“How many times should I tell you? The answer is no!”

“Okay. I increase the pay 3 folds. How about that?”

“Didn’t you hear what I say? It’s a no! Now stop following me.”

From all the peaceful Jiyong got in the school, there’s this one human being who appeared out of nowhere tailing him most of the time. Wearing thick glasses that human can ever wear which completed his nerdy look with hair combed sideway parting them neatly using imported hair gel, his neat ironed uniform without any accessories, he gave the big sign that he’s a rich nerdy student who was weak and his name was Seungri.

“Please. Now they keep tailing me. Yesterday I was beaten that I nearly die. You see this bruise? Owh God. What should I tell my parents when they come back from Italy? Please help me.”

“What is wrong with you? You are a guy and you ask another guy to protect you?”

“Is it wrong?”

“Of course! As a man, you should protect yourself.”

“You see! Why I choose you among all other students here? Because you have the spirit.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Okay, then treat it as helping me as your friend?”

“Friend?”

“Yeah. Owh come on, man ! We are buddies.” Seungri punched Jiyong’s shoulder playfully but ended up felt the pain.

“Wow! Now this is what im searching for. A well-built strong man like you. Hey, where are you going?”

Jiyong didn’t even give another second to hear Seungri’s blabbering. Since the first day he enrolled to the school, Seungri suddenly popped up in front of him begging him to be his bodyguard which Jiyong found ridiculous but not for Seungri. He always been bullied by other students and people out of the school. His only strength was money and that’s why he hurriedly offered Jiyong to be his protector since he knew Jiyong came from military school.

Jiyong turned his steps to the corridor where cafeteria located because the corridor was the nearest way to his class. But when he passed in front of the cafeteria, there was a commotion. Usually he’s not that busybody type but when he got a glance of the only girl that captured his eyes since day 1, he immediately stopped his track. Sunye was standing in the middle of the cafeteria, drenched with water. In front of her stood the girl he met together with Sunye few days before, Jessica who was holding a glass.

“Opps, sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Jessica said in her fake innocent tone but Sunye just stood there with her eyes darted to the floor.

‘What the..’ Jiyong cant believe there were people who had the guts to torture a kind soul like Sunye.

“It’s Jessica again.” Seungri said which startled Jiyong with his sudden appearance beside him.

“I thought she’s absent today.” Seungri continued while watching the scene with full of interest. Jiyong really cant stand when people giving their full attention to Sunye and Jessica because he believed Sunye will be extremely felt humiliated. When Jiyong wanted to move forward to help Sunye, there was someone who pushed him aside. The guy walked straight to Sunye before he held his face.

“Ohh, it’s Taecyeon. This is getting interesting.” Seungri said excitedly.

Taecyeon then pulled out his handkerchief from his pocket before he wiped Sunye’s face. This gesture invited a loud scream from Jessica.

“Taecyeon!! Off your hands from that witch!” Jessica yelled as loud as she can. Taecyeon turned his head towards Jessica while giving her a death glare.

“Enough Jessica. You play too much.” Taecyeon said in his dangerously low voice. After that, he pulled Sunye out from the cafeteria and on his way out, he bumped his shoulder with Jiyong’s. Jiyong can see Sunye’s eyes were wet with tears eventhough she covered her face with her other hand.

“What are you guys looking at? You want to die?!” Jessica’s shriek broke the attention to Sunye and Taecyeon. Jessica was really fuming in anger. She couldn’t believe her own boyfriend stood up for her enemy. And most importantly, in front of other students. She believed they will secretly laughed at her and thought that she was a pathetic girl.

“Show is over. This is boring.” Seungri said but Jiyong was already gone from his side.

“Jiyong-shi! Aish. There goes my chance”

At that night, Jiyong was walking alone at the town. Honestly, he felt a bit sad about Taecyeon and Sunye incident that morning. He knew he couldn’t beat Taecyeon in winning Sunye when he thought he will have a chance since the day he had lunch with Sunye. To enlighten his mood again, he decided to take a stroll in the city just to get some fresh air.

“Jiyong-shi! Jiyong-shi!” Jiyong heard someone calling his name.

“Jiyong-shi. Why do you walk so fast?” In front of him, Seungri was holding his chest and panting heavily.

“Are you following me?” Jiyong asked. He couldn’t believe that Seungri still cant let go of him.

“No. I was in front of the hotel when I saw you passed by me. Where are you going anyway?”

Jiyong looked at the hotel Seungri mentioned. He couldn’t believe he walked that far. And when he looked at his watch, it was nearly midnight which meant his curfew time.

“I have to go back home.”

“Wait! Why are you rushing?”

“Look, I really have to reach my home before midnight.”

That one sentence received a deafening laugh from Seungri. He couldn’t believe his ears that the charismatic guy like Jiyong had curfew hour.

“Hahaha..what are you? Cinderella?” Seungri said in between his laughs. But Jiyong ignored him. He turned his body to walk away from Seungri.

“Hey wait! My parents actually want to meet you.” Seungri stopped Jiyong by grabbing his arm.

“Your parents?” Jiyong looked behind Seungri and it’s true that there were 2 figures standing beside a luxurious limousine in front of the hotel entrance. They even waved their hands at Jiyong who awkwardly bowed back to show his respect.

“See, im not lying. Please come with us. My parents even know you already and they really want to meet their only son’s friend.” Seungri begged.

“Friend? Yeah right.” But eventually, Jiyong agreed to meet Seungri’s friend since he thought it will be rude if he didn’t meet Seungri’s parents when they asked. So, they finally seated in a cozy and expensive room inside the hotel. Jiyong didn’t realize how big and grand the hotel at first but when he entered it, it was really magnificent.

Seungri’s parents really friendly and warm people. He thought wealthy people like them will be snobbish. But wasn’t anything compared to when he knew, the hotel they were in was actually Seungri family’s. He nearly chocked his cake when Seungri’s dad told him. Jiyong made a mental not that he couldn’t treat Seungri bad after this.

After half an hour, Seungri’s parents excused themselves because they wanted to have a rest after long journey from Italy.

“Son, if you have any problem don’t hesitate to come to us.” Seungri’s dad said with a gentle smile while Seungri’s mom hugged Jiyong.

“And thanks for being a friend with our son. I hope you can take care of him.” Seungri’s mom said which earned a bow from Jiyong. With that, Seungri and Jiyong were the only ones left in the room.

“I have to go now. My dad will be crazy if he knows I come home late.” Jiyong said before he stood up ready to leave.

“Wait. Aish. Why do you have to go home early?”

“Early? It’s past midnight already.”

“Duhh. You are not a kid.”

“Whatever. Im leaving.”

“Wait. You can leave after I show you this one place. It’s your loss if you don’t come with me.”

“I don’t have time for that.”

“Please. Just for 5 minutes. Besides my parents asked you to take care of me right?”

“Are you kidding me? This is the place you want to show me?” Jiyong said furiously.

“Yeah. Anything is wrong?”

Jiyong can only shook his head seeing Seungri acted like that. He couldn’t believe Seungri dragged him into a club which was a place he never went and not suitable for him when he was rushing to go home before midnight strike. But the club didn’t look like the night clubs in dramas. The place looked very exclusive. There was music played but the number of people dancing on the dance floor was just a few. Looked like the place was just for upper class people. The dance floor was rounded by rooms at the first floor which people can see what’s happening down there. Jiyong and Seungri went into one of the rooms at first floor where a variety of alcohols already placed on the table.

“You don’t dare to touch these alcohols. I will leave you here if you do.” Jiyong warned Seungri whose hands already on the nearest bottle.

“Owh man. You serious? Then why we are here?”

“You dragged me here! Are you done with your sight-seeing? Im gonna send you to your hotel.”

“I can go back to the hotel myself.” Seungri rebutted.

“Owh is that so? Good. Im leaving.”

Jiyong stood up and ready to leave but then he got a glance of someone whom he knew. Looking from the first floor gave him advantage for a clear view. There was a girl who sat alone at the bar while drinking alcohol. Her dress that night was flashy with silver color and strapless that showed her curve very nicely. She looked a bit tipsy but she continued drinking.

“Who are you looking at?”

“Gosh! Don’t sneak up on people like that!” Jiyong said because Seungri loved to make people startled.

“Wait a second. Are you looking at Jessica? Holy ! Don’t tell me you like her.”

“What?”

“Look man. Besides taking advantage of you to be my bodyguard, I also want to be your friend. Now as a friend, I just want to say, don’t date her.”

“What do you mean date? Look im not..”

“You wanna have with her? You don’t stand a chance bro. She’s just way out of your league.”

“You crazy?” Jiyong couldn’t believe that the innocent-looking Seungri had dirty thoughts like that.

“You know she’s the daughter of President of Bank of Korea. For your information, she’s the richest student in our school. But all in all, she’s just a b…you know the word. She’s just so mean. When we were in 1^st grade, owh yeah we are classmates for years now, she put a bucket of lizards in my school bag. Can you believe that? I can say all bad things she did to other students if you want me to. But it will take us 3 days to finish them.”

“You talk like I want to date her.” Jiyong said not believing Seungri spilled something like that.

“In case bro. In case. She’s hot and super y. Not to forget, beautiful. Every girl envies her. Ooh, and she’s a snake.”

“Look, I think you crossed your line. It’s not good to talk about a woman like that.” As much as Jiyong didn’t really comfortable about Jessica since she pushed Sunye the other day, he just felt it’s not right to speak about her like that.

“Im serious. There’s even a rumor she s 3 guys every night. That’s just unbelievable. If only I can be one of those guys.”

Jiyong couldn’t stand to hear more. He hated s yet Seungri said them like they’re normal. And to accuse a girl like that might hurt her pride. He walked away ignoring Seungri who kept yelling his name in the midst of loud music.

He looked at his watch and he only got 20 minutes before midnight. He couldn’t walk to his home since his home was far from the place. Luckily, he had money that he can spend for his taxi fare, the fastest way he can reach home. While waiting for the taxi, he saw a black luxurious car stopped at the entrance of the club. Jessica was standing there while having trouble to maintain her posture because she looked so drunk. Jiyong didn’t really get why he was looking at Jessica that time and even in the club. But then, something happened. A guy appeared behind Jessica before he snatched Jessica’s bag and ran away. Everything happened so fast that Jiyong was not able to move for a second there. But regaining all things that he learnt from his military school, he acted fast when the guy coincidentally ran towards his direction. Jiyong quickly tackled the snatcher guy down and gave a deadly smack to his head that made the guy felt weak. And when Jiyong wanted to throw another punch, the guy blocked it before he rolled his body sideway and stood up really quick before he ran away.

Jiyong picked up Jessica’s bag before he went towards her. From his sight, Jessica looked confused and still tipsy. But there was an old man standing beside her looking worried.

“Thank you, young man. I don’t know what will agashi do if she loses her bag.” The old man said while bowing when Jiyong gave the bag to him. Jiyong immediately learnt that the old man was Jessica’s chauffeur.

“Owh nehh.” Jiyong felt awkward on what to reply.

“What’s your name son?” The chauffeur asked politely.

“Kwon Jiyong sir.”

“Again, thank you very much for your help.” The old man bowed repeatedly leaving Jiyong felt awkward.

“Nehh. Then..” With a final bow, he turned his body to leave.

“Yah ! Yah you! Come here!”

Jiyong felt like the shrieking words were for him and when he turned his head, Jessica was already in front of him. Jessica had difficult time to balance her body but still she tried her best to take something from her bag.

“Take..this.” An amount of money was handed to Jiyong by the tipsy Jessica. Jiyong was shocked to see her casually took out the big amount of money in the street. Who knows if someone saw her and robbed her again.

“No thanks. I don’t need this.” Jiyong shoved the money back to Jessica.

“Yah ! Take this!” Eventhough she was still in her drunken state, she can still show her bossiness self. Jiyong just sighed seeing the behavior of a rich girl like Jessica. Without further delay, Jiyong stepped away and left Jessica alone there.

“Yah ! You punk! I said..take..this money.” Jessica yelled in the middle of the street.

“Agasshi. Please, let us go back home. It’s late night already.” The chauffeur said in worry tone.

“Shut up old man! You..” Jessica couldn’t finish her sentence when she passed out.

‘Another troubled night’ The chauffeur picked Jessica up before he safely placed her at the backseat of the car before he drove off. That was his every night duty one can say, picking up the drunken Jessica at night clubs. Eventhough Jessica always acted mean towards him and the other workers, but deep in his heart, he really hoped that his agasshi will someday change to be a better person.

The next day was going well like usual for Jiyong. He made a little conversation with Sunye before the class started and even exchanged phone numbers with her which made him happy to death for a moment. That because of Taecyeon’s presence who was hitting on Sunye like he had no girlfriend. Only blind people cannot tell that Taecyeon was having a crush on Sunye but other students were just too afraid to meddle into Taecyeon-Jessica business.

And also as usual, Seungri kept pestering Jiyong about his offer everywhere Jiyong went except in classes but then slowly, Jiyong opened up to be friend with Seungri for real. Being a friend of Seungri also had advantage which was he knew everything about the school including the students. Seungri even warned Jiyong which students he can talk to and which don’t.

As a diligent student in studying, Jiyong spent his evening in the school’s library when the school period ended. The library will only close at 9pm for giving students place to study. Not many students in the library at that time only few geeks and nerds who couldn’t be seen because their tables filled with piles of thick books. Jiyong really loved the silence in the library because everything he learnt entered his brain smoothly but not until a very thick book was thrown on the table making a very loud thump sound.

“Kwon. Ji. Yong.”

Jiyong slowly raised his head and saw the girl he wanted to avoid the most, Jessica who already sat in front of him and her arms wrapping her chest with legs crossed nicely. She had this face showing that she’s examining Jiyong from head to toe.

“Yes?” Jiyong said unsure. He was surprised she knew his name.

“Eww. Don’t ‘yes’ at me!”

‘Then what should I say? This girl is weird’

Jiyong closed the book in front of him before he focused on Jessica who was looking at him like he was a disgusting object.

“You were the one who took my bag last night right?”

“Took?”

“Don’t talk back at me!” Jessica suddenly screamed.

‘Okay. It’s proven that she’s weird.’

Jessica then stood up before she went closer to Jiyong and leant her body nearer Jiyong. Jiyong quickly looked away to avoid looking at Jessica’s exposed chest when she bent down towards him.

“I gave money to you last night, didn’t I ?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t take it. Ask your chauffeur if you don’t believe me.”

“That’s it! You didn’t receive it. Most people would.”

“So?”

“So you are weird. Are you perhaps, like me?”

Upon hearing Jessica’s last sentence, Jiyong’s eyes enlarged. In just less than a minute, Jessica made his brain cannot work. He couldn’t believe Jessica had a thought like that.

“What makes you think so?”

“You know. As I investigated, you come from the military school where only poor people like you attend. And dramas in tv nowadays give hope to people that they can date rich people when they do something that can attract their attention. But, you know what, it wouldn’t work to me. I think you even hired the guy who snatched my bag last night.”

“Huh?” Jiyong felt like his body will fall down from the chair anytime soon hearing the blabbering Jessica spat.

“Anyway, don’t waste your time on me. Just focus your study here. Urgh, looking at your face for so long makes me sick.” Jessica said before she turned her body like she usually did never forget to flip her hair leaving Jiyong speechless there. But then she stopped her track.

“Oh and you are not my type also.” She added cruelly before she left the library with her high heels echoes accompanying her.

‘She’s…unbelievable’

Days passed with Jiyong tried his best not to cross ways with Jessica. But it was rather an easy job since Jessica rarely went to school and Jiyong only needed to avoid places where people gathered since Jessica surely was there. One morning, Jiyong’s class teacher announced that all senior students will have Senior Camp in the weekend for 2 days 1 night. Most students hated the idea since that meant no luxury, no shopping and no fun for 2 days 1 night. But some felt excited to experience new things. Jiyong had no feeling at all since he always did those outdoors activities.

The awaited day came and for the first time in Jiyong’s life he saw people who were going to camping bringing stuffs that shouldn’t be brought. Most students especially females brought a lot of unnecessary stuffs that even Jiyong felt dizzy to list them out. He wondered whether they can carry those things while walking in the jungle since the first activity was jungle trekking to find the base camp.

“Okay students. Gather round. Okay now, we will start our first activity which is jungle trekking. To add the fun, we decided to divide you into groups of 2, girl and boy in one group. We will give you necessities that you will need along your trekking and a map of the base camp. You can leave all those make up, hair dryer, facial mask since we are only here until tomorrow. Any questions?”

As soon as the teacher ended his  briefing talk, voices of disagreement blasted from the crowd and mostly again from female students.

“This is absurd. What if there are mosquitoes there? And worse, leeches?”

“I cant leave my facial treatment for 2 days!”

“Can I bring my teddy bear?”

“Enough!” The teacher yelled in between the chaos.

“This camp’s purpose is to train you to be strong mentally and physically. Those small matters wouldn’t be hindrance for those who want to improve themselves. Now stop complaining because we will start our group breaking.” The teacher said furiously.

“Seo Joohyun and Lee Seunghyun”

“Choi Seunghyun and Kim Yubin”

“Lee Chaerin and Yong Junhyung”

The list went on and on where different reactions can be seen after each name was announced.

“Min Sunye and Ok Taecyeon”

‘Owh no. There goes my chance’ Jiyong sighed when he thought he can be with Sunye in a group. When he looked at Taecyeon, he saw a proud and happy expression on his face. But Sunye and Jessica were not alone. There’s another girl beside them.

‘Wait, is that..that girl?’

“And lastly, Kwon Jiyong and Jung Jessica”