The following morning,

    On a bright Monday, I got up, showered, dressed, and took the bus to school. It didn't take long to arrive.

    As I got off the bus and crossed the street to the school,

    "Hin," a voice called out. I turned around to see the luxury car I recognized appearing in my view.

    "Hey, Ton," I greeted the driver who rolled down the window to talk to me. I saw his girlfriend sitting beside him.

    "See you in a bit," Ton said before driving off to park.

    As I walked into the school, I headed towards the parking lot just as Ton and his girlfriend were walking out.

    "Hin, we have a group project, so do it at my place, okay?," Ton started before turning to his girlfriend. "Ploy agreed already, and Som doesn't seem to mind much. It's just you left," he said.

    Hearing this, I responded, "Sure, sure," agreeing before walking with Ton and Ploy, who was Ton's girlfriend, into the classroom.

    The familiar sight of the classroom appeared before me, memories of the class he was in flooding into his mind in scenes.

    Knowing where I sat, I made my way to my seat. In this classroom, we used a paired seating system to help students have partners.

    Whether it was luck or misfortune, my partner turned out to be the ice princess of the school, and the next desks over from mine belonged to Ton and Ploy.

    This ice princess, named Som, might not sound intimidating, but her cold demeanor has captivated every guy's attention.

    If Ploy was a beautiful, vibrant meadow, then Som was a barren ice field, colorless but beautiful in its own stark way.

    It's unbelievable how these two opposites could be friends.

    Initially, they chose to sit together, but once Ton started dating Ploy, she swapped seats with me, which was fine by me, as my previous self had a crush on the ice princess, Som.

    Gradually, my relationship with Som improved to the point where we could converse. Many guys from other classes or even from our own tried to woo her but were met with her cold rejection, thus placing her and Ploy on a pedestal as the sharp beauties.

    The old me, who sat next to her, could only watch better guys get rejected and deep down wondering what right I had. Eventually, the old me confessed, only to be rejected. That was the old me.

    As for the new me, whom I chose to like was up to me.

    "Hi there, Som," Ploy walked over to hug Som, a common sight.

    "Don't worry, I believe even ice melts eventually," Ton whispered at me before heading to his desk.

    After greeting Som, Ploy went to sit next to Ton, and I took my place next to Som.

    "Hello," I greeted, as desk mates, a simple greeting was fine.

    "Umm," she nodded before continuing reading her book.

    "Got a test today??" I inquired, seeing her so focused.

    "Yes, there's a math test for grading today," she replied.

    "Umm, go ahead and read. I won’t disturb you," I said, leaning down onto the desk.

    "Not studying?" Som turned to ask.

    "Is it necessary?" I retorted.

    Hearing that, Som didn't reply but went back to her reading.

    Time passed,

    "Alright, everyone, put away your books," the math teacher entered, causing students all looked stress, even among those who were the studious.

    Why the stress? Because this teacher's math was notoriously difficult, scoring even 70 out of 100 was a challenge.  Not to mention, this teacher relied solely on exams for grading.

    The test papers were distributed, and students were spaced out their desks, but even if they sat close, it was not possible to do it.

    "Hin, wake up," Som nudged Hin, who, despite her rejection, remained friends with him, Ploy, and Ton—a close-knit group.

    "Umm~" I opened my eyes, taking the test paper.

    "Everyone ready? You may begin," the teacher announced, and the test started.

    Som was diligently working on the test, with time slowly passing by. Out of the total 10 questions, she had completed 5 within 20 minutes, considering a good pace. However, the special challenge with this math test set by the teacher was that the last five questions are extremely difficult, to the point where tears could flow like blood.

    Som glanced up briefly at Hin.

    'He's not doing it,' Som observed Hin, who appeared to still be asleep. The exam paper was placed on the other side, and she couldn’t see whether he had started or not.

    'Sigh, why do I even bother expecting anything from him?' Som thought.

    Deep down, she had favorable feelings for Hin, but it seemed Hin wasn’t good at anything. She had rejected him, stating that her boyfriend needed to be smarter than her. But how could that be possible when she was at the top of their class and Hin was at the bottom?

    She hoped Hin would make an effort, but she saw no sign of improvement from him.

    'Let him be,' Som decided to ignore Hin and continued with her test. The ice princess's face was filled with stress as she started on question number six.

    ...

    The last bell rang.

    "Hin, the coach is waiting, let’s go," Ton said, leading me out with Ploy and Som going to watch us practice.

    Inside the gym, the school basketball players gathered for practice here.

    The club members were split into two teams. After a warm-up, the practice match began.

    Ton and I were on opposing teams.

    "He plays terribly," Som, sitting by the sidelines, commented as she watched Hin miss all 10 shots he attempted.

    "Haha, at least he's trying," Ploy, sitting next to her, added.

    I, who was on the field, had a constant inner voice guiding me.

    [Adjust physical condition by 5%] was the last message after I finished practicing.

    "Finally, it's over," Ton said, leading the three of us out. Ploy walked closely behind him, followed by Som, and I trailed behind.

    We got into Ton’s four-door car, and he drove us away from the school. The other students were heading home.

    Ton drove us to his house.

    A beautiful, large house slowly came into everyone’s view.

    "We're here," Ton announced, leading everyone inside.

    This wasn’t my first time at his house.

    "Oh yeah, the basketball," Ton, who was leading, ran back to grab the basketball from the car, leaving us in the living room before coming back to toss the basketball to me.

    "The coach asked me to give this to you," Ton said, probably referring to my team coach.

    "Umm, thanks a lot," I expressed my gratitude.

    Then we all started to work on our group project.

    Time passed until we finished the project.

    "Finally, I’m exhausted. Wanna stay over?" Ton asked, looking deeply at Ploy.

    Ploy, blushing, turned to hit Ton lightly on the arm.

    "I'd better go home," Som said.

    "Who’s picking you up? Your parents are abroad," Ploy mentioned.

    "My driver," Som said.

    "Okay then, safe travels," Ploy said, getting up to see her off but was stopped by Ton.

    "Hin, can you drop Som off?" Ton suggested.

    If it were the old me, I wouldn’t have caught on, but it was clear that my crazy friend gave me and Som a chance.

    "Okay, then I'll head home too," I said.

    "Don't forget the basketball. Safe travels," Ton added.

    I walked, carrying the basketball out of the house, following the path I remembered from when we came in.

    Som, walking beside me, so I called out to her, “Som, I’ll walk you home,” I said.

    “Umm,” she acknowledged before letting me walk beside her until we reached the front of Ton's house. Som made a phone call. She spent a long time on the call, but it seemed like it didn't connect.

    "Something wrong??" I asked.

    "I can't get through to my driver," she explained.

    "Oh," I stayed with her for about 15 minutes before suggesting,

    "Shall we look for a public transport?" I said.

    Hearing that, she considered for a moment before agreeing, "Fine." She then put her phone that she had tried to call earlier, back into her bag.

    We walked until we found public transport, and I took her home.

    Som’s house was as big as Ton’s.

    "Thanks a lot," Som said before walking into her house.

    I then took public transport back home.

***