Chapter 5

"You know those three?" the Korean girl asked beside me, lightly nudging my side to earn my attention, I  hummed as a response

"Y-yeah, unfortunately" I muttered lowly making it inaudible for her to hear

"what was that?" she asked

"nothing"

The three boys approached me, well, they're now actually approaching me and Chaeryoung but with opposite intentions between us

"what a surprise little nerd, I kept looking for you in the Dream 4 classroom but you weren't there, who would've thought that you will be in this classroom of  our section sitting with a pretty lady" he chirped to us then stared at Chaeryoung intently, as if he's a ferocious predator who had just found his selected rightful mate

"what's your name pretty girl?" he purred at Chaeryoung while showing his brazen smirk while the two boys behind him glance at her with flattering eyes

"I don't know what your intentions are, but it seems that you are bringing such mischief to my friend right here, and I do not accept it, with that, I don't think giving my even most basic information to you is a good idea" Chaeryoung deadpans leading the guy in front of us to lose his cool, yet he still managed to release a what seems like a forced chuckle

"Look, I'm trying to be a nice guy here, and so are you cause you're trying to defend this thing right beside you *while he points at me*, but at the same time, I'm not liking it cause you're just playing hard to get missy, a simple giving of name won't hurt you right? Well… unless you want me to call you as baby or future wife then we could discuss about that" he grins then  leans beside a chair, gaining back his lost confidence caused by the Korean girl beside me earlier

"If this is your way of forcing me to say my name, then it's Chaeryoung Song, and no, you are not allowed to call me names such as baby, future wife, since I won't be any part of your future nor mine, and you also can't address me with other sweet calling nicknames, so let me abuse your 'nice guy' picture and leave us alone peacefully, and just pretend that none of this scenario had happened " she responds with a flat expression

And this guy definitely didn't like the response

"and who are you to dictate me what to do? Huh!? Let me remind you that I am the son of the owner of this school, no girl had ever rejected me, and most important of all, at anytime I want, I can remove your name from this school, aaanddd besides, YOU'RE JUST A GIRL *chuckles* what else could you do? Swing your makeup kit on my face? *smirks* I'm a GUY and clearly STRONGER than you, and I won't hesitate to hit your delicate face if you disobey me, cause your body? Is just like a thin light sheet of  paper to me, I could easily abuse and rip it apart effortlessly anytime I want," he threatens while trapping her between his arms on her chair she is sitting on and glare at her intensely while slowly leaning in front of her, but Chaeryoung didn't even move a single miniscule muscle, it's just like she's not affected at all

"Is that all you want to say?" she asks calmly, but her eyes are now cold and she stares at him like a vulture who's staring at a poor lifeless body

"if it is, then you can leave us alone now, I don't want to greet the morning Sun with  dissensions, I'm not in any mood for that"

"huh, you're one brave girl, aren't you? But even so, that still won't match my strength against you" he then violently grasped her right arm which alarmed me so I bolted up from my seat and   held his arm that's holding Chaeryoungs' and tries to remove him away from her

"Hey! stop it! you're hurting her!" but his physical strength made him easefully shove me away that made me lose my balance and fell hardly on the ground

"scowl off nerd! I'm still not done with you yet!, you better have our assignments ready after I'm done with her!" He commands me then signals something to his two friends and before I knew it, I was pinned down forcefully to the ground by the two guys, whilst dragging me away while they're lowly laughing at the situation they're witnessing right now, they honestly have a strange broken humor, but what made them stop is when Chaeryoung released a half-suppressed laugh catching all of us off guard

"and what are you tittering at huh?!"  he asks loathly, still not removing his grasp from Chaeryoung

"I didn't know you are this violent, Marcus" she smiled at him

"wait, h-how did you know my name?" with a surprised face, he slowly remove his firm grip from her

Another amused chuckle and a mischievous grin arise from Chaeryoungs' aura, the same expression that I saw when she had an unfriendly encounter with  Ssatihs and her friends, she then fixed her wrinkled  sleeveless polo shirt caused by the blazing big earlier, before opening her mouth to speak

"I can't tell that I'm disappointed though, but I actually thought it would ring a bell in your petty mind when you heard my name, but I guess not all brains function properly, but it didn't surprise me at all, in fact, you are the one who's surprised right here judging by your expression right now together with your two friends" He went silent, just completely wordless, his backups are just confused while still holding me down, I can't do anything but meekly since in pain, cause my bruises are only one day old and it's still pre-healing by the process

*Sighs* "I'll get to the point, if you are the son of the owner of Hallowhand university which is this school, then to be fair,  let me also reintroduce myself, this time a little properly" she stood up with her full height, and she is indeed few inches taller from him, how tall is she again?

She raised her hand inviting for a handshake

"My name is Song Chaeryoung, the daughter of the owner of Incheondong Military, and Incheondong  University, and also, the future inheritor of Incheondong University, I am slightly to not pleased to meet you" she smiled, and his eyes went wide, pure shock is evident  on his face

"W-w-what?" his voice quivers and his soul is slowly dissipating from his body

"should I really repeat myself, hmm… I'm pretty sure that's just easy to comprehend since I used basic English while communicating with you, even a toddler can decode the message of what I just said" she cuts him off shortly then left him standing there like a statue completely freezing as if a bucket of ice just poured his whole body

Chaeryoung then approached us then showed them a smile but I saw that she sent them glares before speaking to them

"I'm hoping that you let her go right now" she claimed, but they didn't budge

"l-let her go" it is Marcus who… stammered while commanding them, which they seem to complied immediately, they did let me go…just in a little harsh manner, but I didn't complain and just help myself to stand up, Chaeryoung then gently pulled me away from them and made me stay on her back

"I don't like your presence, I don't like anything about you, and as I kept on saying since earlier, I suggest you to leave, but since I just realized now that you're our classmates…unfortunately, you can stay In this room if you would like, but make sure to keep your distance respectfully away from us" she states at them with her cold and flat voice, it's as dead as a three week old corpse found in a deep lake

*Scoffs* "fine, but I can't guarantee that you're safe from us Chaeryoung, I'll still find my way into you, so better watch your back, just because you're the daughter of the best friend of my dad doesn't mean that you're entirely safe from our hold, your position doesn't guarantee you safety missy" he replied with a threatening voice

*Chuckles* "you're one to talk, but still, since Both our parents have a connection between educational contracts, I respect their long term acquaintances and alliance, and I won't let our tension to break the  friendship of both parties,  let 's take this professionally Mr. Hallowhand, let's not be a hindrance to success" she speaks with authority and I can see that Marcus is…fuming?

"You can't dictate my life Chaeryoung, not even my parents can" he replied sternly

"well if that's the case, then it's your mindset not mine , so yes, I indeed have no longer control to that, it's your choice after all, just don't go near our proximity and cause offensive actions towards us, because each actions has consequences underlying beneath it, and you might not like yours once you take a wrong move" she warns with a small smile

"I don't care, you can't beat me, after all,  you're just a girl" he answered then switched his attention to me

"hey nerd!, we'll take our assignments now, where is it?" he ask with a glare, not wanting to add more fuel to the fire, I went to my bag and took three notebooks which belongs to them then was about to hand it to them when Chaeryoung  holds my arm and swiftly took the three notebooks from my hand

"oh what's this? Assignments? But why are you asking her to do your assignments? Isn't it called  'assignments' for a reason though?" she asked innocently which she only earned a scoff from Marcus

"and so what if we make her do our assignments? She's our dog, she follows our commands to her, and she has no other choice but to comply or else she'll receive punishments from us" he said with a proud smile

"Ahh, I didn't know dumb gays hit girls" she spat bluntly not looking at them, since her gaze is busy browsing through the pages of the notebooks

"and who are you calling dumb gay huh?!"

"who else am I talking to?"

"I'm not gay!"

"uhuh, well that's what would a closeted gay would say" she singsongs but it underlies an insult towards the now enraged Marcus

"shut up!" he shouts and his face is turning red out of too much anger

"aww look, you're blushing, it's okay to be embarrassed sis, but there's actually no problem being gay though, even I-"  he cuts her off, completely lashing out

"I'm not blushing! I'm completely annoyed! I'm angry!" he shouts

"ooh an annoyed and dumb gay? Well looks like someone's gonna slay" she teased him more obviously trying to push him to the edge of his limits while she continues laughing at him, this made him drive into the next level of pure furiousness

"that's it! I'll show you who's the dumb gay!" he then charged at her then was about to wrap his big calloused hands around Chaeryoungs' neck to strangle her, but her reflexes that is as fast as a flash of a camera made her successfully held his left wrist, swats his right hand away with her left hand then gripped his right clavicle really hard as hard as a C-clamp making him wince in pain, and he completely knelt down when his other arm was twisted by Chaeryoung, he lowly groaned each time he tried to get away from Chaeryoungs' calm yet strong grip, she's also surprisingly fast and her movements are supported with great agility and sharp strategic movements, I am definitely going to ask her about her fighting skills later

The guys then went to help their leader/friend by trying to pull Chaeryoung away but before they could even go near, she lifted Marcus up effortlessly, forcing him to stand up before shoved him to his two friends by a swift mid kick to his stomach making all of them to fall down due to the unexpected impact, now it's their turn to be on the ground

"Oww" one of Marcus friend complained while they tried standing up and regaining their balance they were about to charge towards Chaeryoung again, but one action made Marcus to halt his  attempting action, he also stopped his two allies which made them plaster a face of confusion, wondering why did Marcus suddenly cower at her simple posture right at this actual moment

Chaeryoung is slightly crouching down, right foot at the back and left foot crossing in front, lightly raising up, heel is touching the ground, she puts her left hand behind her middle back then her right hand is raising and settled  just on the level near  her face and her orbs are staring directly to the three of them, I think this is her fighting stance, it's unfamiliar to me but by the looks of it, it's quite calm, but I know every calm stance hides an aggressive attack that can literally knock someone out in a split second, I noticed that the three backed out immediately

"The 'Dancing White Cobra's Slay  stance' w-where did you learn that!?" Marcus asked, his face is drenched in sweat, and his body is slightly shivering from obvious fear, I wonder what's the meaning of her fighting stance?

"do you really wanna know where?" She asked with a mischievous smile

"N-no, y-you're probably not a member of that group"

"What 'group' are you talking about?" she asked with a sweet smile

He wordlessly looked to the ground, afraid to stare at her orbs and stay under her gaze

"Joei, Cubber, let's go, I don't feel like attending the morning subjects today"

"But Marcus-"

"Let's go!, Unless you wanna stay here with them" he lashes out which made them flinch and just follow his order

He walked passed us but not forgetting to take a short glance at  Chaeryoung before shifting his gaze to me

"You're lucky you have your savior here, but that doesn't mean that you're completely safe from our hands, so don't consider that your security is ensured nerdy, I'm not done with you yet" he warned lowly before completely passing by us, followed by Joei and Cubber who didn't spare a glance at us

"Are you okay?" Chaeryoung asked me whilst scanning my whole figure

"I'm okay, what about you? Didn't he hurt you?" I asked full of concern but she just released a small laugh and a smile winning her face

"him? He couldn't even put a scratch on me, his skills are no match to mine, he's just like our neighbors dog, all bark, no bite, he might be, but his grip is as loose as a mussel, she replied, this makes me wonder, where does her amazing skills came from?

"By the way, is black the color of your belt?" I asked, slowly shifting the topic

"Hmm? What belt?" she cranes her eyebrows, signaling me to clarify my question

"I just noticed how good your fighting skills are, and you can definitely fight really well, judging by how you made all those students fly across the room yesterday, and what you did to Marcus there,    I can also actually tell you are well trained and experienced, I could even consider that you're a master…" I trailed off

"is that so? What are you trying to conclude then?" ask Chaeryoung

"well, I was wondering maybe you're a black belter in Taekwondo?" I replied, my face is feigning with curiosity, she nods by statement then made a thinking face

"hmm…yeah, that's close enough, my dad taught me some self defense lessons and other special combat movements back in South Korea ever since I was four, so I guess all those years of training made me master all the skills and sharpen it" she gave me a coy gummy smile where her eyes disappeared and appears non-seek-able

"Whoa, no wonder why you're so good at fighting, now it won't be a problem when someone decides to pick up a fight on you, cause they might either go home badly wounded, or be confined in a hospital for months" I joked around which she laughed in response

We noticed that more students starts to occupy the classroom, so we went back to our seats and waits for our first subject teacher, we also realized that the once quiet quarter turned into a boisterous den not until a teacher entered which made all of the students including us to settle on our perspective seats and focus our attention to the oldest

"Good morning students, now what I want you all to do is to stay quiet and open your books to page 45 and do the activity 1 and 2, while activity number 3 will be your assignment for the whole week, I don't need to discuss or explain the possible answers, since all it takes to a right answer is common sense and a hint of morality considering that Homeroom guidance is our subject, that would be all, and you may start answering, and also, if you have questions that makes sense, I'll be right here on the Teachers table and won't go anywhere" she declared with a stoic yet calm look, some students starts shuffling through their bags to do the activities, I felt a small nudge on my shoulder, so I turned to my right side to see Chaeryoung signaling me to give the consent card to the unfamiliar teacher in front, I nod in response and both of us stood up and walked our way to her

"Good morning ma'am"  I greet her with a small smile which earned her attention

"Hmm? New face?, or no, I think I've seen you before, weren't you from Dream 4?" She asks me directly with her blank face, I guess she really doesn't like to smile more often, that' okay, there are people who are like that but are actually nice in reality, and considering that I'm familiar to her makes her a good keen observer

"yes ma'am, my name is Epione Paramnesia, and we have a confirmation card signed by the Registrar and principal since we are permitted to transfer to this section"  I explained to her in a polite manner

"I see, so you and miss…" she trailed off while slowly shifting her gaze to Chaeryoung

"Song Chaeryoung ma'am," she offered a polite smile while bowing her head 90 degrees, , one gesture I'm familiar with about  her showing respect, the older nods her head in response before accepting our papers

"this is noted, I'll give your name to your class president, she's the one holding the master list of this class"

"Miss Everdawn!" she called out, but no response went back at her

"uhm, excuse me ma'am" one student raised her hand earning the attention of the older

"it seems like she's still not here yet, same with her group of friends" she followed which made the teacher click her tongue

*Sighs* "where is that kid this time?" she asks herself before shifting her gaze back at us

"Just wait for miss Everdawn, and you give her the papers instead, for now only if you want, you could introduce yourselves to the class" we nod in agreement then faced everyone in the class

"hello everyone, my name is Song Chaeryoung, was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, 18 years old, and I hope I could get along with you guys throughout my exchange student days" she introduced herself to them after bowing to her usual 90 degrees, and praises and compliments starts showering her, I actually don't have any plans of introducing my name to them since some of them already know me and, do they even care?

"uhm, miss? How about you? Don't you want to introduce yourself?" one girl with round glasses, brunette hair tied in a high ponytail, and neatly worn uniform asked me, eyes are fixated to me with a expecting look, a small smile winning on her face

I felt someone softly pushed me from my back, I glanced at my back to see Chaeryoung with a convincing expression, looking at crowd of unfamiliar students then back to me, signaling me to introduce myself as well, understanding the wordless message, I turned to look at my front and get this over with

"u-uhm, h-hi, my name is Epione Paramnesia, 16 years old, and I, I'm pleased to meet you all, I hope we get along pretty well" I showed a small smile

"Welcome Epione, and Chaeryoung, I'm Miss Ferreoa Connosseu, but you can address me as Ms. Connosseu instead,  your Homeroom guidance teacher, and your adviser, I hope you do well in this class along with every student here, that's all, you may now take your seats" we complied then went back to our proper seats and also do the activities

…

After some few minutes then our Homeroom guidance class is over, Miss Connoisseur packed her things before she stood up and was about to say goodbye to the class when she was interrupted when four silhouettes entered the classroom who is entirely familiar to me, I became unsettled and the chair that's supposed to be comfortable turns out to be like an imbalanced hard birchwood, Chaeryoung on the other hand quietly scans them individually, completely eyeing then from their head down to their toes in an unoffending way

Chaeryoungs' POV

Those four students seems familiar to me, yet I shouldn't get too invested on trying to remember them for a prolonged period of time since I know I've probably only met or had an encounter with them only for a short period, so I'll let the lingering thoughts skip away from my mind for now, Epione on the other hand seems to be uneasy on her seat from the moment she saw them, I'm pretty sure she is once involved to them, probably up until now

"Miss Everdawn and friends, was the classroom too far away for you to be 50 minutes late on my class?" Miss Connoisseur questions raising an eyebrow, but it didn't seem to take effect on the latecomers and proceeds on taking their seats which is at the back, only just a few more benches away from us

"I heard about the news from the Head Counselor that you got called in het Guidance office for doing another violation, it's the 15th time this month, and we're only still in the second week of July" a stoic face plastering her aura whilst staring tediously to the inattentive group of students whose now just busy at their own businesses, 'Called by the Head ccounselor' Ahh now I remember where did I saw them before

"You were given partially accurate and inaccurate information miss, it's true that we we're called at the Guidance office about the report of some students from one certain section about what they thought that we did to their classroom, but it's actually factually inaccurate, for we were just mislabeled, accusing us for something we didn't commit just because we were generally known as the long-time  rivals of the said victimized section" the girl whom I assumed as Everdawn spoke without looking at the older, I just spot another class president with an attitude…twice in a week

"Whichever statement is true or not, I keep telling you that every action lies a huge responsibility, so better make sure that next time you're planning something unnecessary, cut it in your mind immediately, as for now, we'll let your violation pass, but if you ever got included to another mess which results on serious injury/ies, I'll be forced to expel you from this school" she claimed before shifting her attention to all of us

"and that includes to everyone in this room, that would be all, good day"

"iiiGOOD DAY MA'AM!!!" We all stood up to bid her goodbye before she turns around and leave the classroom, remembering about Miss Connoisseurs' reminder to us earlier, we stood up to approach the class president, which unfortunately turns out to be Everdawn, and hands her our Consent card of transfer to other section, for a short moment, she is still unaware of our presence considering that she's busy fidgeting on her phone, not until I cleared my throat causing my small action to gain her attention

"yes?" she asks

"well, my name is Song Chaeryoung, and me as well as my friend here has a consent card of transfer to this section for some acceptable and valid reason" I start while handing her the said card which she eventually accepts before turning her head to Epione, which gave her a knowing look before taking…well more like snatching  the card from Epione as well

"Uhuh, I am aware of that 'valid reason', I'll add your names to the master lists, if that's  all you have to say, you can scram off my sight now" she scowled tearing her attention away from us then proceeds on looking at her phone, I was about to rebuke her about her unacceptable and very unkind personality but  was stopped when Epione held my arm and lightly pulled me back to our seats, leaving me no choice but to comply fighting the urge on not to release a groan because I failed to confront an annoying tot

Seconds turn into minutes, minutes turns into hours and hours reached the half of this day, indicating that it's lunch time, we encountered four teachers for the morning period  scheduled In Wednesday, I stood up and asked Epione to lunch

" hey, let's go eat lunch outside" I initiated

"when you said outside, you mean like outside the classroom right?" she asks hesitantly before standing up carrying her shoulder bag, her reply made me chuckle in response

"No silly, I mean outside the university, you know, when I was driven to school one day, I saw a fine looking diner just some few walks away from the campus, and I thought that it'd be great to have lunch there, so…how about we go to that place now?" quirking my eyebrows up and down, I suggested her

"uhh sure but-" she trailed off but I didn't let her finish her sentence when I took her arm then pulled her outside excitedly

"that's great, Let's go!"

….

As we reached outside the school gate, I felt something tickling on my nose as well as to the other parts of my body that the school uniform can't cover, this is where we realized that it's drizzling rain

"oh, this is pre-rain, it might downpour a heavy rain later on" Epione utters while putting out her hand, feeling the soft sparkles of rainwater touch her palm

"Yeah, the sky might probably cry heavy waters sooner or later" I replied as I fish my phone in my pocket then type something

" there's still more space in  the canteen though" she uttered, earning a small nod from me

"uhuh, there is probably more space, since I saw from the School's architecture how big the space it occupies, it's actually designed to fit a thousand of students there all at once" I replied, my attention is still attached to my phone, then later on put it back to my pocket, I notice that Epione is uneasy and looks like she's low-key panicking while looking at the sky who's now a little gloomier and the Sun is no longer visible by the naked eyes, just earlier there's a good amount of sunshine showering us, but now there's an upcoming dogs and cats that will fall from the sky, the weather sure is having some mood swings lately, my thoughts are interrupted when I saw a familiar vehicle approaching our direction

"I think we should inside now" Epione suggested earning a simple nod from me

"yup, we should go in now" I respond, she then walked back inside the school, realizing her sudden action, I stopped her immediately, she hummed in confusion

"where are you going?"

"I thought you said we should go inside, didn't you?" she asks

"I meant go inside…the car" I replied while pointing at the car that's now in front of us

"This is better than walk  our way there with soaked bodies right?" I continued before the driver  opened the door for her which she went in hesitantly, then I followed her inside, the driver then closed the door and went in the driver's seat

"where to ma'am?" he asks

"To the Green Panlafilo" I answered offering him a small smile, he nods in response before turning on the engine

…

It only took 5 songs to reach the said diner, we hopped off the car and told the driver to fetch us around 10 minutes before lunchtime ends

"so this is the diner you are talking about?" she makes certain off

"Yup! Let's go inside" I said then led her way in

The inside architecture is actually appealing, and it has a green on it's name for a reason judging by the internal appearance of the greenish and nature-like; eco-friendly designs, and colorful led lights with cotton clouds covering it,  it's all refreshing to the brain, as well as to the eyes that's been carrying out stress and exhaustion and stocking it all to their personal bags, known as eye bags

"Good morning ma'am! May I take your order?" the cashier asks  with glee  once she noticed that we are approaching her direction

"Good morning, I would like to take the Chicken Adobo with garlic fried rice and lumpiang shanghai on the side, and Coke Zero with some extra ice as my drink, what about you?" I asked the younger beside me

"I think I'll get the Pansit Gisado also with Lumpiang Shanghai on the side, then I'll have Lemon Iced tea as my drink" she uttered, the cashier nods and told us to take our seats and our orders will be ready shortly

One thing that Epione and I is similar about is we love to seat beside the window, it somehow gives us a calming vibe and helps us temporarily forget the problems that we face each morning comes, luckily, there are only few people at this time making us  find an empty seat easily

"this place is actually relaxing" Epione started

"yeah it sure is"

"is that the reason why this place good out for you amongst the rest?" I looked at her briefly before giving her a response

"well, aside from the calm and amiable atmosphere, my Lola used to take me here every weekends and special occasions, by the way, Lola is a Filipino word that means Grandmother in general English, I remember when every time that my sister and I weren't in good terms and we'd  ignore each other for an extensive amount of time, Lola would take us to this diner and after one good meal, it's just like swift magic, we're back to being inseperable chaotic and deafening sisters," I foretell while beaming at that loving memory

"Oh, you must really have a gracious grandmother, someone that will take care of you whenever you're weary" She smiled softly while folding disorganized tissue papers on the holder then putting them back in neatly

"Yeah, she is kind and takes care of us as if we're her actual children, she's humble, gentle, and very patient, I'm actually planning to visit her to the Philippines once I'm done with  my exchange student days here" I uttered as I gaze at the people walking outside from time to time, some of them just actually have interesting pattern designs on their umbrellas

"hmm, I've heard of that country before, is that where she lives?"

"It's the place where she wants to be buried" my answer made her smile flip upside-down

"Buried?...do you mean she's…" she's hesitating to finish her sentence, so I did it for her

"Yes, whatever you are thinking is correct" a small sad smile winning my face

.

.

.

.

.

.

"She's dead"