The next morning, Myung Soo woke to the sound of sizzling food and clattering pans downstairs. Groggily he sat up and looked around, trying to gather his senses and differentiate between the fictional life of his dream and reality. Then, once everything was sorted, he collapsed back onto the pillows and covered his head with the blankets.

"Are you joking?"

Myung Soo's eyes snapped open as Yeong Hwa's face appeared. "Am I never going to be able to sleep again?" he grumbled, sitting up once again and running a hand through his hair at an attempt to tame it. Glancing around at his surroundings, he realized a detail he had missed during his first attempt at waking up. He was in his own bedroom. Yeong Hwa wasn't sleeping here anymore.

Sighing heavily, he rolled out of bed and crossed the room to his bathroom. Outside he could hear the twins getting up to go and greet their parents, who had arrived late last night. Myung Soo had already said the typical "hello" and "I missed you" to the both of them, so he didn't feel obligated to run down the stairs screaming his lungs off. Instead, he closed the bathroom door after him and proceeded to strip down to take a shower.

After throwing his clothes into the laundry basket he stepped into the shower and the water, letting the chilly liquid run over his body and wake up his muscles. "Last day of summer was yesterday... you would think that it was the last day of the world's existence. It certainly feels like it," he thought, reaching down and picking up the shampoo. As he began working a lather up in his hair, Myung Soo tilted his head back to keep the shampoo out of his eyes and stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"We go to the same school," he began reasoning, turning his back to the stream of water coming out and tilting his head back to rinse his hair. "Which means-" his sentence was cut off in a wet garble as the water poured down onto his face and into his mouth. Spluttering, Myung Soo emerged from the water and staggered away from the shower's stream in order to prevent any further self-drowning. "Which means... that we won't never see each other again," he finished after coughing up what water he could.

Glaring up at the shower head, Myung Soo stepped back into the stream of water for round two. This time he remembered to keep his mouth shut, keeping all reasoning to inside his brain. "She said things should go back to the way they were, but that doesn't mean I have to listen to her. After all, since when did a kingka start listening to some stupid rebel?!" Myung Soo thought, running his fingers through his hair to make sure he got rid of all the shampoo.

"That kind of thinking is what gets me beat up so much," he added after pausing to think a bit about what he had said. No matter how gungho he might be about winning Yeong Hwa, he needed to go about it a smart way. Otherwise he might end up with a broken arm, courtesy of the 'girl of his dreams'. "Really. What kind of a guy worries about whether the girl will beat him up? Normally it's just being rejected or something," sighing, Myung Soo reached over and turned off the water.

Stepping out of the shower, Myung Soo heard a persistent knock at the bathroom door. "Yeah?" he called out, hurrying to grab a towel and wrap it around his waist. From the other side of the door he could faintly hear a reply along the lines of 'I have your uniform', but he couldn't be sure. What was even more confusing was that the voice sounded like Yeong Hwa's.

Glancing into the mirror, Myung Soo quickly adjusted his hair. When it was as sorted as it was going to get, he strode over to the door and rested against the frame as he turned the doorknob. "Yes?" he asked, trying to be charming as the door opened to reveal his surprise visitor. When he saw the amused smirk on her face, Myung Soo instantly dropped the act and coughed nervously into his fist. "Um..., yes, umma?" he corrected as Eun Sun tried not to laugh at her son.

"I see you got along well with the babysitter," she commented, holding out Myung Soo's uniform to him. "So, will I be having a daughter-in-law soon?" she asked as Myung Soo took the uniform from her and moved to close the door.

"Umma," he complained, politely closing the door in her face. Chuckling to herself, Eun Sun shrugged her shoulders and left Myung Soo's room so that he could change in peace.

"Yeong Hwa..."

"Yeah?" she asked, surprisingly perky for how early in the morning it was. When her aunt showed no signs of continuing, and instead awkwardly pushed her food around the plate, Yeong Hwa sighed and took the initiative. "Aunt Soo Yun, I'm really sorry about not calling you for the past few days. I know that you were just trying to help me and appa out, but there were honestly some things that I needed to take care of. I can't tell you what they were because I don't want anyone else to get involved in this whole... thing with appa," she acted as though she were reading from a script which, at this point, wasn't too far from the truth.

"I heard all of that in the car last night. Twenty times," Soo Yun sighed, frowning at Yeong Hwa as she sat back in her seat. "What I actually wanted to talk about was how things at school were going," she continued, fixing Yeong Hwa with a critical stare.

"Great! Wonderful! I'm really getting along there!" Yeong Hwa exclaimed, grinning nervously at her aunt as she tried to feign innocence. There was no way that her aunt could possibly know about how things at school were going. Her own father didn't know about school, so for Soo Yun to have found something out would be-

"I hear they have a nickname for you, even. Warrior Princess, was it?" Soo Yun asked accusingly, staring Yeong Hwa down.

In order to avoid the question, Yeong Hwa took a long drink of her juice and swallowed it down as slowly as she possibly could manage. Unperturbed by this, Soo Yun folded her arms across her chest and waited patiently for Yeong Hwa to finish. When she had finally drained the cup, Yeong Hwa had no choice but to put the cup down and face up to her aunt's accusations.

"Better?" Soo Yun asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes ma'am," Yeong Hwa replied quietly, bowing her head and trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Don't "yes ma'am" me, Yeong Hwa! I want a straight answer from you!" Soo Yun scolded, not about to cave in because of Yeong Hwa's behavior. "What do you think you're doing acting like this?! Do you think school is a place for students to just do whatever you want? You have no idea what kind of things I've heard about-"

"Don't believe everything you hear, Soo Yun," Yeong Hwa interrupted, guessing that the majority of what her aunt had heard was rumors. Glaring down at Yeong Hwa, Soo Yun leaned forward in her seat. "I meant aunt," Yeong Hwa corrected, sliding her chair back to put a little more distance between her and Soo Yun.

"Good," Soo Yun said, "so now let's get cracking down on this 'Warrior Princess' business. You might not believe me, but I understand this whole business a lot better than you think. Although I was never a rebel, I did associate with that crowd on occasion," Soo Yun paused for a moment when she caught Yeong Hwa's expression, which was a mixture of awe and disbelief. "I did their homework and they kept me from getting beat up," Soo Yun explained, which quickly turned Yeong Hwa's expression into one that showed how unimpressed she was.

"I don't expect you to give up on this whole business entirely, because that would be like asking someone to not eat. I will ask you to cut down on the crap, though. Don't fight unless you are physically provoked, and don't talk back to your teachers. They aren't paid enough for that," Soo Yun ordered, laying down the rules of the land for Yeong Hwa.

"Aunt Soo Yun, I don't think I can-"

"Remember who is paying for your food and the roof over your head, Yeong Hwa. Once your father is fit to raise you himself you can go back to how you were before, but until then I want you acting like a semi-civilized student," Soo Yun interrupted, standing up to clear away the breakfast dishes. "Now hurry and get going. I want you to your classes on time," she ordered, pointing in the direction of the front door.

Nodding reluctantly, Yeong Hwa stood and grabbed her bag off the floor. Once it was over her shoulder, she turned to bob a quick bow to her aunt and then began leisurely strolling towards the door.

"Yeong Hwa," her aunt called after her, a last thought entering her mind. Turning, Yeong Hwa waited for yet another annoying rule to come out of the woman's mouth. "I'm serious about the fighting. When you become more passive, they're going to start getting confident. Anyone gives you crap and you show them just how you earned your title," her aunt commanded, winking at Yeong Hwa before turning towards the sink to do the dishes. "Oh, and have a nice day!" she added over her shoulder, giving a stunned Yeong Hwa her cue to leave.

"So... if I get in a fight you won't be mad?" she tested, making sure her aunt wasn't pulling her leg here.

"Only if you're provoked physically. I don't want you needlessly beating your classmates," Soo Yun clarified, turning on the water as far hot as it would go.

"You sure you didn't have an uous relationship with dad and you're actually my mom? I swear you and I are more alike than me and appa," Yeong Hwa asked jokingly, watching as steam began rising from the sink. The heated water didn't seem to bother Soo Yun, though. After waving Yeong Hwa off she stuck her hands straight into the steaming stream of water and began scrubbing with determination at the grease stains on last nights bowls.

After a quick bow to her aunt, Yeong Hwa hurried to the front door and slipped on her shoes. "I'm off!" she called out while opening the front door. From the kitchen she could hear Soo Yun grunt a reply. Shrugging her shoulders, Yeong Hwa went outside and closed the door tightly behind her.

"Master Yeong Hwa!" Myung Soo's head shot up as he heard someone referring to Yeong Hwa in such an embarrassing way. Pausing at the school gates to try and pick out who was talking, Myung Soo caught sight of a giantess hurrying over to Yeong Hwa. If he remembered correctly, it was the girl who had picked a fight with Yeong Hwa shortly before school got out for summer vacation. As she reached Yeong Hwa, who was trying to hide her blushing face, the girl hurriedly took Yeong Hwa's bag and looped it over her arm in order to take some of the burden off Yeong Hwa's shoulders.

Myung Soo couldn't help but feel a little jealous about that. Wasn't it typically the boyfriend who carried his girlfriend's things? "Not that we're actually going out, but-"

"It's L!" one of Woollim High's female students shrieked as she caught sight of Myung Soo's face while passing him at the gates. Startled by this sudden noise it took Myung Soo a minute to compose himself enough to flash the girl in question a smile. It was like throwing gasoline on a fire, with the girl nearly blowing a gasket while her friends started letting out a string of unintelligible squeals.

As a crowd began gathering around him Myung Soo found himself more concerned about Yeong Hwa than the fact that he was close to being trampled. Standing as far onto his toes as he could Myung Soo scanned over the heads of the chattering girls in order to pick out the one girl he actually wanted to see. When he did spot her he could tell she had been trying to wrestle her bag back, judging by the disheveled appearance and irate expression she displayed, but all the screaming must have caught her attention as she was now looking right at him.

She didn't seem to really be seeing him, though. Rather than the alert sharpness Myung Soo was used to seeing on her face she looked blank and somewhat confused. It wasn't until her number one fan poked her in the face that she came to her sense. Taking this moment of clarity as his opportunity, Myung Soo tried to wave to Yeong Hwa in order to catch her attention once more. She did glance over at him, but the moment she recognized him she turned and went inside the school.

"This might be harder than I thought," when the last of Yeong Hwa had disappeared through the front doors Myung Soo dropped back down onto his heels. At that exact moment one of the girls, emboldened by her friends encouragement, had stepped forward to say something but with Myung Soo's sudden movement had been thrown off balance. It was more sensing her predicament than seeing it, but regardless of how he knew about it Myung Soo was instantly extending his arms out to catch her.

The moment Myung Soo had a hold of the "unlucky" girl the ovaries began exploding. Graduating from squeals to screams, every girl in the small crowd erupted in very vocal appreciation as Myung Soo carefully helped the girl back to her feet. Blushing so badly that Myung Soo could have mistaken her for a tomato, the girl stuttered through a quick thank you before fleeing the scene in order to avoid dying of a ruptured heart.

"I see you haven't been wasting any time," Sung Yeol suddenly spoke up as he and the others arrived. Coming up behind Myung Soo he wrapped one arm around his shoulders and used the other to wave to the crowd of girls, which had increased as the number of boys went from one to seven. The entire crowd turned into a synchronized waving team as everyone responded to Sung Yeol's stimulation.

"We should start heading to class now. If we're late on the first day..." Sung Gyu let the sentence hang as he began herding the other six boys towards the front doors.

"You're no fun, hyung," Woo Hyun griped jokingly as he began forming hearts with his hands. Rolling his eyes at Woo Hyun's behavior, Sung Gyu wrapped one arm around his shoulder and the other around Dong Woo's, who was also proving to be too engrossed in pleasing girls to pay attention to where he was walking.

As they walked inside the school, Myung Soo spotted Yeong Hwa and her follower standing by the shoe lockers and chatting. Although judging by both expressions it seemed the talking was less friendly and more along the lines of "oh my gosh leave me alone already!" At least on Yeong Hwa's part.

"Hey, princess! Having fun recruiting more innocents into the folds of the devil's army?" Woo Hyun called out as he too spotted Yeong Hwa. Glaring at the back of Woo Hyun's head, Myung Soo felt like flattening him for saying something like that to Yeong Hwa. He managed to restrain himself, though. After all, it wasn't like anyone else knew about the real Yeong Hwa. Even he had acted like this before summer had begun, even going so far as to black mail Yeong Hwa.

Even just thinking about how he had treated her made Myung Soo feel sick to his stomach.

Turning to face Woo Hyun with her eyes already rolled up to the ceiling, Yeong Hwa was about to respond with a snappy comeback when she caught sight of Myung Soo. "No," she replied dumbly, eyes fixed on Myung Soo. When he caught her watching him Yeong Hwa quickly turned her back on the boys and their entourage and slammed her shoe locker shut.

"Are you alright?" Min Hee asked cautiously.

"Peachy," Yeong Hwa grunted, stalking off down one of the school's many halls.

Woo Hyun wasn't about to let her off so easily, though. "So then are you looking for some poor sap who will give you bail money? Or do you even care enough about your dad to do that?" The atmosphere went icy cold as his words reached Yeong Hwa's ears and she stopped dead in her tracks. Wordlessly, the girls who had previously been attached to the hip to Infinite began scurrying away in order to avoid being caught up in the blood shed that was about to ensue when Yeong Hwa got her hands on Woo Hyun.

"Bail?" Myung Soo mouthed, trying to catch Yeong Hwa's eye when she turned to face Woo Hyun. When that didn't work, he repeated the word and glanced around at the others for an explanation.

"Didn't you know? Yeong Hwa's father was arrested over the summer," Sung Jong whispered accusingly, frowning darkly at Myung Soo.

"Well I don't know everything," Myung Soo replied defensively, feeling his heart sink.

"You should have at least known that much," Sung Jong snapped back before giving Myung Soo the silent treatment. He couldn't believe that after spending an entire summer with Yeong Hwa that his hyung didn't care enough to even know that much about her. He had been so convinced that their relationship was going well, too.

"What are you-"

"If you ever mention my father again, I will rip your scrawny body to pieces and burn whatever is left," Yeong Hwa threatened, her eyes narrowing to mere slits. If this were an anime she would be engulfed in an inferno with a demonic portal behind her spewing out every imaginable horror and more.

"Then do it," Woo Hyun taunted, holding his arms out. Beside him, Sung Gyu rested one hand on his shoulder and whispered something along the lines of "knock it off" into his ear, but Woo Hyun wasn't listening. "You're big and tough, so come and make good on that promise. Or am I right and you don't care enough to defend your father's reputation?" he continued, taking a step towards Yeong Hwa.

"No fighting unless physically provoked." Soo Yun's voice echoed through Yeong Hwa's head, acting as a leash for Yeong Hwa's murderous intentions. At the moment she was like and enraged pitbull straining against the collar and leash in order to reach it's prize and rip it to shreds. And the leash was made of titanium.

Steaming, Yeong Hwa backed down. Turning around, she stalked off down the hall with Min Hee on her heels. When they were sure she was gone all six of the boys breathed much more easily, while Woo Hyun became even more puffed up than before.

"That's right! You don't have the-"

"Woo Hyun!" Myung Soo snapped, clapping a hand over Woo Hyun's mouth. "You've already made a big enough of yourself. Just drop it," he scolded, ignoring the fact that Woo Hyun was older than him and all the others were watching him. After seeing a short, numb nod from Woo Hyun, Myung Soo released his grip and broke off from the rest of the group to head to class on his own.

Not coincidentally, he took a differing hall from the one Yeong Hwa had disappeared down.

"He just stood there!" Yeong Hwa hissed as she sulked in a back corner of the class room. In the desk beside her, Min Hee avoided asking Yeong Hwa who she was talking about and instead busied herself with carving designs into her desk's wood. Although she hadn't known Yeong Hwa on this level for long, she had heard enough to know that sometimes it paid to just ignore her.

"Hero... what a joke. All he could do was stand there..." her voice descended from anger, down through calmness, and was now wallowing in a depressed and betrayed section of emotions. "I mean I know things were supposed to go back to the way they were, but... it hurts a lot more then I thought it would," she muttered, slowly lowering her head until her forehead was pressed against her desk top.

Sighing heavily, Yeong Hwa closed her eyes and prepared to sleep everything off. Who needed to pay attention to lessons, anyway? The teachers rarely knew what they were talking about, relying on manuals and online material to do their job for them, and the first day back was typically all review stuff anyway.

As she began to drift off, an image rose to the forefront of Yeong Hwa's mind. Myung Soo, surrounded by girls far prettier than Yeong Hwa could ever dream of being, catching the prettiest of them all as she stumbled into his arms. Snapping her head up, Yeong Hwa glared straight ahead as though she could burn the memory away if she worked hard enough at it. The infuriating image continued to persist, though.

"I need some fresh air," Yeong Hwa informed Min Hee, slamming her knee against the bottom of her desk as she tried to hurry and stand. Thinking this was her cue to follow, Min Hee also stood- with a bit more care than Yeong Hwa had exhibited- and faced Yeong Hwa at attention. "You stay here. If both of us disappear then people might come looking," Yeong Hwa told her in the most gentle voice she could manage, trying to spin together something logical sounding so that Min Hee wouldn't follow her.

"Okay," Min Hee agreed, nodding slowly and acting as though she understood Yeong Hwa's logic. Smiling, Yeong Hwa reached up and gave Min Hee's shoulder a quick pat before grabbing her bag and heading towards the front of the classroom. By the time she reached the door the other students who had arrived to class early had noticed her leaving and had gone silent, listening to try and hear the beginnings of Woollim's next rumor. Rolling her eyes, Yeong Hwa reached out to the door's handle.

Her hand passed through thin air, though, as the door acted on its own and opened without any help from her. On the other side stood a figure dressed in the male uniform, and judging by the guy's body language he was just as surprised to see her as Yeong Hwa was to see him. Not concerned with finding out who it was, Yeong Hwa tried to push her way past him. He didn't move, though, and instead made an effort to keep her from leaving the classroom.

Curious as to who would try to bar the way of Woollim High School's Warrior Princess, Yeong Hwa looked up to see his face. She really wished she hadn't.

"L," she grunted, the best greeting she was going to manage with her head so twisted up whenever it came to this guy.

"Yeong Hwa," he responded, leaning against the door frame and further blocking her way.

For a few seconds the two just stood there, neither speaking as they waited for the other to give in. Yeong Hwa wasn't about to break for this jerk, though, and so took the initiative and went on the offensive. "If you would just move, things could be easier for the both of us," she muttered so that it stayed just between the two of them. Pushing her way forward, she had almost slipped past Myung Soo when he reached over and grabbed her arm.

In one smooth movement he had closed the classroom door, granting them privacy from at least those inside, and had Yeong Hwa pressed against the hallway wall. Exhaling slowly, she tried to keep her calm as Myung Soo let go of her arm and rested both hands on either side of her, effectively keeping her against the wall. The awkward position Myung Soo had put the pair of them in was only worsened by the distance that separated them which, frankly, was practically nonexistent.

"Can we talk?" Myung Soo asked, his tone showing that he had also already answered for her. "I just have something I need to tell you before things get too weird between us," he continued, shifting his weight so that he was resting more comfortably. Unfortunately, this put them even closer to each other.

"Go for it," Yeong Hwa grunted, unable to say anything else as she began noticing things about Myung Soo that she really didn't want to at the moment. The intensity in his eyes, the way his hair fell mysteriously over one eye, the smell of his shampoo, his lips... subconsciously, Yeong Hwa ran her tongue over her own lips as she remembered the times she had personally experienced Myung Soo's lips.

Thus, before Myung Soo could even get one word out of his mouth, Yeong Hwa had shoved her way past and was fleeing down the hall. Watching blankly as she left, Myung Soo couldn't decide if he should chase after her or let her go. It didn't bother him for long, though, because soon circumstances had made his decision for him when Yeong Hwa disappeared around the corner. Even if he did go after her it would be too much trouble trying to track her down and stop her once again.

"This seemed so much easier in the shower!" he thought, scratching furiously at his head and lightly thumping his forehead against the wall. After thirty more seconds of this Myung Soo finished his temper tantrum and was once more ready to face the world. As he opened the classroom door he quickly ran his fingers through his hair to try and sort it out as best he could.

All of our memories that used to be like hell
I don’t know why all of them are still stuck on my mind
I will remember all of our past days, you who used to play with me
Thanks to you everything flip flopped for me

The music blasted into Yeong Hwa's ears as she sat on the roof with her legs dangling through the railing and over the edge. Pressing her forehead against the cold metal bars she felt a rush of vertigo hit her as she stared down at the sidewalk below. One of the school's faculty members appeared as a blemish on the otherwise pure white surface as they went about their rounds to look for any students currently skipping out on class.

You were only skipping if you got caught, though, so in order to avoid joining the ranks Yeong Hwa slid backwards along the roof and lay down closer to the middle so that she couldn't be seen. She really didn't need that sort of thing on her first day back, and her first day under the care of her aunt. Although the woman was okay with Yeong Hwa fighting she would probably kill her if she found out Yeong Hwa had skipped out on class.

"She's so weird," Yeong Hwa thought, rolling onto her side and sighing. "And speaking of weird people, what was up with Myung- L- back there? Didn't he get the memo about us going back to how things were before?" Even though she was complaining about his irrational behavior, she could still feel her heart begin beating loudly as she remembered their short meeting. Then she remembered the morning's events, and her heart was frozen in a chunk of freezing ice.

"He's the one who got my heart racing. The one who kept me up at night because I couldn't keep him out of my mind. He's the one who kissed me, and the one who said he would be my hero. So why am I the one who is hurting?" she thought bitterly, thumping her fist against the roof. "And now he's the one who is making things difficult! What is wrong with him?!" she snapped aloud, rolling onto her back and squeezing her eyes shut.

Maybe if she slept on it things would make sense again.

Author's Note: Um... insert shameless self-advertisement? (not sure what to write, haha) click?I wrote a one shot starring, you guessed it, Kim Myung Soo! Please drop by and tell me what you think of it... or ignore this... I feel kind of weird advertising like this XD

Also, I found a quote from Myung Soo that I thought was really sweet, so I decided to share it (even though I'm pretty sure a lot of people have read it, haha):

“Because there are Inspirits, there’s Infinite and because there’s Infinite, there are Inspirits. Infinite Infinite!! You’ll watch over us till the end, right? ^^”

<-- me whenever I see this gif XD