The day finally came that my lungs felt like they had burst and died. Funnily enough, even as a devoted member of the swimming club, I had never felt that sensation. Not even when I had tried out a famous ‘No Breathing’ technique that certain swimming athletes adapted in swimming tournaments, in which most of them won countless gold medals when utilizing that dangerous and risky technique. No, that lung-bursting moment did not come to me when I was endangering my life in the pool. It had to come on any other seemingly regular day of school.

As per usual, I had woken up late and had to rush myself to make it to school this morning. Miraculously, I was just in time before the disciplinarian ordered the guards to close the school gates. It was one of those rare of luck that came to me, and I thought that it was a sign for a good day ahead. However, as I walked to class, I could not help but overhear some new gossip amongst the other kids that circulated like wildfire.

“Didn’t you see? They were actually holding hands when they went to class!”

“No way! I only heard the part where he confessed to her earlier this morning!”

“Wow! And to think that he was the one who usually gets the girls to confess to him…”

“She would be crazy to not accept him! He’s a God trapped in the body of a teenager with brains like Einstein!”

“But don’t you think she kinda suits him too? She’s not one of those popular queen bee types, and she’s cool with everyone!”

“That’s what makes me so jealous! Omo, does this mean we have a powerhouse couple in our year?”

“Kyaa~! This is only when one of the Hot Seven Gods starts dating! I’m sad because he’s taken, but happy because him and her seem to look good together!”

Although it was a relief to have these gossipers’ attention away from me at the moment (when before, they would go squealing and wailing so hard that I had to wear ear plugs to drown the noise) I could not help but get my own curiosity peaked by what I just heard.

If I’m not mistaken, usually ‘Hot Seven Gods’ referred to my friends and me. So that means…?

Before my mind could even answer my own mental question, I had already stepped into class. I noticed that the kids in my class were strangely quiet – speaking in hushes and whispers – so I looked out for the cause for their sudden behavior. When I found it, it was then I felt my lungs exploding to pieces.

Kim Sun was writing something down in her notebook, and Jong Hyun – the one and only Hong Jong Hyun – had his seat turned around as he faced her, muttering away and appearing to be helping her with something. The scene would have been normal for a couple of friends if not for the familiar way their free hands were connected. Their fingers would naturally lace together, and then break off and only to be connected by their fingertips. Then, they would be entwined again. Perhaps they seemed to be ignoring the blatant gossiping and catcalls from our other classmates, but then I noticed their pink cheeks. They were blushing. And when one particularly loud teasing from the Class Monitor sounded out, (“Yah! Did you two kiss already?”)  Jong Hyun and Sun-ah looked at each other for a while before looking away. Their evidently crimson faces called on more teases and coos from the class.

“Tell me I’m dreaming,” I mumbled, unable to take another step forward. Tell me that this is all a bad dream.

I felt someone clap on my back. “Nope, this is not a dream.”

I looked to my left to see one of my best friends. “Young Kwang-ah…”

He sent me a tight smile before joining me in staring at the new couple in class. He sighed. “I know. They shocked me too.”

I cursed under my breath. “I was just talking with her last night and now this…?”

I heard someone else grumble, and I found Woo Bin holding up a humongous Tupperware container in one hand. “That jerk Jong Hyun even called me up last night and requested a ‘fresh and elaborate sushi lunch set’. Didn’t think it had something to do with a girl, though.” Woo Bin also shot lasers from his eyes as he kept the huge Tupperware container back into the small lockers at the back of the classroom.

Young Kwang sighed as he made his way to his seat. “It’s not just any girl that he picked, though…”

I had to agree. He had to pick the one girl that all seven of us adored. He had to pick the one girl that made me feel like I was constantly on a rollercoaster of emotions. To make it worse, it seemed that Sun-ah was reciprocating.

“Tch.” Well, me.

From that point on, the whole day felt even more exhausting. As much as I tried to concentrate on whatever the teachers were saying, my mind always drifted off and I would catch myself staring at Kim Sun. Or rather, watching the interaction between Kim Sun and Hong Jong Hyun.

During the first period, the two were blatantly passing notes to each other and from the wide-spread smile on Sun-ah’s face, I was dying to know what the hell was the inside joke between those two. For the second period, our English teacher told us to pair off and both of them immediately set off to stick to each other like glue. Although they wowed the class when they had to read an English poetry aloud – in which, they had read with no hint of Konglish accent, those English geniuses! – it ticked me off to actually witness them playfully nudge each other by the shoulder from time to time. By third period, in which we had to watch an old war movie for our History class, Sun-ah actually pushed her desk closer to front and Jong Hyun leaned his chair to the back a bit. Throughout the whole period, they were whispering some kind of commentary about the movie as they sat close to each other. The worst was the fourth period, where the Korean Language teacher was just droning on and on as he read off the textbook. Not only did Sun-ah and Jong Hyun not move from their previous seating arrangements that they had made, they were also annoyingly being lovey-dovey with each other. Gazing into each other’s eyes and just playfully tucking locks of hair or tapping each other on the cheek. They did all the small things that couples do. It made me want to puke at the teacher’s face. It made me feel like going on a rampage and tear those two away from each other. When it was lunchtime, I wanted to murder someone.

I grumbled as I lay my head on the desk and looked away from the cause of my sore eyes. “ me. me. me.”

I heard Sung Joon loudly saying, “Are you two gonna join us for lunch at the cafeteria or what?” Anyone who heard him could sense the irritation in his voice. I tried to humour myself as I imagined his iconic pissed-off face.

I heard someone swiftly getting up from his chair and walking away. Before I could even guess who it was, I heard Jong Suk say, “Eh? Soo Hyuk’s not having lunch with us?”

“Dammit,” Sun-ah was muttering, “I was hoping to have all of you here.”

That definitely peaked my interest. I turned to her and arched my eyebrow as arrogantly as I could manage, “Whatever the hell for?”

She looked taken aback for a while, but her expressions quickly recovered. She arched an eyebrow too. “So I can–”

Jong Hyun cleared his throat loudly.

Sun-ah, not missing a beat, quickly fixed her words. “I mean, so that we can explain everything.” She tugged on Jong Hyun sleeve, urging him to continue.

“Right.” He then looked at the five of us in the face. “We didn’t really mean to surprise you all with the sudden news–”

I drawled. “No, it’s nice to know how you think of us as your so-called best friends. Thanks a bunch.”

Jong Hyun blinked as his shoulders drooped a little. Sun-ah’s tight smile turned to a downright pout as guilt flashed through her face.

“C’mon, man,” Young Kwang nudged me in the arm, sending me scolding signals through his eyes.

I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms. “Tch, fine. Fine! Go ahead.”

“Don’t be mean!” Jong Suk pinched me in the sides – ouch there! – and he encouragingly said to the duo, “You two were saying that you didn’t mean to surprise us…?”

Sensing that Sun-ah was flooding her thoughts with guilt, Jong Hyun spoke up. “Yeah… We didn’t mean to shock you guys, because in truth… this is all on me.”

…

Wait, what?

Sung Joon mumbled, “The hell do you mean?”

Jong Hyun then let out a long sigh. He made us all sit down first and even requested Woo Bin to bring out the sushi lunch set the latter had been asked to make so we could munch on something while we talked. Instead of moving our tables closer to Sun-ah’s table, we moved our chairs closer in a sort of circle around the duo.

Jong Hyun started to explain. “This couple thing is actually a request that I made, and I was thankful enough that Sun-ah is actually helping me with this. I asked her about it earlier this morning, and after some brief and thorough explanation, she agreed to be my partner for this plan.”

“What plan are you talking about?” asked Jong Suk, who was spreading small amounts of wasabi on his nigirizushi.

“My plan to prove to my dad that I am better than the loser he thinks I am.”

That simple statement of Jong Hyun’s brought a sense of understanding in all of us.

Young Kwang let out a really long and exasperated sigh. “Oh, joy.”

“So he’s on break, huh?” said Sung Joon, all the while shaking his head to himself.

Sun-ah looked around, confusion written all over her face. “Wait, you guys already know what kind of a person his dad is?”

Sung Joon snorted. “Know him? Heh. He hates my guts for no reason, Sun-ah. In which the feeling is mutual on my side, by the way.”

Woo Bin supplied, with his mouth full of sashimi. “He thinks a man who cooks is a .”

Jong Suk frowned as he recalled his memory of Jong Hyun’s overbearing father. “He suspected me of plastic surgery because he said I was too pretty and fair for a male.” He harrumphed as he continued mumbling to himself, “Hasn’t he heard of natural beauty or skincare?”

Young Kwang sighed. “He thinks that students who work part-time are neither committed to their studies nor their future, and are just too greedy for their own good.”

When Sun-ah looked at me too, I added, “He says that school kids who live by themselves are useless rebels looking for cheap attention from other adults.”

Sun-ah gasped out loud at my statement. She swatted Jong Hyun in the arm, “I am a school kid who lives by myself, you smartass!”

“Don’t worry,” Jong Hyun squeezed Sun-ah’s hand, “He’s not going to say a thing once I prove to him how wonderful you are as a person.”

Sun-ah paled. She then started massaging her temples. “You are going to be the death of me, Hong Jong Hyun.”

“Not on my watch!” Jong Suk said. He then grabbed a piece of nigirizushi off the Tupperware set and forcefully fed it to the defiant girl. “Chill. Being Jong Hyun’s fake girlfriend for the time being is gonna be exhausting, so you better stock up on your energy!”

She quickly chewed her sushi and swallowed. “How exhausting?” she then peered at Jong Hyun.

Jong Hyun was trying hard not to smirk as he looked at her with a seemingly innocent side-glance. Young Kwang and I looked at each other and grinned as we stole more rolls of temaki from the lunch set before us. Sung Joon was hooting with laughter as he clapped his hands like a seal in a circus show.

Jong Suk was the only one helpful enough to actually lay it all down in front of her. “Well, first you have to deal with the school. That already includes hundreds of Jong Hyun’s supposed fan girls, so I wish you the best of luck.”

Sun-ah looked at Jong Hyun in confusion. “Remind me again why we have to establish this fake relationship in school? Why can’t we just show up for some sort of a dinner and just introduce me to your dad or something?”

Jong Hyun automatically replied, “My father’s bound to ask around the school’s board of directors and teachers. If we build this fake establishment from school grounds, word will get around amongst the students, which will then pass to the teachers, and eventually… the board.”

Sun-ah’s face scrunched up in even more confusion as she looked around. “Does your father own the school or what…?

Jong Suk opened his mouth to answer, but immediately closed it as he opted for a tight smile instead. Jong Hyun just massaged the back of his neck and ruefully grinned. “Well… He is the school’s second biggest shareholder – next to the Principal – so I guess he can exercise that kind of right?”

Her eyes widened. “And to think that I wouldn’t encounter a living-and-breathing rich boy character from all those damned K-dramas…”

Jong Hyun just shrugged it off, already fidgety from the different angle that Sun-ah was probably looking at him. The other boys and I were the same when we first met him, but we quickly adjusted because we knew just how much Jong Hyun hated that people only looked at his prestigious family background, and considered nothing else. They would look at him and see the golden boy that he was meant to be; sole heir of his father’s hospital, future shareholder of his father’s investments here and there. We disregarded all that because we all understood his feelings; he wanted to be known for his own interests, his achievements. Perhaps the one trait that Jong Hyun had inherited from his father was the stubbornness to prove himself as the best. Of cou