Petty Fights, Gloomy Nights and 'Mine' (ii)
(double update, 55 & 56)

The canteen has a decent amount of people, the students chattering amidst their cliques as they catch sight of us with our flashy props. Taemin stretches out his hand and Daehyun takes it, the two listening as Hyosung briefs them once again. An uncomfortable sensation gurgles in my stomach and I heave, unable to look away from their entwined fingers.

It's not a big deal. They're just holding hands. I mean, I don't have any reason to be upset. I must be feeling under the weather.

Younha's words dribble past my senses and even after she leaves for her consultation with a teacher, I still fixate my eyes on the two figures roaming about. It's only when Aaron steps on my foot that I reluctantly swivel around. What am I doing? Daehyun and Taemin are here to help.

I help Aaron put up the board and spare one last glance at the two attached boards toddling around the canteen. Ugh, I'm seriously being stupid. Well... I hope at least Daehyun's happy about this.

Since it's the middle of a period, there aren't a lot of people walking to the canteen. The few who do have either been shy girls who politely decline or equally awkward boys who decide to take the long way around once they see Aaron enthusiastically locking his eyes on them.

"You're creeping them out," I point out with a poor attempt to silence my brash laugh, Aaron folding his arms.

"Hey, at least I'm doing something. All you're doing is watching Daehyun and Taemin do their thing," he blabbers.

"I'm not," I counter in a thin grumble. The noise of students' conversations drift towards us and I tap Aaron's shoulder, indicating to the crowd about to arrive. As expected, the first stream of students pad into the canteen, majority of them curiously eyeing us. Some girls amble up to the board and ask about it, Aaron animatedly rambling off about our campaign.

"What's with the girly get-up?" Minho walks up to me with a smug grin, pinching his chin as he reads off the board. He makes a face and laments, "Oh, damn, I heard of this. I didn't know you were part of the drama club."

"I'm part of the publishing team," I elaborate, a few of his friends clustering around. One of them inquisitively regards me and I explain what happened to them as they crowd around me.

"Man, that ." Minho pries apart my hand and takes a sticker, penning down a quick "Go!!!!!" on it. He sticks it onto the board as his friends follows suit, taking a heart from my palm. Minho envelopes me in a quick hug and pats my back, comforting, "Hang in there, buddy."

"Do I get a hug too?" One of his friends question with a rabbit-like grin, his front two teeth proudly showing. I think I remember him. Right, he's Kim Jiwon. He's the sophomore that won that rap competition in Gwangju. I sheepishly laugh and wind my arms around his shoulders. The other two sweep me towards them with half-hugs and pace off after Minho.

A few girls patter up to me afterwards and I gingerly embrace them as well, shyness making my fingers curl. One of them pats my bow with a cute laugh and skips off with her friends. With several more students signing their love pledges onto the board, a cluster of our classmates' faces comes into view, Aaron excitedly shoving me. Donggeun notices us from afar and immediately bursts out into a raucous cackle, Sungjong waving to us.

"Wow! So beautiful!" Jihoon sarcastically blathers in English, clapping slowly as he nears us. Donggeun whistles loudly and he roughly fiddles with my bow once he comes close enough, taking my hand and nearly my knuckles if I didn't pull away fast enough.

"Ew! Screw off," I belch, shoving Donggeun aside as he once more shatters into deafening laughter. Jihoon does a bow and leers while wiggling his brows, "Wanna go home with me tonight?"

Aaron just has to cut in with his obligatory "I told you that you look ridiculous". Fortunately, Sungjong is here, our ball of positivism.

"You guys look nice!" Sungjong optimistically cajoles, tightly embracing me. "Especially you, Youngjae!"

"Thanks, Sungjong," I chortle, Jihoon shooting another one of his stupid poses with a hand on his hip and a peace sign over his eye.

"Do us a favour and sign our petition, dumb asses." Aaron s a heart sticker into Jihoon's hand as Donggeun peruses the board. He relents despite his bout of merciless laughter, drawing a pair of lips onto his heart and slapping it onto the board. Sungjong pens down a heartfelt message while Donggeun scribbles something quickly and pastes it high onto the canvas with a proud grin, winding his arms around my waist and nuzzling his chin into my shoulder.

"I love you."

I tiptoe and squint at the words on his heart sticker. Yoo Youngjae, be my girlfriend?

"I'm going to kill you." 

Donggeun narrowly avoids a kick to the crotch with a yelp, snapping a picture of us just as I luckily bury my face into my hands. They prance off while Sungjong tails them, amiably bidding us goodbye beforehand.

After a few more signatures make their way onto our petition board, Hyosung decides to call it a day. They've disappeared from the canteen a while ago, going elsewhere on campus to look for an audience. We head up first and lug down everyone's belongings from the empty drama studio, settling on a bench at the canteen and elatedly counting the number of hearts on our board. Wow, we've actually collected a rather impressive number of signatures, more so than we expected.

The buoyant pride in my heart seems to wither away a little as I spot Daehyun and Taemin still holding hands despite the affair being over. They must have had a fun time.

They held hands for half an hour... The previous feeling from before starts to creep up my skin as I glance to the floor. Ugh, this is stupid.

"Okay, we're done. Thanks so much, Daehyun, Taemin; you guys were amazing!" Hyosung declares with a blinding smile, Daehyun and Taemin simultaneously letting go of each other's hands. 

"You were the one who did all the work, noona. We just followed you around," Taemin chuckles, inching over and helps Daehyun out of his sandwich board, Daehyun murmuring a thanks to him as he does the same. Daehyun gruffly rubs away the tattoo on his hand, a subtle irritation brewing beneath his thinned lips. Hyosung hastily takes out wet tissues from her bag and Taemin hands one to Daehyun, the two rubbing at their cheeks. Inspecting each other's faces, Taemin removes a large speck of red residue from Daehyun's jaw and brushes his face lightly to rid the rest of the bits.

I spin away and ransack through my bag for my bottle, letting go of a jagged exhale. There's an undeniable unhappiness lining my guts and even though I'm telling myself to stop being childish and it makes no sense, my emotions eventually shove my logic aside as the annoyance begins to show.

It's really none of my business. Daehyun's my friend; he can be touchy with anyone he wants. I'm just exhausted from the campaign initiative so I'm rather cranky.

Daehyun and I meet eyes and to my surprise, he glances away with an astounding quickness. I knit my brows together as I squint at him, Daehyun simply staring elsewhere.

"You two worked really hard," Taemin's voice snaps me out of my stupor, the boy grinning mirthfully at us. Guilt curls up within my throat and I churn out a smile, breathing, "You too, Taemin. Thank you for helping us out. It really means so much."

It's stupid of me to get upset. Looking at Taemin always makes me feel inferior. It's not just his massive accomplishments or his porcelain appearance but his personality as well. He's constantly kind to everyone and always so cheerful. Even now, he's evidently tired from something he didn't need to do at all but he's not complaining one bit.

While here I am, getting annoyed at Daehyun and Taemin for... whatever reason.

It's a little over five. Hyosung decides to stay back to clear up some of the stuff in the drama studio. After Aaron and Taemin head to the foyer, waiting for their parents to fetch them home, it's just me and Daehyun left.

He's saying nothing and I'm keeping quiet too. I'm not speaking because I'm actually still a bit piqued even though I know it's so childish of me, but why is Daehyun so silent? Did things not go well with Taemin? But they seem pretty friendly with one another.

"Are you going home now?" I mumble, watching him discreetly despite turning my head away. Daehyun continues staring at the ground and he shrugs, still not uttering a word. 

Wait... Is he angry with me?

All of a sudden, Daehyun audibly heaves and paces towards the school gate, wordlessly pulling me along by the wrist. He lets go with a grunt of what seems to be an apology, too low and slurred for me to make it out properly. And so, we walk in absolute silence as the evening traffic bustles past us.

What did I do? Is it because I got mad at him for reading my notebook? Or maybe he's upset with me because he knows I'm angry with him for no good reason. 

Seriously, why was I upset, though? Daehyun can be friends with anyone he wants to be. I was the one who tried to match-make them in the first place.

This is just making me more frustrated. Perhaps I'm too used to Daehyun spoiling me. The way he treats me always makes me stupidly feel like I'm special to him when he of course has tons of other friends. Maybe that's why I act like such a brat around Daehyun.

Too immersed in my thoughts, I finally slip out of my deep contemplation and decidedly steal a peek at Daehyun. I jolt upon finding his eyes fixated on me, practically boring through me. He doesn't bother veering them away and just relentlessly stares at me. It's a little bit like the intimidating expression he has when he looks at everyone else, except there's a blatant peevishness to it.

He is definitely pissed at me.

Feeling a tinge of petulance b through me, I stare back up at him persistently, not backing down. After a long while, he eventually whips his head back, stringently staring