Chapter 3

Da Hae edged away from Dong Gun. "I don't have to prove anything to you. Who are you to me?"

He pursed his lips. "Okay, let's sweeten the pot. Let's make it a bet. Name the one thing you want from me."

She frowned. "I want you to get lost."

"Sounds fair," he said, nodding. "And what will I get from her when I win?" he asked himself, stroking his chin.

"Dude, I said I want you to get lost meaning that there's no bet. Meaning you need to buzz off," she gestured with her hands for extra emphasis.

He leaned back but kept his eyes on her face. "Are you really that scared?"

"You," Soo Hyun said to him from behind her cousin. "Why do you want to get into this? You know you're going to lose. Yeah, I know you're a loser… hmm, actually, I guess it makes sense. Carry on."

As usual, he ignored her. "Da Hae, if you think it's going to be so easy, why not do it so that you can get your wish?"

"I've had my wish for almost three years now. Why the sudden need to start bugging me again? Besides, I don't have to bet for you to disappear– I just have to ignore you."



***

Da Hae walked through the school gates and immediately waved at Chang Min, who as usual, was already in school. It was only when he looked through her that she remembered that they were no longer together. Her heart sank a little. "Soo Hyun ah, do you think I made a mistake by dumping Chang Min?"

She shrugged as she walked with her towards their building. "If he started the rumor then you shouldn't be with him."

"But I'm not sure he did." Had she been too quick to judge?

Soo Hyun rolled her eyes. She had better things to think about than someone else's love life. "If you want to get back with him, then do it."

Da Hae shoved her. "You're no help at all." She looked over at Chang Min wistfully. She missed hugging that tall, beautiful body. "Maybe I just miss having a boyfriend."

"Just smile at some random guy and you'll have a new man. The end."

Da Hae turned to her. "Jeez. Why are you so cranky today?"

"I'm not cranky but I barely got any sleep last night. As usual, my Dad brought over unexpected guests so I spent the whole evening playing housemaid. Then I had to stay up to finish my homework. That man annoys me."

"Are you serious?" She was rummaging through her bag to find her phone so that she could turn it off. If, for some reason, her phone went off in Mr. Kim's class, she knew she'd be in big trouble. "That sucks."

"No, you suck," a male voice from behind said.

She slowly turned around and frowned at Dong Gun. As always, his highlights shone in the early morning sunlight and for some reason, that only pissed her off more. "What do you want?"

He laughed mockingly. "Is this the way you ignore me? It doesn't seem to be working."

She rolled her eyes and turned back around. "God, you are such a pest. Disappear!"

"Dong Gun, surely, bugging my cousin isn't your only life's goal. Why can't you just get lost?"

"Arashi, who are you? Mind your business."

"What?"

He refocused on Da Hae and kept following her. "I overheard you say something about needing a boyfriend."

"Why were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

"Actually, I didn't overhear you, I just guessed since you reek of desperation."

"Please, buzz off." She picked up her pace.

"I don't see why this doesn't appeal to you. You get the chance to kill two birds with one stone. You can get a boyfriend while getting rid of me."

"Hey, Da Hae, I'll see you later," Soo Hyun suddenly said then she turned to walk in a different direction.

Da Hae stopped and looked at her. "Don't you have class?"

"Yeah. I'll see you at lunch."

Da Hae looked around and saw Sung Joo walking not too far from where they were. Oh, so that's what it was. She smiled. "Alright, Soo Hyun ah. I'll see you at lunch. And as for you, Dong Gun, please, don't follow me to class!"





***



"Hey, Sung Joo, what's up?" Soo Hyun called, walking up to him.

He responded to the sound of his name and smiled at her. "Nothing much, just going to class. What about you?" He stopped walking so that she could catch up with him.

"I'm fine." She readjusted her bag to keep her from staring at his face. Why did he have to be so goddamn hot? "Have you got Chemistry now?"

He nodded. Since she was already standing beside him, he started walking again. "So I guess I'll see you in class."

"Oh, are you going somewhere now?" Was he blowing her off?

He shook his head. "No. I'm going to class."

"Me too. Let's go together, then." If he wanted to get rid of her, he'd have to try harder. She wondered if she could get some tips from Dong Gun. Then she felt her body tremble at the thought. She'd die before she became that annoying.

"Cool. So let's walk together."

They walked in awkward silence for a few minutes before Soo Hyun said, "So what do you think of our town so far? Do you like our school?"

He shrugged. "It's cool. Coming from Incheon, I guess I thought it would be a little strange but it feels pretty normal."

"Yeah." She wished she could have said something sexy but she was drawing a blank. "Seoul is pretty normal and it's not that far from Incheon anyway."

He nodded.

They climbed up the steps in silence and walked for a few more moments before Sung Joo said, "I've been meaning to call you since you gave me your number."

"Yeah?" She almost smiled till she remembered one of the dating tips: Don't seem too eager. She straightened her face and adopted what she hoped was a smoky, deep voice. "Then why haven't you?"

He looked away. "I wasn't sure we'd have anything to talk about."

She laughed. "That's what talking is for, right? Getting to know one another?"

"Really?" he asked animatedly. Then he laughed. "Oh, do you know I just got a job at the McDonald's down the street?" He opened the door to the building and let her go through. "It's only a block from the mall."

How random. "Cool."

"I work there from 6-9 on weekdays." He looked at her expectantly, as if he was waiting for her to say something.

"Great."

He smiled. "If you come over, I can give you a discount."

"Discounted fries, huh? I hope those aren't the ones that have fallen on the floor."

He laughed. "Wow, I thought that was a well kept secret. Don't worry – I'll brush them clean for you.



***

"So you think he was asking me to stop by his job?"

Da Hae playfully poked her temple. "Yes, you dummy."

"Wow." Did that mean she might finally get to kiss a guy who wasn't drunk?

"Look, we'll really like our table back," an irritated voice from behind them said, interrupting their conversation.

Da Hae and Soo Hyun turned around to find Bo Ra, Ye Jin and some of the other girls glaring at them.

Da Hae stood up and smiled warily at them. "Look, I've already apologized to you but I'll do it again. I'm sorry about what I said the other day. I only said it because I was angry. I obviously didn't mean it."

"Yeah, right," Bo Ra scoffed. "Anger brings out the truth, so you can stuff your apology up your ass. You'd better find another table to sit at, okay? Starting from tomorrow, we are taking our table back," she said before storming off with the other girls in tow.

"I guess she's pissed," Soo Hyun said.

"I don't know what her problem is. I'm sure she's called me worse behind my back." She picked up her fork and stabbed her chicken in frustration. The whole crap was supposed to have blown over by now.

"Hey, hey, I didn't know you were a cannibal! Cluck, cluck…"

Da Hae growled. She just didn't need more bullshit! And to make things worse, she'd already begun to recognize that voice. Without looking back she said, "Yoo Dong Gun, I'm really not in the mood today. Just leave me alone."

"You know what you have to do," he said what had apparently become his mantra.

She suddenly got flashbacks of him following her around for all those years. The FBI probably had nothing on him when it came to being a pest. She looked at him. "All I have to do is get some guy and you'll disappear for good? That's it?"

"Pretty simple, huh?"

"And even though it's never going to happen, what do you get if you win?"

"You have to bid and win me at this year's date auction."

Soo Hyun and Da Hae burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, you're so sad," Soo Hyun said between cackles. "Oh my God!"

Da Hae was laughing so hard that tears had begun to form in her eyes. She hit the table and kept laughing. "I can't believe you're still not over what happened last year. Now you're, ha ha ha ha, now you're trying to force someone to bid on you? Jesus, save me now!"

Dong Gun wasn't amused. "Does this mean that you agree?"

Da Hae hit her chest repeatedly to try to calm herself down. She waved to show her disagreement. "Yours involves money, so my terms have to include money as well. I need some new shoes anyway."

"How much?"

She thought about it. This was going to be the easiest money she'd ever made. "How about 150,000 Won?"

He shrugged. "Why not just make it a cool 200,000 Won? You're not going to win anyway."

Oh, even better. She could get shoes and a bag. She didn't know what his problem was, nor did she care but 200,000 Won sounded fabulous. She scanned the cafeteria. "So I can just pick any guy?"

"Hell no! How do I know you're not going to pick some guy who already has a crush on you?'

"I thought I was no one and had no power. What difference would it make?"

"Whatever. I'll pick the guy."

She shrugged. "Makes no difference to me…." She was going to end the conversation there till she saw the weird smile that had crept on his face. "You're not going to pick a gay guy, right?" She wasn't that cute.

"Of course not."

She narrowed her eyes. "And you're not going to sabotage it or anything."

He shook his head. "I've got integrity. I'll even help you out."

"You helping me? I don't think so." She rubbed her palms together. "So who's the guy?"

He smiled. "This is going to be fun. Let me think about it. I'll let you know tomorrow."





***



"Yoo Dong Gun, please come to the stage."

On hearing his name, he looked around the ballroom. Surely, there was someone else called 'Yoo Dong Gun' because he was sure he'd have remembered volunteering for the date auction.

"Hey, they are calling you," someone said to him.

He looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him so he didn't even realize that he'd walked onto the stage until the bright lights shone in his eyes.

"Let's start the bidding at the minimum of 20,000 Won!"

Dong Gun's heartbeats quickened as he waited for someone to say anything. But nothing. No hand in the air. No sounds. Not even the sound of crickets chirping.

"No one?"

Still nothing. He looked desperately around the room praying that someone, anyone that had anything resembling breasts would say something. Heck, he wouldn't even have minded if the person had man boobs.

"Okay, how about 15,000 Won?"

Someone suddenly burst out laughing and when he looked up, he saw Da Hae and Soo Hyun laughing uncontrollably.

The teacher looked at him sadly then turned back to the crowd. "No one for 15,000 Won? He's a good, handsome boy. Come on, ladies. 15,000 Won."

"Me, me!" a voice screamed.

Dong Gun looked at the direction the voice was coming from and saw one of his classmates, Eun Hee, jumping up and down. She wasn't his type but at that moment he wanted to kiss her.

"Going for 15,000 Won, going…"

"20,000 Won!" Eun Hee screamed.

"Eun Hee, you're bidding against yourself. No one else is bidding so you don't have to increase the price."

"Really? I can get him for less than 20,000 Won? In that case, can you reduce it to 10,000 Won?"





"That's too funny," Jong Won, Dong Gun's cousin said while laughing his ass off.

"So do you see why I have to get her back?"

They were in Jong Won's room watching television.

"She's the same one that put the Valentine's card on the notice board, right?" He picked up the remote control and started flipping through channels.

"Yeah, we were in 8th grade then so I can let that go. But this happened last year. It's just too ridiculous - I have to get her back."

"Are you sure she volunteered you for that auction?"

"Who else would it be? And you should have been there –it was so obvious. Hey," he said, pointing at the television. "Leave it here – I've been waiting to watch this video."

Jong Won put the remote control down. "Alright. Now back to this girl. So your plan is to get her back by humiliating her at this year's auction?"

He shrugged. "One bad turn deserves another, Hyung."

"Hmm… what does she look like?"

Dong Gun pulled out his phone. "I took a picture of her today." He scrolled through his photos till he landed on the one he wanted then zoomed in. "Here you go," he said, handing it to his cousin.

He whistled. "Dang, she's hot. Can you let me go out with her? We can get back at her that way," he teased.

"I'm serious."

"I know," he said, still looking at her photograph. "Men, this school has so many hot girls. Why didn't I transfer sooner?"

Dong Gun rolled his eyes. Hot girls he'd never have a chance with because Nam Da Hae had completely ruined his reputation. "So Hyung, are you going to help me?"

He nodded. "Definitely."