CHAPTER 5:

ON THE WAY HOME

 

After that somewhat romantic date proposal, this is what happened. You know, I can really be bipolar sometimes.

 

“Ji Ae, lemme take you home.” MyungSoo offered.

“I don’t see the point why you have to do that. We will only pretend right?”

 

I know I am being cold towards him again. Yeah, I’m back to my normal self after being possessed by that ice cream.

You see, I just still don’t get the point of why do we have to go through this fake relationship, I mean, dating relationship. In addition, I can’t just take back what I told SungJae about the article I was planning to write.

 

To tell you the truth, I haven’t really put enough thought about it. I just read something about boys in a magazine and I thought it would grab the attention of everyone. In addition, I only wanted to try something new, something fresh.

And I thought I could just research some findings from books and internet, haha. It’s not that simple, is it?

According to JiHyun, dating this guy here would help, since I don’t have any experience in bonding with boys. But…

 

What exactly is my article will be about?!!! Gawd, during these times, I would ask JiHyun for some suggestions but…boohoo, she’s mad at me, big time.

 

“Uhm, hello? Ji Ae? You still there?”

 

MyungSoo’s voice pierced through my mind and brought me back to reality. “What?” I asked him since I am not sure if he was talking to me about something which I failed to hear.

 

“Can I take you home? It’s dark already. And besides, I feel guilty for taking much of your time.”

“Hmm. Since he got a point and knows he’s at fault…”

“So that’s a yes?” MyungSoo beamed with a smile that could have reached his ears.

Wait, what? Did I just say that out loud? I quickly covered my mouth upon realization.

With my silence, MyungSoo accepted it as a yes.

“So it’s a yes.”

“Just for the record, I’m only allowing you to take me home be---”

“--because this is only a pretense. I know. I know. I perfectly understand Yoo JiAe. We both need to do this for me to get Krystal back and for you to experience how it’s like to have a boyfriend. Correct?”

I was about to rebut that last argument but decided not to. I just recalled that he didn’t know that I’m Anonymy and that I need this for my research for my upcoming column. So, I can’t spoil this chance yet.

 

 

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On the way home, we didn’t talk much because there’s really not much to talk about. And in any case, we still feel awkward when it’s only the two of us because we barely know each other. I just walked, though with heavy steps, while he was just playing some kind of game on his android phone.

Anyway, it only took 15 minutes to reach my house so no worries. I could just endure that 15 minutes since it’s just a small 1.0% time of my day.

 

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The NEXT day.

 

 

Knock Knock.

“Mom! Five more minutes please…” I said, loudly enough for mom to hear.

“It’s 6:30 in the morning! You’re going to be late sweetie,”

 

After three minutes, I decided to just go downstairs since I can no longer go back to sleep.

“Mom, didn’t I tell you not to wake me at 6:30…our class only starts at 8am.” I said, half-awake, while scratching my scalp with all my morning dishevelled hair.

>Aha. So you wanna skip cleaning eh?<-- Ey, I never said to mom about morning cleaning at school… I opened my still-sleepy eyes to see who just talked.

 

(-_-“) hm?

( ^-^)V   Hihih

(-_-‘ ) hm?

(^o^ ) Yo.

(o_o ) Pinch me now. I think I’m having a nightmare.

 

Nah, never mind. I’m completely awake now. Argh.

“Mom, since when did we have an ugly monster in the house?” I tried to ignore him by heading towards the bathroom.

My mother appeared from the kitchen. Our house is small. Between the kitchen and sala is the dining room, at the side is the stair going to the bedrooms. We only have one bathroom for the three of us.

 

I looked at mother who had a face that’s never been blooming since the day father proposed to her until this moment.

“Oh, you’re awake! Tell your boyfriend to come have breakfast with us.”

“But mom, he is not--!”

As if she didn’t hear, she turned around and went for the stairs, “Jae Dong~ah!!! Get your down here! JiAe’s boyfriend is eating with us!”

“Argh,” I groaned as I put my hand on my forehead out of frustration.

 

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SCHOOL.

 

MyungSoo and I went to school together. Again, with the same atmosphere where he is just playing with his phone and I am just having many thoughts about random things which mostly include JiHyun. I miss her already.

 

Upon arriving in our classroom, nobody noticed that MyungSoo and I were together in going to school this day.

With great disappointment for me, JiHyun didn’t attend class today. And I thought today was the day that I should be apologizing so that we could go back to how everything was but without her cooperation, our friendship might just soon fade away in time.

 

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(FINALLY) MYUNGSOO’S POINT OF VIEW

 

It’s already lunch time and i thought I could go ask Krystal out for lunch. I know she told me not to appear in front of her EVER again but I can’t just give up.

I’ve seen in many movies and dramas that when a girl tells a boy to ‘get lost’, she really doesn’t mean it and that she means that the boy must try harder to win her back.

 

When I reached their classroom, I leaned behind the wall as I took a deep breath to gather my courage to open the door.

However, to my shock, the door suddenly opened…

 

And Krystal appeared with a guy’s arm wrapped around her shoulder.

They were laughing.

And Krystal really smiled so brightly that I had never seen before.

 

I know she saw me but she completely acted like I wasn’t there. The guy didn’t even get the hint that I am Krystal’s ex-boyfriend or perhaps he didn’t really care.

 

I gritted my teeth while with clenched fists on my side. There’s a growing urge inside me to punch that guy right in the face, but there’s stopping me…

 

You’re so childish and that is what I hate about you the most!!! Let’s split up.

 

I can no longer stand his childish acts. I want a boyfriend, not a little brother to babysit.

 

I never felt anything special at all. Anonymy advised me to realize whether I felt anything special when I’m with him but… there’s none at all.

 

She hated that part of me…I’m immature she said.

So today I tried to be more mature. I cannot cause trouble at school especially here in the hallway.

 

Today…I again, watched the back of my girl leaving my side where each step she takes is like a bullet that pierces through my heart. What makes this second time hurts more is that some other guy is holding her close…making her smile…making her feel more secure in those arms…

 

And how I’d wish I treated her more tenderly. I started recalling our past.

How we met,

how we had our first date,…

our first kiss…

 

 I know I’m being kind of girlish with this kind of thoughts but this is really how I feel. I just so…miss her.

I miss her so much. T_T

And even though we are only meters away now, each meter feels like a mile. I can’t even get my feet to run and catch up with her and ask for forgiveness over and over again.

 

I’m so pathetic, aren’t I?

 

While I’m still staring blankly in the direction where Krystal disappeared, a loud thud brought me back to consciousness.

 

“Watch where you’re going, ugly!”

 

To my right is a window from where that sound came. I ran towards that window only to find three girls surrounding another girl whose head is lowered.

 

“I’m sorry.” That poor girl barely said.

Then another girl with thick make-up on slapped her, then slapped her again, then again.

I knew I had to get down there and stop those girls.

 

I ran to the emergency stairs then head straight behind the school building where those girls are.

When I arrived, the poor girl is already lying on the ground with her hand on her face.

I was about to interrupt them but then…

 

“Are you done?” The girl spoke, her messy hair is covering her face.

She raised her head to look at those three mean girls.

“Muh?” One of them said, quite shocked.

“I said, are you done?” Her voice feels familiar and it sounded stern and strangely, I think she’s mocking those three girls. From my angle, I can see her smirk confidently.

 

The bullies are starting to get scared; even I GOT SCARED.

The girl stood up then brushed off some dirt off her skirt. To my great surprise, when she motioned her hands to her face to move away strands of her messy hair, I realized why her voice was familiar.

 

I saw her fists clenched as she tilted her head to stretch her neck.

I can’t believe what I’m seeing…

Before she gets herself in deep trouble,

 

“Yoo Ji Ae,”

 

I called out her name.

 

All heads turned to me. As their gaze fell upon my presence, those three girls started moving their feet to escape. They disappeared as fast as the wind.

 

“What are you doing here?” JiAe is rather annoyed than thankful.

“You should know how to get yourself away from trouble. Those girls could have beat yah to death if I didn’t come to your rescue.”

 

A snicker escaped from and that’s when I noticed there’s blood on her lips.

I motioned my hands towards her face and wiped the blood stain with my thumb.

 

“Y-yah!” She hit my arms away as her face turned slightly pink.

Uncontrollably, a smile formed on my lips.

 

I didn’t know she can be this cute.

 

 

 

End of the Chapter.

 

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