Cupcake

Baek Hyeon's POV:

The light dimmed. My eyes were as heavy as a rock: I was about to dose off. Slowly, it closed; I was at peace at my comfy bed as I sunk deep into the covers. The soft gentle pillow pursed against my head making me comfortable as ever. How I wish to not wake up.

Right, it's Monday…

The alarm clock beside me blared out the noisiest sound that cranked me up. Ouch! I covered my ears with my pillows and sit up before hitting the 'stop' button. 'Whoever bought that ought to die,' I thought to myself as I let a breath out of my mouth.

I rubbed my eye with my hand and felt my eyes sunk, leaving a deep and dark spot underneath my eyes. I sat up and my feet slipped onto a pair of well-made slippers. Slowly, my feet were dragging onto the floor, walking me to the bathroom. If you have ever watched '#Alive' on Netflix, note that I am the bloody zombie, and the atmosphere writes – MONDAY- on caps as a size 70 heading. That's how I feel today. That's how everyone at school feels about Monday.

As I could see my reflection on the mirror, I squeezed the toothpaste onto my toothbrush; I stuck it up into my mouth and brushed my teeth. 'Strawberry Flavour' I read on the wrap of the toothpaste. What kind of strawberry tastes like mint? Or is it just a new flavour? Without minding the flavour, I went on brushing my teeth. I gargled my mouth and spit out the water. 'My teeth look white,' I thought to myself. Yep…today's going to be a wonderful day according to my teeth calendar. After taking a quick shower, I wiped myself and put on a fresh pair of gyobok.

***

" Good morning class, today we are going to learn about the Joseon Dynasty, " said the History Teacher as he smacked the table with his bare hands.

Pak! Silence filled the room; every student had their eyes cornered at Mr Hirota. They flipped open their untouched history books (that was probably for a few months) and scurried their eyes, finding the content 'Joseon Dynasty…. page 121'.

Mr Hirota took a few steps heading towards my direction as he looked over at every student's table, checking if they had their eyes glued onto the page.

Shit! I quickly flipped the pages (and had a paper cut on my finger), finding the page. But wait, why was its page 120 and the next page 123? No way! Seojun must have glued it together. That son of a-

My teeth git with anger and I clenched my fists, trying to hold back the anger that was taking over me. In my head, I could only think of punishing him but, I then realised how small I was compared to him.

I let out a sigh and bent down my head. 'How could he do this to me? That fool,' I whispered underneath my cold breath as Mr Hirota took his final step towards me.

I'm dead, for sure.

A shiver ran down my weak spine and my hand clenched on tight to the chair, gripping for its life (because that's its purpose when it comes to history class).

His wrinkle-liked head bent down, to level with me, and his ever so squared glasses rested at his buttoned nose. He had his hands tightly gripped behind him, holding a long ruler (AKA 'the ruler of punishment', as he calls it), getting ready to smack the life out of me.

"Baek Hyeon, have you opened your book to page 121?" he asked as his cold voice haunted me.

"Um, Mr Hirota?" I asked as I quivered.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Seojun glued the pages together and-" before I could even finish my sentence, I felt a dark gloom beside me. It felt as if the large waves are crashing towards me in a storm, a heavy storm.

With his left hand holding the ruler, he raised it high and mighty. Oh, she-

I covered my eyes and braced myself just before Jae Sang came in and held the ruler. I peeked open my eyes to see Mr Hirota glaring at him in shock and anger.

"What is the meaning of this?" snarled Mr Hirota as he tapped his ruler onto his palm as if designing his devious plans to torture Jae Sang and I.

"Do you know that child abuse is illegal?" began Jae Sang, completely changing the topic and not answering Mr Hirora's question.

"Yes but- "

"Do you know that people caught abusing children can be taken to court and given 5 years or a life sentence of prison? Just imagine the dishonour it would bring to the family, school, job and pretty much everything they care about will be taken away and everything which was pleasantly normal would be turned upside down." Continued Jae Sang as the rest of the class stopped scribbling down their notes, PAK! but Mr Hirota smacked his ruler onto the table making all the curious on-lookers quickly turn their attention back to their work. Just as Mr Hirota was about to shout, he was cut off by Jae Sang again.

"You also know that not only physical abuse is child endangerment, but also mental abuse. Things such as fear, hostility, loneliness, etcetera can cause the children to be mentally unstable and that can also be brought to the court and the oppressor would receive very long jail time and pretty much have the same reaction as the physical abuse." Explained Jae Sang with a satisfied smirk slowly etching into his soft features.

" Now, here is the question, would you like me (a son of the owner of a newspaper company which is best known for exposing people and finding out their secrets) to report that there is child endangerment in this school or would you like to only use that ruler for measurement purposes like it is made for and make sure to not hurt or scare any of these students ever again?" finished Jae Sang as Mr Hirota just stared at Jae Sang like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Hah! If you know what's good for you, then I suggest you should leave right now and don't do anything stupid." Chuckled Mr Hirota with disbelief at Jae Sang's accusations.

"Well, I tried to do this the civilised way." Mumbled Jae Sang before grabbing Mr Hirota's ruler and snapped the thick long piece of wood into half, making a loud crack echo throughout the classroom.

"Anyways, come on Baek Hyeon-ah, we need to collect your friends." He spoke cheerfully as he took my hand in his and we left the classroom and Mr Hirota still frozen shock in place.

Jin-Ae's POV:

I sighed contently after finishing the questions written on the whiteboard by my teacher and let my gaze wander to Ha Joon who was lying on his table with a bored expression washed over his handsome features. I zipped open my pencil case, grabbed a stack of sticky notes and started scribbling.

"Heyyy you have done with the work already?" I folded the note in half and waved it while keeping my hand close to the floor, so no one else could see what I was doing. Ha Joon blinked a few times back into reality and raised an eyebrow before taking the note.

"Yea I finished it, lol it's pretty easy since we already learnt this stuff in year 9. 😂" he passed the paperback after I was curious about why he was using a few of his highlighters.

"Btw, how do you think Taeyang and Kyung Mi are ok? I haven't had any classes with any of them lately. 🤔" I added a coloured emoji at the end and passed the paperback.

"I saw them walking in the halls the other day, they looked really happy and were holding hands." He added onto another sticky note because the first one was full.

A few days ago, Kyung Mi and Taeyang announced that they were dating, but keeping it from their parents. Everyone was happy for them since we all knew that those two deserved loves, even if it was unique.

"Good morning, I would like to talk to Jin-Ae and Ha Joon please." Said a masculine voice loudly and politely, which I recognised as Jae Sang who was staring at Ha Joon and I, making me stop half-way through sending the next note.

***

"What's up?" asked Ha Joon casually to Jae Sang, whereas I was staring intently at the broken ruler in his hands which looked very familiar.

"I have no clue, but I'll gladly follow this dude if it means I can skip Mr Hirota's class." Chuckled Baek Hyeon, but Jae Sang shook his head at Ha Joon's question.

"We have to get that other girl too." Grumbled Jae Sang in annoyance making us all give him an utterly confused look. Which girl is he talking about?

"Seong Mi Young." Deadpanned Jae Sang.

"Oooh, why didn't you just say that? Her class is this way." Laughed Ha Joon as we walked to Mi Young's class.

***

"What do you mean she isn't here?" I asked in disbelief as the teacher just shook her head again and repeated:

"Seong Mi Young hasn't attended class today."

We thanked the teacher and apologised for the troubles, before walking out of the classroom and wondering where Mi Young went.

"I guess we don't have to bring Mi Young along. Anyways, my parents requested to meet you guys since he heard about you visiting and your request." Said Jae Sang after we finished checking the whole school in search of Mi Young.

"Then, in that case, shouldn't we get Kyung Mi and Taeyang also?" asked Baek Hyeon, but Jae Sang shook his head.

"My parents specifically asked for just you guys, now come on, we're late." Announced Jae Sang before taking off into a quick pace, making the rest of us sprint after him.

Mi Young's POV:

"What the hell do you want Seojun?!" I yelled angrily as I glared menacingly at his cold dark eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you- "

"So, you're telling me that I wasted my time of perfectly good education, just because you wanted to 'talk'?" I shrieked before he clamped a hand shut over my mouth and I bit his hand, making him wince and remove his hand.

"Why are you so angry?" he complained, and I deadpanned at his handsomely pinchable face.

"Well... you're not exactly my favourite person right now," I said, and he blinked at me.

"Come on Cupcake, you're choosing Jin-Ae over me?" he chuckled adding more emphasis to the childhood nickname.

"Definitely. I will always choose Jin-Ae and the rest of my friends over the new Seojun." I said truthfully, knowing that it would sting him.

"What do you mean the 'new' me?" he laughed in confusion.

"The Seojun I was friends with, was kind-hearted, beautiful inside and out, cared about people other than himself and was just amazing. Now there's just... this." I said the last sentence with disgust as bittersweet memories of the sweetheart Seojun used to be, flooded into my mind. I watched intently as he clutched a fist and tried not to show any emotion on his face, but I knew I had hit a soft spot.

I gave him a half-hearted tight-lipped smile before turning on my heel and brisk walking away, only to have a warm hard hand hold onto my shoulder, making me stay frozen in place.

"I don't like the new me either." He whispered, his voice thick with raw emotion and his eyes glossy with unshed tears.