~CHAPTER 55~

Monday. I received a call from Suho-oppa saying that the play was a success. He also said that they miss me. “What about Kris?” I asked.

“Who’s Kris?” He joked. I chuckled.

“Yah! I can hear you!” Kris spoke. He was beside me. The phone was on loudspeaker. Suho laughed while Kris rolled his eyes.

The conversation ended when we arrived in the competition area.

“Good luck.” Kris patted my shoulder and I smiled. “I know I’ll win. I have my charm.” I winked at him and he blinked. I chuckled while shaking my head. “Slow as always.” I turned and headed to the stage.

Kris stood there. *I’m the charm?* He smirked. “Babo.”

Suddenly, some girls who were occasionally passing by him caught his attention. They were talking in Chinese.

“She’ll get disqualified!”

“Thanks to those Korean friends.”They high-fived each other.“Making things easier for us.”

He furrowed his brows and glanced at the stage. He felt something will happen. He noticed that a girl bumped into Hana. She bowed and asked sorry and Hana nodded while saying ‘it’s okay’. She headed on the stage. The girl smirked on her way back.

“extraneous root!” I said after hitting the button. Ding!

“Another point for Park Hana of SIA.” The announcer said. “So far she has the leading score-87”

The crowd applauded and I shyly bowed. *Fighting!*

As expected, I won in the finals because I garnered 160 points. The runner up got 124 points. I was getting my awards when some girls rushed to the stage. “This is so unfair! She cheated!” The Korean girl shouted while pointing at me.

The crowd looked confused. The announcer translated and murmurs were created. I raised my brows. “What are you saying?” 

They smirked at each other. “We said you cheated.” A Korean girl approached me and grabbed something from the pocket of my blazer. She raised her brows when she revealed a paper. The fuss became louder.

“How dare you cheat?!” The Chinese girl screamed and shoved the bouquet off my hands. “You’re a disgrace!”

The other Korean girl went in front of me and slapped my cheek. “You dared to shame us Koreans?!”

My jaw dropped. I felt the hot sensation on my cheek. I was angry. This is a lie. “You set me up!” I shouted while I formed knuckles and gritted my teeth.

“Look who’s talking.” She rolled her eyes. She threw the paper on my face. “Pathetic.” She crossed her arms and got the girls behind her. The audience was already shouting and throwing things at me. I covered myself with my arms. I bit my lip. I was pissed off. 

“Believe me I didn’t cheat!” I shouted but they didn’t stop. I gulped hard and watched the people throwing disgusted looks at me.

*You know, you can finish all these people if you call me.* I heard a voice in my head. *Inner conscience stop!* I covered my head. *Come on. It will be fun. You killing them just like how you-

In a second, I felt that the throwing things stopped. When I looked up, I saw Kris blocking them. He was furious. “Stop!” He shouted and everyone stopped. He turned  to me.

“K-Kris...” Tear fell. His face softened and he wiped the tears away. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll handle this.” He said and held my hand. He helped me stand up. He glanced at the audience and the judges. Then, he glared at the girls. “They framed her up.” He blurted out and the girls were taken aback. They looked nervous.

“­N-No! We’re not!” The Chinese girl defended. “She has the paper, remember?” She showed the paper.

Kris snapped his head at her. “If you keep on doing this, I’ll make sure that the punishment you’ll get will be tripled. Admit your mistake!”

The girls gulped. “Yah! Why are you doing this? Are you his lover or something?” She asked while crossing her arms.

Kris glanced at me then at her. “It’s none of your business. Now, I’ll count to three. If you don’t admit your mistake, I’ll make you regret everything.” He warned.

The girls were scared.

Gaeun shook her head. “He got nothing.” She whispered to them and they nodded. “We’re not lying.”

Kris sighed and then he raised his finger and pointed it towards the computer room. He nodded. In a second, a video flashed in the screen. It showed the girl from before. It was the girl who bumped at me. The screen zoomed and we saw her hand putting something on the pocket of my blazer. My eyes widened. “That’s her!” I pointed and the girl stepped back.

“N-No!” She gulped hard and glanced at the audience who gave her disappointed looks. “They told me to do it!” She pointed at her group.

“We’re going to bring this matter to the board and your schools. For now, we deeply apologize to Ms. Park for the unacceptable acts of the audience. Please forgive us.” He bowed and so did the audience. I smiled. “It’s okay.” I bowed. They applauded again.

I tightened my grip on Kris’ hand. He looked at me. “Thank you so much.” I thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He smirked. “That’s what I’m here for.” He raised our holding hands. “I’m your charm, remember?” He winked.

Oh. He did not just do that. I felt this extraordinary feeling on my stomach. I shake my head while smiling. *Oh, Kris.*

When Kris and I made our way to the audience level, the people bowed and smiled at us two. Some offer handshakes which I gladly accepted. The girl who I saw whispered to Kris yesterday popped in front of us.

“Congratulations on your win!” She said in Korean.

“A-Ah, neh~” I bowed and forced a smile.

“By the way, those girls will be punished by the boards. I can’t believe that they did those shameful acts. It just proved how immature they are.” She sounded flustered. I just nodded and went with the flow.

“Xiao Yu, what activity are we going today?” Kris asked her. I eyed the two of them engaging in a conversation.

“We’re going to meet with the investors and reporters for this competition. Then, after that, we must write a report to be passed on the facilitators...” They continued to talk and this made me like some outcast. They forget that I was still here. All I can hear was blah blah blah blah blah....

After waiting for a good 25 minutes, Kris turned to me. Xiao Yu bid farewell before she left.  “I’m sorry but I guess you’ll be alone again today.” He said while rubbing the back of his neck. I sighed.

“Yeah, sure.” I replied boringly. It’s not like I’m expecting something. “I’ll just stay to my room.” Kris made a sorry smile. He patted my head so I shot him a look. “Yah! Don’t treat me like I’m some kid!” I shoved his hand. “I can handle myself you know!” I stomped my feet.

He scoffed. “Says the mature girl who got lost yesterday.” My eyes widened.

“H-How did-“

He leaned closer. “I have my eyes and ears around this place.” He whispered in my ear. I suddenly got Goosebumps.

“Y-Yah!” I pushed him and he laughed. “Ju-just go!” *Hana, will you please contain your feels?! Stop stuttering girl!*

“Alright, Alright. I’ll make it up to you later.” He smiled and waved. “See ya.”

I stood there watching him leave. “and he didn’t even bother to send me back to the hotel.” I furrowed my brows. “Aish!” *I hate you, Kris!*

Inside the conference room, the girls whose heads were lowered in shame were talking to the judges. They were scolding them.

Someone knocked on the door and when it opened, a security guard entered. “Excuse me, but there is a phone call for Ms. Yoo Gaeun.”

The judges nodded. “Ms. Yoo, there’s a phone call for you.” She nodded and went before the guard. He led the way.

When she arrived at the phone booths, she received disgusted looks from the passersby. They were at the awarding when the incident happened.

“Hello?” She asked.

“It’s me.” A girl’s voice answered. Gaeun’s eyes widened.

“Ji-jiyoung!” She sounded scared. “I did what you told me to do but-“

“Did I order you to speak, low rank?” Jiyoung hissed making her gulped hard. Jiyoung smirked on the other line. “Anyways, since you failed on your mission, you’ll get what you deserve.”

“B-but-“

“We don’t need a low rank trash.” Jiyoung said and the line turned dead.

“J-Jiyoung!” Her hands were trembling. She was sweaty as she looked around. She felt that someone was watching her moves. She turned to her side and saw the guard staring at her. Her eyes widened and she stepped back. The guard shook his head.

A sniper located meters away from her back shot her neck with a needle. It made her lose consciousness-forever. The guard caught her and removed the needle. He eyed the passersby who stopped walking then he bowed. “She fainted.” They just looked away not minding the condition of the girl. He lifted her up and placed her inside the black van outside.