, remember to stay silent when I give my speech, don’t embarrass me like last year, Kang Seulgi, I am warning you.”

Last year, her friend Seulgi had brought in the members of the investment club, which Joohyun is the president of, into the auditorium and cheered loudly when Joohyun was giving her acceptance speech. Fortunately, the Dean and other students were fairly amused by their enthusiasm if not Joohyun was certain she would not forgive Seulgi and her club members.

“Joohyun, are you mad at me? But I stayed silent!” Seulgi complained as they walked briskly away from the auditorium.

“How is holding up a neon board any better?” Joohyun said, exasperation apparent in her voice.

Seulgi, her best friend, had indeed kept quiet as Joohyun went up the stage to receive her award. Joohyun however was horrified to see the large neon board that had the message ‘Cabbage, you will forever be the top-scorer in our hearts.’

Cabbage was one of Joohyun’s numerous nickname that her group of friends have given her because of the first two characters of her name in Korean.

“Well… the club members made it and since you’ve banned them from entering the auditorium… that was all I could do to show their support for you,” Seulgi defended.  

“Seriously… how could I not have noticed that. Stupid me,” Joohyun scolded herself.  

“Well… just goes to show how much effort I put into hiding it,” Seulgi said cheekily and chortled but fell silently immediately upon receiving dagger-like stares from her friend.

“Whatever, I am going to the library to study, join me if you want to,” Joohyun said nonchalantly.

“What? But it is just the start of the semester…” Seulgi whined and when she received that scary stare from Joohyun once more, made the action of pulling an imaginary zipper across .

“Okay, I will join you, let me grab some food first. Any for you?” Seulgi sped off as soon as Joohyun shook her head.

The senior sighed as she wondered how Seulgi could be such a glutton and still maintain her figure so well. It must be all the dancing that she does. Unlike Joohyun who had chosen a rather serious faculty club, Seulgi had joined a more interesting arts club.

Seulgi had once been in the Investment Club when she was in her second semester, which was how they got to know each other but because of the stress from the club, she had decided to join a more liberating club, which was contemporary dance. This fact sometimes made Joohyun jealous because Seulgi seemed so free-spirited. Yet, Joohyun knew she could not do the same as the Investment Club would give her a better chance at securing a better job in future. Sighing, Joohyun resigned to her fate and went to the library to do her revisions.

Two full hours had passed without any sign of Seulgi appearing. Joohyun decided that she should stop pinning hopes that her friend would join her in studying. Putting on her headphones as she took a break from studying, Joohyun bobbed her head to her favourite rap songs and her lips had unconsciously moved to mouth the lyrics of the songs. Her face had obtained a sheen of cool look, as if she had been transformed into a rapper herself and by the end of each song, a satisfied smile was on her face. Unbeknownst to her friends, rap songs were Joohyun’s favourite and it only became so during the last school semester. Since then, Joohyun had been in search of good rap songs to load into her own phone music player. Usually a spendthrift, Joohyun had even gotten herself a set of good headphones so that she could appreciate every word, every syllable enunciated by the rappers. She was that in love with that genre.

She was rudely interrupted when Seulgi had suddenly appeared and removed the headphones from her head. The troublemaker and glutton wore the headphones on herself instead.

“I had no idea you liked listening to rap song. Oh my, this is really some dope stuff!” Seulgi said, a bit too loudly and Joohyun had to slap the girl’s rump to remind her that they were in the library and to quieten down.

Removing the headphones, in a much more hushed voice, Seulgi then told Joohyun about an exciting event that she would be going for that night. Joohyun stated that she was totally uninterested but Seulgi had made a convincing argument that she would be able to witness the best rapping performance in the whole of Seoul that night. In addition to that, Seulgi had also semi-threatened her that she would reveal her love for rap songs to her club members. Joohyun shuddered as she imagined how her club members would react to it. The usually calm and aloof President actua