sixteen

—

leo.

Hak Yeon was bothering me today about my communication skills.

I told him that my way of talking was enough and his was worse. 

He totally got mad and ignored me the whole day.

It wasn't my fault anyway. I was only speaking the truth. I drank the iced coffee that I bought from the vending machine and walked through the busy hallways. Everyone was rowdy and noisy with their cliques and friends. I scanned every face I could see, and there were mostly sophomores. Not a single shadow of Hak Yeon was seen today. Good, I thought and kept on drinking. It was windy and chilly today, my fine hairs stood up. A soft smile appeared on my face, "I wonder what he's doing now?" I mumbled and kept on walking. When I finished my ice coffee, as if by coincidence, Hak Yeon was running towards me. "Taek Woonnie~" He shouted, gathering a lot of attention from the crowd. I bent down to throw the can in the trash can, hoping that I wouldn't get embarrassed by him.

"So you came back?" I shot him my cold and stern face, colder than the morning breeze. "Yep!" He nodded. I knew Hak Yeon, he couldn't stand leaving me or getting mad at me for one bit. He couldn't hold grudges - The guy was too cheery, caring and bubbly that he couldn't learn how to do so. "I have some good news." He jumped all over, "I bet it's bad news for me." I said in monotone.

"You're going to have some practice." He dragged me off somewhere, and it seems that he's leading me towards the library. "Practice? But the field is over there." I pointed towards the other direction, "No, no, no~!" He stopped and crossed his arms, "It's practice for you to be able to talk normally. Someone will talk to you and you have to answer. You two are like conversation partners, got it?" He pulled me again and this time, he was pulling even harder as I tried to keep my feet on the ground.

"No thanks." I grumbled and tried to escape his grasp and walked towards the wrong direction, "Yah! If you don't, then I would get mad at you!" He groaned. Psh, like you could, stupid... Suddenly, a miracle happened and he pulled me with full strength. I wobbled and my eyes rounded, "Woah! Calm down you idiot!" I tried once more, but the more the suffering came out when he tightened his hand around my wrist. I bet there would be red marks around it sooner or later. "Just do as I say, okay!?" Yep, Hak Yeon was totally mad right now.

He scoffed as we entered the library. He was the only one panting heavily while I kept on my usual face. Big deal if he was tired, it was his fault for dragging someone taller and bigger than himself. Sooner or later, he would die from being so worn out. And I would be forever happy.

"Ah~ You're here!" Ji Eun, the mushroom, showed up again in front of us and did a little wave. "Yeah... And it took so long because of this man right here." He gritted his teeth and tried to show off that he was mad. "Anyways, let's start?" Hak Yeon suddenly grinned. I thought he was mad? Was he bipolar or something?

Mood swing? Was he a girl or what?

Ji Eun suddenly pulled a person over, "Here's your training partner." It was Soo Ah who was biting her lips, "She needs it like you do."

So... I have to talk with Soo Ah now?

—

soo ah.

Ji Eun was worried about me opening up to people.

She wanted me talk too, even if it was just for a bit.

To cure my trauma - She reasoned out.

Ji Eun wanted me to open up my heart to people and speak a whole sentence, or paragraph clearly and without hesitating, holding back nor stuttering. I wasn't mute or anything. I was just scared of speaking my mind. She then had a brilliant idea the time Hak Yeon-ssi approached her. They then held a short meeting outside the classroom while I sat quietly on my seat. I felt unconfortable and I felt like something bad was gonna happened that time. "Achoo...!" I sneezed as I covered my nose and mouth with my blue handkerchief. My eyes twitched a bit. So people had been talking about me behind my back! I pouted and frowned. At that time, Ji Eun approached me, "'Sup lonely lass?" She suddenly did a salute. Something was weird.

"So you were talking about me..." I mumbled.

"No! ...Maybe yeah. Come on, we'll go someplace else." She suddenly dragged me, holding my wrist as we exited the door. I only saw a glimpse of Hak Yeon-ssi's back as he was running on another path. "W...W-Why!? What's up...?" I asked with a panicked look and blinked at Ji Eun. "Remember when you said that you wanted to try talking with people, other than me, normally?" Ji Eun pushed me towards the corridor. It seems that she was leading me towards the library. "...Well yeah. I did say that. Why?" I asked.  

"This is your chance!" She just grinned and suddenly ran in a rapid speed.

I couldn't do anything else but be dragged by her.

Ah... As usual, the library was quiet and nice. I browsed through the books on the big and tall shelves while Ji Eun tapped her feet and kept on complaining to me. "They should be here by now~!" She groaned, displeased. "Maybe the guy was hesitating..." I whispered. I mean, I too was hesitating in the first place, who wouldn't? The doors opened loudly and Ji Eun grabbed both my shoulders before I could even choose a book and showed me to the bright light. "Here's your training partner." I bit my lip, "She needs it like you do." I then took a peek and all I saw was Taek Woon's figure. So... The main goal here was for us to talk to each other?

...Wouldn't that be awkward because we both couldn't even say "Hi" or "Good Morning" to each other?

It was either me or Ji Eun and Hak Yeon-ssi's mind were both twisted.

They took both of us on two tables and sat us down - My back facing his and vice versa.

The rule was to not see each other's faces and we couldn't turn around until the two comes back. So they were gonna leave us here all alone? The whole plan was quite clever, but I couldn't think of staying here for that long... "You could talk about anything you want. Freely!" Hak Yeon grinned at us, I could feel Taek Woon's glare behind my back. Ji Eun patted my shoulder, "Just go talk to him as much as you could, okay? Think of him as another person. Just imagine that Taek Woon-ssi is me, okay?" She smiled a reassuring smile while I only nodded. How could I do that when it was clearly Taek Woon whom I was gonna talk to!? "It's for both of you. You'll thank us in the end." Hak Yeon added. They left the library and the whole place fell silent.

It was true what Ji Eun said - This was my only chance...