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Chapter Five

let's just go one step at a time

It was Friday, which meant it was now the last school day for the week. With everything that had happened the day before, all of the committee members had vastly differing thoughts running their all of their heads. As for Hongseok, he could feel guilt slowly creeping its way into his heart. Sure, he didn't particularly enjoy Jiae's presence let alone any of the committee members, but he did know that he had gone too far with his disdain towards everyone this time. He slumped down into his seat in Mr. Ji's last period math class, eyeing the entrance for Jiae. He hadn't seen her all day, which was rare considering he could always at least hear her somewhere in the halls. This time, however, Jiae was nowhere to be seen. It was like she had vanished into thin air and Hongseok felt like it was his fault. Just as he began to lose his mind, Jiae finally entered the classroom with her head casted downwards. Somehow, Hongseok felt an ache in his heart, which never happened. He felt bad for causing her to appear so sullen. As she neared his general area, Hongseok noticed something that made the guilt in him increase even more: A bandaged left hand. Jiae sat down in her seat, not really responding to any conversation that the other students tried to involve her in. Soon enough, class began and for Hongseok, it was unbearable. It felt as if time continuously dragged on for what seemed like hours. Hongseok noticed, however, that Jiae was actually paying fairly great attention in class. She was taking notes and even solving problems on her own, and from what Hongseok could see, she was actually getting them right! "This will all be on the finals coming this April, be prepared!" Mr. Ji announced loudly, pulling Hongseok's attention off of Jiae, whom he had been watching the entire class period. "You are all dismissed." The bell rang loudly, signaling the end of the school day. Just as Jiae gathered her belongings, Hongseok quickly went into action. "Hey," He spoke and got her attention. Jiae looked at Hongseok in surprise, not expecting him to be talking to her at all. "I'm sorry." Hongseok apologized and sat down a hand full of Domino's pizza coupons. He had overheard Jiae talking to Inha and Mingyu on multiple occasions about her love for pizza. "What?" Jiae asked confused, it seemed as if she hadn't heard his apology. With a sigh, Hongseok looked Jiae in the eyes with a serious expression. "I said, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you, both physically and emotionally.." He spoke very quickly, almost mumbling the last part of his second apology. Jiae's eyes became flooded with tears again as she began to cry, all while smiling. "Please don't cry! I thought you liked pizza, I can do something else, just please stop crying. I'll even tutor you, just stop!" Hongseok became flustered as he quickly tried to wipe Jiae's tears with his hankerchief. "T-Thank you.. I really thought you hated me.." Jiae lightly cried with a grin as she peered into Hongseok's eyes. "But, I can see that you don't and that makes me so happy. These are happy tears." Hongseok sighed at the regular old, ditzy Jiae before shoving the hankerchief into her hand. "Keep it." He said, still appearing to be flustered, but in a different sense as he quickly left the classroom. "W-Wait for me!" Jiae called out as she grabbed her stuff. "You promised to tutor me!!"

At the other end of the school was Rhea, who had just showed up at the event hall. Expect all of the lights were out and no one was there. Confused, she looked opened up her student agenda where she kept all of the committee meet-up times and dates. "Did you think there was a meeting too?" A voice called out just as Rhea saw that there was no meeting in her agenda. She lifted up her head and looked towards the person, all while quickly stuffing her agenda back into her backpack. Yuto stood next behind her with a small smile, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Oh, uh, yeah.." Rhea spoke awkwardly as she averted her gaze from Yuto's. She couldn't help but look away with such an awkward atmosphere, Yuto was her ex-boyfriend afterall. "Look, I know we didn't end things on good terms, but can we at least try to be friends?" He asked trying to keep Rhea from walking away from him. Rhea looked up at Yuto in suprise. Friends? She had never even considered being friends with him. The two had always kept their distance from one another because of their bad breakup. With a soft smile, "Of course we can be friends." Rhea knew things might be a bit awkward at first but she did want to make things right with Yuto. "Great, do you want to grab something to eat with me? For old times' sake?" He asked, hoping that Rhea would agree. He didn't really know why he was doing any of this. Yuto was the one who broke up with Rhea before coldly ignoring her everytime she tried to talk to him. But, something was different this time. This time, Yuto felt a strange urge to get close to Rhea and he just didn't know why. "I'd love to." The two made their way out of the school and towards the bus stop. It wasn't until they were right next to the stop that they noticed Sumin and Myungjun were waiting as well. It seemed like the two were possibly goin