At the End of Summer || Mark Lee (NCT)

Chapter 11. A New Song

Exam week arrived faster than we thought.

On Sunday, New Girl and I hung out at Donghyuck's house to review for it. We made reviewers for each of our subjects, then Donghyuck helped us by making it into a game of who gets the right answers first.

We were both already good in English, I just happen to fail that subject because I had too many absences. So after hanging out at Donghyuck's house, both of us went to the ice cream parlor and I tutored her for her Math exam.

She treated me with two ice creams that day: one Cookies & Cream and one Strawberry.

The same Strawberry-flavored ice cream that she bought me back in December. But this time, I ate it for real.

By the time Monday came, we were both ready for the exams. I silently thanked Donghyuck's reviewing method because it had been very helpful. I was actually able to answer almost all of the questions.

Almost.

English was the easiest, so the both of us finished our exams as quick as we could, and we were free for the day.

On Tuesday, I had a hard time with Biology. There were just too many terminologies to memorize that I ended mixing up the words and definitions. But I managed.

I think.

New Girl, on the other hand, is great at Science in general. She's a Science genius, like Renjun.

There was one time I saw her reading an article on her phone titled Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms, if I remember correctly. I don't know what it was about, and I didn't ask.

I was pretty sure it was easy for her. She even finished the exam quickly, and moved on to Math. That's where she got stuck, though.

By the time I finished my Biology exam, she was still on the first page of her three-page exam paper. I waited inside the room for her to finish, silently cheering her on.

When she told Park seonsaeng-nim that she couldn't answer the last page anymore, Park seonsaeng-nim asked me to help her, and I gladly did.

Math is what I'm good at, after all.

After she finished her Math exam, we both passed all of our projects. Then we left school.

It was officially our vacation.

We ate lunch at the secret diner. New Girl and I talked about a lot of stuff, from the exams, to the projects, to school, to vacation. Then I asked her about her plans for our five-day vacation.

Yeah, we only have five days of vacation because by the second week of March, we'll be back to school again.

School again... Oh well, at least we still get to have a vacation.

Anyway, she said that she wasn't sure yet. Maybe she'll just stay in her house, practice on her piano, or stuff, according to her.

I had planned on hanging out with my friends, and her. That night, I suggested in our group chat to take her to the arcade with us.

Of course, the four of them agreed without second thoughts. So I texted her right away, and she replied, saying, "That would be real cool."

The next day, I was so excited to meet with my friends, including her. But that excitement quickly faded away when she suddenly texted me in the afternoon, saying that she won't be able to go with us. She said something important came up so she couldn't go.

We still went to the arcade without her, but disappointment was visible on their faces. They really wanted her to go with us.

I wanted her to go with us.