ch. 60

"it goes electric, wavy when i turn it on."

-can't stop this feeling

"welcome to class a!"

eunbi enters her new classroom to make eye contact with her new instructor, who smiles at her appearance. seeing that she is the last person to arrive, the girl does a little bow to her before she quietly closes the door behind her.

the teacher shows her an empty seat in the back and the student immediately settles herself, feeling awkward being the center of attention in a room full of her competitors.

after the public evaluation, the judges hidden in the audience approached the contestants on stage while everyone dispersed from the scene. they passed out folded pieces of paper to the students and told them to not open them until everyone else has done their finals.

when the time came, each teacher handed out the results of the remaining students and made their students stand in front of the classroom. they listed out the class levels and if the person hears the class level that was on their paper, they will leave the classroom to go to their new one.

the woman notices eunbi's late presence and lifts her clipboard from her desk, crossing out the last person on the roster. "now i can begin talking with everyone here."

as the instructor explains about her expectations and future events, eunbi's ears perk at the sound of her name coming up in a side conversation. she tries to ignore and focus on the words of her teacher, but she cannot help herself from listening to the group of girls nearby.

"i can't believe that eunbi chick is here," one says as she eyes the said girl. "she isn't even that good."

another female rolls her eyes and snickers. "she sounds like a crying whale when she sings."

"she's not going to last for long," someone adds. "just wait until she quits-"

"ehem."

everyone's attention lays on the instructor, her face twisted with annoyance. she walks up to her students and towers over them with her figure as she waves her pencil at them.

"i do not remember tolerating gossip in this class." a fake smile tugs on the woman's lips. "if you do not recall, ms. park earned the highest score during her public evaluation against all those people last week. she also won the showcase in this department, so i wouldn't be talking bad about someone who is this talented."

at this point, everyone has their mouth shut to prevent anything from spilling out. a hint of fear is present in the students' eyes as a chill travels down their spine. silence washes over the classroom, and the teacher brings herself back to the front of the room.

"before i forget-" the older female grabs a pile of papers at her podium and passes them out. "when we come back from break, we will be participating in competition among all the performing arts schools in seoul. this is the piece we will be working on. make sure you practice because we will be nominating the best students once everyone is back."

abruptly, the school bell rings and everyone begins packing their belongings. a trail of people seeps out of the room as the last student takes their time getting ready to head. eunbi slings her backpack over her shoulder and is about to head out until her teacher stops her.

"park eunbi, i have heard so much about you."

the girl turns around and flashes her a smile. "oh really?"

"yeah, mrs. hwang talked about you all the time during staff breaks. she said that you were her work of art, her creation."

hearing that makes the student's smile falter a little, but she quickly brings it back up to not make her reaction noticeable. "that's nice to hear."

the brunette slides the door open and before she steps outside the classroom, the teacher adds one more thing to the conversation.

"don't worry, i don't believe anything that she says."

this causes the girl to turn around once again, a perplexed expression on her face.

"the emotions, the style of singing, the wide note range..." the older female taps her chin. "i don't think she taught you those if i am correct; it would take years to perfect those. it makes me wonder if you purposely failed the first evaluation."

the girl presses her lips into a thin lip, preventing her from commenting on her teacher's analysis. no one needs to know about her motive behind that day, especially the staff at this school.

"i practiced a lot," she simply says. "i spent countless nights trying to improve my singing through this school year."

she can tell that the woman is not buying her excuse, but lets her off anyways with a flick of her hand. "well then, it was nice meeting you ms. park."

"same goes to you..."

"mrs. jeon."

eunbi politely bows at mrs. jeon before she exits the room and reluctantly collides into someone standing in front of the door. she stumbles backward and holds her forehead in pain as her eyebrows arch downward with irritation. looking up from the floor, she glares at the person without addressing them.

"yah, watch where you are going."

yunho raises his hands in surrender while rolling his eyes. "sorry your majesty, but you were taking so long. i was going to grab you and drag you out since everyone wants to hang out and discuss the plans for this break."

"ah." she lifts her chin a little as she recalls the conversation at lunch today. "let's go then. i don't want them to wait longer than they should have."

the brunette takes a step forward, but her friend does not budge one bit. with his hand out towards her, she raises an eyebrow at it and looks back at the male. "uh, are we going to go or are we just going to stand here in front of my class?"

he lets out a disappointed sigh at his friend's dense comprehension of the situation and simply takes her hand. fingers intertwine with one another and together they escape the building.

this reminds eunbi of the time when he dragged her out of school to help him with his dance proposal, hands holding each other as they maneuvered around the people in the hallway. there was not even a slight reaction once it happened.

there was never a shocking feeling from the contact that crawled up her arm and dispersed throughout her body like a supernova, a sensation like no other. his skin against hers was not an addictive touch that made her want to keep him for herself.

yet why is she feeling these now?