❦ ♪

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN : reality check

"of course i still like hao??"

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

youngjae

are you awake

yes my insides hurt
fuck my life i am depressed

LOLLLLLL CHARGE IT

die

🤓🤓🤓
anyways i have something to tell you

no i want to go first

ugh WHAT.

Don't give me attitude. I can literally
file a lawsuit against you right now.

just say it 😑

Ok fine so yk when i was like I am so
glad you livestreamed me! yesterday

yes..
u were joking right

yes all of that was just me making sure
ur not a dickhead i promise LOLLL

umm right okay
what if i'm still a dickhead tho😇

no

i'm joking but so like are u actually not
going to talk to hao or was that a joke
too..

the part about not wanting to talk to hao
was me fr i genuinely don't want to speak
to him

boooo tomato tomato

ew what is that

shut up that's me when i see your
little minions who always chat abt me.

ew i'm not friends with them anymore

Oh thank god they were saying that i
wanted a body count when i don't even
have one??? Like who are u

that's weird
pervs

no wonder u were friends w them

bye.
Let me be a changed man.

LOLLLL SORRY NO
anyways ok u can tell me now
are you giving me money xx

absolutely not xx
you should be doing that to me!!

IJBOL SHUT UP YOU FRAUD !!!
but what do u want

well it's about yunji
have you checked your messages
with her from last night yet?

no
omg what happened

idk GO CHECK???

last time i drunk texted her i called her
a jealous slag LMFAOOOOOO

PLEASEEE😭
plz read cause idk what she said to u

ok brb
LMFAOOOOOO WHAT IS WRONG
WITH HERR💀💀💀

what was she saying to you

"ur not as pretty as u think u are" like
sorry what i am fucking stunning

ermmm why's she saying that as if
saying that is gonna make you cry

it probably did i was having an insecure
breakdown yesterday so...

oh!!!! oh yeah you probably did
what else did she say

she said that no one likes me😭😭is
she self projecting or am i just crazy

SELF PROJECTING😭

how the flip can she tell me no one likes
me when she failed to pull hao for like a
year while it took me a few months

LOLLL that's funny cause she said
the same to me when i dated her

well No one did like you
no one actually likes you

Ok i get it.

like you are actually an asshole

OKAY I KNOW

Making sure. You're still unforgiven.

Le sserafim

LMFAOOAAOAOOOAOA
bro thinks he's funny🤓

I'm making my way up there stfu

K😜😜
i reread our messages from last night i
feel like a sad alcoholic right now

you are
oh and also hao isn't wearing that ring
you asked me about

R u being fr

why would i lie like it's not there

send me a picture

no

WDYM NO what if you're lying

imagine ur in class and some dude u
despise takes a picture of ur fingers

ok well i will ask renjun

could've asked him in the first place

we also have semi matching necklaces

i don't look at his neck

well i do

????

smiles
Anyways if renjun won't then i'll just ask
him myself. i spent money on that.

okay miss "i don't want to talk to him!!"

omg what if i'm just a sugar mama

no ur just born from nepotism

Okay.

wait but what if he just sold it??

Ur not funny
literally why we broke up

soooo sorry that you were in love
with me back then😭😭😭💔💔

Dttm i bought hao a new violin for
his birthday cause of UR violent ass

LMFAOOOO💀💀💀💀

don't laugh. Ur awful.

ok i hated him but ur literally crazily
in love with him

no

sureeee.... it's okay to be in denial

Shut the fuck up Lim Youngjae

anyways i actually need to tell you
what i was supposed to say now

shoot! (i miss girls planet)

so like yunji was putting herself in
these little meetings about you

There were meetings about me??:!:!

U DIDN'T KNOW?

I thought it was just a joke to feed
my narcissism LMFAOO

LMAOO well nope!!

wow everyone is OBSESSED w me..

yeah you're an interesting one

What does that mean
I'm so rich and pretty that it seems illegal

.... no

Ok carry on

you should talk to my mom about it
cause she was at like every meeting
and i don't remember much so like

I thought she hated me after i assaulted
you that one day that sent me in a gacha
life mini movie experience

(/???3??: GIRL WHAT
no but i told her we're alright now
so talk to her on monday and she'll
tell you everything

Wow you lied to me
made me wait FOR WHAT

I JS WANTED U TO LISTEN.

ok fine. i'll talk to her.

i also advise you send a picture of
mine and yunji's texts to hao's dad

WHY ME WHAT THE FUCK
YOU DO IT

it'd make them like you a little if you
sent them it instead of me i'll give you
his number okay

Fuck my life i'm scared of his dad

isn't everyone

He's mad cause i'm pretty

mirae...

Well he kinda is
i'm prettier than zhanghao

girl

i'm smarter than him

mirae istg

FINE i'll text the scary man
send me the picture then

i'll send it when my mom talks to you
so you get context first

WTF man.
Ugh whatever ok. 

❦ ♪

timeskip — monday

— no one's pov.

chismosas
10+ members

xiaoting:
wtf guys mei just got in an argument with
yunji in front of everyone😂😂

yujin:
omg did she drag her or no

xiaoting:
she smashed yunji's phone on the floor on accident LMFAOOOO

yangyang:
IJBOLLLLLLLLLL WHAT THE FUCK

jaemin:
that's so mean

jaemin:
tell her to do it again

hao:
wait what

xiaoting:
she admitted to liking hao in front of
literally everyone in the cafeteria

yujin:
smiles

donghyuck:
i Cheered!

hanbin:
REALLY

renjun:
In front of everyone is so funny

jeno:
esp after she was like I fucking don't
like him and you guys grrrr

hao:
awhatahskx Haa WAIT WHAT

jaemin:
hao is gonna go crazy

hao:
😊

gyuvin:
YESSSSSSSSS

yujin:
Divorced Parents come back Ty

xiaojun:
guys bring mei back

chenle:
ADD HER BACK

yujin:
Mei comeback era plzzz

yujin:

yujin:
@meiirae Come back!!!

xiaoting:
LMFAOOOO

xiaoting:
but i heard her say smt about meetings
and moving unis

xiaoting:
idk what that's about but yeah

xiaoting:
oh and hao she saw the photo of you
and yunji 'kissing' which is why mei
smashed her phone

hao:
Oh.

xiaoting:
is the photo real or what

hao:
it is a real photo

donghyuck:
HUH

xiaoting:
explain yourself. now.

hao:
BUT IT WASN'T LIKE THAT

❦ ♪

flashback.

— mei pov.
- 3rd person.

Hwang Mirae
August Evaluation Exam
Marks/100: 100
RANK: 1

mei smiles to herself after opening the piece of paper with her results. the competition had lower standards in this school, meaning mei easily kept her 'top student rank' like before. yet the whole behaviour management situation she had to unfortunately go through while being paired with hao still stuck to her, even if her title was back and she had no partner.

it was a bit anticlimactic for every girl attending here knowing that mei came back after being described as not a narcissistic bitch to everyone JUST to come back and act like a narcissistic bitch to everyone just because a video of her got sent around  – which thankfully got deleted after a whole three weeks.

just like earlier this year, she found excitement in arguing with people again even over the bare minimum. she had to admit it wasn't as fun as arguing with hao a few months ago, but she'd rather argue with entitled girls rather than someone she likes - or 'liked' according to her own words.

it was a re-occurring experience for her to act like this to students, however she didn't expect to be called to the headmaster's office just after receiving her amazing results. just by the announcement mei got scared she would be told off again - or even worse: get sent to another university for a few months.

"mirae." a staff members looks down at her strictly with sharp eyes. "headmaster park wants you." he says, causing her to look up with wide eyes.

she tilts her head. "why?" her voice softens slightly in worry. "did i do something wrong again?" she knew this was an awful question, since she does something wrong here almost every day. but it was only monday morning, nothing could've gone wrong with her.

the man sighs. "just come with me, i was only asked to bring you to her." he smiles and picks up some of her stationary.

"i can do it myself.." she says, taking the things from his hands and shoving it into her handbag. "sorry." she chuckles awkwardly after noticing how taken aback he was after her action.

"oh no it's fine, sorry for just taking it." he scratches the back of his head. mei felt a little bad but the only reason why she did it is because she would never let someone touch her stationary is because she spent a bunch of money on it. (talk about nepo baby.)

she hums, zipping her bag and turning to him. "we can go now." she says, letting the man walk her towards mrs park's office. she felt a bit awkward knowing that was the same place she was when she got sent to another university but she brushes it off.

mrs park knew they were here just by the sound of mei's shoes that clicked on the floor every time. she quickly turns towards the door as the two walk in. "she's here." the man says, letting the girl walk in.

mrs park smiles. "sit down. thank you." she shoos the man away and waited until mei sat down. "do you know why you're here?"

"no." mei answers honestly, feeling quite worried already. "if i did something wrong i'm really sorry and i don't want to be put in behaviour management-"

the woman laughs. "you aren't in trouble, mirae." she says softly, making the girl blink as she stops talking. "did youngjae not tell you?"

mei stops to think about whatever her and youngjae talked about and when it finally hits her, she lets out a load 'OHH'. "you were going to talk to me about yunji right?"

she nods. "i'll just tell you straight. she invited herself to every meeting that including me, my husband, headmaster kim, hao's parents and sometimes youngjae."

"is that it?" mei asks bluntly. "i knew about these.."

"let me finish." she chuckles. "she said things that downgraded you and since most of us weren't fond of you very much, we agreed to some of her ideas."

"like what...?" mei stops playing with the ends of her hair to properly listen. she was aware of the meetings thing but never took it seriously.

"sending you back early... i don't remember that much but it was obvious she wanted to change something about how you were." the woman replies softly.

mei scoffs. "are you serious? you let HER decide things for me??" everything she got told about this ended up being true, even after she brushed it all off as a joke.

"it wasn't just her. it includes other people too, but she talked most of the time if i'm honest." mrs park shrugs. "but i think it was actually a good idea to send you back early."

mei's eyebrows knit together. "why were these meetings there in the first place? that set up of people makes no sense." she says, getting quite annoyed.

"it was mostly about how you're doing with behaviour. hao's parents were there since you were partnered with him, me because i'm obviously your old headmaster, mr kim because he was your headmaster, and i'm not too sure about how yunji got in. i think it was youngjae's idea since he lied and said she was our uni representative."

mei rolls her eyes. "right okay... and i was never told by any of you. i got told by someone else.." she sighs. "honestly i know there's more you want to say but i'll just ask youngjae for the picture he was talking about."

"are you sure you don't want to know about the meetings?" the woman asks, not expecting mei to end it so quickly when there was much more to say.

mei shakes her head, picking up her phone. thankfully youngjae sent the picture right away and mei snorts.  "i'm going to talk to her." mei stands up.

mrs park sighs, sitting up in her chair. "honestly i'd try stop you but i know you wouldn't listen to me. just don't hurt her or you'll actually be in trouble." she says, letting mei off just this once.

"thanks." she says before storming out. usually she wouldn't be pissed off but knowing mei somehow saw a spark in yunji during their short friendship just shows how fake she is.

so, her whole plan today after being told most of the truth was to confront yunji about everything she's done. mei finally came to her senses (sort of) and realised that finding hope in yunji was the stupidest thing she's ever done, ever.

luckily, mei spots the girl right away. "yunji." mei says, already catching attention from the other girls sat around in the cafeteria. "do you think you're slick?"

the girl turns around with her food in her hand. "what are you talking about?" she asks innocently. "what did i do?"

"trying to send me back here so you can shit on me is so odd." mei scoffs. "i know what you were doing in the meetings, you aren't as smooth as you think you are."

she tries to act clueless. "i have no idea what you're talking about." she frowns a little, making mei's blood boil just from how innocent she was trying to be.

"i'm sure you do. i'm sending what you texted youngjae to hao's parents. i don't think you'd enjoy that."

yunji snickers. "is that all you're talking to me about? everyone knew but you. you're just overreacting."

mei scoffs. "i can overreact when i didn't even know about it. lying to hao's parents about me just to make them hate me is so petty."

"you're petty." yunji shrugs, placing her food down on a table and taking her phone out. "you know what else is petty?" she asks the girl, walking closer to her and swiping around her phone.

she pulls up a photo of her and hao 'kissing' in front of mei's face. as dramatic as yunji thought it would be, mei only laughs in response. "i told you, you're not special for kissing him."

"alright." mei says, looking at the picture. it definitely looked real but mei was still surprised
that hao the whole 'yunji and hao kissing' thing was actually true, with that photo as evidence. "if you think i'm going to be mad i'm not."

yunji rolls her eyes, walking closer to mei angrily. "stop acting like you don't care. i know you like him mirae." although the close proximity, mei steps forward, causing yunji to stumble back and almost fall onto the floor.

funnily enough for mei and the groups of girls watching, the phone slips out of yunji's hand and the screen hits the hard floor. it wouldn't seem that bad until mei realises yunji has no phone case or screen protector.

yunji scowls as she picks her phone up to a smashed screen "you're so mad for no reason." the red haired ridicules. "he's not yours, is he? every man you speak to isn't automatically yours. now look at what you've done. my phone is smashed."

mei rolls her eyes. "this wasn't even about hao in the first place. and i'm sooo sorry that he told me he liked me when he never liked you?" she crosses her arms, trying not to laugh at the fact she accidentally caused yunji's phone to crack.

"so you still like him don't you? you just lied to me to get shit out of me." she shouts. mei mentally facepalms from how stupid yunji was to not notice mei's intentions at all when it was very obvious. "you're a horrible person."

"of course i still like hao??" mei laughs, ruffling her hair in annoyance at how she just admitted it in front of everyone. "i really like him, for fucks sake. of course i'd lie."

yunji somehow got so mad she almost tried to swing at mei until xiaoting shows up right in front of her. "woah, calm the fuck down." she shouts in the red-haired's face.

mei snorts. "did you just try to hit me?"

xiaoting groans "you're both being really fucking stupid right now." the girl scoffs as she holds onto mei's arm. "acting like year sevens who called each other slags over snapchat, honestly."

yunji rolls her eyes. "she started it."

"okay, and i was just trying to confront you about something and you bring up hao as if that's going to affect me?" mei snaps.

xiaoting pushes mei back. "oh my days, shut up for once will you?" she whisper-shouts at mei. "let's go somewhere else, this is stressing me out enough."

mei rolls her eyes and crosses her arms childishly before getting dragged by xiaoting out of the cafeteria. she knew she was being dramatic but it was still so amusing to see yunji try hit her just then.

and it was still weird to realise that she just admitted to liking hao again, even when she was acting like she didn't for the past few weeks. but at least she finally came to her senses some how.

❦ ♪

flashback — january

— hao pov.
- 3rd person.

"we should kiss." yunji grins, holding onto hao's jacket as they walked (yunji following hao) away from the cafe out side of hao's uni.

hao sighs, knowing he's been told this a little too many times. "i'm not doing that, you're weird and i don't like you." he continues to walk away, quickening his pace every time she gets closer to him.

"aww.." she pouts. "why can't i be the only girl you don't reject?" she complains, running behind him. "hao don't be boring, not even a picture?" she asks in excitement, knowing the only picture she has of him is when she snuck herself into his campus.

he was already irritated and turns to her. "okay fine. just leave me alone after for fucks sake." he grits his teeth as she giggles in satisfaction.

he looks away in embarrassment from the situation as she puts her phone up. she taps his shoulder. "smile!" she grins, causing him to turn towards the camera. yunji took the chance to pull his face closer to hers until their lips touched, and she took a few pictures quickly before he pulled away. 

"oh my god ew you're gross." he complains, wiping his lips with his sleeve in offence. "why the fuck did you do that??"

she shrugs with a giggle and proceeds to walk away. "i'll send you the picture!" she laughs before running away. "finally!" she squeals.

❦ ♪

ricky

RICKY

HAO

yunji just kissed me help

Stay away from me

I wanna kms she's so creepy

how did that even

i hate being popular

UGH WHAT A STRUGGLE🙄🙄🙄
well was it forced or

yeah
she's gross

fucking hell
that's assault

gonna wash my mouth everyday now
😭😭but it was only like half a second
so i'm not too bothered i just feel ew

LMFAOOOO????
what u saving it for hanbin or smt

bye ricky!

❦ ♪

present time. 

hao's dad

hi
is this hao's dad

Who is this.

mei
i'm just going to send you something

Ok.

it's yunji talking to youngjae

Can you translate.

😭😭😭😭yeah i'll translate

❦ ♪

— hao pov.

dad

I need to talk to you.

okay..

❦ ♪

— mei pov.

youngjae

Hi i sent the photo kill me

what did he say

hao's dad just replied with "Can you
translate." LMFAOOO so i did

LMFAOOO😭😭 what did he say
in response to the photo tho

Not opening it in 24 hours

OPEN IT????

i will if you do me a favour

what.

is that offer still up

what offer

me coming to your uni

yeah as long as i tell headmaster kim
he wouldn't mind, why?

tell headmaster kim i'm coming
right now

oh wait fr??

yes
hurry up i'm on my way rn

my bad my bad

i'm going to talk to zhanghao

WAIT FR

yes

where did this SMART decision come
from so suddenly????

so you know how your mom told me
things about yunji... i confronted her
like an hour ago and she kept pissing
me OFF and showed me this photo of
her and hao kissing or wtv so i got rly
mad and i accidentally smashed her
phone sooooo

that's a lot but WOW YOU SMASHED
HER FUCKING PHONE???😭😭😭

yeah idk i didn't mean to but it just
happened LMFAOAOAOAO

forgot u had anger issues x

Stop like i just despise her

it's cause you still like hao right

well i kind of admitted it in front of my
whole campus soooo

took you long enough????

i feel like i just drank a potion that
put me back to life I NEEDDD TO
TALK TO HIM PLZ LET ME IN

okay i'll come out to the gate

WOW congratulations for coming out
🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈❤️❤️of the gate

stfu or i'm locking you out??

ok. open the gate then i
want to speak to my man

you say you don't like him but then
when Yunji (a lowlife) kisses him a
couple of months ago you go feral

Yes and what.

you're crazy

Ok☹️

❦ ♪

she watches as the tall golden gates move apart and all of the memories of her first day attending here came flooding back to her. she honestly didn't know whether to feel sick or excited that she was back for the day.

on the way, she initially didn't know what to do or say when she sees him as she thought he'd fully ignore her (which is very reasonable). however she came up with a smart idea and since she knew hao's monday timetable, she knew she'd seem him during music where it was in the music hall.

she spots youngjae and he smiles before she walks in. "okay since this is supposed to be a surprise for your man we need to get to the music hall without anyone seeing." he says before closing the gate behind them.

"okayy and how am i going to do that?" she asks, being cautious of her surroundings knowing that almost anyone could recognise her in an instant. "headmaster kim knows i'm here right?"

youngjae hums, leading her inside and immediately opening the door to his office. "i'll leave you here, he'll give you keys. i'm about to be told off for walking out of lesson. but good luck." he says before speedwalking away from her.

mei scoffs. she just arrived and now she's being left alone??? at this rate she's probably already forgotten the way around this massive ass school. but without another complaint she closes the wooden door and meets the headmaster smiling at her.

"it's been a while, mirae." he chuckles. "how is it being back at your old university?" he indicates for her to sit down and she does so very nervously.

"um, alright." she smiles. "i just wanted to see what it's like since everyone got their results today right?" she was partially telling the truth, but obviously her main goal was to find zhanghao and talk to him.

"must be good being away from a place full of boys." he chuckles, opening a drawer and taking out some keys. "surprisingly you and youngjae are fine now right? even after you punched him?"

mei stifles a laugh. "yeah, we're fine." her eyes avert to the keys and she raises a brow. "what's this for?"

"youngjae told me you're here to talk to hao.. so i know you probably don't want all attention on you right now so i got you a key to another way into the music hall. it's the blue one." he grins, handing her the keys. mei almost scoffs at herself by the fact youngjae JUST told her he would give her keys.

mei nods and checks the time. the music lesson had just started and she knew everyone would be there and didn't want to arrive so early. "um, can i ask you a question before i go though?"

he nods. "i heard you argued with yunji earlier today.." he chuckles. "i'm kind of glad you did, those meetings always made me so mentally and physically exhausted because of her."

mei's eyes widen. "wait how the hell did you know that?" she asks in shock. "i mean it's good that i'm not the only one who dislikes her.."

"headmaster told me, and of course i dislike her. she's one of the few girls who like to attempt breaking into our campus." he sighs, scratching his head just by the thought of dealing with it again. "anyways, sorry go on with your question."

"well, was it true that yunji actually downgraded me to get hao's parents against me? like i already know it happened but what did she say about me?"

the man sighs. "i don't actually remember at all if i'm honest, but she everything she said indicated that you were a horrible, egotistical girl who was only trying to manipulate zhanghao."

mei sighs. "i don't know why his parents would believe that, i'm literally in love with that boy."

headmaster kim snorts. "yeah, okay. especially when you two decided to drink on a university day and give us a bad reputation.."

mei gasps. "oh fuck i forgot about that, sorry." she laughs nervously. "i promise i wouldn't do that kind of stuff and show it to the media like that again."

"so are you here to make up with him?" he asks, crossing his arms. "everyone notices how sad he's been lately, and all of the professors think it's because of you."

mei scoffs. "why are the professors interested?"

"everyone is. his confidence has gone down, you know. it's good that you're here to sort him out."

"yeah, i feel awful. i just want to talk to him again." mei sighs before checking her phone again. "i think i'll go now actually, i need as much time as i can to explain everything to him."

the headmaster nods. "of course." he grins. "oh and you don't have your tablet do you?"

mei halts as she stands up and nods. "i forgot it in the building." she laughs. "do i need it?"

he nods. "well yeah, you can use mine for the directions to the music hall." he says as he passes her the tablet. she thanks him and he sends her a thumbs up. "if you two successfully make up, i'll give you two a surprise."

mei was confused by what he meant but just waves him goodbye before inserting the key into the door in the back of his office. once she successfully opens the door, she already feels a cold breeze.

mei shivers in the cold and bland hallway, and looks down at the fancy tablet again. she presses the FIND ROOM button and already begins to walk.

thankfully it was fully lit up with plain white walls, the hallways being in many forms and it honestly felt like a maze seeing the many different coloured doors at every single corner.

the route wasn't that long, making it easy for mei to just speed walk through the inside to make sure she gets there faster and not be absolutely freezing.

YOU HAVE ARRIVED. shows up on the tablet as she reaches a tall, wooden door. she takes a deep breath before putting the blue key in, twisting it and letting out a relieved smile when it works. she peeks through the door and she recognises where the door was located.

she peeks the door open a little more and spots hao sat at the back by himself, on his phone with his violin sat next to him. she chuckles to herself at how he was still using what she gave him, even after how horrible she was.

she finally opens the door fully and it wasn't long until he turns to his right towards the door mei was walking out of.

❦ ♪

Cliffhanger is sending me like LOL what

welp!!! sorry for the ass chapter again i just wanna put in fillers before i end this book Properly but zhangmei redemption next chapter. The plot is coming back i promise i'm not just depressed and hate you guys 😜

Also happy new year bffs xx wishing you all a good new year + we also have to make an agreement that everything i wrote in 2023 is a social experiment and wasn't real thanks