5: Aroma & Balance

It was Namjoo's vacant already. She looked at her watch: 1:30 pm. As if automatic, her stomach grumbled in hunger. But first, she wanted to find her friend because she's positive that she chose to skip meals again.

She texted Park Chorong 12 times before she received a very short reply of 'I'm not hungry.' Deciding to let her go for now, she headed to the second floor near the corridor where she caught the sight of Taehyung.

A minute ago she imagined eating a whole box of pizza. Somehow she doesn't feel like it anymore. Not after seeing the concerned expression Taehyung portrayed while he rested his head on the window frame, looking down on somebody.

“Acting like a stalker there, aren't we?”

Taehyung flinched at the sound of Namjoo's voice but he didn't look her way. She settled beside him though not close enough that their skin would touch. When she followed the direction of his eyes, her stomach lurched and fell as if she rode a rollercoaster ride.

“You're going to eventually talk to her at some point. Only hours have passed, you know?”

He knew that, but it's hard for him to stay away - not with her ex-boyfriend lurking in the shadows.

“You don't need to tell me that,” he grimly told her.

“Then stop staring,” Namjoo implied. Just stop. “You're going to burn a hole through her,” she forced a chuckle out of her.

He looked away and sat on the floor. She stood there watching him ruffle his hair in distress and frustration.

“...I'm leaving,” she mumbled. With her back to him, she walked away slowly.

“Namjoo...” he called her softly.

She stopped, turned around and frowned at the sight of him hanging his head down low. “What?”

“Don't let her skip meals - drag her to the canteen if you must... Just, please don't leave her alone.”

She's still riding the rollercoaster. Her stomach swirled of unpleasant emotions because in all honesty that wasn't what he expected him to say.

“I don't need you to tell me that,” she said to him, fuming.

*****

Under the shade of a tree, Chorong peacefully slept surprisingly. Her nap time was disturbed when a cheerful yell woke her up.

“Unnie~!”

Faraway, she saw the troublemaker running towards her happy and all that. The sight of her friend's blinding wide smile made her smile, too. Still, Namjoo broke her tranquil rest time which she was most definitely not pleased of.

Namjoo pulled her up in an instant, not giving her the chance to stretch or scold her from waking her up.

“Let's eat!”

*****

Chorong noticed she had shown an improvement in hiding stuff from her friends.

During her lunch with Namjoo, her friend failed to realize that she was distracted while eating. During her vacant with Eunji, she was almost found out. Being Jung Eunji, she straight away noticed Chorong's preoccupied mind and asked her if something happened. Something did happen but she dodged her questions well enough for Eunji to let it go for the time being.

The professor of her last class of the day dismissed them early. She had made no plans with anyone so she waited for Namjoo near the gate because Namjoo told her they would walk home together.

She sat on a wooden bench then placed her bag next to her. Only a few students roamed around the campus grounds, and the ambiance of her surroundings satisfied her standards. Now that she was relieved of her position in the student council, she had too much free time on her hands.

It's been a while since she had the time to relax. Oddly, watching the students she used to serve and think of give her respectful smiles as they passed by comforted her being. Atleast, she knows that some students still think of her as the vice president - makes everything she did for the student body worthwhile.

While deep in her thoughts, the weight on the bench had doubled.

“What are you doing here?” Wu Yifan spoke, sitting on the other side of the bench.

His strong presence stopped Chorong from daydreaming. Immediately, their conversation in the early morning regained it's freshness in her mind.

At first, his image brought back unpleasant feelings. Of all the places he could choose from, he picked the one with the most memories of them - the coffee shop just around the corner of the school where they used to go to study all the time.

“I'm waiting for Namjoo,” she simply answered.

He nodded, remembering Chorong's aggresive friend. All of a sudden, he laughed which Chorong found very out of the blue.

“Why are you laughing?”

Secondly, his new way of speaking left her loss of words to say. She listened to him, only listened, and he talked to her carefully afraid to say things that might anger her.

“Nothing- ” he couldn't answer properly because he was still drowning in his laughter.

But he still managed to anger her, no matter how much she tried supressing her voice. She tried –she really did – but it’s partly his fault for bringing her to a painful place she used to consider meaningful.

Last but not least, he apologized and apologized and apologized. Saying sorry did not erase all her hatred towards him and the pain he had given her. But for a person like him whose pride is more important than other's feelings, for Yifan to apologize numerous of times with that guilt in his eyes, she forgave him. She didn’t tell him that though.

Because she knew that they were done, and she thought it was best for her if he left her alone.

It irritated her that he didn’t listen – he wouldn’t listen – and now he talked to her as if that conversation never happened at all. As if he hadn’t hurt her enough to stay away.

When Yifan stopped laughing, Chorong stared at her questionably.

“Sorry, sorry. When you mentioned your friend I remembered the times she used to 'accidentally' bump into me and apologize with the devil's smile plastered on her face,” he laughed a little after telling her those things.

She began to laugh, too. Imagining Namjoo doing what he had just said deemed humorous for her to just contain her laughter.

“I didn't know she did that,” she stated, wiping the tears in her eyes from laughing too much. “Pardon my friend. She hates it when somebody makes me cry.”

Without intention, her last statement soured the atmosphere. She slapped herself in her imagination. To her surprise, he took it rather lightly.

“No need to be so careful around me,” he stated with a small smile. “Your friend did the right thing? I guess?” He chuckled. “She has good instincts when she tried to protect you from me.”

With that, he left her alone. But not before he said something that shook her.

“I'm going to leave now. I can feel a murderous aura ready to lunge at me if I talk to you more