006

Author’s POV

            Jiyeon was in the kitchen alone that night drinking some water before going to sleep. Out of the blue, Sehun appeared while wiping his wet hair with towels, seemingly just took a shower and were getting ready to sleep. Jiyeon just shot a soft smile at Sehun which he replied with a bitter one.

“Do you need a drink? Or milk?” Jiyeon asked, getting ready to serve what Sehun needed.

“No thanks. I can take it by myself.” Sehun refused as he took out cold water from the fridge.

“Ah, okay. Oh by the way, you’re not in the English class this morning, do you need my notes?” Jiyeon offered.

“It’s okay. I’ve already borrowed Seongwoo’s notes.” Again, Sehun refused.

Jiyeon was just about to say something more when Sehun swiftly turned around and left the kitchen without saying anything.

---

            As usual, that morning the chauffeur stopped the car right in front of the school building. Sehun got off the car while Jiyeon thanked the chauffeur. Once she departed from the car, Jiyeon saw Sehun’s back disappeared in between the students at the building’s entrance. She only let out an awkward smile before she fixed her bag and walked towards the entrance. Someone suddenly appeared and wrapped his arm around Jiyeon’s shoulders.

“Good morning, beautiful!” Seongwoo brightly greeted Jiyeon.

“Oh morning Seongwoo!” Jiyeon greeted back.

“Why are you alone? Where’s Sehun?” Seongwoo asked, looking around.

“He left first just now.” Jiyeon answered.

“Aren’t you guys usually walked to the classroom together? Ahh I think I know. Maybe he has to use the toilet real quick.” Seongwoo guessed.

“Yeah, maybe.” Jiyeon nodded whilst smiling.

“Alright then. I’ll walk with you today.”

However, the smile on Jiyeon’s face disappeared as they both walked to the classroom together. Not because she hated walking with Seongwoo, but because in fact she knew that Sehun didn’t leave first because he needs the toilet, but simply because he didn’t wanna walk with her anymore. It’s not just today, but it’s been days since Sehun left to the classroom first without waiting for Jiyeon, and there’s no explanation to it at all as it just happened.

“Maybe I did something wrong…” Jiyeon thought.

            The day went so fast and it’s already time for them to go back home. Jiyeon and Sehun visited Jisoo’s father clinic first as Jiyeon had a short session for the day. After the session ended, they went straight home but the car was only filled with silence on their way home. Jiyeon wanna talk but she assumed that Sehun didn’t wanna be disturbed so she kept silent as well. As soon as they got home, Sehun entered the house first leaving Jiyeon behind. Jiyeon followed suit, though not as fast as Sehun. Her eyes just followed Sehun until he disappeared inside his room upstairs.

“I think I should ask if I had done anything wrong so I can fix it.” Jiyeon whispered to herself after giving it a thought.

Before going upstairs, Jiyeon went to the kitchen and took two banana milks from the fridge and nervously made her way upstairs. He knocked the door to Sehun’s room that was not properly shut three times before she pushed the door open. Sehun was standing in the middle of the room taking off his necktie and ing his sleeves. He briefly looked at Jiyeon who’s carefully approaching.

“What do you want?” He coldly asked.

“Uhm,” Jiyeon nervously bit her lips before she resumed talking, “You seemed quite distant lately so I’m wondering if I had done something wrong.”

“I’m just busy with the festival preparation.” Sehun answered without looking at Jiyeon.

Jiyeon shot a relieved smile after hearing Sehun’s answer, “I see. By the way Sehun, if you need any help for the preparation, I’d be happy to help you with anything. Just tell me.” She happily told.

“No, thanks.”

“Alright. And oh, I brought banana milk for you. I hope this can clear away your fatigue from working so hard for the festival.” Jiyeon went closer towards Sehun to hand out the milk to him.

However, to her surprise, Sehun harshly shoved away her hand, causing the milk to fall onto the floor, “Can’t you just leave me alone?!”

“Wh—what do you—I’m so sorry.” Jiyeon stuttered as she squatted down to pick up the banana milk on the floor.

“Whatever you do to impress me, I will never like you back. I like Jisoo, and that’s it. Yes I helped you escaping your tough life, but it doesn’t mean anything more than that. Okay?”

Jiyeon was flustered as she heard what Sehun said but she quickly calmed herself down before she stood up. She kept her head down as she was too scared to look at Sehun, “I’m sorry if I really did something that got on your nerves. Ex—excuse me.” Without looking at Sehun, Jiyeon turned around and quickly left the room.                                                                               

---

On the next day, as usual the chauffeur parked in front of the school building, and just like before Sehun walked to the classroom alone and left Jiyeon behind. Today too, Seongwoo happened to arrive at the same time as them and noticed Jiyeon was alone again.

“Morning Jiyeon, Sehun left first again?” He asked as he approached the girl.

“Ah yes, he went first.” Jiyeon let out an awkward smile, “Maybe he needs to use the toilet again. He even left his notebook behind.” Jiyeon waved a notebook in her grip.

“I see…” Seongwoo nodded although something seemed off to him.

Both of them entered the classroom together and saw Sehun already at his table. Jiyeon carefully approached Sehun and put the notebook on his table, “You left this in the car just now.”

Without replying to Jiyeon, Sehun just nodded and took the notebook. Jiyeon curled a light smile before she went to her table. Seongwoo just silently observed his friends as he noticed something was not right with the way Jiyeon and Sehun interacted. He just sighed while his head was busy thinking of proper words to ask Jiyeon or Sehun about it. However, he saw Sehun left the classroom, knowing that he was heading to student council room. There won’t be any lessons for the day because they were given free time to decorate their classroom for the festival. Seongwoo quickly decided to follow his friend as he couldn’t stand seeing the way he treated Jiyeon.

“Sehun, stop. I need to talk to you.” Seongwoo caught up to Sehun and stopped him by grabbing onto his shoulder.

Sehun turned around and looked at Seongwoo confusedly, “Seongwoo? Why?” He asked.

“I have something to ask you, about Jiyeon.” Seongwoo told.

Sehun let out a sigh before he replied to Seongwoo, “What is it? Why don’t you ask her directly if you’re so curious about her? You’re trying to court her but why are you fussing about it on me?”

“Yes, yes I will court her and make her mine. You don’t have to worry about that but I hope one day you won’t be regretting this because of your own foolishness. I don’t even want you to care about my feelings towards Jiyeon or anything. What I wanna ask is why are you treating her so coldly lately? You don’t even talk to her and you basically ignored her all the time.” Seongwoo finally asked.

Sehun was hesitating for a few seconds before he then answered Seongwoo’s question, “I’ll do whatever I want and you don’t have to care.” And with that, Sehun turned around and walked away from Seongwoo.

“What the hell actually happened?” Seongwoo sighed as he asked himself.

---

            It’s lunch time and the students were flocking the cafeteria to get their foods. In the middle of other students, Jiyeon was seen queuing alone to get her food. Her expression seemed poignant and she was just staring at the floor the whole time while waiting for her turn. When she reached the counter, Jiyeon simply grabbed one chicken sandwich and paid for it before she left the cafeteria. Instead of eating with other students in there, she chose to eat alone at a bench near the school’s garden. She unwrapped the sandwich but she just emptily stared at it instead of eating it.

“Jiyeon-ahhh, why didn’t you wait for me? I was looking for you everywhereee.” Seongwoo suddenly appeared and sat next to Jiyeon.

“He was so worried as if he’s losing his girlfriend hahaha.” Jisoo who came with Seongwoo then sat in front of them.

“Ah, I’m sorry. You were so busy decorating the classroom so I didn’t wanna disturb you.” Jiyeon apologized, smiling.

“Ouch, my heart hurts because your smile is just too beautiful.” Seongwoo made a painful expression causing the two girls to laugh.

“Ewww I cringed cause you’re so cheesy.” Jisoo said, disgusted.

“Well at least Jiyeon laughed because of me. It hurts me to see your sad face these days Jiyeon.” Seongwoo worriedly told.

“Huh? What happened? Did someone hurt you Jiyeon?” Jisoo