Truth 008

“One sign of evidence can start something. But, two? That can make it worse.”

The beige-colored shades covered the glass panels; moonlight seeped through the fabric as his skin glistened in the dark. A towel wrapped around his neck, hair still dripping with water. His hand gripped his smartphone, holding a precious smile spread across his face overlooking the current page.

‘I heard from Sehun that you are coughing. Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Also, thanks for getting me a new drawing pad.’

‘Thanks for being considerate. Have a goodnight.’

Baekhyun’s worries were washed away with the girl’s initiative to text first. A series of cough erupted from his mouth, before settling away. He wouldn’t let this cold restrict him from going to school the next day. Not when he has an excuse to talk to her.

This time his lips formed a straight line. Eyes wandering the room thinking if it was alright to be like this.

Tuesday morning came, and she fell into slumber half an hour ago. In reality, she slept for five hours.

With a groan, she stretched her limbs and body parts, feeling the aching pain slowly dwindle away. After looking at her phone for a second, she bolted out of bed and into the washroom.

Crap I’m almost late. No wonder she found it weird that there was no noise blaring the room. The girl unconsciously pressed the snooze button so many times that it maxed it out and stopped alerting her. At least her brain somewhat sensed her daily routine and time to wake up.

She sprung into the bath tub and the shower head to take a quick shower. The water flowed to all parts of the body, draining the soapy water down the drain. Her head tilted in all angles to avoid getting her hair wet. By the time she turned off the water and walked in front of the mirror cabinet, the steam grazed the glass with a thin layer.

Jieun had no time to look at herself and walked into her bedroom for her school uniform. She dropped the red towel wrapped around her petite body and attired herself messily. Her hind end landed on the cold, hardwood floor as she scrunched the knee high socks and pulled them up to her knee from her feet.

The girl rushed to her mattress and grabbed the piece of technology and her school bag from the floor, scraped the important textbooks and folders, zipped the backpack up and swung it over her shoulders. Her hand held onto her door handle, opening and closing the door ever so lightly.

Her uncle and aunt arrived back home extremely early in the morning from their business trip. The two must be knocked out, but just in case. Jieun had helped them bring in their suitcases and souvenirs after hearing rambling outside her door. They were surprised that she woke up in the middle of the night from their noise. But, then again who wouldn’t if someone dropped a 50 lb box rather loudly to the floor.

Jieun shoved her feet into her school shoes, not forgetting to grab a banana on her way out, and left to school.

By the time she was in close proximity to her destination, a shudder streamed through her upper body. She knew why her body was reacting strangely. It was anxiety taking over.

The girl sees some of the passersby looking over her and back. The process repeated several time before she concluded that it wasn’t a coincidence. There must be a reason. Why else would they look at her? The worst thing about it was their uniforms.

They all had the word ‘SH’ etched into their uniform. Her school’s name. That meant there must be some gossip buzzing around like a fly. She gulped her saliva down, tightening the strands of her backpack, and gripped tightly to the straps as if her life was on the line.

She knew she was overreacting. She knew the possibility it was her was not a hundred percent. The crawling feeling of a spider waiting to trap her in its web made her feel like this. Because she knew the last piece of gossip was about her. Even though no one knew...except for one.

Jieun ignored the stares she got from people loitering the hallway. The girl made it her goal to retrieve her stuff from her locker and make it towards homeroom. At least she had to try, she’d rather be told of the news as she sat in her desk, than be confronted standing. But, what news was she even worried of?

The girl walked her way to her desk, cautiously being careful not to trip in any way. The classroom was more than halfway filled and this was the first time she cut it close before the bell rang.

That didn’t end the glances going her way. One mistake she made was turning her head to the right. With her head leaned against her left palm, elbow perched on the desk, she made eye contact with him.

The boy who texted her. The boy under the pseudonym ‘S’. Oh Sehun.

However, he didn’t have his collected, stoic face he wore everyday. His eyebrows were scrunched and looked rather worrying. He was scrutinizing her appearance, but for what reason?

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