Choi Young Do is not impressed in the least as he's dropped off at school by his father's driver. He'd wanted to ride his motorcycle, but his father had adamantly refused, declaring that if he got even close to suspension one more time he would disown him. He'd countered that by inquiring what would happen to his inheritance then.
Will you give it to your favourite mistress? Or share it out amongst them?
The comment was well worth the now healing bruise on his cheek.
Young Do began to amble towards the office, having purposefully had his driver drop him off on the complete opposite side of the campus. He was supposed to have a meeting with the Chairwoman this morning – the Principal had long since grown tired of his antics – and Young Do was in absolutely no rush to attend. The longer the Chairwoman had to wait, the frostier her office became and Young Do always preferred the cold. He stuck his tongue in his pockets as he whistled a tune that was majorly off-key.
According to his expensive watch (that he'd bought on his father's credit card when he'd been itching to piss him off), the first bell should have rung nine minutes ago; meaning that everyone was in homeroom and the hallways were empty.
He was halfway to the office (having deliberately taken an alternative, longer route to avoid passing classrooms – he wasn't particularly in the mood to be gaped at through the unnecessarily large glass windows yet), when a figure suddenly appeared around the corner.
The figure in question turned out to be a girl walking rather briskly, phone out and pressed to her ear. He could hear her talking to it in a hushed tone, and the voice didn't register as familiar. Young Do couldn't remember seeing her before, and he had an extensive list of all of Jeguk High's students in the forefront of his brain so that he could cross-reference businesses and weaknesses and the like – and his curiosity sparked.
"Go Min Kyung I am going to kill you and then dance on your grave," the girl hissed into her phone, her head was down as she walked, glaring intensely at the floor.
Young Do chuckled lowly at the girl's threat, and remained where he stood in the middle of the hallway; arms crossed over his chest as he watched on in amusement.
Let's see where you stand, girl. I wonder if you'll be so quick to threaten me?
"My second week of school and you have already made me late twice, after insisting that it would be much faster if I came with you," she continued and Young Do smirked. "I am going to key your car I swear to God. No I am not joking, you just let me catch you."
Apparently Jeguk High had tried to sneak in a new student while he was suspended, probably to give her a chance to settle before he decided whether or not he wanted to strike. To give the appearance that it wasn't as dangerous as he made it. If Jeguk Group was smiling upon him, this girl would be in his class. There was definitely room for her, a chair and desk directly on his right, left behind after Yoo Rachel had decided to transfer to some fancy language school somewhere else to escape their insanity.
And insanity took the form of Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang.
Young Do probably would have contemplated transferring to, if his record wasn't as dirty as his father's money. Plus, finding a school willing to sweep most of his discrepancies under the rug in exchange for Zeus Group's support wasn't all that easy.
He promised that he'd increase Zeus Group's support and buy a major amount of stocks if Jeguk presented him with this present. All wrapped up in a peach skirt and fresh blazer.
The girl swore angrily into the phone in a different language – Young Do couldn't hear it distinctly enough to place it but filed the information away in his mind nevertheless – and then tapped the phone, clearly frustrated to hang up. As she slipped it back into her inner blazer pocket, Young Do took a large step to the left and shifted so that he was directly in front of her as she walked.
Time to see what you're made of, new transfer student.
The girl bumped straight into him, her head colliding with his chest. He caught her shoulders gently as she bounced backwards.
Start off gentle, and then see what you find when you crack open the surface.
The girl bowed her head.
Respectful, good. It's better to know where you are, although it borders on becoming boring.
The girl made to move around him, but he held her shoulders tighter, forcing her to stand still. "Watch where you're going next time, or someone might just trip you," he said, plastering a smile on his face and tilting his head to the side. He made sure that his words were polite, as well as his expression, but his voice was low – the kind that had been known to raise goose bumps on more than one occasion.
It appeared to have the opposite effect on her however, as her politeness disappeared and she twisted her shoulders aggressively out of his grip and glared at him. The rate at which her respectful demeanor was dissipating was impressive.
Maybe not that boring after all.
"Am I the only one who can see?" she retorted, and she looked him up and down embarrassedly, and he watched as she took in his height. At this proximity, she had to peer up just to look him in the face. How cute.
Tae Yeon assessed him. He was taller than Tan and Min Kyung for sure, and she didn't recognize his face from when she'd introduced herself to the class last Tuesday, or after walking around the school for a week. It triggered alarm bells in her head, and she hushed them. "Maybe you should watch where you're going too, sunbae."
The last word was said with more spite than Young Do thought a girl of her size could contain. It was refreshing, having someone stand up to him again. Eun Sang had been the last one dim enough to dare, and even then the liveliness had been stomped out of her after her final 'win' with Tan. He wasn't as eager to crush it out of this new girl. Not when things were just beginning to get interesting.
His smirk grew wider. "Look at this little transfer student," he reached down to ruffle her hair and the flush of anger on the girl's face doubled in a way that was pleasing to Young Do's eyes. "So respectful, yet such a temper. Let's see if we can't get that under control and turn you into a proper lady."
She huffed and made to go around him again, and this time Young Do made true of his warning and stuck his foot out. He watched her fall for a fraction of a second, before grasping her upper arm and pulling her upright again. He watched the disbelief and then anger flit across her face, and remembered another similar situation and another similar expression. Yet at the same time, this girl was already so different from Cha Eun Sang. Hopefully she could last longer before coming dreadfully boring and 'in love'.
You're pretty, transfer student. But I think we've all had enough of the transfer student meets rich boy love story.
"You - "
Unfortunately, he never got to hear what the new transfer student thought of him (at least not yet, he decided he'd have to trip her again at a later date in order to find out) for a loud voice suddenly interrupted her.
"Choi Young Do, what do you think you're doing?" Came a loud voice from behind him. Young Do cursed as the girl looked over his shoulder, her forearm still in his hold. He observed the shocked and then pleased look settle in her eyes.
Young Do closed his eyes. With my luck it would be the Chairwoman herself come to look for him – and if the news that he was manhandling yet another transfer student reached his father he would see just how serious his threats of disowning him were.
Especially if you're new money, he thought, examining the girl up close. There were no obvious signs of wealth, yet none of extreme poverty either.
Excellent, I love a mystery.
Turning around, a breath escaped his mouth that he refused to admit he'd been holding. It was Teacher Jeon. Teacher Jeon Hyun Joo if his memory of the articles that had been released last year were correct. The news that she was a poor girl who'd been given help from Jeguk Group had circulated like wildfire.
Perhaps for once you'll be all the more dangerous if you are on a scholarship.
He bowed his head respectfully as she neared him. "I was just playing with my new friend, Teacher," he replied, spinning the girl in question around and tugging her closer so that he could sling his arm over her shoulder.
"Interesting, because I was under the impression that you were supposed to meet the Chairwoman regarding your suspension this morning, and failed to show up. I also know that Tae Yeon-yang is supposed to be in home room."
The teacher looked him straight in the eyes when he spoke, and he felt a glimmer of respect for her. This was someone who had gone in and out of their world, and survived. Held her head high even when she knew the students thought nothing of her. Stayed with her job even when Young Do knew that she'd shed tears in her office when the news of Kim Won's engagement broke.
Then he processed what she'd actually said.
Tae Yeon, he mused. A first name's at least half of your identity. Yet a last name's all of it in this world. So what's yours transfer student?
Tae Yeon, a name to the face that Young Do was going to guarantee he saw more of.
"Apologies Teacher, but due to said suspension I was unable to greet our Tae Yeon-yang properly, so I have had to make my friendly introductions now."
"You're friends?" she scoffed, and Young Do wondered if he should point out that that was very un-teacherlike of her. Although he doubted she'd care. She was currently eying his arm around Tae Yeon's shoulders in disbelief.
"Yes Teacher," he said and pulled Tae Yeon closer to his torso. Surprisingly, Tae Yeon hadn't said anything since the teacher's appearance; perhaps she would be a good little victim and play along. Even more surprisingly, she hadn't tensed as he'd wrapped his arm around her, not even when he pulled her tight against him.
Are you always so careful around predators? Has my absence here made everyone go soft?
"Tae Yeon?"
"Yes Teacher. Only, I have one question," Tae Yeon continued, and shifted to look up curiously at Young Do through her eyelashes. He didn't miss the glint of malice in her eyes. "Do you threaten and trip all of your friends oppa?" She asked, voice innocent. She'd managed to switch from sunbae to oppa in a matter of minutes, and yet the mocking behind the words was the same. Switching from honourables, switching from polite to angry to innocent. This girl switched masks as easily as Young Do donned his own.
Teacher Jeon inhaled sharply at this, and looked at Young Do.
I've only just met you and I've already been wrong twice. I don't appreciate that Tae Yeon-ah.
Young Do said nothing, so she moved her gaze. "What happened Tae Yeon?"
"I was on my way to homeroom when I bumped into him. I tried to apologize but he threatened me, and held me so that I would talk to him. I tried to leave eventually but he stuck out his leg and tripped me, then caught me before I fell when you arrived." Tae Yeon paused and hung her head, biting her lip as if contemplating whether or not to add anything on. "I shouldn't have bumped into him, but I was worried I would be late so I was rushing and not looking where I was going," she blurted out, lying so smoothly that Young Do blinked.
"Don't worry though Teacher," Tae Yeon added. "Now that I think properly, our senses of humor are really similar, so I think we'll be good friends in the future," she said, smiling up at him and pinching his cheek.
Young Do stared at her in disbelief. The last time he'd seen someone act so normally and lie so easily, unafraid of his presence had been Tan. Yet this girl held a fire that Tan didn't possess. He'd always been tame, even more so when he'd met Eun Sang.
"Choi Young Do, consider this your final warning," Teacher Jeon said, pinching the bridge of your nose. "You are not to trip or threaten any more students or I'm sure the Chairwoman will call your father again. You're to come with me immediately."
At the mention of his father, Young Do's words returned to him, the bruise on his face burning hot like a brand. "Did the Chairwoman send you to fetch me?" he asked, feigning hurt. "Aish, I thought I was close enough to her heart for her to come to me personally."
You came to me and became a flower, Young Do recalled.
Tae Yeon was still under his arm, and if anything she had settled further into him.
Yet you're more like a bee, aren't you?
"The Chairwoman predicted that you wouldn't show up to your disciplinary meeting, so instructed me to take you to my office instead in order for you to take the test you missed due to your suspension."
He felt Tae Yeon's shoulders stiffen from where his arm was still around her. He wanted to question it, but instead focused on the conversation at hand. There would be time to question her to his heart's content later. "A test on the first day back, the Chairwoman must really have a crush on me."
Tae Yeon snorted at this, quiet enough that only Young Do could hear her. Her shoulders relaxed again.
"Maybe instead of tripping new students you should have been studying to avoid ranking 98th again," Teacher Jeon said, raising an eyebrow.
The temptation of where exactly she ranked, where all of the students knew she stood was on the tip of his tongue. Yet he was on thin ice already, just coming back from his suspension and he didn't want to fall through into his father's freezing waters. Especially not if he was planning on making these sorts of conversations with Tae Yeon on a regular basis, so he instead exercised some of his incredible self-restraint and controlled himself.
"98th?" Tae Yeon asked incredulously, and he looked down at her just in time to see her nod. "Well done Young Do-ah. From our conversation I'd have guessed you'd rank 100th. Or were only 98 people present at that time?"
Young Do glared at her, and wondered just how far his self-restraint would reach. This girl was already testing it, and it was their first of what Young Do would ensure were many encounters. The way she said his name with such familiarity aggravated him. It had progressed from sunbae to oppa to Young Do-ah in no time at all, and Young Do recalled how she'd sworn in a different language earlier, and if she was a foreigner to the country as well as to the school. Or if she simply had no fear at all, or wasn't aware of who he was.
No one called him that, even if it was just for show in front of a teacher.
"Surprisingly no," Teacher Jeon said and Young Do contemplated walking in the complete opposite direction just to get her into trouble. He was willing to bet that her position with the Chairwoman was just as precarious as his with his father's. "Come," she said and Young DO reluctantly slid his arm off to Tae Yeon's shoulders.
Tae Yeon grinned widely at him and held up a fist. "Oppa fighting!"
So they were back to oppa. Young Do snorted.
"I'll be sure to instruct your home room teacher that the reason for your lateness was Choi Young Do, and ensure that you won't face any penalties Tae Yeon-yang."
Young Do's expression turned incredulous as Tae Yeon's satisfied grin grew wider.
"Thank you Teacher," she said with a bow before turning around and continuing to class.
What are you?
Young Do sees her again at lunch. After his test he'd been pulled out of class to have a disciplinary meeting with the Chairwoman and to write a letter of 'self reflection' he'd started off writing about how beautiful he was when he looked in the mirror, but the Chairwoman had been reading over his shoulder and tossed it into the bin.
How rude.
He'd missed break and complained that his hand was beginning to hurt after all this writing, and asked if Jeguk High didn't have enough money to hire someone to do it for me.
He was treading a dangerous line, and he knew it. If anyone knew how to demonstrate a balancing act, it was him.
The Chairwoman had massaged her temples and replied that she doubted he'd done all that much work on his test anyway.
He would pay good money to see her expression when the rankings came out.
As Young Do had sat with the paper in front of him, he'd made the same decision he'd had to made all throughout his life: to do well or not. He usually weighed out the advantages each, and the possibility of angering his father by failing was an advantage that outweighed any other. Only today he saw Tae Yeon's smirk in his minds eye, the way his newest subject's eyes had light up when she'd heard 98th, and made a different choice.
When he sees her now, she's smiling instead and sitting diagonally across from Cha Eun Sang on the end of a table. A couple of girls around them are shooting them dirty looks but neither of them pay them any attention. On another day, the girls might have actually approached them, but Tan's looming presence from wherever he is probably wards them off.
Figures that my new playmate would befriend my old one.
He grabs a tray and loads it up with food, by the time he reaches the table Kim Tan is seated next to Eun Sang and Bo Na and Chan Young are seated together besides Tae Yeon.
Only one place left.
The gods are really smiling upon me today.
He slides into the space opposite Tae Yeon. Part of him misses his old table, with the legendary social welfare seat. No one ever sits there now, and it remains an empty skeleton, reminding him of the old days. He wonders where his old minions were, who used to flank him wherever he went. They'd dismissed themselves from duty upon realizing that Tan had replaced them and there was no need for them.
Maybe they'd transferred.
Tae Yeon looks up and notices him, pulling a face that's incredibly immature in contrast to how manipulative she'd acted earlier. He rests his cheek on his hand, elbow on the table and is once again reminded of a similar situation with another transfer student. One who is now seated next to him and dating his newfound friend.
They're both still testing the word out, and wondering if this time it will really take or once again dissolve into war.
Tae Yeon eyes his elbow distastefully, and Young Do tacks it onto her mental file. He wonders if she'll reprimand him for supposed bad manners, but she instead placates herself by placing a spoonful of her lunch in her mouth and pointedly looks away.
He continues to watch her for a couple of beats, to see if she will writhe underneath this stare – however she denies him the satisfaction.
Let's see what will make our Tae Yeon squirm.
"Our new transfer student is so pretty when she tries to ignore me," he announces and everyone else on the table is pulled out of their love struck, self absorbed, conversations for long enough to look at him and notice his presence. Young Do wonders how it took them such a remarkable amount of time to realize he's there, after all he's incredibly handsome and invests a lot of money into his cologne.
"You're back," Bo Na states and Young Do quirks a brow at her. He'd forgotten how much like a younger girl she could sound.
"Obviously. Lee Bo Na, remind me to call you if I'm ever in need of a private detective."
Chan Young looks prepared to snap at him, and Young Do braces himself for the welcome argument, yet Kim Tan interrupts first.
"Where have you been all day?"
"I had a test to do, and then I had to write a letter of reflection about my suspension, when here I thought the Chairwoman just wanted an incredibly detailed description of my actual reflection," he wrings his wrist. "Ah, so painful."
He looks at Tae Yeon whose still refusing to look at him, but rolls her eyes nonetheless.
It's so cute when they play hard to get.
Young Do sticks his hand straight in front of her face so that she can't ignore it, and she blinks at it. He watches her pupils dilate and then refocus, and then her eyes flicker to his face. "Massage it for me Tae Yeon?"
Tae Yeon pushes it away with her chopsticks, and he can tell that she's barely resisting the urge to wipe them on his blazer. "No thanks."
"That's it? Just no thanks? What happened to you calling me oppa? It was so cute," Tae Yeon remains disinterested, so Young Do steps it up a notch. "I need to think of a nickname for you too, what about jagiya?"
Young Do watches as her eyes harden, and he puts this on the top of the list of things he's observed about her so far. It's important to note her reactions to what he says, as a future reference when he wants to invoke something in her.
"Pay someone else to massage it for you, or live in pain," Tae Yeon says, placing a slice of meat on her spoonful of rice. "I doubt it's that important," she says, completely disregarding his second comment and giving him the reaction he expected from her eyes, and it grates on his nerves.
Why do I want to see you angry again so much?
He still files it under her possible sore points.
"I'll have you know its used for lots of strenuous activities," he replies suggestively, with a slight twitch of his eyebrows and Eun Sang smacks him in the arm at the same time Bo Na shouts shrilly, "Yah, Choi Young Do!"
Tae Yeon on the other hand is oddly unfazed, and pointedly looks him in the eye, before her gaze roves downwards. "I doubt it's that strenuous."
Young Do finds himself enjoying the attention, even if it's coming from someone bold enough to look him in the eye, and then blatantly look at his body. He's used to that sort of treatment from his father's women, and other girls deluded enough to think he's interested; never from someone his age.
"You two know each other?" Chan Young finally inquires, and Young Do is perfectly aware that the question is plaguing all of their minds. He's known them long enough to be able to read them easily.
"We're lovers," Young Do pronounces and he takes joy at how Bo Na's eyes look like they're going to bug out of her head. They may all be friends for now, but Young Do's never mastered the habit of keeping friends – although he'll admit having people to actually converse with during lunch is quite convenient.
"You wish," Tae Yeon snorts, and somehow it doesn't sound entirely un-ladylike. "I have higher standards than boys who have to trip girls in order to get their attention," Tae Yeon says and Eun Sang sits bolt upright suddenly, as if struck with an epiphany.
"Is he the reason you were late to homeroom today?"
"Of course he was," Tan says plainly. "She's the new transfer student, what did you expect?" He says, ruffling Eun Sang's hair. "She's taken the spot from you."
Him and Tan exchange a look. Their friendship is still in its early stages, and both of them are still testing its strength; mentions of the past are usually a particular strain.
"Young Do, if you mistreat her," Eun Sang starts threateningly and he takes the finger she's waving at him and lowers it slowly, eyes locked with Tan as he does so. Eun Sang is another major strain.
"What? I think she's far more capable at defending herself than you are if the way she got me into trouble this morning is any proof," the self-satisfied look on Tae Yeon's face has returned and Young Do weighs out how much it would take to wipe it off, what measures he'd have to take. "She even put blame on me to wrestle herself out of a late penalty."
Tae Yeon shrugs at everyone else's inquisitive stares.
"Besides," Chan Young points out, "Isn't she your hero Eun Sang?"
Young Do can see Tan's jaw tense.
"What did I miss?" Young Do asks. He'd thought that Jeguk would be boring in his absence, and yet they'd obtained a new transfer student who'd managed to stand up to him as well as irk Tan. Here he thought that he was the only one who could accomplish that.
Tae Yeon continues to eat her lunch as if he is not talking about her, and Young Do wonders where's she from, to master that sort of indifference.
You might just do well here.
"Kang Tae Yeon stood up to some girls pestering Eun Sang," Bo Na clarifies when no one speaks, having long ago declared herself the announcer to all the drama that took place.
For once Young Do's grateful for her ability to gossip.
"Ah, so that's how you got the golden ticket into the Care Bear Brunch," Young DO remarks, and Bo Na somehow manages to kick him under the table. He catches her foot in between his legs, and tilts his head at her as she glowers at him. He tucks his chair in as he releases it. "Play nice Bo Na, you're going to scare away my new play-mate."
He notices that the play-mate in question is once again not paying attention to him, and is instead talking to Eun Sang about something or other. He stomps on her foot and leaned back in his chair, incredibly satisfied as Tae Yeon hisses loudly at him.
Looks like I might just find out what our new transfer student wanted to say to me this morning before we were interrupted.
And then Jo Myung Soo manifests before his very eyes and interrupts them once more. He's running across the vast expanse of the cafeteria squealing "Tae Yeonie" and then he's wrapping his arms firmly around the girl in question; who sort of looks like she's going to choke.
Young Do files this away as well, just in case he wants to replicate the comically large widening of her eyes, although he doubts he'll pull it off as well as Myung Soo.
"Myung Soo," Tae Yeon says when she's swallowed and his arms are still wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Myung Soo finally releases her, and by now they've attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Even Tan manages to look slightly bemused whilst Eun Sang looks genuinely worried that Myung Soo might have actually strangled her. Everyone in the cafeteria is staring at her now, and Young Do notes that the people littered around them are whispering – most probably about Tae Yeon.
He also knows that if he can hear them, Tae Yeon can hear them – yet she remains to look completely unfazed. Young Do wonders what it will take to finally shatter her mask.
However, her indifference might of course be down to the fact she's currently massaging her shoulders, her face flushed.
You look all the more satisfying when you're flustered. I wonder how else I can get you to look like that. Perhaps satisfying in other ways.
Young Do wonders where that thought came from, and files that away as well.
Tae Yeon takes a couple of deep breaths as Myung Soo stands at the head of the table and pouts. "I thought I told you to call me oppa."
"I can't really do that if I'm dead," Tae Yeon says and everyone on the table laughs, Young Do continues to observe her curiously. Indifferent, respectful, polite, and endearing.
Which one's the real you?
"I know you rejected to help me, but I'm not the type to hold grudges," Tan snorts at Young Do's comment. "So do you want me to massage it for you?" Tae Yeon immediately drops her hands on the table and he laughs at her.
"Oppa!" Myung Soo exclaims, having clearly been too caught up in attempted murder to notice him, and Young Do remembers exactly how quiet his week of absence had been. With no constant gossip present as background music, no annoying loved up gushing over each other from Bo Na and Chan Young, and no Jo Myung Soo. "You're back!" Myung Soo exclaims, and then he's wrapping his arms around Young Do's torso and Young Do's breath escapes his lungs in a whoof.
When did Jo Myung Soo get so heavy?
Young Do voices this and actually manages to wrangle a laugh from Tan's laugh, and a smile from Tae Yeon, whose grin widens even more when Myung Soo whacks him upside the head. Young Do pretends like it hurt so as not to offend him further.
"Oppa! How could you say something like that? Why don't you love me like I love you?" Myung Soo says, face aghast and Young Do stares back at him blankly. Myung Soo continues to pout, and everyone else seems to have lost interest in Myung Soo's antics; yet the people on their table remain entertained, and Young Do watches as Tae Yeon neatly straightens up her chopsticks and spoon in the middle of her plate. "I even protested school when they suspended you, you know!"
Young Do arches an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes!" Myung Soo nods vigorously, and Young Do thinks there will never be a day he'll have to add in mental exclamation marks after Myung Soo's words.
"Then how come you didn't know he was coming back today?" Tan questions, and Myung Soo shoots him a death glare that feels like a threat from a toddler.
"We came back on the same day oppa, it's a sign that we're meant to be together," Myung Soo continues, clasping his hands together over his heart and batting his eyelashes.
"Wah Myung Soo, you're making me swoon," Eun Sang says through her laughter and Kim Tan snakes his arms around her shoulders to pull her closer. Young Do scoffs at this under his breath, something that Tae Yeon doesn't miss. He wiggles his eyebrows at her and she sticks her tongue out – looking almost as young as Myung Soo.
"But you came back on Friday," Chan Young points out, and Myung Soo hushes him loudly.
"Is that true?" Young Do asks, mock hurt and Myung Soo scratches the back of his neck.
"I wouldn't have, but there was the test on Friday and my mother would have murdered me if I didn't take it. Plus, my dad's a good lawyer so she could probably get away with it too!" Myung Soo says earnestly.
His gaze then switches to Tae Yeon as he winks. "Seungri Law Firm, a guaranteed victory every time."
Tae Yeon laughs softly and Myung Soo looks pleased with himself.
"Sit down Myung Soo, just looking at you is making me tired," Bo Na comments from where she's snuggled into Chan Young's side and Young Do wonders how he's been labored with all of these couples.
Myung Soo nods, and moves to sit on Young Do's lap. Young Do's a little upset that Tae Yeon has finished eating because he's sure that she would definitely have choked, and then he'd have the pleasure of looking at her flustered face again. He wondered what kind of circumstances he'd have to arrange in order to see it again. To make her embarrassed, to make her shy away. To make her snap at him like she had this morning. To make her acting skills falter.
I could have fun with you, Kang Tae Yeon.
Young Do remembers her last name, in order for him to look her up later.
Tae Yeon is looking at him skeptically, and the ease in which she's looking at him means that he can decipher the message in her eyes. "I'm not scared of you," they say and Young Do takes this into account. He'll have enough soon to write a biography about her. Good. Young Do needs someone new to argue with now that Tan and him have come to their truce.
He's thankful that he's no longer receiving cuts and bruises from two different people, and yet his life now seems to be lacking something. He doesn't even have Yoo Rachel to preoccupy him anymore with her harsh words and glares when he does something inconsequential like mess up her hair. Perhaps Tae Yeon can fill that gap, not that she has much of a choice. She can more than easily be tripped into it.
Young Do scoots back his chair to make more room for Myung Soo, and Myung Soo shifts so that he can rest on Young Do's knees more comfortably. Tae Yeon is still looking incredulously at him; whereas the rest of them seem so unimpressed that Young Do wonders if Tan has spread his indifference like a virus.
"You betrayed me so easily Myung Soo," Young Do says as Myung Soo swivels to face the rest of the table. "I'm hurt." He grasps at his chest for effect and watches as Myung Soo's pout grows even more pronounced.
"I had to study!" Myung Soo says defensively. "We can't all jump from 100th place to 50th," Myung Soo says pointedly to Kim Tan. "Or 98th to in the top 40," and this is emphasized with a sharp jab to Young Do's chest.
Tae Yeon looks mildly impressed, whereas Eun Sang, Bo Na and Chan Young scoff.
Jealousy will get you nowhere.
"So you think you did better than 100th place?" Bo Na asks and Myung Soo laughs loudly.
"No way."
"Then why are you so happy?" Tan asks bemusedly and Myung Soo winks.
"Because I got to study with Tae Yeonie here."
Myung Soo looks absolutely besotted and Young Do wonders if she won't become Myung Soo's next self-proclaimed great love. Tae Yeon's wry smile makes it look like she wouldn't exactly be willing.
"That test was hard though, don't you guys think?"
Eun Sang nods in agreement with him. "I thought it was, I think I did a lot worse than last time."
"If it was a harder test, than everyone will do worse," Tan reassures her, squeezing her arm and Young Do thinks he might vomit. Tae Yeon and Myung Soo's expressions show that they share this sentiment.
He's having fun, going through his usual ritual. Observing, taking notes, storing them in the appropriate place in his brain. Tae Yeon is his new specimen, and just like all his other subjects he has to scrutinize her; her appearance, her weaknesses, what it takes to get certain reactions out of her. Everything about her has to be in his head, to the point where he gets bored with her and moves onto someone else.
For now, you're still a mystery. I bet Cha Eun Sang will ask me to leave you alone, but I haven't decided what kind of game I want to play yet.
"It wasn't that bad," Chan Young says and Myung Soo scoffs loudly. Young Do feels the feeling beginning to fade from his leg, and he shifts so that Myung Soo is on his other one and Myung Soo doesn't even blink.
"Easy for you to say," Myung Soo says, jabbing his finger at Chan Young and almost poking Eun Sang's eye out. "You're ranked number 1, and Rachel isn't even here to give you competition."
Bo Na snorts at this, and leans in to Chan Young and flutters her eyelashes. "As if anybody could compete with my Chan Young."
Young Do snorts straight back, and receives a world famous Bo Na glare that's all bark and no bite. "I think I'm going to be sick from all this cuteness. Do you think if I vomit publicly in the cafeteria I'll get suspended again?"
Bo Na squints at him, and he imitates her.
"Are you trying to aim for two in a row?" Chan Young asks, as if the idea is preposterous to him. Young Do thinks it just might be, Chan Young is too angelic for his own good. He'd considered making Chan Young one of his playmates in the beginning, then realized he was far too boring to make good entertainment.
"Is this concern for me?" Young Do questions, and looks at Tae Yeon. "My first day back and Chan Young is already trying to get me to steal him from Bo Na. can you believe this?"
"I believe that Chan Young has higher standards than you," she says and the table erupts into laughter whilst he whistles.
"Cold Tae Yeonie," Young Do remarks, pitching his voice higher to match Myung Soo's. "Are you jealous?"
Tae Yeon scrunches her nose up at him.
"Leave her alone," Eun Sang repeats and he smiles winningly at her.
Don't you know Eun Sang, this is me playing nice. Would you rather I turn her into my new Moon Joon Young?
"Is our Eun Sang upset she missed her chance with me?" He asks and Eun Sang shoves him so that Myung Soo almost falls of his lap.
Tan arches an eyebrow and he dismisses it.
"What did you get suspended for anyway?" Chan Young asks and Young Do feels his jaw clench.
Tae Yeon tilts her head to the side, and he recognizes the look in her eyes. It's the one he sees whenever he catches himself in the mirror in one of his father's business meetings. She's trying to analyze him, get a read. Attempting to decipher some of the mystery that he wraps around himself like a cloak. Just as he's been doing to her all this time.
He smiles at her, and judging by the slight widening of her eyes she finds it intimidating.
Good. You can stay that way until I decide if you'll be 'friend' or foe.
"For getting into an argument with a nosy transfer student that framed me to get out of a late penalty," Young Do says and Tae Yeon's lips twitch upwards. He can see Tan staring at him from his side, and Eun Sang has gone decidedly quiet.
Young Do's so used to telling half-truths that it comes naturally. He did get into a fight; only not with a transfer student. With someone who holds far much power. Him and Kim Tan had engaged in yet another legendary fight, and battled it out wholly – with only Eun Sang as witness. There had been bruises all down his back, and they'd exchanged harsh words. Even tears at some point, if you looked really closely.
Young Do admitted to instigating the fight, and Tan had argued against expulsion for him. Young Do had instead been suspended, and him and Tan had agreed to a truce.
And so far it's proven to be a good decision.
"Are you telling me that I could've gotten you suspended again today?" Tae Yeon asks dryly. "I'll be sure not to pass up on another opportunity again."
"Wow, our Tae Yeon really is bold, makes me wonder what I can do to take that away."
"We have two years of school left, you shouldn't be getting into fights anymore," Eun Sang says under her breath, yet Young Do can hear her. He can always hear her. In class, in the hallways. What she says to Tan, as they whisper to each other. His Eun Sang radar had been turned on a year ago, and he has no idea how to switch it off.
He hates it.
"I like getting into fights," he counters.
"So much that you went looking for another one in your week off," Tae Yeon mutters under her breath and Young Do's already cold blood freezes further.
Apparently she's decided that her search of him had yielded something, assumed that he's the type to pick fights. Which he undoubtedly is, yet she hasn't searched far enough, he hasn't let her. Not far enough to know that that is a sore topic for him, and that just because he won't get physical with a girl doesn't mean he won't pick a fight with her too.
"What?" he asks, and his voice is cold. Even the Scooby Doo Gang have managed to finally shut up and tense.
Tae Yeon looks up at him, and must manage to read him again because she says nothing and Young Do hates her for saying it, and hates her for thinking that she can understand him. He's been too patient with her, too lenient.
No one frames me, and you'll be kneeling to me before I let you think I'm your 'friend'.
"And in my week off they managed to sneak you in, Tae Yeon-ah," Young Do says. He rolls the word around on his tongue, and he drops the niceties that he's been donning. He shifts again abruptly and Myung Soo falls off his lap for sure this time, and scrambles to his feet. Young Do leans in close to her. "What are you?"
Tae Yeon flinches in a way that's pleasing to him, yet doesn't move backwards. Chan Young, Bo Na and Eun Sang look about ready to jump in. it was better when he didn't have to worry about Bo Na's interference. Then she had to go and get herself involved with that Yoon Chan Young and grew concerned about people other than herself.
How weak.
"Excuse me?" Tae Yeon asks and her voice has dropped in temperature too. He's attracted the audience of his schoolmates again, orchestrating their attention with a wave of his arm. And it's clear now, that they had missed him, had waited for him; all waiting with baited breath for his arrival when he would talk to this new transfer student. Put her through the interrogation.
"Are you deaf?" Young Do asks. "I said what are you? Surely I'm not the first one to have asked? Yah, Lee Bo Na, just a year ago weren't you bullying Kang Ye Sol for having a bar mistress as a mother? And now you don't even interview the new student?"
Bo Na looks away, and he remembers how raw Bo Na's face had been, what had finally driven the stake between her and Chan Young. It's something that Bo Na shouldn't have left exposed if she wanted to survive. Chan Young is glaring at him but he still looks too much like an oversized teddy bear for Young Do to take him seriously.
"Myung Soo, even you haven't asked?" Young Do says, and Myung Soo won't look him in the eye. "Tan-ah, you said that she'd taken Eun Sang's place, to what extent is that true?"
"I don't appreciate being talked about as if I'm not here," Tae Yeon says and Young Do laughs at the bite in her words, and thinks she might just look a little bit scared as his chuckles continue to echoed throughout the cafeteria.
"Then answer me. What are you?" He pauses in between each word this time, allowing it to sink in. He remembers her swearing into her phone in a different language, wonders if he should bring it up, ask where she's come from. If she can't go back there, if she was Queen there. If she can't see that he's the King here and he doesn't have a lot of patience. Especially for people who question him and make assumptions. "You're a transfer student, but what type?"
"The type that's quickly growing tired of you."
Young Do claps, and Eun Sang flinches and shifts closer to Tan. He wonders if she's still scared of him, wonders if he wants her to be. If perhaps if she's so scared of him, she should've warned her new best friend about him before he returned.
"Again, so brave. But my patience's running out. I've entertained you so far, right? Now repay me by answering the question."
"No," Tae Yeon says, and she's crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair. Young Do's impressed by her defiance, no matter how stupid it is because he's not sure why he's suddenly so mad, or why she's eliciting the temper that he's been trying so very hard to keep under control since Eun Sang chose Tan.
"It wasn't a request."
"What he means," Myung Soo says quietly and Young Do feels like expressing his distaste with the fact Myung Soo thinks that he needs to be explained. "Is that there are two types of transfer students here. Those who are new money, so they transfer here; or those who are here on social welfare scholarships."
"So what are you?" He repeats and soon he would've asked it so many times that the words would have lost meaning.
Tae Yeon still remains silent so he takes it a step further. "Do you even know who you're sitting with right now? Has everyone grown too relaxed in my absence? Kim Tan, second son of Jeguk Group whose family owns this school. Lee Bo Na, who holds major shares in Mega Entertainment and might even overtake her cousins and run it some day. Even Yoon Chan Young has managed to escalate to the level of Vice President's son. Jo Myung Soo is the son of a respectable law firm," He points at everyone in turn, and then turns his finger on himself. "And I'm just the same, only more dangerous. Eun Sang here - "
"Is here on a scholarship," Eun Sang clarifies for herself, and he catches a glimpse of the same girl he tripped on the first day, before she'd become weak in her affection for Tan.
"So what are you? This is the last time I'm asking nicely."
"I'm a person who deserves respect," She says, scraping back her chair and she looks ready to leave.
"Are you new money?" Myung Soo asks, and Tae Yeon looks from him to Young Do slowly, and Young Do's tongue darts out to wet his lips, and he's anticipating her answer.
"No."
Young Do's face cracks into a smile. "So you're on a scholarship?"
Tae Yeon doesn't dignify him with an answer.
"Then why are you here? Whose paying for you? Who've you managed to impress?" He finds his tone of voice turning suggestive without intending for it to be, and her expression turns rock hard.
"Excuse me?" He can see her temper rising, and he likes it a lot. Even more than when she was sticking out her tongue playfully at him, when he felt like perhaps he could relax around her. Even more than when he watched her trick their teacher out of giving her a late penalty.
I want to see you lose it, I've decided. And it's only your first day.
"It's a bit strange, transferring during the second week into the year, no? Who are you hiding from? Whose hiding you?"
"Choi Young Do, enough," Tan says finally, and Young Do knows he's only speaking up because Eun Sang's nails are digging into his forearm.
"Just as strange as getting suspended the second week into the year, no? What are you hiding from Choi Young Do?" Tae Yeon asks, and she's leaned forwards on her chair and he can feel her breath pool across his face and he feels himself snap. Remembers the implication of his fight, and the way she's looking like she has him figured out, like she's won – and he hates it. Despite himself, an image of his father flashes forwards in his mind and he puts his spoon down sharply on the table, and the clang rings through the room.
"I was hiding from the group of idiots that insist on spending time with me when I'm at school," Young Do says, rising and he towers over her, and she looks so small he wonders how he could ever even contemplate her being a threat. "Don't get up, I'll leave. I have better things to do than hang out with his bunch anyway."
"Are we the idiots when you're the one who used to rank 98th?" Bo Na calls after him incredulously. Young Do ignores this, and slips out of the cafeteria, fully aware of all eyes on him.
Fully aware of how they'd all switch to Tae Yeon the moment he left.
You might have just crossed me, Kang Tae Yeon. Let's see how long it takes before you regret making assumptions about me.