So here we are, last chapter. Thanks everyone for the support, it really meant a lot.

I hope you all like the ending!!

Solji maybe should have dressed up more, or put a special touch in her usual make up, or maybe even dyed her roots (which she has been procrastinating for a couple of weeks now). Instead she got herself ready like every day and went to school, only a high ponytail on top of her head being a finishing touch.

It was a bit weird, she noticed as she was walking along the sidewalk. She wasn't as nervous as she had been before, even though this was probably the biggest thing she would attempt in her entire school life. Why am I so calm? I thought I would be biting my nails by now.

Solji waited until the traffic light turned red for the cars so she could cross the street.

Maybe it's getting too repetitive? Have all these tries made me get used to it?

She looked at her wristwatch. There was still plenty of time until the first class.

Maybe this crush is getting washed up?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Solji stopped walking, surprised. She shook her head in order to get rid of it. No, no backing off now. I've already come too far to give up now.

Still, she knew her mind would be soon flooded with thoughts alike to the previous one, so she started to sing the first song that came to her mind, startling a passerby. Solji continued her way like that and by the time she arrived at the front gate "Who's your mama" was echoing loudly through the morning air.

Time flew by and, before she knew, most classes were over in the blink of an eye and everyone was rushing out to get lunch. Solji felt a little out of it.

Heeyeon was pulling Solji from her desk, her stomach growling loudly. She was complaining something like "cake" and "those hungry freaks", but Solji kept firm on her chair.

"I think I'm gonna do it now", Solji said as discreetly as she could.

Heeyeon stopped trying to make Solji stand up and let go of her arm.

"Oh. Do you need some cheering up?", Heeyeon asked, making random gestures around her head.

Solji giggled.

"No, it's fine", she answered. "Go eat with Hyerin today. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay. If you need me for anything, text me."

Before Heeyeon stepped out of the door, she turned around and yelled a short "fighting" and dashed to the cafeteria.

Solji still had a smile on her face by the time she stood up and went on her way to find Hyunwoo. There were still plenty of people around, taking their time in going to eat. Solji kept throwing to the back of her head the awareness of her normal heartbeat, and her hands that weren't clammy. Refraining from trying to figure out the implications of her lack of tension, she continued looking around for the handsome boy she's had a long time crush on.

Solji turned a corner and it was just her luck: Hyunwoo was there, standing in the middle of the corridor. She was about to step forward and call him when she noticed he kept looking around and awkwardly had his hands in his pockets. He seemed to be waiting someone.

The next moment, Hyojin's distinct voice could be heard and Solji jumped sideways to hide against the wall. Hyojin was approaching him very calmly.

"Why are you waiting here and not outside?", she asked, throwing her fringe out of her face with a motion of her head.

Hyunwoo turned around and smiled at her.

"I figured here was nearer your class, so you'd have to walk less."

"Hm, how thoughtful", Hyojin answered, but there was a hint of nonchalance in her voice that made Solji frown a little. It was very different from the friendly laidback Hyojin she got used to in the past weeks.

"Yeah, so, wanna hang out tomorrow after class? We could go out to eat or something."

They started to walk away and Solji, still glued to the wall, went after them. She had no idea why she was following them, but she was attentively listening to their every word.

"Tomorrow?" Hyojin shook her head. "I have things to do, but Friday is fine."

"What do you have to do tomorrow?"

Hyunwoo looked a bit disappointed as he looked back at Hyojin, but held his smile on his face.

"I have a date."

At the same moment Solji gasped, Hyunwoo stopped walking. He was expressionless for a second, but as the information sank in his smile disappeared.

"A date?", he repeated, very slowly.

"Yes, tomorrow." Hyojin showed a hint of impatience as she spoke.

"What do you mean you have a date?" Hyunwoo's voice started to rise and he was starting to get angry. "With who?!"

"Some guy from my gym. Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! What about us?!"

Hyunwoo was practically screaming at this point. Everyone in the corridor stopped talking and looked at the couple, surprised. Solji's eyes were wide and she put a hand over , forgetting all about hiding.

"Us?", Hyojin repeated with disdain. "What about 'us'?"

"We're together! You can't just go around with everyone you-"

"What made you think we were together?" Suddenly her voice turned cold.

Everyone was staring shocked at them, holding their breaths. Hyunwoo seemed at a loss for words, eyes big and mouth open.

"Is it just because we hanged out a few times?" Hyojin continued, not sounding agressive, but as if she was only stating a matter of fact. "Are you really that desperate? As if someone like you would be enough to get on a relationship with me. You must really think high of yourself, huh? So pathetic. Stop dreaming and go find someone as low-rank as you."

Hyojin was already tall, but by the way Hyunwoo kept shrinking she seemed even bigger. He looked afraid and humiliated. Her voice seemed to fill the entire corridor and no one could bring it in themselves to move or make any noise.

Seconds passed, but they felt like an eternity. Hyojin's eyes bored straight into Hyunwoo's, unwavering. Then, as quickly as it came, the coldness in her eyes disappeared.

"See how good it is to be on the end of the rope?"

It was surprising (to say the least) the way Hyojin's behavior changed. It seemed as if she were just an actress and, after the scene ended, she stepped out of her character. As simple as that, no hard feelings nor softness left on her face. Solji felt the tension from the air dissipating a little and she finally remembered to breath, but then Hyojin's words caught up to her.

Again, Hyojin's voiced crushed the silence like a heavy stone.

"You better think twice before playing with someone's heart again. Like you did with Junghwa's."

Hyojin gave time for Hyunwoo to understand her words, which he did. His expression went from confused to horrified very quickly, his face suddenly becoming pale in recognition.

It was probably good enough for Hyojin, because she sent him a last glance before turning and walking away from him. The spell over everyone was broken and people looked either awkward or devilishly amused. Most of them quickly moved away from the scene while others stayed and pointed at Hyunwoo's pitiful figure, laughing quietly.

Solji still had wide open by the moment Hyojin spotted her. Solji immediately closed . She held her breath as Hyojin started walking in her direction.

Hyojin stopped right in front of her. They stared at each other for some seconds.

"This is my locker", Hyojin said, gaze firm but soft.

Solji blinked twice, speechless, before she hastily stepped back to give Hyojin space. The girl put in her password and opened the locker, hiding her face from Solji's eyes. Solji probably should go away now, but something kept her rooted there. Her gaze was fixed on the grey metal from the door. It closed and Hyojin's face came back into view.

Solji met eyes with Hyojin again, and she seemed sheepish. She suddenly handed something to Solji. When Solji looked down, she recognized all the papers as the letters she wrote. Every one of them, still unopened, in Hyojin's hand. She looked back up, expecting an explanation.

"You probably figured out I had them." Hyojin seemed a bit awkward despite her attempt to sound cool. "But take them back. I'd feel bad if I kept them. And sorry for not talking about it before, I thought you'd freak out and not talk to me anymore."

Solji only looked at the envelopes again, but didn't make any move to take them. She looked back at Hyojin.

"Why?", she asked. "What was all this for? Why did put so much effort into getting in my way?" Just to do that at the end.

Hyojin hesitated before sighing.

"I used to study at the same school as that dude and he dated my friend. You remember her, right? Junghwa. So she was like, really in love with him but when she went to ask him about meeting his parents and stuff he just laughed at her and said a lot of things and made her feel like thrash. That ing piece of ."

Hyojin got angry at the memory, but stopped herself in time. She breathed deeply and resumed talking. She seemed more tired than ever.

"He did it right in front of everyone, it was horrible. And she wasn't the first girl he did that to. I heard he had a reputation of 'heartbreaker' from his previous schools. I was just so pissed off that I couldn't let him go like that."

There was a pause in which Hyojin looked thoughtful and Solji was yet to let it all sink. Hyojin once again brought her back to reality.

"There you go, now you know. He'd definitely read your letters out loud to everyone and mock you for it, so I didn't let him see any of them. You deserve much better than that , seriously, keep your feelings for someone who will actually treat you well."

Hyojin pushed the letters into Solji's hands and closed her locker. Solji had a lot of things to ask her, but the only thing that made its way out of was:

"So you don't have a date tomorrow?"

Hyojin blinked, surprised, and then laughed.

"No, I don't. Oh, and sorry, I also ate that cake you made. It was really good, by the way."

Sending her a smile that was a mix between amused and apologetic, Hyojin walked away, leaving Solji astounded.

Solji took several minutes to finally move again. She slowly walked away and made her way to the cafeteria to meet Heeyeon. When she approached the table, she saw that Hyerin was already up and still talking with Heeyeon. Hyerin cutely smiled at Solji and waved the girls goodbye before walking away. Heeyeon waved at her before jumping excitedly on her place as Solji sat down.

"How did it go? C'mon, tell me, tell me."

Solji sat down, still in a stupor, and Heeyeon took notice of that.

"Why are you looking like that? What happened?"

"I didn't even talk to him. Just… ask anyone around. Everyone probably knows already."

Heeyeon looked around, confused. Indeed, everyone was muttering and gossiping. Heeyeon tapped Solji on the shoulder.

"What do you mean? Tell me."

But Solji didn't answer, burying her face on her hands. Her head was spinning.

That day Solji went home alone, as Heeyeon had to stay back to help clean the classrooms. But before she stepped out, Solji walked past a thrashbin and without a second thought, threw all the rosé envelopes inside.

She walked home with surprisingly light steps.

… …

Solji was still deep in thought when she arrived home. Hyojin's words rang in her head. Solji said no when her dad offered her fish snacks, which gathered a frown from him, but she smiled and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. As she lied in bed, after showering and putting on comfy pajamas, she made a decision. Solji quickly took her phone from the nightstand and messaged Heeyeon, who replied in a matter of seconds. Solji saved the number Heeyeon sent and messaged them as well.

After it was done, she sat up in her bed and sighed, looking up and out her window.

… …

Hyojin was ing exhausted. Finally this whole acting bull was over. She was fed up with it. After a hot bath she some music on her speakers until she could barely hear her own thoughts. Hyojin enjoyed the deep bass until  her brother screamed at her all the way from his room to tone it down.

Hyojin laughed and turned it off, hopping on her bed. She wasn't sleepy yet, but she probably needed some extra hours because of all the stress from the past months. She was making herself comfortable when her phone vibrated with a smal bell sound. It was all the way across the room and she considered leaving it to read the next morning, but she ended up throwing her blanket aside and grumpily walking to her desk.

Hyojin unlocked her phone and saw it was an unknown number, but after reading the content a smile spread across her face. She replied and walked back to her bed, leaving the phone on the nightstand and turning off the lights. The night was quiet and peaceful, and Hyojin fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

… …

Hey! Its solji here. I got ur number from heeyeon, hope you dont mind
U up to a movie this weekend?

Only if u treat me. I'm broke after so long of fake dating that stupid penny pincher

Hope you enjoyed the fic!!! ;)

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Thank you for reading!