i edited chapter 1 btw c;

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 “You’re our class’ vice president, so…”

“So? And why do you have to….”

“He’s the class president.”

“That’s still…”

“Peniel-ssi.”

She literally dropped her jaw when Sehun called the name of the guy sitting in the corner. She noticed that the other guy looked up and eyed Sehun confusedly, perhaps wondering why he called him. She gave a quick look at the class president before returning to her friend’s direction. She shook her head again and mouthed something to Sehun – something about not to do it.

“I was wondering if you could help Yookyung to bring these thick books and our assignments to the teacher’s room.”

She felt like she should die right there. She palmed her face and glared at Sehun who was smirking at her. She then collected the whole class’ assignments and stacked them neatly in a folder the teacher gave earlier. She was actually waiting for Peniel to answer to her crazy friend’s request. She shrugged it off and hoped that guy would say no, because she rather brought the things alone than do it together with him. She pretended to check those assignments one by one, checking if someone hadn’t passed the papers to her.

“… Sure.”

“What?” She said subconsciously. She immediately covered when she realized that she said that way too loud for him to hear.

“… I can do it myself if you don’t want to do it,” added Peniel, standing upright immediately.

“N-No, Peniel-ssi. It’s not like that…”

“So?”

She was scared to look at him at first, but she did. She met Peniel’s eyes and she couldn’t help to avoid those deep eyes, trying to look anywhere else. She knew that Peniel was clearly waiting for her respond. She just didn’t know what to say because she was currently helpless, anxious, and lost at words. She stayed silent for what it seemed like an hour until she finally let out a respond. Stuttering, she said, “… C-can you help me, please?”

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Was it just her or the way back to class seemed like it was a thousand miles away?

The fact that the class president was next to her made Hong Yookyung couldn’t even raise her head and chose to stare at the floor tiles as she walked. She kept fidgeting; she couldn’t stop rubbing her hands with each others. She was clearly uncomfortable and it showed, judging from her act. She hoped she could just run off to the class and leave him like nothing happened, but no, she would never do that kind of stuff especially to him. She didn’t want him to think that she was a cheeky and impolite person. He already had a bad impression of her and she wished she could change it.

“Aish, seriously, how can you be so stupid?”

“… Eh?”

She widened her eyes and it seemed like she just realized that Peniel might hear her English rambling. She looked to her left and found him gazing back at her, “I-I’m sorry, Peniel-ssi! It wasn’t you... I-I was just talking to myself! Please don’t misunderstand!” She said, ducking her head at him.

“Sorry?” He frowned. “What for?”

“When I said ‘stupid’, it seemed like you misunderstood…”

“When?”

“What?”

“I didn’t hear you just now. I was actually going to ask you to repeat yourself.”

“What?”

The silence that engulfed the both of them was thick enough and it seemed like everything Yookyung did was awkward. From the weird smile she plastered on her face to her awkward, rubbing the back of her head gesture. Her eyeballs wouldn’t stay still; they kept wandering everywhere. Her lips were red and a bit swollen from biting too hard. Her cheeks were a shade of scarlet now. “… It was nothing. Just forget it then, Peniel-ssi. But there’s…”

“Yes?”

“I have something else to say.” She was unsure but she knew she had to say sorry about something.

She transferred to SOPA on that windy day on September. She was the new girl at school, one who literally spent her life in Chicago and was feeling strange being in the new and completely different surroundings. She was a hundred percent Korean but this was honestly her first time living in the country. She wasn’t fond of adapting and she thought she would have hard times trying to fit in. It turned out that she didn’t even need to try so hard because everyone was very welcoming to her. She was even given a chance to be the vice president; she was honored. She found the school more comfortable and she liked that feeling.

During break time, her older cousin Lim Hyunsik came to her class, bringing boxes of dosirak for all of her classmates. She had prepared those since dawn along with her mother since she wanted to leave a good impression. She was happy that her new friends enjoyed the lunch she made, except one person named Peniel Shin. She apparently miscounted and he didn’t get to taste those foods. She was still feeling guilty until today, that’s why she wanted to formally apologize.

 “Did you remember that dosirak I gave to everybody at my first day here? I thought everyone had eaten their lunch. It seemed like I didn’t count those boxes right, because I realized you didn’t get any of them. I’m really sorry,” uttered her, bowing again.

She might not see it but Peniel’s expression was softened; the cold, ice prince persona wasn’t there. There was a different image of him, a warmer and much gentler side. “… You didn’t do it on purpose, so stop saying sorry.”

“Jinjjayo? … You’re actually okay?” He nodded for such a brief moment, signaling he was really fine with it.

She sighed again, but this time in relief.

He isn’t that bad. I wonder why people don’t like him.

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Hong Yookyung was glad that it was already time to go home. She slung her bag over her shoulder and finally exited the school grounds. She was tired and sleepy; she just couldn’t wait to cuddle her stuffed bear and have a short, nice sleep. By her side was her best of friends; Son Naeun, Oh Sehun, and Jung Ilhoon. She was lucky those three people were kind enough and wanted to be her friends – they were the first ones to initiate the conversation with her back in her first month in SOPA. “What kind of jokes are those?” She commented, laughing at one of the boys’ jokes.

“Can you just stop those? They’re too cheesy, seriously!” The girl with black, long locks commented, rolling her eyes.

“Wae? You don’t like cheesy jokes?” asked Sehun.

“Ei, of course she likes it! She’s just too shy to admit it!” Ilhoon added with a wide grin plastered on his face. His answer made himself earned a painful nudge on his chest. “Well, that’s not necessary!”

 “See you tomorrow, Kyung-ah, Sehun-ah!” Naeun shrugged it off and cheerfully waved her hands at the other two. Ilhoon also bid his goodbye. Their houses were in the same direction, therefore they always went together. They left in a blink of an eye.

Sehun told Yookyung that he was waiting for a friend and that it was up to her choice, whether she wanted to leave first or not. She chose to stay, nevertheless. She was okay to walk home by herself but she knew her mother wouldn’t like it. She thought her mother was being paranoid after watching many news about kidnapping these days; too worried to the extent that she requested Sehun to walk her daughter home everyday. Sehun didn’t mind, though.

“Sehun-ah!”

Why does that voice sound so familiar? She asked herself as she turned her head to the direction where the voice came from.

As if she became a perfectly-sculptured statue, as if she became paralyzed, she just stayed still – frozen and unmoved.

She felt like someone stopped the time.

She felt like someone should save her – from him and everything.

I never ask you to return, Do Kyungsoo.

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N/A:

Done with chapter 2!

Comments and subscribers are always loved and welcomed

Ciao! c: