“That’s the thing about love. You fall in love, fall out of love and in love again. It is a torturous cycle. But one that I am willing to be in.” – Taeyeon

Yoona literally pulled her feet into the Royalty room. Inside, Sooyoung was already sitting, eating her usual portion of sandwich for breakfast.

“Wae... u glomi?” Sooyoung said with full of sandwich.

“Thankfully I am already used to your eating habits. I wondered if any guys would like you after seeing you like this,” Yoona said as she pulled a chair and sat on it.

Yoona folded her hands on top of the table. She rested her head on top of them and turned towards Sooyoung.

“Sooyoung, I think I am in a streak for bad luck.” Yoona complained.

“Talking about bad luck, I think you haven’t seen this.” Sooyoung said as she threw a bundle of newspapers to her.

Yoona opened the newspaper. She could already guess that it was S.M. Herald, their school weekly newspaper. On the front page, there was a really big picture of Taeyeon standing on stage, microphone on her hand. She looked like she had just finished belting a ballad.

“I thought Taeyeon did not want to tell anyone yet about her singing.” Yoona said.

“Read the headline.”

‘Exclusive Interview with the Q1 – Her hidden dream to be a singer.’

Yoona skimmed the article and quickly jumped to the end of the article. After the last sentence, the name ‘Sunny’ popped up.

“Is this what Taeyeon ‘negotiate’ with Sunny last time round?” Yoona questioned.

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask the person directly,” Sooyoung said as she craned her head towards the door.

As Yoona turned her head, she could see her Taeyeon walking into the room. She had no definite expression on her face. Yoona was expecting Taeyeon to be at least concerned, but what she saw was more of an indifference.

“I only went off to buy coffee and you guys already started gossiping,” Taeyeon said as she laid out different cups of coffee to her peers. Putting a cup in front of Yoona, Taeyeon asked, “where is Yuri? Not here yet?”

Yoona suddenly blushed when Yuri’s name was mentioned.

“How... could I know?” Yoona stuttered.

Taeyeon and Sooyoung could sense slight awkwardness and shyness in Yoona’s tone, one that was not usually there when Yuri’s name was called. But they quickly shunned that thought away.

“You trade this information so that the news about me and Jonghyun won’t come out?” Yoona quickly changed the topic.

“I only negotiated with Sunny about what’s the way out. Actually I offered her this news. It’s time for people to know that I am on my way to chase my dream.” Taeyeon smiled as she took the newspaper and looked at the front page.

“But in that picture you looked so young.” Sooyoung said as she sneaked closer to look at the headline.

“It’s because I gave her the picture from a few years back.”

“But that is one hell of a writing. It is pretty good,” Sooyoung continued

Taeyeon smile weakly as the past suddenly came storming for her.

Back to that Valentine’s day morning.

“Both of you proceed to the field. Sooyoung needs your help. Let me take care of this matter.” Taeyeon said as she arrived at the scene.

Yoona and Yuri left the scene.

Sunny held up one of her hands, signalling Hyomin to leave. Hyomin put here notebook into her sling bag and told Sunny that she would be waiting in the gathering area. Sunny nodded without even taking a glance away from Taeyeon.

“How long do you want to keep doing this,” Taeyeon sighed.

“Until I am satisfied,” Sunny replied short.

“Then don’t hurt other people. Hurt only me.”

“I am just being a journalist. I am...”

“We both know better,” Taeyeon interrupted.

“Just run my previous pub singing job. It will make a good headline. Leader of Qs, an ex-pub singer.” Taeyeon stated as she walked away.

“I believe you still have the photos. If you don’t you can still ask from me,” Taeyeon added.

Of course Sunny still had all the photos. In fact, she kept all the photos that she had on Taeyeon. She still had not had the heart to throw them away.

Sunny gazed at Taeyeon who was now walking away. Looking at Taeyeon’s back silhouette, Sunny was really tempted to run to her. But she knew that she could not. At least, she could not let herself to. And as much as she hated Taeyeon, she was still not ready to destroy Taeyeon beyond repair.

The present.

“Hoam...” Yuri yawned as she entered the Royalty room.

“You should try coming earlier,” Sooyoung said, opening another wrapping for her sandwich.

“I am sleepy...” Yuri said as she lazily slumped herself on the chair.

“Coffee....” Taeyeon gave her a cup.

“S.M. Herald?” Yuri asked.

It had been a habit for all of them to check S.M. Herald every time it went on publication – mainly because the news in majority covered them. It could be criticizing them, or just some gossip scoop about their personal life.

Sooyoung grabbed the newspaper from in front of Taeyeon and threw it to Yuri.

“This time round it’s Taeyeon,” she said as she took a huge bite of her second serving of sandwich.

Yuri opened the newspaper and read the headline before commenting.

“So this is your negotiating,”

“It’s called free publicity. I planned to let people know about it in the next annual talent show anyway,” Taeyeon said.

Yuri continued reading while taking a sip of her coffee. “Anyway, why are we here early in the morning?”

“Feedback, feedback. We need to do evaluation for the last Valentine’s day event.” Taeyeon answered.

Taeyeon grabbed some papers from the desk behind her and handed them out to her mates.

“No need for papers, I have a feedback,” Yuri exclaimed. “Never ever let me share a room with her again,” Yuri pointed to the seat beside her.

Yoona who was preparing to write quickly turned her head up. “Yes. Never ever,” she added.

Both Sooyoung and Taeyeon looked at them quizzically. They noticed the weirdness between this two. First, Yuri would not just passed on the opportunity to bully Yoona. Second, even though Yoona would happily avoid Yuri, her action just seemed odd.

“What happened between you two after that day?” Sooyoung said.

“Happened? Nothing?” Yoona shyly answered as she went back to her piece of paper.

“Nothing much,” Yuri replied indifferent.

Suddenly Yuri yelped in pain and shot Yoona a piercing glance.

Yoona just kicked Yuri’s leg.

Taeyeon and Sooyoung laughed. Indeed, Yoona and Yuri had not changed much.

In the classroom later that day.

“Don’t bite each other off, okay?” Sooyoung said to Yoona and Yuri who was now standing in front of their classroom.

“Won’t bite each other off, but might just eat each other up,” Yoona said, a huge smile on her face.

The much shorter Taeyeon tip-toed and tousled Yoona’s and Yuri’s hair. Indeed, Taeyeon was more senior than all of them, but similar to Yuri, Taeyeon held back a year, causing her to be of the same level as Yoona, Sooyoung and Yuri.

Yuri sneered while Yoona smiled even wider towards Taeyeon. Yoona always liked their dorky leader for her childish behavior and especially her petite size.

Sooyoung and Taeyeon walked away leaving Yoona and Yuri standing in front of their classroom. Before leaving, Sooyoung did not forget to add a playful look and waved her hands frantically towards them with her upper part of her body facing them. Her actions caused her to stumble on the dustbin directly in front of her, spilling its content. Sooyoung pretended that she did not know anything and hurriedly ran away. YoonYulTae could only laugh at their friend’s clumsiness but yet funny behaviour.

Yoona and Yuri entered their classroom to the silence of the remaining students.

That’s called the Royalty effect. It is a rare event to have two Qs at the same class. In fact, similar incidence only happened once in the Royalty history. So imagine how the remaining students in the classroom feel. Some are ecstatic because they could be in the same class with school’s most popular girls. Some choose to be indifferent while some choose to spazz over the two of them. In fact, it is almost their staple food to hear whispers about ‘YoonYul’ the moment they entered the class. Shipping is really popular nowadays. Tsk tsk..

After a moment of silence, the buzzing that was even louder started. The usual Royalty talk had begun. Both of them walked towards their row. Yoona sat down first, then Yuri walked further down the row, two seats behind Yoona, before taking her seat.

Not long after, the school bell rung and their teacher entered the room. Their teacher was none other than the infamous Kim Shinyoung. She was math teacher who was known for her own wittiness and sometimes overacting in her expressions and way of teaching. However, one thing is for sure if you become her student – you are guaranteed to have an exciting academic year.

“Hi, hi students!!!! You know what is the most exciting early in the morning like this!” she questioned, one hand behind her ears, summoning the student to yell out the answer.

“What?” the students replied back. Even Yuri and Yoona who was usually indifferent in such situation also joined in.

“Test results,” Shinyoung replied short with a mischievous grin as she turned her back on her students.

A loud ‘ah’ could be heard reverberating in the classroom. Some students seemed to be complaining about the need to ruin their morning with probably horrendous test results.

“Keep quiet,” Shinyoung said, raising her hands and swaying her palms up and down, telling the students to quiet down. “Better get it over and done with it now than later, right?”

Hahaha... I could not stop laughing. Seriously, I am really curious of why the students why did not find it funny. Imagine her plump self in a formal looking attire – a white shirt with black pants and black blazer to top it off. It is just simply...... weird and ridiculous. But I think they have got used to it.

Shinyoung started calling each student’s name. All of sudden, Yoona could feel someone tapping her shoulder. Then she saw a hand offering her a piece of paper. She turned to the back and looked at her friend. Her friend just pointed to the back with her thumb. As Yoona turned her body slightly outwards she could see Yuri grinning back at her. Yoona took the paper and returned to facing the whiteboard. She unfolded the paper discretely, afraid that Miss Kim would see her.

Miss Kim.. Haha... Pardon me.. Haha... Okay, I might be overreacting...

I bet my score would be higher than yours this time round. ^^

Yoona turned to the back again and looked at Yuri. She gritted her teeth and showed an annoying look, as if she was ready to hit Yuri at any moment.

“As usual, 2 highest score in this class,” Shinyoung walked towards YoonYul’s row. “Yoona, 99. Just a little mistake there.”

Then Shinyoung continued to the back where Yuri was. Yoona was already disappointed, Yuri must had gotten higher score than her since her name was called first. She sighed, not wanting to accept her defeat.

“And of course, Yuri, 98, a little mistake as well.”

Yuri took her test paper and as Shinyoung turned her back, Yuri threw it on her table. She seethed and laid her back towards the chair.

During lunch hour.

“What took you so long,” Yuri said, arm crossed as she stood under the tree on the school field.

“I need to make a considerable distance between us so no one would suspect us. Of course it took longer time.”

“Where should we eat? Canteen is so out of the question.”

“I know a spot where no one could see us.” Yoona said as she took the first leave, waving her hands signalling Yuri to follow her.

Yoona lead Yuri towards the back of the school. Beside the back gate there was a guard post, but it seemingly empty at the moment.

“Just at the back of these,” Yoona said as she jumped over the small gate that divided the guard post with the small abandoned plot of land behind it.

That land was usually used for school project or gardening lessons. But since the gardening club had just been disbanded, it had been deserted.

“There,” Yoona said as she pointed to the bench and picnic table on the side of the small plot of land.

“How could you know this secluded area,” Yuri said as she jumped over the gate without any difficulty.

“I used to join gardening club before becoming a Q,” Yoona said as she put her packed lunch down and took a seat. “But if I did not join Royalty, I planned to quit anyway. There are only 2 members in it. Me and Sunny,” she continued.

“You and Sunny?” Yuri took a seat as well, “you mean that wretched journalist witch?”

“Mmmm..” Yoona nodded as she opened her lunch box. “But she was not that wretched before. In fact, she was really shy before.”

“Shy?” Yuri bursted into laughter, “seriously, Sunny and shy does not even go well together.”

“Believe all you want,” Yoona said as she scooped up a kimbab into .

“Eh,” Yuri peeked into Yoona’s lunch box, “still the same lunch after all these years?”

“What do you mean?” Yoona asked.

“Remember first time we met. You are eating the same thing,”

“You still remember that?”

“I don’t forget stuff that is related to my enemy,” Yuri said as she opened her lunch box. “So that I could pounce anytime I want,” Yuri suddenly got up and shocked Yoona.

“But let me ask you a question,” Yuri focused on Yoona. “You cheated, didn’t you?”

“ME?? Seriously, when do you see me cheat? I am the most honest person when it comes to competition.”

“In fifth grade, you purposely put rocks on my shoes during sports carnival,” Yuri thought. “Then on 6^th grade you locked me...”

“Yah, the point is this time round I did not cheat. Besides, in academics, I am usually better than you,” Yoona slammed the table.

“But this time round I studied really hard,” Yuri said intensely as she challenged Yoona.

“Then, I studied harder than you,” Yoona said did not want to lose.

“It’s impossible that you always get higher score than me during exam.”

“It’s possible.”

That awkward moment happened again, when both faces were so close to each other such that each of them could feel and hear each other breathing. Each breath of air giving a lingering sensation that was never there before. Yoona could feel her face heated up while Yuri was caught in the gaze. Then Yoona realised the awkwardness that happened and broke away.

“Jinjja, I could not do this,” she packed her lunch. “I am going crazy.”

Then Yoona left.

“Yah, how about our quota,” Yuri left yelling to Yoona’s back.

“I really need to sort out my thought,” that’s the last word that Yuri heard from Yoona before she disappeared from Yuri’s sight.

Somewhere hidden in the bushes

“Yah, do you get the pictures?” Sunny asked her assistant.

“Yup,” Hyomin said, looking at the slideshow of the photos.

“The last one?”

“Of course,” Hyomin grinned.

“Finally I have something big to write about. Our stalking is finally a success.” Sunny offered a high five to Hyomin. “We could start writing and editing soon. Publish it for next week headlining news.”

Sunny grinned as she looked at the annoyed Yuri who was still sitting on the bench alone.