Author’s POV

“She’s so stubborn!” yelled Jinyoung as he furiously rammed a desk into the wall.

“She just doesn’t know yet…”whispered Si Yoon to provide reassurance, yet you could identify his frustrated state as he raked his hair with his hands agitatedly.

“How are we going to tell her?”groaned Hoya. “We can’t even get near her now because of the scene we made with Woohyun.”

“We? You mean you!” retorted Jinyoung.

“It wasn’t my fault! That bastard Woohyun was flirting shamelessly with her. The nation’s princess can’t be seen with someone like that!” cried out Hoya as he shoved his fists into his pockets.

“Lower your voices!” hissed Si Yoon. “No one must find out about our identity. More importantly, hers! We can’t forget our mission.”

The other two boys nodded in silent agreement.

“SO what’s your plan, Dr. Brain?” asked Hoya as he turned to face Jinyoung.

“I’m thinking.”

Lunch’s warning bell had rung, leading all the students back to their classrooms to set up before the next period started. People were buzzing with news of Ahrang, Woohyun, and the three new boys. Woohyun pretended to not hear the questions his fan girls were throwing at him.

“Woohyun oppa! What is your relationship with Ahrang?”

“Why did you fight with Hoya?”

“What’s your history with Hoya?”

“Does Hoya like Ahrang? DO YOU LIKE AHRANG?”

Woohyun felt his heart tighten when he heard that question. He did. But no one needed to know that. No one. Not even Ahrang. Their friendship would be jeopardized if people told Ahrang about his little crush. Even though he and hinted signs of romantic feelings, Ahrang simply interpreted all this as friendliness and childishness that had stuck with Woohyun since childhood.

And due to Ahrang’s nonchalance towards Woohyun’s incessant flirting, everyone else considered Woohyun’s love as a joke too.

To Woohyun’s dismay, the gossip continued and the questions didn’t stop.

“Who threatened each other first?”

“Woohyun oppa! Why did Ahrang defend you?”

“You guys are just friends, right?”

“Are they in a special relationship?”

“NO! No way Woohyun oppa would date Ahrang! She’s too plain. She’d never be good enough for him.”

Woohyun glared towards the person who shot that last question. He grimaced at how disgusting these girls were. They thought they were so much better than Ahrang. What was wrong with Ahrang? She was absolutely endearing in his eyes.

He turned to look back where Ahrang was. She had an emotionless, indifferent look plastered on her face, but Woohyun knew she was offended and hurt. Behind that impassive mask, Ahrang was slowly being shattered…and it was killing him, knowing that he was partially responsible for this chaos.

He looked towards the desks around Ahrang and noticed the boys weren’t there.

*Where are those jerks?*

Woohyun slumped into his seat, relieving his anger by massaging his temples. His strained expression made him look even manlier, earning the squeals of a few more fan girls. He simply sighed. Sometimes, he secretly wished that he could make all his admirers vanish so that he may have more security towards privacy. A bit more privacy with Ahrang.

Suddenly, a deafening screech echoed through the speakers.

The students groaned as they clasped their hands to their ears.

“AHEM. AHRANG KANG. WOOHYUN NAM. REPORT TO THE PRICIPAL’S OFFICE RIGHT NOW PLEASE. I REPEAT. AHRANG KANG AND WOOHYUN NAM, REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE. THANK YOU.”

Woohyun turned back to meet Ahrang's gaze, but her eyes were already glazed over with annoyance and regret as she released a sigh. Their classmates refused to maintain their basic etiquette and continued to gossip amongst themselves about the possibilities of what could be the principal’s reason to summon them to the office.

Of course, it would involve the fight earlier…but Ahrang hadn’t exactly done anything wrong, so why was she being called too? New assumptions started to pop up between the girls again.

Ahrang sighed once more as she lifted herself from her seat and walked towards the door. Woohyun did the same thing as he shyly followed.

The walk towards the office was painfully long for Ahrang and Woohyun, both having their own personal reasons. Ahrang found it suffocating, because she realized this trip to the principal’s office would let others grasp the opportunity to re-examine her friendship with Woohyun and accuse her of being his lover. Her wish to live a quiet life until graduation would disintegrate completely. Also, being called to the office meant that she was most likely in trouble…the kind of trouble that leads to a phone call home. If the school found out she was living alone without any guardian, she would be forced to enter orphanage care, and that was the exact reason why she had pushed herself to extremes to be strong; she hated the idea of living under a crowded, hectic building with juvenile delinquents and orphans. Such a consequence would leave her no personal space and more importantly, everyone at school would find out. Ahrang shuddered at the very thought.

Woohyun, on the other hand, felt miserable knowing he was, to some extent, the cause of this havoc. He knew Ahrang was worried over the possibility of her schoolmates finding out about her deceased father. He glanced at Ahrang. He noticed her sulking shoulders and the tears she were holding back as she desperately scrunched her face to keep them from falling. He just wanted to embrace her and kiss away the potential tears, but he knew he could never do that. He was her friend. ONLY her friend.

They reached the principal’s office door. Ahrang sighed to herself and pushed the door open, revealing the three transfer students and the principal himself.

“Welcome. Please sit down.” The principal gestured his hands towards two empty seats.

Woohyun plopped down grumpily as Ahrang sunk down silently.

“I heard you five…” The principal looked across the students before him. “You five had an argument earlier today, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” mumbled Hoya.

“Woohyun, you’re an outstanding student. Everyone only offers praise about you. Why would you pick on the transfer students? That is such an aberration from your regular behavior.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I am not the one who initiated the fight. I was simply talking and playing around with Ahrang when that kid-” Woohyun nodded at Hoya. “Suddenly lost his temper and pushed me into a desk.”

“You were touching her inappropriately,” growled Hoya.

“No, he didn’t,” said Ahrang.

“I poked her cheek. It’s a sign of closeness. We’ve been friends since we were eight,” snapped Woohyun.

“Well, have you considered that she might be uncomfortable with your greasiness?” smirked Hoya.

“I would never do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. I would never harass her in the way you’re accusing me.”

“OH PLEASE! Stop sugarcoating everything, you bastard. The moment we stepped into this school, we saw you surrounded by girls. Don’t you know you’re just being a nuisance when you-”

“ENOUGH!” The principal exhaled and slowly rose from his leather spinning chair. “You need to find a way to end this issue, not aggravate it!”

Hoya and Woohyun remained silent.

Si Yoon cleared his throat.

“Excuse me, sir. May I request a moment alone with my peers without your presence? Your advice and wisdom is much appreciated, but I feel as though we could cooperate better to resolve this matter when we discuss freely amongst ourselves,” said Si Yoon.

The principal stood slightly agape from the eloquence and class of this student. He hadn’t encountered such a polite, yet straight forward student in years. He smiled and started to walk out the door. “I’ll give you twenty minutes.” And with that, the door closed.

“NOW!” hissed Jinyoung.

Hoya suddenly leaped towards Woohyun and tapped his chest, neck, and forehead. With the swiftness of it all, Woohyun fell forward, diving towards the floor. Everything happened so quickly.

“WOOHYUN!!” gasped Ahrang. “What did you do to him!?” Noel fell to Woohyun’s side to check if was okay.

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “He’s fine.  Don’t overreact. He’s unconscious. Hoya just numbed his pressure points. He’s not dead.”

“What is the meaning of this?!” Ahrang marched towards the door to call for help, but Hoya blocked her way.

“MOVE. NOW.”

“I’m sorry, Princess…please understand.”

“UNDERSTAND? You expect me to understand this?” Ahrang pointed at Woohyun’s still body. “This is physical abuse; you’ve violated a school regulation.”

“Princess…please just listen,” accosted Si Yoon. “Give us ten, no five minutes to explain and you’ll see the reason behind all this.”

“Why should I listen to you guys when you’ve assaulted my best friend and you’ve been mocking me the entire day by calling me ‘princess’? I am not at all impressed with your excessive frivolousness,” snapped Ahrang. “I am calling the principal right now.”

Hoya then let out a frustrated groan as he placed his hand over Ahrang’s mouth and carried her back to the chairs. He placed her small body on his lap and enveloped his arms around her to keep her still. “Princess, I’m sorry but you need to listen to what we have to say!”

Ahrang let out muffled shrieks as Hoya kept his right hand firmly clasped over her lips.

“Jinyoung, your plan is not going super smooth,” said Hoya as he struggled to keep Ahrang in place.

“Correction. Smoothly. With a ‘ly’ at the end of smooth,” shrugged Jinyoung as he nudged Si Yoon forward. “Talk to her. We don’t have time.”

Si Yoon cleared his throat. “I apologize for our rude demeanor. We didn’t mean to approach you in such a…” Si Yoon glanced at Hoya who was blushing furiously with Ahrang on his lap, her body being so close to his. He could tell Hoya was extremely uncomfortable, but by the way he was all flustered, Si Yoon  could tell his friend was somewhat enjoying this. “Uh…anyways, we didn’t mean to come to such degrees. Please cooperate with us for the next few minutes. You’ll understand everything afterwards.”

Ahrang sent daggering glares instead of talking back since verbal attack wasn’t an option she had available.

“Are you ready?”

Ahrang rolled her eyes. As if she had the choice to say she wasn’t.

“Okay then…let’s start off with basics.”

Ahrang waited silently. What did he have to tell her that was so important that they needed to come to meet such extremes?

Si Yoon let out a deep sigh.

“You are the last princess of South Korea.”

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