>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

It’s been five days that Sehun and Areum aren’t talking to each other. They recently argued about some of his friends, always tagging him along this new hobby of his, drinking. Areum usually don’t mind about this stuff since he only drinks occasionally. But he’s been much more addicted to it lately. It’s just alarming Areum that he might fall into it more. She doesn’t tell the group too. It’s between her and her boyfriend. They don’t really want others interfering with their relationship.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

As Jeonghan, Seunghee, Sorn and Jun eats some snack at the cafeteria, they suddenly talk about the two.

“Areum unnie’s distant lately, is there something wrong?” Sorn asks Seunghee.

“She probably had a fight with oppa. They usually just keep it to themselves. It happened a lot of times before,” Seunghee replies.

“So that’s why hyung’s not around too,” Jun comments.

“He’s probably goofing around somewhere,” Jeonghan adds.

“Oppa’s really secretive and unnie’s the same. But how they got together was really unique,” Seunghee shares.

“Tell us about it unnie,” Sorn excitedly utters.

“Hey, it’s rude talking about others when they’re not around,” Jeonghan reminds them.

“Come on jagiya,” Seunghee whines. “It’s not like we’re backstabbing them?”

“Yeah, let’s hear it noona,” Jun exclaims.

“You guys… alright,” Jeonghan finally gives up.

Seunghee smiles and then goes on with their story, “I was a senior in middle school then. Of course, Jeonghan was my classmate too…”

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

Five years ago

Sehun and Areum’s relationship is a picture of a romcom love story. It all started in high school, when a fifteen-year-old girl accidentally pours her spaghetti snack over the also fifteen-year-old school prankster in the school canteen.

“What the f***!” Sehun exclaims.

Drenching in the combination of the spaghetti and the drink, Oh Sehun fumes as he turns to the girl who accidentally did it. And there she is, the snow white queen of their year cuz of her milky white skin, Lee Areum, sheepishly aggravated of the ruckus she has done.

“I’m sorry! You weren’t looking, that’s why I accidentally bumped on you,” she states as if imposing that it’s not her fault but his.

“But you saw me,” he stresses out on the word.

“Yeah, but I expected you to avoid it, with that agility of yours.”

She wears this mean face as if taunting him and she’s starting to get on his nerves.

“I see… so you’re telling me you knew this would happen.”

“Nope. That’s not what I meant. Oh sorry, I have something up. The student council’s meeting will be any minute now.”

Areum hurries away from him, leaving poor Sehun in his drenched, sticky state. He can’t even fight back, she’s a lady after all. But before completely going out of the view, she turns back at him and says something really ill.

“Oh, can you clean the floor as well? It’ll be a hassle for the others to walk by. I’m sorry again. See yah.”

That time, he has really had it. It dawns on him that she did it on purpose and that she deserves to be punished. He sounds a growl, making the students nearby glance at him.

“Agghh!! See you Lee Areum,” he says this with a cranky face.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

Areum is the class’ representative and the year’s student council president. She’s looked up to by everyone. Be it cuz of looks or brains. She has this uptight personality that dominates the whole student body. She’s like Thomas Hitler they all say. Some dictator you can’t really disobey.

Sehun on the other hand, is the happy-go-lucky type of weirdo. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t really mind what others think, as long as he’s having fun and having a good time. He’s prone to play pranks to anyone he gets close to. And he really goes well with Hansol, Seunghee’s friend. They get along fine once they start picking on others, even if they seldom see each other.

And what happens when these two finally have chance to clash? That instant starts now.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

It’s the year level meeting for the year-end festival and all year levels are contributing a performance to the year-end program. All freshmen are gathered in the auditorium for the selection of participants and the decision to which performance they’ll carry out. Areum, as the year level’s representative and president, presides the meeting, standing at the stage infront of hundreds of her colleagues. She looks fierce and untouchable. Everyone literally looks up to her.

“Alright, silence everyone,” she commands on the microphone.

In an instant, everybody keeps quiet. That’s the president for you. But on his seat, Sehun is rolling his eyes and staring sharply at the authoritarian girl. He’s still hung up on the bumping scene at the canteen a few days back, and he’s readying his revenge.

“We’re here today, as all of you know, to gather votes and select participants for the up-coming year-end program for the year-end festival. Without further ado, I’d like to hear your suggestions as to what our year level will be contributing to the event. We need two, a performance and an activity booth,” Areum says.

Sehun automatically raises his hand. Areum calls on him to stand up, still not recognizing it’s him.

“Yes, the one raising his hand,” she says.

Sehun stands up with the smug look on his face and speaks, “How about we do a contemporary dance together Ms. President?”

Everyone murmurs after hearing his proposal. It’s a first and a new one. And it’s defying the almighty student council leader.

“Excuse me?” Areum responds, and takes a good look at him, finally recognizing him to be guy she unknowingly bumped into the other day at the canteen. Though she thought it was good for him cuz he wasn’t looking.

Then one by one, the other students second the suggestion unanimously. It shocks Areum that they’ve easily come to a decision almost instantly, considering she’s the one involved in the plan. Do they hate her that much? She wonders.

Sehun is just standing there, arrogantly staring up at her. He lays up his hands on his sides gesturing that his suggestion is good as done. Just then, Areum piercingly stare back at him, she realizes he’s trying to get back at her.

“So what do you say Ms. President?” Sehun asks.

Areum cannot back down at this challenge. She’s one tough girl and she won’t ever stoop down to his level. “Well, the majority has voted. I’m in.”

Suddenly a loud thundering sound of cheers and applause fill the auditorium. Amidst it all, Sehun and Areum are just glaring at each other, both unwavering and uncompromising, as if they’re the only ones there. Cuz they both know that the clash between them have already just begun.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

Aside from the contemporary dance Sehun and Areum are performing, they also voted to have a café where they will serve various types of coffee mixes from different provinces. But considering that she will be the performer for the event, Areum assigned her vice president to be in charge of the activity booth’s preparations. She will be preoccupied with the month-long practice for the contemporary dance, she’s also engrossed on being cautious around her partner, who seems to be dangerous, for her own good. Sehun on the other hand is simply casual and collected but he’s always looking at her with those cunning eyes of his.

It’s the first day and they are inside a practice room, with mirrors all around them. The ballet class have just ended. Sehun is leaning his back on the front mirror, while Areum is trying to set up the iPod and the speakers.

“So, how are we going about this huh?” he starts.

“You just do everything I say and we’ll be done in no time,” she simply says.

He silently utters the word ‘Okay.’ and faces the mirrors. Areum samples on the songs she prepared. She hits the play button and behind her, Sehun samples on the dance too. This continues for a while until she notices what he’s doing. She gazes at him for a minute before finally speaking up.

“What are you doing?”

He’s already beginning to sweat, as if he’s used to this kind of stuff. Without turning to her, he replies, “Oh, just warming up. I haven’t practiced in a while. Don’t wanna get rusty infront of the female president.”

She only raises an eyebrow at his comment but seriously, she thinks he’s good. Good enough to be her partner for this performance.

“Alright, listen to me. We only have one month for this to work and we’ll have to practice every afternoon to perfect this. I don’t want any trouble with this presentation so you better keep up. I don’t have time to teach you.”

She’s bossy right. He can only imagine how the student council works under her.

“Sign this. This is our official entry to the year-end program.”

She hands her their official paper to the program and he signs it without a word.

“I’ll hand this over the committee tomorrow so don’t you dare skip a practice, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

As if he’s a very obedient boy, he even gives her a salute. She’s pleased but she’s still watchful as to what he’s really up to. But she puts it aside for now.

“Alright, let’s get down to business.”

Areum is a great dancer. She’s an overall performer and a smart girl too. She’s almost perfect except for her attitude. But she knows it all works on her behalf. It’s her way of protecting herself. Her way of distancing herself from people, cuz she doesn’t want to get hurt.

Sehun, on the other hand, is a lazy dancer. He’s good, but the problem is, he doesn’t want to practice. And this time, cuz he wants to get back at the president, he’ll put her patience into the test.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

On the second day, Sehun shows up late. And cuz of that, he hears a twenty-minute long nonstop nagging from the female president. And because of that, on the third day, he doesn’t show up. She keeps calling him but he doesn’t even pick up. On the fourth day, he sends her a message that he won’t be practicing for the next few days. And finally on the seventh day, after getting fed up of his excuses, she walks up to him during his P.E. class.

The whole class is shocked to see the president fast approaching just right after their class. They are all cautious of her. They don’t want to mess with the witch. So they only have one person in mind, Oh Sehun.

Sehun, at the left corner, is nonchalantly getting his things ready when a friend whispers to him.

“Hey, Miss President is here. You haven’t done anything bad to her do you?” his friend nervously asks.

Sehun is surprised himself too when he turns and sees the fuming Lee Areum fast approaching.

“I better go now, see you later!” he bids his friend goodbye and starts running as fast as he can.

Areum witnesses his attempt to scape and decides to run after him but on second thought hesitated considering all the eyes on her now. But as she lets the guy escape once again, she can’t control her anger and lets it out.

“Oh Sehun!! Come back here!!” she shouts in the hallway as she catches him running away from her.

He only turns back at her waving her goodbye with a sly face and all she can do is grunt her frustrations away.

“Yaaahhh!!!” she screams, making the students all ponder why the respected student council president is suddenly on the verge of blowing up.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

The bullying continues for days to weeks and Areum is on the edge of breaking down. She can’t be ruined by this one performance. She has been a model student since first grade, she can’t let him taint her reputation. The event is only a week away and they barely have anything done. They haven’t even completed the routine of the performance. She has asked almost anyone she can to be his replacement but nobody wants to, leaving her no choice but to wait for him to turn up or face the humiliation of not having to fulfill her duties as the president of the student council, as a role model and as a student.

Right then, Sehun finally appears in the practice room while Areum sits on the corner, all-haggard and stressed all day searching for him. She glares at him the moment he walks over her.

“Now you just show up? Do you want to die?! Why do you keep on bullying me like this? Does all these make you happy? Seeing me in bad mood everyday? Seeing me desperate to find you? We can’t cancel on this event, my name and reputation is on the line here. Can’t you be sympathetic? Just cut it out!! I’ve had enough of this! I’ve had enough of you!!”

She’s so mad she can’t help but cry. It’s too much already.

It makes him speechless. Sehun is dumbfounded at the sight of her crying. The sassy, brave-hearted girl is breaking down infront of him. It makes him wanna bully her more, make her cry more. He didn’t expect her wall to collapse this easily. But a part of him is also mesmerized. She looks so fragile, so vulnerable that he wants to hold her in his arms and ease her. And on impulse, he does just that. He approaches her and without a thought, hugs her tightly as he caresses her hair. And she stays frozen just like that. With wide eyes, she feels the warmth of his embrace. It’s gentle and surprisingly, she feels secure.

“It’s alright, I won’t run away anymore. I’m sorry,” he calmly says.

But Areum goes back to her senses and suddenly pushes him away from her hard. She points a finger at him, reprimanding him for the gesture.

“Don’t you dare touch me again!” she fumes.

Sehun sarcastically replies her though, “How should we do the dance if I can’t touch you huh? Or do you want to just cancel this?”

In her tear-stricken face, she stares at him. “I haven’t forgiven you yet so don’t act like we’re okay.”

He shrugs at her and says, “I said I’m sorry. Alright, I’ll do everything you want me to do when this is all over. How about that?”

“You expect me to believe that when you have ran away from me almost all month? You’re being ridiculous.”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’ll do everything after this performance. You have my word. You can record it and sue me later if I don’t do it.”

Without a word, Areum puts out her phone and puts it up before his face.

Sehun sighs and says his part, “Today, November 28, 2011, I, Oh Sehun, promise to do everything our student council president, Lee Areum asks of me, after our contemporary dance performance at the year-end program.”

She takes her phone down that instant and glares at him.

“You better keep your word this time,” she says pointing a finger at him.

“Just stop pointing that finger at me and we’ll all be good,” he hisses.

She silently does and proceeds to play music on the iPod. She gets her bag too and walks to the door. Sehun is puzzled why but she speaks.

“I’ve completed my part while you were idling and running away from me. So now, you do yours. I’ll see you tomorrow. You better have it perfected by then. I expect you to.”

She bangs the door close after walking out on him and Sehun only murmurs his complaints.

“Perfect it overnight. Yeah, that’s just impossible. But I have no choice but to have it done, do I?”

Sehun locks himself in the practice room overnight. He asks the caretaker if he can stay and he is permitted to. 24 hours of preparation is all he has for this routine. He deserves to be punished anyway. Everytime he pauses to rest, all he remembers is her tear-filled face angry looking at him. He’d rather not see her that way again, so he pushes himself to the limit. Unexpectedly, this girl has him good. He never thought she’d strike him this way when he only wanted to get back at her. Now he only wants to have her. Now he only wants to make her smile. He spends the rest of the night memorizing his part to be ready when she arrives the next day.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

To be continued…

(16.09.14)