▲▼▲ ERIC NAM - GOODBYE IN ONCE UPON A TIME

The bell, ending the day had rung. “Look to know your table partner in the back! I posted a paper of all the partners there.” Sehun squeezed through the crowd, trying to see the paper. His eyes scanned the paper until he found his name: Oh Sehun & Lee Minyoung. He stared at the paper and suddenly snapped out when he blinked, and was suddenly pushed back. He felt a pat on his back, and he knew that it was from either Chanyeol or Kai, but he ignored it and turned towards Minyoung who sat at her desk, looking out the window. He slowly retreated back to his desk and grabbed his bag.
“Uh... I guess we’re partners?” Sehun said, which seemed to be more of a question.
The girl didn’t bother to turn her head to face him. She just nodded and reached for her bag, gathering her books. His friends slowly passed by, and he heard Baekhyun whisper in his ear: “Don’t bother doing the project, she’ll just finish it on her own.” Sehun pressed his lips into a firm line. He felt a tug on his arm as his friends walked away. Soon, he was dragged out of the classroom, but he turned back to glance at the quiet girl that was left behind.

Minyoung exhaled as she was finally able to breathe again after a full eight hours of school. She glanced up as she watched Sehun walk away with his friends. With a sigh, she slowly stood up, her bag over her shoulder, and she walked off to the library.

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“Jaesun, where’s your sister?” his mother asked as she stood at his bedroom door.
Jaesun looked up from his books and turned in his chair, finding his mother looking at him with a worried face. He pulled off his headphones and responded to his mother, “I heard that her class has a few projects to do.”
His mother clicked her tongue and exhaled, “Probably trying to finish them... It’s still late,” she said as she glanced at her wristwatch. “Jaesun, can you go back to school and get her back here? I’m worried.”
Jaesun glanced up at his clock above his desk: eleven o’clock. He sighed and grabbed his jacket, but didn’t slip it on. “Yeah. I’ll go get her. She probably hasn’t eaten yet, either,” Jaesun said as he started to exit his room and walked downstairs with his mother following behind. “I’ll be back soon, mom,” he said and rushed to the school.

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Sehun walked through the empty, dark school hallways. He glanced left, then right, then continued each time there was a four-way hallway. He made a sudden stop each time he heard any sound in the hallways. He peeked around the corners, looking out if there was anyone that in the school as well. As he approached the school library, he stopped at the doors and looked inside, finding dim lights, and a security guard asleep at his post, while he should have been looking over the students. Sehun peered through the windows, trying to find if anyone was inside. He scratched his head with a blink. *Why am I even here?* He pushed the library door opened and stepped inside, finding a handful of students in the library, all occupied in their books. The boy glanced around, a bit uncomfortable as he was surrounded by hard-working students. His eyes landed on a girl who seemed to be the only person who was not working. Sehun started walking towards her, noticing her head was on the table: sleeping position. Once he was able to see her face, he realized it was the girl who sat next to him and was so quiet during class, Minyoung. He blinked as he looked at the girl’s tired face. He looked around, finding people minding their own business, then he looked back at the sleeping girl. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, but then retreated his hand when he realized it was a stupid move to do when you can clearly see that her eyes are closed.

Sehun looked at the books that were sprawled all over the one table. He noticed how she was the only one who was sitting by herself. God, he had never seen so many books on a table before. In her hands, he found a pen in one, and a highlighter on another; underneath her head was her notebook, in front was her laptop. *Perhaps she was finishing the project?* Sehun looked at a couple of the books, and a sudden had headache overcame him. Everywhere he looked, words were everywhere. He shook his head to ignore the ache and shrugged his letter jacket off, draping it over her shoulders before taking a seat in the next seat. He looked at a book, took a minute to read a paragraph, look up and try to remember what he had just read, and forgot. Looking around, he found Minyoung’s laptop, and silently slid it towards him. He’d rather use the internet for help than read books. When he saw the document to their project, he opened it, finding an awfully long report; longer than the one the teacher requested for. His eyes slightly widen to all of the work the girl had done. So many pages written, on such little time in the day, from just one person. He hasn’t even done anything in part of the project.

Yes, the boy hated projects, tests, homework⏤mainly academics⏤but he wasn’t some selfish boy who would let the partner do the whole project by himself, he’s not that kind of boy. After a yawn from Sehun, his fingers attacked the keyboard of Minyoung’s laptop.

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Minyoung ran into the classroom, which made Sehun look up from his phone. *She looks more tired than last night.* He watched as the girl rushed over to her desk without glancing at her table partner, and she looked at the basket under her desk. She continuously mumbled to herself about her laptop and the project. Minyoung slung her bag off her shoulders and practically threw everything out, desperately looking for her laptop, and she suddenly stopped when she saw her laptop and fifteen pages of paper stapled together. The girl’s eyes widen as she took the report into her hands, confused about how she hadn’t noticed it there before, until Sehun spoke up. “I came last night, to the library and found you there asleep. Your brother took you home and he told me to finish the project, letting me borrow your laptop,” he simply explained, but looked ahead, avoiding eye contact with her. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t write as much as you did, but I tried my best...”

There was a wall of silence between the two. Finally, Minyoung said, “It’s good enough that it’s finished and that it’s here... It doesn’t really matter if it’s perfectly good or not. It’s better than getting a zero by not turning it in.” Sehun looked at the girl, a bit stunned that she was finally talking to him since the last time they did. One thing he finally realized was her soft, innocent, and shy voice. It was different from in the past. Before, she was just loud, giddy, and a tad noisy, and bold. But it also shocked him to hear that a girl who had spent all day working so hard on a project, didn’t care if she’d get an A on a project that was worth so much to her grade. That was his first time hearing that. Sehun hadn’t noticed that he was staring at her the whole time, but finally did when the bell rung and broke him away from his daze.

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“Grandma, are you okay?” Sehun asked.
“Sehun?” his grandmother replied on the other line. “Ah, yes yes. I’m fine. I was just called down to the hospital just for tests, don’t worry about me, alright?”
Sehun slightly frowned. He heard another voice on the other side, and guessed that it was a nurse, overhearing the two talking about an operation. “How can I not after hearing that, gran’?” Sehun questioned.
He heard his grandmother sigh and her shaky voice reply to him, “Don’t worry about it Sehun. It’s just a few tests for the next few nights.”
“Yeah right, grandma. It seems more like weeks than a few nights,” Sehun said, now concerned.
“Like I said Sehun, don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll see you then, stay safe, alrighty?” A buzz ended the call.

Sehun sighed and shoved his phone into his pocket. The only thing that concerned him was his grandmother, and now that she was in the hospital for more tests concerned him more. More tests, more money needed to be wasted, and the only thing the young boy could think of doing was to look around and look for a ‘help wanted’ sign. He sighed and stepped into a café that he stood in front of when he made the call to his grandmother. He looked at the menu above and quickly ordered, avoiding eye contact with the cashier. When the cashier told him the total, Sehun paused to look up and find the girl who sat beside him in class. She too, avoided eye contact with him. “Minyoung...” The girl didn’t look up from her register and called out to the next in line, making Sehun shift over to the side, waiting for his order.

After a half an hour of thinking while snacking and drinking his beverage, he found a shadow hover over him. He looked up and found the girl behind the register in the seat in front of him. Sehun blinked as he looked at Minyoung. She was still in her uniform, and she looked down at her folded hands in her lap. “I overheard you talking to your grandma...” Minyoung said. “And...I thought that you might be going through some troubles to finding money...” She stood up as soon as her manager came out. “Maybe, you could get a job here,” she said before walking away, and her manager took her spot. Amazingly, he got a job, without saying a word.

When both his and Minyoung’s shift ended, Sehun rushed out of the staff room to catch up with Minyoung. “Minyoung-ssi~” he called out, which made her stop walking, and Sehun took this as a chance to walk home with her. The two started walking home in silence. Sehun felt a bit uneasy with the silence, and was the first to speak. “Why... Why’d you do that?” he asked.
“Do what?” Minyoung questioned.
“Be able to get me a job like that.”
It took Minyoung a while to reply, “Because...” Sehun waited for an answer. “I just thought you needed it.”
Sehun nodded. Even though that was all she said, he felt as if she had more to say.

I LOST MY INSPIRATION. orz. I can only write this when I’m angry. It works. LOL
Sorry for not updating for so long. ; ; School has gotten to me. and and, drama. /sighs/ stress.
sorry that it's short.