Chapter 21

“You will stay here until the both of you finish your reflection paper.”

“But Ms. Lee, my part-time job—“

“I think I made it clear the last time that you have to complete that poem I assigned you to make as partners.” She looked really upset that I was only able to look down at my feet when she spoke. “But you two didn’t even pass anything. Why is that? Did that mean that you two didn’t even try to—“

“No! It wasn’t like that!” I denied then looked at my right were Sehun stood silently. “Hey,” I nudged him and motioned at Ms. Lee, “com’on tell Ms. Lee we didn’t do this on purpose. It was just—just—“ I trailed off, seeing that he wasn’t really going to cooperate.

I held up my hands in defeat and said, “alright, what do I need to do to get this done and over?”

Ms. Lee smiled meaningfully and nodded at me. “Are you writing the reflection paper or are you going to jog around the field for 30 rounds?” She crossed her arms and raised an intimidating brow at me.

I sighed and swore inwardly that I was going to finish this punishment and it was going to be the last time. “There’s no way I’m gonna run for 30 times, so count me in with the reflection paper.” I told her gruffly.

“Good.” She nodded at me and turned her attention to Sehun who was still silently in his own world. “And what about you Sehun-ssi? What punishment would be easier for you?”

Sehun shifted his eyes to her and then sighed. He pushed his hands inside his pockets and looked down as he kicked on the floor, and said, “I’ll just write the reflection paper too.”

“Good.” Ms. Lee said in contentment. She pushed the two of us inside the empty classroom where we just held our English class this afternoon and assigned us to a seat at the front next to each other. “Now get the reflection paper done. I’m expecting seven pages, back to back, later on my desk.” She told us with a bit of an accent and heaved a warning glare. “If either of you won’t pass a thing then you know what’s going to happen.”

I nodded frantically, feeling shivers run down my spine when she said the warning. I wasn’t up for some horrible punishment so I immediately started writing when she gave me the paper I needed to fill up with my reflection for not passing the partner project I really neglected on purpose.

“See you later at 5 or…at 6 if you’re too slow to finish your reflection.” She said, watching us like a hawk before leaving.

I was already so goddamn frustrated with the task that I couldn’t help but whine at the stupid reflection. Why did I even get myself in a situation like this? I should have just done the poem and maybe I could have saved myself from writing a seven page long reflection paper with Sehun in the same room! In the same room, I repeat!

I never imagined this really happening that I felt like I was already being hit by bad karma for my wrong doings.

“Aish. How should I even tell Baekhyun that he shouldn’t wait for me because I’m stuck here?” I muttered to myself as I fumbled for my phone in my skirt pocket.

When I saw the screen, it was lighting up and Baekhyun’s name was registering. I was so damn apologetic that I spoke so fast, saying my sorry to him for possibly not making it today to work, and Baekhyun laughed on the other end because he wasn’t really able to understand me. I repeated what I said in utter embarrassment in a slower pace, and I was just glad that he assured me not to be bothered.

“Don’t worry. If you wouldn’t be able to come today then I’d just tell grandma. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. You’ve been doing great at the restaurant so don’t be too worried. I’m sure they will understand.”

“Really?” My eyes sparkled upon hearing his reassurance. I was so grateful that I wasn’t able to stop the squeal that left my lips. “I promise I’ll drop by if I get this done quickly!”

“Oh no, just go home afterwards. I don’t think there would be lots of customers later this evening.” He said dismissively.

“But still,” I said, feeling quite sheepish since I already owed him a lot and it wasn’t like me not to repay someone else’s kindness, “I think I’m going to drop off and you have to eat dinner with me. I really want some of Mrs. Im’s cooking today.” I jutted out my bottom lip in plea even though he couldn’t see me.

He chuckled and cave in. “Fine. But make sure you’re really coming. We’ll have company later.” He said.

I widened my eyes in wonder, and asked, “Oh? You have a guest? A friend? Something like that?”

“Sort of.” He answered, still chuckling in amusement, “but I’m not telling who, so you better get here for dinner later to find out.”

“Of course.” I immediately said, utterly curious which fellow would be eating with us later. Someone I already knew? His friend that was also my friend?

Above the curiosity however, I was looking forward more to the wonderful dinner that I would be having with Baekhyun later that I was so fired up to write the first three pages of my reflection.

But when I was already on my fifth page, my fingers were already shaking and I could hardly straighten the letters on my paper. The ABCs already looked too crooked beyond recognition. Ms. Lee would probably kill me if she ever saw this.

“Ah.” I leaned back on my chair and tapped the tip of my pen on the paper. “My hand is so tired. How can she even let me do this?” I uttered to myself, feeling pathetic over my situation.

“Aren’t you done yet?” I almost gasped when I heard Sehun speak directly to me for the first time.

I looked around me before trying to meet his gaze but then he wasn’t really looking. He was still focused on writing his reflection and if only it wasn’t only the two of us in the room, I would have thought that it was only my imagination that I heard him talk to me.

“No.” I answered nonchalantly, still scrutinizing him. “I’m trying to rest my hand since it has been shaking already.”

He tilted his head at my direction and raised a brow as he said, “Oh? I’m already done with mine. What should we do? Ms. Lee wouldn’t be pleased to see me only passing my reflection.” I felt my eyebrow twitch when he said the obvious.

Trying not to look irked, I raised a brow at him too, and said, “Maybe you should go home then and just give me your paper so I could pass it with mine later. That way she wouldn’t be really upset.”

“Oh, you’ll do that?” He asked, finally raising his head and looking straight at me. I nodded in answer, but he just shook his head and told me, “I’d rather not give it to you. Who knows if you’ll do something to it and you’ll end up making a bad guy story about me just to spite me again.”

I almost gaped at him in utter astonishment. Did he just say that? Did he think I was that low?! “You’re crazy.” I told him, glaring. “Well then, suit yourself. It isn’t like for me to do that. But now that you gave me the idea, don’t you even take your eyes off that paper or else I might really do something to it.”

I looked away from him and started writing again even though my hand was already hurting from writing too much. The room turned silent after the argument that we had. I knew that Sehun was still next to me, that was why I avoided looking up and turning my head to my left so as not to see even a glimpse of his black hair. Goddamn, why was I so pissed?

I knew that we weren’t really on good terms but how could he think of me like that? Was it because of what I told him before?

“You’re not really doing me a favor by doing that.” He said, and before I knew it my paper was snatched away from me. He placed it on his desk and started writing on it as fast as he could. I was so stunned that I hardly could find a proper reaction at first.

“Hey, that’s my reflection. Give it back.”

He sighed and said, “I’m just trying to do you a favor so don’t be gruff about it.”

“But I should be doing that. Give it back Sehun.” I tried to snatch away the paper but he only raised it up over his head and looked intently at me with a blank expression. “Can you really get it from me?”

I struggled to get it back from him but he only raised it as high as he could, and with his height I would rather give up than struggle for nothing—he was a freaking head taller than me! “You’re really driving me nuts.” I said in exasperation and crossed my arms.

He smirked at me and made sure I wasn’t going to reach out for the paper before he put it back down on his desk and started writing again. “You know, you could have avoided going nuts if you’re just a little nicer.”

“What are you trying to say.”

“Is that even a question?” He said mockingly since my question didn’t even sound like one.

“Are you daft?” I retaliated.

He gave me a brief glance and raised a thick brow. “Am I daft?” He echoed and shrugged his shoulders. “Probably, since I’m still helping you even though I shouldn’t.”

Upon hearing him say that, I turned my attention to the whiteboard and pretended that it was rather more interesting than him. Crazy guy. “Then just don’t help me. I can handle things on my own.” I told him.

“But not everything.” He countered.

“Not everything.” I agreed. “But I know I shouldn’t ask any help from you. I’d rather die than do that.”

“But I’m already helping you. Would you still rather die?” He asked.

At this, I turned my attention back to him and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “Why are you doing this?”

“So we can already finish this. I can’t stand being in this room for too long.” He retorted monotonously while still writing on my paper. He was already on the sixth page of my reflection and even though I shouldn’t have noticed that, I was kind of impressed at how fast he worked.

“You could have just left me when you can, because you’re already done.” I told him.

“But,” He started, “—I didn’t. And you’re probably wondering why.” This time, he raised his head to look at me and said with a serious expression, “But why didn’t you write the poem? You could have done it so well since you know everything about me. You could have passed a poem to Ms. Lee and probably I’m the only one receiving the punishment right now.”

Silence. I, honestly, didn’t know how I should answer him that I just stared back at him without opening my mouth. I knew I didn’t do the poem because I couldn’t. The things I tried writing about him were out of pure spite. And somehow, I just couldn’t believe my own words that were already on the paper a few days before so I threw all my drafts in the trash bin and decided that I didn’t have to write anything if those weren’t really my real thoughts.

I knew that despite being so mad at him before, right now I was feeling something different about him. It wasn’t hate. I couldn’t hate him so much even if I wanted to. Maybe because after all the things that Jongin and Baekhyun said to me, there was a part of me that wanted to believe them. There was a part of me that wanted to know whether this guys was different. Perhaps I shouldn’t really spite the innocent guy in front of me.

Blinking away from him, I said, “I was lazy to do it, so I didn’t.”

“I see.” He only replied.

The silence stretched longer, to the point that I was already feeling suffocated over the stillness in the air and the awkwardness between us. I tapped my finger on my desk as I waited for him to finish so we could just get to the faculty room and hand our reflection papers to Ms. Lee. And the day would be over. It would be another week before I would see him again.

I was so relieved at the idea of not having to see him for about a couple of days that I almost squealed in merriment. The abrupt screeching of his chair though, quickly ended the burst of joy I was feeling. I was about to chide him for doing so, but he tossed my reflection paper—that he finished—on my desk and nodded at me.

“It’s done.” He said, trying to avoid my gaze as he looked right past me instead. “Be thankful that even after what you told me before, I still couldn’t ignore you after all.”

I was rendered speechless after hearing what he had to say.

Sehun walked out of the room without waiting for me, so I scrambled to my feet hurriedly and came after him. He was quickly walking away so I didn’t really have the chance to ask what he meant with what he said.

Why did he say that? I was utterly confused that I almost passed through the faculty room without even noticing that it was where I needed to pass my paper. If it wasn’t for Sehun—again—calling for my attention, I could have actually gone farther before realizing it.

“You’re not very attentive, are you?” He said nonchalantly when I stood next to him in front of Ms. Lee’s