“Jongin, your father wants to see you in his office.” Mrs. Kim stated to her son with a frown on her face. 

Jongin knew right away that his dad was unpleased with him about something. Whenever he was called into his dad’s office, he knew he had done something wrong, or that his dad had another request for him to do. Jongin lazily made his way upstairs while the maids and servants bowed down to greet him. Like always, he didn’t even return a greeting back to them. They were only here to do one thing which was to serve Jongin and his family. They only did these polite actions to up to him when in reality they didn’t even want to know him as a person as they were only interested in money.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the door knob of his dad’s office and entered inside. Jongin could see his dad’s stern back which he hated seeing. He had always seen this sight ever since he was a young child. Not once had his dad sat down with him to have a proper chat. They did talk at times, but it was always for business reasons.

Mr. Kim mentioned Jongin to take a seat and so he did. “I have already applied you into the top Law university,” he finally spoke without even looking at Jongin as he was busy filing his paperwork.

Furious, Jongin was absolutely furious. Ok, he knew that his parents blabbered nonstop and pressured him to take over the Law Firm, but he hadn’t truly made up his mind yet. He was still lost in what he wanted to be in the future. 

What right did they have to do something like this? 

This was just too much.

“You will be studying abroad after your graduation,” Mr. Kim finally looked up to see his son’s face.

Is this some sort of a joke? Jongin looked at his dad in anger and frustration. “Why?” He asked, gaining his dad’s attention back to him. Mr. Kim blinked a couple of times, waiting for his son to continue. “You haven’t even asked me what I think about this whole topic,” he remarked.

“It’s already decided,” Mr. Kim retorted, earning a glare from Jongin who couldn’t stand it anymore.

His hands curled into fists as he stood up. He had completely lost it and now he didn’t care at all. “For once have you ever thought of how I might feel?” Jongin asked with a flushed face. “You have never once asked me for my opinion on any of this!” He added. Jongin was usually good with controlling his emotions, but for some reason he really was in rage and wanted to lease out how he truly felt. 

Jongin wasn’t the only one who was angered by this, Mr. Kim was also angry as well. He found his son's behaviour unacceptable. “Don’t you dare raise your voice at me you ungrateful child! You should be thanking me rather than complaining,” he hissed while glaring at Jongin who sighed.

“Complaining? I am not complaining. I am clearly telling you how I feel. I am not leaving to study abroad,” Jongin firmly stated his final answer.

Mr. Kim snorted. “Well then, what are you going to do after you graduate?” He asked. Before Jongin could give an answer, he continued. “You don’t have a future Jongin and you should be grateful that I am giving you one!” The elderly man sometimes wondered if Jongin was really his biological son.

“A future? Are you saying that I should be grateful of the unsolicited future that you’re giving me?” Jongin asked, trying not to shout at his dad in annoyance.

“Ok, alright. Tell me what you see in your future? What is it that you want?” He asked, making Jongin blink at the unexpected question.

Jongin took a deep breath before replying, “I don’t know.” He looked up to see his dad shaking his head, unimpressed and displeased with the response that his son had given him. “But, maybe, maybe I can one day find out when I take the path to adulthood. I’m still 18. I just need a bit more time,” Jongin pleaded, but his dad hadn’t caught the desperation in his tone.

“Do you know how disappointed I am in you?” Mr. Kim asked while Jongin just rolled his eyes. It wasn’t the first time he had heard that so he was used to it now. “You are not going to ruin my reputation and image. If your mother hears about this, she will be just as mad as me and Jongin, haven’t I already told you to quit dancing?” He raised his voice at the last few words.

. He found out sooner than I expected. Jongin bit his lips to stop the sigh from escaping. “Dancing has got nothing to do with any of this,” he stated. 

It was true. 

He was telling the truth.

Dancing was not a distraction to Jongin, but of course his dad thought differently.

“I have already told the Head Master to stop you from attending the dance club,” Mr. Kim said with no sign of pity or guilt. “You are not going to dance from now on, you need to study and then soon take over the Law Firm-” 

Before he could finish, Jongin shouted in frustration. “You are not going to stop me from dancing! Please, this is enough. You don’t need to go this far. I have always done what you have asked for me to do, but now I had enough. Please, just please, think of me for once. Support my decisions for once, listen to what I have to say for once,” his voice dwelled with sadness. He really wanted his dad to understand him, but it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to do that.

Mr. Kim heaved a sigh. He wasn’t feeling the sorrow that Jongin felt. He was the complete opposite. He couldn’t get over how stubborn his son was. “I know that you are participating in a competition upcoming this month so I have thought of a deal,” he brought up.

Jongin on the other hand already had a bad feeling about this. Making agreements with his dad always ended up horrible and in the end his dad was the one who got his way. “You will not skip any meetings or special occasions during this whole month,” he started. Jongin looked up at his dad with wide eyes. How is that a fair deal? “If you ‘ditch’ any of the business meetings than you can forget about the dance competition. I surely know that your friends would be very disappointed when they find out that you won't be able to join them so you better keep my words,” he said as he clasped his hands. 

“Alright, but this doesn’t mean that I have changed my mind about studying abroad.” Jongin quickly stated.

Mr Kim smirked. “Sure.”

---

One week had passed by and Mira had not once seen Jongin at school or after school. Nevertheless, she didn’t need to wait anymore as she saw Jongin walking a few steps ahead of her. Mira, herself hadn’t even realised that she was running after Jongin. She cursed at herself for tapping Jongin’s shoulder and froze when he turned around. Oh, great. What was she supposed to say now? To be honest, she was happy to see him. No matter how much she tried to deny it, she had been worried about him the past few days.

Mira could see Jongin's dark circles. She hadn’t received any calls from him for a while, not that she was complaining. She also went to the school dining hall to check if Jongin was with his friends, but she didn’t see him there as well. She also missed his comfort as she often found herself in the state of depression. It was selfish of her, but she needed him. She needed him to be there for her when she wanted to lease out her feelings. Overall, Jongin looked tired as if he had been working nonstop yesterday night.

“Hi,” she shakily breathed out. She was always terrible at starting a conversation, but to her surprise Jongin simply gave her a slight nod. Nothing else. She definitely knew something was bothering him. She gathered up all her courage and was about to ask him when he spoke first. 

“Do you have something important to say? If not, I need to go,” he coldly stated, sending shivers up Mira’s back. She quickly shook her head, not wanting to keep Jongin from wherever he needed to go, but she was taken back at Jongin's sudden cold response.

She knew something was wrong and wanted to desperately ask him, but she mentally shook her head. She didn’t have any reasons to ask him that, it wasn’t as if they were in a close relationship. He was Jongin, he could figure it out himself.

“Good then.” He retorted while turning his back on her and then left. He didn’t look back once.

Suddenly, that bittersweet feeling which Mira had experienced was starting to come back. 

---

Mira found herself in the Head Master’s office awkwardly sitting on her seat. She didn’t even know why she was called into here in the first place. She unknowingly her lips when she saw Jongin walking in with Mr. Cho who was the Head Master of this Academy. She tried her best to avoid any eye contact with Jongin when he sat down next to her. 

Oh great, how am I supposed to concentrate now? She didn’t want to raise her hopes up by greeting Jongin when she clearly knew that she would get a cold response from him. She wasn’t upset or angry at Jongin for what had happened yesterday, but she still had that bittersweet feeling surrounding her.

“Let me congratulate the both of you for receiving the best score for your Social Studies project,” Mr. Cho stated without any sort of politeness in his voice. It was as if he was being forced into congratulating the two of them. 

Mr. Cho was never the nice Head Master that she had imagined when she first started her school day in this Academy. He was an old man-around his late 60s with his white hair showing, he wore glasses and had a skinny figure. She really couldn’t blame him as he was a busy man. He was the Head Master of the best school in Korea which meant he had so many things to worry about. However, this didn’t mean that he had to bring his grumpy aura to the school and treat his students really coldly.

Nevertheless, Mira slightly bowed, thanking him. 

“I have to apologise,” he heaved a sigh of stress.

Mira glanced up to finally meet eyes with Mr. Cho who had a frown on his face. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what he meant by that. 

What was he even apologising for?

Jongin on the other hand couldn’t care less. He just wanted to get this over and done with. Besides, he had much more important things to worry about-like planning what to contribute in one of his dad’s meetings. Jongin had been constantly busy these past few days and the pressure was getting onto him. He hated it, of course. He hated listening to unknown business people talk about boring things that he wasn’t even interested in, but he had to do it. He had to do this because he had already agreed with his dad. Plus, he didn’t want to disappoint his friends and not compete in the dance competition which they have all been practicing so hard for.

“I’m sorry to say this, but sadly your work cannot be published in the newspapers,” he finally announced. He was glad that he had gotten this over and done with.

Mira raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Why?” She asked as she wanted an explanation behind his decision.

“Haven’t you heard about the rebels of the lower class?” Mr. Cho asked in annoyance. He needed to attend another meeting after this and if this young girl didn’t stop asking him questions, he was definitely going to be late. “The News Headquarters do not want to publish your work as they think that this will add more fuel to the fire. We as the upper class have to stick together and defend the Government,” he stated his biased opinion. “Besides, I do not want to destroy this school’s image by causing trouble to every one of us in this Academy because it would look like we are supporting the rebels and in the end, I would have to be responsible for all this mess,” he finally explained, already getting a headache.

Mira couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Can adults be this stupid sometimes? The fact that her ‘Head Master’ was being a coward and that he wasn’t fighting or trying to get their work published pissed her off, but she couldn’t blame him, she was angry at the News Headquarters. The thing that made her angry was the fact that Mr. Cho had a very biased opinion about the world class.

“We as the upper class have to stick together and defend the Government.”

Was he for real? Of course, the rebels had the right to fight for what they believed in as the government wasn’t treating them fairly. This proved how coward and afraid the upper class people were, the fact that they had to defend the Government because they didn’t want to get into trouble. They simply did what they had been asked without even thinking so they could continue to live their lives in complete luxury.

“I prefer you not to use the term ‘we’ because I don’t think your statement really fits my description and my perspective of this issue,” Mira stated, surprising Mr. Cho.

He had expected this girl to simply just obey him without any more questions, but now she was arguing with him. 

Jongin wasn’t surprised by Mira’s response. He already knew of her strong belief and her passion on the world class, but right now she was wasting his time. He really didn’t want to be mean, but he simply didn’t have the time to listen to them bicker. Jongin had decided to stay distant from Mira because he thought of her as a distraction. He felt like a complete jerk. He knew it wasn’t right of him to suddenly give Mira the cold treatment. However, there was one more important reason he wanted to stay away from her. He was scared. He was suddenly nervous about how he felt toward her. He had realised a couple of weeks ago how his eyes never left Mira and that he wanted to take care of her. He was turning into a whole different person and it scared him.

“Kang Mira, I do not want to make it sound harsh, but this is not your choice. I have already apologised earlier about this. I do not want to bring any harm to his Academy and I do not want to deal with problems regarding this issue, this is final!” Mr. Cho’s voice ended up yelling at her.

Mira couldn’t believe this. Before she could continue to protest, Mr. Cho left his office to attend his meeting, leaving the two behind. Mira’s hands curled into fists. “I can’t believe this,” she hissed. She hadn’t straight forwardly talked to Jongin, but she thought she would get a response from him, however she didn’t. She turned to look at Jongin who had a blank look on his face. “Aren’t you angered by this?” She finally found her courage to finally meet his eyes and bravely talk to him. 

“I honestly don’t care, it’s just a stupid newspaper article anyway,” he answered much to her disappointment. Mira knew it was just words, but it hurt her so much. 

Was this really the Jongin who she knew? 

If not, she wanted the old Jongin back. 

She needed him.

“He is not going to publish our work, the one that we worked so hard for if you haven’t forgotten,” she angrily retorted.

Jongin shrugged his shoulder while he got up from his seat. “I don’t care anymore.”

“Why are you like this-“

Before she could even finish her sentence, Jongin was out the door. Mira was once again left by herself, absolutely feeling terribly hurt. Why was Jongin acting like a total jerk? Why was he acting so cold and harsh toward her? Yes, she knew that his behaviour was always inconsistent, but she thought they were friends now. She thought they understood each other. For crying out loud, he was the only person who she shared her feelings and thoughts with. He knew things about her that nobody else knew.

She heaved a sigh at the fact that Jongin didn’t want to share how he felt with her. She definitely knew that something was wrong. She knew that something was bothering Jongin. However, this angered her. He didn’t want to share how he felt, he didn’t want to tell her what trouble he was facing. Instead, he chose to ignore her. If he wanted their relationship to end on this cold note, then be it. She decided to not worry about it anymore. 

---

“Are you feeling ok?” Kyungsoo asked his best friend who groggily sipped his juice. 

Jongin had been looking tired these past few days and he was worried about him. All his friends knew the situation Jongin was in right now and they greatly appreciated what he was sacrificing for them. They all knew how much he hated attending those boring meetings, they all had experienced it and they didn’t enjoy it either. Jongin would always complain about how tired and annoyed he was because of all of this, but today he seemed down, like as in upset. He looked troubled about something else.

Before Kyungsoo could receive an answer from Jongin, Chanyeol spoke. “Oh look, isn’t that Mira? Should we call her over?”

“No!” Jongin quickly blurted. He couldn’t face Mira after the guilt he was feeling about how he had left her. He knew that he had hurt her by his harsh words and the worst thing was that he had done it deliberately.

“Looks like they had a couple fight.” Baekhyun jokingly sang, but Jongin didn’t smile. He couldn’t even glance her way to look at her. He felt so ashamed and guilty for what he had done.

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows in confusion. He hadn’t accepted to hear this response come from Jongin. They were talking about Mira for god sake. He knew how Jongin felt about her. Jongin, himself hadn’t realised it yet, but Kyungsoo could tell that Jongin had already developed some feelings for Mira. He had seen the way Jongin looked at her so lovingly whenever he talked to her, he was always smiling whenever she was around.

“Did something happen?” Kyungsoo asked as he placed his hand on Jongin’s shoulder, comforting him. 

Jongin finally looked at Kyungsoo with sadness dwelling in his eyes. "I hurt her."