Don't Flirt With Me

Ji Ah woke up terrified and gasping for air.

She wraped herself inside the blanket, tucking it under her. Like a monster was out to get her. It was a childhood habit. She laid trembling under it despite the sweat on her face and neck.

In her nightmare, Mr. Seo had been chasing her through dark alleys.

And just when she had thought she had finally escaped, her father came to stand in front of her. She had almost forgotten his face. But not really, since he was still in her nightmares.

Yesterday had been chaotic. And this morning was full of regrets.

She had no idea what had come over her. To make her behave so rudely with Mr. Seo. She knew from beginning that it was going to be like this, that she would have to listen to Mr. Seo. He had saved her. He knew all about her, her weaknesses, biggest secret. And she owed him a great deal more than just her life. What right did she have to simply get up and do whatever she wanted?

With Kim Tan, yes. But not with Mr. Seo.

As she got ready for the school, she made up her mind to go and apologise to Mr. Seo after the school. Before he could get real mad at her. She had never really seen him angry. And God forbid, she didn't want to. All men were scary in anger.

Anxiety swirled in her stomach at the thought of seeing Mr. Seo after the school. Would he yell? Or hit her? Or would he simply abandon her? Would he remind her of what she had done to the real Cha Ji Ah? Ridiculous fears weighed her down and she had picked her cuticles enough to see red on her way to the school.

The school gate, its towering buildings came into view and she remembered something.

Choi Young Do.

"God no..." She groaned.

Should she just turn back? No, that was not an option.

It was not that big of a deal though. She was freaking out for no reason. On the bright side, it was a good thing that Young Do was not bothering her to spite Kim Tan. She just had to be careful now. Avoiding him had not worked. Ignoring him annoyed him. She only had to maintain boundaries with everyone. Kim Tan, Mr. Seo, and Young Do.

But she doubt that would work for Young Do.

He always managed to force his way into the boundary. She couldn't help but be a little afraid.

As she dragged herself through the school corridors she was still mentally calculating if she could manage to avoid him at school for the... rest of the year..?

"What's got you focusing so hard?" Young Do fell into step beside her. "Are you thinking about me?"

Speaking of the devil...

She looked ahead. Act cool. "I have better things to do."

Young Do was saying something in response but as she saw notes in everyone's hands, Ji Ah suspected she did have a better thing to do which she had not done.

"You are sure this will be on the test?" Bona was pointing to something on her notes and Chan Young was guiding her.

"What test?" Ji Ah asked, heart sinking.

"The test we have today," Bona said.

"We had a test?" Young Do rubbed his eyes, not much bothered by this revelation in a my-father's-rich-anyway sort of way.

"Ofcourse, it's Friday," Chan Young said and left with Bona.

"No!" Ji Ah cried. How could she forget a test? "I have not studied at all. What I am going to do? I can't fail!" She hated such unexpected events.

"It's okay," Young do said. "It's just a test, even if you fail-"

Ji Ah turned on him. "What do you mean it's just a test? I can't fail! I have never failed a test in my entire life. Not even once." Her pristine record was going to be tainted. It was okay if she went a few ranks down, but failure? No way!

Young Do blinked rapidly. "Okay-"

"It's all your fault."

"Why is it my fault?"

If this crazy jerk had not instigated Kim Tan, if he had not come to her during her parttime job and blabbered on nonesense then she might have remembered studying.

"If I say it's your fault then it's your fault," Ji Ah said and started towards the class.

Young Do followed behind, mumbling things about being blamed unfairly.

Everyone took their seats and the test was about to begin.

Young Do came close to the chair beside her and she glared at him. If he sat there, she might do something to him. He must have sensed her dangerous thoughts too for he eyed the pen clutched like a knife in her hand (totally unintended on her part, really), and walked off to a few seats behind her. Good for his own safety.

The test paper came into her hand and she took her time cursing Kim Tan, Mr. Seo as well as Young Do. The last man got extra special time.

How could a top student fall to such level that she forgot to study? Her father was not here to give her hard time over it, but still she had her pride.

Wait, calm down Na Ri. You got this.

Thankfully she had paid attention in classes, so she knew some of answers on the test. Maybe she would not fail afterall.

Ji Ah was knocking her head miserably against her locker.

She sensed a few students around her giving her funny looks. Yes, she was being loud and people were staring, but who cared right now. because it was loud. She had written the correct answer, then erased it and written the wrong one. She was going to get a lower rank, maybe even fall out of the top ten.

She knocked her head again.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself here?" Bona opened her locker beside Ji Ah.

Ji Ah didn't respond, and banged her head on the locker. She wanted to be left alone in her misery.

Myung So also appeared on her side. "You are gonna create a dent in the locker. And in your head." He said it far too enthusiastically. His test must have gone well.

"I wrote the right answer, but then erased it and wrote the wrong one, thinking it was the right one but it was actually the wrong one." Ji Ah tried to explain tiredly, her voice half muffled against the locker.

"What?" Bona and Myung So asked in unison.

"I messed up my test." Ji Ah summarized, and removed her head from the locker to look at them sadly with all the hair dangling on her face. She didn't even know why was she telling them that. They were not even friends.

Myung So patted her shoulder awkwardly with his notes in a consoling manner, which didn't console her at all.

"It's good thing for you." Bona said taking out textbooks from her locker, and pausing a moment to glare at Ji Ah. "If you got the first rank instead of Chan Young, I would rip out all your hair."

Ji Ah scoffed. Was anyone even normal here?

"Ya, Bona, that's not fair." Myung So complained on her behalf.

"Do you want your hair ripped out too?" Bona closed her locker, and stalked away from them.

"Well..losing is winning too." Myung So said in his earlier enthusiasm, which although seemed somewhat forced now, Ji Ah still shoot him a piercing glare.

He blinked several times, then turned around and moved after Bona awkwardly.

"Nut house, this is a total nut house!" Ji Ah declared out loud, startling a few people.

Then she went back to banging her head on the locker, and it felt almost therapeutic. Maybe she even softened the locker because it was squishy under her forehead now. It wasn't even loud anymore.

Wait, that was not locker.

It was someone's hand.

"Stop it," Young Do said. "Your temple is all red."

As if she cared. "Just leave me alone!" She grumbled. "I am going to get a really bad rank, that's worse."

Young Do groaned dramatically, withdrawing his hand. "It's okay, you can do better next time. Look at me, I didn't study either. Do I look worried to you?"

"That's because you are Choi Young Do, but I am Hae Na-" She stopped dead. "Cha-cha Ji Ah, I am Cha Ji Ah." She recovered quickly, but her pulse had sped up at her mistake. It appeared Young Do had not noticed.

No matter what anyone said, she was still Hae Na Ri.

But wasn't it nice to not be Hae Na Ri too?

"Old habits don't completely go away," she said. "Because you can't change who you are. No matter where you go, what name you have, it is not possible to run from yourself." Her thoughts were all over the place and she likely didn't make any sense. "But what should I do then?" As she sighed, she looked up to find Young Do staring at her silently.

She snapped back to her surrounding. For some moments, she had completely forgotten where was she standing. And with whom.

Now she had one was more realisation.

The jerk had his hand on the side of her head, caressing her hair ever so slightly.

She slapped it away. "What are you doing?"

"Ouch!" He held his hand, overreacting. "You were looking sad," he said, looking like that bothered him. Was he trying to comfort her then? As if he had never bullied her and made her sad.

Jeez, she had spoken too much. Maybe she was too desperate for friends. But Young do was not a friend.

He proved it by smiling flirtatiously, and leaning in and saying, "And really cute too. You know what, I can give you a hug if you still feel bad about the test." He opened his arms and leaned closer.

"Ya, don't-" Ji Ah shrunk into herself, feeling her cheeks grow hot. She was unable to complete her sentence; Don't flirt wth me!

"Don't what?" He licked his lips, smiling slyly at her reaction. Her red cheeks had not gone unnoticed.

"Crazy jerk..." Ji Ah just mumbled curses and hurried past him, hearing him laugh, a sound annoyingly deep like his voice.

That weirdo always got a kick out of teasing her.

After school, Ji Ah braced herself for her meeting with Mr. Seo. She had contacted Secretary Ahn and now she was walking to his office. Her heart twanged wildly in her chest.

He would be mad right?

There would be some yelling, (but that didn't seem like him). Maybe he was just going to treat her coldly. Or would he hit her? Beat her up? Was he that kind of a person too?

She knew she was overthinking stuff, but that didn't stop her from doing so.

But as she sat near Mr. Seo, he at the head chair and Ji Ah on the long couch– one thing was clear;

He was definitely mad.

Still, she had to be brave. This was her chance.

She took a sip of cold cola that had been served to her, aware of Mr. Seo intently staring– or glaring at her. Waiting for her to apologise, it seemed.

So she cleared her throat. "Ahjussi, I am sorry for snapping rudely yesterday," she started. "I was just stressed out about my studies. I am really sorry." She watched him carefully, any line on forehead (none), or any change in gaze (none), and continued meeker than she had intended. "But I still think that it would be better to maintain a boundary -I mean I, sort of -it's not like I can actually become Cha Ji Ah and completely live her life. It can be different, like sort of– it would be better for me to remain distant from her life, and I have my own– you understand what I am trying to say?"

"The strange language you are using? No. But I got the context." Mr. Seo said. Ji Ah felt pathetic. She should have practiced her speech before.

There was some silence between them as Ji Ah sensed Mr. Seo was collecting his thoughts. He was in one of those three piece shiny grey suit, with a golden tie clip. Maybe it was actual gold.

"Do your realise-" Mr. Seo said, smooth yet stern, an all-business manner. "-there are people who are trying to find my weaknesses, and they might stumble upon the truth once they took a closer at your life."

Ji Ah had not thought about that. But who could think of such a a bizarre truth anyway?

As if guessing her thoughts, Mr. Seo added. "There are people who do know about you. It was unavoidable. Therefore I want to establish your position so strongly that no one could point any finger at me." He was worried for himself. "You are my weakness," he said, slowly and emphasizing each word.

There were people who did know about her. For a while it had completely slipped her mind. It was a cousin of his and some 'trustworthy people', he had said a long time ago.

"The people who know about me," she begun carefully, "Are you saying they will use me against you?"

"Possibly, at some point. But I am not stupid. I made sure that I have their weaknesses too. It's an insurance that they will never go against me because I also know what can make them crumble down like a building on fire." There was a hardness in his eyes now. A threatening sort that she had seen in her father.

He has my weakness too, Ji Ah thought, having a moment of nausea. Was that an indirect threat or was she reading too much into it?

He was a scarier man than she had assumed.

She wiped her sweaty palms on the other side of her skirt discreetly. "Ahjussi, when can I move in?" She asked. "The new place that's close to school."

The threaning aura diminished, and even though he was not smiling, she thought he did look a little amused. "Take your drink." He said, grabbing his tea and taking a sip. "Why do you look so scared? I was not threatening you."

"Ofcourse," she said. Ofcourse you were threatening.

"Did something happen at school yesterday?" He asked unexpectedly.

"No, nothing. Why?"

"Don't hide things from me. I will find out anyway."

Should she tell him? Maybe he would talk to Kim Tan. But what if Kim Tan spewed some nonsense about Young Do in front of Mr. Seo?

"I am not hiding anything. I forgot that I had a test. It went bad and I might get a really low rank," she said. It was a perfect excuse. "I have never fallen out of top 10 before."

He seemed to buy it. "Don't overwork yourself. It's fine as long as you are not lower than 40," he said. "And you can move in tomorrow. Just pack your clothes and essentials. Secretary Ahn will take care of the rest."

The idea of living in a new unfamiliar place made her anxious. But it had to be done.

"And make sure to discuss whenever you don't agree with something, and not just storm away," Mr. Seo said.

Ji Ah cleared her throat, trying to stay polite and not be snappy. "It is also better to discuss before making such decisions and not just tell me to do this or that!"

Darn it, she had snapped!

Mr. Seo looked at her as though he had not been expecting that. Neither was she. What could she do, she was full of surprises.

Anyway, after a bit of arguing, Ji Ah trying to stay polite and Mr. Seo becoming irritated, they came to the decision that Ji Ah would move to a better place, have a decent monthly allowance, and she will not work parttime anymore. She had raised objection at the last two but Mr. Seo was Mr. Seo. She had to give in, particularly after the indirect threats she had received today.

Regretfully, he was that one person she would always have to obey.

As Ji Ah left the office building, on the pavement, a girl suddenly jumped in front of her, startling her. The girl was blocking her way deliberatly. She appeared 2 or 3 years younger than Ji Ah. Straight long hair like Ji Ah, small face and mischief eyes. She had a Rachel-like haughty aura as she scrutinised her.

And she was in Shinwa Highschool uniform.

"Sorry, do I know you?" Ji Ah asked. If she were a junior, then it was unlikely for them to cross paths. Shinwa High had separate buildings for junior and senior students. And they didn't like to mingle much because of the slight age difference.

"So you are the fake one." The girl looked her up and down.

Ji Ah's stomach went cold.

She was not talking about her identity, was she?

"What do you mean? Who are you?" She tried to appear calm.

"Real Cha Ji Ah's real cousin," the girl said, crossing her arms and emphasizing each word as though teaching her. "Park Han Byul."

Cousin. She was Mr. Seo's cousin's daughter. That cousin who knew a lot about Ji Ah. She had a file on them stashed in a drawer back in her apartment.

When Mr. Seo had said there were people who knew about her, she never thought she would have to face them herself someday. She had assumed Mr. Seo would take care of everything, like he always had. But now a person who knew her worst memory and worst weakness was standing here.

And she didn't look like a friend.

So Ji Ah quickly stepped around her to leave, but Han Byul stuck out her foot and Ji Ah tripped over it. She was completely unprepared. Her cheek grazed against the pavement, her knee knocking painfully into it. The same one she had fractured in the accident.

"How dare you ignore me? Do you think you are actually Cha Ji Ah?" Han Byul smiled, shorter than Ji Ah but still looking awfully tall now that she was on the ground. "I don't want anyone to see us together that is why I didn't come to see you at school. But maybe I should pay you a visit too. Ask your classfellows what they think about you."

Was she kidding? Ji Ah couldn't herself from doing it.

She kicked Han Byul in the ankle.

A new character has been unlocked, tada!

One thing: I am uploading this fanfic on Wattpad too, so for that I was editing chapters and stuff and to my horror, I found many types and many scenes changes without any indicator. I am so sorry for it. I am a really 'out of it' sort of person. So I can't guarantee there will be no more such typos and stuff in future. I apologise for them in advance. Once I have completed a chapter, I am just way too excited to quickly edit and post it.

Hope you all are enjoying it. I also apologise for such slow updates. I love you all.

And I would really appreciate feedbacks :)

~Fawns