The next time I bumped into Yeonjun was during mid-terms.

That morning, I was on my way to the spare maths classroom to see Mr. Hong when I bumped into him. He seemed to be headed in the same direction so we walked together for a bit. He was barely awake, and his maroon tie was slightly off-centred. I reached over and fixed it for him.

"Did you stay up late to study?" I asked.

Even though we made up already, there was still some awkward air between us. I was only able to see him once or twice a week. Mid-terms were really getting the best out of everyone. He hadn't been coming to volleyball practice much either. Maybe he was finally getting sick of the bench and that silly blue bib.

Yeonjun nodded. "I could really use a fat mid-day nap."

I pursed my lips. He was over exhausted and it showed. I was feeling the strain of the education system as a sophomore... I could only imagine what the seniors were going through.

He glanced at me. "You okay though? Heard you volunteered for mathletes."

Oh yeah.

I, Choi Soojin, volunteered to fill in Class A's Shin Ryujin's spot on the sophomore's mathletes team. Kai thought I was crazy, and honestly so did I. Neither Kai nor Soobin could understand why I volunteered for the position mid-way through our exams.

When I told Yeonjun why I joined, he had almost no reaction at all. All he did was repeat what I said, back to me.

"You joined because Mr. Hong told you you'll get bonus points on your exam?" 

I nodded.

"He bribed you!?" Yeonjun asked loudly, and I hushed him immediately. "And... you let him?"

"I do what I have to do." I answered, ignoring the incredulous look he was giving me. "Mom said I'm only allowed to attend Yeji's parents' party if I scored an A for maths."

Yeonjun laughed. "You're putting your whole student life at risk because you want to attend... a party?"

Giving and receiving bribes was forbidden at our school. It was forbidden all over the nation, actually. The government was cracking down hard on our corrupt system, and harsh penalties applied to those who engaged with bribes in any way. It wasn't exactly right for Mr Hong to coax me into joining mathletes by giving me higher scores, but this wasn't exactly a bribe, right? I was filling in for Shin Ryujin anyway.

Also, it wasn't just any party. Both Yeonjun and I knew that. Mr and Mrs Hwang owned a large estate by the sea and they were famous for their fancy dinner parties. Yeji's sixteenth birthday party was held at the estate, and it seemed like such a dream. I wasn't invited, but Soobin, Yeonjun and most of their friends in the senior class were. The pictures they posted on SNS made me wish for nothing but to be a part of their circle.

Oh, to be pretty and rich.

"Soojin, it's just a party, there's no point..."

It wasn't just the party that made me adamant about attending that party. Yeji had invited me to stay back after with a few of her closest friends for a sleepover. An exclusive girls' night. When I told Yeonjun, he looked away, trying to hide a grin.

We stopped just outside the classroom where Mr Hong was waiting for me.

"Were you invited?"

He cleared his throat, wiping the grin off his face immediately, not realising I already saw. "Yeah. Of course."

I shrugged. "Then, there's no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to go either, then." I glanced at him. "Unless you're willing to talk to my mom for me?"

Yeonjun scowled and nodded at the door. "Go see your precious Mr Hong."

"Won't you talk to my mom?" I stepped closer to him, pursing my lips ever so slightly. "For me?"

Yeonjun froze up for a second before he sidestepped around me and opened the classroom door for me.

"Good day, Mr Hong!" he turned to me and gestured for me to enter the classroom. "Choi Soojin is here."

He had that look on his face again. The mask he wore whenever he did not want me to know what he was thinking. My blood boiled. I hated whenever he did this. Yeonjun leant against the doorframe, arms crossed, waiting for me to go in. He was watching me with that darned crooked smile, as if daring me to snap back at him, which I obviously couldn't do because Mr Hong was right there.

I wasn't sure when Yeonjun headed off after I entered the classrom, but he left the door wide open.

Mr Hong didn't keep me for very long. All he wanted to see me for was to give me a stack of practice questions to work on before the regional competitions, and also to tell me about another vacancy in the second sophomore team, which he was trying to get Kai to join.

It was amusing how even Mr Hong knew Kai and I were practically attached at the hip. Mr Hong didn't mention the possible grade booster for Kai's participation in mathletes, but he seemed convinced that if anyone could get Kai to participate in mathletes, it would be me.

When I brought up the conversation to Kai during lunch, he shot the idea down immediately. I didn't keep pursuing the idea because knowing Kai, he would keep shooting me down. I had to sell the idea to him slowly and steadily.

Jisu, who was having lunch with us again, perked up at the mention of mathletes. She said she used to be on the sophomore mathletes team too, with her cousin Beomgyu, who used to attend Myeongun high.

When I asked her about the competition and how things went for her, she answered with a quiet smile that never quite reached her eyes.

"Just do it for the maths."

I couldn't help but giggle. "Why of course! Did people do mathletes for other reasons?"

Jisu was picking at her food with her fork as she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Mm, I heard some people received bribes..."

Out of absolutely nowhere, Yeonjun hopped into the seat next to Jisu. He was, once again, carrying a half finished bottle of grape juice. Even though I fixed his tie earlier that morning, it was crooked again. Judging from his tousled hair, the thin layer of sweat below his hairline, and the warm but faded smell of his cologne, I knew he must've went for a round or two at the soccer pitch with the boys.

"Talking about mathletes, are we?" he folded his hands over the plastic bottle and rested his chin on top.

"That's our newest sophomore mathletes member right there." He obviously meant me, but he seemed to be speaking to Jisu, who hadn't even bothered to look up or acknowledge him.

Were they already that close to be so casual around each other?

Kai, who had been silent for a while, glanced at Yeonjun. "Hey, weren't you a sophomore mathlete too?"

At this, Jisu stole a glance at Yeonjun, who adverted his gaze from me to side-glance back at her.

I remembered that too.

Kai and I were still in grade school when Soobin and Yeonjun participated in mathletes for the first time. It was Soobin's first year in mathletes, but he had somehow made it into an all-upperclassmen team. They came home as national champions and mom and dad were so proud of him. Our extended family made such a big deal out of it during Chuseok. Now that I think back, Yeonjun was definitely participating in mathletes too. He would come over to our house and practice sums with Soobin. He wasn't a maths genius like Soobin, so he must have been in a team with other sophomores.

Now, didn't Jisu just say she was also a sophomore mathlete?

"There's no way you two wouldn't have known each other..." I couldnt help but voice out my thoughts.

Both Jisu and Yeonjun turned to me.

"You were both sophomore mathletes, no?"

"Were we?" Yeonjun answered, his eyes darting back to Jisu.

Once again, Jisu answered with just a smile, and Yeonjun started to ask me about something else, so my question was never really answered.

The next day, Yeonjun invited himself to sit with us during lunch. Same went for the day after next. Sometimes, we were joined by his really good-looking friend, Hwang Hyunjin. Sometimes, he lodged between Kai and I, other times, he sat next to Jisu. When I asked him why he wasn't sitting with the other seniors anymore, he would look at Jisu with that devlish grin and repeat my question.

I could never tell if Yeonjun was deliberately giving Jisu a hard time or not, but she would always politely shrug him off her back. I could also never tell if he started sitting with us more regularly because Jisu had been doing the same, or if he came along just to poke fun at Kai and I, and occasionally Yuna, our freshman best friend.

Either way, not knowing what he was thinking frustrated me to no end. Did he like Jisu or not? Did Jisu secretly like him? Did he like someone else? Was Jisu secretly crushing on someone else? What if they were already seeing each other?

What if it was none of these, and they had bad blood instead?

I can't even begin to tell you how hectic the past month was for me, but i am here attempting to make up for my uncalled absence with a lot of Yeonjun in this chapter, heh. Hopefully i'll be posting more regularly now! Thank you for still being here.