Yuri's POV

Chapter 4

After the first half of classes, the bell rang signaling that it was time for the students’ break. I quickly packed up my stuff and turned to Taeyeon.

“I know, I know. Let me guess, you were gonna say that you aren’t hungry and that I should go on ahead without you.” Taeyeon said.

I nodded and with that Taeyeon said goodbye to me and went on to the canteen. I walked down the aisle and was headed for the door when Jessica called my name. I looked back and saw Kris and her walking towards me. Everyone was pretty excited to get out of the classroom so I moved out of the way and let the ones who are in a hurry leave the room.

I gave a quick glance to Kris and then fixed my gaze upon the brown-haired girl beside him.

“I’ll go ahead then. I’ll see you later, Jess.” Kris smiled and got out of the classroom.

When Kris left, it was just us two left inside. Yet again.

“I was wondering if you could accompany me to the library. Will that be okay with you?” She was slightly biting her lip in anticipation for my answer.

Maybe I can get my answer now, rather than waiting for Dr. Kim to explain it to me. After all I can’t always relay on him to figure out everything for me.

“Okay.” I responded and walked out of the classroom with Jessica trailing behind me.

When we reached the hallway to the library, there were a couple of students around. They all had their eyes on us as we were passing by. Jessica caught up to me and walked with me side by side. There could only be two reasons why they’re staring at us.

One, they must find it amusing that I’m walking with someone else besides Taeyeon
Two, that incident involving Jessica in her previous school has already spread.

But of course, I don’t care.

We went inside the library and found only a handful of students inside. This place gets crowded after classes though. Usually at this time of day, most of the students are in the canteen. Making most of their break time and what not.

“What books were you gonna check out?” I asked.

Jessica followed me all the way to this particular spot in the library. No one goes here at all. This is the farthest part of the library which is the British literature section. Jessica sat herself across from me and gave me that amused look yet again.

“Hm, I was gonna look for Korean War books which were somewhere near the desk of the librarian but you took me  here and I don’t feel like going all the way back there.” She let out a small giggle.

“I didn’t take you here, you followed me. Plus, you didn’t say anything” I replied. This was true though. She didn’t say anything earlier and so I just went all the way here because this is where I always go whenever I’m here.

“Noted. Do you always go here?” She suddenly turned serious.

“Not really.” She sure is fond of asking questions even I'm starting have some of my own.

Why do I find her so interesting?

What is it about her….? Hmm.

She nodded and then she suddenly looked at me intently.
I looked back at her, still unable to show any emotion except my normal expression which people call as my uninterested face.

“Is there something on my face?” the way she’s looking at me feels like she’s trying to figure me out or something.

“No. Sorry! Remember what I told you? About how you remind me of someone I know?” She pressed on about this person whom I remind her of.

“I’ve never been outside Korea nor do I go outside a lot, I highly doubt that you’ve seen me before.” I said this because I'm pretty sure I don't look like anyone, well except my parents whom I doubt she has seen and I don't have any siblings either. 

“It’s your eyes. I’ve seen them before…” She trailed, she was really thinking hard about it. When she mentioned my eyes I remember the way I felt when I looked into hers. It’s odd how both of us feel a sense of familiarity through each other’s eyes.

“There are a lot of people who have jet black eyes like me, there’s really no wonder about that.”

She wasn’t listening anymore so I just kept quiet until she gave up on thinking but then she suddenly blurted out.

“Wait! Does your family have an insignia?”

Her asking about my family’s insignia made me more curious as to who I reminded her of. My family’s insignia is no secret but I haven’t really had anyone ask about it before.

“Yes.” I reached inside my polo to show her my necklace.  As soon as she saw it she clapped her hand like she had realized something important.

“I’ve seen that before but it wasn’t gold. It was silver!”

Silver? Whoever she saw, is from that side of my clan.

“Then you’ve seen someone from my kin.”

“Why is yours gold then?” She inquired. Seeing that she was so curious about it, I decided to just explain it to her in the simplest way I can.

“All members of my family have a necklace with this kind of design but the colors make a difference. My family has two divisions. The main and the branch family. The main consists of my family while the branch family consists of the family of the younger sister of my grandfather. We get the gold insignia while the branch family gets the silver one.” I sighed right after saying all these irrelevant information.

She just sat there taking everything in, as if she’s trying to put together everything that I’ve just said. I might have spoken a little bit fast but nevertheless I think she understood the gist of it.

“So is the main family… Uhm. How should I put this… Hmm. More special than the branch family…?” She whispered the last word

“In some ways, yes but I don’t really care about such things. Where have you seen this?”

 I was talking about my necklace. She couldn’t have seen this in one of our social parties because in all the social gatherings my family arranges, the insignia has always been in gold, and it has never been shown in silver. It could only mean that she knows someone from my clan. 

“That, Mr. Kwon, is a secret. I’ll have to kill you if you ever knew.”  She smiled and looked around the library.

I didn’t want to dwell on that topic anymore since I can sense that she’s a little bit uncomfortable about it. I gave her a nod then she suddenly stood up.

“Help me pick out books! You seem like the type to read a lot. Quiet people have the loudest minds, as they say.”

Jessica Jung has now single handedly gained my attention. There’s no denying my curiosity about this girl. I want to find out where she saw my necklace. The more I find out about her, the more questions I have which of course makes me want to get all the answers I can obtain from her and there’s that thing she does to me… She’s definitely not your ordinary girl.

After picking out some books to borrow, me and Jessica left the library and went to our class. The moment we entered together, everyone’s attention shifted onto us. I was already expecting this and I’m sure Jessica did too.

She sat in front with Kris while I sat down at the back with Taeyeon.

“So that’s where you went.” Taeyeon said, giving me a weird look followed by a laugh

“Think what you want.”

Maybe if I was the sociable type, these people wouldn’t give a damn about who I talk to or merely who I enter the class with.

Our last class ended exactly on time and when the bell rang, I said goodbye to Taeyeon. I was eager to train because I don’t like not doing anything and letting certain thoughts consume me.

As I was walking out of the classroom, I looked at Jessica for a quick second, she smiled at me and so I gave her a small smile back. I proceeded to walk out and made my way to the soccer field.

Our coach showed up today so he led the whole training session. It was more intense than the last one. My body felt at ease with everything, it felt refreshing actually. After training, I took a shower and packed my stuff and walked out of the locker room. Thoughts of Jessica surged through my mind and my growing curiosity over her is taking over. As of now, I don’t see any kind of threat in letting myself indulge in such things so I sent her a text, in hopes that I can get some time with her alone again.

To: Uncoordinated Jung

Hey.

*send*

A few seconds passed and my phone rang.

From: Uncoordinated Jung

Perfect timing. You free?

.....

To: Uncoordinated Jung

Where are you?

…

From: Uncoordinated Jung

Near the entrance. I’ll wait for you here.

I walked to our little rendezvous. From afar, I can already see Jessica. She was just standing there just like how I saw her before except now there was no wind. She still looked somewhat extraordinary. This could only mean that I can’t hold the way the wind slightly blew her hair away as a reason for suddenly feeling that pounding sensation in my chest. I concluded that it must’ve been the way she looked at me….

As I got nearer she waved her hand at me and I nodded in response.

“Hey there, Mr. Grumpy.” She smiled at me

“Where’s Kris?” I asked out of nowhere. I expected him to be with her since I’ve never really seen Jessica with other people.

“He met up with his old friends. I was supposed to fly solo this afternoon but you texted so I guess I’ll have your company then.”

“I guess so then.” I gave her that quick small smile, I’ve been so generous of giving her lately. I don’t think I’ve done this before to anyone at all.

“We go the same way, right? Walk with me then!” she said excitedly.

I nodded in response and we started walking. I felt the awkwardness between us, maybe it was just me?

“So, why are you always alone?” Jessica asked

“That doesn’t matter, I’m not alone now, right?”

She let out a small laugh while I remained quiet just because I’m not good at expressing anything.

“You sure are full of mysteries.”

“Everyone has secrets, Ms. Jung.” 

“Given, but are you willing….” She stopped and I looked at her.

She bit her lip as if stopping herself from saying something.

What?

“Forgot how to speak, Ms. Jung?” I pressed

Jessica smiled.

“Not quite, Mr. Kwon. How about we take a quick detour?” She tugged on my elbow which made me stop on my tracks.

“Where to?” I asked. I’m beginning not to like this thing I’ve started.

“Just come along!” Jessica pulled my arm and I couldn’t help but be dragged by this girl.

We walked past my apartment complex then we walked for several minutes until we reached the furthest part of our neighborhood which was the riverside.  We stood beside each other as we watched the sun go down, we were barely in time. The sun was a few seconds away from completely going down.

“Have you seen the sun set from here? It’s absolutely breathtaking.” Jessica had her eyes towards the horizon.

“I don’t’ like seeing sunsets” I said nonchalantly. My eyes were on her.

“Another one of your secrets, Mr. Kwon?” She turned to face me. Her face was glowing and her eyes looked like they were shimmering. It felt like everything wasn’t real. I’m not sure whether what I’m seeing in her is actually happening or my mind is just playing tricks on me.

I looked away and stared off into the distance.

“It’s a secret I can share… “ I took a deep breath and sighed.

I felt her eyes on me. It took me a few seconds to gather up the words. It’s not every day you share something as serious as what I had in mind.

“...I watched someone die during a sunset.”

And in that moment, the sun went down and darkness towered over us with only the stars and the moon giving us a hint of light.

She stood there, frozen. Jessica couldn’t say anything. My eyes landed on hers and I took a few seconds to examine her face. She still looked somewhat stunning even in the state of shock. It’s weird how I can’t see anything wrong with her. Also that pounding sensation in my chest started again.

“Don’t think that this must be the reason why I am the way I am now. It isn’t, it’s far darker than this, trust me.” These were my last words to her before turning around and walking away. I didn’t want to look back so I just went on my way and headed back home.

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Jessica's POV

“...I watched someone die during a sunset.”

The minute I heard those words, my heart sank. I couldn’t speak at all. The unnecessary hurt I’ve put him through. I didn’t stop him from walking away because I know I went too far this time. I watched as his figure got smaller and smaller, until I couldn’t see a trace of him at all.

“What’s darker than seeing someone pass…?” I thought to myself as I walked along the now busy streets of our neighborhood.

There was nothing I could think of. Death in itself is dark, it can’t get any worse than that but I’m not Yuri. Who knows what he has experienced.
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Author's notes/Fun facts:

• So last night I was rereading the chapters I posted so far and I found so many grammatical errors so I went ahead and fixed them! I forgot to proof read before posting haha! I want to apoligize to my dear readers! I'll be careful next time!
• Thank you for the comments! They are much appreciated!
• The story is progressing slow as of now but don't worry things will come to light in the next few chapters!
• Also thank you to the new subscribers!
• Keep them comments coming in! 

Peace! -ymllama