Chapter 3

A Glimpse of Jongin

“Every tomorrow has a surprise in store.”

That statement was said by Reena’s boss at work. And oh boy he’s right. The other day, all she was thinking was to leave her Aunt’s house. And today she’s so caught up with a mystery!

Who is Kai?

That super handsome and hot Maitre d’hotel in Imperial Luxury Hotel, who is he really? Why is his voice the same with that student from Neon High Reena heard before?

Could they really be the same person? Or was she wrong? Did she mistake the voice to be similar when they aren’t?

Maitre d’hotel… what is it exactly?

According to Wikipedia,  Maitre d’hotel is a French word for Head waiter or host of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a maître d'hôtel generally include supervising the waiting staff, welcoming guests and assigning tables to them, taking reservations and ensuring that guests are satisfied.

Wow… Does that mean he oversees the Imperial’s restaurant operations?

But he looks so young! How can he already be the supervisor?

Or maybe she heard him wrong. The term was so alien to her ears that she had to research about it for hours experimenting on different spellings before finding which meaning matched what he said last night.

“I’m the Maitre d’hotel here. I manage people’s dining experience in this hotel.”

But really? He did look a few years older than her.  She’s 17. He’s probably 20 to 25. But to be a hotel restaurant supervisor…Can you really achieve that at such an age?

He must be really special.

“Another shinning person up that A list, huh?” thought Reena.

Tsk!

Reena shook her head. She has to stop thinking about that Kai guy. She’s never going to see him anymore anyway…. Unless he shows up in Neon High of course.

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Lu Han looked around the room, it seems everything is as usual at the Prime Section Lounge. It is the place that is exclusively created to hone the best talents of the school. It has first class facilities on education, sports and even on has the most luxurious interior design out of the entire Neon High.

The ‘It’ Girls are all together on one side of the room laughing about their girly stuff, the Princess in the middle, the Duchess on the side and several others. The boys are grouped around according to their interest, there’s a group of guys who plays basketball together and a group that plays football. And Oh, there’s also that one person on the far end of the room, the introvert nerd ‘Jongin’ who nobody actually pays attention to.

Everyone is doing same as usual on the Prime section of Neon’s Junior High. They’re the best of the best in their batch. In this section, nobody has ever experienced anything below an A- (A minus). Everyone is intelligent and most of them have interests where they excel.

Lu Han went in front.

“Everyone, Listen. There is an important announcement I need to give you.” Lu Han’s voice was loud and modulated for everyone to hear.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Lu Han took a deep breath. Since childhood, he has always taken the lead. His upbringing taught him to always step up and take the initiative. That is why it was not hard getting everyone’s trust in Neon High in just three months after he transferred. He is now the student council president and even the ‘Prime Class’ President.

“Everyone, The Board has given a memo for an upcoming sports day activity to be held a month from now.” Said Lu Han. “As such, we need some preparations.”

Krystal smirked.

“We never need preparations, Mr. White Knight.” Said Krystal

Everyone laughed.

In the Prime section, almost everyone has their nicknames according to Royalty ranks in old Kingdoms.

Lu Han chuckled.

“I know you’re always at your best, Princess.” Said Lu Han. “But as long as I’m class president, I won’t accept the tiniest risk of failure.”

“In this class, there is no risk of failure.” Said Seohyun, the Duchess.

“That is not how I see it.” Said Lu Han.

Everyone went silent.

“Don’t you trust us?” asked Bomi. “This class is the best of the best.”

Lu Han smirked.

“I trust you. But that doesn’t mean there’s absolutely no need to prepare.” Said Lu Han. “Do you want a bet with me?”

The class started to talk among themselves.

A bet?

What is he talking about?

“I’ll choose three games.” Said Luhan. “I’ll choose several girls and boys from this class to be my team mates, I will not choose the sports inclined people.  All the rest will be our opponent, if you win against my team, then we’ll just wait for the competitions next month. But if my team wins, we will have rigorous sports training every afternoon after class until the Sports Day arrives.”

The clamor became louder.

“How can we be sure you’d choose the ‘not so sporty ones’?” asked Tao.

“I’ll let you choose who you want my team mates to be.” Said Lu Han.

Tao laughed. Does Lu Han really think he can win against the class? There are champion sports players  in the class. How can Lu Han win against them?

The class chose around 4 women and 2 men to be Lu Han’s team.

“I think we should add another guy on your team.” Said Seohyun.

“Another guy?” asked Lu Han. “You’re being generous suddenly. Are you sure, Duchess?”

Seohyun smiled sweetly.

“Of course.”

“Who do you suggest?” asked Lu Han.

Seohyun turned to the back side of the room.

“Kim Jongin.” Said Seohyun. “He should also play for your team.”

Everyone went dead silent again. Krystal’s eye’s thinned. Everyone knows Kim Jongin is introvert and is a nerd. He never ever joins any activities outside the class room. Even during past sport days he just stay on the bench the whole day and would go missing in action. He’s just going to pull any team down in terms of sports.

 “All right.” said Lu Han “Kim Jongin will play on my team.”

There was not even a minute of thinking. Lu Han answered right away. Everyone in the class was shocked. Is Lu Han really that confident of himself that he still thinks his team would win with the likes of Kim Jongin as ?

“But of course you haven’t forgotten right? I am the one who will give the 3 games we’ll play.” Said Lu Han. “You chose my members so it’s just fair that I choose the games.”

“You have to tell us now what games those are.” Said Krystal.

“I won’t. I’ll tell you on the day my team competes with all of you.” Said Lu Han.

“That’s unfair. You already know the members of your team now!” said Seohyun.

Lu Han smirked.

“But I thought you don’t need to prepare. I thought you said there is no risk of failure.” Said Lu Han. “In that case, whatever the game is, you’re confident you’d win right?”

Seohyun bit her lip forcefully.

Tao nodded. So this is his point. Lu Han wanted to confuse the class and make them unsure of themselves.

 “Fine.” Said Krystal. “Let’s do your games.”

But the Princess is smart.

“But Krystal are you nuts? He’s planning something for sure.” Seohyun

“Are you… afraid of my plans? Will any of my plan make your team lose?” asked Lu Han. “I thought you said this class’ win is absolute?”

Krystal sighed.

“We’ll do your games. Your team against the entire class. If you win, then we’ll undergo training. If you lose, you’d stay quiet about that Sports Day and you’d quit being the Prime Class President.” Said Krystal.

Everyone’s eyes went to Lu Han. Will Lu Han really gamble with his position just for the Sport’s day training?

“Well?” asked Krystal

Everyone held their breaths.

Lu Han’s lips arched into a smile. And then his face became all serious.

“It’s a Deal.” Said Lu Han.

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Kim Jongin entered the rooftop house. It was only a few minute walk from the school. It was very convenient, exactly what he needs. Being as busy as him, having a place to stay near the school has become necessary.

After fixing his things, he prepared his bag. And then the bedroom door opened. His eyes widened.

It’s that girl from school.

His roommate.

She entered the room, her hair so disheveled like she just had a cat fight with someone. She went to the other bed and threw her bag to it. She then lay on the bed as if she just lost consciousness.

Jongin took a few moment to look at the girl. Is she really unconscious?

That’s when Jongin noticed the tear on the girls’ uniform. The tear runs from her stomach going to her side.

Careless. But nothing he would care about.

Jongin looked away.

And then the girl stood up like a zombie, took a box under the bed. She went out for a few minutes and when she returned, she was already wearing a shirt. She started sewing her uniform.

Tsk. No amount of sewing can hide what that blouse had gone through.

After sewing, the girl stood up and went out of the room. Is she also going out?

Jongin looked at the clock. 5:30PM.

Great, will they need to use the same elevator?

Indeed Jongin and the girl ended up using the same elevator. This time, the girl has tied her hair like a bun. Looking at the mirror inside the elevator, the girl had several wounds on her face. One just below her right eye and another on her lower lip.

Reena.

That’s her name from the bulletin board, Reena Choi. This girl might not know it, but almost everyone in school knows who Reena Choi is. She’s popular, but for the wrong reasons.

She’s known as the most bullied person in the batch. If there’s anyone you would pity the most, it would be Reena Choi.

But pity is not something Jongin has in his system. He has long forgotten what pity felt like.

Jongin walked out of the building, the girl just walking ahead of him.  It seems she is ignoring him. That suits the situation very well. He doesn’t have the slightest interest to talk to her also. If they can live separate lives, that’s better. And then the girl stopped by the bus stop and took a bus. Jongin continued walking to the train station.

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Kim Jongin walked the familiar streets. He walks this area every day. He knows it inside out. Suddenly a  football rolled in front of him. He stopped it with his foot and kicked it so that it rolls back to where it came from.

“Thanks!” said someone.

Jongin ignored it and continued walking like he used to.

That foot ball though reminded him of an earlier discussion in class.

Sports Day huh?

Last year, the other sections all feared the Prime Section. Every one of them already knew who’s going to be the champion. Even the Seniors were aware that their batch is going to overpower them.

It is easy to conclude that no training would be necessary, psychological warfare already wins half the battle. The other sections already knew they’d lose, so they really lose in the end.

What is this Lu Han up to?

Jongin suppressed a smirk.

Although it’s too troublesome to participate in that ‘Lu Han team against the Prime Section Battle’, it’s interesting how it will go and what this guy is really up to.

Besides, the Prime Section is already getting boring. Jongin had thoughts of lowering his grades so that he can go down to the second section or the third. Life there would be more interesting.  But being number one in academics in Neon High made him lose his flexibility. If he suddenly loses the number 1 spot, people would start to notice him and remember him.

People would be like ‘There’s a new number one? No longer that nerd guy? Where did that nerd guy go?’

And then they’d notice him. He can’t afford that. He likes his solitude. He likes his life this way. He wants his seamless walks as if nobody sees him. He likes it when he can observe everything from a distance and rest from all the social drama. He likes it that he can spend a good day at school not being subjected to the crazy world of teen life.

Because his life is not school.

His life is outside Neon High.

And right now, he’s about to go to his real life.

Jongin entered the ‘Voyage Café.’ He looked around and immediately saw his friend.

“Hyung.” Jongin waved his hand.

“Hey, Jongin.”

Jongin’s friend went to him.

“Yunho Hyung, I thought you’d still be in the US?” asked Jongin.

“I just got back this morning. After a few hours of sleep I went here to check on the Café operations. You’re early today.” Said Yunho.

Yunho is like a big brother to Jongin.

“Yeah, a few minutes early.” Said Jongin. “I’ll use your room again.”

“I told you, you don’t need to get my permission.” said Yunho. “You use it everyday anyway.”

“Just tell me when you’re going to charge me for rent.” Said Jongin.

“Not while this café is earning.” said Yunho.

Jongin chuckled. He then went on to the Personnel Only section. He went to Yunho’s office. There is a small room there that Jongin was allowed to use. It looked like a small bedroom. Jongin took his uniform off and then opened his large bag. He started his daily routine. He wore his formal attire. He combed his hair and started styling it. He then went to shave and wash his face.

He looked at the mirror, as usual, he needed to check if everything was in proper order. A maître de can’t look crooked in any way.

And then he put his name tag.

‘KAI’

Kai is the name he takes on as the maître de of Imperial Luxury Hotels. It’s like an Alias but at the same time, it’s a mask. It hides his real name, but it carries the real him. The him that very few in this world know about.

Kai then went back to the café.

“You look ready.” Said Yunho.

Kai smiled.

“You make me envious. I have never thought you’d be a maître de this young.” Said Yunho.

“You should visit me at work sometime, Hyung. I’d make sure it would be a fantastic dining experience.” Said Kai.

“Tsk tsk…You’re speaking like a real maître de.” Said Yunho. “I’ll go there sometime but you’d have to treat me.”

Kai chuckled.

“It’s a deal then.” Said Kai.