"donghyuck, for the last time, come and have dinner!" a loud voice roared making the tanned male roll his eyes and close his computer.

"yeah, i'm coming!" he shouted back before walking out of his room and heading straight to the dining room where his whole family was waiting for him.

"took you some time." his sister huffed. "what were you doing? jerking?"

"don't you think these words are too vulgar for your age?" donghyuck tsked.

"dahyun, donghyuck. please, be respectful." their father said simply, silencing both kids.

lee dahyun was donghyuck's twin sister.

she had been since they were born – quite logical – but donghyuck always had a pleasure making her remember she was two minutes younger than him.

honestly, she was a beautiful girl. her skin was naturally tanned, and it highlighted the few beauty marks she had. her long and straight brown hair cascaded down to the middle of her back, and they always looked wonderfully soft and shiny.

"so, how were your classes of the day?" their mother – soyun – asked while helping herself some rice.

"great i'd say. i didn't fail my psychology test, which is quite surprising." dahyun spoke first.

"that's good." their father – sangkyu – smiled at her. "what about you, hyuck?"

"i was second once again at my maths test. 99%... and someone beat me with a perfect score... can you realise that?! i'm sure he cheated. it's not possible." donghyuck whined, throwing his fork into his plate as he recalled how his mood had dropped when the teacher had asked them to applause mark.

"be happy you're second." dahyun snorted, making donghyuck's jaw clench. "i'm barely average and you don't hear me complaining."

"shut up." donghyuck gritted.

"donghyuck, sweetie, it's okay. we're very proud of you." his mother tried reassuring him.

"but i don't want to be second. i want to be first. i have always been first." donghyuck continued whining.

"look, you already skipped a grade. and that's not so common." his father added. "this proves that you are really good. but you're still one year younger than the other people in your class, so it's normal that some of them have better grades."

"no, it's not." donghyuck crossed his arms over his chest. "i know i can be first. i know i can do perfectly. i know that i can be perfect."

both parents chuckled as dahyun rolled her eyes again, concentrating on the containing of her plate rather than on her sassy brother.

"donghyuck, you're already perfect in our eyes. you and your sister are already so much more than we expected you to be... and there's no need to be first in everything for that. you just need to be yourself."

donghyuck didn't answer.

his parents already thought he was perfect?

they imagined that donghyuck didn't need to be first in everything for that?

how touching.

but donghyuck didn't think that way.

he wanted to be perfect.

and for that, he needed to be first in everything.

and for that, he needed to beat mark lee.

＃

donghyuck was already at his seat in class his phone in hand as he scrolled on social media. his feet were resting on the chair in front of him as he munched loudly on his chewing gum, not paying attention to the few students that had made their way inside the classroom.

"hello mark! congrats on scoring 100% at maths!" someone said a bit too loudly for donghyuck's liking. nevertheless, he stopped scrolling for a second, waiting for mark's answer without looking up – he had found the page of a cute girl on instagram, and he had been scrolling on it for a few minutes now.

"hi, and well, thanks. i didn't expect to get such a grade, you know?"

donghyuck's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

he was fed up of mark, his friendliness and his behaviour.

"mark?" he called, sounding harsh.

"huh?" the older boy on the first row turned around, meeting eyes with donghyuck. "oh!"

"yeah, come over here, will you?" donghyuck asked on the same tone, holding his arm out in front of him and using two of his fingers to motion mark to come to him.

the perfect student stood up from his place and walked to donghyuck's table, stopping for a second to say hello to the other people that were on his way – which had donghyuck clicking his tongue in annoyance.

he was doing too much. it was almost fake. but everybody seemed to like it, and donghyuck couldn't understand why.

"hello donghyuck." mark said with a smile when he arrived in front of the boy.

"yeah, hi." donghyuck replied emotionlessly.

"you wanted to see me?" mark tilted his head to the side as he leaned on the desk behind him.

"yeah. i heard you had scored 100% at maths yesterday." donghyuck stated, looking at his hand.

"yeah, that's great, isn't it?" mark asked, his voice reeking of happiness and bubbliness.

"sure." donghyuck tsked.

"what about you? someone told me you had a great mark too." mark continued speaking, his voice annoying donghyuck.

"oh, really?" donghyuck raised a brow. "well, i had less than you, if that's what you're worried about." he added, anger evident in his tone.

"oh, no. i just wanted to know how you had done on the test. i mean, it was quite a hard one, so lots of us didn't do that good..." mark explained.

donghyuck abruptly stood up, making the chair screech against the floor.

mark jumped slightly at the sudden movement and noise, but he kept his eyes focused on donghyuck.

"oh, right." donghyuck faked a smile. "so, you're not asking to know if i finally got better than you? of course not! you already know that you are first and that i will never be." the tanned male barked, approaching mark menacingly.

mark's eyes widened more with each word donghyuck spoke.

the younger boy was getting closer to mark, leaning forwards to assert his dominance.

this made mark feel so little compared to donghyuck, even when he was a few centimetres taller than him normally. donghyuck had this aura around him that made him so menacing...

"i-i just w-wanted t-to know..." mark stuttered, gulping a few times. "i-i m-mean... t-that's what f-friends do..."

donghyuck snorted loudly, keeping his face close to mark's. "friends." he spat. "of course..."

donghyuck moved away, allowing mark to breathe normally again.

he didn't understand mark.

how could he be that good at school, and at sports?

donghyuck was sure he was a mommy's boy, acting perfectly even at home.

and why did he keep acting as if donghyuck and him were friends?

sure, he was friends with the whole school, but that didn't mean that donghyuck wanted to be his friend.

in fact, donghyuck was his rival. his main one.

donghyuck would be the person to take mark's place when mark will make a mistake.

they weren't friends. they weren't supposed to ask each other about grades or about their days.

they didn't even need to talk.

"i don't know how you manage to be always first mark. i don't know how you manage to be always one step ahead of me. but i will find. i will find, and when i'll do, i promise i'll beat you." donghyuck told through gritted teeth, struggling to keep his anger inside.

"oh, sure!" mark nodded with a smile. "i always love a bit of competition!"

donghyuck tried to control himself and not throw a punch right into his face, but it was hard.

why was mark always this kind and naïve?

"students! go back to your places!" the teacher declared as he entered the classroom.

"oh, class is starting!" mark exclaimed. "see you around, donghyuck." he added before hopping back to his seat on the first row.

donghyuck stared at mark's back as he sat down, surely giving a bright smile to the teacher. "i will beat you one day, cheater."