second lead. | 정원

chapter 54.

liv.

"T-This is for you!"

A female student from class three held a small bag of baked cookies in her hand as she extended it to Yang Jungwon in front of his locker, catching the eyes of some students around the area. The girl's hand was slightly trembling from nervousness, afraid to be rejected.

Jungwon was minding his own business getting his necessary items from his locker for his next class, but when one of his schoolmates approached him with her friends standing a few feet away from them to show support, he gave his attention to the girl.

Jungwon stared at her, eyeing the homemade cookies that were waiting to be accepted. The girl's gaze was glued on her shoes as an evident blush was visible on her cheeks, giving color to her pale skin. Without contemplating any longer, he accepted the gift with a kind smile. "Thank you."

It was rude to reject gifts, he listened.

Jungwon could practically hear her group of friends squealing from a distance, shouting and cooing at them after he accepted the cookies she made last night. He glanced at them, chuckling awkwardly at their reaction before shifting his eyes back to the pig-tailed female in front him.

"Uhm... tell me what you think when you eat them later. I-I'll appreciate your opinion," The girl softly uttered, playing with her fingers as her blush deepened. "If you like them, I can make more for you next time..." She finalized, her voice going fainter towards the end.

"That's alri—"

"Senior Jungwon!" A male voice called out, making his way toward his senior with a grin on display. Jeon Suna's eyes traveled down to the bag of cookies he was holding, his expression lighting up. The younger boy looked at the older with a cheeky smile on his face and Jungwon instantly understood the message.

Suna has a very sweet tooth, contrary to his sister who preferred spicy (but she enjoyed desserts regardless), and he loved eating anything sugary especially when it comes to chocolate and biscuits. Of course, Suna couldn't ignore the dessert Jungwon was holding upon detecting it.

"Aw thanks, hyung!" Suna loudly exclaimed after successfully acquiring a piece of sugar cookie. He took a bite of the dessert and was soon attacked by the delicious flavor. The tender cookie with crisp edges melted inside his mouth, filling his tastebuds with the right amount of sweetness.

Jeon Suna hummed in satisfaction, his face contorted with pleasure, "This is heaven," He shoved the rest of the cookie down his throat before dusting the access sugar from his hands. "She would definitely like this too, hyung."

"Really?"

"S-she?" The female student stammered as both boys turned their heads at her. Getting distracted by Mira's brother, who had joined their conversation uninvited, almost made Jungwon forget about the girl's presence. He thought she had left already. "...who?"

Suna grinned and cleared his throat, proudly pointing at Jungwon with his thumb, "His girl, who is also my si— AH!" A painful stab was delivered to the side of the younger boy's waist as he winced, clutching the spot with his hands. Jungwon let out a small smile, not minding Mira's brother who was groaning at the side.

"Your girl...friend?" The female student muttered, holding in the tears that were threatening to escape as she bit her lower lip. Her heart was slowly breaking, knowing she just gotten rejected before she even confessed. She felt the aching feeling in her chest, her hands turning into fists. "Oh."

Before Jungwon could speak further, she started again, "Okay... y-you can share the cookies with your friends and g-girlfriend," She sadly smiled.

Yang Jungwon didn't know how difficult it was for her to say the word girlfriend out loud, and she didn't find a reason to tell him either. She looked down at her shoes, clutching the ends of her skirt, and silently went back to her group of friends who immediately comforted her upon noticing her tears. Suna was still in pain.

"Sera, don't cry. The right person will come to you eventually," Her best friend consoled, hugging her.

The best friend glanced in Jungwon's direction, watching him eat a bite of Kim Sera's homemade cookie as he offered more to Suna as an apology for jabbing him with his hand. The latter accepted by grabbing a handful of them before running away, earning a dumbfounded expression from Jungwon as he eyed the four remaining biscuits inside the small bag.

-

"Your exercise for today is to convert the following sentences from active to passive voice. One has been done for you as an example. The due date is before class ends," Mr. Hong informed, displaying his rather plain-looking PowerPoint in front of the class.

"Psst, I don't know to turn them into passive, help me," A student whispered from the back of the room as another responded with, "You think I understand? We're Koreans, we speak Korean!"

Thanks to Mira's capability to understand the English language, she had no difficulty doing the exercise. Her seatmate, Hanni, also finished her work in less than thirty minutes and was now humming to a song on her AirPods while scrolling through social media. There were twelve questions in total.

"Mira," Someone whispered from her left as she turned her head to look at the source. Choi Yunseo pointed at the PowerPoint, "How do you do number six? I don't understand."

After ten minutes of teaching Yunseo (Mira dragged her chair closer to her table), the girl finally understood. Yunseo hummed and nodded at everything Mira said regarding the step-by-step process to convert active to passive (and vice versa) and it was a lot easier now. "Thanks, babe."

Mira stared at her in surprise at the sudden nickname given to her. Was she deserving of the title 'babe' because of a simple aid?

A while later, Yunseo was finally done with the exercise as she slammed her pen on the table for dramatic effect, earning an annoyed look from her seatmate, Park Sunghoon, who was still struggling with his English, as she zipped open her backpack and pulled out a banana.

The girl secretly took a bite after peeling the skin off. "Mm, the potassium goes straight to my assium," Yunseo quietly commented, humming in delight.

A triple knock was heard before the classroom door opened revealing their Chemistry teacher, Ms. Jeon Jiheon, aka Mira's aunt. The woman peeked inside the room as her eyes met Mr. Hong's fierce-looking ones. She wordlessly entered.

Jiheon leaned towards his ear. "Me and Chae are leaving to buy street food. Principal Kim allowed us in return of buying fishcakes for him. Do you want some too?" She questioned, moving back. She ignored the way his students were watching their little exchange. "And don't feel special, I went to every class to ask each teacher," She added.

Mr. Hong sighed and shook his head, going back to his work on his laptop as he pulled on his tie. Ms. Jeon shrugged, leaving the classroom.

Not even twenty seconds later, the door opened again as the same woman peered inside. "What about bread?" She proposed, only earning another sigh in response from the man. "Bread it is then."