CHAPTER 5
♚ even if i can hide my school report card ♚
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“What would you do if I said I liked you back?”

I groaned and buried my head in my arms, trying to get rid of the memory. I heard someone pull a seat beside me.

“How’d yesterday go?” Yooyoung asked. “Based by that gloomy air around you, I guess not so well?” I turned my head slightly to face her, but before I could get a word out, she gasped loudly. “You’re blushing! You never blush because of a guy! Oh my… You two-?!”

“It’s just really cold, Yooyoung,” I said, placing my pale hands to my red cheeks. It had been getting cold lately, but this morning was practically freezing!

“You brought my hopes up for nothing,” she said dryly. “Well, spill. What happened?”

Ren leaned in and whispered by my ear, “What would you do if I said I liked you back?” My eyes went wide. Before I could get a word in, he suddenly leaned back and gave me his better-than-you smirk. “See, Jinah? Lying about feelings isn’t good. What you’re feeling right now was how I felt when you confessed to me.”

My palms were sweaty, my heartbeat was erratic and my whole body felt weak. I highly doubt you felt all of that if you were able to counter with a fake confession afterwards!

… That and how could I consider it fake if my reaction felt so real?

He suddenly stood up and took a few steps back. “Anyway, I just stopped by to check up on you. I have a meeting with the other student council members.” He headed to the door and gave me a salute. “See you tomorrow, Jinah!” he said with a grin.

Finally composing myself, I quickly called out, “What about our bet?”

“Your act wasn’t cute.” He closed the door behind him.

“He’s a lot harsher than I thought he’d be,” Yooyoung said in bewilderment. “He seems like the most naive of the council, but for him to do something like that…” She whistled. “I’ve totally misjudged him. How did it feel?”

A scowl escaped my lips. “Horrible. I don’t know why, but I feel really bad.”

“Like, hurt-bad?”

“No. Like, I-want-to-punch-him-bad.”

Speaking of the devil, the door to the class opened and Ren came in. He greeted a few of his classmates, but then his eyes met mine. I quickly turned away and looked out the window. I heard Yooyoung laugh at my behavior. “I thought you wanted to punch him?”

“And have the entire school hate me? Not worth the trouble,” I muttered. Plus, it would be a crime to even dare put a mark on his face.

As I was sulking – wait, what? I was not sulking – I felt someone had appeared in the aisle between me and Yooyoung. Before I could see who it was though, the person grabbed a lock of my hair. I froze up before turning my head slowly to see him.

Ren hummed in approval. “Your hair is down today,” he merely said.

I pulled my head back to remove his grasp on my hair. “More warm when it’s down,” I said.

He smiled. “You look good.”

“I always look good. Don’t roll your eyes at me, Yooyoung.”

“You weren’t even looking at me!”

Ren chuckled at our antics. “Anyway, I came to tell you that your school service for next week will be put on hold. It’ll start again after Christmas break.”

I frowned. “Why? The sooner I get my four weeks down, the better.”

“It’s exam week. Don’t you plan on studying?”

I sighed and nodded. “Ah… yes, of course.” I did study, but the amount of time I spent studying for exams was pretty much the same with every other day of the school year. I had a very good study schedule. Cramming is something I have never done, nor plan to do in the near future. I had to do well. These exams were the reason why I wasn’t failing all my classes, and studying all this subject matter was the reason I even kept going to school.

“Did you hold up your end of the deal?”

I reached into my bag and pulled out some papers. “Yes, umma, I did my history and English homework.” And I even had to do math too, to keep up my other deal with Yooyoung. It was the first time I had ever done so many assignments.

Ren patted me on the head. “That’s a good girl.”

I swatted his hand away. “Stop looking down at me!”

“Sure, sure,” he said with a wave of his hand in dismissal as he went to his own seat.

“Stop grinning like an idiot, Yooyoung.”

“I didn’t yet – I was only about to!”

“Nuuna-!”

I didn’t bother to look away from the soup I was cooking. “Yes, there are carrots. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Dongjin muttered something under his breath before speaking clearly. “Even you don’t like carrots!”

“Someone has to think about the health of this family,” I replied curtly.

“… Did appa call?” he asked.

I stopped my stirring for a moment. Was this kid that sharp or was I that obvious? “He planned on waiting for you to come home from practice, but something came up. He’ll call back later.”

He nodded. “Ah, okay!” He was about to turn and leave, but then suddenly faced me again.

I turned to him with a raised brow as he stared at me.

“Nuuna, why’s your hair down?”

“… It’s cold.”

“Eh? But the heater’s at full blast!”

“That killed me… I died… I was murdered…!” Yooyoung said in a bad English accent, leaning forward on her desk, a very gloomy atmosphere around her. “Avenge me, Jinah!” she said, going back to Korean.

I stared blankly at her. “English wasn’t that hard. But… sure, I’ll help you avenge yourself in math.”

She suddenly appeared in front of me and was clasping onto my hands. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Ren really is a positive influence on you! Before, you’d only agree to teach me if I gave you something in return!”

My eyes widened. I noticed her frown at my reaction. “… That’s… weird. Why didn’t I think of a condition before offering my help?” This was entirely unlike me.

“Like I said, his niceness is rubbing off on you.”

“How? I mean, you… No, you’re not nice.” She slapped me playfully on the arm – which kind of hurt. “But Jason’s a real nice guy, he didn’t have much of an influence on me.”

Yooyoung grinned and gave me a knowing look. “Do I really have to tell you?”

“… No.”

“I will anyway!” Thank you for ignoring me. “I think you’re starting to like him a lot more than just a friend~! I mean, what girl doesn’t want to appear better in front of her crush, right?”

“He is not my crush.” While I did admire his looks a great deal, that didn’t necessarily mean I liked him in that manner. “And just being nice doesn’t make me ‘better’.”

“Uh, yes it does. You’re not as selfish and self-absorbed anymore… well, not as much.”

“That’s some insult you got there.”

“Of course! It’s why I hang out with you – I know you can take it.” She smiled at me. “It’s why you put up with me too, right?”

I laughed. “That is true.”

“The school’s Christmas party will be held on the twenty-third at 5pm!” our class president announced.

It was the a few days after exam week and winter break would begin tomorrow. They had given back our papers a few minutes ago. As usual, I got several perfect marks on them. But then our homeroom teacher handed a piece of paper that contained our term grades… this was perfectly normal. It was used to determine who had to take a make-up class and exam during the break. If you failed, that would be the time to redeem yourself.

I never failed. My exam scores, which were a good chunk of the grade, were always incredibly high. My class grade, where a good percentage of it consisted of tests and quizzes, should be passing since I also got high scores on those. The only thing I should score low on would be recitation, attitude and assignments – just a portion of our overall grade.

 “I… failed.”

All my grades were looking up at me – all starting with an eight. But there was that single, red number: 74.

“I failed…”

Before that dreaded number, was the word: Biology.

“… I failed.”

“You still alive there?” Yooyoung asked.

I turned to her with teary eyes.

She let out a sigh when she saw my expression. “Apparently, a lot of students failed the exam and their grades plummeted. So Mr. Seoh changed his grading system a bit. A good portion of your grade would be the assignments and projects… things that you have never done.”

“What? So to save the sorry hides of those who failed, I have to be the one to suffer?” I snapped back.

Yooyoung laughed, unaffected by my anger. “Not really. If you had just done your assignments, you would have passed. But it’s not necessarily a failure, Jinah. That’s what the remedial lessons and exam are for, right? If you pass those - which I'm sure you will - that red mark won't really be on your record,” she appeased in hopes of trying to calm me down.

I slammed the sheet of paper on my desk. The class was too nosy to hear it, but Yooyoung was able to see the furious expression on my face.

“I do not fail,” I hissed out, ignoring her statements. “Isn’t it unfair that just because several idiots failed, he changes the system?! That… Argh!” I clenched and unclenched my fists. My breaths were long and deep as I tried to contain myself. “Mr. Seoh really has it out for me! There are several ways to go about improving your scores. Even giving everyone a few additional points would substantially decrease the amount of failures. But no, he chose one that was specifically geared towards me…” I froze up and quickly glanced at Yooyoung. She raised an eyebrow at my pause. “During our last meeting, he had stated that the Jeju Islands was a good vacation spot this winter break. Mr. Seoh isn’t a man that does small talk, unless whatever it was is always on his mind. He was planning to go there this winter break. But if he were to teach supplemental lessons, then he wouldn’t be able to go. There are many ways to decrease the failing rate, but only very few that can remove it entirely. Doing something as drastic as changing his grading system is one of those few…”

I pushed up my glasses. “That lazy teacher just doesn’t want to teach make-up class, and I have to suffer because of his selfishness!”

Yooyoung whistled. “It’s been a while since you went on tangents on like that… but, I bet you’re right on that. They did say Mr. Seoh wouldn’t be the one teaching makeup classes this time around, since only a few students failed.”

I wanted to claw my hair out. “I thought I had successfully foiled his plans by failing, but he goes and finds a substitute? Why couldn’t he just have done that from the start?”

“Like I said, a lot of students failed that exam. He can’t just let a student teach that many of his fellow peers, can he?”

“… The one teaching biology makeup lessons is a student?”

“Yeah, it’s Aron. I hear he’s top one this term again too.”

I clicked my tongue. “Shame. I’ll just make that teacher’s life hell after break... How do you know all this anyway?”

“The class president explained it after our grades were handed out… You were too busy being a zombie muttering ‘I failed’ several times to hear anything.”

I hugged my coat tighter as I walked down the corridor. It was a considerably cold morning, and there being so little people around just made it seem even colder. I opened the door to the classroom and was met with a gust of warm air. I sighed in pleasure as I took a step in.

There was no one.

I took a step back to look up at the classroom’s number: 302. I was in the right room. Maybe everyone was late? I took a seat at the second row, nearest the window, and waited. It was only after five minutes and twenty-three seconds did the door open again. My gaze lingered on him. We were allowed to wear casual clothes during these classes, so seeing the student council treasurer in something besides his uniform was a bit interesting. Clothes said a lot more than the manner of wearing the school uniform. Aron’s cheeks were also flushed red from the cold. He spotted me and grinned. “Good morning! Park Jinah, correct?” he greeted as he walked over to me.

I nodded back in greeting. “Good morning and yes, that’s me.”

He appeared in front of me and held out his hand. “The name’s Kwan Aaron, everyone calls me Aron though – they seem to not like the extra A. I don’t think we’ve ever met, so it’s nice to meet you!” I stared at his hand for a moment before shaking it.

“Nice meeting you too…” He seemed to be a very polite and nice guy. Among the student council members I’ve talked with, none of them had ever bothered to introduce themselves, since they expected that everyone knew who they were. It was true of course, but seeing this guy be humble and tell me his name was a very nice start. But then I frowned when he suddenly took a chair and placed it across my desk. Upon realizing why he did that, I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. “I was the only one that failed,” I stated more than asked.

Aron laughed and nodded. “It seems Mr. Seoh’s plan to pass everyone failed when it came to you… He’s the one that also gave you detention, right? He must really have it out for you.”

“Yeah, I swear the guy has a total crush on me. I’m surprised he didn’t want to teach me one-on-one himself. He’s passing up such a good opportunity to trigger a flag.”

 He laughed again… This guy laughs a lot – not that I’m complaining of course. The student council was well known for their handsome members, and their treasurer was not an exemption. “Yeah, a complete waste of an opportunity to charm one of his students.” Aron scratched the back of his neck and gave me a small smile. “Shame he chose Jeju Islands instead.”

My eyes widened slightly. “Did he specifically say that to your class?” Aron was classmates with Jason in section B, but Jason had said nothing to confirm my observation when I told him about my failure and disdain towards Mr. Seoh.

“Hm? No. It’s just that the guy rarely talks about anything outside of class, but he actually brought it up once.” Aron leaned back on his chair and grinned at me. “I’m sure you noticed.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “I did.”

He only said one example, but it was obvious that the guy was a lot clever than he let on. I wasn’t used to meeting people as good as me… but it was still a lot better to meet someone with the same thought process than someone who negated mine completely, like his blonde friend.

... Ren isn't even here, so how do my thoughts end up going back to him in the end?!

“… then telophase and viola, you got a daughter cell – all very easy and nice,” I said with a sigh. “Can we just skip all this and go straight to the exam? I’ll definitely pass that. Or maybe I could just come on exam day? I’m sure you’d want the few days free as well.” These lessons were three days, all ending a few hours after lunch. The makeup exam was held on the fourth day.

“Sorry, Jinah, but these lessons are required or you won’t be allowed to take the exam,” he explained, already flipping through the textbook for the next topic. “Even if I didn’t have these lessons, I have to come to school anyway to help out with the Christmas party preparations. Hanging out with a pretty girl is way better than stressing over that event with a bunch of guys! I get paid too,” he said with a grin.

I blinked. Just until two months ago, the only guy that had ever called me pretty – besides my brother and father – was Jason. Then Ren, and now Aron too? These student council people sure knew how to flatter. I didn’t respond, instead I looked back at our notes and books. I looked at his textbook briefly to know our next topic, then went to my notebook to follow with him.

“… You have a table of contents in your notebook,” he stated in amusement when I went to it and then to the topic page.

I frowned at his tone. “Something wrong with that?”

“Do you have an index too?”

“Yes. Again, why would it bother you?”

“You were also the one that arranged the financial reports in the record room, right?”

I gave him a blank stare, irritated that he was answering my question with more questions. “Obviously.” I had arranged it by date, as ordered, but added a little more to it. I even bought envelopes and sticker labels to make things more organized – I wouldn’t be satisfied with just putting everything in order.

“Wow, Jinah. You’re amazing!” he said in disbelief. “That record room is probably the most organized place in the entire school!”

I faltered. No one had ever called my excessive organization skills amazing. They always said it was too much and extremely unreasonable. “… I am?”

“Yes, extraordinary!”

I coughed to regain my composure, trying to look like I received that compliment all the time. “Yes, I know I am. Let’s go back to studying now.”

“He talks about sales at the supermarket commonly, so single. As well as the fact that the state of his clothes and grooming alone show that he isn’t exactly a house husband but rather unmarried, too unkempt and even his clothes are never ironed.  He’s widowed, not divorced, by the picture of his wife and child on his desk in the faculty room. From the photograph, his only child is probably in college now.”

“Child?” he asked.

I nodded, unsure why he questioned that. “Child.”

“Children,” Aron corrected. “If you saw that small picture, I’m sure you saw a child’s drawing next to it. While it does look like the same family portrait, it isn’t. The taller woman in it was the older daughter in the picture, and the small girl was the younger child. If it was indeed drawn by the older child, it’d have the same condition as the picture. A bit tattered around the edges and obviously years old, and even in worse condition since it’s just regular paper rather than a photo one. But it’s in even better state than the picture, meaning it was more recent. That and if you really do look at him in the morning, isn’t he more considerably tired than a man with an adult daughter?”

I crossed my arms and leaned back on my chair. “… I dislike you a great deal now.”

He grinned playfully. “Oh, come on! Everyone likes me! That and you’re winning! It’s you with three points and I only managed to get one.”

“But you aren’t one to really… do stuff like this, right?”

How can a noob even score a point on me?

“Well, yes. I do pay attention to detail, it just never really occurred to me to piece them all together like you do. But don’t you think it’s a bit… judgmental to base everyone on what you observe rather than actually getting to know them?”

“It is. That’s why a lot of people don’t like me. I judge them long before they even open their mouths.” I said as if it was completely normal, which it sort of was in my case. “They can surprise me, but it’s rather rare.”

Actually, it’s only happened once really. I quickly tried to keep my mind from going back to the student council secretary. Why do I keep thinking about him?

It was a few minutes before lunch break and we finished early in our studies. Aron had a schedule for the AM and PM of the three days and he didn’t want to advance just because our pace was faster than he had anticipated. He had started to small talk and one way or another, our topic had fallen on my encounter with Minhyun a few months ago. With that, our little game began.

“So, when I walked into the room this morning, did you judge me?” he suddenly asked.

I shook my head. “Not really. I had long since appraised you and your friends back in first year when you ran for the council.”

Aron suddenly laughed. “When you say my friends, that automatically applies to people only in the council?”

“Well, obviously. You five don’t hang out with other people. You’re all friendly with everyone, but no one really gets special treatment… well except for delinquents, but that’s a whole other thing.”

That grin of his turned mischievous. “Ren seems to like hanging around you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, a bit suspicious at his tone. That was how Yooyoung talked when it came to Ren. “I suppose hanging around after school for a whole month does that.”

I noted the sudden surprise in his eyes. “You only talked to each other during that month? Aren’t you two classmates?”

“Yes, but there was never a need to actually speak to him. I sit near the front and he’s all the way at the back. We’re never in groups together and I don’t go out to class gatherings.”

I could tell he wanted to comment on my anti-social behavior, but he chose to continue his line of questioning. “You never spoke to each other even back in first year?”

“We weren’t classmates in first year… I remember speaking to him once outside of classes, but it was only a sentence. I did vote for him during elections though, if that counts for something.” He looked at a loss for words. I raised an eyebrow at that. “Did you think we were friends even before my detention?”

“Well, yes. He’s had detention duty before, but you’re the first he’s really… been interested in.”

“I am an interesting person.”

“I like that confidence!” he said with a laugh.

I smiled. “Not a lot of people do.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Oh come on, please! Having lunch together would be a lot of fun!” Aron said, running ahead of me and turning to me with a pout.

He was cute, but his aegyo wasn’t as strong as Ren’s. I could resist!

“No.” I walked passed him and headed towards the cafeteria.

He fell in step with me. He was certainly getting annoying! “All the members will be there! You have to join us!” he said.

I glared at him. “I don’t see why I have too. And I’m not close with you guys.”

“But Ren will be there!” he said, as if that would magically make me come.

I quickened my pace, but he followed suite. “… I don’t see why you had to mention him specifically,” I muttered.

He smirked. I wanted to wipe it off his face. “Really? I’m sure you know exactly why.”

I ignored him. We arrived at the cafeteria. More than half of the stalls were closed due to it being winter break and only a handful of students were around. Before I could take another step, Aron appeared in front of me again. “I’ll dismiss our class an hour earlier,” he negotiated. “Plus you get to see Ren in casual clothes.”

I glared at him again. “I’m only agreeing to eat with you and your friends because of your first statement.”

“Of course! Why would I think otherwise?” His tone said he clearly thought otherwise.

“I really don’t like you.”

“But I’m so loveable!”

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END CHAPTER 5
♚ i can't hide my heart from you ♚

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PREVIEW

Chapter 6

These student council people weren’t that bad.

“Have you gotten prettier since the last time we met?” Minhyun asked.
“… Is that an indirect way of saying I was uglier before?”

“You two are friends?”
“Yes,” Baekho answered.
“No,” I said at the same time.

… Was I getting scolded?
I forced out a smile. JR gave an equally fake one back. 

… On second thought, these student council people were all absurd.

A/N: The quote at the beginning and end of the chapter is from "Introduce me to your Nuuna" by Nu'est~

I know there wasn't a lot of Ren here, but I had to introduce Aron properly. He'll end up being the only Nu'est member that Jinah actually talks to about Ren. You gotta have friends on the other side too, right? I also felt like Jinah's character was lacking in the last few chapters, so I emphasized her usual know-it-all self in here.

... Just a little something, but I found this while searching for Ren and Aron pics:

I LOVE THAT FACE! Haha~!
Don't forget to comment and subsribe~