Chapter 2 - The Entrance Test Of Love

KEY:

'Si-young's thoughts'

"Character's speaking"

Previously on Unpredictable High School Kiss…  

Si-young has confronted her secret crush of two years with a heartfelt love letter, which took an unexpected turn. The handsome tall Kim Hyun-Joong rejected Si-young in front of everyone. Her friends tried to cheer her up, especially Hyeon-jun - he cares for Si-young like no other person… What do you expect when he has a massive crush on her? 

Her bad luck didn't even start… it only began. Unfortunately, her newly built house was struck by a meteor which resulted in her house being demolished. However, when both Si-young and her father, Mr Lee were at their restaurant they got a call from her father's old friends, Mr Kim. He invited them to stay at their house when Mr Lee tried to find another home. Moreover, this house belonged to that KIM! Kim Hyeon-jun…

As the next day reaches both Si-young and Hyun-Joong have to go to school together, but on their way to school, they had an argument which wasn't pleasing and made Si-young see Hyun-Joong in another light. 

***

"The season I don't like came…" students complained as the cold room became quiet as the teachers started to speak.

"This is the semester's final timetable." The teacher spoke loudly so the students quiet down but still had to shush them up.

"What?" everyone asked tiredly. Some students were lying on their desks exhausted and some stretched their muscles. 

"Be quiet, quiet. Quiet" the teacher tried to calm everyone down as they got louder and louder but eventually, he succeeded which gave Si-young an opportunity to speak to the teacher. She lifted her arm up and spoke.

"Here!" she said, making eye contact with the teacher and everyone turned around to look at her.

"What happened, Lee?" he asked with his arms on his high desk and also looked over to Si-young suspiciously. "Do you have a stomachache?" he asked like he knew what she was going to say. However, Si-young stood up from her chair and held onto her desk with both hands on both sides whilst looking at her teacher with determination.

"I have a question," she said, lifting her chin up confidently. "From the English subject you're teaching, is a range of possible questions decided already?" When she finished her question her teacher was left speechless and didn't fully know what to answer her as he was covered with shock. "Does it cover until lesson 3 or 4?" she continued to make her question clearer. The silence engulfed the room. No one knew what she was on about as she never, in particular, got encouraged to study nor ask questions like this in class, but then after a moment of awkward and confused silence the room was filled with laughter but the teacher calms everyone down trying himself not to laugh.

"Be quiet!"

***

It was the end of the day and everyone was getting ready to leave whilst Si-young was placing her colourful, animal post notes on pages she needs to learn for the exams.

"Yes, let's go home~ go home~" Yong-Soo came skipping towards Si-young's desk only to see her continuously marking her pages. "What's up with you, Si-young. It's not usual." Yong-Soo continues while staring at Si-young totally confused which also caught Rae-In's and Hyeon-jun's attention. 

"I…" As Si-young started speaking she shot her head up and stared at the front of the classroom with dreading eyes for revenge. "Can't forgive Kim Hyun-Joong." then she went back to mark her pages with a focused mindset 

"Good for you," Rae-In said from behind Si-young with a scared look on her face.

"You are right." Hyeon-jun joined in proudly nodding his head.

Yet again Si-young looked ahead of herself and spoke firmly. "So I'm going to do it this time." She got some other students' attention. "I'm going to win over Kim Hyun-Joong at the finals." her friends went quiet looking at each other with blank faces. They clearly believe and know that Si-young will never be able to beat the natural genius himself and that's when they started to mock and laugh at self-motivated Si-young. This made her look away from her book and stare at her cheered up friends.

"What is it? You guys…" Si-young seemed really disappointed with the group of laughing people.

"Hey, you know he's the unbeatable one at the top every time." Yong-Soo reminds Si-young of the sad true fact whilst trying to hold her laughs.

"He's the top of the pre-SAT for all state students as well. He's not someone you can compete with." Si-young turned around when hearing Rae-In reminding her of the results which are totally unbeatable.

"Of course," Hyeon-jun agrees and so does everyone else listening to them. 

"Well… Well… Well…" Si-young stuttered and wasn't sure how to reply to all that unfair information but then she got an idea which is possible. "Then I'll put my name on the board at least." she finally states her goal. "I'll put my name on the same paper where Kim Hyun-Joong's name is on." her face and mind know the new set goal she has and only hopes to reach. 

"Are you saying you want to get into the Top 100 rank?" Yong-Soo asks whilst smiling from ear to ear. She frowns and still tries not to laugh but the people around her don't help as they don't even try to not laugh. She shakes her hand in disagreement. "That's not going to work. We're the Class F." she points her index finger at herself and everyone else. Then Hyeon-jun levels himself down to Si-young level to look her in the face.

"Right, right. Stop talking about the stupid stuff. Let's go eat something delicious to make you feel better." as he says that he grabs Si-young's arm and pulls her along with him but Si-young doesn't get easily put down and talks back.

"No.," she says aloud without even glancing at her friends getting ready to leave. "History is there to change," she says as she grabs her bag from the floor and puts her stuff away. "I'll definitely get in the Top 100 and put my name on the board to change the history of Class F." her friends look at her weirdly and are very serious, they haven't seen Si-young this serious about something which makes this whole thing much more distressing. "Well then. I'll go first." Si-young stands up whilst carrying her bag and walks out with her head up high and not looking anywhere else apart from ahead of her. Everyone stares at her in amazement as she stomps her feet and makes her exit. 

"What happened to Si-young?" Hyeon-jun asks with his astonishingly open mouth. 

***

After Si-young left by herself everyone decided to go to a cafe and get something to eat.

"Yay, it came!"

"It came. Thank you."

"It looks delicious." 

"Thank you for the meal."

Everyone was hyped up for the arrival of the food. As they tasted their meals everyone was extremely pleased with what they chose. 

"Still soft. Today's one is good, too." Hyeon-jun said as he tasted his delicious meal.

"Hyeon, you're really good. I can trust you when it comes to food." Yong-Soo stated as she grabbed more of her meal, exciting over every bite.

"Why only about the food?" Hyeon-jun asks, offended but lets it go. "Master, good reputation going here." Hyeon-jun looked over to the owner of the food preparation and made him smile as he nodded in thanks. "This week's service, Colombian (coffee) is the best." Hyeon-jun continues to speak precisely about the service in the cafe.

"It would've been better if Si-young came with us," Yong-Soo said to everyone as she leaned her back against her chair with a disappointed look. 

"She's going to make the Top 100." Rae-In continued looking between Hyeon-jun and Yong-Soo. She's not sure what to think about Si-young determination but it seems quite funny that Si-young - one of the worst students - will get to Top 100. 

"Really, what happened to her?" Yong-Soo asked, confused at the whole situation with Si-young and her recent attitude. 

"About that... " Hyeon-jun started. "Don't you think she's strange somehow since they moved to the new house?" as he said that he crossed his arms and swayed forward and backwards slightly. "You guys still don't even know where she lives now," he stated to Yong-Soo and Rae-In with hope in his eyes that Si-young has finally told them something. 

"Ah…" Rae-In started realising that it's true what Hyeon-jun said. "But she said she can walk to school now." she frowned her eyebrows whilst playing with her straw. "That means… she must live close by," she said looking at Yong-Soo to see her reaction and it seems like she agrees, but Hyeon-jun still thinks it doesn't feel right.

"That's suspicious." he wrinkled his face with confusion. "There's no way she would live in such rich districts." he hits his index finger against the table as he spoke to make his point make sense.

"But she's staying at someone else's place." Yong-Soo protested against Hyeon-jun's point. "Didn't she say it's her father's friend's place?" she continued remembering what Si-young had said. Rae-in agreed with Yong-Soo and they both look back at Hyeon-jun's unsure face. 

"Would that be true?" he finally gave in with what the two girls said but then he had a very worrying thought… "Or doesn't she maybe… Get harassed at that house?" Yong-Soo and Rae-In stopped what they were doing immediately when hearing what Hyeon-jun said. The anxious and disturbing thoughts came through their minds as they listened to what Hyeon-jun had further to say. "She's saying she has to go study, but she's actually exploited to work at home…" Hyeon-jun had a vision of Si-young cleaning the staircase being dressed up as a maid and rubbing a cloth against the wooden stair bars.

"That can't be it these days!" Yong-Soo shouted at Hyeon-jun and his stupid thoughts.

"She's right, you pervert!" Rae-In joined in and completely agreed with Yong-Soo. 

"Right, he's really a pervert." Hyeon-jun's friend who was sitting next to him pointed at Hyeon-jun and also agreed with Rae-In laughingly as Hyeon-jun didn't care and was still worried. "It's funny, so funny. Isn't he a pervert?" everyone started laughing at Hyeon-jun but still… he knew something was off.

"Something doesn't feel right…" Hyeon-jun said to himself as everyone was too busy at eating and making fun of him.

***

It was finally dinner time at Kim's family. Everyone was sitting at the table ready to eat.

"Thank you for the food." Everyone said aloud and started their meal.

As Si-young took a piece of her stake she closed her eyes as the steak melted in her mouth and the juice spread all over her tongue. "Delicious" she stated with her full mouth.

"So now Lee's shop is re-opened with no problem?" Mr Kim said look at the overjoyed Si-young at the news and that would also explain to why her father isn't next to her. 

"Things worked out good, Si-young." Mrs Kim said, making Si-young look over to her which was on her right. She was really happy and cherished this moment to her fullest as she doesn't usually have a whole family to eat with because her father always works and her mother passed away.

"Yes, thank you for your help." Si-young thanked Mrs and Mr Kim for all the help they had offered. "Thank you so much." She then thanked everyone else around the table.

"No, you're welcome." Mr Kim said, picking up some soup on his spoon. "Hum? This rice… Honey, where is this rice from?" Mr Kim looked over to his wife on the other side of the table. 

Whilst the adults were talking Si-young was overpowered by the delicious food and the man sitting in front of her. She watched him as he sank his lips in the liquid and placed the bowl back down.

'He's really good looking.' Si-young thought whilst chewing her food and staring at Hyun-Joong with puppy eyes but then she remembered what he said this morning which froze Si-young up.

"I… Hate stupid girls," she remembered his expressionless eyes and face; his smug look after he said the words. This straight away made her come back to earth which also made her look away from Hyun-Joong. She remembered that she also has to study for the Top 100, this motivated her to eat quickly and not wander around her mind. 

She finished her dinner within minutes and finally excused herself.

"I ate well." as she excused herself and was ready to stand up but Mrs Kim spoke to her.

"You don't have to be in such a hurry to finish." Mrs Kim said slightly surprised at Si-young eating so quickly whilst everyone still had a lot of food on their plates.

"The final tests are coming up soon," she explained her rush. "I have to go study." she stood up from her chair and yet again excused herself. "Then I'll excuse myself first." she bowed and was ready to go upstairs. 

***

Si-young was already upstairs in her room. She picked up her 'Easy Math 2 Note' book and looked through it. As she looked through it she already looked bored and didn't know where to start. She dropped her book on her desk and looked in front of her with lost eyes.

"I don't even know which part I don't know." She said to herself. Si-young was troubled with her studies which made her drop down onto her desk but before she hit the desk she covered her forehead with her forearms. She then decided to start with another subject which made her a little motivated again. "Let's start with English." as she lifted her head up she grabbed a book from the top of her book pile and opened it, looking for the right page. "Here it is," she said with a small smile. Si-young read through the page and her smile slowly faded as she didn't understand a word… and eventually, she wished undone not studying sooner "I should've listened more carefully in class." She finally placed the book down not knowing what to do with herself. However, she wasn't ready to give up here. Si-young grabbed her Japanese and English dictionary and decided to translate the words. 

"I…" she looked for the word carefully through the pages of the thick dictionary. "D…"

As time has passed Si-young has gotten even more lost and tired. Yawning didn't help.

"With this pace, It's going to take 100 years to get into the Top 100…" she said in a very low voice and half-closed eyes. Suddenly she heard a knock on the door which made her jump in her seat. She turned around hearing Mrs Kim saying her name.

"Si-young." Mrs Kim spoke gently.

"Yes?" Si-young answered with pouty lips, looking over her shoulder. She stood up to open the door for her.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked through the closed door. Si-young ran to the door and opened it, seeing Mrs Kim with a tray of snacks and tea. "If it's okay with you, would you take a break?" she asked sweetly standing in the door.

"Thank you," Si-young answered, grateful for Mrs Kim's sweet care. Si-young turned around and went for a green chair for Mrs Kim to sit on but she said it's okay and she kneed down whilst placing down the tray on the coffee table. 

"Have some." Mrs Kim said delightfully and full of excitement to share some snacks with Si-young. 

"Thank you." Si-young thanked Mrs Kim and picked up a pillow and also kneed down opposite of Mrs Kim and helped her take bowls and cups off of the tray. "Thank you for the food," Si-young said as she cleaned her hands with the handkerchief that Mrs Kim bought for her and straight away she picked up a sandwich and grabbed a bite. 

"It looks so good." Mrs Kim said admiring Si-young as she was eating the luscious sandwich. 

"It's delicious!" Si-young stated, amused with the great sandwich. 

"It made me so happy." Mrs Kim said whilst connecting her hands together still appreciating Si-young. "I've always wanted to try this once. It was a dream of mine." Mrs Kim continued speaking with excitement.

"What about Hyun-Joong?" Si-young asked whilst chewing her sandwich; looking at the woman in front of her. 

"Well you know, Hyun-Joong never studies," she said disappointed with a low voice which reinforced her sadness about Hyun-Joong not letting her do this at least sometimes. However, this wasn't how Si-young felt. She was totally stunned with shock.

"Huh?" she murmured with big eyes putting her sandwich down. "Hyun-Joong doesn't study?" she asked again to make sure that what she heard earlier is entirely true. Mrs Kim nodded reassuring Si-young. "What is he doing now?" she asked.

"He goes to bed early." As Mrs Kim says that Si-young's eyes became even bigger. She couldn't believe that Hyun-Joong doesn't study and is already asleep during the week where everyone is studying for their finals. 

"Eh?" there was a pause in the room which let Si-young process everything. "So Hyun-Joong is really a genius," she asked with an unsure smile on her face.

"But is that a good thing?" Mrs Kim asked the question for both Si-young and herself to think about. Mrs Kim is clearly upset how Hyun-Joong isn't like other kids and doesn't study. 

"Huh?" Si-young hushed confused at Mrs Kim's response and sad expression. 

"I don't know how to say this, but I feel like he'll lose something by staying like this." As Mrs Kim said her sentence she supported her head with her hand and wondered what that thing that Hyun-Joong may lose is. 

"Hyun-Joong will be just fine!" Si-young put a smile on her face and reassured the worried mother. "I mean, he has such an amazing family." as she spoke Mrs Kim turned to look at her and looked at Si-young with love in her eyes, just as if Si-young was her own daughter. 

"Thank you." Mrs Kim thanked Si-young for her kind words and smiled yet again completely reassured. Out of the blue, Mrs Kim had an idea come to her which made her clap her hands and widen her eyes with excitement. "Si-young." as Mrs Kim leaned in Si-young leaned as well with the same energetic movement and a big smile. "Do you want to see an album of Hyun-Joong as a kid?" as Mrs Kim was finishing her sentence both women got even more excited and Si-young totally agreed with that idea. "Wait for a second!" Mrs Kim said standing up and walking out of the room to get the album leaving Si-young excited to see the album.

***

After a while where Mrs Kim was gone looking for the album she finally came with the albums which she dropped on Si-young beds. The five albums she brought along with her bounced back from the bed and finally settled as both women sat down on the bed. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Mrs Kim said as she relaxed on the bed. 

Si-young grabbed the second album from the pile and opened it whilst supporting the album on her lap. As she opened the album Mrs Kim looked over and also looked at the pictures. When Si-young saw the first picture she fangirled over them and laughed out loud. "Amazing!" she stared in detail at the pictures in front of her and studied them carefully not to leave anything out. 

"My photography skills are almost professional." Mrs Kim said whilst making her hands pressing an imaginary button on an imaginary camera. Si-young looked at her admirably. "I like taking pictures." Mrs Kim continued showing her passion for photography. "But, I don't have many recent ones," she said disappointed. "Since Hyun-Joong doesn't like taking photos, Hyun-wu even has begun to copy him." as she said that her face sunk. "I miss those days."

"So Hyun-Joong was good looking back then, too," Si-young said aloud those words whilst being immersed in the photographs. Mrs Kim looked at her realising that Si-young likes Hyun-Joong but doesn't dare to say anything. "I remember this one," Si-young said whilst looking at Hyun-Joong's picture of when it was the first day at the Tounan High School. She touched and admired the angles of where the pictures were taken from… but in reality that wasn't what she was admiring. It was the person in the pictures. Pictures like Hyun-Joong giving a speech on the first day of the school caught her attention and reminded herself of what Hyun-Joong has said on that day and how she reacted. 

*

I'm grateful for the warm words of encouragement my seniors have given me.

*

As she reminded herself of that beautiful day she couldn't help but smile at the memory and the picture. Mrs Kim yet again noticed that and gasped silently whilst looking at Si-young with exhilaration. Si-young moved through the pages and saw all kinds of pictures of Hyun-Joong. She especially liked the ones where he was playing tennis. This made her smile a lot more, so much that she started blushing and touched her cheeks. Mrs Kim didn't stop looking at Si-young reactions which she didn't mind at all. It seemed like the woman had a great plan in her head already sorted out and that made her smile wider and wider. 

As Mrs Kim moved from album to album they stopped upon Hyun-Joong's baby pictures. 

"Oh, he's tiny!" Si-young exclaimed and applauded the photographs. However, suddenly she stopped upon a picture of a little girl with a pink dress, white blouse and pigtails. She frowned and moved to another picture to see if there's anymore… and there was. The same girl but in different clothes. Si-young was confused so she asked. "Who is this little girl?" she asked the woman sitting beside her. 

"This is… Hyun-Joong." Mrs Kim said it before she could start laughing. 

"No way!" Si-young said astonished. She couldn't believe that this little girl was actually a boy but eventually she also started to chuckle at some of the pictures. 

"He was so cute, wasn't he?" Hyun-Joong's mother said as she adored and cherished the memories that she had of those moments. "I wanted a girl so badly that I told myself that this child will be born a girl. So, I only bought the girls' clothes. Then things just escalated from there." the woman giggled and laughed whilst looking through the photos in the album. "Things were fun back then." as she said this she realised something. "You are the first person I've talked to about this. It's a secret from Hyun-wu, too. Hyung-Joong told me to never tell him. For now, let's keep it a secret between us." she said it with a mischievous smile and placed her index finger against her lips looking at Si-young. Si-young smiled mischievously back and agreed with Mrs Kim. 

Then Mrs Kim grabbed the album from Si-young and turned a page and unpeeled the see-through material and got out one of the photos where Hyun-Joong was dressed up as a girl with a dress and flower crown on his head whilst making a cute peace sign with his tiny fingers.  

"Well… I'll give you," Mrs Kim popped the picture up in front of her face. "this one as a bribe for keeping the secret." as she finished her sentence she passed the picture to Si-young and she gasped and grabbed the picture from the woman.

"Really?" Si-young asked, totally stunned. "Thank you so much," she replied and admired the picture she was given. "Cute!" She drew a circle with her finger on the photograph.

***

It was the next morning. Everyone was at the table apart from Hyun-Joong, he was just coming through the door. As he was walking across the living room he grabbed a newspaper and then slowly made his way to the dining room whilst observing the front page. On the other hand, Si-young was sitting in her seat with a cup of tea in her hand and locked her eyes on Hyun-Joong, but looked away whilst trying not to laugh but she fails and releases small laughter and looks down not to catch attention to herself.  

"Hyun-Joong, good morning." his father spoke up greeting Hyun-Joong. 

"Good Morning," he replied politely, finally sitting down opposite Mr Lee's seat, who wasn't there.

"Good Morning." Si-young welcomed Hyun-Joong with a cheeky voice and a smile which she was yet again trying to disguise. This made Hyun-Joong stop what he was doing and look at Si-young with confused eyes. She still looked very mischievous which made Hyun-Joong a little uncomfortable but he shrugged it off and went on with his breakfast. As he looked down at his newspaper he started to read the latest news, however, that was interrupted by Si-young uncontrollable laughter, making everyone look at her apart from Hyun-Joong which was still more interested in his newspaper and coffee.  

"What is it Si-young?" Mr Kim who was sitting at the end of the table asks glancing at her. "Are you sick?" he then proceeded to ask. Si-young looked at him with blank eyes but that didn't stop the images of Hyun-Joong looking like a girl flash before her eyes. 

"No' it's nothing," she answered, still holding her cup against her lips and then sipping from it.

"Maybe she went nuts after studying too much last night?" it was only a matter of seconds before Hyun-wu would add his 50 cents onto the table and as usual it wasn't needed. Fortunately, nothing could potentially bring Si-young's mood down because as long as Hyun-Joong's baby pictures flash in her mind she was always smiling and controlling her laughter. 

Eventually, Hyun-Joong looks up and notices Si-young laughing audibly which made her look a little bit like a psycho but yet again Hyun-Joong went back to reading his morning newspaper not thinking much of it. 

***

Si-young was in her class, sitting in her desk going through her notes and preparing to make Hyun-Joong regret his behaviour towards Class F. The whole class was chatting and goofing around but Si-young, with a straight face and determination continued learning and remembering her notes.

"People don't live a meaningless life. 1861 American Civil War, 1861 American Civil War. People liberate slave warriors, People liberate slave warriors. 1863, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation." As Si-young was studying her friends arrived in the classroom and walked up to her. "People let the involuntary slaves, who lead a meaningless life…" Si-young continued to speak aloud her notes.

"Si-young, you really are serious about this" Rae-In admitted as she held a bag of sweets in her left hand whilst looking at Si-young.

"People liberate slave warriors." Si-young continued to chant her sentences; Rae-In and Yong-Soo slowly backed away sitting in their places behind the concentrated Si-young. "And next is… uhm, overnight they dropped their work." With a bubbly spirit, Si-young's admirer came up to her. 

"Hi, Si-young!" Hyeon-jun walked over to Si-young's desk and kneed down; placed his forearms on her desk, which then proceeded to look at Si-young. "Where are you living now?" he asked with a continued bubbly personality but she didn't even waver and continued to study without a single look at Hyeon-jun. He then waved his hand in front of her face but still, there was no response. Si-young just looked right in front of her and spoke her history key phrases louder off by memory. "There really is something wrong with her," Hyeon-jun whispers under his breath.

However, out of nowhere, a completely different voice came from a different part of a classroom which made Si-young stop immediately as she had an idea of who it could be.

"Si-young." she briskly stood up from her chair and as she was standing up she turned towards the entrance of the classroom. She was not able to process fast enough the situation. Hyun-Joong in Si-young class. Calling her name. In front of everyone. This was so bizarre she couldn't believe it. However, when everyone else went quiet and leers in the same direction she knew this was for real and she wasn't just imagining this situation. After a second for the whole class to process the fact that the genius of the school is in the lower class, standing in the door was asking for a girl that he rejected. They powerfully move and stare at him confused and stunned. The person that was the most appalled was Hyeon-jun, who nearly collapsed seeing Hyun-Joong here. 

"Kim Hyun-Joong!?" Everyone in the class practically screamed his name trying to make sense of this situation.

Hyun-Joong being Hyun-Joong kept his unbothered and blank face which just stared at Si-young.

"You jerk, how dare you talk to Si-young!" All of a sudden Hyeon-jun started to rapidly head to him but one of the classmates stopped him in his tracks.

"Ms Lee, could you bring your bag and come out for a second?" Si-young didn't respond for a while but eventually, she nodded and responded completely out of her mind. 

"Yes," she responded quietly whilst nodding and without breaking eye contact between them. Hyun-Joong then without a second look walks out of the classroom which makes Si-young's body react and grab her bag.

"Could you bring… your" Hyeon-jun repeated his enemies words as Si-young walked past him with her bag in her hand. "Could it be that that jerk Kim has changed his mind and wants to date her after all?" Hyeon-jun blurts out what's on his mind whilst still keeping his eyes on the door Si-young has just walked out of.

"No way!" her friends suddenly exclaim and look at each other astonished. 

Everyone started to move and hurried after Si-young just to observe both of them.

As Si-young and Hyun-Joong stand outside her friends follow them from behind. Hyeon-jun disguises himself with a wide-green leaf which he held against his face. All of the rest followed his lead with leaves in their hands as well. 

"What is it?" Si-young asks as she looks up at Hyun-Joong because of their height difference. He then proceeds to lift up the bag he has with him and takes out a lunchbox covered in a pink cloth. 

"It looks like my mom made a mistake," he states as he holds the lunch box out to Si-young to pick up.

"Oh," she replied and also looked in her bag to give Hyun-Joong his correct lunch box.

Si-young's friends still crept around the bushes and saw everything happen.

"You're right," she states and opens her bag for Hyun-Joong to drop the lunch box inside and grab his back which was covered in a blue cloth.

"If the rumour mills in my class saw this, it would raise hell," Hyun-Joong says as he swaps the boxes.

As Si-young friends watch they try to figure out what's going on.

"Wait!" Yong-Soo whispers. "The two of them just exchange something, right?" she continues with a question. 

"What is this?" Hyeon-jun asks as he looks back and forth. 

"Things can get really inconvenient." Hyun-Joong continues rambling on about a rumour being created. "Why do both of us have to be at the same school?" he asks himself as he looks away in the distance, annoyed.

Si-young's though doesn't care much as she remembers about yesterday afternoon and this morning and tried not to burst into laughter but instead she has a plan for revenge. 

"Seriously. You might even mistakenly wear my uniform to school." As she speaks she has a very suspicious smile on her face which Hyun-Joong finds quite worrisome like he did this morning but shrugged it off but the fact that it's back really makes him think twice. 

"Why would I wear your uniform?" he asks looking back down at Si-young, who looked like the happiest person alive. 

"Because you were used to wearing a skirt when you were small, right?" she finally blurted that sentence out that was bothering her since this morning. Hyun-Joong's face abruptly turned from a blank one to a totally troubled one. His eyes have never been wider in shock. This made Si-young smile even wider when she popped the picture out of her bag which showed Hyun-Joong dressed like a girl. "Tada!"

"Why do you have that?" he raises his voice in panic pointing at the picture.

"Your mom presented it to me." she turns the picture around and looks at it with admirable eyes, as she knows she can win any war now.

"Jeez, mom." Hyun-Joong puts his hand back into his pocket and rolls his eyes but then realises that Si-young still has the photo. "Anyway, give it back." he releases his hand yet again and asks for the picture back.

But Si-young, without hesitation declined it. "I refuse."

"Give it back!" Hyun-Joong raises his voice and reaches for the picture but Si-young is faster than him and pulls away.

"I refuse!" she replies, also raising her voice and shoves the picture into her shirt pocket where Hyun-Joong definitely won't reach out to. "I mean, you always bully me. Once in a while, I have to get back at you." she turns her head back around and gives Hyun-Joong a big joyful smile. "Even geniuses have weaknesses, right?" She looks him up and down with a smug expression which usually belongs to Hyun-Joong but this time it's Si-young time to shine. 

"So you intend to blackmail me?" Hyun-Joong asks as he looks down at the floor with his normal calm tone as before and his hands in his pockets. As for Si-young, she didn't sympathise at all, she still looked smug and quite enjoyed it.  

"I'll give it back but there is a condition." Si-young was again facing Hyun-Joong whilst looking up at him. He looked quite defeated but he couldn't think about his pride right now so he had to play Si-young's game. "For the next week, until the final exams, can you be my tutor?" She made her puppy eyes and held her bag knowing that she'll win this war even if it means that she'll be able to show the baby picture of Hyun-Joong to everyone.

"Me?" he asks as he finally turns to face Si-young who nodded and had a smile on her face. "Your tutor?" yet again she nodded with hope in her eyes. 

"How about this? If you get me into the top 100, I'll return the photo." She looked at Hyun-Joong's face which said it all.

"I refuse." he turned around about to walk away.

"Why?" Si-young asks, offended following his almost walking away figure.

"The most important thing is the ability to tell apart the impossible and the possible - Philip Chesterfield," Hyun-Joong replied with a quote whilst keeping his back to face Si-young who was still staring at Hyun-Joong's boring back. 

"F-Field… What do you…" Si-young mumbled in confusion under her breath but loud enough to aggregate Hyun-Joong.

"Basically, challenging the impossible is a waste of time!" he finally cried out in full annoyance at Si-young who just looked at him baffled and annoyed. "Getting an idiot like you in the top 100 is obviously impossible!" as he was about to walk off, Si-young pulled out her special card from her sleeve and decided to remind Hyun-Joong about what's at stake. 

"Then I'll pass this around the school!" Even though Hyun-Joong said some nasty thing to Si-young's face, this didn't upset her much. She knew she had the upper hand in this situation and she could do anything and Hyun-Joong would have to obey and as she spoke her words she pretended to pull out the photo and go into the building. 

"Ah, wait, wait!" Hyun-Joong finally gave in and came back towards Si-young which has her hand still on the picture behind her blouse in the shirt pocket. Her smile was mischievous and she teased Hyun-Joong by pulling the photo in and out of the pocket. 

"Fine. Starting tonight, I'll teach you for one week." As Hyun-Joong agreed on the agreement Si-young stopped playing with the photo and fully focused on Hyun-Joong's words. 

"Really?!" Si-young exclaimed excitedly while studying Hyun-Joong's expressions whether he's being serious or not.  

"But, I won't be cutting you any slack," he warned Si-young carefully, to which she understood and nodded. "The top 100 ranks are usually filled with class A and B students." he continues explaining the situation. "It's going to take divine intervention to get a class F student like you in." Si-young nods determinedly and locks eyes with Hyun-Joong for a few seconds.

"Then, tonight," he states again and walks past Si-young back inside, leaving her alone. She took a couple of breaths and suddenly started to smile to herself whilst having a tight grip on her bag.

"Si-young!" All of a sudden Hyeon-jun ran out from behind the bushes with his friends and Si-young's. Hyeon-jun grabbed a hold of her arms which she proceeded to back away but that didn't go as planned. "Did he do something weird to you?" he asked in a demanding manner and wide eyes. 

"What did you two talk about?" Rae-In asked straight after and also grabbed her shoulders.

"Oh, it was nothing," Si-young said, a little astonished by the situation. "Then, I'm going to study hard." as she says that sentence she marches off in the same direction where Hyun-Joong walked off earlier back into her classroom leaving everyone dumbfounded as well as entertained. 

***

Everyone was sitting comfortably at the table and ate their delicious dinner which was prepared by Mrs Kim. 

"Eat up. Hyun-wu, don't leave anything behind." Mrs Kim said, making sure that her son ate everything off his plate. 

"That's right, Si-young. At the table, eating is your job." Mr Lee also made sure his precious daughter ate everything which Si-young agreed to as she really loved food.

"Have some of this white radish. The flavour has really marinated well." as Mrs Kim was speaking Si-young glanced at Hyun-Joong who was eating his dinner with his natural dull resting face. However, she wasn't thinking about his face or his attitude but the fact that she'll be studying with Hyun-Joong alone. 

'Studying alone with Hyun-Joong, will happen?' she smiled to herself and looked down so no one would notice but on the inside, she was going wild with excitement. 

"Si-young, I'll make you some late-night snacks tonight too, okay?" Mrs Kim looked over to Si-young and who smiled thankfully to her.

"Thank you very much," she responded by putting a fork into her mouth that had greatly marinated meat on it.

"Mom, make two sets tonight." Hyun-Joong finally poked his nose out of his bowl of rice and faced his mother who was at the end of the table.

Everyone went completely silent. Hyun-Joong's father stopped and glanced at his son from time to time and back at his wife confused at his son's sudden interest in studying. Even Hyun-wu looked at his brother in shock.

"Two, you mean…" Mrs Kim stuttered not wanting to puzzle the situation into something completely different. "you're going to study too?" she asked with her chopstick and bowl still lingering in her hands. 

"That's right." He confirmed her assumption calmly and grabbed a piece of radish from a plate in the middle of the table. 

"With Si-young?" Hyun-wu asked with his hand over his mouth still entirely muddled. He just couldn't put the pieces together to why his brother who was a genius and Si-young who was dumb would study together. "Help me with my studies, too," he complains and uses his index finger to point at himself.

"You're doing just fine." Hyun-Joong places his water down and turns his face to the side to answer his brother gently. "Let's start," Hyun-Joong demanded and at the same time glanced at Si-young who was still chewing her food. As he stood up every eye followed his movements, everyone was still shocked and utterly didn't know how to act upon this bizarre situation. 

"Thanks for dinner," Si-young mumbled as she still had food in her mouth; also stood up and pushed her chair in under the table. 

As she followed Hyun-Joong up the stairs she felt she was stepping on thin ice and didn't know whether walking on this ice will lead her out of this situation safely but she didn't really care and was still really happy.

When Hyun-Joong finally arrived in front of Si-young room and as he was about to enter, he remembered that this is a girl's room now and backed out. He then turned around to see Si-young and moved out of the way as well as pointing for her to go in first. However, she looked at him bewildered and wasn't sure what he meant until a couple of seconds passed and she processed what he was trying to communicate.    

"Come in," she said loudly with nervous laughter and awkward posture. As he walks in he closes the door behind them; slowly turns back around and takes a couple of steps towards the table where Si-young prepared tons of books that they'll have to go over for the past weeks. 

"So…?" he starts with his natural posture. "Which one to start? Which subject are not good at?" he continues while noting Si-young's facial expressions. 

"Probably math?" she stated, scanning Hyun-Joong's mood.

"Then that one," he says standing still in the same spot and watching Si-young going through all the books on the table looking for the math book. As she looks through the layers of thick materials Hyun-Joong with one steady look notices the math books and decides to grab it and steps over to his side; grabs a stool which he then moves to the desk where they will be studying. "What's the range?" he asks as he places the stool and sits down.

"Isn't it the same for all?" Si-young asks as she glances over her shoulder and back at her books to organise them in the same order. 

"I don't know that," he states looking through the book.

"The range is…" Si-young starts and leaves a pause in between as she looks for her notepad. When she picks it up from the table she flips through the lined pages and inspects the pages for the right one. "Up to page 40," she says reading off her notes and looks back at Hyun-Joong who hummed in response. 

Si-young then moves closer to Hyun-Joong and takes a seat in her chair right beside Hyun-Joong. 

"Then what will be asked is…" Hyun-Joong starts as he finishes checking the book. He looks up from the book and looks at the desk while Si-young straight away knows what he needs so she grabs the closest pen to her and gives it to Hyun-Joong. The pen has a squishy pillow-like material at the top and is all pink; she passes him the pen; he observes it but not for long, then goes back to marking the book. "This and…" he flicks a couple of pages and Si-young focuses closely. "this and…" Si-young looks at what Hyun-Joong is circling and asks.

"How do you know that?" she asks with her hands on her knees.

"These are the basic points," he replies, taking his eyes off of the book just for a second to look at Si-young which then went back to marking the book. 

"Hyun-Joong, how do you usually study?" Si-young asks him nervously, remembering what his mother said yesterday about him not studying at all. 

"Once I listen or read, I can remember." Si-young smiled at his response but then it came to her how smart he is. "Then I'll give you some questions, find the answers," he states and grabs the notepad that was laying in front of Si-young; started to prepare some practice questions. Si-young sat quietly and patiently as Hyun-Joong wrote some questions for her to do and as he does that Si-young couldn't help herself but glance at him a couple of times to admire his focused expression. "If you can solve this, you can get around 80 points." he places the notepad back to where he picked it up from and places the pen back down with the notes. Si-young smiled, lifted her sleeves up and looked down at the pad where she had the prepared questions. When she studied and read the question her confidence slowly started to drown. Hyun-Joong observed her as she was attempting to complete it but as she was trying to do so she felt like he was looking at her so she turned to Hyun-Joong and looked back at the question. Hyun-Joong knew what that look meant so he came to rescue Si-young with a slight sigh.

"What the hell are you listening during the class?" he asks tilting his head and staring at Si-young's side profile is not a good amusement. "I'd like to see the inside of you head." he smacked a pencil that he was holding in his hand against the desk and leaned his arm on the desk, his head on his hand whilst sighing louder this time. 

"I'm sorry." Si-young apologized and gave the question another look.

*** 

At the same time as Si-young was studying with Hyun-Joong, his parents were right below them discussing what happened at dinner. 

"What's going on?" Mr Kim asked his wife as she was pouring tea for herself and her husband with a big happy smile. "For Hyun-Joong to study with someone else, what could have made him change his mind like this?" as Mrs Kim finishes pouring the hot water Mr Kim grabs his teacup and sips from it.

"Seems Si-young is even more amazing than I expected." Mrs Kim gently claps her hands together and looks in front of her remembering the scene from dinner and looking at her husband in amazement. "In this short time, she's already managed to change him so much." she looks up at the ceiling where Si-young and Hyun-Joong are studying.  

"Perhaps it's a good chance for Hyun-Joong." Mr Kim adds and what he said frustrated Hyun-wu who was sitting behind them drinking his milk whilst reading a book. However, the book wasn't as interesting as his brother changing his attitude so suddenly. Hyun-wu wasn't dumb, he knew that something wasn't going well but there was nothing he could do as he respects his brother a lot which means he needs to respect his decisions. 

"Right? You think so, too?" Mrs Kim assured and they both agreed apart from Hyun-wu.

"Let's just watch them for now." Mr Kim added.

***

Back at Si-young room, Hyun-Joong started to print things out as she was observing his actions from behind a chair. 

"Do you have some tape?" Hyun-Joong asks as he looks up at Si-young. She turns around to look at her desk and pick up a roll of green, decorated tape.

"Here." She passes him the tape and he scans it around just like he did to the pen she gave him earlier but he shrugged it off and used the tape to tape pieces of paper together. Hyun-Joong then lifted the two joined pieces of paper and showed it to Si-young.

"You must follow this schedule," he says with a straight face. "Even when you go to the toilet or take a bath, don't ever put the flashcards down." he continues with a serious tone. 

"Spartan!" she exclaims whilst looking at the schedule in front of her face. "Monster!" she continues.

"You don't have time for such silly complaints," he says, putting the schedule down on the table and extends his arms to grab another book. "Then we'll go over the math formulas today." Si-young shrinks in her seat and exhales exhausted.

"It's past midnight already…" she starts staring at Hyun-Joong who has already opened the book.

***

It was around 7 A.M. and Si-young had already arrived at school. She was sitting in her space by the window going through the notes from earlier this morning. Her friends were sitting a row away from Si-young and observed her carefully as they snacked on their food. 

"M is 3 and parenthesis X minus plus… Is -5." Si-young spoke aloud as she answered the question.

She was keeping up with everything on her schedule just like Hyun-Joong told her to. When she has completed something she stuck a colourful sticker on her schedule and carried on with another task every day.  

The next day she went to the library where she could focus on her studies closely.

As days passed she learned; studied without stopping. She was like a machine that wanted to do her best. 

Every night she would study with Hyun-Joong but as time passed she was getting more and more independent and started to understand most of the questions.

She studied everywhere and anywhere she could. On the stairs, in the hallway, at breakfast and even when she was walking to school with Hyun-Joong he tested her. Though he was walking in front of her and she kept her 2-meter distance just like he told her to.

"So far in English?" Hyun-Joong asks.

"So far," she answered correctly in English. 

"In other words in English?" he asks again.

"In other words," she replies correctly in English.

"On purpose in Korean?" he asks.

"What?" she asks, getting closer to Hyun-Joong.

"On purpose in Korean," he repeated himself.

"On purpose?" she asks. "That's… On purpose?" she answered in Korean. "On purpose," she answered confidently this time.

As time was running out her schedule sheet became more and more colourful with stickers as she successfully completed her studies. 

***

One day in the library she finally finished her work and dropped her pen.

"All done!" she said to herself and stretched her muscles. She then looked around remembering something that Hyun-Joong said before. She stood up, walking through some massive shelves and looked for the correct aisle scouting for the name of the author. Pointing with her index finger she slides past all the incorrect books. "Ph… Ph… Ph…" Si-young mumbles quietly under her breath and finally notices the book she has been looking for. "Philip Chesterfield.'' She picked up the book and opened it.

***

THE 

DAY 

BEFORE 

FINALS

Si-young and Hyun-Joong were back at it. In her room answering questions from all different subjects. Hyun-Joong handed over Si-young a sheet of paper that looked like a pre-exam test. 

"I made a list of expected questions for the exam so try to solve them," Hyun-Joong said as he placed the paper down in front of sitting Si-young on the floor. 

She gave the questions a careful look. "Oh…" she commented and quickly started on the first questions. "It's awesome. The answer really comes to my head." She boasted excitedly glancing at Hyun-Joong that was doing something at the desk but then he turned back around to Si-young.

"Do it fast," he says as he smacks some other papers down on the table. "You have other subjects." he continues fully facing Si-young which made her straighten up with a smile.

"Yes!" she exclaimed and went back to studying. 

***

After hours of answering and helping with answering questions, Si-young finally finished the final paper.

"Equal to the one-half square." she drops the pen still looking down at the questions and sighs in relief. "Good, it's all done!" she grunted with a smile on her face but when she looked at Hyun-Joong who didn't say anything her smile slowly faded as she realised that he was asleep with his head on top of his tangled arms. She tilted her head closer to his and whispered. "Are you asleep?" she asked to reassure herself that he really is sleeping. Also, she knew that she wouldn't get another chance to see Hyun-Joong sleep peacefully, she placed her arms on the table and laid her chin on top of her forearm which she then had a perfect view of Hyun-Joong's handsome sleepy face. 

'Hyun-Joong's sleeping face' she thought in her head. Si-young couldn't stop admiring Hyun-Joong's perfect features, she could not even find a single flaw because every flaw was perfect to her. Her dark brown eyes sparkled as she heard his gently breathing. Her heart pounded faster, but she didn't mind it as this was one her favourite days of her life and she wasn't about to get stressed out about her heart; she did not waste time.

Eventually, Si-young also fell asleep. All the studying until late made her the most tired she has ever been. So she, as well as, Hyun-Joong closed her eyes and fell asleep on the table with papers all over. However, soon after a knock came from the door and Mrs Kim spoke. 

"I brought the night snack." Mrs Kim said gently as she pressed on the door handle and opened the door slowly poking her head out and seeing the situation. Her jaw drops a little and comes in further into the room reassuring herself that she isn't going crazy. She holds her excitement in as best she could and chants a happy rhythm to herself but then she realised she should save this moment forever so she ran out of the room with the snacks and came back with a big camera in her small hands but she didn't come inside the room straight away. To avoid waking the two, she stood outside the slightly opened door for just the camera to get through; flashed a picture. When Mrs Kim noticed that they didn't wake up she welcomed herself in again and started to take multiple pictures as quietly as possible. 

***

The morning came and Hyun-Joong finally woke up. Sleepily he opens his eyes slowly adjusting to the lightning and lifts his head up noting that he's still in Si-young rooms but when he looked around she was nowhere to be found so instead he looks back down at the table from where he just woke from and shifted his eyes a bit further up which then he noticed the finished test by Si-young. He grabs the first one from the pile and checks it. 

After some time he decided to go downstairs. As he walked into the kitchen with his natural posture, hands inside his pockets and dull face he caught Si-young making coffee. At first, she doesn't notice him because he stood in the door frame but after he stares at her for a while she looks up and gives him a smile. 

"Good morning," Si-young politely welcomes him whilst stopping pouring the boiling water. "I made coffee. Would you like some?" she asks with a bigger smile still holding the kettle in her hand. Hyun-Joong nods and hummed in response. She then continued pouring the boiling water and Hyun-Joong sat on the chair and waited for his coffee. 

Si-young poured coffee into two cups and placed them on little plates which she then proceeded to pick them up and hand one to Hyun-Joong and sit down on a chair opposite him. 

They both pick their cups up, however only Hyun-Joong drank his coffee as Si-young was too busy examining Hyun-Joong's expression as she doesn't want her coffee to be nasty. So before she could drink she needed Hyun-Joong to drink his and earn his approval. As his lips interacted with the china glass he sipped on the hot coffee unbothered but when he tasted he pulled away from the cup a little to let his taste buds enjoy the taste of the great coffee. He was impressed by Si-young's skill and really loved it, he was surprised that Si-young actually did a good job at making this coffee. He drank some again and placed the cup back down on the table; they sat in silence after and enjoyed their coffee in comfortable silence. 

***

It was time to go to school. Si-young speed-walked to the front door and put on her light brown school shoes. 

"I'm off to school," she remarked about to walk of the house but Mrs Kim had something to say to Si-young.

"Si-young, wait." Mrs Kim called for Si-young and ran to where she was with a very gentle and exciting smile. "Here," she said, reaching out both her hands which had a flowery decorated envelope. Si-young grabbed it and examined it.

"What is it?" Si-young asks and tries to open it but Mrs Kim suddenly stops her.

"You can't open it yet." She warned, holding Si-young's hand gently. "After the test result, open it when you get in the Top 100." she continued with a cheeky smile, but Si-young didn't notice it and kept on listening to Mrs Kim. "It's a lucky charm until then." she finally states pulling away from her hands from Si-young's. She then flips the envelope and reads what on the front.

'To Si-young. A lucky charm'

"Thank you." Si-young thanks Mrs Kim and realises that Hyun-Joong was also downstairs already putting on his shoes and walking out. 

"It's only the end of term tests. You're overreacting." Hyun-Joong started with his normal low, dull voice. His mother shakes her head in disagreement but still didn't stop smiling as she knew what was in that envelope. 

"Thank you so much. I'm going to school." as she finishes speaking she turns around following Hyun-Joong's tracks and waved goodbye to Mrs Kim with the envelope still in her hand. 

"Have a good day." Mrs Kim responds back and also waves them goodbye. 

***

Si-young was walking through the hallways repeating what she has learned for the past week, getting ready for the first test this morning. 

"Considering their mutual relationship, uhm… Cosine is okay, sine is okay. The double angle is okay. Good. It's perfect." Si-young finally closes the book in her hands feeling ready for her test and that makes her more than happy. As she walked forward and looked up the stairs she noticed Hyun-Joong. Wanting to talk to him she took a step forward however she remembered something he told her to do and when he notices Si-young he walks slower for a second but goes back to his normal speed.

'I'm told not to talk to him at school' 

Si-young then walks forwards and as Hyun-Joong walks down the stairs and is at the bottom she says quietly: "Thank you." but what she didn't expect is for him to respond.

"Good luck." as usual he kept his cool and low voice; didn't stop walking. Si-young, on the other hand, stopped right in front of the stairs going down and quickly turned around seeing Hyun-Joong heading in the same direction where she just came from. She couldn't believe that Hyun-Joong actually responded and that's what gave her even more encouragement to kick the test butt. With satisfaction, she heads downstairs.

***

Si-young and including her whole class were all sitting in their seats. As the teacher handed out the tests from the front, the students gradually passed the papers up to the back until everyone had a test in front of them.

"Then, start the test." the teacher spoke giving everyone a sign to start writing whilst standing in front of the classroom with a wooden stick in his hand.

The whole class turned their paper. Some laughed and some moaned out of annoyance.

"I don't know." someone said from the other side.

However, Si-young was so immersed in her test that she didn't even look up or moaned out of annoyance of not knowing the answer. It's the opposite, she smiled knowing everything with just one look.

'This one is the same as Hyun-Joong's question! This one, this one, this one, too!' she exhaled, tightening the grip on her pen and finally started her test.  

***

3

DAYS

LATER

***

Every student made their way outside. They were cheering, laughing and chatting about the horrible exams, but that didn't stop them from finally having a breather away from those desks.

Si-young, Yong-Soo and Rae-In all walked out of the building and made their way to the gate. They jumped in joy and waved their hands in the air with complete carelessness. 

"It's all done!" Yong-Soo shouted with one hand in the air and the other holding her bag. 

"Then let's go play!" Rae-In suggested and they just couldn't reject that offer after hours of sitting.

Suddenly a group three boys sped towards the three girls. It was Hyeon-jun and his other two friends. 

"I want to go!" Hyeon-jun screamed as he ran to the girls.

"Me, too." his then friend also wanted to join. 

Hyeon-jun then got Si-young into a gentle headlock and hugged his head against hers. "Si-young, I won't let you go," she said loudly whilst not letting go of Si-young with his one arm. 

"Let me go, let me go." she insisted but Hyeon-jun didn't budge which she then busted in laughter.

"I won't let you go." he refused, smiling. "You haven't hung with me lately, so I won't let you go today!" he complained, still having Si-young in a gentle headlock but pulled away from his head from hers. 

"Well… I can't help then," she shouted with a playful manner holding onto Hyeon-jun's forearm. 

"Where are we going? Where to?" Yong-Soo shouted from behind the two.

"Let me take care of that. Let's go!" Hyeon-jun lifted his free hand along with his bag and rushed towards the exit with his friends following him.

At the same time as they were being chaotic Hyun-Joong walked out of his classroom straight outside with his friend, Min-Jae, noticing Si-young and her friends running towards the gate full of excitement. He just plainly stared at them, while walking down the stairs.

"Huh? Isn't that the girl who confessed to you?" Min-Jae asked, also walking down the stairs and staring at the distraction. As Min-jae stopped for a second to observe the chaos furtherly Hyun-Joong carried on walking down so Min-jae also hurried over to Hyun-Joong. "She's already going along with another guy," he states while looking at the back of Hyun-Joong's head and then looking down watching his steps.

"I don't care," Hyun-Joong replied with a clearly unbothered tone and just focused on making it down safely.

"Sure." Min-jae agrees with Hyun-Joong as it's absurd if he did actually care. He's a genius in Class A and Si-young is a complete airhead who is in Class F. There's no possible way of them ending up together. "Right!" Min-jae suddenly remembers something. "Class A is doing an after-party at the coffee shop. Do you want to come?" As Min-jae spoke, the conversation suddenly interested Hyun-Joong but he looked ahead of himself and wavered. "Well you wouldn't go," Min-jae says which is usually a reasonable answer for Hyun-Joong. 

"No, I'm coming today for a change." As Hyun-Joong decides to go, Min-jae's head shots towards Hyun-Joong utterly surprised at the sudden change.

"What? Really?" Min-jae asks.

Hyun-Joong then looks to his left, beholds the group of boys and girls where Hyeon-jun still has his arm around Si-young; Hyun-jun doesn't really know what to think about this.

"It's the first time you're like this in the last 3 years," Min-jae states, studying Hyun-Joong's expressions.

"I thought it'd be nice sometimes," he says, swinging his schoolbag onto his shoulder while watching other students.

"Let's go, go." Min-jae pats Hyun-Joong's back and quickly moves before he could change his mind.

***

RESULTS

DAY

***

Every student in the 3rd grade was standing in front of a long piece of paper hanging on the wall. This long paper had the Top 100 students. 

"You're in second place again." someone teased their friends who can never get the first place. 

All of a sudden, Si-young was pushing and sliding through people to get to the front.

"Excuse me." she finally gets to the front and checks the board.

1. Kim Hyun-Joong

As Si-young was admiring the genius's perfect score, at the same time Hyun-Joong was on the other side of the wall, also scanning the board for the correct name. When he finds it he smiles slightly whilst exhaling. He then made his way away from the board, but as he did that Si-young did the exact same thing. She walked out from around the corner and faced Hyun-Joong. She ran up to him and also stopped in front of her.

"Congratulations on being the top. You got full credit," she states as she intertwines her finger together. Hyun-Joong just stood there with his hands in his pocket and listened to Si-young.

"Good for you. You made it." he then says calmly but SI-young just looked at him blankly. "Didn't you see?" he asks.

She then walked around from where Hyun-Joong came and he followed her actions with his eyes. When she saw her name she couldn't believe it. "It's a lie!" she exhaled with her mouth making the "o" shape.

100. Lee Si-young

"100th place? 100 place? It's a lie!" she was so happy she jumped up down with a giant smile on her face. Finally, she ran back to where he was and boasted about her being in the Top 100.

"Hyun-Joong, 100th place. I made it! I'm so happy!" she looked up to note Hyun-Joong's eyes but as normal he didn't show much of happiness, but instead he reached his hand out with the palm facing upwards. Si-young then grabbed it and shook it bursting with excitement. "We made it!" he yanked her hand away.

"Not that! Give me back the thing you took before," he says whilst still reaching out his hand for the photo of him dressed as a girl. Si-young stood still for second processing what Hyun-Joong has said and then came back to earth grabbing the photo, looking at up Hyun-Joong she smiled vexatious, pulling out the photo out in the open and holding it in the way where everyone could of possible saw it. 

"Is this it?" she asked with the same vexation. Hyun-Joong's eyes widened and acted quickly by snatching the photo out of her hands and whispering in an angry tone. 

"Don't just take it out like that!" he says looking around while Si-young still smiled from ear to ear. "And how many times do I have to tell you?" he folded the photo, putting it away into his shirt pocket. "Don't talk to me at school." he reminds Si-young who stopped smiling but it was clear that she was forcing herself not to smile. However, that didn't stop her for long because as Hyun-Joong had already turned around she called out for him again in a cute voice.

"Hey, Hyun-Joong." She exclaims and waits for him to turn around but as he was turning around Hyun-Joong was already annoyed enough so he just turned to her for the sake of her not following him. "What's important is to have the power to distinguish between impossible and possible. If it is merely difficult, all you need is the mental strength to follow throw." as she looks around trying to remember the quote Hyun-Joong let a very small smile crooked on his face. 

"It's 'through'" he replies, trying to be too open about how impressed he is that Si-young knew the quote. 

"What?" Si-young asks, wondering what she has said wrong.

"After that, "All you need is the mental strength to follow through, and an inability to give up, and things will work." he continues while Si-young listened to him patiently while reading Hyun-Joong's expressions which didn't change much. Si-young smiled gently shyly.

"You knew it already," she says, focusing on Hyun-Joong. "Something Chesterfield's continuation." Hyun-Joong finally gives Si-young a clear smile which he was trying to repress for a while. 

"Of course," he replies, whilst turning around going back to his original expression but on the inside, he was much joyous than on the outside. 

"Hyun-Joong, thank you!" Si-young exclaimed his name loudly whilst jumping up and down excitedly, waving her hands, but this time Hyun-Joong carried on walking up the stairs without looking behind him. 

***

It was a little later. Yong-Soo, Si-young and Rae-In were walking in the same spot as they were when the school year started. That's where Si-young was made fun of and laughed at for being rejected by Hyun-Joong but this time everyone's looking at her with admiration whilst complimenting her. All three girls walked proudly with their heads up and that's also all thanks to Hyun-Joong.

"She cut in the Top 100"

"That's great"

"She's the first smart kid from Class F"

"Finally you're the centre of positive gossip for a change." Yong-soo states whilst hiding her hands in her pockets with a big smile.

"Just being with you makes us proud, too." Rae-In continued rising her head even higher, keeping her hands crossed.

Si-young couldn't help it but laugh cheekily whilst having her hands behind her back.

"You're laughing too much," Yong-soo said shrugging her with her elbow and Rae-In with her arm.

Even though it seems like a perfect day for Si-young someone is still finding her situation very suspicious. The one and only admirer of Si-young's… Hyeon-jun and his friends. 

"Suspicious," he says while the other two agree with him as they step out from behind the bushes all at once and looking in Si-young's direction.  

"It's totally suspicious," the other two say in sync. 

"I knew it from the beginning. There has to be a secret at her new house." Hyeon-jun leased the three girls walking away and nodding his head. Even though he was worried about Si-young and where she lives, in his right hand he got his test results. While squinting he let a desperate grunt in annoyance. 

***

It was time for Si-young to say goodbye to her friends as they have to go another way.

"Goodbye."Si-young waves to Yong-Soo and Rae-In.

"Bye." she waves back and walks right whilst Si-young continues walking forwards,

She runs across the street slowing down as she gets to the other side. When she's walking on the path her arms swing forwards and backwards and the other hand has a gentle grip on her bag. The smile on her face couldn't be more genuine. However, Hyeon-jun and his two friends kept on following her. As Si-young walked past the bushes, they individually started to pop out from behind. Hyeon-jun had glass on which also game with a fake nose, then the other two had black hats and glasses on.

"Aren't we too obvious." Hyeon-jun's friends asked who had binoculars in his hands and observed Si-young.  

"Stupid, whatever it is, the look is the most important." Hyeon-jun corrected his friends and knocked his hat.

"You're right," he responded agreeing.

"Let's go," Hyeon-jun ordered.

***

After a while of following the joyful and full of life Si-young, Hyeon-jun and his friends finally got to the place. However, Si-young suddenly stopped walking which made all three males behind her stop as well and then proceeded to back away but Si-young looked up behind the buildings where the sunset was completely oblivious to the people following her. She then stretched her body and ran to the gate on her right, the boys obviously followed her. When she walked onto Kim's property the boys behind her stopped by the gate to observe her. They carefully scanned the area and carefully scanned Si-young's actions… and indeed she walked into the house. 

"So it's here," Hyeon-jun stated to himself while stepping out from behind the wall to get a better look of the house. "There's no way Si-young can live in such a big house!" he groaned, still very suspicious and also remembering his last idea about how she could be working there as a maid. "She is being used as a maid by some rich jerks after all." he turned around to his friends.

"You're right." they agree.

"She's so pitiful." Hyeon-jun continues with a sympathetic voice. 

As Hyeon-jun feels down and sympathies for Si-young, his friends look around. Finally, one of his friends noticed a sign.

"Look at that," he says while pointing at the sign. "Kim!" he sounds shocked.

"What do you mean, Kim?" Hyeon-jun asks, looking at him and at the sign.

"No," his other friends continued. "Kim is written right there." he grabs Hyeon-jun by his jacket and guides him to the sign. 

"Kim?" he asks.

"Yes."

"What is this?" he points at the word below which is in English.

"Family," he says in English. "It means, Kim's family." he translates for Hyeon-jun.

"Kim's family," Hyeon-jun repeats the words in Korean. However, it took him a couple of seconds to realise something. "Kim?" he shouts and points his finger at the house. "No." he then takes turns to look at the sign and back at the house absolutely in denial. "But there are tons of people with the name Kim in Korea." he turns back to his friends looking for reassurance, which he gets but not for long. 

"Look over there!" his friends say as he notices Hyun-Joong walking in their direction while reading a book.

"Kim," Hyeon-jun whispers under his breath. "Oh, hide. Hide!" he ordered as they looked for a spot to hide, the only spot was a little alleyway which they ran to and hid behind the wall while staring at Hyun-Joong and pleading in his mind that he won't go into the same house. "No…" he says with his hands dropping to the floor but he quickly picks them up and hurries to scout for Hyun-Joong who already was near the door. "It can't be…" he tries to deny what his eyes are seeing. As Hyun-Joong walking through the door and closes it Hyeon-jun suddenly screamed. "AAAAAHHHHHHH!" which then proceeds to stare at the entrance in silence for a couple of seconds and drops his bag in absolute shock as his body starts to fall backwards and his friends catch.

***

It was the next day at Tonan High School.

Si-young was already inside her classroom getting her things out. Finally, her friends come through the classroom door welcoming her. 

"Good Morning." Yong-Soo moaned tiredly whilst walking past her and leaning against the window.  

However, out of nowhere someone screams Si-young name from the top of their lungs.

"Si-young!" they all turn their heads towards the window that is between the classroom and the hallway. They see a running, out of breath Hyeon-jun. He stops and looks through the open window and then runs to the door. Everyone in the class is used to Hyeon-jun's outbursts so they just laugh it off. As Hyeon-jun runs through the door he swiftly passes the desks and makes his grand entrance in front of Si-young. "Si-young!" he says as he grabs her by her arms. She, on the other hand, doesn't know what to do so she just listens to Hyeon-jun stunned. "Si-young! You're living at Kim Hyun-Joong's house right now?" he finally lets his words flow as he takes deep breaths. Literally, everyone in the classroom heard him which made them turn all their attention to her.  

"Eh?!" everyone exclaimed. Including her friends. Si-young was really shocked but had to compose herself and quickly started to act.

"Yeah," she started as she pushed Hyeon-jun's arms off of her. "like that would ever happen," she says laughingly, smiling at Hyeon-jun.

"But I saw you walking into Kim's house with my own eyes!" he confesses whilst pointing at Si-young and his eyes. "These two are both witnesses." he grabs both of his friends.

"Yeah, we saw it," they admit and agree with Hyeon-jun. 

Si-young knew that she couldn't just give in so she tried to change their minds.

"Don't you think it was a dream?" she asks pointing at all three of them. "I mean I… at Kim's." she started to stutter more and more which didn't make her look good at all and at this point, everyone knew the truth. "we're both…" as she was trying to turn around to look at Yong-Soo she knocked her bag over and tried to pick her stuff up as she argued with Hyeon-jun but then she gave up on multitasking and just talked to him. Yong-Soo and Rae-In started to pick her things up and put them onto her desk. Unfortunately for Si-young, Yong-Soo found something she shouldn't have. 

"A good luck charm for Si-young?" she spoke to herself but no one heard because of the loud bickering in the background. So, while kneeling down Yong-soo opened the envelope and discovered the photo of Si-young and Hyun-Joong sleeping on the table. She then shot up from her keening position. "Wait for a second!" everyone went quiet as Yong-Soo stared at the photograph. She turned it around facing Si-young and asked. "What is with this photo?" her and Hyeon-Joong had the exact same reaction, they both let their jaw drop but before everyone could see the photo Si-young grabbed it from Yong-Soo, unfortunately, Hyeon-jun grabbed away from her and then the passing game started. 

"Wait, Si-young, what is going on?" Rae-In asks confused and not knowing where to look until Hyeon-jun next to her got the photo in his hands again and she stared at it in disbelief and back at Si-young was having a mental breakdown with her loss of words. Knowing that there was no way out of this now she caved in.

"I'm really sorry." she bowed seeing Hyeon-jun's panicked crying face and Rae-In's shocked one.

"So you are really… living at Kim's house?" Hyeon-jun started finally believing what he saw yesterday and started to cry dramatically. 

"But, but, but… it isn't what you think, Hyeon." she started to explain herself as she snatched the photo out of Hyeon-jun's hands. "Our fathers are best friends. You know my house collapsed, right?" she looked at everyone all over who was listening to the conversation. "So until we find out next home, they are helping us out. That's how it is." as soon as she finished speaking Rae-In stepped in.

"So, could it be that… Kim tutored you for the final exam we just took?" Rae-In's faces lighten up as she finally works how her dumb friends became the smartest kid in Class F.

"So that's why." Everyone chuckled and finally realised why she was in the Top 100. 

"I really couldn't understand your scores." her male classmates were not surprised. 

"Hyun-Joong really is a genius if he could get Si-young into the Top 100." a girl in the back said.

"That's a relief."

"I knew it couldn't have been Si-young's own skill." everyone laughed at the comment.

"Hey, you guys! That's a bit much, isn't it?" Si-young finally spoke up defending herself. Yong-Soo then walked around to Si-young, patting her shoulder and she got Si-young to look at her. As she sighs she grabs the photo again. 

"But don't they look kind of good together," Yong-Soo states as she looks down at the photo and then turns it around. "I mean, she and Kim Hyun-Joong are living under the same roof!" Yong-Soo screams excitedly covering her face with the photo and everyone 'who's' for Si-young and Hyun-Joong but Hyeon-jun clearly denied all that. 

Si-young thought he wasn't having it and disagreed. 

"That's not true." This made Hyeon-jun look in Si-young's direction and he immediately stopped making his dramatic upset face, following with everyone's laughter stopping. "I mean, Hyun-Joong completely ignores me," she says not looking at anyone but only down at people's legs. "He hates me." Yong-Soo slams the photo down on the desk and grabs Si-young's face, squeezing it.

"Si-young, you're so pitiful," she emphasised with a squeaky voice. 

"Yong-Soo!" Si-young exclaimed at the same time but stopped immediately after. "But, I'm over that cold-blooded person," Si-young states with a straight face and pulls away from Yong-Soo's hands and reassures everyone where she stands with her feelings. "I'm fine. But I've been told to keep our situation a secret at school," she speaks to everyone. "so everyone, please keep it a secret." she asks politely while clapping her hands together pleading.

"Leave it to us," Yong-Soo says whilst smiling at her and at everyone else. "Right guys?"

"Yeah! We won't tell anybody." Si-young bows and claps in thanks.

"You all are so kind!"

***

Si-young was finally at home after a long stressful day. As she was in her room, laying on her bed she had the photo Yong-Soo discovered earlier today. Si-young couldn't help herself. She created a heart with her finger around them both and then continued to stare at the great taken photo.

'But don't they look kind of goof together?" Si-young remembered when Yong-Soo made that comment which made her admire the photo even more. Eventually, she stood up from her bed, grabbed the photo and walked over to her desk still having her smile on display. As she opened the drawer in her desk and was about to place the picture in she noticed her love letter to Hyun-Joong which was still laying there unread by the person she wrote it to. That's when her smile disappeared, The memory of how Hyun-Joong humiliated her at the front gate in front of everyone came rushing by which made her realise that there's no point of having false hope. With that, she dropped the picture into the drawer and closed it. After she just walked back to her bed and flopped on it with a big sigh.

***

Another morning came. Hyun-Joong roamed the hallway searching for Si-young desperately. He speed-walked straight away towards her classroom and as he made it to Class F he grabbed both sides of the doorframe and looked towards the seat she normally sits in. Fortunately for Hyun-Joong, she was there, unfortunately for Si-young, she was there. 

"Lee Si-young!" he demanded Si-young's name and brushed past all the students and desks with a rapid walk. 

"What is it?" she asked, muddled and shocked at the sight of Hyun-Joong in her class. 

"Shut up and follow me." as he said he grabbed Si-young's arm firmly and dragged her out of the classroom with everyone looking at them and making chaotic loud noises. 

"I thought we couldn't talk to each other at school?" She asks as she tries to not fall down the stairs because Hyun-Joong is walking so fast. However, half-way through the stairs, she releases why he's so desperate. He then yanks her to the massive wall where the Top 100 results were just a couple of days again and Si-young didn't know what to say. The picture of them two sleeping on the table was all over the wall decorated in bright gold and silver decorations. The crowd was massive as well so there was no way of hiding the facts now. As she sees the wall she gasps and shifts her eyes to her friends giving flayer out of them both on it. She glances back at Hyun-Joong shocked but he was looking at the wall she then looks back at her friends and the big crowd completely speechless. She then walks over to Hyun-Joong and tries to explain herself. "Well, Yong-Soo and Rae-In…" she smiles trying to lighten up the awkward mood between them but Hyun-Joong bursts into rage. 

"What are you friends thinking!" he shouts loudly but no one hears him apart from Si-young because the crowd was gossiping so loudly. Si-young's smile also goes away as she sees how angry Hyun-Joong is, especially the way he looks down at Si-young. Disappointment, anger and annoyance. Holding himself back from saying more he turns around and walks back from the same direction he came from with Si-young.

*** 

It was in the afternoon. The hallways were empty as all the students went out to have fun outside. Hyun-Joong walked up the stairs and looked out the window and as he reached the second pair of stairs Si-young was standing at the top about to walk down. When they notice each other they stop for a millisecond but the Hyun-Joong carried on walking.

"Hyun-Joong," Si-young calls out his name gently following his actions carefully. "I'm sorry." he ignores her and keeps on walking on another set of stairs. "I'm really sorry." ran after him and finally got him to stop but his back was still facing her.

"You wrote me a love letter, so you might be ok with the rumours, but this is a real nuisance for me," he speaks with a firm and steady voice to get his point across to Si-young without misunderstanding. He then starts to walk up the stairs again but yet again stops but this time he turns and looks down at her. "From now on don't throw me off my pace again." for the last time he gave her the evil eyes and carried on what he was doing. Si-young looked at the stairs that Hyun-Joong just walked at, she was just blankly staring at them. As she pouted a tear rolled down her cheek without realising. When she wiped it and looked at her hand she was a little muddled up.

"Why… am I crying?" she asked herself aloud confused at the reason for tears and just stood in the same spot not knowing where to lay her eyes.