The cafeteria suddenly erupted into a mix of surprised gasps, disappointed sighs and angry outbursts when the door opened to reveal a smirking Mi Jin, walking hand in hand with a guy that every girl in the school is obviously infatuated about. His name is Kris and I don't know him personally, but from the things I've heard about him just by walking down the hallways, I would say he is the male version of Mi Jin.

My eyes flickered up from my lunch to meet Mi Jin's eyes across the room to demand an explanation. Her eyes met mine for only a brief moment, but it was enough for me to catch an apologetic look. At that moment, I instantly knew what she was trying to do. I admit I felt offended at first, but my feelings soon came to cease when I remembered I had to study for a test we're going to take after lunch.

I tried to concentrate eating my food while attempting to memorize the things we previously learned for the sake of the test, but the noise in the cafeteria simply became too overwhelming for me to bear. I excused myself from our table and walked out quietly from all the commotion in the room. Once outside, the warm spring breeze greeted me. Summer is soon on it's way, and so is our mid-term exams. Which means more tutoring sessions between me and Mi Jin. 

I settled down under a tree and sat down. I closed my eyes to escape from reality for a second. This was once foreign to me as I nearly don't have time to relax, but nowadays I've been finding myself doing it often. My studies aren't stressing me out, and everything's fine at home as well, so I am baffled towards my recent behaviour. I'm just tired that's all, I thought to myself. 

I snapped back to reality and looked down on my open notebook. With a sigh, I went back to rereading my notes. The bell rang half an hour later. I stood up, dusted my pants and walked inside the school building. I was greeted by noises that consisted of students chattering by their lockers and scuffles of feet scrambling across the floor as students as they hurried to their classes. These are the sounds I have grown accustomed to in the years I have studied at this school, but on this particular day they simply became a roaring, aggravating blast that gave me a painful headache. The whispers and babbles, the words that came out of everyone's mouth around me are hazy and indefinite, a jumble of words that I cannot possibly decipher, but there is no doubt that they are talking about Kris and Mi Jin, the new couple. 

Couples are often a hot topic at our school. They are rare and unbreachable that's why every time a couple's relationship is exposed, it immediately becomes a scandal that is put under the spotlight, visible for anyone to see. It spreads around like wildfire that in under an hour everyone in the whole school knows, including the teachers. 

Dating is not prohibited at our school, but it's obvious our advisors would get uncomfortable once the topic enters the classroom's studious atmosphere. They would often smile forcely and talk with gritted teeth while trying to prevent the class from discussing it any longer. Mi Jin's and Kris' relationship, however, seemed to be a special case among the instructors and advisers; they paid no heed to it. Every time Mr. Shim's back was turned, murmurs would immediately scatter around the room. Mi Jin, Kris, couple, and hot were the most common words spewed off my classmates mouths. When Mr. Shim turned back around, the murmurs were extinguished, and he would carry on with the lesson, despite having a clear understanding of the student conversations prior a few seconds ago. 

I looked at Mi Jin beside me to check if she was paying attention to the lesson, but I shook my head, immediately critizing her behaviour. Aish, is this girl really doing her nails right now? She should be focusing in class. Mid-term exams are right around the corner. She sensed my penetrating glare, and she stared back, not even faltering. "What," she demanded. "Don't forget we have tutoring lessons later," I whispered. Mi Jin looked away, looking guilty. "Um," she started. "You see, I have a date later with, uh, Kris, so can we plan another time?" I stared at her, aghast. 

I continued to look at her in the same manner for a full minute until she finally looked away. A note was thrown on my desk moments after. I'll talk to you later, I promise. After this week we can go back to our regular tutoring schedule, heck I'd even be willing to do some extra hours. I'll explain everything, so please don't be mad at me :(

After reading what the note had to offer I wasn't entirely sure how to feel. Should I pity Mi Jin, or be disappointed in her? This girl is willing to go extremties just to redeem her position in the school's social chain. 

I'll be waiting for you explanation, I quickly wrote back. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oh hey guys. Do you still remember me? It's me naemiyoung :3

I am aware that I have not updated since forever, but this time I do not blame school for the uncalled hiatus, but rather laziness. I have every intention of finishing this story, but you see, I was feeling conflicted a little after my last update, which was eight months ago (OTL). I thought to myself, should I really finish this story? No one seems to be reading it, after all. As a writer (well not really lol), it feels very discouraging when you don't have a lot of readers. Especially here in AFF, where competition is fierce. There's a lot of users, but there is a lot of stories. I felt that My Nerd Prince story was an inferiority among the majority of the stories posted here, which led to me thinking that I should just discontinue writing it.

However, I had a recent realization regarding this situation. I remembered how I was so excited to start writing My Nerd Prince. I spent many months planning the story line, the characters, everything. But above everything else, I also remember that the only reason I actually followed through with my ideas was because I loved writing. I've been writing my own stories for as long as I can remember. Writing was basically my life. I know that I'm not necessarily the best writer, but I continue to write anyway because I enjoy doing it, and because I wanted to improve on my skills. 

So, in other words, I'm going to continue with this story. I don't care anymore whether people are actually reading this story, because I love writing and I'm doing it for the sake of me improving. Perfect timing too, because it's summer vacation (YAY~). BUT, before I actually continue on I'm going to have to renovate a few of the chapters. In fact, I may even redo everything that I've written so far. I was rereading all the chapters a few days ago, and I found a LOT of major flaws. Chapter 23 may come in the next few weeks, or maybe in the next few months. Everything will depend on how efficient I will be at editing, and the time I have, but considering how it's currently summer I will most likely finish in the span of a month or so.

I now commence the reconstructing of My Nerd Prince!