[JAEHWA’S POV]

My days went better each day, thanks to Luhan oppa who keeps cheering me up. I began to worry lesser and lesser; I began to laugh even more. Jongin who kept distance as he felt guilty towards me, had been starting to spend his time more with me as well – even making Eunkyung unnie felt jealous towards me.

“Jaehwa, did you hear me?” Luhan oppa asked while waving his hand in front of my face. He looked worried – he’s easily worried whenever he saw me drifting away from reality.

“Of course, I heard you oppa,” I giggled, then hold on his hand, assuring that I’m fine now. He looked at me again for a long time, before he smiled sweetly.

“What did I say, if you really heard me just now,” he asked, naughtily reached for my right hand and gave it a light squeeze.

“I knew that I should just answer that I don’t,” I monologue, still thinking hard to give it a guess. I bite my plump lips, while tapping my forefinger on my chin. He looked at me cheekily, knowing that I lied but he’s still anticipating for my answer.

“You said you love me so much, right?” I stucked out my tongue, and earned a light pinch on my cheek. “Are you feeling jealous towards my flawless cheek, oppa?” I asked jokingly. He kept on laughing happily; I can’t help but to laugh with him as well.

“Not bad for someone who think too much to guess what I said just now,” he ruffled my hair.

“Yah~! It took me an hour and half to style my hair to meet you today,” I pouted my lips while running my fingers on my hair, trying to fix it again.

“Yah? You called me yah? Yah yah yah, call me oppa, not yah,” Luhan oppa acted like he’s angry while waving his forefinger, signalling a ‘No’ to me.

“What if I refused to do so?” I joked around instead of giving him an exact answer, wanting to know his reaction. It’s always fun to because he treats me like I’m his child. I know, it’s irrelevant, but it’s fun to act like his daughter once in a while.

Luhan oppa giggled even more. He moved closer to me, closer and closer. He then wrapped his hands around my waist so I let him to do so, as I thought it will be a normal hug like he always did. But I was wrong. It’s his tickle attack time. The attack that I feared the most as I’m a really ticklish person.

“Stop tickling me, it tickles!” I screamed in between my laughs. Boy, it’s hard to say something while you’re laughing out loud.

“Of course it tickles, because I’m tickling you,” oppa giggled, and continue to tickle me. I laughed even more, face turns red as I begged him to stop.

“I won’t stop till you agree to call me oppa instead of yah,” he said, while his fingers were tickling my waist actively. Still refusing, so I kept quiet, trying to endure all the laughter but ended up exploding more laughs and it gets louder and louder till I’m getting breathless.

“O-oppa, stop kudasai, jebal,” I begged, mixing up Japanese and Korean in the same time. Luhan oppa smiled proudly, as if he achieved something big, and then stopped his tickle attack. I inhaled oxygen as much as I could – trying to breathe properly. Maybe he’s feeling guilty, he rubbed my back and gave me his bottle of water to drink.

“Are you okay now?” He asked after he saw me getting calmer.

“I feel like dying, oppa. Wow, I will never ever ever ever ever be stubborn and will always call you oppa every single time. Don’t tickle me again next time, jebal,” I answered while slowly massaging my chest. I looked into his eyes – there’s nothing I find other than love glowing in them. But I’m not joking though; his fingers were moving so fast when he tickled me. It’s like he’s not going to give me a chance to breathe at all.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Sorry if I hurt you,” he apologized, and began to brush his fingers on my back. His voice clearly stated that he’s worry and sorry and his eyes showed that he’s sincere with his words. I smiled, showing that I’m fine. He shouldn’t be that apologetic to be honest, it’s my fault to start with.

“Oppa, can I say something?”

“Go ahead. You’re free to say anything, sweet cake.”

“You’re actually hundred times way better than you-know-who,” I slowed down when I said you-know-who. Luhan didn’t really hate him, but it’s just me who feel hurt each time I think about him or had to say his name. Not to mention the overflowing amount of hate I gave after all the things he’d done to me.

Luhan oppa chuckled and beamed a bright smile. He stared into my eyes and- Oh, his eyes are glowing! And I hate whenever they glow, because I will fell for him even more. I don’t really how I get over my ex so fast, considering that I dated him almost 3 years. But to think about it now, maybe it’s because of Luhan oppa’s sincerity.

“Because I’m Lu Han, not him,” he ruffled my hair again. “Oops sorry, I forgot about how long you styled your hair,” he apologized again, seeing that I literally shoot losers while staring at him. “But I like it more when it’s naturally styled,” he said, while taking off the rubber band that tied my hair into a ponytail.

“See, you look even better with your natural beauty look,” he smiled again, making me to blush even more. I tried to hide my face that’s getting redder with my long hair, but he lifted my face, and put my hair behind my ear.

“Don’t be shy whenever you’re with me. I’ve seen your flaws more than anyone else,” he giggled as he’s reminded how different I look now compared to back then when I treated him like my older brother.

“That’s why I hate you. You know me so much that I can no longer act pretty in front of you,” I replied with a joke, making him laughed even more.

“No need to act pretty, missy. You’re always be my clumsy Jaehwa,” he ran afterwards because I was chasing him around – trying to hit him lightly.

“Oppa, I’m not clumsy!”

[END OF POV]

///

“Im Jaehwa! Hurry up! Do you want to get a detention on the first day of the new term?” Jongin screamed from outside, making Jaehwa to rush while getting dressed. She blamed herself for not charging her phone beforehand, now it’s dead and the alarm didn’t ring on time. It did ring, but it sounded so faint to Jaehwa’s sleepy ears.

“I’m coming down so shut up and don’t scream! You’re waking up the whole neighbourhood!” Jaehwa screamed, in fact, she screamed a bit louder than Jongin.

Jongin shook his head to think that Jaehwa still hasn’t change at all. He waited outside, while lazily browsing his phone, searching for song so he can dance a while but stopped when he saw Luhan walking towards his direction.

“Yo hyung!” He greeted happily.

“Yo Kkamjong!” Luhan replied and gave Jongin a high-five.

“Going to school for the first time with Jaehwa eh?” Jongin asked while nudging the older. He kind of guessing that people will judge Luhan – no matter how friendly he is with other students and no matter how he has many friends, but since Sehun’s popularity had been increasing like mad at school, people will blame Luhan for dating Jaehwa.

“Yeah. Going to show off to people that she’s my girl now,” he joked, but Luhan’s not anticipating for all the stares he’ll get from students in their school. The football and basketball team might understand why he’s with Jaehwa instead of Sehun, but the rest didn’t know the exact story. He didn’t really care if it’s only him who get the bad treatment; but he’ll try to protect Jaehwa from it.

After having a long chat, Jaehwa finally walked out the door, with comb still in her hand and a pack of sandwich in the other hand. Jongin was nagging at her, saying that they need to walk so fast as school’s going to start in 15 minutes while Luhan laughed, before he walked towards Jaehwa and took the comb – combing her hair neatly.

“And you, hyung. Why did you comb her hair? You need to let her learn to be independent, not dependent!” Jongin continued to nag all the way to school. Luhan just smiled, for him it’s nothing wrong with combing his girl’s hair.

As soon as they walked along the corridor, people were staring at both Jaehwa and Luhan. Some were talking bad things, some were whispering to each other. Jongin was aware that his friends were the center of attention; so he covered Jaehwa, in case if any of the girls started to throw things at her.

Luhan turned to look at Jaehwa, worried if it affects her. He once read about schoolgirls in Korea acting violently because of a guy, so he’s afraid if Jaehwa becomes a victim next. But he felt a relief seeing that Jaehwa smiled all the way to class, ignoring the deep stares she got from people.

“I’m fine, oppa, you just need to take care of yourself,” she whispered, before bidding good bye to enter her class. Luhan nodded, and left to go to his class as well. Jongin entered the class after Luhan left, and continued to be protective over his childhood friend.

“Jongin, I can take care of myself. Don’t worry about me too much,” she turned to face him, said firmly and smiled to show that she’s fine. He hated that – he hated to see her acting so strong when she once hurt herself to the point she needed to be warded twice. Letting out a sigh, Jongin nodded before he walked to his seat.

Jaehwa looked to her right – where Sehun’s supposed to be seating there. It’s still empty, and she hadn’t seen Sehun for quite a long time now. Sometimes she wonders what actually happened to him as he was kicked out of Jongin’s mall. What if no one wants to accept him being a model for their malls or magazines? She knew that he cheated on her, but Sehun is still his friend.

The class started, but there’s no sign of Sehun. Second period started, still, there’s no sign of him. Jaehwa took out her phone, thinking whether she should at least give a text to him, asking why he didn’t attend school.

“Sorry I’m late,” she heard the familiar voice when the third period was about to start. She didn’t dare to look up, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see that the guy was walking slowly towards his seat. He took some time to settle down everything, and Jaehwa sneakily looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

“Look at me properly if you want to. You don’t really need to glance like that,” Sehun whispered, shocking Jaehwa. She lifted her head, looking at the whiteboard while completely trying to ignore him. “How did he notice that I’m looking at him?” Jaehwa thought, because she tried so hard not to make it look obvious.

“Now, face the person to your right and start conversing in English using these words on the board now,” Mrs. Park, who’s teaching English, commanded. Jaehwa sighed. Why it needs to be the person to her right? She’d love it more to converse with the person to her left…

She then unwillingly turned to face Sehun while Sehun had been facing her for a long time already. She had her eyes fixed on the floor, having so little courage to look at his face. She’s battling with the inner her, arguing if it’s better to ask for a change in partner or talk to him while facing the floor.

“My face is up here, not down there. And we need to face each other to converse,” Sehun said again, but his voice sounded so soft and there’s no sign of him being rude. Thinking that he had the point, Jaehwa had no choice but to face him. Slowly, she shifted her gaze; from the floor to his legs, from his legs to his chest, from his chest to his face.

She was actually shocked to see him in that state. “Sehun, you’re so pale! Are you sick?” She ignored the fact he nearly made her kill herself, and was only worried to see the person of the opposite being so pale. He was shivering as well, and he could barely move his muscle to form a smile.

“I’m fine, so let’s start conversing.”

Jongin, who’s watching them from afar, was surprised to see Sehun as well. He was his best friend, but they rarely talk to each other after Jaehwa’s incident. But to see him being so weak, he understood why Jaehwa looked so worried and asked many questions to Sehun. Past is the past, but Sehun is still the guy that Jaehwa used to care for him so much.

Sehun joined the class till the fifth period, and went missing in action afterwards. Jaehwa didn’t really want to show her concern towards Sehun who’s suddenly appearing and leaving whenever he wanted, but she tried not to make it obvious. Jongin too, despite feeling worried about Sehun, chose to ignore him and enjoyed the first day of class with his classmates.