Seung Gi had been feeling pleased with himself until he saw Shin Hye’s expression.  Her lips were thin and pressed together, like he’d brought more harm to her than good by appeasing the other Hibari girls with gifts and attention.

“For you,” he said to her from the opposite side of the table.  He presented the lunch box with all of his usual flair.

“No thanks.”  She pushed the box back into his hands.  “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat it today.  Give it to Hibari.”

He glanced at the girl on Shin Hye’s left, and suddenly comprehended why his false love was so annoyed with him.  Hibari looked like she was suffering from a difficult break-up.  The enormous helping of food in front of her was being picked at grain by grain, as if it was chicken feed.

Seeing an opportunity to redeem himself in everyone’s eyes, Seung Gi directed some of his charm at Hibari.  “Then I hope you will enjoy it, Hibari, with my blessings.”

The Osaka girl stole a yearning look at the lunch and then shook her head.  “Thank you Seung Gi Oppa, but I cannot accept a gift that wasn’t meant for me.  Give it to Min Hyuk.”

To Hibari’s left, Min Hyuk glanced up from his breakfast with wide eyes.  “Me?  Really?  Are you sure, Unni?”

Hibari nodded.

“Wow!”  Min Hyuk grabbed the lunch out of Seung Gi’s hands before Seung Gi could protest.  He sniffed the box until his nostrils were wider than coins.  “Thanks!  I promise that I will digest every crumb.  Ah...if there are any leftover lunches, I can also take them off your hands so that you don’t have to throw them away.”

Seung Gi blinked.  “You’ll have to check with the other guys for any spare lunches.  I’m going to sit and talk to your sister now, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure, sure.”  Min Hyuk was too distracted by the nice smell coming from his lunchbox to protect Shin Hye from erts.

The Seoul High student moved around the table’s end and took the free seat to Shin Hye’s right.  As she turned to offer him juice, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

“How bad is the bullying?” he asked in a low tone.

She shook her head.  “No bullying.  They all handled it well.  Maybe the girls don’t like you as much as you think they do.”

“Then why didn’t you sleep?”

“Ah.”  She touched the corners of her eyes.  “It was Hibari...she didn’t take it well at all.  She let me take care of her, even though I was the one that had hurt her.”

Seung Gi sighed.  “I didn’t think she’d take it so badly.  She usually bounces back from rejection like a rubber ball.  Once again, I’ve underestimated her feelings.”

“As you said, it’s easy to do.  So...what brings you here this morning?  What do you want?”

“Ouch!”  He winced.  “You’re so cold.  I go to all this trouble to make sure that you’re not bullied, and you reject my lunch and ask me for the alternative motive for my visit?”

Shin Hye kept silent, but the cynical smile on her face said it all.

“Okay!”  He raised his hands in the air like she was pointing a gun at him.  “You got me.  I came to make sure that you wouldn’t change your mind about our arrangement.  I wanted to spoil you with gifts and attention so that you had no time to use that brain of yours.”

“Psssht!  Lucky for you what Min Hyuk wants and what you want go hand in hand.  You’re safe for now, Seung Gi-ssi.”

“Ah!  You have to start calling me by my proper name.”

“Which would be...Lee Seung Gi-ssi.”

“Try again.”

She set her jaw.  “No.”

“I’ll give you a present if you say it.”

“And I’ll give you a lap-full of juice if you don’t stop it!”

The table jolted as Hibari rose to her feet.  “Both of you stop it!  W-why don’t you announce you’re dating before I throw up!”

“Hibari-ssi.”  Shin Hye got to her feet.  “I’m sorry.  We were just talk-”

“I don’t care!” shouted Hibari, pushing Shin Hye away from her.  Shin Hye tripped backwards and her cheap school shoes failed to gain a grip on the floor.

Seung Gi caught her up by the waist.

When she looked up at him, he dimpled and held on tight.  “This is an exception to the no-touch rule.  Right?”

She blushed.  “Let go!”

“Let go, who?”

All of a sudden, something heavy fell to the ground with a crash!  The noise echoed through the mess hall, startling everyone.  Girls and boys got up from their chairs to search out the cause of it.

“It’s Teacher Jung!” shouted Min Hyuk, pointing to a patch on the floor not far from where they were.

Seung Gi looked over at his Hyung.  It was hard to tell what had happened because the students and teachers were crowding around him.

“Excuse me,” Seung Gi told Shin Hye.  Without waiting for an answer, he let go of her and hurried over to Teacher Jung.  The students let him push through to the centre of the accident because of his horrified expression.

Teacher Jung was lying flat on the ground next to his fallen chair.  His eyes were scrunched closed.  He had a hand on his head and his jaw was clenched in pain.

“Teacher Jung...Yong!” said Coach Lee.  “Don’t move.  Let the nurse do a spinal check first.”

“I’m fine,” hissed Teacher Jung.  “Just tell her to bring me some painkillers.”

“What happened to him?” asked Seung Gi.  “Is he all right?”

“Everyone move back!” was Jong Hyun’s reply.  “If you’re not helping, then return to your seats.”

Seung Gi ignored the order and kneeled down next to his Seongsaengnim.  “Aish!  Did you swing too far back on the chair like a choding?  You need to take better care of yourself, Teacher Jung.  You promised to make me famous one day, remember?  You can’t do that if you’re dead.”

Teacher Jung’s eyes opened a crack.

Seung Gi smirked.

In a flash, the teacher’s hands jerked upwards and clamped around Seung Gi’s neck.  He then began to squeeze.

“Agh!  Help!” wheezed Seung Gi.

“Someone help!  He’s choking Seung Gi Oppa!” screamed a Hibari student.

“What the!  What is going on this morning?  Yong, let go!” ordered Coach Lee.

“Seung Gi!  Let go of him!” suggested Teacher Lee Jung Shin.

“Not.Helping!” gagged the student.  He lifted his free hands to show that he wasn’t holding onto anything.

Coach Lee rolled up his sleeves to reveal his muscles.  “Jung Shin!  You pull the kid away while I pull Yong’s hands off him.”

One teacher throttling a student turned into a tug-of-war between the three teachers and a student.  Seung Gi’s eyes were bugging out of his head as the four of them stumbled back and forth on the floor.

“Let go, Yong!” begged Coach Lee.

“Not yet!” hissed Yong Hwa.  “Lesson...Not.Learned.”

“Fire!  There’s a fire!” announced Shin Hye.  She was standing on a chair next to the window and pointing outside.  “I can see smoke coming from the main building!”

The Lee Teachers exchanged glances and let the brawling pair drop to the floor with a slap!  Yong Hwa let go of Seung Gi and the student rolled away before his tormentor could change his mind.  The boys and girls messaged the students in other dorms about the fire while the elders ran to the window to see how bad it was.

From his place on the floor, Seung Gi touched his neck and realised that Yong Hwa hadn’t hurt him at all.  The grip had been real, but the throttling had not.  It had only been done to scare him.

Confused, he stared at his injured teacher and watched him try to get up, and then fall back down when his back twitched.

Shin Hye appeared out of nowhere with a book in her hands.  She scanned Seung Gi’s neck and then kneeled down next to Yong Hwa.  The girl pushed him down to the floor by the chest and put the book under his head for support.

“Lie still, Teacher Jung,” she said in a polite but firm tone.  “Wait until the nurse checks your back.”

Yong Hwa opened his mouth to speak.

“There’s no fire,” she said without remorse.  “And with luck, no one is fired.  You can thank me by making sure I don’t end up expelled, or worse - in another detention with Teacher Lee and his videos.”

Teacher Jung closed his eyes and winced as if he was in more pain than before.