Sylvania || jjk

5

The potion-making classroom buzzed with energy, the air thick with the scent of crushed herbs and freshly opened spellbooks. Everyone hovered around their cauldrons, way too excited to be boiling weird stuff at 9 a.m.

Eun and I stood side by side, already assigned as partners, and honestly? Potion-making was the one subject I didn’t hate. It made sense to me – unlike Magical Arithmetic or whatever the hell Transfiguration was trying to be.

“I’ve been waiting all week for this dual project,” Eun whispered, practically vibrating.

I tried to match her energy, offered her a little smile, but I couldn’t shake off this mild irritation sitting heavy in my chest. Monday morning blues.

"Good morning, class!" Ms. Min’s voice cut through the chatter like a knife. “Today, we’ll be brewing the Potion of Enchantment. But–” she paused dramatically, “you won’t be working with your usual partners. Your partners will be assigned randomly today.”

Cue the collective groan.

Of course. Because the universe clearly woke up and chose chaos.

Eun glanced at me with wide eyes. “Randomly? Seriously?”

Yeah. Seriously. Just my luck. I finally get a decent start to the day and now I'm expected to play nice with some stranger while mixing explosive liquids. What could possibly go wrong?

The class had already erupted into whispers and wide-eyed glances as students began exchanging panicked looks across cauldrons. I, for one, could only cross my fingers under the desk, silently praying not to be paired with someone unbearable.

God, please. Anyone but another smug, overconfident idiot.

"Chaeyong, you are paired with Jungkook!" Ms. Min announced cheerfully, like she hadn’t just detonated a bomb.

Of course.

Of freaking course.

Out of everyone in this room – hell, out of everyone in the school – it had to be him. My jaw clenched as I swallowed the groan crawling up my throat. This day was about to get so much worse.

“Man,” came the familiar voice behind me, already way too pleased, “you must like me so much that you’re even rigging the teachers now.”

I turned around slowly. And there he was – Jungkook, leaning casually against the edge of a desk, smirking like he’d just won the lottery.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying, it’s suspicious,” he said, placing a hand dramatically over his chest. “Like, how come we keep ending up together? Face it, Chaeng, you’re obsessed.”

I gave him the blankest stare I could manage. “Yeah. That’s exactly it. I spend my nights plotting with Ms. Min just for the pleasure of suffering through class with you. Totally.”

He grinned wider. “See? Knew it.”

Before I could hit him with a rolled-up scroll, Ms. Min appeared at our table, far too chipper for someone about to assign me to social hell.

“No bickering, you two,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’re paired because you work at the same pace. It’s a good match.”

Right. A “good match.” If the goal was to make me lose my sanity.

Just as Ms. Min walked away, I felt a nudge at my side. Eun, trying hard not to laugh, leaned in with the most mischievous grin on her face.