Third Person POV…

Students had begun to drown in work as the exams came creeping closer; the ones desperate to pass had started to migrate to the library every break and study lesson.

The library was quiet; filled only with the humming of computers and tapping of keys, the flicking of pages and scratching of pens, and the occasional voice that was instantly hushed by, if not the librarian, the other students.

Jisu and Sohee sat opposite each other on a small study desk at the far end of the library, well concealed by the book aisles parallel them. Exercise books, text books, files and floating pieces of paper were spread out on the single desk, leaving no sight of empty space. Their heads were down, only lifting to pick up another sheet, another assignment or to ask for the shared eraser in a soft murmur.

The chain of concentration suddenly fell apart as Jisu perked up, her phone chiming in her bag by her feet. Other students glared their way and others just scrunched up their face as they continued working. Sohee looked up from her books, asked who it was with the end of her pencil tapping on her chin, her mind still partially on the maths question out in front of her. Jisu stared blankly at her phone, looking slightly doubtful and suspicious as she quietly read it out.

“‘Hey Jisu! What’s up?’”

Jisu looked up at Sohee, whose head had automatically reverted back down to her maths exercises. “Sohee?” she chirped under her breath.

Her friend looked up; Sohee’s hair was up in a messy bun with her bangs pinned back, like every other girl in the library with their nose in a book. “Who’s it from?” she asked warily; her eyes kept flicking back down to the questions.

“Daehyun,” Jisu muttered, ending on a high tone as if she wasn’t sure she had read the sender’s name correctly.

Sohee’s eyes stopped flickering up and down, and stayed glued on Jisu. She was intrigued. “Jung Daehyun?” Sohee confirmed.

“Is there any other Daehyun in this school?” Jisu sneered. “This is weird. We haven’t talked in ages…” she looked back at her phone screen, “Should I reply?”

Instead of Sohee answering, Jisu was replied with a chorus of ‘Shhh!!’ echoing around the library.

Jisu rolled her eyes. Her phone chimed again as a new message popped up on her screen.

‘Busy?’

“He didn’t just pay, whatever it costs, just to say one word, right?” Sohee scoffed as she read the message.

Jisu turned her phone back to her and after another loud wave of ‘Shhh!!’ and this time the librarian yelling ‘Turn your phone off!!”  Jisu obediently turned it off. She watched the screen go black for a minute before she slipped it back into her bag and continued studying as if nothing had happened.

After first break it was history and along with it, a history test. It was obvious who in the room studied and who didn’t.

Kai stared at the first question. He looked shocked, as if the words on the page were in another language, and from his expression the language probably wasn’t from Earth. After reading the following questions, skipping all of them, he turned the page. This went on until he had finished flicking through the pamphlet without lifting his pen. Just like the teacher had warned them the week before, there were no multiple choice questions.

Kai peeped his head to the side, shuffling slightly right to check on how Jisu was going. Head down, hand moving without rest, two rows in front of him. The seats were spread apart for the test and Kai had ended up further away from Jisu than usual. He watched as Jisu lifted her head to, he assumed, sigh and add more lead into her pencil. She tucked her bangs behind her ear then brushed her hair to one side. Kai took note of how long her hair had gotten, it wasn’t as long as other girls’ but it hadn’t been at that length for years. The crimson in her strands had also died down, leaving behind a reddish burnt umber colour floating just above her shoulders. Even after moving her hair aside, some strands had already fallen back down her back. Kai smiled as she repeatedly brushed her hair aside. “No wonder she always cuts it,” Kai chuckled to himself.

The teacher straightened up in their seat at the sound of a voice. Miss Jeon got up and marched towards Kai, struck his desk with her ruler and scolded him for ‘sharing his fantasies aloud.’ Jisu had turned around momentarily like every other student to watch him stutter and deny the claim. Kai’s eyes locked with Jisu’s for a split second and had his desk struck a second time to which he merely stuttered some more.

Sohee and Jisu retreated to the cafeteria for lunch. On each table there were at least one or two people studying. Jisu sighed as they moved their trays inch by inch towards the counter. She frowned as she watched the person in front of her take the last juice. The two of them took a seat feeling slightly disappointed with what little food they were able to attain, a small round piece of bread the size of a tightly clenched fist each.

Jisu sighed as she slumped in her chair. “I’m so tired and hungry,” she grumbled, dropping her forehead on the cool surface of the table.

“Did you two just have a test?” a familiar voice said beside the shrunken Jisu.

Sohee looked up from the bread in her hands and nodded, answering with an uncertain ‘yes.’

Jisu picked her head up and turned around drowsily to check who it was.

Daehyun’s eyes grew slightly in surprise then turned up in a warm smile. “I’ve heard from your brother you’re always studying, Jisu,” Daehyun said as he gently knocked a cold unopened box of orange juice on Jisu’s forehead. “As a fighting gift,” he explained, handing the juice box to Jisu. He also handed one to Sohee, probably out of courtesy.

Jisu stared at the ‘gift,’ nodded and gave a short, soft ‘thanks.’

“Don’t mention it,” Daehyun grinned. He stood there awkwardly for a minute as Jisu didn’t pull out a witty comment to start conversation like she usually would.

“Sohee came to watch us practice the other day,” Daehyun stated, “I thought you were coming so I was surprised to see Sohee.” He smiled politely as Sohee lifted her head at the sound of her name.

“Jisu had an errand to do,” Sohee explained.

“Ah!” Daehyun exclaimed, nodding as if he were thinking it through. “Both of you should come next time,” he pressed.

Jisu looked uncomfortably down at her bread, she chewed slowly and swallowed it dryly. The straw of the juice box still trapped in its plastic.

Sohee realised this and turned back to Daehyun with a polite smile. “Jisu and I have to discuss an assignment—”

“Oh,” Daehyun exclaimed, his eye whites growing in embarrassment, “Sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll catch up with the two of you later then!” He said a quick goodbye to the both of them before trotting off.

Jisu finally let go of her breath and spoke. “Is he gone?”

Sohee waited after Daehyun went out the door to reply. “Yeah, he’s gone.”

Jisu broke out in a groan. “What does he want?” she muttered, staring at the untouched juice.

Sohee shrugged. “Who knows?”

For the following days Daehyun had been sneaking in little cut out conversations between him and Jisu and now it was already Friday.

“What does he want?!” Jisu groaned for the millionth time as they escaped with yet another impromptu excuse.

“Why don’t you just talk to him?” Sohee asked as they retreated around a corner.

Jisu flashed a glare. “He rejected me, it’s too awkward!”

“It looks awkward for him too,” Sohee reasoned.

Jisu frowned at the bitter taste of her friend’s perspective. “Why’s he even still at school? Seniors can leave at lunch on Friday’s. I can’t concentrate with him always bugging me…”

“I don’t know… Well our last exam is next,” Sohee shrugged, “we can’t keep telling him we have to study.”

“We could.”

Sohee rolled her eyes and they made their way down a corridor to the final exam site.

“Okay, time’s up!” the teacher cawed. The class let out a sigh and a few students groaned in disappointment as they dropped their pens and stood up to hand their papers in.

Jisu walked towards Sohee’s desk as the other students rolled out of class and into the corridors looking a bit less alive than they did on their way in.

“Did you finish?” Jisu asked as she knocked on the corner of Sohee’s desk. By now everyone had left to go home.

She looked up as she stuffed her pencil case into her bag. “Yeah, but I think I got the last one wrong,” she frowned as she swung her bag onto her back.  They made their way to the door, making an abrupt stop as one of their names was called out.

“Jisu,” said a voice beside them. Their head clicked left at the same time. Daehyun stood half leaning, half pushing off on the wall by the door. “How was the test?” he asked smiling casually.

Sohee stared blankly before an uneasy you’re-not-supposed-to-be-here feeling crept into her stomach. “I-I should get going,” Sohee stuttered as she excused herself. “See you tomorrow Jisu!” she called as she rushed down the corridor.

Daehyun waved before turning his attention back to Jisu.

“What are you doing here?” Jisu asked sounding slightly annoyed.

Daehyun blinked as if the answer was obvious. “Waiting for you?” he said dubiously.

“But aren’t seniors dismissed early on Fridays?”

‘I decided to stay in the library to study,’ was Daehyun’s alibi. “I need to check something with Jongup and he’s not picking up his phone so I thought I’d just drop by and because there were only a few minutes left, I thought I’d just wait for you,” Daehyun shrugged. “That’s it.”

Jisu lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh and here,” Daehyun shook off his bag and pulled out a blue tinted Tupperware. “I bought some cake over at that bakery while walking to school but I didn’t finish it all.” He held out the container with the neatly sliced piece of cake. “Do you want it?”    

Jisu stared at the cake and then at Daehyun. “Why are you doing this?” she said coldly with a bitter smile. She tipped her head to the side and gave him a chilling glare. “Can’t you just stop being nice to me?”

Daehyun’s shoulders shrunk back as he brought the cake down with his smile. “Jisu, can’t we just go back to how we used to be?” he frowned. “I miss being able to talk to you and to your brother without feeling so guilty…”

Jisu blinked. She hadn’t prepared herself for such an answer, she was expecting maybe another stupid excuse. She felt her face twist and her chest clamp tightly around itself. She made a quick escape past him, head down hearing just her footsteps. Then his footsteps after hers.

Daehyun grabbed Jisu’s wrist and she whirled around, pulling her arm out of his grasp. Her hair fell over her face and she was grateful for it because even if it’s just a little, she didn’t want him to see her make that face. Her lips were pulling themselves down and no matter how hard she tried they quivered whenever she tried to open . “W-why can’t you just leave me alone?” she cried out, “If you keep doing this I’ll—!! I’ll—!!” Jisu stopped and hesitated. What would she do if he kept doing this? They really could go back to how they were…

“Jisu…” Daehyun hushed her as he brushed her hair behind her ears.

Jisu waved his hand away and dropped her head. She stared at her feet at how her knees were buckling together. “I’ll… I’ll never get over you…” she whispered under her breath, mostly just to hear herself admit it.

Daehyun patted her head. Jisu could hear his clothes crinkle over her ears as he came in to embrace her. She could feel him rest his chin on her head as he murmured something and rhythmically pat her shoulders.

“Don’t cry,” he grumbled lightly. After a moment he let go of Jisu and held a hand out towards her. “C’mon, I’ll walk you home,” he offered coyly.

Jisu weakly took his hand and let him guide her back home.
   

Kai slumped back, tapping his foot as people passed. It had been a while since the last person had passed by him. Kai waited outside the building, wondering how long it could possibly take for girls to pack up. Sohee had passed him and told him that Jisu may take a while, she hadn't tell him why but he didn't expect it would be this long. "Where is she?" he muttered checking his phone. Fifteen minutes since dismissal. He frowned. 

Daehyun then slipped pass him, Kai lifted his eyes. Dark burnt red hair swiped pass his eyes.Kai watched silently as Jisu passed him, her head down and holding hands with Daehyun. Kai pressed his lips together, feeling like an invisible fool.

Kai waited until they had left his sight, disappointed Jisu hadn't lifted her head to look him in the eye. Kai walked home alone regretting every invitation he had rejected from his friends to walk together, 'I'm waiting for someone,' he had told each one of them 

AND SK IS BACK !! I'm sorry !!TT TT it took sooo long I know... School's been extremely busy... the start of this chapter was pretty dim with the theme of studies and exams... it was pretty much my situation at the time ahaha
But did your school reports come out well?
 

This chapter did focus a lot on Daehyun and Jisu's relationship... so I'm sorry if you were disappointed there wasn't any Sohee x Jongup/Zelo or much Jisu x Kai.
It should be speeding up by now though ^^

Any thoughts so far?

-SK