♥ Day Eight ♥

As soon as class finished for lunch, Soeun grabbed Sojung’s wrist and dragged her over to the soccer field to sit on the bleachers. Not used to rushing out of class, Sojung clutched at the fabric of her school uniform by her heart as it palpitated and she tried to catch her breath, glaring at Soeun all at the same time. Soeun removed the water bottle from Sojung’s bag and handed it to her, preparing to tell her best friend exactly what had been happening and also to try and clear away all the cloudiness in her head.

“So, what’s up? You’ve never dragged me over here before, so I know that you must have something huge weighing on your mind.”

Soeun exhaled deeply.

“You know about the thing that happened on Friday morning right?”

“Yeah! Practically the whole school knows about the fight between Jaerim and your boyf – Ouch!”

Sojung rubbed the skin on the back of her hand where Soeun had pinched her.

“He’s not, and was not, my boyfriend!”

“Okay, okay!”

Sojung’s upraised arms made Soeun feel apologetic to her best friend, but the mention of Jaemyung and the thought about the possibility that she would have been his girlfriend disgusted her. She had gone to the principal’s office in the morning to ask about what had happened with the whole suspension and what Jaemyung’s punishment was, and she was surprised that Jaerim was the only one suspended and that Jaemyung was let off only with a warning. She felt even more sorry towards Jaerim that it was all because of her. What didn’t surprise her though, besides the fact that Jaemyung never called or texted her after the incident, but that he didn’t take one glance at her when they passed each other in the hallway, and that he was playing victim, everyone at their school believing his story. Soeun barely held the urge in to slap that dickhead one more time to make sure that he could never smile again. Oh yeah, there were also rumors about her circulating that she was the cause of the fight and that she had broken Jaemyung’s heart. But, nobody knows the truth except her, Jaemyung and his friends, Jaerim, and now, Sojung.

“So are you gonna tell me what happened or do I have to play guessing game as well?”

Soeun fished out her phone from her pocket and pulled up the text that she had sent Jaerim on the weekend. She looked at Sojung’s eyes and saw that her best friend was reading it from top to bottom over and over again. When Sojung finally looked at her, her eyes were wide and were b with even more questions.

“So the rumors are true…it was about you!”

“Shhhhh!”

“Tell me…”

After Soeun recounted the fact that Jaemyung was a horrible person and that Jaerim was only trying to defend her honor, Sojung was feeling excited.

“OMG! I can’t believe that Jaemyung was like that. I’m so glad you punched him, although you probably could’ve messed up his face a little bit more. But let’s forget about that prick and talk about you and Jaerim…”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Girl, that boy punched a guy because he knew that that guy was just playing with you. He likes you!”

“I know…”

Soeun said it in almost a whisper that Sojung had to ask her again what she said. She grabbed Soeun by the shoulders and shook her gently.

“What else?”

“He gave me a bracelet…”

“Show me!”

Sojung was so excited that Soeun couldn’t understand it. She knew her best friend liked Jaerim but she seemed so genuinely interested and happy for her that Soeun was taken aback by her friend’s highly enthusiastic support.

“I kinda…lost it.”

“What?”

“I think I dropped it somewhere and I don’t have it anymore.”

“I can’t believe you lost the first thing that your future boyfriend has given you…”

“I thought you like Jaerim.”

“I do. And I like you, and I like that Jaerim stood up for you, and I will support you.”

“You’re okay about me not telling you that he gave me a bracelet?”

Sojung sighed. “Yes, and get that into your thick head that I will support you and your relationship.”

“Relationship?”

Sojung pointed at the last line of Soeun’s text message to Jaerim and nodded. She carefully explained that the talk that Soeun and Jaerim would have the next day will basically lead up to them dating, and she said all of this in a matter-of-fact tone. Soeun was grateful that she had someone by her side, and with this support she was even more ready to talk to Jaerim about her feelings.

“Are you ready?”

“I think I am.”

“Go and get your boy then!”

AN: Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas / holiday break, and I'm also wishing you guys a very happy new year! Just a little update from me. It gets crazy at my house around the holidays :)