THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Her Special Request

"ALRIGHT, CLASS. SETTLE DOWN."

A familiar voice boomed in the classroom as Ms Ahn walked into the classroom. The first period was not Art, but Ms Ahn had come to collect their projects. All groups had successfully completed the group projects on time, thankfully, thanks to Ms Ahn's amazing group allocation.

"Group leaders, bring your projects forward and place it on my table, please."

The 4 group leaders - Minhyun, Sejeong, Jisoo and Hani stepped forward, holding their projects carefully and bringing it forward. It was quite a sight to be hold - each group had literally done such a great job with the aesthetics, it was hard to tell that they were all made from recycled materials. Ms Ahn was evidently proud as well, as the corners of her mouth curled upwards, which was a rare sight to see.

"Alright, I have to say you all have a done a great job with your projects. Let's give a round of applause to you guys for doing a great job."

The class applauded themselves enthusiastically.

"I was going to ask you to do a presentation... but I'm so impressed that I'll let you off the hook."

A collective sigh of relief. Ms Ahn laughed dryly.

"Instead, I would like all of you to share more about how the process was like. Did anything significant happen while working together?"

Ms Ahn scanned the classroom and everyone tried their best to avoid eye contact with her, including Jieun. But all of a sudden, at the corner of her eye, she spotted a hand from around the middle of the class shoot up. She looked up, and the person who the hand belonged to was the person she least expected to speak.

"Yes, Jennie?"

Everyone else in class all seemed equally shocked as Jieun was.

"I finally understand why you put us together, Ms Ahn. Thank you." Jennie turned around and glanced at Yoojung who smiled slightly.

Ms Ahn smiled as well. "It's my pleasure. Anyone else?"

Yoojung saw another hand shoot up at the corner of her eye. This time, it was Seokjin.

"Yes, Seokjin?"

Seokjin stood up, shooting Jieun a confusing smile.

"This isn't my story but I would like to thank Ms Ahn for bringing Jieun and Jungkook from my group closer together as well."

Kim. Seok. Jin.

Jieun quickly turned her head to check Jungkook's reaction and thankfully, he didn't look pissed at all, and Jieun could swear she saw a small grin on his face.

Ms Ahn chuckled. "Yes. Anyone else?"

Silence.

"So I guess you all finally found out why I grouped you guys that way, huh." Ms Ahn smiled. "Yes, it was precisely for you to get along better with your classmates - people you don't usually mix around with. Mmhmm - I know your cliques, alright?" Ms Ahn laughed, as the class stared open-mouthed at her. "So... anyway, my time is running out so... I'll grade your projects and return them to you next lesson alright? Jisoo, could you help me with the projects?"

Jisoo jumped to her feet. "Yes, ma'am."

"Maybe ask a guy to come along too. We need more hands to carry all these heavy stuff."

Jisoo scanned the people around her. Amongst the guys, there was Hoseok, Minhyun, Jackson... "Seokjin."

Byulyi looked up, taken aback by the fact that Jisoo had picked Seokjin instead of any of thez many guys around her.