✖️

"Uh, hello...?"

When she saw Soojung's name popped up in her phone, surprised by the call, she wanted to believe she was just imagining things. But she wasn't. It was really her childhood best friend. It was her, the heartbreaker. It was Soojung. And Seulgi wanted to throw her phone away, pack her things, and leave all of this behind and maybe transfer to another planet. 

But she couldn't do that. Maybe she was exaggerating but she considered those ideas. Seulgi didn't know what to say neither what Soojung would say to her. Millions of thoughts started to flood inside her mind. The only thing Seulgi could do was to ignore her calls. But Soojung seemed so determine that she did not only tried calling her but she also flooded Seulgi with texts. Most of the texts were repeated. For example, "SEULGI ANSWER YOUR GODDAMN PHONE OR ELSE I WILL COME BARGING IN YOUR HOUSE AND KILL YOU USING MY BARE HANDS AND WILL FEED YOUR DEAD BODY TO THE PIGS". 

Seulgi was a bit hesitant but she gathered the small amount of courage left in her and answered Soojung's 12th attempt in calling.

"KANG SEULGI!!! Don't just say hello to me, you idiot! Why weren't you answering my calls, huh? Are you that busy with your girlfriend now?!" Soojung yelled. Seulgi could tell she's fuming with anger even though she's on the other line of the call. 

ran dry and she could no longer formulate a word. Not when the main cause who brought her into this problematic situation was calling (yelling) at her. Not when her mind was in space. Not when her heart was still breaking. She wanted to yell back at her on why she came back with her ex-boyfriend. She wanted to pour out her true feelings to her. She wanted to tell her how disappointed, sad, frustrated, and heart broken she was. She wanted to scream at her. But she just couldn't. 

Seulgi thought she had no right to do that. The only thing Seulgi could do was to apologize. She's good at that. She's always the one saying sorry. Always the weak one. 

"Soojung-ah, I apologize for not answering your calls and texts," Seulgi muttered. 

"Actually, I just got out of the shower," Seulgi lied, rubbing the back of her neck. She was even soaked with her sweats because of the nervousness. 

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought we're best friends. Seulgi, I'm sad that you never told me that you like somebody. I can't believe you lied to me. Remember those times I asked you if you're interested with anyone? You always tell me that there's no one. And now, how come you went all your way to confess in front of the crowd with some senior? Tell me, when did you start lying to me about this?" Soojung said. Seulgi couldn't tell if Soojung's sad or angry or mixed.  

Seulgi wanted to ask her those things too. Ya! Soojung, stop acting like I'm the liar here! Seulgi thought. 

"I'm sorry, Soojung," she apologized again.

She could only apologize for she didn't know what to say. She was afraid that she might hurt her if she would start venting out what she really wanted to say. She was afraid for herself too. She was afraid that their friendship would be damaged. 

"Seulgi, I swear—ugh, why are you like this? Did I miss something these past few days? Why don't you tell me, Seulgi?" Soojung asked in a very cold tone. 

Seulgi was about to utter a word when she stopped herself. She remained silent. 

"Seulgi... I–I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for letting my emotions rule all over me. I'm just sad that you didn't tell me about this. Friends are supposed to say things to each other like that, am I right? I'm sad that I happened to be one of the crowd. I should've been one of the people who saw it coming already, right? But I wasn't," Soojung said, a sad sigh could be heard after a few seconds. 

"You don't want to speak? Fine. Anyway, I missed you this lunch. I asked your classmates about your whereabouts and they said you didn't go to some of your classes. Did you skip?" Soojung continued. 

"Yeah..." Seulgi muttered. 

"Did you escape with your girlfriend? That senior girl."

Seulgi wasn't sure if Soojung was already annoyed of Joohyun even though she was sure she haven't met her yet. She wasn't sure if it's just Soojung being Soojung or if she's really like... jealous? She noticed the tone and how Soojung emphasized the word 'girlfriend' like it's some kind of a virus. Though Seulgi immediately erased that delusional thought away from getting stuck inside her mind. She didn't want to assume things. This time, she would want to g a hold of herself. 

"She's not my girlfriend... yet," Seulgi cleared . 

"Hmmm okay? Anyway, I'll visit you later after I finish our English project. We're not yet done here, missy. We really need to talk about this later." 

Seulgi made sure if she really heard what Soojung had said. For a second, her mind went back to function when she immediately spoke to Soojung—too afraid that her best friend would end the call and she would end up dead later if she couldn't tell her that she doesn't want her to visit her—not when she's not in the proper state to face anyone, especially her. 

"NO! NO! Please don't!" Seulgi quickly opposed. She bit her lips real hard this time, hoping that it wouldn't start bleeding.

"Haha, it's just that I've already made plans with someone else," she said, as beads of sweat start to form on her forehead and at the back of her neck. "Maybe some other time, Soojung-ah. Again, I'm sorry." 

"Who?" Soojung simply asked, but Seulgi could hear the cold tone in her voice. 

"Who who?" Seulgi raised her brow, obviously confused. After a few seconds later, she finally understood what the other girl meant. "Oh! Uh... I've made plans with I-Irene tonight."

She lied again. Joohyun hasn't even replied to any of her texts and the possibility of meeting her again was only ten percent. 

"Fine. Hope you guys enjoy. See you tomorrow." <