A/N: in the world, according to the internet, Korea's school system goes something like this: 6 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school and 3 years of high school. For this fic I’m going to call the ‘three years of high school’ year 4th, 5th and 6th year respectively. In the world according to snowflake16, that translates into: Sehun and Hana are 6th year students whereas Tao and Seryung are 5th year students. 

Also, warning: Mild proficiencies ahead.

 Okay, think that's all so let's get back to Everlasting Impressions!~

-

Seryung’s safety net had regenerated in less than a day. She was thankful for it and towards the person who was responsible for it. With Tao around the bullying had seemingly decreased, no one even dared to trip her after Tao had threatened the class. Seryung was glad to have Tao around, his presence made her feel comfortable and before she knew it, her mind was filled with thoughts about him, from the most mediocre thoughts to the thoughtful ones, Tao seemed to weave his way into her head.

Seryung’s daydreams led her concentration astray from the logic of science, the methodology of math, the linguistics of English and even the Korean language. Seryung’s thoughts were often interrupted by teachers raising their voices or by the sound of chalk cracking and the odd accidental, screeching that a nail made as it trailed the board. Even after minute distractions Seryung found her mind diverted from the musings of high school and when the first class concluded with the ringing of the bell, Seryung grimaced knowing she’d neither listened nor understood what had just been taught. The idea in itself perplexed her.

She’d never sat through a class without absorbing information like a sponge. Tao had managed to distract her all the way from three rows down and two columns in front. Seryung drummed her forehead with her fingers tips, ‘You like him… You like him a lot! Since when? Yah Oh Seryung, get a grip, how can you like someone so quickly? More importantly, why do you like someone who likes someone else? Are you mad? Did you not learn from other people’s mistakes? Why are you walking into a one-sided love? Stop thinking about him! Now!!!’

Seryung sighed, telling herself to stop thinking about Tao was different from actually not thinking of him, it was harder than it seemed and Seryung couldn’t help her head swerving for her eyes to see him and thinking what she’d done to deserve the company of someone like him. ‘What if he likes me? Would he…? Should I confess and find out? How to do that? I can’t just go up to him and tell him I like him! He’ll reject me on the spot…! No, I shouldn’t, not now, not ever! Tao likes Hana, I’m sure he likes her. In fact, they might even be together if not then, I guess everyone’s having a one-sided love.’

Seryung’s expression dropped when she saw the corners of Tao’s mouth point upwards, he was smiling at his phone and Seryung didn’t need a ghost to tell her who was behind Tao’s smile. Seryung leaned back in her seat pretending she hadn’t noticed while her stomach swallowed her heart and they both sank to the other side of the planet. Seryung clenched her teeth, he felt her eyes prickle and prayed it was an ambush of eyelashes or perhaps a twig, branch or even a tree. She smiled bitterly to herself as her thoughts became despondent like the leaves of autumn when the trees abandoned them, she took a deep breath and chose to stare out the window to clear her mind.

However, her mind was painting a new painting, this piece was designated to depict the abstruse feeling called ‘love,’ Seryung’s mind didn’t form triangles nor squares but rather a chain linked by single arrows that tried to reach out for warmth but met with cold air. She was unaware that her hand had automatically plucked her pen and was trying to lay the foundations of the chain onto her notebook; Seryung liked Tao and Tao liked Hana who liked Sehun who liked someone who’d passed away and that person, she’d never thought of Sehun in a romantic fashion.

Seryung held her head in her hands as the chain proved to be more complicated that she’d originally thought it to be. Through vague senses she heard her name be called, and her hand mechanically flew to flip the page of her preconceived notions. Her head robotically turned towards the direction of the teacher and she smirked for a nanosecond when she noticed that her functions worked without the use of her brain that was lost in the land of longing.

Mrs. Kim crossed her arms and her brows simultaneously. Oh Seryung would either stare into space or out the window, it was unlike her and it bothered the teacher when her students zoned out so obviously. The top student in 5^th year who was rumored to take her brother’s path yet had never opted to take part in interschool competitions rendering Mrs. Kim to believe that she was far from ‘following’ her brother’s path. Mrs. Kim frowned at the student's arrogance. It led her to stop paying attention in class, and taking the class ‘easy’ because she thought she was 'capable.'

“Please see me after class Ms. Oh also, I would like you to refrain from disturbing the class again otherwise you will not be allowed to sit the remainder of my lessons,” Mrs. Kim stated through gritted teeth.

Seryung heard whispering start around her after the teacher’s words, which she pretended to ignore, but snippets of words and phrases created a deduction of what they were talking about. Seryung had never thought she would ever pose a strong dislike to anything but her class was set out to prove her wrong. The wisps of conversation told her they were judging her, ‘arrogant,’ ‘self-absorbed,’ ‘haughty,’ ‘tactless,’ ‘smug,’ ‘selfish’ and ‘discourteous,’ were among the list of words that reached Seryung’s ears. Seryung lowered her gaze to the page of her book, words leaped from the book into her eyes and her mind began to read them but they didn’t make sense to her. She began to question her ‘real identity’ and wondered whether or not she was as the thread of words described, she began to doubt herself from there because she believed that her true self had always been hidden amongst acclaimed descriptions.

‘You’ve been hiding yourself and now everything is starting to unravel, Oh Seryung, the raw truth might come out one day once they find out who you really are… The only one who knows the real you would be oppa and Hana sort of knows you too…’ Seryung massaged her temples as a whirl of emotion struck her, the emotional storm was a mix of her feelings towards the people she felt closest to Sehun, Hana and Tao. Seryung sighed quietly, she didn’t have ill feelings towards Hana or Sehun, she was just mad at herself for being a useless as a friend and as a sister. Seryung had been keeping them close in her heart hence she had felt betrayed by their actions, therefore, she wanted to keep a distance, from everyone because once someone became close, it was easy to get hurt by them.

She rested her head against the table in defeat, she was aware that Hana and Sehun would naturally grow close without her help if they were really meant to be, purposely distancing herself from them would bring them together out of solidarity. She didn’t want to get hurt by them, she wasn’t willing to forgive her brother on the outside but she’d already forgiven him on the inside. ‘You’re weak, Oh Seryung, you can’t show your real self like the way other people can, you’ve been like this for ten years, since that day… How will you change something you’ve been molding for ten years? You can’t change now, you’re too used to being the way you are. Staying like this… Is it that bad? Change or no change, you’ll live either way.’

Tao had been obediently taking notes when Seryung had managed to piss off the teacher, it was always the same teacher who seemed to have a problem with Seryung, pointing out small faults that could have been easily overlooked, whether it was a sigh, a frown, a scratch of the head, hunching in her seat, it all seemed excusable to Tao. The teacher wasn’t the only one who had a problem with Oh Seryung, the class did too because every time the teacher glared a fire of whispering would erupt like a heat rash.

Tao rolled his shoulders in a backward motion, his sedentary position was stiffening his muscles. Tao didn’t understand how student’s managed to sit still for so long and therefore did not see fault in Oh Seryung’s fidgeting. ‘Korean people have no empathy at all. One minute they’re friends and the other they blow up on you.’ Tao cursed inwardly, he’d been keeping Seryung safe because she’d kept Hana safe and Tao wanted to return Hana’s favor. The rumors about Seryung told Tao that she liked to do plenty of questionable things in her free time, one rumor even suggested that Seryung had seduced a teacher, using her feminine charm for its advantage. Tao scoffed, ‘Pfft, what charm? That kid’s sorely lacking in the charm department!’ 

Tao was sure it was all a rumor because it was charmingly impossible for Seryung to seduce a teacher who would most likely be a married man. ‘Why would he risk his career for an under-aged, high schooler? His reputation would combust and over what? A girl with no relationship experience? Pfft, what a joke!’  This thought brought Tao to a new leaf, he wondered if Seryung actually had relationship experience, this idea was pressed as a possibility, ‘Then again, not everyone’s like Hana, Seryung is capable of having a relationship history.’  Tao dwelled on the idea, it was impossible for him to inquire about Seryung’s history with Hana or Sehun because they would jump to the assumption that Tao was interested in Seryung but he wasn’t. What Tao wanted to know was if there was a basis to the rumors he’d heard. He roamed his thoughts and arrived at a question: why was he curious about her all of a sudden? Tao tilted his head and continued to take notes like the standard student but once he was given a break from writing, he thought he had ill luck when he glanced towards Oh Seryung and managed to make eye contact.

Seryung blushed unknowingly and flustered as she tore her gaze from his. In her haste she managed to accidently knock down her pencil case, which had been sitting at the edge of her desk, Seryung shut her eyes and anticipated for the scattering of pens that spilled from her open case. It was no surprise that the teacher remained unimpressed by Seryung’s actions and was kicked out of class.

Tao was once again perturbed by how easily Seryung managed to antagonize the same teacher as the class started buzzing in amusement because now Seryung had to sit on her knees while holding her arms in the air, something she’d never had to do before.

The class wondered if anyone genuinely liked Oh Seryung as much as they pretended to, not even the teachers were on her side anymore now that Sehun wasn’t. Without Sehun by her side, Seryung was expected to know how it felt to fall down from grace. Each to their own thoughts, Seryung’s classmates were left to speculate, regardless of how they reached their answer everyone was clear that Hana would probably be treated as Seryung had once been because of Sehun’s attitude towards her. In all the years Seryung’s classmates had known Oh Sehun, he had never shown an interest in girls but Hana seemed to be okay with him, he’d even stood up for her against the students of the glass room, something he would never have even dreamt of doing for just another girl.

-

Unlike Seryung’s class who envisioned Kim Hana’s rise in social standing Sehun’s class had mixed reactions to ‘Sehana’ as they’d chosen to label them. The guy’s wondered what Hana was really like, they were curious to see how someone like Sehun could be whipped and decided she was probably a charmer. No one was opting to hit on Hana to find out because that would only lead to Sehun’s wrath and no one dared to cross him but that didn’t stop them from thinking that they should have hit on Hana sooner because they felt she was someone they’d missed out on.

The girl’s in the class thought Hana was crooked and they had clear-cut reasons for their bold thoughts, from an onlookers point of view it was clear that Hana had used Seryung to enhance her social standing. They found Hana repulsive for that very reason and also for playing innocent so she could wrap Sehun around her finger. From their point of view, Hana had been conniving enough to plan everything that had happened so far including becoming an outcast so she could move towards her goal of enticing Sehun. The girls found it fascinating that Hana had managed to create a great divide between siblings who were closer to each other than the molecules in H₂O. However, as fascinating as Hana was, they also found her scary and intolerable especially because there was there was nothing special about her, she had been a nobody just a few weeks ago and now her name was on everyone’s lips. They wanted to know what Hana’s supreme rein plan really was, what was she trying to achieve as a glory hunter? It was safe to say that the girls of Hana’s class didn’t like the idea of Sehun dating her. Sehun’s way of dating was merely pretending to date, where being his girlfriend was a title, there had never been any skinship involved and the girls who had the audacity to ask Sehun out were both envied and shunned. For his female classmates, Sehun was someone who was unattainable, no one had ever thought of seriously dating him because he would have never let them and because of that, he had been standing on the pedestal of untainted perfection. That same Sehun however had willingly stood by Hana’s side and was now working with her on a project merely because she had no partner. The whole school had sensed that Hana was different from the other girls Sehun had ‘entertained.’ The school would be entertained when they found out what the girls in Sehun’s class were  postulating at the moment, they suspected that Sehun had speciously returned to the classroom just to be Hana’s partner, what they didn’t know was ‘why’ or ‘how’ Hana had become so close to Sehun in such a short amount of time. One thing was clear, the girls in her class would not entertain Hana, she would be ostracized because she was dangerous to know and conniving in both words and actions.

-

Seryung shifted uncomfortably on her knees, she was positioned directly outside of her classroom being humiliated the way she was. She didn’t know why everything had collapsed so quickly for her, no one would be willing to side with her, she’d never had any friends but still hadn’t expected her classmates to take pleasure in her misery. She was taken aback by how readily people were happy to her unhappy, if someone else was in her position, Seryung knew things would be different, things weren’t as harsh for Hana as they were for Seryung, the levels of torment were of a different scale. Seryung shut her eyes feeling unwanted, her existence was one of many drifting existences, she doubted anyone would notice f she were to just disappear one day… Seryung’s eyes remained shut as she subjected herself to melancholy unaware that her eyelashes had become damp and oblivious to the tears that hit the floor.

-

A few days later, the black hat was drawing up his grand mater plan, he knew the in’s and out’s of the school and the school cameras only made his task easier. The cameras provided him with windows to every inch of the school. His lips curved upwards and his eyes flashed coldly at the tears shed by Oh Seryung. He wondered if his plan would succeed without intervention, Seryung looked quite miserable and he was just getting warmed up. If things went the way he wanted, he wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty, he just needed to push her further for her to do something drastic while her head was filled with lugubrious thoughts.

The omnipresent child placed his elbows onto his desk and pressed his fingertips together, leaning his forehead against his hands to think, the righteous president’s son was too deeply playing his role as a role model, using him would be rather futile and a waste of effort because he was too nice and had an annoying sense of justice. He placed his hands flat onto the table and smiled a crooked smile, he had thought about destroying them both and a side plan became to form in his dark mind. It was easy, he just needed to get rid of them, ‘Oh Seryung, Seo Kangjun…’ 

He listed the names as if speaking of his foul enemies. He left Sehun’s name out for now because Sehun’s plight was uninteresting for, Sehun was a side character in his deadly plot, but whether or not snarling serpent would have to remove him was up to Sehun’s actions and at this moment he was too absorbed in Hana to realize what was going on.

The callous male pulled his drawer open and set up a game he enjoyed playing, if Hana was miserable then Sehun would most likely stand by her so Hana provided the devil-child with the perfect distraction. A pair of cold eyes glanced at the tickets sitting on his table, there were four of them – first class tickets – and with the aid of those tickets Sehun would be pushed towards Hana. The faltered in thought because there was also a new thorn to take into consideration. The Chinese thorn was pointed from every side, he was someone who was already close to Hana but now he was building himself to be close with Seryung.

The baleful soul frowned, his plan would be foiled if Tao chose to protect Seryung and the schemer didn’t doubt Tao would rush to her aid because he’d done so already and more than once. What the  wanted was to separate Tao from Seryung, he tapped the bridge of his nose and stared at his scapegoat. He moved a chess piece that was expertly carved to look like Kim Hana.

 Hana’s position on the chessboard was left open to attack. Next, he moved both Sehun and Tao to provide defense. In their hasty moment they’d left Seryung vulnerable, making her an easy target and the verulent creature smiled. The piece he wanted to take out would be removed but he couldn’t attack the piece immediately because it would arouse suspicion, the torment of Seryung hand Hana had become reduced thanks to the interference of the President’s son but the vindictive knave would allow for it to rebound at snail pace so it wouldn’t be forgotten.

He’d personally given permission to the students to do as he wished on the small scale that was permitted but whether it was a snide comment, a push or foul play Sehun always came to Hana’s defense, always without fail even when it seemed like Hana may have initiated something Sehun would always defend her, it was perfect, Sehun and Hana were behaving as he wanted.

The villain had been keeping tabs to assess the situation himself too. Seo Kangjun’s minions were proving to come in handy. The nameless delinquent smirked, he’d have to thank them when his mission was over. The felon  didn’t want to jump into his plan too quickly. He was the most valuable piece on the chessboard. He was king and that meant the others had to follow orders or pay the price of defiance.

Sehun’s attention was consumed with Hana that much the sinister fellow knew because he’d heard first hand about how Sehun would swoop to her rescue. The outlaw rolled his eyes at what he deemed puppy love:

“Hana had been there when her classmates were talking bad about her. Sehun was there too, first he glared at them as a warning, most of them got the message but there’s always the odd idiot who doesn’t understand the meaning of silent warnings. I didn’t think Sehun would say anything, he doesn’t say much in general anyway but he told that person to ‘shut up’ and not get ‘caught’ talking next time because he wouldn’t be ‘so nice’ next time. It was scary, I’ve never seen him angry before, he’s usually a pretty sound guy.”

“We were only joking when we said we were going to ‘thrash’ her locker, actually Lee Min just wanted to see if she was able to open Hana’s locker but Sehun caught us. He looked pretty mad not red, raging mad but just Sehun-mad. He didn’t shout or anything nor did he try to hit anyone, he was calm about it but his voice was so low, I thought we’d freeze to death, there and then from his icy tone. I swear we weren’t going to mess with her things, it was just a joke!”

“I know Sehun likes Hana and all but seriously he can’t take a joke! Like I was just saying Hana’s a loose little b****, the whole school knows it too. Sehun overheard and got mad. Whatever! It’s true anyway. He just has to wake and listen to the music. I mean, how else would she manage to bewitch Sehun like that? I’ve dated Sehun before, I know his dating style and how he’s behaving with that little b**** is very different from his usual style. Can I be honest? She really pisses me off! I bet she’s sleeping with him and I’m willing to bet he’s not her first.”

“Hana’s been pissing me off these days, even her face is annoying. Our lockers are beside each other so yeah, I was just going to my locker and she was in my way. I just pushed her, nothing big, it wasn’t even a hard push, I just wanted her out of my way, you know? So I pushed her away and she’s such a clever witch, she fell! She did it on purpose, she knew Sehun was around and she totally fell on purpose! You can imagine what happened then, like Sehun wasn’t happy about it, which makes sense seeing as she’s his girlfriend and all. I don’t like her, she got me into trouble with one of the hottest guy’s in school!”

“Oh, hey! Wait, am I being recorded? This is kinda awkward… You saw that too? Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal though, Hana just made it look like it was. I was walking down the corridor and you know everyone’s still pretty used to picking on her. She was a wangta right, she must have broken the record for being wangta for the shortest amount of time. Anyway, like I said, I was walking and we just happened to bump into each other. She should really watch where she’s going! Stupid girl! I didn’t mean to knock her down, what is she? A feather? She just kinda looked at me with those puppy-dog eyes that cry on impulse and held her shoulder as if I drove a truck into her. I really don’t like her, she’s tainting Sehun with her imperfections. I hope he realizes that and fast!”

The student paused the voice recording. It was perfect! The student’s were beginning to dislike Hana and the devious male knew he would soon no longer have to send orders because they would take to bullying her themselves.

One would think since his plan was so perfect he would have no worries but the crook wasn’t happy because there was a grievance in the form of Huang Zitao from Qingdao, China. For every foul made against Oh Seryung, Huang Zitao saw his business to interfere. The menacing student wondered where the wannabe heroes were rising from, they were troublesome little creatures in his opinion. The eagle-eyed lad played the recording that his correspondent from 5^th year had sent.

“I did as you asked but I don’t think we can continue, it’s actually pretty hard because the new student, Tao, is scary. He keeps siding with Seryung and gets ticked off pretty quick. I don’t know if he’s holding grudges or what but he went all out when we were playing dodge ball. He once said that he’ll pay us back, I didn’t understand what he meant but after that dodge ball game… I think our class has lost the will to pick on Seryung, everyone’s scared of what Tao might do. He's like a ticking bomb.”

 ‘Huang Zitao,’ the fierce underlord smiled menacingly, he would allow for Seryung to grow close to Tao and when they created a bond they thought would be unbreakable, the demonic thinker would tear the unofficial couple apart. The crooked student ran a hand through his hair and caught sight of his image in the mirror, his eyes were clouded with malice while his smile remained nefarious. He turned his attention to the phone that was resting on the table, there were matters he needed to attend to, in the form of a personal phone call.

“Hello? It’s me. I spoke to you earlier….”

“Yes, yes, of course...!

 “It’s for a side project I’m doing actually, nothing too fancy. I just got thinking of our foreign residents and the idea came to me. I was hoping to take part in hosting the International Festival and I thought this might be a good idea to start from.

“My participation is still in talks, so although it’s a little embarrassing, I hope you can keep this private between us. My lack of knowledge towards our Asian family is really something I feel embarrassed about…

“Oh really? I think you’re thinking too highly of me!

“Thank you.”