...
It was a peaceful Friday afternoon for Jennie. Well except the annoying conversations she had with the five guys she rejected to have group studies with awhile ago but aside from that, the day was going s-
"Hey there...uhm. Jennie." If only she could vomit from the voice that uttered her name, she would. Now her day was ruined. Although, she tried to maintain composure at last minute. "Hey..." She responded, barely making any effort to smile.
Did someone say Jennie's day was going smooth? Well scratch that because she's about to swallow this male senior whole.
"I'm sure you have heard about me. I'm quite popular around here." A gloat of pride flashed from the jock.
"No. Not really." She deadpanned. He chuckled his embarrassment out. Jongin could only pretend to not be fucked if he wants to pursue this complex but damn hot newbie.
He clears his throat. Trying to regain confidence, "It's Kim Jongin. Does it ring a bell?" A pinch of desperation was in his tone as he used his body to block her way again. KIm Jongin. He placed third on the student board this month and he's that guy I danced with back at the elite party. Jennie reminds herself, but she had no plans on letting him know. She has no time to entertain another male.
"Yeah, the bell rang. So, I need to go to class." The sarcasm hurt the brute more but she just puts her head down and tries to charge her way out of his space, but the jock was too quick. "I should really let you know more about me, since we've kind of connected back when we danced at the Elite party. How about we do lunch tomorrow?" A pinch of desperation clicked from his voice.
Jennie stiffened from the offer, just because no one has dared to ask her for lunch. The boys always preferred group studies with her because it was safer to be in a group with her since they can't quite figure out who Jennie Kim really was yet. He must've felt like he could handle such mystery alone.
Well, the latter wasn't really up for the challenge. "Did I say that I want to know you?"
The backfire just crushed the senior's ego. No girl has ever talked to him that way. Well, Krystal does at some occasions but not from a demure-looking hoobae of his.
"Excuse me?" Jongin was cut short. As he pretended to choke to cover his flustered face. He just stood frozen and didn't recover. "I have to get going." And with a polite bow Jennie left the conversation swiftly. She left with unfazed feelings. He was nothing more than just one of those boys who thinks that they would gain something if they date someone as beautiful as her. When the real question they should've been thinking was, what would Jennie ever gain from them?
They don't even know what the girl wants. And no one bothers to ask.
...
The events of yesterday sparked Jongin's spite. It was petty but hell did he enjoy being petty. He even ignored his clingy girlfriend Krystal who've just arrived, to have his revenge on the sophomore. He doesn't even know if his infatuation intensified or it's just mixed with vexation now.
For the past week he did everything within his might to get Jennie's attention but to no avail. Jongin bribed the younger years to let the brunette attend his afterschool basketball practices but she always puts an excuse to study. He traps her in a corner inside their library to talk but she doesn't even bat an eye. He sits beside her during lunch but she never talks. Even at the advantage of his girlfriend going away for an important family trip, his efforts was still exhausted by the latter.
"Fuck, man!" He swivels his head a quick snap to the left as his face meets frustration again. "You should stop trying, Jongin." Chaeyoung who's playing her soccer ball between her fingers suggests. "You can't call dibs on someone who doesn't want to be owned." the subdued blonde adds. They were hanging out on the benches in the soccer field. Jongin and Jinyoung decided to visit Chaeyoung's practice since they were done with theirs.
"What's so special about her, anyway?" Jinyoung spoke out of spiteful empathy for his defeated friend.
A pressing look was in Jongin's face. "Well, I just found out yesterday that she's more valuable than Krystal."
"What? She can't be more valuable than her. Krystal's family is engraved as one of the powerful Seoul elites. New money can't just surpass that." Jinyoung was now more mystified about the said girl that he pulls himself closer to Jongin to listen. Chaeyoung didn't move a muscle but she knows what her friend was talking about, she just didn't expect that he would be so into her in that way.
Jongin proceeds to reveal his endeavors, "Jennie's Father might control Seoul when he succeeds on his integration plan for the estate development. This means every estate of the city's conglomerates will be under his hands."
"Even Chaeyoung's family empire?" Eunwoo questioned. For everyone's enlightenment, Park Chaeyoung is the only daughter of the President. First daughter of the country. But before that title was added, she was first known as the heiress of their tech empire. Parktech. Technically her mother is the real owner of the company, but it grew stronger when she married her then-senator Father. And when her Father ran for presidency and won, the company just expanded globally and made it an empire in over a year.
"No, of course. The president and his tech empire is the last thing you want to mess with." Jongin countered.
"Jongin's right. Apparently, my Father personally approved Mr. Park's integration plan. I think they settled it weeks ago during the elite party." The blonde revealed in a cautious tone, she suddenly found the urge to talk about it.
"Does that mean Krystal's finally experiencing her first fall from second place?" Jinyoung, with a internal hate for the gal, smugly smirked.
This Krystal Jung, however, comes from a family that profits from aviation. They own the largest chain of airlines around the world. They have remained one of the renowned families in Seoul.
The jock nodded, "I guess so. Her family can only profit much from their multiple airlines. Compared to Kim here, who's planning to take over every land in the city."
"So, are you trying to date that sophomore because you want to have her privilege?" Chaeyoung raises a brow of curiosity.
"It's called an early investment, Chaeyoung. I have to boost my assets if I want to be the heir of our conglomerate. Because the truth is, you don't get to have anything when you're the third child." He answers with a leaking bitterness at the end. Kim Jongin comes from a family of lawyers and prosecutors. Their law firms have handled extreme cases that surged them into popularity, even more so now, since they're handling the President's law security. You don't have to wonder why Chaeyoung and him became best of friends anymore.
Chaeyoung only found her best friend more pathetic and desperate. She snickers, "Don't get too ambitious, Jongin. You need to figure out how to pass chemistry first before you can exploit people."
"Well, I'm sorry that I am not as smart and rich as the Park Chaeyoung." Jongin hisses at the hurtful remark. "Besides, she has hurt my pride too much that I can't let her go so easily now." He added. Unbeknownst to everyone, Jongin had already sparked a mischievous idea. He does not know if it was on impulse or it was destiny trusting him to take the call. Whatever delusion the guy was in, it was sure to be centered at Jennie Kim.
Park Chaeyoung draped in a clueless face, thought out loud, "Well, I'm flying out to the US for a couple of days. Don't get me involved in that hopeless fiasco of yours and don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"Come on, Park. You don't give me much credit. I'll get that sophomore before you get back." The latter remained unfazed, his face etched more determination. And Chaeyoung doesn't know where she would put her worry. Should she put it to Jongin or to that small sophomore?
"Wait. Why are you flying out? You can't just leave us here. School just literally started." Jinyoung's face crumbled. Truthfully, he doesn't want to run the school alone with Jongin. He always relied on Chaeyoung's superiority over the others. Although his other best friend has the same authority, he still doesn't trust his immature tendencies.
The blonde senior sighs, "Just an emergency business trip, as usual. Father wants me to be a part of it." Fortunately for this school, any student can skip classes at any day as long as it involves business endeavors along with the permission of one's parents. Besides, this was a school that hones students to be elite business tycoons in the near future.
"It's not like your Father throws you anywhere else except the US." The black-haired senior pouts. His consistent reaction when the blonde leaves again. Chaeyoung responded with a fading chuckle while looking at him, "I'll miss you too, Jinyoung."
...
A few days have passed and it was finally the starting week of Club Day, a challenging day that Jennie was not aware of, which means the students will spend the rest of the afternoon tending their club group festivities.
Naturally for Jennie, she tried to sign up for the Business Club Ordeal. She holds her pen up as she finds herself hesitating to write her name on the registration paper. The sheet was blank.
A skeptic feeling travels down her stomach as she gulps in tension. She was about to retreat and put her pen down when, "Are you signing up or what?" A deep feminine voice made her turn away to it's direction.
"Can you make it fast? I'm not trying to waste time here." Jennie eyes were countered by demeaning ones of the same pair. She was a bit taller than her, she had heart-shaped lips with sharp features, her long black hair that was kept in place with a headband made her glow.
The sophomore stood frozen before her as she stutters, "I-I was just about to..."
"Let me do it then." The latter swiftly moves forward without warning and grabs the pen on Jennie's hand. She quickly writes on the sheet.
Jennie quietly observes beside her as she mentally reads the stranger's name on the paper. Kim Jisoo. Tenth Grade. Rank Eighteenth.
"And what's yours?" This Jisoo girl lends her stare at the oblivious sophomore. "It's Jennie." She answers too quickly.
"Oh. So you are that Jennie Kim they are talking about. Hm." She scans the brunette from top to bottom.
"What have you heard?"
"Just you luring in too many seniors. And your thrifty audacity to actually ignore people at your year level just because you became too popular for them."
"That's bullshit."
"Those are rumors..." She huffs with a smug smirk. "Lighten up, miss popular." She continues as she tries to walk away but Jennie quickly rebutted, "Aren't you popular, too?"
"What?" The ebony scorned with a nailing stare.
Jennie retorted the same intense gaze, "You're on the eighteenth rank, right? Kim Jisoo." She emphasizes every syllable of her name. "That's already considered high for a sophomore. That's a bit hypocritical of you to say."
She mocks a forced smile, "Unlike you, I did not skyrocketed my way up to the top. You are not from here, Jennie. You don't get to decide who's who."
"I'm trying..." Jennie bites her lips at the confession she didn't want to make. However, it made Jisoo raise her eyebrow in interest, waiting for more words from the latter. "I'm not planning to be a stranger here for long."
"Is that so? Since you're aiming so high already, then make sure to get in this club. They'll give you the boost." And before the latter could respond, the sophomore dissipates and proceeded to enter the club room. Now Jennie waits in anxiousness.
Not a few moments later, she was called. She entered so cluelessly as she sat in the middle of an isolated room with two empty chairs in front her. There was a drape behind the chairs, and as it moved, two familiar guys appeared.
Out of the sophomore's surprise. "Now what do we have here?" she almost jolted out of her seat when she saw their faces that unveiled over the drapes. It was same guys that she saw back at the elite party. Jennie crumples her hands over the edge of her skirt as irritation rumbles inside her stomach.
"At this point, you can just say that we're destined to be together, Jennie. Who would've thought that you'd have the guts to even apply here?"
"What's the big deal about it? I like to stick to the things I'm good at."
"Maybe you really want to stick with me." Jongin's sarcastic gloating voice stained the sophomore's patience.
"Keep it professional, will you?" She almost hisses.
"Do you even know why students don't just sign up here?" Jongin snickered, pissed at the girl's audacity.
"How am I supposed to know? It's not like you have good marketing." Jennie swore she was about to do an eyeroll, but she chose to keep the strange waves calm.
"You are feisty, sophomore." Jinyoung smirked, finding the fiasco entertaining.
"Just tell me what's the catch." The sophomore prompted.
Jinyoung proceeds to walk around while explaining, "Since we advocate the prosperity of business here, we revolve around investments. And in order for us to accept you, you need to invest something valuable for the club."
"Like what?"
"Date me." Jongin spoke out from the corner.
"You're not a profitable investment." The latter quickly deadpans.
Jongin pulls himself close to the sitting sophomore, meeting her eyelevel. "Not when I can make your life here very uncomfortable, Jennie. You dare step into our territory and expect that your perfection can just cope up with it? It's fading fast, sophomore. Partners are essential here."
"And you'll still be the last one I'll choose." The stubbornness of the latter flared the insanity of the jock. He wasn't good with patience, anyway.
He takes a deep breath, visibly showing his flaring nose. "You are one annoying brat, aren't you?"
Jennie finally stands up and puts a foot forward facing Jongin. "Look. You think you always have the upper hand here, but you don't. You should realize that I am the investment itself, sunbaenim." A sudden shift in the atmosphere shut the jock's confidence down. He was now locked at the latter's gaze. "And you've just lost me..." Jennie placed a sarcastic smile and then walks away.
The sophomore know it was a risky move, but if Jongin takes the bait in the way she predicted, then he will finally take her seriously. For now, she can only hope.
...
The next day came by so quickly, and so was Jennie's hope. She was in a good mood after she baited the senior jock with a threat yesterday. But as her thoughts quickly cheered her up, so did it quickly bring her down.
Here comes another nuisance for the day...
"Do you really think you could just steal my boyfriend like that?!" A banging and horrific voice startled Jennie who was just trying to close her locker. She turns around only to see enraged eyes staring down at her.
"I'm sorry. Who are you?" Jennie tries to be polite but doesn't hide the annoyance in her voice. The unknown sunbae huffed in vexation. "I'm supposed to be the girl that Jongin is dating, and not you!"
"Then go steal him away from me, for god's sake." The latter decided to response in sarcasm but the senior was having none of it. "Are you really going to act coy here?" Krystal was right up her face, with sharp eyes and mouth. She was ready to skin Jennie alive, but the sophomore was unfazed.
"I have class." Frazzled nonchalance echoed as response.
"What is this?!" Krystal practically pushed Jennie against the lockers as she shoves her phone right on her face. The brunette was startled but was quick to see what's on the phone. It was a screenshot of Jongin's snap. With a fake conversation of Jongin asking her to be official and then she said yes.
What a fucking loser. Jennie cursed mentally. This wasn't the outcome she was expecting. At this point, the brunette just want Jongin out of her business. "That's not me..." She continued to defy. It was absurd to Jennie that she had to deal with this childish lovesick act. She wanted none of it and avoided all the possible ways she could involve, but it seems like she always spirals down into scandals.
The delirious Krystal continues to blabber aimlessly, trying to threaten the young one when the true issue here was the long frustration she had for Jongin strained her to this moment of explosion. Kai just broke up with her and she couldn't accept it yet, so she exhausts all of her efforts to find a reason why. So that she can rationalize her feelings, and hopefully make herself less bitter.
With an already peak pissed Jennie, Krystal continues to push her to talk which made the sophomore act on impulse, "I'm dating someone else..." Jennie found herself stumbling the words but it was still with conviction. Now she's trying to maintain her stance, just to make up with the lie.
"What?" Now, the latter takes a step back to compose herself.
"...It's not Jongin that I'm dating." Jennie tails on her lie, hoping that she will take the bait and leave her alone.
It took a second of silence but as soon Jennie tries to catch her breath the senior started to pry, "Who is it then?"
"You don't need to know."
"Then I won't stop making your life miserable here. If you want me to leave you alone then–"
A deluding panic churned inside Jennie, just because she can't believe she had to drag this lie further. Now she has to think before Krystal runs out of words from her blabber. Who the fuck should I tell? I can't believe I am doing this.
She then instantly reminisces back to the time where her friends were talking about this name-wait there was this name and it's supposed to be famous here...What was it again? Oh!
"It's Park Chaeyoung." She jolted her words out as soon as she remembered.
"What?! What did you just say?" Krystal was still trying to sink the name that Jennie just revealed because in no fucking way can a new money date the most sought-after senior of all.
"Park Chaeyoung..." She utters the name too slowly. Trying to build up her audacity.
"Are you fucking kidding me? No, you're not dating the Park Chaeyoung." Krystal wheezed like it was the most hilarious thing ever, but Jennie kept her face straight.
"W-well believe it or not. I am." She tries her best to appeal to the truth, just close enough to make Krystal believe.
"Since when?" A change of expression dawned the senior and realizing that it might actually possible and she will get in big trouble again.
"None of your business. But do you want me to make a call?" The younger one finds an opening to scare the latter and surprisingly it worked, she saw Krystal's confidence diminishing.
"Okay, whatever." Krystal rolls her eyes trying to shrug off the embarrassment that she was feeling. It was obvious that she was worried. "Look, I'll call it quits if you don't tell Chaeyoung that I've confronted you like this."
"Why would it matter?-" Confusion guttered the sophomore. She swears that there was fear in Krystal's eyes just a moment ago, but why?
"Nothing. J-just keep your mouth shut." And just like that the bratty senior walks out from her face.
Jennie was appalled at the fact that all of that interrogation just happened in minutes. And she had managed to lie more than she had ever been in her life.
Park Chaeyoung. The name rolls around her head, hoping the owner of it does not throw her under the bus. And if ever that goes down to happening, Jennie needs another excuse.