The Real Us

. chapter 2 .

The girl peeked over her shoulder and pointed her thumb at herself. She looked around the otherwise empty hallway, confused. "Me?" she raised an eyebrow at the male who was leaning on a locker with his arms crossed, staring blankly at her.

He slowly nodded and bit his bottom lip, looking to the side as if he was debating whether or not to say what he was about to say. The still confused, and very uncomfortable Kim Taeryoung removed one of her earbuds. "Did you need someth-"

"Be my girlfriend." the male said as he stared at her face. The girl's eyebrows furrowed and she looked just as surprised and confused as the male felt. "Y-your what?" the girl looked around the hallway once more as if she was going to find the boy's girlfriend somewhere, but she found nobody.

"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend." Sunghoon finally explained after a moment of silence. The girl tilted her head and squinted at him as if he was insane.

"Listen," she said. "Park Sungjoon?" "Park Sunghoon," the male corrected, still with a cold, intimidating expression in his face. "You're pranking me or something right? Who put you up to this? Yuri? Hyejin? I'm not going to fall for th-"

"I'm being serious." Sunghoon began walking towards the girl who was trying, and failing to convince herself this must be a joke.

As the space between them got smaller and smaller, Taeryoung noticed how tall he was. He hadn't seemed this tall from across the hallway. "Why?" she finally managed to find her voice.

"I need to convince some people that I'm taken so they'll leave me alone."

The girl seemed a bit surprised at this information, but then she spoke, "Isn't that too mean? Faking a relationship just so you have a reason to reject them?"

"I'm sure you would do the same if your obsessed admirers started sending gifts to your relatives and following you around," he scoffed. "Trust me, this isn't any worse than what they've done to me."

The girl's face softened as she seemed to consider his proposal for a second. Then she recalled her situation with Kyojun. If she was taken, then surely he would lose feelings for her, right? Then their friendship could go back to the way it was.

"So?" the male stepped closer, but still kept his distance. "How do I know you aren't a serial killer or something who's trying to convince me to be your 'girlfriend' so you can kidnap me?" the girl suddenly blurted out, catching the male off guard and causing him to be unable to hold back a chuckle.

It was the first time she had seen him laugh, despite having had seen him everyday last year. Suddenly he didn't seem too scary. "I dunno," he shrugged, "Maybe I am?"

Saying this, he leaned down to her eye level and bit his bottom lip to prevent another chuckle from escaping him. "For how long?" she questioned, finally meeting his gaze. Her eyes resembled a fox's eyes, but somehow they still looked soft.

The male was so captivated, looking at her features that he didn't even notice she had asked a question. "Hey, are you ok?" she looked mildly concerned as he realized he wasn't paying attention.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked how long you want me to pretend for."

"So, does that mean you'll do it?"

"Hmm... I dunno. It depends if you're a psycho or not and how long you want me to play the part."

The male considered for a second. "Until they leave me alone."

"And how do I know when that'll be?"

The male shrugged, his expression had become stern again.

"Alright," the girl sighed, "I'll do it on one condition." The male nodded and signaled her to go on.

"No kissing." Taeryoung said with a straight face. The boy's stern expression faltered ever so slightly as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

"As if I'd want to," He retorted as he reached for her hand. "Deal." the two locked pinkies and stamped their thumbs.

-

After exchanging phone numbers and social media usernames, the newly formed 'couple' parted ways. Taeryoung was on her way home when her phone buzzed. 1 new message.

Hyejin:
Hey where are you??
Hurry up
Yuri and Nayoung are already here

Taeryoung:
sorry
something came up
I'm on my way right now

After her unexpected encounter with Park Sunghoon, Taeryoung had completely forgotten she had promised her friends to meet them for a movie night at Nayoung's place.

Seo Nayoung, Hyejin and Taeryoung's friend from another class, was a complete book worm and novice to romance. Unlike Hyejin who had already been in 4 "serious" relationships since the start of high school. Hayashi Yuriko, or Yuri for short, was a first year student who had been a fan of Hyejin's beauty youtube channel. Somehow, she ended up becoming a part of their friend group after bonding with Hyejin over their mutual love of makeup.