Words in italics: Flashback

It had been almost half an hour I sat on my spinning chair, contemplating hard whether or not I should really start making the summary Oh Sehun wanted. It was very clear how I admitted defeat if I did but it’s not like there was any other way out. I hated being in this kind of circumstances, where I basically was left no choice but to play a good girl and do as he said.

It left me less than forty eight hours to accomplish everything but let me get this straight. He wanted the summary of the whole freaking year. He must be out of his mind thinking that I could get everything done within the limited span of time. My whole days weren’t entirely available just to be spent like that. He should’ve realized that I spent half of my days at school and I was sacrificing my precious spare time left preparing for this upcoming stupid ‘tutoring’ session. My brain worked pretty well in this kind of situation when it came up with a brilliant idea. So I got on my feet, headed towards storage room and searched for everything I needed. There they were, packed neatly in a carton, the notes that I had been taking the year before. Holding my breath, I swiftly took the book out and placed the carton at the original position. The air was suffocating and here it went, my dust allergy. I hadn’t even been there for more than a minute and I was already coughing and sneezing like crazy. No wonder how bad it could become if I were to stay in the room for a little longer. I wouldn’t want to experience that tightness in my chest and shortness of breath ever again. This was probably why my parents were kind of strict and protective about hygiene in every single corner of our house.

Tossing the notes together with my other textbooks for tomorrow’s lesson, I zipped my backpack with a sense of accomplishment. Oh Sehun wasn’t going to easily accept it without asking me to redo everything but I had my plan mapped on what to retort. Everything was going to be smooth, hopefully.

“Let’s go get some frozen yoghurt after school.”

Swallowing my food, I turned to Eun Byul and blinked in confusion “Aren’t you supposed to have your piano lesson?”

“The woman is on maternity leave so I’ll be free for this whole month.”

Now I saw the reason behind her unusually cheery face that day. Eun Byul had always complained about how strict her tutor was and how she had hoped that she could at least get a day off for that lesson and now that her wish was granted, her good mood wasn’t something I didn’t expect.

I’d want to accept the girl’s offer so badly but then I remembered I was stuck with tutoring some jerk that afternoon. “I can’t. Next time, probably?”

“Something’s up? You’re always free after school though.”

I didn’t give her an immediate answer, instead pondering on whether or not I should tell her what’s holding me back from hanging out with her. Sighing up an exasperated sigh, I ended up telling her everything from the start to the end.

“What?”

I panicked when the others’ attention turned to our table. My eyes widened, clamping my hand over to shush her. “Lower your voice.” I hissed.

“Are you freaking serious? I mean…” She paused and scanned her surroundings, resuming her words once she made sure no one else could overhear our conversation. “Oh Sehun wants you to tutor him twice a week and you say yes?”

“There’s nothing I can do.”

“But still..”

“I can handle it.”

“Yah Yoon Chae Rim, I thought you said you wanted to cut all contact with him?”

“I do. He said he’d leave me alone.”

“And you believe him?”

“I’ll make sure he keeps his words.” She probably found me stubborn but I had everything planned ahead so everything was going to be alright. 

“Don’t worry.” I linked my arms on hers, looking at her with the best cute faces I could manage.

“Tchh, don’t do that. It makes me sick.” Regardless of being grumpy, she let out a slight chuckle, flinching slightly when I poked her side.

The end of the lesson came faster than I thought it would. Reminded with where my next stop was going to be, I felt nothing but annoyance. I was supposed to enjoy the rest of my day at home.

“You sure about this?”

I hummed and nodded without hesitation, doing my best to shove her worry away. I wasn’t actually sure on whether or not everything would go smoothly when I was faced with him again because everytime it happened, things always ended up with anger and irritation on my side. But if it was bound to be the only way out, I would gladly comply to get him to leave me alone.

I was halfway there when loud voices echoed throughout the hallway. Looking at their backs, I was reminded about Baekhyun and Tao’s words a few days before.

“By the way, Baek and Tao asked whether we could hang out with them this weekend.”

“And you say?”

“I haven’t given an answer but they told me Sehun’s not going to be there.”

“You decide..” She shrugged. I was aware that the girl didn’t want me to be uncomfortable but I knew her well enough to see that she was actually excited to be hanging out with them. Like I said, the boys were pretty fun but things just couldn’t be totally the same after everything that happened between Sehun and me in the past.

“I’m cool with that. I think I really need to go get some fresh air. I’m running out of dramas to watch anyway.”

I watched her face beaming and I halted my steps when we reached the library.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I gave her a slight wave and turned my back, pushing the glass door to enter the quiet space.

“Call me if you need to talk.”

I gave her a mere hum and curt nod as responses. I knew the best how I had to act in this kind of situation. Eun Byul had always been a caring friend so to not make her even more worried, I had to act cool about it.

I scanned the whole library, not leaving out every single corner to search for a particular person but my eyes didn’t catch any sign of his presence. I almost settled on a random seat before I finally saw him burying his face on his arms at the table at far end corner, slightly covered by a tall wooden shelf of science materials. Even though I couldn’t see his face, his brown ash-hair and lean figure clarified my guess. Besides, no one else dozed off in library but him, looking at how serious and full of concentration the rest of the students there were.

“Yah!!” I tapped on the desk, impatiently waiting for him to wake up.

He didn’t even budge so I tugged on his uniform sleeve. “Don’t waste my time. If you’re not going to wake up then I’m leaving.”

A few seconds passed before he finally raised his head, low growl escaping his throat. “You’re so noisy.”

“Let me remind you that you’re not here to sleep.”

Ruffling his hair, he glared at me. “It’s your fault that I get bored and fall asleep.”

“I’m on time.” I protested and showed him my watch, the time shown exactly the one we were supposed to meet up. “You’re the one early.”

“Then adjust to my time.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“Shut it up and stop talking back. You’re giving me headache.”

People had no idea how frustrated I was at the moment and how badly I wanted to yell at him. He’d be dead if not for the fact that we were in the library. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Reaching for my back pack, I pulled out the stack of notes and tossed it to him. “Let’s get this done quickly so I can be back early.”

“You’re not going home until I understand everything.”

My mouth hung agape. There were different sorts of words of hatred and almost profanities I wanted to throw at him but my current state of shocked and disbelief made them clogged in my throat instead.

“Oh Sehun…”

“What the hell is this? I need a summary, not a stack of notes.” Well, this boy really needed to learn some basic manners. Almost every single word he directed at me ended up irking me and I wondered how on earth a person could change a hundred and eighty degrees in just a matter of months.

“Can you just shut up and let me explain? Well if you don’t want it then I’ll take it back.” The rush of anger raised my voice a pitch higher and I had a hard time controlling it so that it was only audible between the two of us.

“You won’t dare to leave.”

I wanted so badly to laugh at his face. He was underestimating me for God’s sake. Come on dude, I wasn’t an easy target.

“Try me.” I wasn’t sure whether or not my retaliation had impact on him. His stoic face gave no room for interpretation I could only keep my fingers crossed that at least, they made him waver slightly.

When he made no verbal response, only communicating with his piercing glare, I declared “You told me you wanted to keep this session as our little secret.”

I was confident enough that the hint I gave was menacing. Well if not, at least alarming. His nonchalance wasn’t exactly what I expected but I held onto the optimism that it might just be another of his well kept-up masquerade.

“You call that a threat?” He shifted in his seat, now leaning back against the chair with his arms crossed. His expression remained unchanged. The only key attributes that allowed me to translate his remarks as one of a taunt were his raised eyebrows.

“Go on and tell people. See who they believe.” He jerked his head to a random direction, provoking me to give my words a try.

I did, but not after I gave my last warning. “ You choosing a spot at this freaking corner doesn’t really tell anything about your ignorance, Oh Sehun.”

His jaw clenched. I knew I got him under my control. Well, maybe I was wrong because in a blink of an eye, a strong hand gripped my wrist, dragging me to what I believed was the centre of the whole library. I gasped, but quickly pre