"Okay class. That's all for today. I'll see you next week and please don't forget to submit your assignment. Park Hyun Jae, please see me in the teacher's lounge after this."

I was packing my stuff halfway when I heard the lecturer calling my name. After nodding my head, I saw him walking out of the classroom.

"Hey, why do you think our lecturer want to see you?" Sunny asked as she stood up from her table and swinged her backpack.

"I'm not sure. Maybe because I didn't do well in my previous assigment." I said as I sighed and stood up. "Will you be waiting for me or do you want to proceed to the sports hall first?"

"Since we both need to go for futsal practice, I'll just wait for you. Soo and Taeng are already on their way there since they're coming from the cafetaria." Sunny replied as both of us made our way to the teacher's lounge.

(10mins later at the teacher's lounge)

"Park Hyun Jae, do you know why I called you here?" My lecturer asked as he pushed back his glasses that had slipped on his nose.

"Frankly, I'm not sure, Mr Han." I said as I bowed slightly to him. I stood straight with my hands clasped together in the front.

"You're close with Sunny Lee right?" He asked as I nodded my head. "You should learn more from her. Do you know that your latest assignment is not up to my expectation? You're Park Soo Ri's daughter, right?"

"How did you know, Seonsaeng-nim?" I asked with a shocked expression.

"Your dad used to be my classmate and he was one of the top student in our class. I would have thought that you would be as good as him." I looked at my lecturer who had a very serious expression. His comments sounded sarcastic to me and it was upsetting to hear.

"But sir, I've been studying and doing my revision almost everyday with Sunny's help. We will usually end our study time at almost midnight." I replied, trying to convince him that I've been putting effort in my studies.

"Some students are purely gifted in business skills. Like Sunny. She's among the top 3 in my class. But for you, I think you need to work extra hard. Did you know that you're among one of the average students in my class. And did you know that your dad used to study until 2am to 3am?" He said as I just bite my lips to sustain my anger.

"Next year, our top business students will be send to Hokkaido University for an enrichment programme for 3 months, that will ultimately improve their overall grades and also allow them to gain new experience in business dealings. Your dad was one of the students who was selected during his year and I believe Sunny will be selected too. Don't you want to be selected also?" I nodded my head when he asked me.

"Another thing is that, I understand that it's not easy to squeeze a 4yr business degree course into 2yrs but you made that decision so I expect that you're prepared for the hardship. Even so, if there's no improvement in your grades soon, I would have no choice but to ask you to drop from this degree. Since you're only taking this as your 2nd degree, I would rather you concentrate fully on your interior designing classes which is your main degree."

By then, I was already feeling depressed instead of anger. Seeing how the lecturer kept comparing me with Sunny and even my dad, my morale went down. I knew that Sunny was one of the top students in the business class but I didn't expect to fall so behind. Worse still is the possibility that I might have to be dropped out. After the lecturer asked me to put in more effort in my upcoming assignments, I left the teacher's lounge almost in tears.

"Hey, Jae. Are you okay? What happened?"

I had forgotten that Sunny was waiting for me outside the teacher's lounge as I quickly wiped my whole face and smiled at her.

"Nothing happened. Mr Han just pointed out some of my mistakes in my previous assignment." I lied as I smiled weakly at her.

"Don't try to lie. Your eyes were watery earlier until you wiped it off. Tell me the truth, Jae." Sunny said as I looked at her.

"Let's go to the Ladies." I said as I was afraid that I might break down in front of the teacher's lounge. Once we were inside the toilet, I told Sunny about my conversation with Mr Han.

"I feel so demoralised right now. If Appa was to find out about my results, he will be totally disappointed in me. No matter how much I tried, I don't seem to improve as much as I expected. Just like what Mr Han said. My good friend and even my dad are the top students but I'm just an average student. He even said that I might have to be dropped out from class if there's no improvement in my grades. The only time I had to be drop out from something was in middle school when I was dropped out from the futsal team." I sighed and bite my lips as I felt my eyes became watery.

"Omo, Jae. Please don't cry." Sunny said as she suddenly engulfed me into a hug. "Ssshhh... Don't cry. You're tougher than what you think you are. You can do well in this, Jae. I'll help you out. I promise." Sunny patted my back as I calmed down.

Pulling myself apart from her, I gave her a smile. "Thanks, Sunny. I appreciate it a lot. I feel a bit better now. But do me a favour. Keep this from Sica. I don't want her to worry. She's already stressed up with her own assignments."

After Sunny agreed to it, both of us exited from the Ladies but we didn't notice a group of girls entering the Ladies after us, giggling and whispering among themselves.

*******************************

I had just changed into my training kit and was walking back to where the girls were gathered when someone gave me a headlock from the back.

I grabbed the person's arm that was around my neck, pulled it down before twisting it around. When I realised that it was Sooyoung who was grimacing in pain, I let her arm go. "Mwoya? Why did you scare me like that?"

"Aishhh... I wanted to surprise you but end up I was the one who was surprise. Anyway, you should see this." Sooyoung passed me her phone and I saw a photo that shocked me.

It was a photo of Sunny hugging me in the Ladies earlier but what shocked me was the headline that came with it. 'The new CC in campus.' It was posted in our university gossip bulletin column for the week.

"CC? What's that?" I asked as I stared at the photo again.

"It seems to stand for Cute-Couple. The story says that both of you always spend time studying together in the library until late hours. Always teasing and being cute together. The photo of you hugging her was said to be a romantice moment caught in discreet." Sooyoung said as both of us walked towards our waiting friends.

I saw Jessica was already there but her expression was something that I had expected. An expression of jealousy. The girls were starting to tease me with Sunny when I arrived as I placed my clothes into my duffel bag.

"Yah!! Stop teasing us. It's not funny. It might cause unnecessary misunderstandings." I said as the girls laughed except for Jessica. Even Sooyoung was laughing along with Sunny just shaking her head. "Yah, aren't you suppose to be angry with the news? Your girlfriend is being paired up with me." I asked Sooyoung.

"Why should I be angry when it's not true. I'm always with both of you when you guys are doing your revision at the library. These students must have not seen me around the two of you when I went off to the Ladies or the cafetaria. But it's kind of funny actually to read about the so-called hot news." Sooyoung laughed as the others joined in.

"You were always with them at the library?" Jessica suddenly asked causing everyone to look at her as Sooyoung nodded her head. "But this picture was taken at the Ladies, not the library. And why are the two of you hugging each other? Did something happen?"

"Yah, Jessica. Don't tell me you're jealous because of this news." Sunny said as I saw her glancing at me as I shook my head. "It's not what you think it is. Anyway, both of us are friends. Nothing wrong with hugging each other right?"

Just when Jessica was about to reply, I heard the whistle from Ms Lee to commence our futsal practice. I bend down to tighten my shoelaces and as I stood up, Jessica was standing in front of me with her arm crossed.

"You owe me an explanation." Jessica said with a serious expression before walking away to join Tiffany and Seohyun at the cheerleaders bench.

I sighed and jogged quickly to the rest of girls who were already starting their warm-up. Seeing that photo, made me remember the reason as to why Sunny gave me a hug. At that moment, I suddenly felt a bit demoralised again.

(30mins into training)

"Park Hyun Jae. Where is your focus? How many times do I have to tell you to do the drills properly?"

I apologised for the 3rd time to Ms Lee as I quickly laid down to do my sit ups. I've been messing up my drills by forgetting to do specific routines at certain timings and it's obvious that Ms Lee was not happy about it.

"If you're not willing to put your full concentration in your practices, don't bother coming and disrupt the whole practice." Ms Lee continued scolding as I finished my drills. "The rest of you, go for your 10mins break except for Jae."

I bowed to the rest of the girls as a sign of apology. I admitted that I was at fault for losing my focus as the girls smiled at me and said that it was okay. Taeyeon patted my back and told me to relax my mind. After the girls walked to the bench to rest, Ms Lee gave me 5 more sets of drills to do.

"If you messed this up again, I want you to pack your bags and leave the practice."

I swallowed my saliva and bite my lips. I forced myself to focus on the drills and managed to complete it without any problem. By then, the other girls were already getting ready for the practice match. As I joined up with the rest, Sunny came up to me and asked me if I was okay. I told her that I was fine but I knew she didn't believe me.

Luckily, I managed to focus for the rest of the practice and Ms Lee was quite happy with it. She did gave me a warning about my performance earlier. She said that even though my focus was much better during the practice match, my stamina level had dropped a lot. Ms Lee said that I have to take better care of my health since I looked lethargic lately. She reminded me about the upcoming competition in 2weeks time and said that my performance during practices would be crucial in the team selection.

Once again, I felt upset with myself as I walked towards the bench. Sitting down to undo my shoes, a shadow appeared in front of me as I looked up to face a serious looking Jessica.

********************************

"Sica, can we talk about this later? I'm kind of exhausted at the moment." I said sincerely as I watched Jessica's cold expression.

With whatever that had happened today, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I removed my training shoes and change into my slippers.

"And when do you think will that be when you're always busy? Tell me the last time that we actually spend time together." Jessica's voice was firm but I could feel the anger in her words.

"I'm sorry that I've been busy. But please understand me for this time. I'm really not in a good state at the moment." I answered as I stood up to face her. I felt guilty because her words were true.

"And you think I am? After seeing a photo of you hugging another girl in our university bulletin news. By now, everyone will think that both of you are a couple. What else are you hiding from me anyway?" Jessica jabbed her finger at my shoulders and stared at me.

By now, the rest of the girls were starting to panic as they stood up and were walking towards our direction.

"For god sake, Sica. That girl is Sunny. Our friend. And I'm not hiding anything from you. Soo is always with us." I said with a slightly raised voice. I felt Taeyeon's hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

"So when Soo is not around, you decided to hug her girlfriend in the Ladies." Jessica's words was filled with anger and sarcasm.

I was not the only one who was shocked with the accusation. Even Jessica herself was shocked with her own words as she covered quickly. Her eyes were already watery by then. Knowing her, she would cry when she's angry and I knew she will regret the words that she had said in anger but at that moment, I wasn't in the mood to be understanding.

"Is that how you see me in your eyes, Jessica Jung Sooyeon?" I can see Jessica's shocked eyes when I called her full name. "Just because I can't spend time with you, you think I'm flirting around behind your back? How many more times are you going to keep accusing me? I thought you said that you'll understand it when I told you that I'll be very busy this year since I need to juggle with 2 degree courses. I admit my mistake for not spending time with you like I promised but did you at least make the effort to spend time with me too? And what's this nonsense about hiding things from you? I think you're the one who's hiding things from me. You didn't even told me that you'll be modelling for your assignment and you're doing so with another guy." I said with a controlled voice as I glared at her.

Jessica was slightly taken aback but I think her mind was still messed up at the moment as she glared back at me with her teary eyes. "MWO??!! I didn't make the effort to spend time with you? You were the one who kept telling me that I don't have to accompany you for your revisions. Did you purposely let others took a photo of you hugging Sunny and got it posted on the bulletin news just because I didn't tell you about me modelling with another guy. Is this your revenge on me?" Jessica's tone of voice was a pitch higher than normal.

I could feel my temper rising as I looked up at the ceiling and screamed. The rest of the girls were stunned with my actions as I felt Taeyeon quickly pulling me into a backhug. I struggled against her so Taeyeon, who was smaller than me, had no choice but to let me go. I grabbed my duffel bag from the floor before turning to face Jessica again. Staring straight into her eyes, I took a deep breathe to calm myself down before saying the next sentences with a soft but disappointed tone. "I'm sorry if I've made you upset. This is why I didn't want to talk to you when you're blinded with anger and jealousy. Up till now, you still couldn't trust me at all."

I walked away from everyone who were still shocked with whatever that had happened. Walking to the school's carpark, I dumped my duffel bag to the passenger's seat and drove off.

********************************

"Yah!!! Jung Jessica. What was that all about?" Tiffany half-shouted at Jessica who were still frozen in her spot.

The other girls looked at each other, still stunned at the scene that they had just witnessed and completely lost as to what they were supposed to do next.

"Sica-yah, what's wrong? Why did you say those hurtful words to Jae?" Sunny said softly as she placed her arms on Jessica's shoulders.

"I... I..." Jessica couldn't complete her sentence as Jae's words kept replaying in her mind. "I got angry. Jealous."

"And became stupid, I presume." Yuri added on her remarks with a sarcastic tone. "Until when are you going to continue accusing her?" Yoona grabbed Yuri's waist in an effort to cool her off.

"I was always there with them during their revisions, Sica and I can guarantee you that it's not like what the news had stated." Sooyoung said as she sighed and took a seat at the bench.

"I don't think Jae will hide things from you. Whatever that she does, she will always inform you. How can you think of her like that?" Taeyeon burst out in anger with the way Jessica had treated her best friend. Tiffany quickly linked her arms with Taeyeon to prevent her from getting more angry too.

"I... I... didn't manage to inform her at all about the modelling thing. She's always busy with her studies. Both of us were busy." Jessica tried to give an excuse.

"You could have just leave her a message to inform her." Hyoyeon said with a poker face as Seohyun nudged her elbow to stop her from saying further.

Jessica looked at the rest of the girls as she realised that she had let her anger took control of her. With that realisation, Jessica started to cry as she covered her face and squatted down.

"Omo, Sica. Gwenchana?" Sunny said as she sat down and hugged the crying girl.

"I think she just realised what she had done." Yoona said as she sighed and leaned her head to Yuri's shoulder.

"By the way, don't you think that some of us should go and look for Jae too? I mean she's hurt and all alone. Some of us should go and check on her." Seohyun suggested as Yuri, Yoona and Taeyeon volunteered to look for Jae.

The 3 of them left the sports hall while the rest of the girls gathered around Jessica, waiting for her to calm down.

"I should have listen to Jae when she said that we should talk about it at a later time. It's obvious that she knew I was in a foul mood and would let my anger overcome me. Saying all those mean words to her, I...." Jessica started to sob again and was about to continue talking when Yuri's voice echoed through the hall.

"Jae's missing!!!"

Everyone was shocked since it's only been 10mins ago that Yuri, Yoona and Taeyeon had left the hall. They couldn't have reached the dorm and came back in such a short period of time. After Yuri ran in, Yoona and Taeyeon appeared behind her with Taeyeon panting hard. Tiffany asked Yuri to explain her words properly and it seemed that the 3 of them didn't even return to the dorm.

"We were walking past the school carpark when Yoona pointed out that Jae's car was not there. We looked around but couldn't find it anywhere. Me and Taeyeon had tried to call Jae's number but her phone had been switched off." Yuri said as Taeyeon and Yoona just nodded their heads.

Jessica frantically looked for her phone and tried to dial Jae's number but just liked what Yuri had said, her phone was switched off. Everyone was looking at each other before Sunny finally sighed and spoke.

"I knew it. Aishhh... I should have stopped her earlier when she walked out from the hall. Actually today, nothing seems to be going well for Jae. She had been reprimanded by our lecturer about her grades earlier and then she was also warned by Ms Lee about her futsal performance which had dropped." Sunny said as she retold everything that Jae had told her when they were in the Ladies. "Even though Jae didn't say it with her own mouth, I can see that she's struggling a lot in her studies. That was why I gave her a hug. Initially, she didn't want to tell me about her conversation with Mr Han but since I caught her with watery eyes, she had no choice but to tell me the truth. She told me to keep it a secret from you though." Sunny pointed at Jessica.

"Why doesn't she want me to know about it?" Jessica asked, feeling a bit upset that Jae is not being honest with her.

"I think Jae doesn't want you to worry about her. She told me that you are already stressed out with your assignments so she didn't want to add to your burden." Sunny replied as Jessica sighed.

"Jae is always like that, since young. She'll be the first one to help you out with anything but when it comes to herself, she would try her best to deal with it herself." Taeyeon said as she shook her head. "But there's something that I'm curious about. You said that Jae kept telling that you don't have to accompany her for her revisions, right. Have you ever asked her why she did so?"

Jessica bite her lips and shook her head.

"Yah, pabo. The few times that you actually accompanied her, you fell asleep at the library. Obviously, Jae doesn't feel comfortable seeing you sleeping in such an awkward position at the table in the library. Furthermore, you were getting busy with your assignments. She didn't want to burden you." Sooyoung said.

"You know what you and Jae need? Both of you need to sit down and have a long honest talk with each other. Especially you, Sica." Seohyun suddenly commented as she pointed to Jessica. "You still haven't told Jae about that matter, right?" Jessica shook her head, causing the rest to be more confused than they already were.

"Wait a minute. What matter are we talking about?" Tiffany asked but before Jessica could reply, Taeyeon intercepted her.

"Let me guess. It's about Uee, right? And maybe Ailee, I think?" Taeyeon said causing Jessica to be shocked since the only person who knew about it was Seohyun and she believed that Seohyun is not the kind of person that will tell others.

"How did you know?" Jessica asked while the others just listened attentively.

"Actually, Jae was the one who voiced out her concern. She said that there's something bothering you but you're not telling her. And Jae told me that she's got a feeling that it's got something to do with Uee since she noticed the changes in you after the talk that all of us had together about Uee. With Ailee, she told me on the morning of our first day of school reopens. I think she didn't sleep well the night before after we returned from fetching you girls from the mall." Taeyeon said as Jessica bite her lips as the guilt was beginning to seep into her.

"Has Jae been telling you a lot about our relationship to you or to any of you?" Jessica asked as she looked around.

"Actually, Jae usually talks to Taeng if there's something bothering her. Both of them are already like sisters. But I don't think Jae will always talk to Taeng though." Yuri said as everyone frowned as they couldn't really understand Yuri's sentence.

"What Yul means is that Jae will only talk to me if the problem is really bothering her and is of very important to her. But if there is things that to Jae is a minor problem, she won't tell anyone. For example, she talked to me about her concern with Sica feeling bothered about something but she didn't tell me anything about her struggles with her school work." Taeyeon explained.

"So to Jae, Sica is more important than her studies which is why she seek help from Taeng to hear her opinion." Sooyoung said as Taeyeon and Yuri nodded their heads.

Silence filled the atmosphere as everyone was caught up in their own thoughts. No one said a word as they tried to think of ways to help both Jessica and Jae. After about 5mins, Hyoyeon was the one who broke the silence.

"Does anyone have any idea to where Jae might be right now? Because in her condition at the moment, I don't think it's a good idea to drive at all."