“What?” Chaerin questioned in disbelief.

He couldn’t have actually told her to…

“I said I want you to leave.” Junhong moved away from the younger’s ear to look her in the eyes. “Pack your things up and go. This is not up for discussion.”

Chaerin tried to look for anything in the elder’s expression that could show her that he was joking, but found nothing and that fact upset her.  That he had the gall to ask—no demand something like that from her.

“This isn’t your house, Junhong. You can’t order me to leave—“

“I can and I did.”

“Well I’m not leaving!” Chaerin snapped, glaring up menacingly at the elder. “You can’t just….just throw me out on the streets for no apparent reason!”

“I thought I said this wasn’t up for discussion.”

“What, so I can’t even share my own opinion on this matter?”

“Sure you can, and I shared my opinion about you having opinions. See how that works?” The newly raven-haired boy then bent down to grab Chaerin’s suitcase off the floor before shoving it towards her. “But if you so desperately need confirmation, regarding the fact that this ‘isn’t my house’, just wait until Hyebin comes back from her business trip. I can guarantee you that you won’t like the answer that comes out of either.”

“Fine!” Chaerin snatched her suitcase out of Junhong’s grasp. “I’ll wait, but I can guarantee you that Ms. Choi isn’t heartless like you! She wouldn’t abandon me.” The younger snarled back before slamming her bedroom door shut behind her.

Chaerin woke up the next morning to an empty home. Junhong had already gone to school and hadn’t bothered to wake her up. That wasn’t new, but she couldn’t help but feel as if he’d done it intentionally this time rather than absentmindedly.  Chaerin also noticed the absence of Hanuel, which was a bit strange. The maid only had days off on the weekends, not on the weekdays, so why wasn’t she there?

Chaerin didn’t have enough time to fix herself anything for breakfast, so she headed towards school as soon as she was through getting ready. Since she had missed the train, she was forced to walk, causing her to be thirty minutes late, but she would have probably been even later if she had actually waited for the next train to arrive. She had been lucky enough to miss first period with Yongguk, however, she wasn’t quite late enough to miss second period, and she was seriously debating on whether she should skip gym with Junhong or not. He was the last person she wanted to see.

“Miss Hwang, why are you standing outside the gym? The bell’s about to ring.” The P.E coach held one of the double doors open for Chaerin to enter and she sighed, having no choice but to attend class.

Upon entering the girl’s locker room, Chaerin begrudgingly changed into her P.E uniform and tied her hair up in a single ponytail before she made her way out to the main gym floor where nearly everyone was currently standing. She immediately spotted Hyunwoo among the crowd of people and waved with a smile when she met his gaze. At least she was here with someone she could stand.

“The teamwork in this gym period is lacking. Every time we play basketball or volleyball, it’s like it’s every man for himself.” The P.E coach stressed with a look of disappointment. “Which is why today we’re going to do some team-building exercises. Everybody get in pairs if two for a three-legged race! However, we’ll be rotating partners, so don’t get too comfortable with yours. I expect everyone to have been paired up with each other by the end of this period, so let’s get to it!”

There was a collective groan from the students as they all scattered to pair up with one another, save for Chaerin.

A three-legged race? What the hell is that?

Chaerin jolted a bit when she felt somebody grab her hand and she looked up, meeting Hyunwoo’s wide grin.

“Come on, Chae. Let’s head to the starting line.” The athletic boy tugged the younger along with him towards the other teams.

Apparently, with a three-legged race, you were supposed to be in pairs of two, one member of each pair having their left leg tied to the right leg of the other while you raced to see which team had the best speed in teamwork. It already didn’t seem like a very promising game to Chaerin and when the P.E coach blew the whistle, staring the race, she decided that she despised this game.

Rather than trying to win the race, Chaerin was more focused on trying to keep herself from falling on her face and Hyunwoo, being the competitive person he was, did not appreciate being in last place one bit.

“Aw come on, Chae, we’re losing! Pick up the pace! Left foot, right foot, left foot—“

“I’m not going any faster than this!”

Hyunwoo looked devastated. “But Chaerin!”

“Forget it. I’m not—woah!” With a simple tug, the ribbon that bound them together was untied and Hyunwoo was scooping Chaerin up in his arms before he took off at full speed towards the finish line.

“Hey! That’s cheating, Hyunwoo!” One racer yelled from behind, but it fell upon deaf ears.

Hyunwoo was determined to win even if he had to play dirty and the two were almost at the finish line too, until they were suddenly tripped up and sent hurling towards the hard gym floor.

“And the winner is…Choi Junhong and Kim Himchan!” The P.E coach announced.

Chaerin looked up at the duo, Himchan looking back at the younger with a smug expression while Junhong was void of one. She had no doubt that they were the ones who did it. They were the only ones that could have done it.

‘Bastards.’

“Are you alright, Chaerin?” Hyunwoo stood up and offered her his hand, which she gratefully accepted. “You aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?”

“No, I’m fine.” She didn’t tell him how bad her left leg stung. That would only make him worry unnecessarily, and she had honestly been through worse. However, Hyunwoo wasn’t as dense as Chaerin had hoped and he noticed her discomfort.

“Are you sure? You look hurt…”

“I told you I’m fine. I promise I am.” Chaerin smiled reassuringly. “I just need some water. It’s hotter than Satan’s balls in here.” She excused herself and tried to make her way over to one of the water fountains without limping too much, though it proved to be a bit difficult.

Upon reaching her destination, she noticed that her elbow was a little scraped up as well, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as her leg did. She was almost afraid to look at the damage done, but she knew she would have to soon if she didn’t want to risk a possible infection.

Chaerin leaned down to reach the water pouring out of the fountain, but before she could take even one measly sip, she was being tugged by her arm in another direction by someone she least expected to be bothered with.

“Junhong? What are you doing? Let me—“

“Shut it.”

Under any other circumstances, Chaerin would have went off on the elder, but this time, she decided to obey, curious as to what in the universe Junhong could possibly want when he made it clear as day that he didn’t want to be bothered with her yesterday.

The two exited the gym, taking a few turns down some hallways before they were face to face with the school’s infirmary doors in which Junhong unceremoniously burst right through, regardless of who could have been inside. Thankfully, there was no one.

“Sit.” He commanded after bringing the younger over to one of the white beds and she obediently sat down with a dubious expression as she watched him ravage one of the medicine cabinets for something before returning with rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and band-aid wrap.

Chaerin opened to tell him how unnecessary this was, however, the elder was already kneeling down in front of her, rolling her thin black leggings up to her thigh, revealing a nasty red skid mark. Ouch, it looked worse than she thought it would.

Junhong removed the cap from the bottle; pouring some of the rubbing alcohol in it, and dipped a cotton swab inside before he began dressing Chaerin’s wounded knee.

“What are you doing, Junhong?”

“What does it look like?” The elder didn’t look up from what he was doing as he spoke. “I’m cleaning your wound.”

“I realized that.” Chaerin rolled her eyes. “But why? You were the one that tripped me and Hyunwoo up in the first place.”

“I didn’t trip you.”

“Well your ‘friend’ did and you did nothing to stop him, which makes you just as accountable.”

Junhong not-so-gently scrapped Chaerin’s wound with the end of the cotton swab, earning a small gasp of pain from the younger, followed by a glare. “I am not in control of his actions. You shouldn’t have cheated.”

“I didn’t cheat.”

“Well your friend did and you didn’t seem to protest too much about it at all, which makes you just as accountable.”

Chaerin narrowed her eyes at the elder. She hated how easily he could switch things up on her. “Even so, yesterday, you made it clear that you didn’t want anything to do with me and yet, here you are, acting like you care. Why is that, Junhong?”

“Because,” The elder began wrapping her knee tightly to make sure that it wouldn’t loosen up later. “I’m sorry.”

Chaerin resisted a scoff. “You’re sorry? For what, Junhong?”

The raven-haired boy stood up finally looking Chaerin in the eyes for the first time all day. “For making you think that I cared.”

“And to show that you’re ‘sorry’ for acting like you cared, you act like you care? That’s idiotic.”

“No, this isn’t me ‘acting like I care’; this is me simply doing you a favor. Think of it as a ‘parting gift’ if you will.”

“So,” Chaerin had to pause for a moment, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You expect me to believe that all this time you were just ‘pretending’ to care? That was some spot on acting there, Junhong. Tell me, was that kiss back at the hotel just for ‘pretend’ as well?”

“I was drunk, Chaerin.” He began throwing away the bloodied cotton swabs and putting up the materials he used. “But I guess I’m sorry for that too.”

“What are you trying to say, Junhong?”

She refused to believe it, not until she heard it come out of the elder’s mouth personally. Right now, he was beating around the bush. He hadn’t told her directly what was truly on his mind, but as the seconds of silence passed, she was slowly beginning to want it kept a secret.

“You underestimate your own intellect, Chaerin, but I suppose that’s only because I haven’t been exactly clear on where we stand, though I’m sure I’ve told you before.” Junhong closed the medical cabinet and walked over to the younger until he stood right in front of her, obsidian eyes boring directly into hers. “So allow me to remind you….I do not like you Chaerin. Never have, and I never will. The only reason I seemed as if I ‘cared’ before was because I suppose that deep down inside, I may have harbored a glimmer of interest towards you, but no more. That interest is long gone and I’ve grown tired of ‘protecting’ you—“

“You’re lying.” Chaerin muttered more to herself than Junhong, but he heard her regardless. “I’m not an idiot. I know the difference between someone who genuinely cares versus someone who couldn’t give a damn. Why? Because I was raised around those two types of people in my years as an orphan. There were people that sincerely cared about our situation; that we were abandoned, lonely, and without a family indefinitely, and then there were the people that only ‘pretended’ like they did. You can’t help but learn how to differentiate the two after living with them for so long. Now, I’m not so sure about your feelings towards me ‘romantically’ or even as a ‘friend’, but I am positive that you cared, Junhong, for whatever reason that may have been, so don’t you dare ing lie in my face and tell me that you didn’t, because you did, sincerely.” Chaerin stood up from the white bed, never dropping the elder’s gaze for even a second. “And you still do. Tell me I’m wrong, Junhong.”

The elder’s lips twitched once, but no words came from them as he continued to stare down the younger menacingly. Chaerin couldn’t tell whether he was upset that she had figured him out, or if it was because she was entirely wrong, but she didn’t let herself become disheartened.

“I didn’t think I was.” Chaerin made her way over to the door with much less difficultly this time and peered back over her shoulder at Junhong. “I don’t know what it is that you’re trying to hide that would make you lie to me so cruelly, but whatever it is, I think it would be best to just tell me, before I find out myself.”

Lunch time finally rolled around and Chaerin was more than happy to get something into her stomach since she had skipped breakfast. She was sure to make sure that she was one of the first to enter the cafeteria when the bell rang.

Today, they were serving Jjajangmyeon and rice with kimchi as a side dish and Chaerin was highly grateful that Ms. Choi always kept her lunch account stocked with cash. She could eat however much she wanted, but never took advantage of that, though she really could have.

“Chaerin!” Hyunwoo called out from a distance and the younger smiled back as he approached the table she was occupying. “Where were you when gym ended? I waited by the door and everything to walk you to your next class like usual, but you never showed.”

“Oh,” Chaerin quickly thought of an excuse. “I had some assignments that I didn’t turn in to one of my teachers, so I left early, sorry.”

Hyunwoo sighed. “It’s alright. Just tell me next time, okay? I nearly got detention for being late to Ms. Kim’s class. She only left me off with a warning because I’m: ‘such a good student’.” He raised his pitch high and nasally to quote Ms. Kim, earning a small chuckle from Chaerin.

“Hello Lee Hyunwoo, Hwang Chaerin.” Alice greeted with an unusually wide smile as she sat down in the chair in front of them.

“Hey.” The two greeted back in unison. “You seem happy.” Hyunwoo commented and Alice’s smile grew wider. Chaerin actually thought that the corners of might rip.

“Oh I’m absolutely peachy.” She replied before turning towards the youngest. “Hey, do you think you could come with me to the restroom for a minute?”

Chaerin furrowed her eyebrows at the request as she slurped down a Jjajangmyeon noodle. “But I’m still eating—“

“Now.”

The authority in Alice’s tone had Chaerin immediately rising up from her chair and following the elder towards the restrooms. Though she’d never admit it, Chaerin found Alice frightening when she was angry. Especially since she told her how she once shipped a girl off to another country just because the girl dared to challenge her for Daehyun’s love. Even though she was certain that she never would, Chaerin made a mental note to never fall in love with the Busan boy since that day, just to be sure.

Chaerin watched Alice violently kick every stall in the restroom open to make sure that nobody was inside before she lividly made her way over to younger girl.

“Guess what, Hwang Cherin?” Alice nearly growled.

“I don’t know—“

“No! I want you to try and guess what it is.”

“Well—“

“Wrong! But I suppose I’ll tell you since you tried so hard.”

“Okay…?”

“You know that I’m the treasurer in the student council, right?” Chaerin nodded once. She remembered Alice telling her how happy she was to get the position. “And you also know that members of the student council get access to the principal’s office too, right?” Chaerin nodded again, though she wasn’t quite sure why Alice had dragged her to the restroom to talk about the student council. “Well call me ‘obsessed’, but I may have ‘snooped’ around in the principle’s computer—while he wasn’t there—for Jung Daehyun’s house address, but ended up finding out something else absolutely shocking instead.”

“And what might that be?” Chaerin had an idea of what it was, but she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.

“No,” Alice smiled cynically. “I want you to guess.”

“Uh—“

“Wrong again!”

“Well then what is it?” Chaerin snapped, starting to get annoyed with Alice’s behavior and the elder simply scoffed in return.

“Don’t get mad at me, you’re the one hiding things from me!”

Chaerin’s eyes widened a bit at her accusation. Had she possibly found out about…

“That’s right! As I scrolled down the student home addresses, I couldn’t help but notice that you and Choi Junhong had the exact same house address registered under your names.” Alice watched as Chaerin’s expression morphed to one of utter shock before making her discovery final. “You and Choi Junhong are living together!”

HOLY I DUN SET A RECORD ON HOW FAST I UPDATED!!!!!

SOME BODY HAS TO DOCUMENT THIS MOMENT!

Only 10 Days???? *claps for myself* Im so proud of me.

That was my newyears resolution. To update on time for once, and now I've done it so see you guys next year~!

PEACE~!

.......lol jk

COMMENT OR I WILL TAKE YOUR SOULS.