BACK TO REALITY. On Monday, Yeonwoo arrived at school bright and early, nervous because Mr. Han would be handing out the exam results. As she sat at her desk, she closed her eyes and prayed.
"What are you doing?" She looked up to find Seojun standing over her desk.
"I'm praying for good grades." she answered awkwardly.
It was the first time they were seeing each other since he had chased her to the mountains and it felt they were back to square one. All the closeness they had accumulated there, the barriers they had broken, seemed to have been put up again at school.
"Don't worry." Seojun placed a carton of mango milk onto her desk. "Drink this to calm your nerves. You'll do well as usual."
"Yeonwoo-ah!" Bright and cheery Sua bounded over to her as Seojun walked to his own desk. "How was your weekend? You went to the countryside, didn't you? Lucky!"
Yeonwoo greeted the cheery girl enthusiastically, realising she missed her a lot during the weekend. "It felt so refreshing to get away for a few days from Seoul. How was the baseball game? I know you and Jugyeong were looking forward to it."
"Hyungjin-oppa asked about you when we told him we knew you!" Sua grinned excitedly. She then gasped when Jugyeong entered the classroom and hit Yeonwoo repeatedly on the arm. "And, and, and!"
"What?"
Sua said in a loud whisper, "Hyungjin likes Jugyeong. Our Jugyeong! He asked for her number and even took her out on a date."
Yeonwoo smiled at Jugyeong. "That's nice. Hyungjin-oppa is a really nice guy. I've known him since we were little, so know I'm speaking the truth."
Mr. Han came in, armed with their results. At the announcement of Suho dominating the rankings once again, Yeonwoo's attention once again drifted to her grades.
"Now this is really commendable. Barely two months after she has arrived, Jeong Yeonwoo has managed to snag the fourth rank in the entire junior year! Let us all join in and give her a round of applause. Come up here and collect your marks."
The whole class clapped as Yeonwoo went up, blushing.
"Wow, well done." Seojun said, as she walked back to her seat. He raised an eyebrow cockily. "Try hard."
She stuck her tongue out at him, mouthing, "Meanie."
However, she still clapped vivaciously when Mr. Han announced Seojun's marks.
"I got 50 on my literature exam when I just marked three for everything. Amazing." He looked down at Jugyeong in her seat and asked her, "What did you get? Let me see?"
After an fruitless attempt at concealing her grades, he managed to sneak a glimpse of it. He guffawed. "49? And you acted like you knew what you were doing? Good luck."
"Don't act as if you got much better," Yeonwoo cajoled.
She turned towards Sujin, concerned because Suho had attained the first rank.
Sujin gave her a strained smile. "It's fine. I think I improved."
Before Yeonwoo could say anything else, Sujin stuffed her paper into her bag and hurried out the classroom. She started to chase after her, but a sudden, huge horde of students blocked her way and Yeonwoo was unable to swim against the current.
Resigned, she followed the crowd back to her own classroom and was startled to find, at the centre of it, none other than Ryu Hyungjin—baseball player, prospective boyfriend for Jugyeong, and her grandmother's neighbour.
"No way. I can't ask you here," she heard him say, as he leaned across Jugyeong's desk. She saw her best friend blush and stare at the baseball in her hand.
Yeonwoo made her way slowly towards Jugyeong, curious to see if Hyungjin would recognise her.
"Yeonwoo-ah!" He exclaimed. "My grandmother told me you were back. You should have visited me, you know."
"Oppa." Yeonwoo practically whispered, feeling uncomfortable with the numerous eyes focused on them. "How ... how have you been?"
Hyungjin began to answer, before he himself noticed how the crowd pressed in on them. He sighed, then handed his phone to Yeonwoo. "Key in your number. We should catch up, you know. I have so much to tell you."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Suddenly, Han Seojun knocked over his chair and made his way through the people and stood in between Yeonwoo and Hyungjin. "What do you think you're doing?"
"What am I doing?" Hyungjin raised an eyebrow and stuck his tongue in his cheek, gauging the reaction of the boy. "Catching up with an old friend. Why?"
Seojun laughed, before fixing a piercing glare upon him. A hand shot out in front of a very confused Yeonwoo. "You're asking the number of a girl in front of the girl you confessed to? What a—"
Hyungjin stepped closer to him. "Who are you worried for here? Your reaction has me a little confused."
Seojun was at a loss for words. Luckily, he was saved by the vice-principal, who burst in and yelped, "What are you guys doing? You little punks."
He retracted his ruler, brandishing it threateningly, before he noticed Hyungjin. "Who are you?"
"Make sure you come to the match, pretty." Hyungjin winked at Jugyeong. He then ruffled Yeonwoo's hair and said cheekily, "Catch you later, Woo-woo."
He jumped out of the window, to the shock and excitement of the numerous high school girls in the room.
As Yeonwoo rushed to the window to watch Hyungjin, Seojun was left alone, pondering over Hyungjin's words.
And he was right. Who was he worried for?