First, I want to say:

Double digits~ (Number of subscribers)

Haha. I'm just so excited to have reached a tenth chapter. Now...read on! ♪

Sunday had passed peacefully, and soon it was Monday again. Early that morning, the students of Kyunghee Private High School were happily talking about their Christmases, but the students of homeroom 2-A fell eerily quiet when Choi EunMi entered the room. Practically in unison, the students looked at ChangMin in the back of the class and then back to EunMi, who was warily making her way to her seat. Her eyes were on the ground, but she could feel the stares aimed at her for what reason she didn't know. When she sat in her seat, she looked at the lightly blushing ChangMin next to her and finally realized why people were staring.

EunMi was wearing a white scarf with a black plaid pattern, while ChangMin was wearing a black scarf with a white plaid pattern. By pure coincidence, that was what they had gotten each other for Christmas, but they didn't think they'd be wearing them on the same day.

"Are they a couple?" was among the most frequently-asked questions, along with "Do they like each other?" and "Don't they look cute together?" EunMi heard a girl say to another,

"They look so cute in their matching scarves!"

And ChangMin was listening to a conversation between two boys beside him:

"Are those two dating?" the first boy asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were. They look like they've liked each other for a long time now," replied the second.

When the second boy caught ChangMin glaring at him, he immediately stopped talking and averted his gaze. After that, the students continued their previous conversations, though a few would sneak glances at the two silent students in the back of the room every now and then. A few moments later, JunSu had come running into the room, nearly tripping over himself and made his way to the desk he now shared with EunMi and ChangMin. When he saw his desk partners' matching scarves, he opened his mouth to ask a question, but ChangMin coldly said before him,

"Don't ask."

And EunMi stared at her desk as she whispered, "I'll...tell you later..."

"Okay..." JunSu murmured, sitting to the left of EunMi so that she was between him and ChangMin. Not long after, Mr. Kang came into the room, looking as bored as always, and started taking roll. When he called out "Choi EunMi," he looked up to see the said student to confirm she was present. As he did so, he made it very obvious that he was looking at EunMi's scarf that matched ChangMin's, and he did the same when he called "Shim ChangMin."

In History class, Mr. Kwon gave out a twenty-question pop quiz that ChangMin and EunMi had finished in seven minutes flat. Walking back to their desks, they could hear some students whispering that everything about them was now matching. In Physics, JunSu had to contain the many questions that were burning on the tip of his tongue. He even almost missed an important piece of information from Mrs. Moon's lecture because he was busy wondering why his desk partners had matching scarves. Finally, it was lunchtime, and as soon as ChangMin had run to the library, SoonLi practically leaped across the room and asked the question everyone wanted the answer to:

"What is going on?!"

"I'd like to know as well..." JunSu shyly whispered, afraid EunMi would get mad at him. But EunMi merely sighed and quickly answered,

"We got each other a scarf for Christmas, but I had no idea he would get me one that coincidentally matched mine! And how was I supposed to know that we would both wear them today?!"

JunSu winced a little when EunMi slammed her forehead on her desk, and SoonLi just stared and slowly asked,

"You got him something for Christmas?"

"Well, I...I was shopping with my mom when I saw it and thought he might like it," EunMi mumbled, her head still on the desk.

"So...you were thinking about him?" SoonLi mused, a smile forming on her face. And at that moment, EunMi's head shot up and she yelled,

"N-Not like that..!"

"Oh, EunMi-sshi," SoonLi hummed, patting the other girl's head. "You're so cute. Isn't she just adorable, JunSu-sshi?"

"Um..." JunSu began, but when he caught EunMi glaring at him, he looked at his shoes and mumbled, "I-I'd rather not answer..."

"Let's talk about something else," EunMi said, hoping to talk about anything that didn't involve ChangMin.

"Oh, my gosh! Have you heard?!" SoonLi immediately exclaimed, ready to reveal her latest news of the day. "Park Yoo-Chun from class 2-B got a schedule change!"

EunMi and JunSu just stared back at her in response, and EunMi weakly asked,

"And why is this breaking news?"

"Because..." SoonLi began to explain in a "duh" tone. "...In order to change his schedule, he got his dad to give fifty million won to the school to persuade the principal. This is the first time it's happened since the beginning of the year, when a bunch of students did the same thing because they didn't like their classes."

"Wow... The things you can do with money," EunMi murmured. The trio spent the rest of their lunch hour talking about the Literature test, and when lunch was over, English had started. Mr. Park began class by saying that he had finally finished grading their mid-term exams, and he had gone on a long rant about how "improved grades make for an improved future."

"Fortunately, there were two students who earned perfect scores," Mr. Park beamed. "Choi EunMi and Shim ChangMin!"

The students clapped politely, and some whispered, "Matching grades!" After handing back the exams, Mr. Park went on with the day's lesson, going up and down the rows of desk and having every student read a section out of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's Alice in Wonderland. While the rest of the class was busy reading about the tea party with the Mad Hatter, ChangMin had scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to EunMi, who looked at him in confusion. Making it look like he was reading, ChangMin whispered,

"Open it."

Reluctantly, EunMi did so and was surprised when she read the note:

"I'm tired of these rumors. We need to stop them now."

EunMi sighed quietly and wrote under the other's message, "For once, I agree with you. But what do we do?"

She passed the paper back to ChangMin, who slowly opened it and took a while to write back. After folding the note once, he carefully slid it across the desk, and EunMi caught it with ease, rolling her eyes when she read what ChangMin had written.

"Just tell everyone we aren't a couple."

Making sure Mr. Park was busy helping another student with their pronunciation, EunMi quickly jotted down, "That'll never work. No one would believe us. This is what we should do..." After EunMi finished the rest of the plan, she handed the note to ChangMin, who didn't seem pleased with it, because he wrote back,

"Are you kidding me? I'm not doing that."

"Well, it's a plan--a plan that'll work if you would just cooperate," EunMi wrote in response. "If you would just go along with it for thirty seconds, the rumors will end, and you can go back to your normal life where no one bothers you. With the occasional exception of me. So what do you say?"

When ChangMin was finished reading the other's response, he silently sighed and whispered to her,

"Fine..."

Eventually, English class had come to an end, and when everyone was packing up, ChangMin and EunMi quickly nodded to each other. Taking a deep breath, EunMi slammed her hands down on her desk and stood up, yelling,

"I can't stand it anymore!"

Shocked by the normally calm girl's sudden exclamation, the students in the classroom were all looking at EunMi. Taking note of this, ChangMin also stood up and, playing the part of a concerned boyfriend, asked EunMi,

"What do you mean?"

"You!" she loudly replied. "I can't stand you anymore!"

ChangMin felt the other's acting was almost too believable as he shouted back, "What did you just say?!"

"You heard me! You're annoying, you're mean, you're too much of a perfectionist, you're inconsiderate, you're a jerk--!"

"They get it..." ChangMin lowly whispered, sensing that EunMi was being a little too honest there. EunMi then stopped spouting her inner thoughts and went on with their plan.

"So...yeah!" EunMi lamely finished. And ChangMin said clearly, for even the students outside in the hallway to hear,

"So are you saying we should break up?!"

EunMi had to refrain from face-palming because of how ChangMin had put too much stress on the last two words, but answered, still in character,

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"Well, fine!"

"Fine!"

"I'm glad we could settle this," ChangMin said as if he were closing a business deal.

"As am I," EunMi replied just as professionally.

The two shook hands and made eye contact--which was a big mistake on their part. It was only for half a second, but it was like a replay of the night EunMi's family had gone over to ChangMin's house for dinner the first day they met. Everything had gone silent, and they had completely forgotten everything else around them in that half-second.

Finally forcing themselves to pull away from each other, they looked at anything and everything that wasn't the other person. Clearing , EunMi broke the second of silence.

"Well...s-see you later, then."

"Yeah... Sure," ChangMin mumbled in response.

Hoping to avoid any more awkward silences, EunMi took her schoolbag and quickly left the room and past the spectators. The students took EunMi's exit as their cue to leave, and they soon dispersed, immediately telling their friends about what had just happened. And after unnecessarily straightening his uniform blazer, ChangMin left the classroom and headed to the Music Composition classroom, glad that all of the rumors about him and EunMi were over.

So I've updated! Did you like it? I guess it was okay, but I want to know what you all thought~

Have you figured out Mr. Kang's personality yet? I really wanted him to be that teacher who looked bored no matter what he was doing. You know... That young, aloof, and sometimes cranky teacher that only exists in dramas. Hahaha. Well, that's how I wanted him to be. Haha. And Mr. Park is that stereotypical teacher who loves the good students and lectures the bad ones. Haha.

Oh! Did anyone get my allusion to the drama "Secret Garden" when I mention Alice in Wonderland? Hahaha. I'll be surprised if you did. So, if you did, I'll give you cookies~

Delicious home-baked cookies to:

fireflybutterfly

I haven't gotten the next chapter written, but please look forward to it anyway~