woooooooohyun <3

(21 January, Monday)

[Eunseol]

“So… rumors have been flying,” Sandeul mused.

“Huh?” I asked, chewing my sandwich slowly. On the other side of the cafeteria, Woohyun was eating lunch with his usual group of popular friends. But unlike usual, he was staring at me, and we were in the middle of some sort of awkward staring contest.

“You… and…Jang Hyunseung… and… Yong Junhyung…” Baro said, articulating every syllable.

“Oh…” I said, taking my time to understand what he was saying. And I finally did. “What? How did you hear about that?”

Sandeul shrugged, “I don’t know. Someone told me about it. Everyone’s saying ‘did you hear? Hyunseung and Junhyung are treating the new girl so well… like, they actually came to Elite to pick her up after school to hang out’.”

Wow…

I sighed, “It’s a long story… and a coincidence that I know them.”

“Long stories are fun,” Sandeul said, resting his chin on his hands. I frowned. I didn’t really want to tell the story, for some reason. No one knew about how Hyunseung and I first met expect for a few, and I wanted to keep it that way.

I glanced back over at Woohyun’s table, but he was gone, his seat empty. Surprised, I realized he was walking towards us, his usual cocky smile ever present.

“Hey,” he said casually, sitting down next to me. From across the table, Baro was trying not to laugh and Sandeul had a ‘wtf’ expression on his face.

“Hi,” I said, wanting to say something more like ‘since when were we friends’, but I didn’t. Woohyun and his temper still scared me a little. But no worries… Baro read my mind.

“Since when were you two good friends?” he asked bluntly. That’s Baro for you; uncaring and not careful with his words.

Woohyun just shrugged.

“But really,” I said. “Why’d you leave your friends?”

When I glanced over at his table, they were all staring at us. Some of the girls even looked a bit mad.

“They were starting to get annoying. So I left,” Woohyun said simply, reaching over and grabbing some chips off of Sandeul’s tray. Not knowing how to react, I just simply went along with it. But soon enough, an awkward silence hit us.

Finally, Woohyun blurted out, “Are you dating Hyunseung?”

There was a moment of stunned silence before Sandeul and Baro began cracking up.

[Woohyun]

“Did you hear? Did you hear? Apparently the new girl’s dating Hyunseung,” Hyeji, a third-year airhead, said. I glanced over at the other side of the cafeteria where Eunseol was eating lunch with Baro and Sandeul, laughing happily. As I continued to stare at her, our eyes met, and something kept me from looking away.

“Really?” Seunghye gasped dramatically. “Wow, she must be a serious hoe. Didn’t she just transfer here not long ago?”

Did she just call Eunseol a hoe?

“Yeah, I bet she’s a total ,” Hyeji agreed. “What’s her name again? Eunsoo? Eunsuh? She’s only a second year, right? Gosh… how the hell did she fool Hyunseung into liking her?”

I slammed my hands down on the table, startling everyone. They all stopped their useless chatter and looked at me.

“First of all, her name’s Eunseol,” I growled. “And second, she’s too stupid to be a , so don’t call her that.”

I stood up and left the table, walking towards Eunseol’s table. I could feel their eyes on my back, but I walked away confidently. When I reached their table, I casually sat down next to Eunseol and said, “Hey.”

Baro and Sandeul both didn’t respond well to me, but Eunseol greeted me cheerfully.

After a short conversation, we quickly fell into an awkward silence, as I had predicted.

Finally, I asked the question that had been bothering me this whole time.

“Are you dating Hyunseung?” I asked. For a moment, the three of them looked stunned, then Baro and Sandeul began cracking up.

“N-no!” Eunseol spluttered, her cheeks becoming rosy. “What makes you say that?”

I shrugged, feeling extremely relieved for some reason. “Just… people have been talking about it.”

Eunseol groaned softly, burying her face in her hands. “Why is everyone so…”

“It’s okay,” Sandeul laughed, patting her head. “I mean, you might be bullied a little since the girls here are in love with Hyunseung, but other than that, you’ll be fine.”

I stiffened slightly, realizing girls like Hyeji and Seunghye would be the most extreme about the bullying. I was going to have to talk to them later…

Wait… why was I so concerned about this girl? She was just… an annoying little prick that stuck to me. But just the thought of what the girls could do to little Eunseol… made me nervous.

“You should stay away from them…” I muttered accidentally. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. It was just what I wished inside my mind.

“What? Hyunseung and Junhyung? Why?” Eunseol asked, picking at her food. Was she a picky eater? Maybe that was why she was so small…

“They… you’re going to have to go through a lot of crap because of them. Trust me,” I heard myself saying. This was weird. I never concerned myself with another’s wellbeing like this. “They’re too… girls like them too much.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Baro smirk, but he hid it quickly.

“I’m not going to stop being friends with them just because of that,” Eunseol said evenly. Although she was shy for the most part, she was firm about the things she believed in. “I would never treat friendship so lightly.”

Baro blurted out, “And funny how you’re saying that to Eunseol, when you’re pretty much the same influence. Everyone in this cafeteria was watching as you walked to this table and sat down next to Eunseol. You know… funny how a lot of the girls didn’t look too happy about that.”

I opened my mouth the counter with something, but soon realized Baro was right. I probably wasn’t helping Eunseol’s situation by being here. While I struggled to decide what to do, Eunseol reached over the table and flicked Baro’s forehead.

“Hey, don’t be rude,” Eunseol said. “If Woohyun wants to sit with us, we’re going to let him, no matter what other people think of it. And if girls get mad at me… I think I can deal with it.”

She was wrong. So wrong. But I didn’t say anything. I was too busy admiring her words.

“If you’re willing to be friends with me,” Eunseol said to me. “Then I’m willing to protect that friendship.”

If anyone else had said that in any other situation, I would have burst out laughing. It was such a cheesy thing to say. But with Eunseol… it was different.

“Fine… I guess we can be friends,” I said, biting my lip to keep from smiling too widely.

Slowly, a smile tugged on Eunseol lips.

“You know, I thought you were a jerk, but I don’t think your that bad anymore.”