A week had passed since the incident with Soyul. No one talked about it either since they knew how disappointed Choa was. The girls acted like nothing happened and tried extra hard to make things feel normal, even if they all knew it wasn’t working very well. All they had to do was go back a few months before Soyul even joined their group, but it wasn’t as easy as they thought.

It was now 10 minutes since the morning bell had rung but Choa was leisurely walking to class. When she finally walked in, everyone turned around to look at her. “Who’s surprised,” a student whispered.

“Late again! Choa, you better get your act together and start coming to class on time!” the teacher yelled, but Choa just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to walk to her desk. “Yah, Choa! Stay behind at the beginning of lunch and clean the board, and reflect on yourself while you’re at it!” the teacher yelled.

Choa had actually been showing up to class late for the past week. She stopped caring about being on time and went back to her careless self. “Whatever” she sighed.

Shinwoo turned his head to face hers. He was worried about her and wanted to comfort her but he didn’t know how. He knew Choa was hurting so he tried not to bother her and give her some time to herself, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. “I really wouldn’t expect her to be so effected by this…I guess she isn’t a hard rock after all…” he thought.

Choa coughed violently as she cleaned the chalk board “what the hell is this chalk made of, poison?” she cursed. “Aish” she groaned as she continued to clean the board.

Suddenly someone put their hand on her wrist, making her stop. “What the f- Oh, it’s you" Choa sighed, rolling her eyes at him.

“You’re that disappointed it’s me? But I’m practically your boyfriend” Shinwoo joked. Choa scoffed at his comment “Yeah, maybe in your dreams” she replied.

“Let me do the rest of this” he said, taking the towel from her hand.

“Go ahead” Choa said with a smile. Shinwoo let out a laugh “You’re not even going to pretend to stop me?” he said, surprised. “Why would I reject your offer to clean for me? It’s a no brainer” Choa said.

“I guess you’re right” Shinwoo sighed as he began to clean the rest of the blackboard. Once he was done he put the towel to the side and approached Choa who looked to be deep in thought. She was leaning against one of the desks with her head tilted to the side.

Shinwoo bent down to her level and stared at her without notice. “She’s really out of it” he whispered, only inches away from her face.

Choa's face immediately looked up and flinched in shock at how close he was “W-w-w-hat are you doing?” Choa stuttered.

“Did I scare you?” he giggled at her reaction. “Or were you just taken aback by how good looking I am?” Choa scoffed at his last comment. “Aish, guys here are not only conceited but also don’t know the concept of personal space. When will this nightmare end.”

“You think that’s only in this school?” he chuckled. “But Choa…are- are you okay?” Shinwoo got himself to ask. “It’s not like you to come late to class…everyday.”

Choa looked at him for a moment before answering his question. She knew exactly what he was talking about and didn’t know if she should avoid the topic like she was doing with everyone else. “How do you even know… word get’s around fast here, huh?” Choa sighed in annoyance.

“That’s true but…I was there…with Gongchan. Well most of the seniors witnessed it since it was in our hall…” Shinwoo alerted, scratching the back of his head.

“No wonder why people are looking at us weird…like more than usual” Choa said, letting out a dry laugh. “Honestly…I don’t want to talk about it because there’s nothing I can say since…I actually have no clue why she did that” Choa admitted.

“Sorry for bringing it up” Shinwoo said apologetically. “It’s fine” Choa reasurred.

“Ya Choa, are you done? We’ve been waiting for you for 30 minutes” Minsun said, suddenly walking through their class doors. “Ah it’s cause of him” Minsun said with a smile.
“I’m coming, bye Shinwoo…and thanks” Choa said before she followed her sister.

“Wait, Choa…” Shinwoo called as she was half way out the door “What is it?” she asked, turning around to face him.

“Meet me around the bike rack after school, okay?” he requested.

“Huh-, why-"

“See you then” he said, quickly running out the door so she couldn’t reject him.

“Ellin-ah~” a boy chimed and smiled brightly while Ellin on the other hand looked like she was about to vomit. “Quit it Jinyoung, before I kick you down a flight of stairs” she grated as he walked with her down the hall, all eyes focusing on them.

“Why are you being like that chingu?” he said, shooting her a fake grin. Her eyes furrowed at him in anger. She still couldn’t believe how pathetic he was being and it made her frustrated that he would actually go this far just to make himself look good.

“Jung Jinyoung, follow me!” she ordered, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the closest stairwell where no one could see or hear them.

“You’re still as forceful as you were back in high school”

“Shut up Jinyoung” Ellin spat. “Listen, you better cut this out, okay!” she yelled.

“Why are you so angry? This is all because of you and your meddling friends” he defended.

“The only reason my friends are meddling is because of you meddling into their lives!" Ellin shot back. "And why am I so angry? Are you kidding me Jinyoung? Are you that stupid?” she said in frustration. “I’m angry because it’s like you’re taking me as a joke. Not only me, but our past and that whole incident as a joke. If you have even an inch of care for me left in you, then stop this whole charade. Have some shame, will you?” she raged.

Jinyoung’s grin faded away and he now looked at her seriously. “I have more than an inch of care for you Ellin-ah” Jinyoung suddenly said, making Ellin’s heart stop for a moment. She was frozen as his gazed remained set on hers.

“You know why I can’t just leave your friends alone? It’s because the more I meddle with your friends the more you pay attention to me” he confessed.

“Sh-shut up Jinyoung, stop joking around!” Ellin yelled.

“I’m not joking around!” Jinyoung yelled back. “You think I’ve been doing all these things because I hate you? I’ve never stopped liking you!” he continued to yell.

“I’m- I’m leaving. I can’t take your bull anymore, Jinyoung” Ellin said, quickly turning around to run away. "No, you can't just leave" Jinyoung said, quickly grabbing onto her arm and pulling her back in front of him.

"Let me go Jinyoung!" Ellin yelled in anger. She couldn't stand to look at him any longer and just wanted to get some fresh air.

"I'm not finished talking!" he replied. "Well i'm finished listening" Ellin shot back. 

"Ellin-ah... I have so many things i want to tell you, you can't even imagine... do- do you think it's only been hard for you? I've struggled too! That day when-" 

"Shut up Jinyoung, just shut up!" Ellin interrupted. "I won't stand here listening to you play the victim. You're always playing the damn victim! Don't even act like what you've gone through is the same as what i have!" Ellin yelled through a shaky voice. she was trembling now.

Jinyoung finally let go of her arm "I...I know that... I just- can't we talk Ellin? Can't we try to be frien-"

"Enough of this, I'm going to pretend like this never happened. Bye Jinyoung" Ellin said, leaving before he could say anything else.

“What's wrong with those two” Gummi whispered to Minsun. They were both examining Ellin and Choa’s lifeless expressions. “I don’t know… Choa and Shinwoo seemed to be talking about Soyul when I went to go get her” Minsun whispered back to Gummi. “Ah…then Ellin?” Gummi asked curiously, “no clue” Minsun replied.

“Yah, Ellin-ah, what's up? Did something happen?” Gummi asked impatiently. “Huh? No…I’m just…stressed with course work” Ellin made up on the spot. “Course work? Since when were you ever stressed with course work?” Gummi asked suspiciously. “Since I decided to care about being 100^th place in high school” Ellin joked, making even Choa laugh.

“You usually forget about that when food is in front of you though” Minsun commented. “True, but today the food is gross so…” Ellin replied.

“I can’t wait until this year is over so we can get out of this damn school” Minsun sighed. “I know right, our low class school was so much more better than this. The teachers were better, the food was better, the boys were cuter” Gummi rambled.

“Hell is just beginning though, the whole process of getting into university is still awaiting us” Choa said, making all of the girls moan in disgust.

When the final bell rang, Choa was about to tell Shinwoo that she wasn’t going to meet him but, as always, he was one step ahead of her and dodged her rejection once again. He simply nodded at her as soon as the bell rang and left before she could say anything. “That little-” she muttered to herself.

Choa couldn’t bring herself to ditch Shinwoo so she decided to just go to the bike racks and then make up an excuse to leave there. She didn’t know why she felt the need to make up an excuse this time instead of just outright rejecting him. Without her knowing, she slowly began to care more and more about how her actions would affect him.

Choa was greeted with a smile when she finally arrived at the bike racks. She looked at him unimpressed and crossed her arms. “So what is it? Why did you want me to meet you here?” Choa asked impatiently.

Shinwoo continued to smile at her dead expression “So we can go on our first date” Shinwoo suddenly replied, putting his hand on top of hers.

“Eh? Date? Wh-”

“Let’s go” he said dragging her somewhere.

Happy new year everyone!