Jisung was sleepy. Sleepy as hell, thanks to Jaemin and their midnight escapade. And so, when the duo heard Kun's car's honk somewhere nearby, they ran in that direction with all the life inside them. 

They stomped an all sorts flora while running through bushes, receiving many cuts from the thorny ones. They ran in between trees that were placed closely together, and in the distance, they could hear Kun's car honk continuously. 

Kun was the naturally first to reach the car with his incredibly long legs that helped him cover more distance while running. And the sight he saw horrified him. He stood there, motionless from shock, as he waited for Jaemin to catch up. Jaemin reached the car a few minutes after Jisung and froze as he saw what had happened. 

Kun's figure was hunched, and his head rested on the steering wheel as though he had been shot from behind.

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(A/N: keep scrolling, this is just the beginning of the end ;)

(A/N: y'all wouldn't believe how much fun it is when i write this and i imagine all of you holding your breath with anticipation and frustration as you're scrolling write now <3 )

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Kun was resting his head on the steering wheel as he waited at the edge of the thick forest for the two boys to come to him. The car was honking continuously because of the angle and place where he rested his head. And he expected that, and was happy that the boys would be able to find their way to the car with it honking the entire time. 

He had been scared, when Jisung called him so early in the morning. He thought that something bad had happened. The sigh of relief he had let out once he found out that there was nothing wrong was one to have been recorded. 

Kun thought that when the boys would reach the car, they would say something, or just straight up get into the car. What he didn't expect was a scream from Jaemin. 

Hearing Jaemin scream, Kun jumped up straight as color drained from his face in terror and got out of the car to ask if something was wrong. 

Looking at Kun walk, Jisung started to scream at the top of his voice. "HYUNG! YOU WOKE HIM UP! YOU WOKE HIS GHOST UP! NOW HE WANTS TO HAUNT US BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ALIVE IF WE DIDN'T CALL HIM TO PICK US UP!" Jisung screeched, looking at Kun's pale face. 

"STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY YOU DEMON!" Jaemin screeched, making a cross with his hands and pointing it towards Kun in hopes to scare the 'demon' away.

"Demon? Ghost? WHAT ARE THE TWO OF YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Kun shouted, trying make sense of everything going on.

"HYUNG, HYUNG YOU MADE IT EVEN ANGRIER! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT TO GHOSTS!" Jisung screamed with pure terror in his eyes. 

"SO WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! LET IT KILL ME?" Jaemin shouted. 

"NO! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ASK FOR ITS FORGIVENESS!" Jisung screeched, running to Kun and bowing repeatedly as he apologized continuously.

Kun, befuddled with the mess going on in front of him, tried to make sense of it and stopped Jisung from bowing before he asked, "I'm not dead. Did you both think I died?" 

"Kind of?" Jaemin answered, and Jisung nodded along. 

"What am I going to do with the two of you? Come on, you both have school." Kun sighed, getting into the car, with the two boys following behind him. 

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Aera entered the empty classroom, wearing an oversized navy blue cardigan that was left un buttoned atop her white school shirt in which the top two buttons were left unbuttoned and her high waisted short skirt, wearing her converse in place of her school shoes. She chose to wear her glasses that day, and did her hair up in a loose bun, too tired to put much effort in her appearance. She made her way to her usual seat by the window and sat down, hanging her bag on the back of the chair. she pulled out her laptop and started watching Stranger Things for the first time, having heard a lot about it from her brother when he was still alive. 

By the time Benny died, Aera's class was full and her resolve to finish the series within one day was instated.

Soon, Aera found herself closing her laptop and stuffing it into her bag as Mr. Jeon started class. She breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed that Jisung hadn't come to school, leaving the seat beside her empty. She celebrated in her brain, very, very, very happy that boy hadn't come.

However, Aera realized that she celebrated to early when Mr. Jeon asked for the class's attention because he had something important to say. "We have a new student, as you already know, but since I wasn't able to introduce him yesterday, I am doing so today. Welcome- Oh where did he go?" Mr. Jeon frowned, his gaze wandering about the classroom as he searched for the new kid. He finally looked towards the door and let out a sigh as he opened it to let Jisung come in. "My lovely children, please give a warm welcome to Jisung!" Mr. Jeon announced, smiling as the class burst into choruses of 'welcome' or 'what's your name?' or 'you're so damn hot!' or 'this is the guy who had the nerve to stand up to that loner, isn't it?' 

Mr. Jeon waited for the noise to die down before he said, "Jisung, could you please introduce yourself to the class?" 

Jisung looked at Mr. Jeon with slight panic as the older went over to the back of the class. Mr. Jeon smiled and motioned for the younger to go on.

"I am Park Jisung." he stated, and stared at Mr. Jeon with a look that seemed to say 'can I go now?'  

Mr. Jeon chuckled and mouthed the word 'hobbies'

"I like dance." Jisung deadpanned, giving the same look to Mr. Jeon as before. 

Mr. Jeon mouthed the word 'ambition'

"I want to be alive when I grow up. Thankyou." Jisung bowed and went to the seat he had chosen beside Aera, who had been busy watching Stranger things on her phone during Jisung's whole debacle of an introduction. 

After a rather angry stare off with the lovely pair of chrysanthemums growing outside, she had come to terms with the fact that Jisung would be coming to school most of the time and she would be stuck sitting with him when he did come. 

"Aera?" Jisung asked once he had settled down into his seat. 

"Yes?" she replied, eyes glued to her phone. 

"Do you have a pencil and a rough notebook that I could use? I forgot to bring most of my stuff today." 

"Curiouser and curiouser" Aera murmured. "Most new kids keep the studious act up for the first one week. Curious that you should give it up on your second day here. School feels like a jail already, does it?" she turned towards him, holding out an expensive looking pen and a notebook in her hands. 

"It doesn't feel like a jail." Jisung stated as he took the pen and notebook from her, dropping the pen as he did so. Fortunately, Aera caught the pen before it reached the ground and kept on Jisung's desk. 

"Careful. If anything happens to that pen I'll strangle you. As for what you said, interesting you should say that but still show up without most of your books. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're lying. It's not good to lie." Aera warned, keeping a straight face as she went back to watching Stranger Things.

Just then, Mr. Kim entered the room and with Mr. Jeon's permission; spoke "About the project I gave yesterday, turns out, it is too big for one subject alone. So after conferring with the other teachers and the principal, we have come to a common decision. This project will be worth 50% of grade in the subjects I am listing. For maths, you'll all be making bar graphs to compare your subjects growth and needs from now to 3 months later. For English, you'll be writing an essay and character sketch about your partner and the subject as well as your own development in the English language. For this you are also needed to undergo a bonding experience with your partner, this may go from going on dates or going to a dental appointment together. Next, in health, you'll be writing an essay based on your experiences of taking care of another being, and the responsibilities you had. For Science, you need make a tables of all the nutrients the subject needed, and categorize it as you please. Your partner will remain the same for each subject. If your partner and you do not have the same subjects, then you will be assigned a new partner who does. All of this is due in three months. Thankyou." 

A faint light of hope lit up inside Aera as she heard the end of Mr. Kim's announcement. She turned to Jisung and asked him to give her his timetable. Aera compared her timetable and his and internally screamed, looking at the two timetables which were exactly similar. 

"Why." she deadpanned as she handed the timetable back to Jisung, who looked oddly satisfied with her reaction. 

"Cause I enjoy seeing you angry." he replied, and this time, it was him who went on his phone, leaving Aera speechless and angry. 

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"And that's it for this class." Mr. Jeon concluded, sighing as the bell signaling recess rang. 

Jisung got up from his seat, rushing out the class when Mr. Jeon stopped him. "I see you're sitting with Ms. Song." the elder spoke, motioning towards Aera, who was busy writing down some work. 

"Yes, sir." Jisung politely replied. 

"May I know what made you sit with her?" 

"Yesterday, I came in late. When I reached, there were only two seats empty. One was beside Mirae, and one was beside Aera. I disliked Mirae, so I sat with Aera." Jisung explained truthfully. 

"I see, I see. Now, it's wrong of me to say bad about my students, but Ms. Song has always been different from others. Never socialized with anyone; never talked to anyone, except when she's caught up in fights, which are too often around her. That girl is very, very, close to expulsion. So, if I were you, Mr. Park, I'd try to maintain a distance from her." Mr. Jeon spoke, patting Jisung on the back as he let the younger one disappear into the crowd of students.

Jisung ran up the stairs and onto the terrace, thinking of sleeping on one of the benches. His mind was preoccupied with his mission and his next steps in it, so he lay down on one of the benches and looked up and smiled at the bright, blue sky, clearing his mind of any thoughts. 

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"Where's Jisung? He's not here yet. He's supposed to be here hyung!" Chenle screamed at Jeno, looking around as he searched for his best friend in the cafeteria.

"If he's not here, then he's probably progressing with that Song girl." Haechan snickered. 

"PROGRESSING WITH THAT SONG GIRL? MY SON IS NOT ALLOWED TO PROGRESS WITH ANY GIRL!" Jaemin screeched, standing up from his seat at the cafeteria table to look around for Jisung. 

"Slow down Minjae. I meant that he's doing good with his mission, to get close to that girl. What were you thinking?" Haechan smirked. 

"Never do you mean something that's not dirty hyuck." Jeno spoke. 

"I don't like that girl from what I heard." Renjun started as he sat down at the table beside Chenle.

"Oh yeah, Jisung thought she was a robot or something." Jeno said.

"But she isn't." Jaemin declared. 

"How do you know?" Haechan snapped at Jaemin.

"Cause Jisung saw her smile. Or that's what he thinks it was." 

"So he isn't sure about it?" Renjun pressed. 

"I don't like that girl more and more." Haechan declared, eating a big bite of ramen. 

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Aera looked from afar at her usual table at the cafeteria, annoyed to see that it was taken by a group of boys who were doing nothing but laughing and throwing food at each other. 

She turned around and stomped her way up the stairs to reach the rooftop; all the while thinking about the group of boys that weren't afraid of her so they sat at her spot. 

Must be newbies. 

Once she reached the rooftop, she was surprised to see Jisung lying peacefully on one of the benches. His face looked calm and peaceful as he looked up at the blue sky. She smiled a bit, thinking how he seemed like a whole new person when he wasn't around her. 

Aera walked away, towards the edge of the rooftop and stood on it before sitting back down and dangling her feet above the school field. She took out a cigarette, lit it with her favorite lighter and started smoking peacefully.
Soon enough, Felix came to her, and as always, he took the cigarette out of her mouth and spoke disapprovingly of the habit.
"Why aren't you eating at the cafeteria today? Yesterday, I understand it was because of that boy you didn't want to go. Why not today?" Felix asked, looking annoyed.
"There were people sitting at my table." Aera said.
"You can sit at my table." He offered.
"Your table? With those friends of yours? I'd rather die than sit with people I don't know."
"You need to socialize." Felix stated, putting more emphasis on the word socialize.
"Hard pass." Aera dismissed as she lit another cigarette.

The two continued conversing like normal, oblivious to the fact that Jisung was listening in to their conversation. He contemplated his next steps as he heard the two converse with each other. 

Aera would probably in an okay mood right now, so right now should be a great time for me to ask her when we'll meet to get the dog. 

He walked up to the two and called out Aera's name. The said girl turned to look at him with a smile that got replaced by a scowl the moment she saw him. 
"What. Do. You. Want?" she deadpanned. 
"When and where do you  want to meet for the project? Because I thought we should probably get the dog today." he spoke, struggling to get rid of the smile that made its way onto his face after seeing her angry. 
"6, at the same cafe as yesterday. And I searched up about this adopt a pet charity event that's going on, so we could go there to get the dog." 
"Great, bye." he answered, and went back to where he lay before. 

Soon enough, the bell signaling end of recess rang, and Aera went back to her class, leaving Jisung and Felix on the roof. 

Felix waited for some time on the roof, waiting for when Jisung would get up to go downstairs. The moment the younger got up, Felix rushed to him and extended his hand, introducing himself as Felix. 
Jisung looked at Felix's hand and fought of the urge to say 'I know', and instead, he shook his hand with Felix with a warm smile, introducing himself as Jisung. 

"So, you're partnered up with Aera for the big project?" Felix asked as the two descended down the stairs. 
"Yup."
"Aera says you're quite annoying, and wouldn't sit anywhere but beside her."
"Sounds like the type of thing she would say." Jisung affirmed
"Do you like her?" 
"No. I really don't like her. In any way. I was just stuck to sit beside her because it was the only seat left." Jisung lied. 
"Hmm. She needs a friend. A real friend. Someone who's not me. You seem like a nice guy. Do you think you're up for the job?" Felix asked, turning to look at him. 
"I think I am. But I don't really know much about her." 
"Basic things to know about her is that she is very affectionate to those she truly loves, she hates almost everyone, there was one time when she was a nice kind person, but then something happened, so no matter what, never ask about her past or her family." Felix explained as they stopped outside Jisung's classroom door. 
"Thankyou hyung." Jisung replied as he bowed and hurried inside his room.

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H

i
So I'm back after rlly long
And I apologize for the absence
Updates r gon be slow, cuz school is literally killing me
Anyhoes, new cover!!
Credits to purpletulips04