“Do you really want to do this?” Sehun asked when they were standing in front of the hospital. Ara didn’t say anything else, only nodded, and continued to drag him into the building. In all honesty, she didn’t know if she really wanted to face his father, but she simply couldn’t accept him being punished only for staying back. Besides, there was indeed a small spark of curiosity as to what kind of person Sehun's father was.

“Which level?” Ara asked, her hand reached out to press one of the many buttons, as she stood inside the elevator.

“Last one.”

They soon arrived at the level, and from that on Ara let the male lead them to the meeting room. The meeting wasn’t over yet, as the sound of several voices discussing was still evident. Sehun gently held the girl back by her shoulder. “Stay here.”

Having knocked, he quickly opened the door, and the voices died down. She watched as he stepped in and pushed the door back, leaving only a small space open. All of a sudden, the silence was broken when a voice said, “Son, where have you been?” It was a male's voice, husky and strong, strictness very evident. Although he was speaking calmly, there was a light threatening tone in it.

“I had a school presentation,” Ara heard Sehun say in a rather indifferent tone.

“Gentlemen, the meeting is over.” Sounds of chairs being pushed and jackets being grabbed filled the girl's ears before she instinctively backed away from the door. Looking for a place to hide, she spotted a restroom a few meters away, and quickly entered it the second the door of the meeting room was opened.

When she was sure that that the corridor was empty again, she left the restroom and went to the door again. It didn’t take long to realize that the calm tone in Sehun's father's voice was long gone. “I told you come here in time.”

“You useless son, this meeting could have decided your future and you didn’t come. Be more grateful that I'm putting so much effort into your future!” The last part was half yelled. Then she heard him whisper threatening, “I told you what'd happen.” Upon hearing this, Ara couldn’t wait anymore. She burst into the room and was greeted by two shocked expressions. A male in his fifties, hair graying already, stared at her. In contrast to the hair, his eyes were still strong, staring at her with an intensity that made people want to look away immediately. Ara could see the resemblance between Sehun and his father – their eye area was very similar.

The younger male gave Ara a warning gaze, one that told her to leave, but the girl didn’t even notice the look in his eyes as she was too concentrated on not breaking eye-contact with his father. The man's gaze was strong, but Ara had never been someone to be intimidated by stares.

“Who are you?” Mr. Oh asked coldly, having recovered from the small shock within one second and now eying the girl.

“His classmate and partner for the school project, and I came to say that I take responsibility for making your son staying at school,” Ara said, her voice firm, and bowed ninety degree. “It is my fault that your son wasn’t able to come to this meeting in time.”

“It's not her fault–” Sehun began but he halted when Ara sent him a glare. It told him she knew what she was doing, and as if she ha cast a spell on him, he felt as if he lost the ability to speak.

“The mark for the presentation we had to do is extremely important, and as a scholarship student I cannot afford any average marks,” the girl continued. She then glanced at Sehun. “I don’t accept my partner's absence if it causes my mark to deteriorate.” That was a lie. Actually, she had accepted it immediately, and Sehun, of course, knew. But slowly, he was grasping what she was trying to do.

“To me, it doesn’t matter what the reason behind his absence was, I only care about the mark.”

Mr. Oh raised an eyebrow. “And what are you trying to tell me?”

“That the mark is extremely important for every single student, constituting forty percent of this year's end mark. And your son skipping the presentation would have resulted in zero points,” Ara cocked her head a bit. “And I doubt as someone with such a family background, that would be appropriate,” she finished smoothly, leaving both Sehun and his father slightly dumbfounded.

Silence enveloped the them and after five seconds of silence, Ara turned around to leave. “That's all I wanted to say.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter