Dazzling Light | ATEEZ

School

3/12/20 | 7:24 a.m. | Jungshin High School, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do

Seonghwa arrived a little later than usual since Yeosang woke up late and received a scolding from Ahyeon. He's been to four different schools since he arrived in Korea, and is used to transferring in the middle of the school year. His unusual appearance garners him many questions, which range from asking if he bleaches his hair and wears contact lenses to speculation on his true ethnicity.

Right now, he's making his way to his classroom, tuning out the hushed whispers and judgmental eyes of his schoolmates. It's something he's learning to live with but Seonghwa thinks he's a bit shy and sensitive so he may never get used to being the center of attention.

It doesn't help that his (usually) uncontrollable allure attracts unwanted attention, even with the help of the "enchanted" glasses that Bora gave him.

When he reaches his classroom, Seonghwa politely greets the few classmates who acknowledge his presence before going to his designated seat at the second to the last row near the window. He sits in front of Jung Wooseok, a very tall and slightly intimidating (but not really) boy, and behind Jang Yeeun, a beautiful, outspoken girl who is somewhat of an outcast. The one to his right is Chong Ting-yan, a Chinese student who prefers to be called the nickname Elkie and the one to his left is Adachi Yuto, a quiet Japanese boy with a rather deep voice.

Seonghwa isn't sure he can consider them friends just yet, but they're nice and he spends his break time hanging out with them and another student, Kang Hyunggu, who is in another class. Yuto is asleep and Wooseok is flicking candy wrappers at him, Yeeun and Elkie turned their chairs to face each other and are engaged in a deep conversation about candied fruits, so Seonghwa takes out his math notebook and skims over their lessons in case the teacher gives them a pop quiz.

Yeeun notices him studying and decides to mess with him by putting a tin of dried fruits on top of his opened notebook, right on the part that he was reading. Seonghwa looks up from his notes and sees Yeeun grinning deviously at him.

"That's kinda rude." he says but smiles back at her.

"It's rather rude to just ignore us and immerse yourself in boring math lessons when you could be talking to us." Yeeun said, turning to face him.

Elkie is also facing him with a cheeky smile. "That's your share." she gestures to the tin on his notebook. "I bought one for all of us except Hyunggu cause he's a bitchy princess so I'm gonna give him a tin with cheap candy."

Yeeun bursts out laughing, waking Yuto up. Wooseok sniggers behind him and Seonghwa smiles wryly.

"You're so mean." Wooseok said. "What did Hyunggu do to deserve cheap candy? Did he tell you that your nail art is a tacky design?"

Elkie huffs in annoyance. "Since when was cheetah print tacky? I worked hard on this!" she shows her meticulously manicured nails to them. Nail polish isn't allowed in school but Elkie, like Yeeun, doesn't care much for school rules.

"They're actually pretty." Seonghwa comments, making Elkie blush cutely. The corner of Yeeun's mouth twitches and he catches her eye for a second.

"Thank you, Hwa. Do you really think I'm pretty?" Elkie asked, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

Elkie is undoubtedly beautiful, Seonghwa isn't going to lie. Her features are soft and feminine, which most Korean guys seem to like, but Seonghwa isn't like most guys.

"Idiot, he said your nails are pretty, not you're pretty." Yeeun playfully retorts. Elkie gives her a side-eyed glance and smirks knowingly.