"Call me Hazel," I told the class, giving them a friendly smile.

I have to say, none of them were particularly interested in me. I almost rolled my eyes at them before the teacher showed me my seat.

"Alright Hazel, you can go sit right there in the empty seat in front of Yong Guk."

I looked to where the teacher was pointing to see a blonde guy staring at me intensely. He looked like your typical troublemaker with his spiky bleached hair, loose black hoodie and dark washed jeans. I bet  he was a jock too. I could also bet that he was popular with the girls, seeing as he was quite handsome.

Wait. Wasn't that the guy I just gave flipped off outside the school? He was staring at me funny through the window, like I was some kind of meat so I thought he should have a taste of his own medicine. I smiled at the coincidence. What are the chances?

I walked to the seat in front of him, gave him an innocent smile and sat down for class.

"Hazel, you said it was?"  his voice interrupted my thoughts as soon as break started. His voice was low and smooth, like a deep red wine.

I decided to pretend I didn't hear him and took out my ear phones and iPod to kill time during the break. I brought the earphones to my ear. I wasn't in the mood for socializing.

I felt a hand land on my left shoulder and it pulled me back forcibly. The other hand had grabbed and unplugged my earphones. Turned against my will, I was face to face with the blondie. Our faces were inches away.

"Hazel, was it?" he repeated, giving me a charismatic smile that would have probably melted any girl's heart. It should have melted mine too.

I let out a breath of air and took his hand off my shoulder. I grabbed my earphones back, pushing him into his seat. I gave him an insincere smile.

"Yes, and yours was...?"

"Bang Yong Guk," he answered arrogantly, a confident look on his face. He leaned back into his seat now that he had my attention.

"Ah, Bang Yong Guk..." I muttered, taking it into consideration. And then I turned back to face the front of the classroom and placed the earphones in my ear again, leaving a flabbergasted Yong Guk.

"Yah!" he shouted, kicking my seat.

Annoyed, I whipped back to him. He seemed satisfied at my reaction. Even more annoyed upon seeing his good looking face, I took out my earphones again and slammed them and the iPod on my desk. I stood up and grabbed Yong Guk's collar, elevating his upper body slightly. Our faces were close like before. I could feel the eyes of the other students on us.

"Alright here, pretty boy, listen up."

He cocked his head to a side, wondering what I had to say.

"You think I haven't heard rumours of TS High? I know how this story goes: you've pretty much charmed every girl here, make them feel like you're interested in them, make them think you like them... Then. Then nothing happens. You lose interest. You forget them like yesterday's temperature. And they're left broken heart... wondering if they could ever win your love back." I pouted, imitating those girls. "Can we just pretend that we've gone through all that crap already and become strangers? Just ignore me and pretend I'm not new here - it'll save us both a lot of trouble."

Yong Guk looked shocked for a while before he gave me a smirk. He stood up, my grip on his collar loosening involuntarily. Standing up, he towered over me. Yong Guk looked down on me and lifted up my face with a finger under my chin. He flashed me a bright, gummy smile.

"Sorry, I don't feel like doing that...Hazel."

"So how come you won't go out with me?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked back, raising an eyebrow at the tall blonde boy. I must have looked unimpressed.

"You're really asking that?" I told him as I started on my way down the stairs again to leave the school. It has been a week already that he has been doing this, ever since that first day of school.

"Oh c'mon, you know you want to~" he told me playfully.

"Jocks aren't my type. Don't you have some practice or something to go to today?" I waved my hand at him to go away.

Yong Guk caught up to me, placing an arm around my shoulder laughing.

"See, you already have my schedule memorized!"

I pushed his arm off and started walking fast.

"OR I'm just observant," I rebutted.

"How come you always wear this scarf? Don't you feel hot?" he asked randomly.

I stiffened a little. 

"Don't touch the scarf," I told him seriously. Then I sighed. "It's been about a week now, shouldn't you be getting sick of my face?"

Yong Guk moved himself in front of me, causing me to stop walking. I was two steps higher on the stairs. He reached for my head and ran his hand through my black hair, a sincere loving look on his face. It surprised me a little, since I've never seen such an expression on his face before.

"Nope, you still look like you," he told me, smiling brightly like a goof. I stared at him dumbfounded before a small smile escaped my lips.

"Whatever," I told him playfully, pushing past him to go out the front doors of the school. Yong Guk followed suit like a puppy.

I was beginning to think that it might not be a bad idea to trust him after all.

And then he stopped talking to me.

The weekend before that passed by insignificantly; I was actually excited to be back to school on Monday and see a familiar face. But the face I was waiting to see wasn't familiar at all.

I stood in front of my desk and looked at Yong Guk, puzzled at why he wasn't initiating conversation like he always did. Noticing my stare, Yong Guk looked up at me with a bored expression on his face. He had dead eyes. Then he looked back out the window as if he didn't see anyone at all. 

I felt like I had been hit over the head with a hammer. I had expected him to send me a cheeky smile as soon as I entered the classroom, almost exploding to talk to me as I sat down at my desk. I should have practically seen him wag his invisible tail as we conversed. What in the world had happened to his attitude? Stunned and not really paying attention to my actions, I sat down in my seat for class.

Why? What had gone wrong? Why was he acting like that? Just a few days ago, he was so friendly... I tried to snap myself out of it. Why did I care anyway? It had nothing to do with me, really. It was more comfortable this way. I didn't even like that arrogant, self superior jock...

"Hazel, is there something you wanted to tell me?" the teacher asked suddenly.

"Huh?" I looked up at the teacher. He looked nervous. "No... not at all," I replied him, surprised. I must have been glaring at him without realizing it. 

Class continued on and I couldn't help but wish for the end of school. I needed to talk to Yong Guk.

"What did you call me for?" he asked monotonously. There was no expression on his face as he looked down on me from his height.

"What's with you?" I demanded an answer for his actions.

"What do you mean?"

"This. You," I started off, not being able to form a sentence clearly. "You're acting so differently."

Yong Guk smirked bitterly before leaning down so we were eye level.

"Why? Did you expect me to chase you around for the rest of the school year?" he asked mockingly, putting on another smirk. "Give me a break."

I stood there, stunned by his words. I was in pure shock.

He stood back to his full height again, looking bored. "Anything more to say?"

Damn. He had been playing with me. I fell for the same stupid trick he played on all the other girls. The. Same. Exact. Stupid. Trick. I had fallen for it, even though I swore I wouldn't. I had been so absurd in thinking he could be sincere. Of course there was no way a guy like him would be honest. I had already known that, yet here I was.

"No." I said darkly as I glared at him. I my heel and started to walk away from the jerk.

How did I fall for it? His actions were so predictable. How did I let my guard down? This was exactly what I was trying to protect myself from. How could he have done this to me? The way he looked at me... It was just a way to play with my emotions. So he could throw me away like all the other girls at TS High. And here I had to just take it?

I stopped in my tracks, taking a deep breath in.

No.

I spun around, staring at Yong Guk with anger. He looked at me with a confused expression. I stomped my way up to him, determination in my eyes. As soon as I was near enough to him, I kicked Yong Guk in the right shin as hard as I could. Letting out a small cry in pain, Yong Guk grabbed for it. Taking that chance, I kicked his other shin. He grunted in pain. Finally I kicked him at his hip in his crouched position so he lost balance and landed on the ground. He looked up at me, bewildered.

"You should be lucky I'm nice enough to still let you have children in the future," I stated with a deadly tone before walking away.

My steps were heavy. I felt much better beating him up for playing with me, but I still couldn't get the ache out of my chest.

Another week had passed; it was a much different week from last time. I was so thankful it was Friday. To wrap it up in a nutshell, the past few days had been painful, awkward and weirdly very... dull. 

I let out a sigh while walking back to the classroom. I had hoped to be out of school the instant the bell rung to signal the weekend, but I had forgotten pack my textbooks. Typical. Involuntarily, I had to come back to get them. I was about to open to door to our classroom when I heard talking inside. 

"Hey, Bang Yong Guk, how come you're not going after the new girl anymore?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I guessed it was one of Yong Guk's close friends.

A silence followed.

"You seemed like you were actually interested in her, man. Just following girls around isn't usually your style, right?"

Another silence took place before I heard his voice. "I don't know."

"Got bored of her?" 

I balled up my hands into fists, expecting Yong Guk to say yes.

"No, it's nothing like that," Yong Guk answered, making my eyes widen in surprise.

"Then...?"

I heard a deep sigh.

"I... I just... I heard her talking to one of the girls about me. Apparently, I'm just an 'egotistical jock' to her," he sighed again. "I was really trying this time..."

Upon hearing those words, I felt something like a boulder drop in my stomach with a loud thud. Was that why...? I remembered that conversation. One of my classmates had been teasing and asking me senseless questions about Yonnguk without end. She was getting annoying and I told her that to make her shut up. I never meant for him to hear it, or even take it to heart.

It was my fault...

"Bang Yong Guk!" I shouted, walking up to him in the school yard on Monday morning. I thought about it all weekend and I just couldn't keep things as they were. I had to fix it.

He gave me a surprised look as he watched me make my way to him. It was obvious he expected me to ignore him for the rest of the year. Without another word, I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back of the school, leaving behind the murmuring students.

"Hazel! What are you doing?" he asked me, shock apparent in his voice.

I pushed him into the wall of the school, staring him down.

"You idiot," I told him, glaring at him.

He still had that stunned look on his face. After the initial surprise had passed, he looked a little annoyed, glaring back at me.

"What are you talking about?"

"You should know!"

"Know what?"

"Do you really have to ask? Just look at what you're doing!"

"Stop spitting out nonsense!"

"It's not nonsense! I just can't believe what an idiot you are," I shouted at him, our voices rising with each sentence. My anger rose along with it. The more I thought about it, here in front of him, the more immature his actions seemed. How could he just ignore me like that? He should have said something to me.

"WHAT EXACTLY MAKES ME AN IDIOT, HUH?" Yong Guk roared back, exploding. He took step forwards to me, trying to intimidate me.

I pushed him roughly back into the wall. I grabbed his collar and pulled his face down close to mine. I glared at him with all the anger I could muster, never breaking my eye contact with his. This guy... This guy with his bleach blonde hair; chocolate brown eyes; that gummy smile of his; his playful nature...

Before I knew it, I had brought my lips to his, giving him a soft kiss. I instantly pulled away, shocked at what I had done. I released his collar and pushed him away from me. My heartbeat rose.

"...that does," I whispered and turned quickly to run away from the whole situation. What did I just do?

I felt a tug on my arm as Yong Guk grabbed my wrist and spun me back around, pushing me up against the school. My scarf came loose and blew away in the wind from the turning. He had his hand firmly on my shoulders so I couldn't run away. 

"What was that?" he asked me quietly and seriously, in a voice lower than his usual tone.

"I... don't know," I muttered just as quietly, trying not the look at his face. I couldn't tell him; I could barely face the truth myself.

"Tell me."

But Yong Guk wasn't budging. I bit my bottom lip, getting nervous with each passing second. I didn't expect this turn in events. I had originally just planned to put straight the misunderstanding he had about me... I took a quick look up at his face before diverting my eyes. His expression was dead serious as he waited for my explanation. I couldn't avoid it. I bit down on my lip again before bracing myself for the worst.

"Goddamnit! I like you, okay? I like you..." I mumbled, squeezing my eyes tight. I just confessed to him. 

A deadening silence took place.

Why wasn't he saying anything? What was he thinking? Curiosity and worry getting the better of me, I looked up at Yong Guk slowly. What I saw gave me a wave of surprise and relief.

He was smiling at me like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Hazel," he called out to me warmly, like he did a week ago. Yong Guk took his hand and gently held my chin, lifting my face to make sure we made eye contact. I stared into his brown eyes. 

"You should've told me sooner," he whispered contently, before leaning down and kissing me.

"I like you too," he told me when our lips parted. He ran a hand through my short hair, a bright smile on his face.

"What's this?" Yong Guk asked, noticing what I had been trying to cover with my scarf. He took his fingers and slowly grazed over the two scars at the base of my neck. I flinched a little.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, worried by my reaction. I shook my head.

"It doesn't hurt... I just... hate it," I replied him, covering it up with my hands. Yong Guk looked at me curiously, edging me on to explain how the scar got there. "A snake."

Yong Guk smirked at my reply and I could hear him laughing on the inside. I was almost about to yell back to him that it wasn't funny.

"Well, I just... love it," he whispered in my ear. He grabbed my hands into his own so that my neck was exposed again. Yongguk then gently brought his lips to the scar.