Don't Make Me Jealous
Her relief was short lived, however, for she had barely gone far when she heard the rumble of a bike. Instead of moving past her, he parked it just in front of her, turning the key off, and fixing his eyes on her.
What did he want? Ji Ah did her best to conceal her discomfort.
He gave her a slight tight lipped smile. "Let's answer a quick question. What is it between you and Kim Tan?"
Ji Ah had not been expecting that.
"Nothing." She answered, puzzled.
"What is it with you and Rachel then?" He fired another question.
"Nothing, at all." Ji Ah shook her head lightly.
"Then why did she take your flight card and why did you take her name tag?" He arched a brow.
"Why are you asking me all this?" Ji Ah wasn't going to explain it because she herself didn't know. "Ask Rachel, please."
The guy grinned boyishly. "In case, you are misunderstanding," His mirthful expression dropped suddenly in a disconcerting way. "Do you think I am asking nicely?" He muttered in a threatening tone.
Ji Ah's composure wavered dangerously, and she tried to recompose herself.
"That sounds like another question." She lifted her chin, attempting to fake confidence.
He raised his eyebrows as though impressed. "Answer at least one."
"Why do you want to know?" Ji Ah regretted uttering that question because she had a sudden alarming thought if she were supposed to know this guy too.
He smiled smugly and sat up straighter on his bike.
"I haven't seen anyone piss Rachel off that fast, except for me." He waved his hands in an exaggerated manner. "Besides we are on the same side." He grinned in a way that seemed both sly and flirtatious to Ji Ah. Ji Ah knew straight away that this guy meant danger.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Will you meet me again if I tell you?" He said huskily, with a steady gaze into her eyes.
"Ani." She said, repulsed.
"Why?" He raised eyebrows.
"Why would I?" Ji Ah widened her eyes.
"Why would you not?" He grinned mockingly at her.
Ji Ah scowled in annoyance.
"I have to go somewhere, please move." She said.
"Am I stopping you?" He mocked surprise. "You are standing here by your choice. Am I blocking the whole street?" He pointed towards the wide space in front of him smugly. "I was just exercising here." Grunting, he pretended to stretch on his bike, moving his arms forward one by one.
Ji Ah frowned at him in bemusement. What a weirdo!
She stepped around the bike, and moved past him. But he wasn't going to let her just go.
"Can I get you number?"
Ji Ah whirled around halfway, and stared at him incredulously. Why would she give this creep her number?
"I don't have a cell phone." She lied.
However, her phone decided to ring just in that very moment.
Ji Ah turned her head away, and clenched her eyes shut in frustration while he gave a deep and irritating laugh.
Letting her phone vibrate in her pocket, she attempted to walk away in embarrassment without sparing his annoying face another look, but he grasped her arm and tugged her back to him. Ji Ah gave a small gasp.
"What are you doing?!" She tried to sound angry, but her voice mildy trembled in fear. Her view was fairly obscured by a curtain of her dark hair hanging over her eye.
"Your number." He gave a slight tight lipped smile.
Ji Ah lifted her chin in defiance. "I don't want to give."
"I want it." He said as though that mattered more.
Ji Ah tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp, but he jerked her back. "Your phone?" He placed forth his palm in a demanding manner.
Ji Ah considered her options, glaring at his palm for a moment. Her eyes briefly darted around, and she bitterly thought why streets were always empty when she was in trouble.
Sighing exasperatly, Ji Ah flipped out her phone against her wishes, and thrust it into his palm. He smiled triumphantly, and dialed his number in it. His phone rang in his uniform blazer, and he ended the call before handing her phone back. Ji Ah snatched it from his hand, and pulled out her arm from his grip.
He accelerated his heavy bike, and the street filled with roaring sounds. "Don't ignore my calls." His smug smile was back, but she could feel the menace underneath. He zoomed away in the direction he had come from.
"Total weirdo!" Ji Ah spat aloud when he was out of sight. He was a student at Jeguk, Rachel was going to be there too and Kim Tan...
Ji Ah felt like crying in frustration. She had a feeling Jeguk was going to trouble her more than she already was.
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Ji Ah's nerves were in a jumble as she brushed her hair after putting on the school uniform. She pinned them back from one side and straightened her blazer. The scars on her leg from the accident were carefully hidden under the dark tights, covered by dark socks, beneath her skirt. A turtle neck sweater underneath her shirts had become a constant piece of clothing for her now. She decided to ditch the gloves today, but kept them in her bag in case she felt more cold. She couldn't catch a cold now or she wouldn't be able to work or study.
Ji Ah was determined to avoid Kim Tan at any cost. That would keep Rachel off her back too. But the bike guy...
He had called four times in the last 3 days and Na Ri had declined each one. She had expected threatening texts from him, but he had sent none.
Ji Ah added him to the list people she needed to avoid.
She walked to the school, and felt immense relief that it wasn't particularly far from her apartment. Jeguk High turned out to be incredibly different than her school back in Gyeonsung. One look at its building and a person could tell that money was used generously on it. Ji Ah would have never imagined that she would go to such a prestigious school. That made her think the same thought she had once before, how did I end up here?
Students were climbing out of lush cars and their chauffeurs were helping them in wriggling their school bags on. Ji Ah felt as if she had entered another world when she moved through the school gate. Boys and girls were chatting in english, their accents too american. Girls had bows, beautiful clips adorning their silky hair while Ji Ah fidgeted with the plain black hair clip on her not so sleek hair. People were discussing stock exchange and how many millions or billions they lost in it, today. Ji Ah tucked her hands into her pockets, feeling herself growing smaller.
Suddenly some people gave dramatic gasps, and rushed forward towards a crowd gathered outside the doors leading inside school building. Ji Ah thought she heard "Kim Tan" from someone. Out of curiosity, Ji Ah hurried after them too. Everyone was quiet, so Ji Ah tapped a girl on the shoulder, and asked her quietly as to what was going on. Ji Ah wasn't especially a curious person, but when drama happened, she would suddenly turn into one.
The girl didn't look at her, as she was trying to stand on her tip toes to look over the tall guy in front of her, but whispered briskly. "Kim Tan and Choi Young Do."
Ji Ah blinked. Who was Choi Young Do and what about him and Kim Tan?
Then she heard Kim Tan's voice, though she couldn't make out his words clearly. There was some other guy speaking too. Ji Ah also tried to stand on her tip toes to have a peek, but in vain. Out of nowhere, someone bumped into her and she stumbled forward with a gasp. The people she stumbled into, tried to push her away more and someone from behind roughly knocked Ji Ah forward. She cried out as she landed on the hard floor with a thump.
Wincing, Ji Ah raised herself on the floor and brushed her hair out of her face. Why would they push her like that?! She thought angrily.
Ji Ah's head snapped up when a wolf whistle came from above her.
"A holiday gift fell out of the sky!" Ji Ah's heart jumped to her throat at the sight of the bike guy standing over her with his hands tucked arrogantly in his jeans pockets, and a devilish amusment on his face.
Ji Ah sat up straighter on the ground, and to her utter horror, she realised that she had landed between Kim Tan and the bike guy --Choi Young Do.
She looked back and forth between the amused looking Choi Young Do and the stony faced Kim Tan nervously, while the crowd whispered.
Kim Tan stepped forward, and pulled her to her feet gently by her arm. "Are you alright?" He asked solemnly, a faint concern in his voice.
She nodded with wide eyes and burning cheeks. She had embarassed herself on the very first day at school.
"Go in. Get your class schedules." Kim Tan nodded in the direction of the doors leading inside the school building.
Ji Ah dipped her head and threw a brief look at Choi Young Do -- which she regretted at once because he was giving her a scary look with his eyebrows bumped together. The amusment had vanished completely from his face.
"Go," Kim Tan grumbled at her.
Ji Ah made to move forward, but Young Do's arm shoot out. He grabbed her arm and spinned her around, pinning her to his side in a second. Ji Ah inhaled the sharp scent of his cologne, as she tried to push his hand off her forearm, but he kept his grip tight.
"What do you think you are doing?" Kim Tan said in an eerily calm voice, yet Ji Ah could see anger burning in his eyes.
"We have a new classfellow, so introductions are in order." Young Do smirked. Ji Ah felt her hands beginning to quiver. She looked at Kim Tan helplessly.
"She is Cha Ji Ah. A transfer student. Introduction ends here." Kim Tan said before grabbing her wrist and jerking her out of his grip.
But Young Do grabbed her other wrist.
Ji Ah's shoulders hunched slightly as she was stuck between them with each her wrist in Kim Tan and Young Do's hands. She cursed herself inwardly for coming near the crowd. She always ended up at places she didn't want to be.
"And how do you know her?" Young Do said, his expression back to being scary.
"Why do you care?" Kim Tan shoot back. Ji Ah tugged at her wrist in Young Do's hand, but he didn't let go. Everyone was watching. She felt her face flush even more.
"I want to be friends with this pretty girl here." Young Do lifted a brow, pointing a finger at Ji Ah. "But I can't be if she is the friend of my enemy."
"And what if she is?" Kim Tan said sharply.
"Then I would need to break this friendship." Young Do gave a sly smile.
Ji Ah looked back and forth between them in apprehension, feeling her throat constrict.
"You are better off without friends. You tend to stab them in the back." Kim Tan seemed to be trying to restrain his anger, as he took a step forward, with her wrist still in his hand.
Young Do also stepped ahead, grinning smugly "There are such friends who should be stabbed everywhere." He drawled.
Ji Ah yanked her wrist out of their grips. They were making a show out of her.
They both looked at her, as though they had forgotten she was there.
She fixed her gaze on the ground and there was a faint tremor in her voice as she spoke. "Please continue your quarrel without me."
Ji Ah turned on her heels and made her way towards the school doors, with a bent head while people parted to give her way.
She sullenly made her way to the teachers' office after asking around for it.
A teacher asked her to fill out a form. Ji Ah hesitated at the parents section momentarily, before writing real Cha Ji Ah's parents' names. Mr Seo had provided her with all the basic, non basic information about the real Cha Ji Ah. Ji Ah had memorised them thoroughly.
The teacher in front of her eyed her with a barely concealed interest when Ji Ah uncomfortably wrote Mr Seo's name and contact information in her guardian section.
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One thing I forgot to mention: Choi Young Do's mother is dead in this fic. Young Do couldnt meet her before she died so he blames Kim Tan. They are enemies because of this. This part will be further explored later on.
~Fawns