The New Editor

L parked his car in front of the all too familiar house and waited as he did usually.

He could see Jaekyung's silhouette standing by the window as she waited for Chaekyung, and he could almost hear Chaekyung's rushed footsteps as she rushed about at the last minute to grab her necessities.

The door opened.

L's eyes naturally tuned to the fairer and taller girl who would usually be the second to come out of the door, letting her sister bounce to his car first while she locked the door up behind her.

Jaekyung locked the door and turned around, her eyes meeting his the very first time.

L sent her a small smile, a knowing look reflected in their eyes.

Chaekyung plopped herself in the seat behind and Jaekyung got in after her, sitting directly behind L. Chaekyung let out a giggle and she looked to the drivers' seat and her sister. "Oh ho!" she wagged her finger. "Today is full of tension huh?"

Jaekyung wrinkled her nose while L watched her from the rear mirror. "Why Lee Jaekyung?" he said in a joking manner. "Haven't you gotten used to the fact that you're going to lose, despite the mental preparation for two weeks?"

Jaekyung rolled her eyes but L could tell she wasn't offended. Chaekyung let out a chuckle and made a face at her boyfriend. "Like real unnie's going to lose the Editor postion to you, L oppa!" she cuddled up beside Jaekyung. "Unnie's going to win for sure."

Jaekyung smiled gratefully and she met L's eyes in the rear mirror. He raised his brows at her teasingly, as if daring her to add anything to Chaekyung's claim.

Jaekyung raised her brows back challengingly. "You know, Chae." she murmured. "I think I'll win too."

L broke into a smile, shaking his head and stepping on the accelerator. It was the first time he ever heard her sounding confident and so sure of herself.

L and Jaekyung went to meet Teacher Jung after school that day. The Infinite boys knew about the fight between them for the Editor post, but none of them knew about that little bargain of theirs with regards to the "prizes" for the person who got the post.

"Who do you think will get the position, hyung?" Sungjong asked Sungyeol.

Sungyeol tapped his chin and jutted his lips. "Hmm..." he eyed L and Jaekyung. Jaekyung looked slightly nervous for the whole thing since she really wanted it, while L looked laid back and relaxed. He knew the position didn't belong to him anyway.

"Although you're my best mate in the whole wide world, L," Sungyeol sighed dramatically. "And we have gone through so many things together. Remember the time when we stole the jam from the bottle at your house and your mother caught us? Oh and the time when a girl first confessed to you and you came to me, asking me to cheer her up because she was crying when you rejected her? Oh and remember-"

"Dude, are you getting to the main point or not?" Hoya nudged Sungyeol, impatient. "You're hella naggy."

Sungyeol huffed like a diva and made a face. "Fine fine, I was just trying to prove my point." he looked at L and Jaekyung. "And the point is that....I think Jaekyung will win."

L rolled his eyes and chuckled, not expecting anything else. "You could have just said it, what's with the long long foreword?"

"Trying to remind you of our friendship and the things we've been through together." Sungyeol faked a sob. "Don't you care anything about our relationship anymore??"

"Oh for heaven's sake." Dongwoo rolled his eyes and whacked Sungyeol's head even though the younger one was also taller. "Couldn't you have joined drama club? You can vent all your drama moments there. Why did you join basketball in the first place!"

L shook his head in amusement and he glanced at his watch. "Hey." he murmured to Jaekyung. "It's about time, let's go."

Jaekyung nodded nervously and bade goodbye to the Infinite boys who wished them luck. Woohyun let his eyes trail to the back of them two for a long time even after the rest of the Infinite boys had gone off.

*L, do you really...have you really...* Woohyun gulped at the thought. *And I can't even ask him. What if it isn't? I'm accusing him for being a cheater and that's just..*

"Woohyun what are you doing?" Sunggyu called. "Catch up! I thought you'll be the first to dart off to find Yoomi."

"Oh right, Yoomi!" Woohyun darted off just as Sunggyu predicted and decided to chuck the L-Jaekyung thing to the back of his mind. L would know what to do....right?

-----

L glanced at Jaekyung as she played with her fingers nervously, her lips once in a while and pressing them in a firm line thereafter. She fidgeted restlessly as they waited outside Teacher Jung's office, her eyes darting around continuously.

L reached out to hold her shoulders and made her stand still. "Chill, Jaekyung." he murmured in amusement. "Don't be so nervous."

Jaekyung looked up at him, looking jittery. "I can't." she squeaked in a strained voice. "What if..what if I don't get it? I can't not..you don't understand how much this post means to me. How much I need it."

L cupped her cheeks without thinking and made her look at him without turning away. "Lee Jaekyung, you're going to get the position of Editor." he said firmly. "Don't doubt yourself. I don't even know why I'm one of the candidates but you should have been selected without question. You deserve this post, only you are eligible for it."

"So follow me," he took a deep breath. "Breathe in, breathe out."

Jaekyung followed suit, taking an extra large gulp of air. "Good." L grinned and patted her cheeks. "And once you get the post, remember this moment when I cheered you on and don't give me that bad of a punishement."

Jaekyung grinned at him gratefully just as the door opened. Teacher Jung looked at the pair of them, a little puzzled as to why L's hands were on Jaekyung's cheeks.

L retrieved his hands quickly, his face turning red. He cleared his throat unnaturally and gave a fake smile. "So uh, can we go in?"

Teacher Jung nodded, her eyes darting to Jaekyung in confusion. "Hm okay." she opened the door and L and Jaekyung followed her in, sitting down on one of the couches.

"So today I'm going to announce who the new Editor is." Teacher Jung smiled at them. "And we will be announcing this to the rest of the committee on Monday. And the new Editor will be able to interview Kim Young Ha on Sunday."

She rubbed her palms together and grinned at them. "So are you two ready to know who it is?"

L glanced at Jaekyung and saw that her eyes were squeezed shut while her fingers were crossed. *Cute.* he mused.

"The New Editor is....Myungsoo!" Teacher Jung clapped. "Well done!"

Jaekyung's eyes flew open and L'a jaw dropped. He snapped his head towards Teacher Jung and gaped. "What did you say?"

Teacher Jung smiled. "You got the post, Myungsoo!" she beamed. "Well done I knew you could do it, being Mr Kim's son and all-"

"This is a mistake right?" L cut in, frowning. "There's no way I could have won against Jaekyung. Is there a mistake in the calculation of marks or-"

"Myungsoo." Jaekyung murmured softly. "You got the position. Stop fighting it."

L turned to look at her. "Look Jaekyung, everyone knew you would get it. It can't be me! It's just ing hilarious if it really was!" he pleaded for her to look at him with his eyes.

"Myungsoo, don't make a scene." Jaekyung stood up. She looked at Teacher Jung. "Thank you for seriously considering me as one of the candidates. I'll be going now, you must have tasks to assign to the new editor."

She bowed and left hurriedly. L leapt for the door as she left. "Yah Jaekyung!" he hollered, not minding how the other teachers were looking over.

She saw her run away as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.

. . He made her cry.

L moved forward to run after her when Teacher Jung stopped him. "We have to go through the new tasks for you, Myungsoo. You can comfort her later."

There was no later.

Jaekyung disappeared into thin air when he came out of Teacher Jung's office. She didn't pick up his calls nor his messages, and L would have charged all the way to her house if she had not spared him a single text.

To: Kim Myungsoo

Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I just need sometime alone okay?
Why don't you think about what you want me to do for my end of the bargain instead?

From: Lee Jaekyung

L shook his head and sighed. "Babo. Babo Babo Babo." he muttered.

-----

L called Chaekyung for a chat for the first time that night.

"Hello? L oppa?"

L almost nodded but remembered he was on the phone. "Yeah." he murmured. "Have you had dinner?"

"Yeah. But...unnie didn't eat much." Chaekyung confessed. She didn't seem too excited that L was calling her and he could tell she was worried about her sister too.

"She didn't?" L felt his chest constrict. "How's she now?"

"I don't want to make you feel bad, L oppa." Chaekyung murmured. "But honestly? Bad. She isn't doing well."

Damn it. L punched his pillow.

"Unnie is the usual, you know. Not wanting to bother us with her troubles. I usually can't see through her when she wants to hide something, but even this time I could." Chaekyung sighed heavily on the other end of the line. "She's faking her every smile, L oppa."

L closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to go to her room just a few moments ago," Chaekyung continued. "I thought if I went in and blabbered non stop she'd have something else to think about. But then I heard her sniffling inside."

"L oppa. I think she's crying."

L flung the pillow on the ground, shutting his eyes tightly. Damn damn damn.

"There's nothing I can do?" L's voice sounded strained and weird even to his ears.

"I think you're the last person that should try to comfort her right now, L oppa." Chaekyung reasoned. "Unnie lost the position to you, it doesn't make sense for you to cheer her up. It just...it just meant a lot more to her than anyone else. It meant her future and her dreams."

L swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"Unnie wants to get into journalism, I'm sure you know that by now. And the only way to get into the largest newspaper firm is to get into the best college first. Our family isn't able to afford the fees for Seoul National University unless unnie gets a scholarship."

L felt as if the world was pulled out from under his feet.

"And one of the requirements for the scholarship is that you have to at least hold a leadership position in a writing or literary organization. Unnie won't be able to go for the scholarship without this editor post. She'll have to make do with second grade colleges."

L took a large breath to avoid cursing into his phone. "I have to do something, Chaekyung. I'll get off the line first." he abruptly clicked the call off.

Once done, L grabbed the pillow from the floor and growled into it fiercely.

"Shiiiiiitttt!!" He growled. "Lee Jaekyung why didn't you tell me!"

He fell face first on his bed and clutched the sheets tightly. "There must be something I can do. Something must have gone wrong in the selection process. I couldn't have been chosen over Jaekyung, it's just unbelievable."

L sat upright, his brows furrowed. "Lee Jaekyung, I'll fight your Editor Post for you."