(Flashback)

"Dad?"

"Dara…I can feel that…I would not last any longer…"

"Dad, please, don't say that. Don't leave me."

"Be a strong girl. Never let your guard down, like what I did."

"Yes, dad"

"You know that it had always been just you and me. Never give your full trust to anybody."

"…"

"When you finish your studies, take over the whole company, but until then your uncle Jinu will be the temporary president. Never rely on someone, even to your uncle. It must always be your decision."

"I know dad. I would never fail you."

"Good. Make sure that, one day, you would be one of the most powerful persons of your time so that they would fear you and would never dare to deceive you. But you must always watch your back. You know that people will always try to drag you down."

"I will. Don't worry, dad, I would never let you down like them"

"Just remember, Dara, you can always be selfish for your own good"

(End of flashback)

'I can be selfish'. Dara brushed away the dead leaves covering her father's tomb. A single drop of tear escaped from her eye as that memory came back to her mind. But she remembered how her father hated seeing her crying so she wiped it away and regain her composure.

It's been a while since her last visit here because she was too busy in her studies and taking part of their business. See, Dara is what you can call, a genius. She is the youngest in her batch because she's an accelerated student. She also tops her classes in no sweat and still manages to have time to be involved in the businesses her father left. She began to take part of the big businesses they owned when she was just only 16 years old. But there is one problem. She does not have any friends. Or rather, she prefers to have no friends.

Her father had taught her how to be independent after her mother left them and never came back. It was one of the hardest times for her and her father but even so they considered 'their' family better than how they were when her mother was with them. And true enough, her father alone was able to take care of her, making her feel that she never needed her mother all along.

She thought that everything would be fine until someone called her one night, and told her that her father was sent to the hospital. One of her father's business partners stole the company's money. On the brink of bankruptcy, her father asked help from his friends, but they all turned their backs on him and pulled their shares on the company in fear of losing their own money as well. Her father became depressed but still worked hard to keep their business running. He eventually regain his position as one of the most successful business man in his country back but because of overworking, his body became sick and began failing. Dara learned about this. And because of that, she had feared to trust and, especially, love anybody except her own father.

"You can't even trust your own life, right father?" she said as she stared down at his name. It was his 6th death anniversary so she made sure to visit him first before going to school. He might have been strict but he was also a loving father. "I must go now. Goodbye, dad"

"Good morning Jiyong-ssi"

"Good morning" he greeted with a smile. The girl almost fainted when he acknowledge her in return.

"Yo, Ji! See you in the practice later!" his fellow varsity member in basketball said. Though Kwon Jiyong is in the school varsity team, he still has high grades, unlike the others who are only good at sports and not academics.

"Okay!"

He turned down the hall where his best friend is waiting for him. He opened his locker, full of love letters from his fan girls, and carefully took out his notebooks. While waiting for his best friend to finish, Seungri grabbed one letter with one hand while holding his project and begins reading it.

"Jiyong, I still can't understand how you got all of your fan girls…" he said as he tried reading another letter, but Jiyong snatched it from his hands and closed his locker. "Because, I am not you, Seungrat" he said.

"What are you trying to say? You know that I am better than you! It's just tha…" Seungri was not able to finish because someone bumped onto him that somehow made him off balance and almost drop the project he worked in all night.

"What the hell? Don't you know how to look where you're going?" He said to the girl who just ignored him and continued walking, obviously not interested. Seungri is yelling while checking if his project is still okay.

"Don't you know how to apologize, huh? Do you even listen to me? Are you deaf?" he continued.

Finally, she stopped walking away and turned to look at him. It angers him more to see her uncaring face. But, somehow, staring at her chocolate eyes gives him a chill inside, even Jiyong felt weird when he looked at her, as if she's reading them from the inside-out.

"Uh, next time watch where you're going" Seungri said a little bit calmer after he saw who he is talking with. But Dara just gave him a smirk, which irritates him even more, though it quickly vanished to be replaced by her stern face.

"I think, wait, I know that you're the one not paying attention to where you're going. So shut your mouth, and don't expect me to apologize to you."

"What? How did you even know that I'm at fault here?" Jiyong tried stopping him but he just won't let this pass, now that this girl is really getting on his nerves. "Why? Because you're observing me, huh?" he tried to , just to shake her off a bit. But he disappointed when she seems unfazed by his remark.

"I don't need to observe you to know that. Just hearing your loud mouth complaining is enough." She left, already feeling that she is wasting time in such a pointless argument. Seungri tried to argue once more but Jiyong stopped him even before he starts to call the attention of the other students.

Although Jiyong knows that the little rat is at fault for what happened, what she just said doesn't seem right for him. He wanted to tell her that but he knows it will only add fuel to the fire. So, though he didn't like her the minute she opened , he tried to remain calm and waited for them to finish.

"Yah! I now really, really, really hate that girl!"

"Who's she anyway?" Jiyong asked.

"Sandara Park. She's our classmate in some subjects"

"No wonder she looked familiar. Ah I remember, she is called the ace because she can always perfect the exams."

"Hmph and to think that I doubted the rumors about her"

"Rumors?"

"Yeah, that she is one of the most hated people in this school. They say she doesn't know how to socialize and usually looks highly of herself"

"Hmm"

(In class)

Jiyong sat down on the chair not too close to the teacher but enough to see the writings on the board. He jot down notes about important information for the subject but in truth, he was really bored. He didn't feel like listening today, so he scanned the room and look at his classmates, just to see if they are interested in the subject. Seunghyun is sleeping; Seungri is throwing some papers to Daesung which he returns also; Sohee is staring at him, yes staring, she is actually one of his obsessed fan girls; and the others are just listening.

He noticed Sandara, or Dara, was also in class. Her brown hair is tied to a bun and she was wearing eyeglasses. But even though she's the geeky-type, he still finds her attractive. Her skin is perfectly pale which matches her chocolate brown eyes, brown hair and rose-like lips. Jiyong tried shaking off his head when he realized that he was thinking of her.

The class was suddenly interrupted when a ringing was heard. They looked around to see where it was coming from and probably pray for the poor soul who forgot to turn off their phone. Their teacher, Ms.Gummy, is specifically strict to the no-cell phones-in-class rule.

"Who owns that?" she said, frustrated at once. Jiyong was quite surprised to see, Dara suddenly standing up and walking towards their teacher. "It's my phone, ma'am. Excuse me but may I answer it?"

Jiyong heard the people around him gasping and saying that she'll definitely get a punishment and that she deserves it. Maybe his classmates really hate her after all, he thought. But they were surprised to see their teacher allowed her and continued their discussion.

He watched her exit the room, she looks annoyed or angry. Though she was outside, they could hear her shouting and scolding someone.

(On the phone; Dara talking)

"What? You can't even handle a simple meeting? You know I don't accept stupidity in my work! I'll be there in a minute just make sure that the client would still be there or else I would never want to see you in that office again! You got that? Do everything to make him stay! I am warning you, you know that he is a very important person for the company! If he leaves you better start packing and make sure I won't catch you in that building."

(In the classroom)

"Gosh, did you hear that? She's really arrogant" Jiyong heard his classmates talking.

"Tsk, if I'd rather lose my job than to work with her"

Dara then entered the room again. She walked towards the teacher while pinching the bridge of her nose, probably stressed by the phone call.

"Ms.Gummy"

"Ms. Park, this would be the second time you're disturbing my class. What do you want?" their teacher raised her voice.

"There is an emergency in the company. And I am much needed there than here so I am asking your permission to leave." Some of her classmates gasps with her nerve to talk to their teacher just like that.

Gummy thought for a while whether she would allow her or not. But every second only added to Dara's frustration. They could be losing an important business for God's sake. "Please, this is important."

"Okay, but make sure that you will be perfect in the next exams or I would definitely fail you even though you performed well with your previous tests." She only nodded and quickly grabbed her things and left the room.

Their teacher could only sigh after that. She knows Dara's background as she was an acquaintance of her father, that's why she could understand what's happening to her right now.

"Anyway, back to the discussion." She continued teaching until there was only 5 minutes before the subject ends.

"You will be having a project by pair. And I want you to work on it properly. I'll be announcing your partners." And so she began telling their names. Jiyong anxiously waited for his name to be called. How he wishes he wouldn't be paired up with one of his fan girls.

"And lastly, Jiyong you'd be paired up with…Ms. Park." That would be the end, his death. Why oh why must he be paired with her? Why not Seungri even though he's sure that he would be doing the project while the rat is playing some video games? Why must he be paired with someone that seems to bite the heads-off a person if it commits any mistake? One thing he hates about a person is being a perfectionist, like his father though he is used to them already.

One by one the students began exiting the room after the bell rang. He can see some of them giving him pitiful looks Seungri even tapped his shoulders and said, "Good luck, man."

"Jiyong please inform Dara about the project." Gummy added. Great, just great. Not that he is scared of the girl, but he doesn't know how to approach her. He can't even picture them together doing their project. But he has no choice, he just have to make sure that he would be the one in command once they started doing the project. There's no way he would be bossed around by a girl.