[CHAPTER IX]

>> [ One week later - Monday ] >>

Dongwoon's P.O.V

Dongwoon and Chohee were on their way to school in silence. Neither really wanted to walk together since it was extremely awkward. It's never been comfortable between them... or has it?

'She's completely ignoring me.' Dongwoon thought as he watched her walk with a faster pace ahead of him. 'even yesterday, when I invited her to come watch us perform on Inkigayo, she rejected me... rejected...' he shook his head and sighed, and looked down. '..but is she really dating Hyunseung again right now, like Yoseob said? They don't look like they are... hmm..'

“Yah~ Chohee...” Dongwoon called her name, and she slowed her pace and looked around. “I'm gonna go walk the longer way...” he pointed his hand behind him and took a step back. “It won't be good if we're seen going to school together.”

“You're right,” Chohee said, but instead of continuing to walk ahead, she turned to Dongwoon and walked toward him. “but, at least cross this bridge with me..” She grabbed his arm and pulled him with her.

“What? Why?” Dongwoon eyed her weirdly, but let her drag him across it. “..are you afraid of dying alone if the bridge suddenly collapses or something? Well, you don't need to worry because it won't collapse! I mean look at it. It's n--”

“I know.” she looked down, “...but there's a su...”

“a su~ what?” Dongwoon asked curiously.

When they crossed the bridge, Chohee let go of his arm and smiled at him. “Aren't we friends?”

“I dont know.. are we?” Dongwoon said, looking down because he was taken aback by her smile. He was afraid to look into Chohee's eyes. He felt guilty... 'why should I feel guilty? I wasn't the one who...'

“I'd still like to think of you as a friend..” Chohee smiled, and stepped back. Turning around and walking ahead of him, she spoke, “You should also know I'm very superstitious.. or have you forgotten about that already?”

“How could I forget?” Dongwoon chuckled, suddenly remembering an old memory from when him and Chohee were 14 and 12 years old..

*Flashback

When Dongwoon yawned without covering his mouth with his hand, Chohee put her own hand over his mouth quickly.

“What are you doing?”

Chohee giggled, “I'm saving your soul.”

“Oh really?” he chuckled. “Let me guess, 'If you don't cover your mouth while yawning, your soul escapes.'”

Seeing Chohee nod animatedly, he bent down to level his eyes with hers, while resting his hands on her shoulders. “But since it was your hand that covered my mouth not mine... doesn't it mean my soul escaped into you now?” He then put his right hand on and said, “Give it back.”

Chohee took a step back from him and covered her blushing face with her hands. “Oh my god! I'm sorry!”

From then on, for weeks, Chohee would try to make herself yawn whenever she was around Dongwoon, so that Dongwoon could steal his soul back from her.

It was actually all just a silly excuse Dongwoon made to have Chohee closer to him more often, but Chohee being the super superstitious and also quite slow person she is believed him without suspecting anything.

One day when he did manage to 'steal his soul back' he chuckled and messed with her head even more...

“So I've stolen your soul now, and you've already stolen mine... doesn't it mean we're soul mates now?”

“What?” Chohee squeaked.

'When did we get so distant from each other...' Dongwoon thought as he gazed after Chohee, missing the days when he was so close to Chohee they could almost say they're dating and no one would be surprised. Now their relationship was less than even friends.. even though Chohee had just told him she still considers him as a friend.

Still lost in his memories, Dongwoon continued to walk toward school. Chohee was already way ahead of him so there was no way it would cause any suspicion.

'Wait.. she mentioned superstitions right?' he thought. 'was there a superstition about bridges...?'

Chohee's P.O.V

“Chohee-ah!” Hyuna squealed and wrapped her arms around Chohee's neck. “How are you today!”

“Great.” Chohee lied, but her smile gave away no sign of the sadness and the loneliness she felt. “What's up?”

“Nothing really... I wanted to ask you.. have you seen Woonie?”

'Woonie..' Chohee thought. 'I used to call him that... when did I stop? ...Why did I stop?'

“No I havent seen him.” She lied again. 'How can Hyuna and I still get along so well even though there are so many lies in our friendship...' she thought briefly but then brushed it off.

“Chohee-ah!” Hyuna suddenly said her name a bit louder than she intended to. She looked like she was about to admit a crime to her, but then she just smiled and hugged her, “Never mind. I'll tell you some other time. See you later.”

“Where are you going?”

“Skipping school. Wanna come with me?”

“No..” Chohee giggled. “You're so going to ruin your idol image like this.”

“I won't get caught!” Hyuna smiled back, “See you~”

-

Later at lunch time, just when Chohee was dozing off with her head on her desk, she was surprised by a slap on her back. Immediately sitting up and glaring at the person who did that she growled. “How dare you interrupt my sleep time?”

“It's not sleep time, it's lunch time.” Sohyun giggled, not at all affected by Chohee's glare and the tone of her voice. “What, do you think you're in kindergarden or something?”

“No..” she mumbled and stood up. “so what did you want?”

“will you come and have lunch with me? Hyuna isn't in school today.”

“Yeah, she skipped it today.”

“skipped? Omo! She's so going to ruin her idol image! You should have stopped her!”

Chohee giggled at Sohyun's similar reaction as she had earlier to Hyuna skipping school. “I'm surprised her image hasn't been ruined yet by her relationship with Woonie—DONGwoonie, I mean Dongwoon..AH I GIVE UP~!!!” She quickly covered her face quickly and frowned.

Sohyun smiled at her symphatetically and then suddenly hugged her. “Why do you worry about how you call him? Why can't you just act like you used to around him?”

“I-i-it feels weird... and awkward... because...” she sighed and hugged Sohyun back. “Lets just go get some lunch ok?”

“Ok,” Sohyun smiled brightly.

Dongwoon's P.O.V

'Does she still feel uncomfortable with me after... that day?' Dongwoon thought as he took a step back from the door of their classroom. He heard everything Chohee and Sohyun just said. 'I wish apologizing would make everything alright again, like everyone says... but it's not that simple.'

“Where do you want to go for lunch?” their voices were getting closer.

“Uh.. I dont know.. anywhere I guess...”

Dongwoon took another step back and turned around, running away in the opposite direction. Before he knew it, he was in a computer classroom. He decided to just spend his lunch time over there.

Going to the nearest computer and sitting down, he unconsciously opened the google page and typed in two words : “Bridge Superstitions.”

[ If you say goodbye or part with a friend on a bridge you will never see each other again. ]

“That's what she was worrying about?” Dongwoon chuckled, then thought about it for a moment. “Wait, so that's why she asked if we were friends... we're still friends...?”

“What are you talking about?” someone asked beside him.

“Oh.. Cheondoong.” he looked at him surprised, “Nothing really...”

“Are you talking about Chohee?”

Dongwoon was about to deny it when he realized there was no point. Cheondoong knew about his and Chohee's relationship, unlike the rest of MBLAQ. Even Seungho, Chohee's brother knew nothing about them.

“The bridge superstition...” Cheondoong looked at Dongwoon's computer's monitor. “Did she say something about that? Is that why you're looking it up?”

“She just wouldn't let me get off the bridge unless I went with her...” after saying that, Dongwoon realized something he wouldn't have unless he spoke it out loud. “Does she still...”

“Like you? ..or even love you?” Cheondoong finished. “I doubt it.” and with that he walked off.

Dongwoon frowned and brought the mouse over to the [x] of the window. 'of course it can't be true... after what I said to her that day, she'll never feel the same way about me ever again...'

The clock at the corner of the screen said that there was 5 minutes left of the lunch time. 'I'll just check my inbox and then I'll leave.'

[NO NEW EMAILS]

“oh, right~ I forgot to reply to her last time. Crap...” he opened her last message and reread it.

“Superstition...” he mumbled. “Are all the girls I talk to superstitious and depressed?”

Without a second thought, he opened google again and searched two words “Bees Superstition” just out of curiosity.

[ If a swarm of bees settles on your house, its an omen that the house will burn down in the near future... ]

“Huh?” Dongwoon stared at it wide-eyed. “house.... will burn down?”

He looked through her messages again. Just to make sure he remembers right.

Cherry had told him there had been a superstition she was worried about... and later she had told him it had come true...

“Her house burned down...wait a minute... it was at around the same time... as... Chohee's.....”

It took a few moments, but Dongwoon finally peaced it all together and gasped. “It can't be...”

“It is...” someone else spoke behind him.