THE PRESENT

*If Nerd Girl's my partner, this means there'll he more chances to annoy her!* he cheered in his mind. *Thank you God for this heaven-sent gift!*

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Minjung was pouting all the way through the lesson, thinking how bad her luck could be.

*If that Doraemon Diva is my partner, I cannot imagine how I'll suffer!* she wrinkled her nose.

She thought about Key returning her the money and she softened slightly. *He does have a conscience, but... I STILL DON'T WANT TO PARTNERED WITH HIM!*

Minjung thrashed wildly in her seat, forgetting she was still in class. "Yah Han Minjung Haksaeng what are you doing!" Mr Lee barked.

Minjung reddened. Key laughed to himself at the corner. He nudged Jonghyun who was by his side.

"Yah did you see that?" he smirked. "She was so disturbed to be partnered with me!"

Jonghyun scoffed. "Is that a good thing?"

Key rolled his eyes. "Duh yes! The thing I love most about her is her pissed off face."

Jonghyun snickered. "Oh? You love her?"

Key noticed what he said and he glared at the dinohead. "Don't you dare play with words with me Yeobo!" he hissed. "You know what I mean!"

Jonghyun smiled knowingly and pretended to pay attention to the lesson. "And I also know you're really falling for her!" he sang softly.



"Nerd Girl." Key smirked as he walked over to her desk. "Let's do our project today."

"Today?!" Minjung yelped.

"Yeah." Key nodded. *I can't wait to make her life miserable.* "Why? Do you have to work at the bookstore today?"

Minjung shook her head grudgingly. "No..." she admitted.

Key grinned brightly. "Then we'll do it today!" he declared. "Let's go to your house!"

Minjung frowned. "Why would you want to come to my house instead of yours? Your house has all the computer and stuffs, with lots of reference books and a nice environment. My house has nothing."

Key smirked. "I know." he said smugly. "That's why I want to go there and laugh at you."

Minjung narrowed her eyes at him. "Jerk."

Key smiled. *I'm really curious of what the place she calls home looks like.*

"I'll be going off to your house first." he announced. "I'll be going in my limo. You come meet me outside your house."

Minjung glared at Key's back. *Pffft. And I thought he was nice! He has a car and he didn't offer a ride!!*



Key got Minjung's address from the principal and passed it to the chauffeur. The chauffeur's eyes widened. "You sure this is the address sir?"

Key nodded. "Yeah."

The chauffeur remained silent. *But that place is poor.*

Key was so excited to see how Minjung's house looked like, but he didn't want to appear overly concerned.

He pouted. *I should be late and make her wait.*

"Go to the restaurant first. I want to have lunch." Key ordered. He smirked to himself. *The lunch will take half an hour. By the time I reach her house, she would have waited for 40 minutes!"



Key burped loudly and patted his stomach. "ARGH." he mumbled. "Too full. "

He glanced at his watch. *Hmmm seems like I ate a little too fast. It's been only a 25 minutes wait for her.*

He shrugged. "I shall be a gentleman and not make her wait that long."

"To that address." he ordered the chauffeur. He watched the scenery and it changed.

The busy centre of Seoul slowly changed into just short and run down houses that looked like they were going to fall apart.

He raised his brows. *Is this even in Seoul?*

They reached a long row of small houses and the car stopped. The houses were dark and gloomy, Key wouldn't want to take a second look at it.

He got off the car and looked around, expecting a furious Minjung to come pouncing at him for being late.

His brows creased when he realized she hasn't reached. "Pffft so she decided to make me wait instead."

He leant against the wall and waited. He made up his mind to throw the jacket he was wearing when he went home. He didn't want to keep a cloth that came into contact with such dirty walls.

Seconds ticked by. Seconds became minutes. Key's brows creased even more with every passing minute.

He frowned. "It's been more than an hour since end of school." he muttered. "Where is that Nerd Girl?"

His eyes widened. "Don't tell me!" he gasped. "She was kidnapped?!"

He straightened up immediately and was prepared to run into the limo and conduct an emergency search immediately when a familiar figure walked towards him tiredly.

He blinked. "Nerd Girl?"

Minjung looked at him. "Oh you're here already?" she asked. "You're earlier than I expected."

Key frowned. "What took you so long?" he whined. "I even had time for lunch before I came here! Was the bus that slow? Don't tell me you went for lunch too?"

Minjung's stomach growled in response. "Ugh." she reddened. "I haven't eaten. And I didn't take a bus. I walked."

Key's jaw dropped. "WALKED?" he shrieked. "Are you insane? It's so far from the school to here! I know you're concerned about Global Warming but there's no need to suffer like that!"

Minjung pouted. "I don't have extra money to spare for bus trips."

Key softened. "Then how about a bicycle? Don't you at least have a bike?"

Minjung rolled her eyes. "I don't have money for a bus trip, what makes you think I have enough to buy a bike?"

Key sighed. *I didn't think she'd be this hard up.*

"Then what about the money you earned from working at the bookstore?" he asked.

"I sent it to my aunt." Minjung shrugged. "I have to support her since she can't work since she's paralyzed."

Key looked at Minjung with new found respect. *This girl.. She's going through so much everyday, but no one can tell because the smile on her face never disappears.*

Minjung shrugged. "Let's go in for the project."

Key went in after her. *What kind of life are you living Han Minjung?*