▬ Chapter 17: The Troublesome Start ▬

It was finally the beginning of our first day of classes in London and all of us were gathered in the principal’s office as he gave us his welcoming speech.

“Welcome, to the London School of Musical Theatre, ladies and gentlemen!” the principal boomed, gesturing with his hands welcomingly. “First of all, I congratulate all ten of you for your splendid performances and for winning and getting selected as the contestants for the end of the year Concerto at Woollim University.

“So, as all of you know, you will be studying here for a month as one of your prizes. Being one of the best musical schools, we are highly anticipating all of your progress and of course, some of our selected teachers and students, including myself, will be present at your final performances at the end of the year. Please, feel free to use the available facilities here to your pleasure but don’t forget to pay attention to your studies as well.”

“Yes! Thank you very much!” All of us said in unison.

After a few more notices, such as where our classroom assignments will be, we were asked to head outside while Mr. Jason and the principal had a small talk for a few minutes.

“Man, I could barely understand him,” Hoya slumped down as he scratched his head.

“I know, right? Plus, he talks so fast. I can’t keep up with all that English in one minute!” Sungyeol sighed.

“Um, do you want me to translate for you?” I offered. Both of them shook their heads and said that it was okay, saying that they had enough.

“Dude, you just started. We have like twenty-eight more days of this English speaking environment,” Dongwoo smirked, “Chillax~” He said the last part in English, giving a small body wave.

“Omo, omo,” I heard Minhyeol fidget and blush behind me.

“A-Are you okay?” I turned around and saw her face was flushed red.

“U-Um, can I talk to you for a while?”

I looked at the door and it would seem that Mr. Jason and the principal will take a while. Plus, the boys were all drained from the English and Hyemi was on her phone, as usual.

“Sure.”

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The both of us were outside near the gate under the shade of one big tree. Minhyeol had her head bowed down in front of me.

“Unnie, I need your help,” she began.

“What do you need help with? I’ll try my best if I can help.”

“Really?!” she clasped my hands in hers and she looked up, eyes twinkling. “Um, this is kinda embarrassing, but I want to confess to someone but I don’t know how.”

“Confess?” I’ve never done this before either though. “Um, just be yourself, as they always say. You don’t have to do anything fancy, as long as you can tell the other person your true feelings, right? You can do it! Fighting!” I gave a fist pump into the air.

“O-Okay. I’ll try my best!” she smiled and gave the same fist pump. “Thank you so much unnie! I didn’t have anyone to talk to since I barely know anyone in this group of ten, but you seemed so friendly so I went ahead and talked to you instead. Hyemi unnie seems a bit… scary.”

“Sure! I’m glad to help.” Even though I don’t think I helped much. “Feel free to talk to me anytime, oaky?”

“Yes!”

Minhyeol was about to head back when I asked her another question to which her answer surprised me. “So, who’s the lucky guy?”

“Oh! It’s Dongwoo oppa! I’ve always had a crush on him since high school and even went ahead to try out as a dance major so that I can see him! He’s helped me a lot too, and that made me like him even more!”

Dongwoo oppa? Really?

“Oh! Unnie! I need to go to the bathroom. Please tell them that I’ll be back in a few! Thanks!”

“She likes… Dongwoo opp