Ch. 15: Unexpected Friend

The girls were all giggling looking at the boy on the ground, crying, and covered in food. The boy on the ground was helpless.

“And here’s some sticky rice for your ugly face.” Just as the girl holding the bowl of food was going to pour the sticky rice onto the girl, Hyojin yelled, “Stop!”

Hyojin walked up to the group of girls, in the canteen, and stood in front of the group whose arms are crossed. She gulped at how tough they looked. She just thought, ‘When did I finally get the courage to stand up to these girls? I have never done this before and it looks like these girls are going to chew my .’ Hyojin just stood there because she was scared.

“And what is this nerd going to do? Save the day?” the girl scoffed, “There is no way that a geek like you can save anyone or anything.” That made Hyojin mad, but what she said was true. Hyojin has no experience in self defense or anything. First, she can’t do a lot of stuff because of her heart, and two, she’s not that good in physical activity. The girl scoffed again, “Let’s just go girlies. I don’t want to deal with dorks like these two girls.”

Everyone watched, in silence, the girls exit the canteen. Hyojin kneeled down to the boy, “Hey, need a hand?” The boy looked up.

“Ahn Hyojin?” the boy said.

“Kim Eunjo?” Hyojin asked. “Here, let me help you up.” Hyojin grabbed is hand and brought him up.

“Thanks.” Eunjo looked at himself. “Oh look at me, I’m a mess. And it’s just my first day here too.”

Hyojin sighed, “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I mean I guess. But I don’t have any spare uniform.” Eunjo said.

“The nursing office has tons of spare uniforms. Come on, follow me.” Hyojin demanded. She grabbed Eunjo’s wrist and led him out of the canteen with owls staring at them.

“You don’t have to do this.” Eunjo told Hyojin. She remained silent and continued dragging him to the nurse’s office.

Eunjo is an old friend of Hyojin when they were in secondary school. He was the only person who was willing to be her friend. Eunjo was one of the popular kids, and by popular I mean, everyone knew him, he had very decent grades, had the looks – ahem, had – and almost every girl in his grade had a crush on him. By almost, I mean 99.99%. Guess who that 0.01% is. You guess it, Ahn. Hyo. Jin. The only person she liked was JB. She promised to herself that she would put JB in the past, and refresh her friends. But no Eunjo, she never wants to forget Eunjo. They shared too much together to forget about each other.

“Hey Hyojin!” Mark waved his right hand, but Hyojin just passed by him. He also noticed that she was holding the wrist of a guy he barely knows.

“Hyung?” Yugyeom waved his hand in front of his face.

Mark blinked and asked, “Mm?”

“Hyung, you were just staring at Hyojin. You know the dare is already finished right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” He replied still staring at the silhouette of Hyojin.

“Then why are you staring at her? Psh, she’s a nerd. Don’t stoop down to their level hyung. I’ll be going first. See you!” He bid with a chocolate milk carton box in his hand.

Mark squinted and told himself, “Whose wrist are you holding Ahn Hyojin?” He saw Hyojin and Eunjo enter the nurse’s office before walking away.

“Nurse?” Hyojin called.

“Who’s callin- oh, Hyojin. Anything wrong?” The nurse leaned in to Hyojin’s ear, “Need another tampon?”

“Saem! You’re embarrassing me!” Hyojin’s faced turned red.

“Aigoo, my poor dear,” she said to Eunjo, who had a bunch of food all over his first worn uniform, “here. Let me get you a new spare of clothes.” The nurse went to the back to grab another uniform.

“Are you okay?” Hyojin asked. Then she looked down to what her hand was holding. She met eyes with Eunjo and immediately let go of his hand.

“Um,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “yeah, I’m alright.” Hyojin chuckled. “What are you giggling at?”

“There’s um, a piece of chocolate syrup on your cheek.” Hyojin hesitated to wipe off the syrup with her finger, but did so in the end. After wiping it off, she put it in . “Mm, sweet.”

“Here you go dear. You can change in that room if you’d like.” She pointed to the room in the far left of the office.

Eunjo bowed, “Thank you.” And went inside the room to change his clothes.

“He’s cute. Is he your boyfriend?” The nurse asked.

“What? No!” she waved her hands.

“Mhm.” The nurse teased.

-

“Hyung! Aren’t you happy your dare is over? Wah, how’d it feel like to be with a nerd?” Bam Bam asked.

‘You guys don’t know how it feels like to be in love with someone so opposite of you.’ Mark thought. “It was very nice. You know, I never knew that the world of nerd was so… interesting.” He explained.

“You’re kidding us right?” Bam Bam asked. Mark shook his head and stared at his friends. “But nerds are so-“

“How do you know how the world of nerds is?” Mark bit back.

“H-Hyung. It’s just-“

“It’s just what?” Mark’s tone started to get a little louder.

“Hyung, what’s gotten into you? Ever since you met Hyojin, you’ve been very different lately. Like isolated to us. That’s not good hyung. Did Hyojin do anything to you?” JB asked.

Mark sighed, “I have some news to tell you guys.” Mark took a deep breath while his friends were taking glances at each other. “I have a girlfriend.”

“EHHH?!” The members yelled causing a scene.

“Really hyung?” Jr. asked. Mark nodded.

“Since when?” Jackson asked.

“We’ve been dating ever since the dance.” Mark explained.

“Eh? But hyung, you weren’t at the dance.” Youngjae pointed out.

“Exactly.” Mark said.

Everyone looked at each other, “Ohhhh.” Everyone said in unison.

“Who is this lucky girl Mark?” JB asked.

“I think you guys already know the answer.” Mark stated.

The members looked confused. “Jaein?” One of them asked.

“No, not her! Why on Earth would I go back with her?” Mark questioned.

They all just shrugged their shoulders. Mark waited for the members to have a guess, but it took them awhile to guess who. Jr. snapped his fingers right before saying, “I know who it is.” Mark crossed his arms anticipating for his guess. “Ahn Hyoji-“

“EHHHH! REALLY HYUNG? NO WONDER YOU NEVER HUNG OUT WITH US A LOT; YOU WERE ALWAYS HANGING OUT WITH HER! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME HYUNG?” Jackson started fake sobbing, “WE ARE BEST FRIENDS!” He grabbed his collar and started sliding down with Mark just watching him, calmly.

“Aish, Jackson!” Mark gently pushed Jackson off, causing him to fall on the floor. At least I told you guys before everyone else.”

-

“Okay class, you’re dismissed.” The teacher said.

Hyojin gathered up her stuff and walked out of the class room to meet up with Mark, but Eunjo met her halfway. “Hey Hyojin!”

“Oh my goodness you scared me!” Hyojin squealed holding her heart with her left hand and her books, almost about to fall, on her right.

“Sorry. Hey, I was wondering-“

“Jagiya~” Mark sweetly said as he wrapped his arm around Hyojin’s waist. Hyojin flinched at the sudden action Mark achieved. It was the first time Mark wrapped his arm around her waist and called her ‘jagiya’.

“Jagiya?” Eunjo asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Ah, Eunjo-ah, this is my boyfriend, Mark Tuan. Mark, this is Kim Eunjo – a close friend of mine from secondary school.” Hyojin introduced.

“Nice to meet you Eunjo.” Mark held out his hand asking for a shake. But Eunjo just ignored it.

“So Hyojin, are you-“

“Eunjo-ah, Mark asked for a hand shake, don’t leave him hanging.” Hyojin demanded. Eunjo grunted and shook Mark’s hand, lazily. “There you go. It didn’t hurt, right?” Eunjo pouted. “Aigoo Eunjo-ah, don’t pout.”

“Why don’t we hang out? You know, some time to catch up from middle school.” Eunjo insisted.

Hyojin smiled, “Sure. Is that okay with you Mark oppa?” Hyojin asked looking up to Mark.

Mark smiled too, “Sure. But don’t be home to late, okay? Eunjo, bring her home safely please?” Mark demanded.

Eunjo nodded, “Of course. Now let’s go?” Eunjo asked giving an arm for Hyojin to Hold.

Just as Hyojin was about to grab it, Mark yelled, “Hyojin!” She turned around and Mark surprised her with a peck on the lips.

Hyojin’s eyes widened and playfully slapped his arm, “Mark! We’re in public.” She leaned into Mark’s ear, “Just wait until I get home, okay?” She smirked. Mark nodded.

He watched Hyojin’s silhouette walk away and told himself, “So it was his wrist you were holding. Better watch who you’re dealing with Eunjo.” He smirked and walked away.

-

Hyojin and Eunjo decided to go out for some ramen because they used to eat that whenever their families would hang together. There was a local ramen store that’s near Hyojin’s apartment and since Eunjo didn’t want Hyojin to have a hard time going home in the dark, he decided to go there instead.

“So how long have you and Mark been dating?” Eunjo asked.

“About a week.” Hyojin replied. (Don’t you guys dare mention that ‘about a week ago’ song xD) Eunjo nodded feeling disappointed. “Oh right, what class are you in?” Hyojin asked.

“You’ll be disappointed in me.” Eunjo lowered his head, “I’m in 2-D.”

Hyojin blinked, “What happened to the decent grades Eunjo I knew and loved?” His head rose up when he heard the word ‘loved’.

“I-I don’t know. I started slacking off when I left our school because I had no one in my new school.” Eunjo said.

Hyojin sighed, “Aigoo, it’s okay Eunjo-ah.” She ruffled his hair.

Eunjo was dying to ask her a specific question, but it wouldn’t come out. He was speechless; he couldn’t believe the love of his life has a boyfriend already. He drank the soup of his ramen dish and put it back down after drinking all of it. “Hyojin-ah.” He called. He wasn’t looking at her; he was looking at his fist on the table.

“Yes?” Hyojin asked.

“Do you really love Mark?” He asked before looking back into her eyes.

‘Why did he ask such a question? When he stared into my eyes, it looked like a different Eunjo. More like a mad one. He looks scary now.’ Hyojin thought. She chuckled, “Aiyoo, Eunjo-ah, of course I love Mark. I just… haven’t told him yet.” She lowered her head.

‘If only you were mine, Ahn Hyojin… I love you, I really do. I can treat you better than Mark.’ Eunjo thought.

She checked her phone and noticed that the time was late, “Oh my gosh! It’s almost 6; I have to do my homework! Hey, can you drop me off to my apartment?” Hyojin asked.

Eunjo smiled, “Of course. I’d be glad to. Ladies first.” He directed Hyojin to start going first.

Eunjo and Hyojin walked next to each other – at least half a foot away from each other. It was a silent walk to her apartment because there was nothing to talk about. They already said what they needed to say over ramen. But it was a good silence though.

“Okay, we’re here. Thank you,” she caressed his arm in a friendly way, “really, for everything today. I had fun, I hope you did.”

Eunjo felt electricity through her touch, “Of course I did. It was nice to finally catch up with your life.”

Hyojin was swaying, “Okay. I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Hyojin unlocked her door and as soon as she took a step in, Eunjo called her. Hyojin stepped back out and didn’t know that what happened next would happen.

“Hyojin, I heard you voice-“ Mark’s mouth was agape and couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.

‘Eunjo and Hyojin, my Hyojin, are kissing…’ Mark thought.

author's note:

You guys have the right to be mad at me for not updating in over 2 months. My grades have been terribly bad that my GPA went down to a 3.13 :'( My mom is very disappointed in me. So I finaly came back from my winter vacation and decided to write you guys another chapter. Because I made you guys wait for so long, I made this chapter 6 pages long. I hope you guys like it :) I wrote this chapter out during my vacation and just typed it out when I got home. Alright, I'll stop blabbing now. Don't forget to smile :D

thanks for reading~saburiina