Ji Hyun’s POV

“Ji Hyun-ah. Talk to him. He deserves at least that.” Mark went out again for the nth time this week. I only groaned as we were walking towards my Asian History class. I have been avoiding him for almost two weeks now.

How do you ask? I pass a different corridor. Only talk to him when needed and do most of the partner assignments by myself. When we had Martial Arts I would pair myself with Tao and tell Sonsaengnim that I needed to work on my tackles more and if I did it with him he might get hurt.

I won’t deny that countless times he would try to talk it out with me but I always turned down every attempt he did. I was being unfair but I didn’t have the heart to talk to him. Also it only tore my heart more knowing that with even the slightest bit of communication I might end up hurting him in return.

As I was about to enter the room Mark grabbed my arm a bit painfully to force me to turn to him.

“I am telling you Ji Hyun-ah! You need to talk to him. Are you aware that he was so close to forcing me to switch partners with him last time? Just so that he could talk to you? Have mercy on the poor guy.” He reasoned but I only shook my head.

“I can’t okay. We can never be. How many times do I have to tell you this?” I asked him. He let out a huff before speaking.

“I am not telling you to accept his confession. You and I both know that you can’t do that. But at least let him off the hook okay? Let the guy know that he can’t court you. That he can’t pursue you. End his suffering for him so that he can at least move on. You as well.” He said as he lightly nudged me for encouragement.

I let out a quiet huff before nodding.

“Fine. I’ll talk to him after class. I have this class with him anyways.” I told him and he smiled at me before nodding.

“Good. Let him down nice and easy okay? He has gone through enough as it is.” He said before ruffling my hair and leaving me by the doorway. I sighed and turned around. Half expecting to see him there in his seat beside me. But odd enough he wasn’t there.

Huh? He is usually here earlier than me but today his seat was empty. Was he alright? I quickly shook my head at the thought and went straight to my seat. I can’t be worrying about him. I shouldn’t even care.

I was already drumming my fingers anxiously against my table waiting for him. Where was he? Almost everyone was already here but still he wasn’t. I was about to step out of class to check if he was outside but our Sonsaengnim already entered the room.

I sighed and sat back down checking the door every now and then hoping that he would walk in but with each turn of my head I only found myself disappointed.

The next one hour and thirty minutes went by just like that. Everyone droned on about our current topic but I was constantly looking back and forth from my book to the door anxiously waiting for him to appear.

I was reprimanded a few times for not paying attention but none of it mattered to me knowing that he wasn’t here. When the bell rang I quickly stood up and ran out of the classroom. I had to find him. Just as I was running I ran into Tao who was walking towards our dance class.

“Mianhae Tao.” I muttered and helped him pick up his stuff. He only shrugged and placed everything back in his bag.

“It’s okay Ji Hyun-ah. Why are you in such a hurry?” He asked me and I just shrugged trying to look around in case I could see any part of him that was all too familiar to me. Tao started waving his hand in front of my face to get my attention.

“Ji Hyun-ah! Ya. Who are you looking for?” He pestered only to earn not a single response from me.

I was still craning my neck to and fro. I needed to see him. At first it was to let him know that I wasn’t interested but now I knew that it was something more than that and more of the worry that was building up in my stomach. I was about to leave Tao without a response when he grabbed me arm making me face me.

He looked at me square in the eye before speaking.

“It’s Lu Han isn’t it?” He asked me and I shook my head. I was about to tell him to out when he let go and sighed.

“Ji Hyun. Just tell me the truth. Is this about Lu Han? You are aware that I am not only in contact with Yi Fan but with your brother and Mark as well?” He pointed out and I hung my head nodding weakly as well.

“Let’s cut class. Since you’ve been doing it often lately. I know that this won’t surprise you. We need to talk.” He told me. I looked at him with a suspicious expression before nodding and following after him.

As we were walking I noticed that he was constantly texting someone. I shrugged it off and knew that he would tell me later on. When we reached our destination he already told the waiter that we were going to talk one of the VIP lounges for the meal.

When we entered Mark was already there ordering something from the menu.

“Mark? What are you doing here?”  I quickly questioned. He only shook his head before nodding at Tao who looked at him knowingly.

“You two were texting each other weren’t you?” I pointed out and Tao only shrugged like it was no secret that they were contacting each other on our way here.

“Sit.” Tao instructed and I only followed since it was clear these two already had something planned beforehand.

“What’s going on?” I asked and they both looked at each sending telepathic messages before looking at me.

“Did you talk to him today?” Mark asked me but I shook my head. They let out a synchronized frustrated sigh before Tao spoke.

“I told you. He didn’t leave the house today. Something is wrong with him.” Tao explained and my eyes grew wide. What was wrong with him? Was he sick? I took in a breath to speak but Mark cut me off.

“Look at her expression. Her eyes went wide the moment you mentioned that. She clearly has feelings for him and she cares. What are we going to do now?” Mark asked and they kept conversing like I wasn’t there. Trying to think of a solution to the dilemma we were in.

I have just about had enough with their third degree treatment so I cleared my throat and making them turn their heads to me.

“Will you two quit it? Why are you trying to solve my problem?” I asked a bit