“Isn’t today the first day of school? Why aren’t my children up yet?”

That’s Ro’s and MinKi’s alarm clock a week later. Ro’s eyes fly open as Mr. Choi pounds on her door. “Ro?” he bellows. “Why aren’t you up? It’s almost eight o’clock.”

“What!”

“So you’re not ready?!”

“I’m up, I’m getting dressed! Five minutes, Appa!” Mr. Choi grunts in response to his daughter’s groggy, I-clearly-just-opened-my-eyes voice and thumps across the hall to wake up his son. “MinKi!” Ro hears him shout.

“Where the hell’s my uniform?” she grumbles, running around, brushing her hair and toppling over piles of clothes. Why she didn’t just look for it where it was supposed to be, she doesn’t know. She facepalms herself when she sees it hanging pleasantly in the closet. “Dammit,” she hisses, cursing herself for the wasted minutes.

One hundred eighty seconds later [A/N: -cough- three minutes], she yanks her bedroom door open. Across the hall, her brother mirrors her action and they stand there for a millisecond, observing each other.

“MinKi, you missed a button on your shirt.”

“Doesn’t the zipper of the skirt go to the side? You have it turned to the front.”

The two of them fix the faults in their appearance. They hurtle down the stairs – MinKi sliding down the banister – and grab their bags from the bottom of the staircase. Mr. Choi bustles by them, coming from one of the living rooms, but pauses to inspect his kids as they hop around, trying to jam their feet into their shoes. He shakes his head. He pulls open the front door and waves his arm impatiently. “Come on, you can finish getting ready in the limo and eat breakfast on your way to school. Look at me: I’ve already begun my day – and you two are running late on the first day of school.”

MinKi receives a pat on his shoulder as he passes his father to the stretch limo. Ro runs past, hastily pecking his cheek and saying, “Bye, Appa.”

Mr. Choi stops her with, “Ro, you’re coming up to my office downtown today, right?”

She pauses and wipes her face of all emotion. “Of course, Appa,” she replies. Mr. Choi seems pleased. “Good. Now behave at school.” Ro stares; then she turns around and dives into the limo after her brother.

* * *

The Choi siblings arrive at their first hours with two minutes to spare. Ro’s first class is Korean. She finds an empty seat in the middle of the room. She’s glad that she doesn’t have to worry about some stranger plopping down next to her because the desks are in six rows with aisles in between each. The desks behind and in front of Ro are already occupied by students.

The teacher doesn’t walk in after the bell has rung. So even if I was late, I wouldn’t have been marked tardy, Ro complains to herself. Five whole minutes later, the teacher finally enters – with a male student trailing in after her. Ro recognizes him, but she forgets from where and deems it unimportant.

“Annyeonghaseyo, class. Mianhe about my lateness. Let’s jump right into attendance.” She glances at the late student. “Oh, yes. Mr. Hwang, you can take the empty seat in row four.” Ro glances to her left, at the unoccupied seat across the aisle. She pays the seating arrangement no mind – until the boy makes eye contact.

Ro widens her eyes as his lips twitch into a semi-smile. He’s one of the boys that stood up for her last week! He slides into his seat with ease and pulls out a notebook and pen. Ro peeks at him to see if he’s staring at her – and is relieved to see that he looks like he forgot about her. Her eyes return to the front.

The teacher writes her name on the board. “My name is Ms. Young and welcome to the first day of your last year!” She has a nice enough smile, Ro allows, already bored. Ms. Young begins roll-call.

Ro shifts in her seat as a thought strikes her. Now this boy will know my name. She sees him opening up his notebook. Whatever. I don’t really care if he knows now anyway. We’re in the same class; he’s going to find out my name eventually.

“Choi Ro?” Ms. Young finally calls. Ro shifts again. “Here,” she mumbles. The boy across the aisle scribbles something down. Ro can just make out the characters. Then he shuts the notebook, leaving Ro struggling not to gape.

HE JUST WROTE DOWN MY NAME. What is he, a freaking spy? Did he and his friends want to know her name that badly?? After a few more names, the boy responds to ‘Hwang MinHyun’. Ro pauses and then smirks to herself. She takes out a notebook silently and records his name. Her movements are deliberate. Then she shuts it and places it at the top left corner of her desk, the side that MinHyun’s on.

She’s got his attention. He looks at her curiously. She catches his eyes once before turning away and ignoring him for the rest of the class.

As Ms. Young goes over the curriculum sheets, Ro twiddles with her black lace gloves. Then she absorbs herself in drawing all up her left arm until the bell rings. She packs up and gets up to leave when MinHyun appears next to her out of nowhere. Ro starts, taking a step away in surprise, as she scowls up at him. “Yes?” she asks briskly.

“So your name is Choi Ro?” he asks with a friendly, conversational smile. Ro jerks her chin in irritation, a spark in her eyes, and answers, “Well, you would know.” MinHyun tilts his head. “What do you mean?” he asks. Ro rolls her eyes. “Did you or did you not write my name down in your notebook?” she snaps.

MinHyun blinks. “I did,” he confesses after a hesitation. When he smiles again, Ro resists the urge to punch his model face. She hates overly friendly people. They’re the ones that will hurt a person the most in her opinion. In her experience.

Ro glares at MinHyun. “What do you plan to do with my name?”

“. . .Well, BaekHo wanted to know. Aron was curious, too,” he says.

“But I didn’t want you guys to know!”

“Why no-ot?” MinHyun whines. “You have such a pretty name!”

“Don’t try to flatter me,” Ro growls. MinHyun puts his hands up in surrender. “Alright . . . So I can’t tell them?”

“Haven’t we been over this last time??” Ro sputters. “NO! I don’t know you, you don’t know me, and we’ve NEVER seen each other before today, got it?” MinHyun’s eyes widen and he nods his head quickly at Ro’s violent and demanding tone. “Then good-bye, Hwang MinHyun.” Ro spins to face the other direction and stomps off to her next class.

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A/N: Hello, everyone!! Wassup? Long time, no see, right? ;3 So, I post these chapters at school and since I find it completely awkward to be looking up page after page of pretty-boys for a good background/main/chapter pictures, I'll probably do that at home...on the weekends, of course, since homework hates undivided attention - so do chores = . =;

Anyway, I'm posting up a few more chapters in mu lunch hour right now so READ ON!~