Chapter 14 -Rumor will have it

My mother had insisted on me staying home for another day. I had been bored out of my mind and I could literary imagine all the homework piling up, but she didn’t find that excuse quite good enough to allow me to go to school today. She had insisted on me resting for another day and gave me this stern look - when I had started to protest - indicating that I had no other choice but to comply.

So it was a Thursday, the 16^th of January, when I set foot on the schoolyard again. It felt like I had been away for weeks. I hardly got ill and even when I did, it would never be severe enough to actually stay home and rest. Park Aerin not in school was a very uncommon sight, I guess.

I unlocked my bike, made my way to the school’s entrance and eventually the locker section. I groaned while eyeing the inside of my locker and its mess before my eyes fell on my notebook that I, most likely, needed. It laid in plain sight, fortunately. I had English class now, which meant that I would probably work on the assignment. Or at least I hoped so, otherwise I had to do it at home which meant more work since I doubted Soojin had done anything useful while I was absent. I closed my locker and made my way to class.

The class was quiet since it was still a little bit early. The first thing I had noticed was that the class arrangement had been changed. Some of the students would sit beside somebody they normally wouldn’t sit with. It looked like it was buddy day today. It was understandable though, whenever there would be a duo assignment you would always work with your friend, in case that was allowed. It’s like this unwritten rule everyone knew of. It only confirmed that we were indeed working on the assignment for this class. I looked around for Soojin. She hadn’t noticed me yet since she was engrossed in her phone. I took the seat beside her and laid my notebook on the table. It was then that she noticed me. She gave me this weird look.

‘’Good morning,’’ I said to lift the mood, ignoring the face she was making. I found it weird that she didn’t greet me, since that was something she would do usually, especially since I had been gone for three days. She only nodded with a forced smile before staring at her phone again. I raised an eyebrow, did something happen? I shrugged it off and figured two could play this game. She would have to talk to me eventually, since she was my partner.

Class was about to start and all my classmates were walking in and taking their seats. ‘’Aerin, you’re in my seat.’’ I looked up and locked eyes with Yoo Youngjae. He looked quite apologetic, and I didn’t know why.

I raised an eyebrow. ‘’Sorry?’’ I asked dumbfounded. I couldn’t quite comprehend why he was stating that it was his seat I was sitting in.

‘’You’re in my seat, I’m Soojin’s partner,’’ he explained in a calm voice. I immediately turned to look at Soojin. She was still staring at her phone, pretending like she hadn’t heard any of this, while I know she did.

I was left speechless but got up anyway while nodding weakly. There was only one seat left since all my classmates were now present and it was next to Kim Seokjin. I couldn’t grasp this situation.

I sat down again, dumbfounded, before opening my notebook to a blank page. I tried not to think the worst of this. Perhaps everybody was assigned to a partner without any say, which had happened to Chaerin and Yuna. Only unlike Mrs. Kwon, Mr. Nam would always let his students choose their partners and since most of the students were sitting with their buddies I started to doubt the theory I had come up with in Soojin’s defense.

I sighed before a sudden voice startled me. ‘’Good morning,’’ Seokjin said with a grin on his face, it grew wider when he continued: ‘’Partner.’’

I had nothing against Seokjin, since I got along with all of my classmates. He had been annoying at his party, yes, but he had been drunk and honestly he wasn’t really the one who got me mad that night. Jung Daehyun had caused that.

I was just annoyed, annoyed with Soojin and her immature behavior right now. It wasn’t like I wanted to be her partner badly, because mostly it would be the other way around. She always insisted to be partners with me. I could work perfectly fine with any of my classmates and I didn’t mind working with Seokjin as long as he did his part. What annoyed me, however, was the way Soojin chose to ignore me like this. She could’ve told me she had chosen Youngjae as a partner at the very least. Why would she go behind my back?

‘’So… how are we going to do this?’’ Seokjin asked, interrupting my thoughts. We were in the library now and he was about to explain this assignment to me. Mr. Nam had allowed us to go here since we were a little behind and we had to search for something. I didn’t know what this something was, I didn’t even know what this stupid assignment was about. It was the last thing on my mind now. Soojin’s odd behavior the first.

‘’How about you tell me everything regarding this assignment first, such as topic and the hand in date. Then we can plan this thing out.’’ I sighed while searching for my agenda somewhere in my bag. Somehow my heart felt heavy. The thought of Soojin being mad at me didn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t stand it if people were to be mad at me in general. Especially if I didn’t know why.

Seokjin arched a brow at me - probably because of my sigh - but nodded nonetheless. As it turned out the assignment was supposed to be an analysis about a movie. It was quite simple although the toughest part was that it was supposed to be written in English, which made sense since it was English class after all.

‘’So when is this supposed to be hand in?’’ I asked him. He looked at me with a confused apologetic look and shrugged eventually.

‘’Seokjin, are you telling me you haven’t paid any attention?’’ I asked while massaging my temples. 

‘’I… yes,’’ he admitted eventually. I wasn’t surprised actually. He would always ask me about homework after all. I had always found it quite weird since his seat was rather far away from my original one, still he always insisted on asking me. I sighed and slumped in my chair.

In that moment Soojin and Youngjae walked in. I noticed her looking at me but she looked away when I actually tried to make eye contact with her.

‘’You can ask Soojin, she must know the date,’’ Seokjin said, surprising me. I made a conflicted face which resulted in him chuckling. It was like this was a different Seokjin than I had encountered at his party. He seemed rather friendly instead of annoying. But then again, I hardly knew Seokjin.

‘’You guys aren’t fighting right?’’ he joked, his chuckle still to be heard.

‘’Apparently we are,’’ I answered truthfully.

He seemed surprised for a bit. ‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’What I mean is that I actually don’t know. She’s just ignoring me.’’ I didn’t know why I was telling him anything of this. It wasn’t any of his business actually. He just nodded his head.

‘’Ah. I already found it weird that she went straight to Youngjae that day when we had to pick partners. Everybody found it weird, actually.’’ His head was tilted to the right for a little bit, like he was really examining this situation. I shrugged acting as if I couldn’t care less and said nothing. Truth was, I did care.

‘’You want me to ask them which date?’’ He asked suddenly.

‘’No, that’s okay. I have to talk to her anyway,’’ I said before standing up. I needed to know what happened. I walked up to their table and eyed the printed list with movie titles that they were discussing. I startled especially Soojin with my sudden presence when I coughed the remaining of my illness out, unintended.

‘’Can I speak with you for a moment, Soojin?’’ I asked with the most sincere smile I could fake. Youngjae raised his eyebrow when he saw my forced smile and Soojin looked like she had no intention of speaking with me.

‘’I’m actually busy, Youngjae and I need to pick a movie,’’ she answered calmly, not looking up at me. I was about to open my mouth to say something when Youngjae beat me to it.

‘’We’re not that busy, Soojin.’’ I suddenly felt this rising sympathy for Youngjae. He was giving me a small smile, like he was saying that there was no need to thank him. It was quite weird, Youngjae had never really bothered with me and I had done the same. I expected him to ignore my presence. Soojin gave Youngjae this stern look but sighed and got up anyway. ‘’Quickly then,’’ she complied before walking away. I followed after her while nodding.

We were now standing in front of the isle filled with books not too far away from the table Youngjae was sitting. Both Seokjin and Youngjae were able to see us, but they had averted there attention to their notebooks again. Or at least Youngjae had, Seokjin was busy with his phone.

Now that we stood here I didn’t know what to say anymore. Soojin gave me this impatience look and I started to wonder what could possibly make her behave like this.

‘’What’s the matter?’’ I asked her first, to break this thick tension that was forming between us.

‘’Nothing,’’ she replied, her lips in a thin line.

‘’Then… why have you been acting so distant?’’

‘’I didn’t.’’ She couldn’t even speak more than two words to me. That only confirmed that she was acting distant. She was lying, she was definitely avoiding or at least holding something against me.

‘’Quit playing Soojin!’’ I exclaimed, averting almost all attention to us. I saw Seokjin and Youngjae eyeing us suspiciously. Soojin flinched a little. I guess she didn’t expect me to lose my cool like this. Normally I would never, I was always rather nice and barely got frustrated to the part where I would exclaim. I wasn’t even mad but Soojin was acting like an immature brat and I couldn’t cope with her behavior. We were almost grownups, the least she could do was to talk to me.

She looked at me, her eyes had a glint of anger now. I realized that we were making a scene and that I had embarrassed her since her cheeks were colored a shade of red.

‘’Do you like him, Aerin?’’ She suddenly asked, surprising me. Her eyes looked serious. I had no idea what she was talking about. I stared at her with a dumb look on my face which probably angered her even more.

‘’Do you like Jung Daehyun, Aerin?’’ She asked again. Her voice sounded impatient and she was putting emphasis on every single word. I noticed Youngjae’s widened eyes and I hoped he hadn’t heard anything of this, since he would surely tell that we were apparently having a fight over his close friend. I couldn’t believe Soojin. Why would she even assume something so outrageous? I was at a loss of words and therefore I didn’t answer.

She scoffed. ‘’You do! You do even though I told you that I like him. I knew it. You knew you were in the wrong that’s why you lied at me in that coffee shop when you said you didn’t even know him! Even after I had told you that I like him! Next thing you know you are with him on Jin’s party. Everybody knows what that means!’’ She hissed, her eyes looked mad and sad at once and I couldn’t comprehend this moment at all. What the actual…

So he was the one this was all about… Jung Daehyun? I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe her. She wasn’t even having a real crush on him, it was nothing serious. It never was. Why would she get mad with me over something this stupid? There had to be more to this. Someone couldn’t possibly become this mad over some stupid crush that didn’t mean anything.

‘’Soojin, nothing happened at that party,’’ I spoke in my most calm voice. Youngjae’s eyes were big and we had Seokjin’s full attention since his party had been mentioned. There was also this group of girls sitting not too far away from us, their ears perked up at the mention of Jung Daehyun. Great.

‘’Yea right. You want me to believe nothing happened in a room upstairs while everybody was wasted? You’re unbelievable! What do you take me for?’’ She spat.

I never thought about my encounter with Daehyun on the balcony like that, we were just talking after all. Somehow I understood why Soojin could interpret the situation like something did happen upstairs. I had never thought about this because the encounter had been so innocent. But she had no right to assume things. Especially since she hadn’t asked me about it.

‘’Yes Soojin, that’s what I’m telling you! You’re being very unreasonable. Nothing happened,’’ I countered. I must admit that I was getting mad by her accusation now.

‘’I was upstairs and I saw you two getting outside the room! You were just so engrossed in him that you didn’t even see me!’’ Soojin yelled now. Everybody in this stupid library must have heard this, including the elder lady. Soojin was embarrassing me and she made me look like this sort of girl I wasn’t, at all.

I was at a loss of words and had no interest in talking - or rather yelling - with her anymore, she wouldn’t even listen to me anyway and we were only creating a scene. Besides I didn’t want to spread rumors about me and him. I guess it was inevitable now though, since the girls were whispering and looking at me with this sort of look in their eye. Was I in a drama or something?

‘’You know what Soojin? I’m done talking to you. You’re being unreasonable. Talk to me whenever you’re done with your immature ways,’’ I hissed before walking away from the library. I couldn’t care less about the dumbfounded Seokjin I was leaving behind or the fact that I was currently in English class and I would basically be skipping with my departure. All I knew was that I didn’t want to see Soojin’s face anymore. I couldn’t comprehend this situation at all. She had been acting fine days after that party so why was she this mad now? After a whole month?

The cafeteria was quiet, since everybody was attending classes. I sat down at one of the tables. The elder cafeteria lady was giving me this odd look probably because I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was about to take out my notebook to do at least something about this assignment, when I realized I hadn’t brought it with me since I had stormed out like that. It wasn’t like I could do anything anyway. I didn’t know that much about this assignment yet.

‘’Weren’t you looking for this?’’ Seokjin’s voice startled me after I sat in silence for a good couple of minutes. He shoved my notebook in front of me and put my bag on the table before sitting down himself. I didn’t say anything.

‘’How about a thanks?’’ He asked after a silence that had felt like hours.

‘’I’m sorry… I’m just annoyed,’’ I apologized honestly. It wasn’t fair to give Seokjin this treatment. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He nodded before a silence fell upon us once again.

‘’Within three weeks’’ he stated randomly, probably to break this awkward tension. I didn’t know what he was talking about so I narrowed my eyes at him. He chuckled.

‘’We have to hand our assignment in on the 4^th of February. Soojin gave me her list of movies and the form with the terms we need to take into consideration. I had lost mine, we just have to copy it,’’ he finished in almost one breath, clearly trying to avoid mentioning Soojin’s name that obviously. He was actually being considerate towards me. I still scoffed at the mention of her name though. It was immature, but people tend to be immature when they're mad. And yes, I was definitely mad by now.

Seokjin chuckled nervously probably wondering how he should handle the annoyed me. I felt a little guilty for being such an uncomfortable person. Therefore I tried to talk to him, taking away the uneasiness. ‘’So why did Mr. Nam send us to the library?’’ I asked with a faint smile.

He seemed surprised and shrugged playfully. ‘’I don’t know. Probably because of the peaceful atmosphere. Or… I think he’s actually old-fashioned and doesn’t know that we can just watch the movie on the internet instead of borrowing it from the library,’’ he chuckled because of his own joke. ‘’Yeah, I think he’s old-fashioned,’’ I agreed, also with a chuckle.

Seokjin stood up abruptly and grabbed the papers that lay on the table. He then waved them with a smile as a sign that he was about to copy them and took off. It was a weird sight, I hadn’t imagined Seokjin as this cheerful, friendly person.

I was left alone and thought about a possible movie we could write about. I had only seen the list briefly but I wasn’t feeling inspirational at all anyway. And so my thoughts shifted, to everything but a possible movie.

I couldn’t believe that, of all people, Jung Daehyun had to be the one who indirectly caused this little quarrel. Heck, I couldn’t even believe we were fighting over a guy. Or actually Soojin was fighting me over a guy.

Suddenly Jung Daehyun had been everywhere and it was like I couldn’t deny his existence even if I had wanted to.

In a way he was busying up my life already.