deceit • Han Seojun x Kang Soojin

8. warrior princess

Seojun's hand fisted in sheer anger, and the trauma of their past flashed again, "Su-yeon died because of your father, so please, don't even pretend that you're the only one who cares about him." He replied, their intense staring was making the little classroom a battlefield and Jugyeong spoke up, finally, because she had enough of these two.

"Can we not please," She pouted, it was tougher already for her to have one friend betray her, she couldn't withstand Seojun separating too. "It's all in the past and if Seojun wants to team up with Soojin then be it."

Mr. Han settled the matter when he entered the class, and the kids sat back, while Han Seojun furious at his plan. Fighting with Suho and hurting Jugyeong was the last thing he wanted to do, but to keep his plan steady, he had to make it as real as he possibly could. He couldn't even think about telling them about this because Soojin was a brilliant girl who could always read between the lines. One slight error and she'd call his bluff.

"Soojin," Mr. Han looked at his left, the girl was never late to school and that surprised the kind teacher. "You're in time," he smiled at her, Seojun looked at how Soojin had her head lowered. "The class is seated with their project teams, you go sit with Seojun," He pointed at the last bench and Soojin obliged, bowing as she walked past the class and sat on the desk besides Han Seojun.

"Didn't you wanna call it quits?" He enquired, scoffing at the girl but Soojin kept her head lowered, she only held her hands firmly and Seojun could see how her hands were more miserable than the previous day.

"I do wanna call it quits." She replied, looking at him and Han Seojun didn't expect Soojin's eyes to be bloodshot, but more than that, he noticed her cheek and the faint black mark on it which screamed at him. "Unfortunately, I can't." She scoffed, pulling her notebook out, adjusting her hair to fall back on her cheek and looked at Mr. Han and all Seojun did was stare at the girl.

_

Lunch came surprisingly early that day, especially for Seojun's relief who couldn't wait to speak to the girl next to him. She was busy solving math problems even as the class dispersed for lunch. He put his hand on the notebook and got what he wanted.

Soojin's attention.

"Not today," She muttered, looking up at the tall guy, "can we schedule this bickering for tomorrow?" She asked, but it was the softest voice Seojun had heard from someone as Soojin.

"I don't want to bicker." He shrugged, hand still on her book so she wouldn't ignore him and continue studying like the previous time. "It's time for lunch."

"I'm fasting."

"For what?"

"Why do you care?" She asked, her tolerance level was passably getting lower. "Ya, what would it take for you to leave me alone!"

"Lunch."

"I don't want to eat."

"It's lunch."

"So?"

"Everybody likes lunch."

Soojin held back her retort, she didn't have much energy left in her and she had to save it for studying. Last night was tougher on her as is, her father had gotten to know about her running hand in hand with some boy and clearly, he didn't know what else to do than hit her again.

A little too hard since it left a faint mark.

"If you don't remove your hand," Soojin glared at him, his eyes more so matching hers. "You'll have no hand." She warned him, in the most nonchalant voice ever and Seojun considered withdrawing his hand, but he stayed put.

"Aaresso, why have two hands when you can live with one, right?" He pushed all the buttons he could with her, getting her to like him was harder than he anticipated but nevertheless, he was going to give his best.

Soojin had enough though, how Suho and Jugyeong were friends with this irritating guy, she didn't know. "What do you want, Seojun. What is that you want me to do to get rid of you?"

"Lunch," He beamed, a smile softening his eyes and Soojin felt a tug at her heartstrings. It was way too long since anyone had smiled at her, and even though it was just a week, it felt like a century. "Lunch," He said again like a broken recorder, this time he swung a little side to side, adorably able to win anyone's heart with that move.

But not Soojin, Kang Soojin's heart was shielded and guarded by walls made of metal and there's no place for anything inside her stony heart.

"If I eat, will you let me go?"

"Sure," Seojun said and Soojin immediately removed her little packed tiffin in front of him, sighing she ate a mouthful of fruits her house staff had packed and gulped it all down with a chug of water. She took two more minutes to finish off the pack of biscuits she carried and with another chug of water she was done. "Whoa, this could be a new genius world record."

"Guinness," She corrected him.

"That's what I said."

She let it go, "are you done? Can I be left alone now?" She asked, focusing back on her books as Seojun rummaged through his bag and he kept a tube on her notebook. "What's this?"

"Next time I'll teach you to punch," Han Seojun said, softly, like was talking to his friend. "for now, apply this on your knuckles, that'll help with the burning." With that he was out of the class and Soojin sat back, dumbfounded.

She picked the tube in her hand, and then looked at her right hand, the punch made her hand even more scrubbed. It was burning, the skin felt itchy and Soojin would have loved applying some cool lotion to keep the pain from resurfacing but then, a little cream would not help her or her hands.

Sighing, she pushed the tube towards the corner of the desk while she continued to break her head over math problems when her life was the biggest issue she hadn't tackled yet. Her heart was giving up on people, especially men who think they can overpower everyone with their strength and yet, Han Seojun was inadvertently taking turns to get her metal walls to melt.

There Han Seojun walked past his friends who sat on the lunch table and moved towards his other gang, Chorong and the others were glad Han Seojun sat with them. "Ya, Seojun-ah, we missed you so much." Chorong never really had the sense of personal space as he leaped in for a hug at the guy. "We missed you," the other replied in chorus and Seojun pushed Chorong away, even though he was fighting a smile.

"Ya ya," He yelled at the group, slamming the tray on the table. "What did I say about personal space?"

"That there's no personal space between besties." Chorong grinned ear to ear at the frustrated Han Seojun who knew he could never get his weird friends to understand, although he didn't mind a hug here and there. "And we know you love them..." The other guy said, immediately making Han Seojun to smile.

"Aaresso, idiots."

That settled the matter as the gang spoke about tales of their mischief and Seojun sat back, ignoring the gaze from Jugyeong and Suho and trying to understand why was Soojin had a black mark on her face. He had been in a lot of fights to know that was caused by a possible punch, or a slap, and that even though it was faintly visible, he could notice it.

It meant two things to the not so brainy guy, either Kang Soojin was hiding something, something really serious.

Or she was in an underground fighting club.

The second one sounded like what Soojin would do and Seojun nodded, adjusting his blazer on his shoulder. "Aish, she can definitely be a fighter." He muttered to himself, thinking about Soojin for the tenth time that morning. "Warrior princess for sure."

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