Chapter 4 || Silence

Heavy loafers hurried clomping against the cement pavement accompanied by powerful, breathy pants was all that filled Chanyeol’s ears as he rushed towards the school’s front gates. “Ahh! I just had to sleep in today! Now I’m running late for school!!” Bringing his arm up to wipe his perspiring forehead anything but gracefully, his attention was immediately caught when his eyes landed on a fellow student walking up ahead. “Thank goodness I’m not the only one who’s running late.” Now filled with newfound relief, he significantly lessened his speed, allowing his now numbed legs to relax a bit.

“This doesn’t change the fact that I’m still late… but at least someone else is going to be taking some of the heat from their teacher besides me.” He reassured himself. Bringing his sights back up, he narrowed his eyes onto the student ahead in the hopes of somehow being able to distinguish who they were. It was a female student by the looks of it. Just before Chanyeol could fully take in the girl’s backside to see if he recognized her, he realized something.

She was limping with a slight stumble.

In an instant, he knew of one girl in school who walked just like that and without a doubt it had to be her. It was Hong Hyojin.

With breath hitched up, his eyes were impulsively yanked downwards to stare at the ground beneath his feet. Oh no… it just had to be her…?! Chanyeol felt like he was five years old again- wanting to stare at something so badly but not being able to so he wouldn’t come off as rude or disrespectful.

This reaction was nothing new for Chanyeol. It seems as though this was a daily thing for Chanyeol ever since Hyojin had returned back to school just a week ago. Every time he would see Hyojin, no matter how far away or close she was to him, he’d immediately have the urge to stare at her, but would ultimately avert his eyes from her. He couldn’t explain this urge of his to watch or rather observe her and her every move. Not only that but just being in the same room with her caused Chanyeol’s chest to become heavy with unknown grief and spontaneously shift his mood from cheery to down right depressed in a snap.

And right now, this mysterious phenomenon that was plaguing Chanyeol was hitting him like a ton of bricks. 

“Wait, why am I freaking out over this anyways? There’s a huge gap between the two of us- she wouldn’t be able to hear, let along see me from this distance so what am I so worried about??” Shaking his head to rid himself of his ill feelings, he hesitantly looked back up and caught a glimpse of Hyojin once again.

He carefully watched her. He was sure to keep a safe distance away from her so she wouldn’t be tipped off by his presence. Just like before, it seemed like walking was a tremendous obstacle for her. Her legs seemed so stiff and heavy as if it pained her to even move them just a centimeter up. Every few steps, she would lose her balance and trip on her feet a bit, causing Chanyeol to flinch in unison with her.

Should I… help her…?

The thought that had been hiding in the deepest part of Chanyeol’s mind unexpected dawned on him. Should he help her? I shouldn’t… I mean, this is Hyojin we’re talking about! The girl I’ve hated longer than I can remember. Just the phrase, ‘helping Hyojin out’ feels unnatural and uncomfortable to say. Just walk past her Chanyeol. Walk past-

Chanyeol was stirred from his inner one-man debate when he caught sight of a couple rushing past him, breaking the silence around him with their footsteps and voices. “Oh, oppa! We’re late to class now!” the girl griped, barely keeping up with her boyfriend’s footing. “I knew taking one of your ‘short cuts’ was a bad idea!”

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!! I-I’ll make it up to you!!” the poor guy pleaded. Chanyeol let out a small chuckle, shaking his head to himself.

“Ah, it’s only Mina and Sangwoo.” He said. Chanyeol didn’t know the underclassmen couple personally, but he had seen them around school a couple of times. It was hard not to know that those two were an ‘item’ what with them always being together. And even if they weren’t clinging to each other, they’d be glued to their phones chatting and texting one another.

Distracted by the spectacle of the couple cutely bickering with one another, Chanyeol didn’t even notice that they were straying a bit too closely to Hyojin who didn’t seem to be paying them any mind. All of a sudden, Mina abruptly bumped shoulders with Hyojin, causing Hyojin to lurch forward and almost lose her footing. Chanyeol jumped up in surprised and impulsively stopped dead in his tracks.

Thankfully enough, only Hyojin’s book bag had fallen onto the ground. Skidding to a stop, Mina didn’t hesitant to turn on her heel and politely apologize. However, just as the word ‘sorry’ left her lips, she paused and gazed up at Hyojin in sheer astonishment. Hyojin was slow to respond, but eventually looked up from her bag that laid lifelessly on the ground and into Mina’s eyes as well.

“H…Hyojin…?” she slowly uttered, narrowing her eyes onto the girl before her. From Chanyeol’s perspective, the expression Mina bored looked to be a combination of both shock and fright- a common reaction from most people who see Hyojin after her long absence from school.

“Mina, let’s go…” her boyfriend quietly urged her, lightly nudging at her arm. But Mina stayed planted in her spot, completely awestricken by Hyojin. Chanyeol wasn’t sure if it was out of the fact that Hyojin had finally returned or the fact that Hyojin’s appearance had dramatically altered since her departure, making her look like a completely different person. Hyojin mutely stared back into Mina’s eyes. Sangwoo began to gently but urgently tug on Mina’s arm when he started to become aware of the subtle anger that appeared to be bubbling up in Hyojin’s icy stare.

Hyojin was already bothered by the fact that she was suddenly bumped into at the expense of her now dirtied book bag, but the longer she stared into Mina’s eyes, the more she start to feel herself begin to tremble with anger. Why? Because Hyojin had this strange feeling of familiarity with this girl- that she’s seen her once before. Trying hard to delve through her memory for this girl before her, she suddenly realized who this girl was, why she looked so familiar and why her blood started to rush the moment she laid eyes on her.

It was the same underclassman girl she had harassed before she had met up with Chanyeol that day, before she was humiliated beyond belief, before her unfortunate mishap- before she was like this. It was on that very day that completely ruined her life that she had met this girl.

Hyojin wasn’t sure how or when it happened, but in the blink of an eye her hand was now forcefully clenching onto the girl’s shoulder. Hyojin’s grasp on the girl, along with her own legs were violently trembling. She could see Mina in front of her now struggling in pain underneath her grasp and face contorted in pain. It looked like she might have been desperately shouting at Hyojin, probably to release her, but Hyojin couldn’t hear her. Everything around her seemed to have turned into white noise in her ears. All she could hear was her heart hammering rapidly against her chest.

Hyojin wasn’t sure what was happening really. All she knew was that she felt… angry… A voice suddenly sounded inside her mind behind all this commotion. It sounded familiar but at a time like this, there was no way she would be able to distinguish the owner of the voice.

“In your current state, you can get emotional very easily and it can become very destructive on your part.”

Hyojin was caught off guard and was tossed back into reality when Sangwoo had seized Hyojin’s wrist and ripped her off of Mina. Unable to balance herself on time, Hyojin staggered backwards a couple of steps and collapsed onto the ground. Hyojin let out a choked up cry of pain, clenching onto her right arm that was still recovering from her accident that was the first to land onto the ground to cushion her fall. Mina was now huddled against Sangwoo’s chest, silently weeping to herself. Shaking slightly from the sudden burst of adrenaline he had gotten, Sangwoo stared down at Hyojin with petrified, rounded eyes.

A good ten seconds had past until Sangwoo brought up the courage to finally speak. “D-do you see what you make people do…!” He hesitantly hollered. “You can’t blame anyone for this but yourself! J-just… leave us all alone!!!” With that, Sangwoo turned and rushed away from the scene with Mina close in his arms.

Chanyeol was absolutely speechless- perhaps he could even be colored as dumbfounded right now. The fact that this whole quarrel unfolded before him was unbelievable enough as it is, but the fact that he just stood there, not saying or doing a thing- completely planted to his spot like a sitting duck struck him more than anything.

Why didn’t he do anything? Why didn’t he step up to break this whole thing off like he would usual do with these types of situations? Why didn’t he try to protect…

Who was I even supposed to protect in this fight anyways…?

Chanyeol’s eyes trailed downward to look at Hyojin who was still sitting on the ground. She was now hunched over her arm that she was clenching onto for dear life. Chanyeol wondered if she had seriously injured it when she fell, or if it had already been injured before hand. And now… it was happening again…

Chanyeol could see Hyojin crying to herself.

This time, her weeps sounded even more pained than before.

She was hurting. Physically and mentally this time.

Chanyeol finally felt control of his inert legs and quietly strode towards Hyojin. It didn’t matter what time it was, or if he was late to class- Chanyeol didn’t feel any rush to get to her, and slowly but steadily approached her. He now stood directly behind her, looming over her curled up figure on the ground. Inch by inch, he lifted an arm up and extended it towards her. With his finger tips just barely touching against the fabric of her shirt, he felt himself completely stop.

I… can’t do it…

Withdrawing his hand back, Chanyeol stepped away from her and speedily walked past her and into the school building. Standing a couple of steps past the doorway, Chanyeol abruptly stopped in place. Fighting back the urge to look over his shoulder, he quickly continued onto his way to class.  

I finally update after all these years weeks, right guys lol But nah seriously, ever since I finished high school I've just been so preoccupied with life and can never find time to write. It's so depressing that I don't have time for my hobby nowadays (; n ;) But anyways, I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing again with this chapter. Does it seem poorly written compared to the others? lol

And you guys seemed to be confused with the random girls I throw into this fic lol Ok so here's some clarifications! Pay attention now my lovelies!!!

Joohee- A girl in Hyojin's class who had helped her that one time the first day she returned to school

Mina- The last girl Hyojin had bullied in chapter 1 who was on the phone with her oppar before Hyojin had met up with Chanyeol

Finally, the girl from the prolouge that had also pushed Hyojin down in chapter 1 has yet to be introduced!

Clear now? I hope so! lol Hope no one's confused now! :-)