Page 27 of XOXO

“Sometimes another writer or another member works with him,” Gi Taek continues, “but he’s credited on all their songs.”

“No wonder he’s the most popular in XOXO,” Angela says.

This time I’m not surprised. Of course he would be.

Jaewoo finishes his speech to deafening applause, bowing before walking to the wings. The principal then comes back out to introduce the assembly’s guest, a pianist from Ewha Womans University, an SAA alumna a few years back, who performs a medley of piano arrangements from popular Korean dramas. Afterward, we’re dismissed to our homerooms.

Mine is in A Building, which is beside the student center, and attached to the cafeteria. Neither Gi Taek nor Angela are in my homeroom, but we do share a few other classes. We agree to meet for lunch before heading in opposite directions.

The hall outside my homeroom is already crowded, students calling out to each other and catching up after a long winter break. I spot Sori up ahead, noticeably alone again, and hurry in her direction.

“Jenny-nuna!” Youngmin barrels toward me, stopping short of collision. “How’s your first day of school going? If you ever need someone to point you in the right direction, just ask me!”

I blink at him, surprised that he’s talking to me. Though I don’t know why I should be, he was so friendly in the uniform store. I glance around and a few people are looking at me curiously, but most are grinning at Youngmin.

“Nice hair, Youngmin-ah,” someone says, and I notice that his hair color’s changed since I last saw him, now a midnight blue when before it had been cerulean.

“It’s going great,” I say, once his attention has shifted back tome. “And I’ll definitely take you up on that.”

“If it isn’t Jenny,” a low voice says in English. Nathaniel.

I shift to face him. I’m about to answer in kind when I notice Sori down the hall. At the same time, she meets my gaze. Quickly she turns away and enters a classroom.

“Is something the matter?” Nathaniel asks.

“No...” For a moment—before she looked away—there was an expression on her face that I hadn’t expected to see. Misery. “It’s nothing. What’s your homeroom?”

“Classroom B.”

“Mine too.” I sigh in relief. It’ll be nice to have one friendly face in homeroom.

“Ai—shh,” a voice groans from behind me. “It’s only the first day back and I’m already worn out.”

I freeze in place.

In front of me, Youngmin’s eyes light up. “Jaewoo-hyeong! We missed you this morning.”

“Ah, yeah, I meant to take the van with you, but Sun wanted me to listen to a track in the studio.”

“Your speech was inspiring,” Nathaniel says, deadpan.

“I wrote it for you,” Jaewoo replies, not missing a beat.

“Have you met Jenny?” Youngmin says.

“Jenny?”

I knew this moment would happen eventually, but I thought it would be somewhere less public, or at least come as a surprise so that I wouldn’t have time to freak out, like I am now.

I take a deep breath and turn around.

Our eyes meet. His widen slightly, and it’s like I can see a million thoughts flit across his face in the space of a second. Then his expression shutters. “Ah,” he says. “Nice to meet you.”

My heart sinks. I didn’t think he’d behappyto see me, not after the way he ignored my texts, but I didn’t think he’d pretend we’d never met.

“We ran into Jenny at the uniform store the other day,” Youngmin informs Jaewoo, who nods absently. “She’s from LA.”

“Is that right?” He turns to Nathaniel. “I have to go pick up something from the office.” He adds, as an afterthought, “Fix your tie. You’ll get demerits on the first day back.”

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