“ARE you okay, Minjoo?”

The girl flinched to her seat after that call from the Professor. It’s Monday once more, that dreaded weekend has finally ended but the effect that it left her would probably stay for all of her life.

“S-Sorry, Professor. Were you saying something?” She asked. She was deep into her thoughts; she didn’t even know that Richard had been looking at her from time to time.

“I just called you. That’s all.” The Professor sighed. “You looked so stressed. Is there something that’s troubling you in school? You haven’t been here for so long but it’s so obvious that you’re already stressed.”

The girl forced a laugh. “M-Maybe because I am still not getting over my jetlag.” She lied. She was amazed by it too since it didn’t really take her long to get along with the time difference. There’s another reason why she couldn’t get enough sleep the night before. Oh, how she wished that it was only because of jetlag.

Another sigh came out of the professor. “Then why are you forcing yourself to get up early and go to school with me? My daughter has already agreed to be your driver for the whole semester.”

Minjoo immediately felt her cheeks burning. Just the thought of Yujin already shakes her heart. As much as possible she wants to avoid the said girl. She believes that entertaining her more would lead to somewhere that’s not part of her plan.

Yes, she did agree about the bet and all but she was never expecting that Yujin would actually fall for her. She thought that she would just go and play for a bit but the severity of the outcome was something that would actually trigger her to make a time machine. If only she could then she would have already made one.

Yujin didn’t even seem like she was joking. She could feel her sincerity while she was in her arms. She felt how the other girl was really sorry for making her believe that something happened between them. She felt how much she’s regretting things. And most of all, she felt the genuineness of that confession of hers.

“What’s wrong, Minjoo?” The Professor asked once more. “Your face is so red. Are you really sure that you’re okay?”

The girl immediately cupped her face. “M-My face?”

“Should I drop you back home? I can ask the office to excuse you for today’s classes. I think you really should go and rest.”

“N-No! It’s okay, Professor. I am really fine.” The girl then took deep breaths which just made Richard shake his head.

“Just tell me if you need anything, alright?” He then opened the windows a bit. He was about to raise the volume of the music when a call from Yujin suddenly flashed on his car’s monitor. Minjoo had to gulp.

“What? Am I really getting a call from this girl at this time in the morning?” Richard answered the call and didn’t even bother on disconnecting it from bluetooth. “Eugene? What’s up? Are you already up after being drunk for three consecutive nights?”

That’s right, Eugene went to a party last Friday, got drunk with Cherry and Candy on Saturday then went somewhere on Sunday with nobody knowing where she went.

“I told you, Dad. I wasn’t drunk last night. My whole body is just too sore after hitting the gym after a long while.”

Minjoo instantly blushed after hearing Yujin’s voice. She immediately looked away so the Professor won’t see those burning cheeks of hers.

‘So, she went to the gym?’ Minjoo thought.

“Your uncle, Robert, must’ve been really surprised.” Richard commented. “It has been ages since you went back to training.”

“Yeah, yeah…” They then heard Yujin yawn. “He was so excited after seeing me for a long time that he wanted to make me do all the routines that I missed all this time or he just really wanted to kill me after backing out from the competition last time.”

Richard just laughed. “Good for you. Why did you suddenly go back to training though?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Dad. I am not planning on joining any more competition. I just really thought that my vices didn’t really bring anything good to my body. I need to get back to shape.” She yawned once more.

“Am I really hearing a miracle from you?” Richard shook his head. “Why did you call anyway?”

There was silence from Yujin. She gave out a deep sigh before asking, “Is Minjoo with you, Dad?”

Surprised, Richard looked at the girl beside her before looking back to the road. Minjoo was still looking outside but she could already feel her heart running wild once more especially when she heard Yujin say her name.

“Well, yeah?” Richard answered, confused. “Didn’t she tell you that she’s going to be going with me from now on?”

“Well…” Yujin gave out another sigh. “She kinda told me about that, I guess. I didn’t know that she’s really planning to go to school with you. I mean, Dad… You act like your students really listen to you lectures and prepare like a--”

“It’s their loss if they don’t listen. This is my profession and I earn money with this. It’s my responsibility to give my all to this.” Richard sounded really annoyed. He doesn’t really like it when someone, especially Yujin, comments something about his job.

“Well, well… You say so. Dad, can you tell Minjoo that we can go home together later?”

Again, Richard was a bit shocked. Yujin was so against the idea of being Minjoo’s service car but she is the one asking for it now. She also sounded really sad when she was asking if Minjoo went with her father. What’s more confusing is Minjoo kept looking outside, making him begin to suspect something.

“O~kay then. I will tell her that.” Richard answered while taking a peek at Minjoo.

“Also, tell her to have a good day at school for me.”

“What!?” Richard lost it. Why is his annoying daughter acting like she actually cares for Minjoo? “Did you guys fight or something?”

“No, silly old man. I just know today will be a tough day for her at school.”

“What did you say!?” Richard shouted. “Did you just call me an old man!?”

Yujin just laughed from the other line. “Aren’t you one? See you later, Dad! You have a good day as well! Bye!”

With that, Yujin ended the call leaving her father surprised from the beginning of the call until the end. “What’s up with this kid? She’s not the type to say those kinds of greetings to me.”

Finally, it was a red light and he found the chance to properly ask Minjoo.

“Do you know anything weird that happened to that girl?” Richard asked. “It felt like I was speaking to a different person all this time!”

Minjoo just looked at the guy with a very confused yet panicking expression. “I-I don’t really know…”

Richard’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Minjoo suspiciously. The girl could only lean backwards. “Suspicious.” The man sighed. “Very suspicious.”

Minjoo gulped. She kept reciting a prayer in her head about Richard's suspicions. ‘Please not that. Please don’t think of it like that. Please don’t think of us that way.’

They then heard aggressive honkings from the back which startled the two of them. The light had already turned green but their car wasn’t moving. Richard immediately stepped to the gas because he is aware of how severe road rages may lead to.

“I guess I’ll just ask my brother later.” Richard sighed. “I know you don’t know much about my daughter but this is really weird of her, Minjoo. When she hit puberty, she started acting all cool and I felt like my sweet, cute daughter disappeared. This is the first time that she greeted me like this!”

If only the situation doesn’t involve her then Minjoo could’ve already laughed because of how surprised the Professor looked while talking about Yujin but that isn’t the case. There’s no way that she could laugh and even the slightest possibility of that happening would all be gone once she knew what’s waiting for her at school.

MINJOO stayed at the library for almost an hour while waiting for the classes to start. She tried to calm herself, read her books and even tried to take a nap but her heart won’t be at ease. She couldn’t concentrate at all, especially when she’s aware that there are sets of eyes that are fixed on her.

She accidentally met one of those stares and was only surprised to see that the owner of the eyes won’t back down even if she already knows that she was looking. Minjoo just tried to ignore that sharp stare but then she remembered something.

‘She was the girl who gave Yujin a love letter.’

Minjoo took a deep breath and her attention was caught by the two guys sitting in the seats in front of her. They were obviously talking about her. They were sneering at her and one of them even his lips while looking at Minjoo.

‘What did I even do at the party? What on earth did I do? All I wanted was a peaceful school life but why is this happening to me? Did they really delete my video?’

Looking at her watch, she stood up and headed to her classroom. She already received a message from Chaeyeon and the said girl was already in the building where their classes are held. She better find someone’s company soon. Though she might’ve already got a grasp of how this school works, she still doesn’t know the limit of what the students can do.

She was about to exit the building where the library is when someone bumped her forcefully that she lost a hold of her books.

“What’s with this girl acting like a nerd when she’s a ho3 in reality?”

Minjoo took a deep breath before quickly picking up her books. “Sorry.” She apologized even though she knew that it wasn’t an accident and she was not at fault. She just doesn’t want to make things worse. Knowing who the girl in front of her is, she tried her best to just escape but the said won’t just let her go that easily.

“Where do you think you are going, wh0r3?” Alex held her by the arm. Her two friends were backing her up, their arms crossed, all of them looking down at her.

“I am sorry. I don’t know what you are talking about.” Minjoo tried to shake her off but Alex’s hold on her tightened. The other students were already flocking at the commotion. The Korean girl just wanted to evaporate right at that very moment.

“You don’t know what I am talking about?” Alex’s eyebrow rose. “You are acting like this nice, nerd girl but you were actually after Eugene. Tell me, what kind of potion did you give to her, you witch!?”

Minjoo let out a sigh. She looked straight to Alex and tried to negotiate. “I guess you were not informed but I wasn’t really myself that night. I was--”

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