[5 years ago, middle school]

Yujin tiredly walked towards her classroom from the field. She had just finished her first practice session for the tracks team. It had been her dream to be in the athletics team and luckily, she passed the try-outs last week. And just today, they were called in for practice.

    It was definitely more energy consuming than she thought, especially with the strict coaches and all. Her whole body felt sore after a couple of laps. Well, she’ll get used to it after a few more sessions.

    Right now, she just wanted to get the homework she forgot in class and then go home to take a nap to get rid of the fatigue she was experiencing. The thought of jumping into bed and snuggling under the comforters after a long day was endearing by now. So, she started to speed up her steps as she made her way to her class at the end of the corridor.

    There was no one in sight along the way since everyone had already packed up and left. It was almost 6 p.m. after all. No one would stay that late unless they had extra club activities like her.

    Yujin thought it was better if she hurried up since the guards might go around and lock the school up. The last thing she’d wanted to happen was being trapped in school grounds at such an hour.

    Reaching her classroom, she stopped in her tracks when she could make out muffled sobs coming from the inside of the class. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she carefully took a peek to see the source of the sound.

    Her eyes scanned the classroom until it landed on a silhouette at the back of the class.

    “Wonyoung?” Despite the figure covering her face with both hands, Yujin could easily make out who the person was. Not every middle schooler had a slender figure and proportions like her. It was her classmate, Jang Wonyoung.

    It’s been over a month since her first year in middle school started and out of everyone else in the class, Yujin had a hard time talking with Jang Wonyoung the most. It’s not that Yujin didn’t want to but the girl just had a very distant aura and seemed unapproachable to her.

    She looked very much serious all the time and only had attention on her books. Hence, the reason why Yujin or any of their other classmates never bothered to start a conversation with her.

    Don’t get it wrong. She’s not exactly that bad, as mentioned by her friends. She was actually really nice and kind. It was just hard to talk to her, that’s all.

    But, right now, seeing the girl muffling her sobs, Yujin made her way to her. It seemed like the other girl never noticed her presence and continued to cry.

    “Hey..” Yujin softly called out to the girl. She stood close to the girl.

    “Why are you crying?”

    Wonyoung pulled her face away after hearing the sudden voice. Realizing she was no longer alone in the classroom, she roughly wiped her tears away and maintained a stoic face, acting as if she didn’t cry just now, “It’s nothing,”

    “From how red your eyes look right now, I don’t think it’s nothing,” Yujin turned the chair in front of Wonyoung’s desk around and took a seat. She placed her arm onto the desk and rested her chin onto the palm of her hand as she let her gaze fall onto the other girl’s.

    “It’s none of your business, Yujin,” Wonyoung sneered as she rested her back against her chair, folding her arms. She knew she was being a bit mean right now, but that was the least of her problems so far. And she had no reason to tell a person she just talked to for the first time.

    Instead of getting intimidated by the cold attitude, Yujin cheekily chirped back, “Oh, so you know my name. That saves me time from introducing myself,”

    Wonyoung had to try her best not to smile at the latter’s carefree answer.

    Yujin smiled, showing her dimples, as she questioned, “Now tell me why are you crying?”

    “………”

    “I’m not leaving until you tell me, Wonyoung,” Yujin mentioned after the other girl fell silent in an attempt to drive her away.

    A few minutes passed. Wonyoung sighed heavily at how persistent the latter was being. Yujin kept staring at her the whole time, patiently waiting for an answer, leaving Wonyoung with no choice but to just tell her.

    “It’s about the math test results yesterday,”

    Yujin narrowed her eyes in a way to remember about the matter. She let out a gasp once she remembered and remarked excitedly, “Oh, what’s wrong with it? I heard you aced it big time,”

    “………….”

    “No. I didn’t,” Wonyoung quietly mumbled but was heard by the short haired girl in front of her.

    Yujin creased her eyebrows in confusion, “Umm.. Yes you did. If I remembered correctly, you got an 80 or something?”

    “88 to be exact,” Wonyoung corrected, making Yujin even more confused.

    “So what about it?”

    “My parents scolded me for getting that kind of mark,” Wonyoung muttered sadly, lowering her head as if she was guilty of committing a crime.

    Watching how her classmate’s expression looked so upset, it triggered Yujin greatly as she slammed her hands onto the desk.

    “Huh????? Are they perhaps blind or something? I barely even got half of the marks and my parents didn’t even bother saying anything. Well, they’re used to it actually but that’s not the point,”

    Wonyoung let out a soft chuckle, amused with Yujin’s extra comments. No wonder people told her Yujin could be crowned their class clown. The girl was adorably funny for her own good.

    “They’re a bit…….. strict, I supposed? I have to get a 98 at least to make them acknowledge me,” Wonyoung simply stated.

    “That’s stupid,” Yujin blankly spat out.

    “They’re telling me to fix my stupidity,”

    “Your parents are stupid,”

    “That’s the first time I’ve heard someone calling my parents stupid,” Wonyoung leaned forward to take a better look at her grumpy looking classmate right now. Yujin kept mumbling words under her breath which was impossible for her to hear.

    After a brief moment, Yujin directed her gaze back to her as she took a deep breath before saying,

    “First off, you did well. Second, the only thing that needs fixing are your parents’ head,”

    “…….”

    “You know what? Don’t think about it. Let’s go and have ice cream. My treat!” Yujin stood up abruptly, trying to get rid of her anger towards the latter’s parents. Her patience had a limit and hearing such a story, she actually thought she might have reached that limit.

    Literally, who in the right mind would say such a thing to their kid?? Her parents would probably throw a feast if she ever got close to an 80 but Wonyoung’s efforts got paid dust and even got scolded for no reason just because she didn’t reach a freaking 98??

    Yujin needed to soothe herself before she actually gets angry. And the last time she got angry, som