a week in her new school, she was having fun most of the time and getting tired for the rest.

today was a saturday. it's supposed to be a rest day for a lot of students, but her family had other things planned.

"sooyoung! we're going in five minutes." her mom yelled frome downstairs.

she studied herself one more time in the mirror. she looked good enough. she went downstairs where see saw her father helping her mom with a necklace.

"square pants again, dear?" her mother asked while frowning.

"let her be, hon. she looks gorgeous." mr. im kisses her cheek.

sooyoung playfully rolls eyes at them. "yeah, mom. i look gorgeous."

"i won't argue with that, but you will look more beautiful in a dress."

before anyone can retort, the family driver announced that the van was ready to go. the three made their to the vehicle, sitting on their usual seats.

"who are you guys meeting again?" the girl questioned both adults.

"you don't have to worry about it, soo. you can just mingle with other teens while me and your mother do the boring parts." her dad assured.

she exhaled and pouted. "being alone is the boring part."

"i'm sure you'll have new friends here!" her mother exclaimed. "i just talked with one of my new acquaintances. she says she also has a son going in kq high and is also in your grade."

"that's great, mom." sooyoung blankly responded before looking out the window.

—

upon making their arrival at the hotel where the business gathering takes place, the family steps out of the van. sooyoung already prepared the fake smile she always wears during these events.

she immediately headed for the table with different appetizers as food was the only thing that excites her there.

she politely greeted people her age but not quite mingling with them. this is because most of them were spoiled brats and she'd rather not deal with their bragging. not to mention, she was the only female.

"ah, sooyoung! come here." her mother called.

the woman was with a bunch of people when sooyoung returned from getting a drink. "this is my daughter, im sooyoung. we just transferred from ilsan." mrs. im introduced, making sooyoung bow to them.

"such a beautiful young lady." one of the women complimented. "this is our son, kim hongjoong."

sooyoung barely held her smile when she saw who she came face to face with.

"oh? if it isn't miss new girl?" the irritating blue haired boy says, causing the grown ups to grow curious.

"you two know each other?"

just when sooyoung wanted to deny, hongjoong beat her to it.

"yeah, she really made an impression on her first day." he informed, pretending a sweet grin. "would you care to join me outside, ms. im?"

sooyoung held the urge to roll her eyes and not really risking ruining her family's image by being rude, she answered, "sure."

excited grins we're seen from both families, probably happy because they get more connections.

"you're the son of the owners of minions corp?" the girl raised a brow. she noticed that the boy had no piercings and his eyebrow slit was missing. "guess you have a multiple faces."

"cut me some slack, princess. i just saved you from getting bored to death in there." he opened the door and held it for her. "they just never stop talking."

the two went outside, to the balcony. the second the adults were out of sight, hongjoong instantly dropped the act and grabbed a box of cigarettes from his jacket.

"where did you get that?" the girl, slightly shocked, asked.

"i always have them with me, darling. it's like a pack of gum." he shakes them, showing the box to her.

sooyoung knitted her brows together while mocking him. "do you plan on dying early, darling?"

"better than living in this cruel world, am i right?" he reaches down his pocket, presumably for the lighter.

"oh, my god. are you depressed?" sooyoung questions, not so jokingly.

"tired is more like it." hongjoong corrects as he leaned forward on the terrace.

he lit up the cigarette, breathes in and out which caused smoke to be blown out his lips, making sooyoung cough and wave her hand around.

she took the cancer stick and threw it on the floor, stepping on it to put out the fire.

"uh, with all due respect, what the fuck?" hongjoong faced her with an almost offended look.

"you know what i do when i'm tired?" she said, completely disregarding the fact she wasted his cigarette as she also rested her back on the fence. "i count."

hongjoong stared at her with a face of disbelief. "okay, i'm tired of you. one, two, three. bye."

"wow, you're no fun." she boringly stares at him before looking elsewhere.

the boy made a tsk noise. "i was having fun smoking, but you had to ruin it."

"smoking makes you closer to death, and i'd rather have you closer to me." sooyoung forcefully winks, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

the pick up line took hongjoong by surprise, almost making him laugh but he tried not to show it. "you're stupid." and interesting.

and awkward chuckle escaped her mouth. "yeah, heard that before." sooyoung sighed.

"glad to hear you surround yourself with honest people." the boy snorted.

"you know what, you're annoying." she could almost see her brain because of how much she rolled her eyes at him.

"yet you're talking to me, snowflake." hongjoong smugly claimed, coming up with a new nickname.

"my name's sooyoung, not princess or darling or snowflake." sooyoung mimicked hongjoong's position, facing the sky. "and i'm only talking to you 'cause it's boring."

"you said i was no fun."

"that's because you are."

"this conversation going in circles makes me exhausted." the boy puts a hand on his forehead to express how tired he was.

"then, count. it works, i tell you. just take a deep breath and count to ten." sooyoung shrugs, inhaling deeply and  counted quietly.

the entire interaction made hongjoong more amused. he never expected to have this much fun conversing with the girl who talked back to him at lunch. "you're so weird."

"so, are you." the girl gave him a side glance.  "who risks getting caught doing bad things at a business party?"

"touchè." hongjoong giggled.

the slight laughter made sooyoung smile with cockiness. "did i just make you giggle?"

"i can giggle whenever i want, snowflake." he smirked, taking out his phone. "number?"

"you could try saying 'please'." the girl simply stared at the device, giving up on stopping him with the weird names.

"it's not like i'm hitting on you." hongjoong scoffed. "come on. we'll see each other often at school and you're not as annoying as what wooyoung said."

the mention of that name made sooyoung pause for a bit which the boy noticed. "whoops, not supposed to talk about him. right."

an awkward silence lingered before sooyoung took hongjoong's phone. "i'm giving this to you because you're the first teen i feel comfortable with around here." she gave it back to its owner who was smiling with content.

"same here. those snotty rich brats really has a way of ticking me off." he stood up straight and fixed his suit, before holding out his arm. "wanna head back? something tells me it won't be that boring anymore."

sooyoung smiled, linking their arms together as the two went inside. "your piercings were pretty, by the way."

"yeah? want to have some?" he asked curiously. he has a hobby of collecting fashionable items. usually he wouldn't even let others touch them, but sooyoung's compliment struck differently. "i can bring them to school."

"i can only wear one pair of earrings, though." she pouted.

"i have loads." he chuckled.

—

the night ended on a good note for sooyoung. other than the fact that both her and hongjoong's families started talking about potentially getting married, she had fun.

getting inside their van, she felt her phone beep.

10:38pm

unknown:
joong's heeerrrree

me:
joong?

me:
ah hongjoong

unknown:
saying my full name
is sooo time consuming

me:
totally

me:
okay then joong

me:
since you're so lazy,
i give you permission
to also use my nickname

unknown:
pft

unknown:
i'd rather stick with
snowflake