Chapter 3
Just Us in Our Own Time and Space“Rise, class!” Mr Oh’s voice boomed across the classroom even before he made his appearance, catching the students by surprise. It was supposed to be English lesson, but Mr Oh, also their homeroom teacher, taught Art & Craft. Regardless, the class rose to their feet in unison to greet their teacher.
“Ms Yoon had yet to recover her flu since yesterday, therefore I shall relieve the class for this period. Despite her absence, she had finished marking your Term One quiz,” the class groaned on hearing the announcement. “I’ve heard that this quiz was a killer. According to the summary I have here, only 16 students passed. Even then, the top scorer got an impressive 90 out of 100 marks. So what’s the problem of the with the rest of the 24 students who can’t even get past 50? Especially the lowest in the class who got only 5 marks! I’m embarrassed to be your homeroom teacher!”
The whole class hung their head low on hearing the bad news. A brief silence later, Mr Oh continue to announce the result.
“The top scorer, 90 of 100, is Jung Soojung, Krystal. As expected of the daughter of an English Professor at SNU (Seoul National University). Congratulations!” Krystal’s joy ended prematurely by the needless remarks about her father. It sounded as if she achieved good results through connections, not by her own merit. When she received her paper from Mr Oh, he whispered to her, “My daughter, Min Sun, is an English major at SNU. Do help to put in some good words about her to your father.”
“Mr Oh. Your daughter is as smart as you are. She doesn’t need my help,” Krystal felt nauseated from her lies.
Mr Oh smirked as if he had been praised and continued, “Coming in second with 85 out of 100 is our foreign friend and graduate of Shrewsbury International School. Your formal education does help to raise the standard of my class, Chee tah fone?”
Ten cringed on hearing how his name, Chittaphon, which meant the power of the winner in Thai, sounded like a Cheetah on the phone. He might be a foreign, but he understood that in Korea, you don’t mess with the teacher. Plastering a fake smile on his face, Ten humbly collected his quiz paper from Mr Oh.
“Moving on, let’s see who is in third place with 82 out of 100…” Mr Oh paused a while and brought the paper nearer to his eyes. “Kang Seulgi? I thought you are the one who got only 5 marks.”
Seulgi was too delighted with her achievement to be bothered by Mr Oh’s comments. Hoping for a passport to a better life was Seulgi’s primary motivation to study hard. To do so at one of the top-ranking high schools in the country certainly helped in gaining access to the best academic resources. On the other side of the coin, the emphasis on family background did not work well in Seulgi’s favour. The situation with her mother was no secret and made her a reputation hole in the eyes of the teachers. Nevertheless, Seulgi adopted a “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” attitude.
When Seulgi reached out her hand to receive her quiz paper, Mr Oh “accidentally” dropped it to the floor. Still hurting due to the wounds from last night, Seulgi grimaced as she bent down to pick up her paper.
“Now what?! You are making a face at me because you disagree with what I said? Or that I make you pick up your quiz paper that dropped on its own to the floor?”
“No sir. It has nothing to do with you…” Seulgi was not exactly lying. If not for the pain, she would have maintained a poker face. Unnecessary confrontations with authorities were the last thing she needed. All Seulgi wanted was to go through her high school journey peacefully and graduate.
“So now you are implying that I wrongly accuse you?!”
Without giving a chance for Seulgi to explain herself, Mr Oh drew the cane hung conveniently near the teacher’s desk and swung it across Seulgi’s arm. She braced herself for the second hit but it never came. Instead, she found herself in the embrace of a pair of strong arms.
“Wait… why are you…” Mr Oh panicked upon realising where his second had landed on.
“This doesn’t look pretty,” Taeyong flashed his arm to show the angry-looking cane mark.
“Taeyong, you know I don’t mean to hit you. It is supposed to punish that little bi…”
“No. Stop it! Taeyong!” Taeyong’s fist would have rammed into Mr Oh’s jaw if Seulgi did not restrain him in time.
“You know what?” Taeyong might have calmed down a little, but his tone remained menacing. “Our class can manage on our own. We don’t need a relief teacher. You get the **** out of here or I tell my father you hit me without a valid reason.”
“All right… all right… I’ll leave you guys on your own. If you need anything, I am in the staff room. Krystal, Chee Tah Fone, please help to distribute the scripts to rest of the class,” After Mr Oh scurried out of the classroom, the students cheered at Taeyong like a hero.
Mr Oh was the typical snob who kissed the feet of the rich and powerful, then vent the frustration from all that indignity by picking on underprivileged kids like Seulgi. Taeyong knew that Mr Oh was friendly with him because his father was Lee Sooman, founder of South Korea’s entertainment goliath, SM Entertainment. Although he was adopted, it was well-known in the circles that Lee Sooman doted on Taeyong the most. If he was still that kid of a nobody during the earlier part of his life, he would have been expelled for playing the knight in shining armour, not that he cared. Taeyong just wanted to be there for Seulgi, like how she was there for him from way back.
FLASHBACK...
Taeyong’s biological parents were killed in a traffic accident when he was in kindergarten. His paternal uncle, the only next-of-kin, took over the custody reluctantly. Being a typical single man who knew nought about childcare, Taeyong was often left to his own device while his uncle went on about with his shady business. As a result, the older boys in the neighbourhood ganged up to extort money from young Taeyong, taking advantage of his vulnerability. Taeyong was afraid to stand up for himself because every physical aspect was not in his favour. In terms of size, Taeyong was shorter and smaller due to age and malnutrition. In terms of number, it was one of him against a gang of ten older kids. Therefore, he naively thought if he cooperated and gave them what they want, they would let him go. Needless to say, the bullies returned for more. Eventually, Taeyong had no more money to give them until his next allowance from his uncle one month later.
“No money? Then you have to give us something else,” the leader’s eyes travelled lower. “Your Pokemon shorts looked so pretty, just like that girly face of yours. Hey guys, what do you think? We’ll take his shorts and can check if he is really a boy at the same time?”
“Go! Go! Junyong!” the gang cheered their leader as he advanced towards Taeyong. Soon Taeyong was pinned against the concrete wall in a tug-of-war with Junyong, one pulling up to hang on to his shorts while the other yanking it in the opposite direction to remove it. When Junyong was about to succeed, he felt a jet of water hitting him at the ears and the distraction caused him to release Taeyong. Turning sideways to see who was the culprit, Junyong was surprised to find a girl aiming a water pistol at him. Like an angry bull, he charged towards her. Undaunted by the incoming threat, the girl pulled the trigger of her water pistol and shot more water into Junyong’s eyes and nostril. Blinded and choked by the water, Junyong collapsed onto the floor. Provoked by the humiliation their leader received, the rest of the gang ignored Taeyong and attacked the girl instead. As the girl was unfairly outnumbered, she received more blows than she could give out any.
Taeyong could have taken this chance to escape, but witnessing the girl’s bravery ignited the courage in him. No longer fearing for his own life, he dashed towards chaotic exchanges of fists and kicks in the hope of saving the girl somehow. Just then an opportunity presented itself when the girl bit the leg of one of the attackers, who happened to be Junyong’s little brother, making him fell flat on the ground. Taeyong reacted quicky and pulled off his shorts to expose his bottom. Leaping back swiftly, Taeyong triumphantly raised the shorts. “If you want your Teletubbies shorts back, ask your friends to get away from the girl now!”
By this time, Junyong had recovered from his senses, though his eyes still hurt from the impact of the water shot. Besides, he was worried about the injuries his little brother suffered from the fall. Shaken by the turn of the event, he ordered his gang to stop the fight and beat a hasty retreat.
“Yah! Teletubby!” Junyong’s little brother turned around only to have his shorts hurled in his face.
After the bullies had left the scene, Taeyong quickly checked on the girl. “I’m sorry you got hurt because of me. Do you want me to bring you to the doctor?”
The girl shook her head and attempted to stand up. Taeyong quickly lent support to her movement. “Are you sure? The wounds look painful…”
“This is nothing. My Omma can hit harder than this…” the girl flashed an eye smile while giggling at her own joke. Taeyong was instantly attracted by the duality of this warm persona and the cool killer looks she pulled a while ago when aiming her water pistol at Junyong.
“Ok. But if you need anything, I live with my uncle on the fifth floor of that block. Just call me Taeyong. And you are?”
“My name is Seulgi. Kang Seulgi. My Omma and I just moved in yesterday and we stayed on the second floor,” Seulgi pointed at the same block, much to Taeyong’s delight. Since that day, they started hanging out with each other for a couple of months, until the social welfare stepped in. Due to their intervention, Seulgi and Taeyong were fostered and adopted respectively by other families so that they could grow up in a more wholesome environment. Their path crossed again in this high school, where they ended up in the same class as freshmen.
“Are you all right?”
Seulgi turned around, even though she recognised the voice and the familiar touch on her shoulders. “Of course. It’s just a cane .”
“You know I’m not referring to that. Your movement looked laboured when you bent down to pick up the quiz paper just now.”
Seulgi was touched by how observant Krystal was and toyed with the idea that Krystal still cared about her. Nevertheless, she did not want to add on to Krystal’s worries. “No worries, I’m good.”
“If you say so. But do remember, the door of the Jung family is always opened for you, even though you have ‘graduated’ from here as a foster child,” Krystal was not convinced but she chose to give the benefit of the doubt. “By the way, congrats for coming in third for the English Term Quiz. I’m so proud of you.”
Seulgi blushed on hearing praises from Krystal. She would not deny that Krystal played a small part in her motivation to excel academically. Krystal herself was the top student in the school. Seulgi wanted to at least be on par with Krystal to be worthy as her friend, not that Krystal cared about such thing. Love does make one do crazy things.
“What about me? I got 55 marks. That makes me one of the 16 students who passed the test? Do I get a kiss from you?” Kai made smooching sounds to illustrate his point.
“A kiss with just 55 marks? Then what is Krystal gonna do with you when you score 100 marks? Getting in bed…” before Taeyong could finish his sentence, he felt a pen hit him on the forehead, courtesy of Krystal.
“As much as I’m grateful to you for rescuing me just now, I think you totally deserve this,” Seulgi faked a disapproving look at Taeyong, causing him to draw imaginary tears flowing down his eyes with his fingers.
“Tae Tae, you don’t need a perfect score to get in bed with me. I am willing to do it with just 75,” Ten lovingly wrapped his arms around Taeyong’s waist.
“What is it about you deciding all this? Don’t my consent matter?”
“Oh please! Go book a hotel room already!” Krystal cringed in disgust. Then she linked arm with her Kai. “We are going for lunch. See you guys tomorrow!”
Once again, Seulgi felt left out again. After packing her bags, she wanted to bid farewell to Taeyong and Ten, but on seeing how the two were still busy engaging in their banter, she decided to leave quietly.
“It felt so good to know that all of us have aced the killer English quiz. I think the three of us should celebrate with delicious food, with or without the lovebirds. Seul, I know you will love this…” Taeyong turned around to get the latter’s approval. “Hmm? Where is she?”
“I think she left… Is it just me, but I notice she seemed affected by Kaistal…”
“Kaistal? Did you just invent an English word?”
“Pabo! Kaistal is short for Kai and Krystal. Just like how Taeten is short for Taeyong and Ten…”
“Where do you get this from?” Taeyong gave a puzzled look, “But more importantly, what do you mean by Seulgi being affected?”
“Seulgi seems to be jealous whenever the two get intimate together. Although I can’t draw any connection here, could she be in love with Kai too? Whoa, buddy, you need to work harder! If you need help, I can level up my flirt mode to divert her attention towards you.”
“You are just looking for an excuse to molest me,” Taeyong pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
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