“Achoo!”

Junhong rubs his nose and lifts his head from his desk. Then he tugs at the hair of the student who is sitting in front of him, earning a glare from the student. He doesn’t feel threatened at all—instead, he crosses his arms and stares back at the student.

“Yaa, Choi Junhong! You’re really rude towards your class monitor,” the student says with a harsh tone.

“Your long hair keeps bothering me when I try to sleep. It makes me sneeze when it touches my face,” Junhong narrows his eyes at the class monitor. “You shouldn’t lean back against your chair anymore.”

“You’re not the boss of me. It’s my decision whether I want to lean or not.”

“Then you should cut your hair.”

“I’ll never cut my precious hair,” she folds her arms arrogantly and snorts. Then she stares at him for a moment before she leans closer and pulls his hair, causing him to let out a short yelp. “Yaa, who told you to dye your hair? It’s blue!”

“Watch your hand, woman!” Junhong parries her hand away and gives her a sinister look. “You do that again and I’ll make sure you lose your stupid hair.”

“I’ll never be afraid of you, Junhong.” She challenges him. Then she returns to her seat and flips her silky hair snobbishly over her shoulders.

“Oh, you will Kang Mari,” Junhong smirks.

“YAAAAAAAHHHH~!”

*

Junhong whistles peacefully as he makes his way towards the school gate when he notices Mari walking with her friends, grabbing her beloved hair and sobbing childishly. He’d cut her hair for real when she challenged him. It was her fault. She wasn’t supposed to make him angry. She was lucky that he only cut strands of it instead of making her bald. There’s no difference at all when he takes a closer look at her hair. Why does she have to whine so hard? Of all girls in the school, she’s the one who always pisses him off. Although she’s the class monitor, he doesn’t think that she deserves to boss him around. Whenever he tries to take a nap on his desk, she’ll start giving him lectures or scolding him about him always eating, sleeping and fooling around in class. She always picks fight with him—as if he’s the only one who causes trouble all the time.

He hates it when she starts babbling non-stop.

He hates it when she slams her textbook on his desk to wake him up during classes.

He hates it when she yells at him.

He hates everything about her.

He doesn’t understand why the other students like her so much. She’s popular among them and she’s always surrounded by people. Everyone says that she’s loveable and friendly. Some even call her the flawless goddess. It makes him feel like vomiting whenever someone calls her with that crappy nickname.

She’s not flawless at all. She’s full of flaws. Junhong knows that because he often comes across her when she burps out loud or yawns with wide open. Recently, he caught her sleeping in the class, drooling on her desk. He had wished that he could take a picture and blackmail her but he knew it was too embarrassing so he’d decided to ignore her that evening and go back home.

She has one particular habit that amuses him whenever he thinks about it.

She likes speaking to herself. She likes complaining about how hard it is to control the students in her class. She even spits out curses when she’s grumbling.

If he told her about her bad habit, he’s 100% sure that her face will turn red in embarrassment.

“That giant brat is pissing me off!” Mari exclaims crossly, causing Junhong to stop in his track. “He cut my hair without me noticing it. I’ll make sure he pays for it!”

Junhong scoffs and shakes his head incredulously. Who does she think she is? She’ll never be able to defeat him.

The next morning, Junhong enters the class and rests his head on the desk the moment he settles down at his seat. His eyelids are heavy and he feels like drifting off into a long sleep. He knows he shouldn’t have stayed up all night to play games but what to do? Games are addicting to boys in his age. Closing his eyes, he lets himself doze off, ignoring the screams and shrieks that belong to his playful classmates.

“Whoa, how many Valentine chocolates did you receive this year? I think there are hundreds of them!” Junhong can hear Mari’s friends squealing with delight.

He opens his eyes slightly to look at Mari and her friends who are standing around her table, chatting happily with each other. They are being inconsiderately noisy but Junhong decides to pretend that he’s sleeping.

“You’re really popular among the seniors. I can’t believe you won’t date any of them!”

“Yeah, you should go out with one of them. If I were you, I would date all of them!”

“Yaa, you guys received a lot of chocolates too.” Mari smiles happily. “There’s no difference between us.”

“It’s obvious that you have more chocolates than us!”

They start giggling loudly, which annoys Junhong so much that he wishes he could stuff their mouths with stinky socks.

“So, are you giving Valentine chocolates to anyone?”

“Yup, I’m giving them to my classmates.” Mari says as she takes out a basketful of chocolates from under her desk. Then she hands them all to everyone.

Junhong can hear his classmates thanking her and showering her with compliments. Who does she think she is; the goddess of chocolates?

When it’s PE period, everyone has gone outside to play at the field except for Junhong. He’s still in the class, sleeping at his desk. He has no strength to get up and join his friends. He’s too tired and lazy; as always.  All he wants to do right now is to sleep. While sleeping soundly like a baby, a sudden slam on his desk causes him to jump up in his seat. He notices a box of chocolates on his desk and looks up at the person who’s standing before him. It’s none other than Kang Mari.

“Don’t think of anything stupid,” Mari says as she folds her arms across her chest. “I’m just giving out the chocolates as an obligatory sign—nothing more.”

“What?” Junhong mumbles, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he holds the box of chocolates in front of his face to look at it.

Before he can speak up, Mari turns on her heels and leaves the class. Still confused, Junhong opens the box and stuffs a few of the chocolates in his mouth. Then he spits them out in an instant.

“What the hell did I just eat? Is this homemade?” he grimaces as he looks at the chocolates angrily—as if the chocolates are to blame. “They taste like rubber.”

Junhong gets up from his seat and walks out of the class to catch up with Mari when he sees her leaning against the wall beside a staircase. She’s mumbling to herself. Crouching stealthily beside a recycle bin, he concentrates fully to what she’s mumbling about.

“Aish, I should’ve asked him whether he likes the chocolates or not!” Mari slaps herself on the cheeks and shakes her head over and over again. “Why did he have to look so cute when he woke up from his sleep? Aish, I’m so stupid! Stupid, Mari. Why do you have to be so stupid whenever he looks at you in the eyes?”

Afraid that he will get caught for eavesdropping, Junhong gets up to his feet and walks away. Her words echo in his head as he makes his way back to the class.

*

“Yaa, are you gonna sleep early in the morning? Wake up or else you’ll get punished by Mr. Kim again.” Mari warns Junhong before he can rest his head on the desk.

“Whatever.” Junhong leans back against his chair and stares at Mari who’s sitting in front of him.

She has her back towards him and he can see her jotting down random notes from the textbook. The morning sunlight floods the classroom merrily, casting a faint glow on Mari’s jet black hair. Junhong lets his eyes stay on Mari’s hair. Her hair looks different but he can’t tell what makes it different. After eyeing her hair for a couple of minutes, Junhong finally realizes that she has her hair tied up in a ponytail. It’s his first time seeing her with a different hairstyle.

A smile blooms on his face as he rests his head against the window and closes his eyes.

She’s elegant, beautiful and loveable…he hated it all.

A/N: So how’s my Valentine Day’s gift? Is it sweet? It’s a pretty decent story. Keke. I have another Valentine fic for you, readers so I hope you guys will wait for it. Maybe I’ll post it tomorrow? Just wait because it’s Daehyun’s turn~ XD

And one more thing, I wrote this fic in present tense. I hope I didn’t make any mistake :( 

Yeollie-san? Are you reading this? I’m counting on you to review my writing. Keke ^.^