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"you're not being serious." hyerin exclaimed, still refusing to believe jaemin and i as we stood at the back of our classroom, the entire class chattering away and gossiping about the exchange students.
once briefly showing the two boys around school for just under an hour, we were sent back to our classes upon arriving back at the meeting point.
without much explanation, the exchange students were taken to the assembly hall to be assigned their schedules and class they would be in for the semester.
our teacher had left the classroom shortly to fetch the exchange student who would be in our class, the entire class took the opportunity to begin gossiping.
hyerin, jaemin and i were standing by a set of drawers used for spare paper and other stationary utensils next to the door.
unwillingly, i happened to overhear a conversation between several of the girls, some of them giggling and squealing as they spoke to their friend.
"i was paired up with these two boys, and my god, they were so hot." one of them tittered.
"what were their names?" her friend asked eagerly.
frowning and looking back at the others, i turned to hyerin, trying to persuade her that it most definitely was the mysterious boy from the café, a look of frustration in jaemin's expression.
"i'm telling you, it was definitely—!" i almost jumped forward atleast a metre, yelping softly as i felt a tap on my shoulder.
putting a hand to my chest in shock, i glanced at my friends before swivelling my body round to see mrs song, our class teacher, beaming at me.
purely out of habit, i bowed slightly to her as soon as i spotted her, brushing the stray strands of hair back behind my ears as i stood up straight again.
she was a rather tall woman and i had to tilt my chin up slightly to her in the face properly, but when did i not have to do that.
"yes, miss?" i asked, raising an eyebrow slightly as i watched another person step into view, their face obscured by her standing fully in the doorway, not allowing me to properly see them.
"you seem like a trustworthy person, so would you mind just looking after our new guest? make sure you take good care of him, and explain to him anything he doesn't understand. i know you're good at chinese so you should both get on fine, and make sure to stick with him for atleast this week."
the information came out of her mouth and at me so fast that i hardly had time to process what she was even talking about until she ushered the boy from behind her into the class.
i stepped back, giving him room to actually step in, almost tripping backwards over hyerin's foot, but managing to balance as she grabbed my arm to keep me stable.
i felt hyerin gasp sharply behind me, focusing on the figure in front of us.
my mouth fell open into a small 'o' shape as i recognised the person in front of me.
"oh, c-chenle!" i stammered, dumfounded by the fact that once again, i had ended up meeting him.
he seemed equally taken aback and before he could even speak a word, mrs song got the class' attention, forcing everyone to look at her as she motioned towards chenle.
"this is our foreign exchange student who will be staying with us for the semester. his name is zhong chenle, and i want you to make him feel welcome." she smiled at him, sitting down at her desk as she gestured for all of us to sit down at ours as well, "chenle, you can use to empty desk just next to naeun."
turning to him, he slipped his bag off of his shoulder and into his hands as i hesitantly beckoned him over to follow me.
i felt the entire class' eyes burning into our backs as he stayed close behind me and i showed him his desk, sitting down at my own.
even when he was taking a seat, atleast 90% of the class were still staring at him, a couple of them muttering to eachother.
as he was getting his belongings out of his bag quietly, i briefly glanced over him but looked away quickly before he could notice i was staring.
with my hands out in front of me on my desk, my sleeve was pulled down slightly, making my eyes automatically land on the number imprinted onto my pale wrist.
the eighteen stared back at me and i sighed.
i felt a small sting in the back of my neck all of a sudden and hissed quietly, not loud enough for anyone to notice.
peering over my shoulder at what it was, i saw jaemin pointing to the floor, his eyes looking between me and mrs song in case she saw.
i scanned the floor around my chair quickly and spotted the small, folded piece of paper that jaemin had thrown at me.
tactically, i pushed one of my pens onto the floor, a small clattering sound echoing throughout the room, the odd person looking over to see what it was, and turning their attention back to the front of the class when they saw it was just a pen.
as i reached down to grab my pen back, i swiped up the note, placing my pen onto the table before opening the small note.
