"Unbelievable," Yuel said under his breath.
"Okay, that will be the seating arrangement for the first semester," Ms. Kim said.
Class one had English for fourth period, which was with their homeroom teacher. After going through the textbook and syllabus, Ms. Kim announced that seats would be changed randomly by drawing lots.
The students took the next few minutes to move their desks to their respective new spots. Edin and Yuel were the only two to stay right where they were.
"I think this is what people call fate," Edin said, grinning happily.
Yuel could only let out a long sigh. It was currently March, and he was stuck with this boy until August when the second semester would begin. Hopefully, by then, he would be left alone. If not, he was in for a hard five months.
Once everyone got settled down, Ms. Kim moved on to the next matter at hand.
"We now need to pick the class representative and the vice representative. Since I'm sure you all will be busy with college entrance exams, there won't be too many duties for the reps this year. Is there anyone who would like to volunteer?"
No one raised their hand. As the teacher said, third-years had too much to worry about regarding college exam preparations to waste even a second on anything else.
After a minute of waiting, Ms. Kim said, "No one? Then, I'll have to be the one to pick—"
"I think Chu Euiheon should do it!" Hamin said, pointing to the boy in front of him. The two of them were now seated by the wall opposite the window in the middle row. "He's the most responsible person I know."
While Euiheon did agree with him, he didn't appreciate that the one time Hamin complimented him was because of something as tedious as becoming the class representative.
"Euiheon, are you okay with taking on the role?" Ms. Kim asked, looking at him rather hopefully.
Euiheon sighed. "Sure, I guess. But only if Seong Hamin becomes the vice rep."
A few snickers sounded across the room from the prospect of having Hamin, the boy who spent more time sleeping than being awake in class, be the vice rep. However, no one objected to it, mainly because everyone else was just glad they hadn't been nominated in his stead.
"Alright," Ms. Kim said.
"Ms. Kim, how come you won't ask if I'm okay with it?" Hamin protested.
"Hamin, we all know that you could use devoting a bit more time to school activities."
A second round of snickering ensued.
"This is so unfair..."
Euiheon turned his head a bit and whispered, "You should have kept your mouth shut then, dumbass."
"Ugh..."
"It's settled," Ms. Kim said. "The class rep for the year will be Euiheon, and the vice rep will be Hamin."
The bell rang right on cue, marking the end of the period.
"Have a good lunch, everyone."
"Any clue what's on the menu today?" Hamin asked as he and Euiheon walked over to Edin's desk.
Euiheon replied, "Probably a lot of vegetables. Our school has the worst menus on Mondays."
"Ugh..."
"You're still going to eat all of it, aren't you?"
"Of course. Now that I'm the vice rep, I'll be needing all the energy I can get."
"I'll bet five thousand won that you'll spend fifth period sleeping."
(*Won: Korean currency; roughly 1000 won equals 1 US dollar)
"I'll bet ten thousand," Edin said.
Hamin frowned. "And you guys call yourselves my friends."
"Trust me," Euiheon said. "Neither Edin nor I go around calling ourselves something so degrading."
"Why, you little—"
"Careful, Ham. There are a lot of eyes watching. Tons of witnesses if you try to kill me right now."
Hamin actually backed off to that.
While this was going on, Edin turned to Yuel and asked, "Do you want to eat with the three of us?"
To the suggestion, Yuel's expression was far from positive. He wasn't even planning on going to the school cafeteria today. With the classroom emptying out for lunch, this was his only chance to get some quiet alone time.
"I'll pass."
"Yeah, I don't want to eat with those two, either."
"Hey!" Hamin called out. But whatever he followed up with got promptly ignored.
"I'd much rather eat with just you," Edin whispered so that only Yuel could hear him.
Yuel looked away from the boy. He seriously couldn't comprehend how someone could say such embarrassing things so casually.
"Y-You should go eat with your friends. I'm not really hungry."
"Then, I'm not hungry, either." Edin turned to his two friends. "You guys can go without me."
"Wow, Yang Edin," Hamin replied. "You're really going to be like that to me?"
Euiheon grabbed him by the ear. "I think I've heard enough of your whining for one day. Let's go. I'm starving."
"Ow! Let go of me! First, my ass, and now my ear! You're tearing me apart, Chewie!"
"Shut up."
With those two gone, the classroom got significantly quieter. It turned completely silent once the last few students left to go get lunch. This allowed Edin to clearly hear the sigh that left Yuel's lips. The growling in his stomach that came right after was even harder to miss.
"You must be hungry now," Edin remarked.
"......"
"Want to get something to eat at the school store?"
"No thank—"
Yuel's stomach growled again. The truth was that he skipped out on breakfast and had been fighting through hunger all morning. He thought about going to the store once he was all alone. Unfortunately, that didn't seem likely of happening anymore. It might have never been likely at all given how attached Edin was to him from the moment they met.
Yuel sighed. "Fine..."
The two boys headed down to the first floor of the building. It wasn't until they saw the store in the distance that Yuel realized he had forgotten to bring his wallet. Little did he know, Edin had noticed that fact even before they left the classroom.
"Don't worry," Edin said, flashing his wallet. "Today's going to be my treat."
"I'll pay you back."
"No way. I want to treat you."
"You really don't have to..."
In fact, Yuel wished he could use this opportunity to go back to class by himself. Or better yet, go hide somewhere until lunch was over.
"Wait here," Edin said.
He ran off to the store before Yuel could even give him a response. Judging by the sound of it, the place was packed with other students who decided to skip out on Vegetarian Monday. Yuel preferred not to squeeze his way past the tight crowd just to stop Edin from buying anything for him. He would just have to repay him once they got back to their classroom whether Edin refused it or not.
Yuel leaned against the wall of the relatively more peaceful hallway. However, he wasn't able to maintain this peace for long.
"Wow, it really is Ye Yuel," a boy said, coming his way. "Hey, it's been a while."
Yuel had no clue who this boy or his friend next to him was. But the fact that they knew him could only mean that they had gone to the same middle school. That was the one concern Yuel had about registering for Jayu High. While it wasn't the closest option, it certainly wasn't far enough away not to have at least a few kids from his old middle school attend.
"It's been a couple of years now, so I'm curious. Was that rumor actually true?"
"What rumor?" Yuel asked, though he already knew exactly what the boy was talking about.
Yuel had always spent his school days in solitude, away from whatever or whoever was popular. That being said, there had been only a single instance when he became the talk of the town.
"Oh, you know, the one about you dating some man like ten years older than you."
Yuel froze completely. Even after four years, that one mistake from his past continued to haunt him. Had he known he would be confronted about it from the very first day, he would have never chosen to return to this town. He should have just gotten a place of his own no matter how many part-time jobs it would take to make rent. At least then, he could be far, far away where no one knew a thing about him.
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