12/14/16

Estimated Time Period: Modern Times (2015AD)

YOONA

            Yoona looked around nervously. It was her first time attending a meeting for the Pharmaceutical Sciences Student Alliance. Thankfully, it was the beginning of the school year, so at least the transfer students haven’t formed their circle of friends yet.

            “Hey, you must be new here.”

            Yoona turned to see a tall guy with a boyish smile. He seemed to be her age, around second or third year in college.

            “Yeah, I am,” she smiled sheepishly. “Just switched into the major, so wanted to get to know my fellow classmates.”

            “Welcome aboard!” He extended his hand. “My name is Taecyeon.”

            “Yoona, nice to meet you,” She felt an electric current travel through her arm as they shook hands. Looking up at him, she wondered if he felt the same thing. If he did, he didn’t show it. “What year are you in?”

            “Third year. How about you?”

            “Same!” Her eyes widened with excitement. “At least we have that much in common.”

            He laughed. “I’m sure we have more in common than that.”

            “Now I’ll be the same major as you,” Yoona quipped.

            “Touche,” he smiled back at her. And for a moment, it felt like no one else was in the room except for the two of them. Yoona caught herself and shook the feeling out of her system. You just broke up with your boyfriend, Yoona. Not so quickly.

            “What major did you switch from?” Taecyeon asked, breaking not-so-uncomfortable silence.

            “Econ,” she answered, almost apologetically.

            “Econ? You?” Taecyeon laughed. “I can see why you switched.”

            He acts as if he already knows me, she thought to herself. “Yeah, dealing with graphs and theories isn’t for me. I’d much rather take on something more hands on.”

            “You’ll definitely have more of that in Pharm Sci,” he warned. “Labs galore. Though you might get sick of it later on…”

            She laughed. “I’ll deal with that hurdle when it comes then. What classes are you taking? I wonder if we’re in any classes together.”

                                                            ::::::

HYUNSEUNG

            Hyunseung and Hyuna were waiting inside the lobby of Lazer Zone. They had decided to organize a weekend outing and play some laser tag.

            He reached out for Hyuna’s hand. “Nichkhun promised to be civil with Victoria.”

            “Victoria begrudgingly did so as well,” Hyuna grinned.

            Hyunseung grinned back. “Let’s just hope all goes well today then.”

            It was so weird. It’s only been a month since they started dating, but it felt like he knew her for his entire life. The first time he saw Hyuna, sparks flew between them. Without a second thought, Hyunseung extended his hand and introduced himself to Hyuna. All the while, Nichkhun and Victoria were staring each other down.

            Hyunseung was convinced their mutual dislike for each other stemmed from a combination of misunderstanding and attraction, and he grew more convinced when Hyuna revealed that she felt the same.

            Nichkhun arrived first, then Victoria came shortly after. As promised, the two exchanged cordial (if not cold) greetings and stationed themselves beside their respective best friends. Taecyeon was the last to come, bringing along his new girlfriend—no, new friend that happens to be the girl of his dreams. But no one was supposed to mention that to Yoona. At least not right now.

            When Hyunseung realized that Hyuna and Victoria were friends with his high school buddy (they were in the same dorm together during freshman year), he felt that the stars somehow aligned. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was somehow all… fate. With Taecyeon’s ability to predict the future, anything seems to be possible.

            Once Taecyeon and Yoona arrived, the group of six headed off into the laser tag arena. Hyunseung overheard Nichkhun tell Victoria, “I’m not going to go easy on you.”

            “Wouldn’t want you to,” she challenged. “May the best person win.”

            Hyuna and Hyunseung exchanged knowing glances. Nichkhun and Victoria were the most competitive people they knew. This laser tag game was going to be intense.

            And indeed it was. By the end, everyone came out tired and sweating. But they were all smiling.

            Victoria was gleaming, as she glanced at the score boards. “Guess the girls beat the boys today,” she said high-fiving her teammates.

            “Next time,” Nichkhun replied, and they engaged in one of their stare-downs. This time, though, there was a sense of mutual respect.

            As their friends said their goodbyes and parted ways, Hyunseung took Hyuna’s hand again. “That went pretty well.”

                                                            ::::::

VICTORIA

         Victoria sighed as she shifted through her stack of printed articles. It wasn’t as much the fact that she had to read through every single one of those articles that annoyed her, it was the fact that she had to read it with Mr. Arrogant sitting across the table.

         Rewind to two days ago, the teacher for the political science class that Hyuna, Victoria, Hyunseung, and Nichkhun shared together assigned a group project, each group consisting of 4 people. “This is perfect,” Hyunseung whispered to his three classmates. “We can be in a group together!”

         Surprise, surprise. Hyuna and Hyunseung, both having the same unfounded notion that Victoria and Nichkhun were secretly soul mates, thought it would be a great idea to work in pairs - to finish the project faster. And of course, being the lovebirds that they were, Hyuna and Hyunseung would be a pair, leaving Victoria and Nichkhun to begrudgingly pair up as well.

         Victoria sighed. It’s not like she hated Nichkhun. As the two of them were forced to hang out more, she found that they had more in common than she originally thought. Besides his misguided tendencies of being ‘nice’ (which ended up making him seem arrogant), he was okay.

          “So, do you have any ideas on what to focus on?” Victoria asked Nichkhun. Hyuna and Hyunseung were in charge of presenting about political leaders and their abuse of power, while Victoria and Nichkhun were in charge of presenting political leaders and their use of power for good. “Honestly, I think we should switch topics with Hyuna and Hyunseung. I have so much to say about corruption.”

         Nichkhun laughed. “It seems Hyuna was pretty adamant on claiming the abuse of power topic.”

          “She’s been pretty adamant about this whole project,” Victoria rolled her eyes. “So you have any ideas?”

          “I’ve been thinking about it. I want to focus on non-profit organizations started by political leaders and the success of those organizations. It’d be an interesting topic to talk about.”

         Victoria considered the topic. “Not bad. It’d be interesting to see how many of these non-profits end up succeeding, and why the other ones failed. Then also seeing if the political leader’s involvement in the organization impacted her image in the community.”

Part 2 is up! I was re-reading my previous chapters yesterday, and it really surprised me how my writing style changed based on the time period I was writing about. These modern day chapters definitely have more of a humorous vibe compared to the other chapters. Hopefully, there are enough common elements to link these chapters together :) Anyway, enough of my random babbling. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!