Chapter 25

With and Without Oh Sehun

**Last chapter before we return to the present**



[December 11]

Areum was laying flat on her bed with one hand stretched out into the air as if she was trying to catch stars. Her other hand was holding the phone next to her ear. A bright smile could be seen on her face as she continued to babble on about whatever nonsense with the person on the other line.

"Oppa. Can I ask you something?" asked Areum. 

"Hmmm?" Sehun replied. 

"What do you think about Irene?"

Sehun was taken aback by this sudden mentioning of Irene out of nowhere. "She's . . . cool . . . and nice I guess. Why?" He replied without much thought. 

"Anything else?"

"No. Not really . . . She can be a little annoying at times too, but other than that. That's all."

Satisfied enough, Areum let out a smirk and went on to change the subject. She just had to get it off her chest and ask Sehun even though she's come to know that he only liked her. It just made her more relief in a way, and it was also kind of funny too Areum admits. 

With the clock ticking into the late night, they decided to end their phone call. They said their goodnight wishes along with a few corny jokes from Sehun. But before they ended the call, Sehun had one last thing to ask. 

"Are you busy tomorrow after school? If not, then I was wondering- if you can stay when school is done."

Areum took a moment to think about what he just asked. He's never asked her this once, and it was kind of random too when he brought it up just now.

"Y-yeah. I can."

And so they ended their conversation with a final goodnight wish before actually hanging up this time. But instead of going to sleep right away, Areum gave herself a smack to the head for forgetting the most important thing. She forgot to ask him the reason why. Why did he want her to stay after school for? Way to go Han Areum.

When the next day finally arrived, Areum found herself being extra cautious of her surrounding. She wasn't sure of what to think about staying alone after school with Sehun. If he needed to ask or tell her something, then couldn't he just do it during school time? It's not like she didn't want to be around him, but with the way he's been acting strange lately she couldn't help but feel anxious about everything.

Did he just want to spend more time with her? No, that didn't seem like it. 8 hours of school was enough. She went on to spend the next few minutes thinking hard about why Sehun asked her to stay after school. If only she used her brain this well during exams. After minutes of staring off into space like an idiot, the thought finally occurred to her. 

Was he . . . Planning to ask me out- Areum shakes her head in an attempt to throw the ridiculous sounding question away. No. He wouldn't. Why would he? But no matter how many times she tried to hide the thought away, it kept on creeping back into her mind. She was starting to feel anxious and nervous as she thought about seeing Sehun. Was he really planning to? After all, it's been about a good 4 months since everything started between them... 

Areum entered the classroom with her heart racing fast despite convincing herself to stop blowing things out of proportion. Her heart came to a jump when she spotted Sehun casually listening to music in his seat, and immediately she could feel her face turning bright red. She kept her eyes locked on him as she strolled on by to her seat. Meanwhile, he was sitting with his arms crossed and nodding his head to the beat of his music. However, why did he seem so... calm and relaxed? If he was really going to, you know, do that, then wouldn't you expect him to be a little more nervous? 

When she finally reached her desk, she took a seat and began to take her things out from her backpack. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't making loud noises on purpose in order to let him know that she was here. However, Sehun didn't stop to say hi like he usually does every morning. Rather, he was still nodding to the beat of his music. 

Thinking that was a little unusual of him, Areum decided to make the move. She turned around and gave a tap on his desk, succeeding in grabbing his attention. He took out the left side of his earphone and brought his attention to her. 

"What are you doing?" Yeah, she knew that was probably the dumbest thing to ask, but she just wanted to get something out from him. 

"Listening to music," he replied with no change in his calm and robotic expression. 

"Ahh..." But she figured that now was probably the right time. "So... How come you want me to stay after school today?"

"Hmm, just because," he said with a shrug of his shoulder. He then went back to plug his earphones in without leaving Areum a chance to ask any further questions.

Areum was brought into a state of confusion with the way Sehun acted just now. He wasn't nervous or anxious like she had expected him to be; better yet, he didn't seem like himself at all. However, it didn't stop there. 

When lunch rolled around again, Areum saw something that she hasn't seen in a while now. She saw Sehun rushing back and forth between the locker and his backpack, and it was obvious that he was barely catching on to what she had to say. Shortly after, he told her that he wasn't going to eat lunch today because he was going to play volleyball with his friends. He then reminded her to meet him at the volleyball court after school before scurrying away in the opposite direction before Areum could say a word or even lift a finger.

He still wanted to meet after school with the way he was acting? 

Her eyes remained caved in confusion as she took a moment to think everything through. The last time Sehun played volleyball was nearly 2 months ago since he's been spending most of his time with Areum, but that wasn't the problem. She was bothered by the fact that he just so easily told her he wasn't going to eat lunch before jogging off in the opposite direction. 

By the time after school came around, it was safe to say that Areum was ready to explode. She couldn't understand why Sehun was acting so distant with her throughout the whole day. She was truly convinced at the beginning that he wanted to possibly, you know, ask her out? But with the way he wasn't even trying to talk to her or give her his slightest acknowledgement, it didn't seem like that way anymore. It felt like he was trying to avoid her, and that was what threw her off. Why did he ask her to stay after school then? Call her crazy or not, but she pretty much felt like Sehun was going to break up with her when funny enough they weren't even together. 

However, she was still a naive idiot in the end. She ended up rushing to the volleyball court first thing after the final bell rang, but maybe it was her anger that drove her there. Now, she was standing on one side of the volleyball court while the person who was avoiding her the whole day was standing on the opposite side. Her arms were crossed in anger as her eyes glared at him. 

He wanted her to stay after school just so they can play a stupid game of volleyball? 

"Catch the ball!" Sehun yelled. He threw the ball into the air before spiking it over the net towards her. However, Areum didn't budge one bit and remained still with her arms crossed, the ball bouncing off behind her. 

She was in disbelief that Sehun was just casually playing a game of volleyball instead of explaining himself. He think he can just avoid her the whole day and then act like nothing was wrong when school was over? 

Not getting the idea, Sehun grabbed another ball and repeated for her to catch it before hitting it over the net. But again, Areum didn't bother.

"Come on Reum! Catch it!" Sehun yelled. He proceeded to do the same two more times, only for the same result to happen. And pretty much at this point, Areum had finally reached her limit, 

She gave a roll in her eyes and uncrossed her arms before turning around to walk away without a word. She never knew Sehun could be so dense and ignorant. Could he not see that she was upset?! Is this what volleyball does to boys? Turn their head into a hot air balloon?! Was he stup-

Areum suddenly fell onto the ground after having her head be hit by something that had bounced away. She turned around to glare at Sehun with her eyes boiling with anger. However, the anger and vexation in her slowly went away when her eyes came upon the last ball that knocked her down. She reached for the ball and stared at it with her eyes wide open as if it was telling her future. 

Girlfriend? 

She then spun around in circles to look for the other balls, and came to a late notice that they also had writings on it. She went to fetch every ball and nearly passed out when she arrived back at her previous spot with all of them. She placed them in a line and began to read the words written on it. 

"Girlfriend. You. Will. My. Be?" After having the brain to put these balls in order, her mind suddenly went completely blank. She slowly brought her head to look back up at Sehun who was nervously chuckling while scratching the back of his head. He must have been a little embarrassed that it didn't go the way he planned. A sense of guilt had now developed in Areum when she realized that she failed to cooperate with his surprise. What a fail. 

Her eyes of guilt stared at Sehun who was making his way towards her; still scratching the back of his head with a shy smile. Everything was starting to connect in Areum's head. Maybe there was a reason why he acted the way he did today. 

He didn't say a word and stood in front of Areum, waiting for an answer. However, Areum was only able to let out a smile (which part of it was filled with guilt of course). 

 

[December 13]

Areum's face was starting to turn red, and her heart began to race whenever she thought about it. She still couldn't believe about what happened the day before. Was she just dreaming? However, of course she knew she wasn't. She began to squirm around like a maniac out of pure excitement and happiness, but who can blame her? After all, Sehun was her first boyfriend, not to mention her long time crush. She also couldn't help but wonder if the news got round yet since news like these tend to always spread around fast by itself. 

She was filled with so much joy and delight that some people passing by her thought she was crazy, but of course she wasn't. She continued her way through the school with little skips here and there. However, she failed to notice the atmosphere that she just entered to. 

Her speedy footsteps turned to a slow pace when she realized that she was the only one in a cheerful and good mood. Those around her were walking with their head down, and not a single one of them were smiling nor looked to be in a good mood. As much as she just wanted to brush it off and not think about it too much, she found it hard to ignore when she saw the serious look on their faces. 

The area around her locker wasn't any different that it was starting to even have an effect on her. She began to fumble through her locker in a hurry with her mind set on only getting away from here. When she was finally done getting what she needed, she wasted no time to slam her locker shut and head towards the direction of her class. However, her goal to get away from there quickly vanished when she saw something not too far nor close from her. 

She wondered why a crowd of school administrators and other unfamiliar adults were surrounding an opened locker. They were taking things out one by one and even taking the time to stare at whatever was in their hand. Why were they going through a student's locker, and whose was it anyways? Areum asked herself. However, she eventually persuaded herself that this wasn't her business. Her goal was to still get out of here. 

However, on the way to class wasn't any different, but probably even more strange. Maybe the school was always like this, Areum told her. As curious as she was starting to become, she couldn't just stop and ask a random person what was going on. What if nothing was going on and she ended up looking like a weirdo? 

Regardless, her heart picked up with excitement everytime she got closer and closer to the classroom. She was even expecting her classmates to freak out over the news of her relationship- something they like to do whenever something exciting like a new couple is announced; not to mention that this is the quiet and introverted Areum we're talking about. However, once again, it was the complete opposite.

Right away she noticed the silence that filled the classroom before she could even fully enter. Since when was the class ever this quiet? And as if that wasn't weird enough, everybody was keeping to themselves with some even looking down. Her attention then shifted over to look at the unusual amount of empty seats- 7 of them to be exact. Her head began to flood with countless thoughts and questions about what was going on. Was there something she missed?

Suddenly, Areum was startled by the presence next to her that she'd just come to barely notice. She quickly turned her head and was surprised to see Sehun. However, he didn't greet her with a goodmorning or even a smile like she had expected. Instead, she was greeted by his serious face. 

"Did something happen . . ? What's wrong?" Areum asked. 

The look on Sehun's face remained the same as he took a moment to swallow and clench his teeth. And so with a heavy breath, he finally opened his mouth. "Jin . . . Passed away yesterday night. It's not exactly sure, but the news is going around that he committed suicide."

And just like that, Areum's heart came to a drop. 

 

~End of Chapter 25~



Author's Note: The filler chapters are over! Therefore we'll be returning back to first person view and present day.

** Decided to release 3 chapters at once. 23-25** 

I hope this gave you a rough idea and background story of how everything falls into place in present day. For example:

-  How Sehun and Areum got together, and I know this story's been dragging on a lot, but hopefully you caught some of the little things that were mentioned in previous chapters (Reum, Sehun's lame jokes, etc.)

- How some of the characters have changed compare to present day (since it is high school after all where it's normal for people to change). 

Sorry for making 5 filler chapters. I wanted each chapter to talk about each month that lead up to an important date. 

- Thanks for reading! 

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Comments

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CSanWS
#1
Chapter 47: I love both yoongi and sehun. But damn can you just let her ended up with yoongi? After she had been dumped by Sehun, eventho i love him. I can’t.
Iheartren
#2
Chapter 47: I’m finally caught up I recent stumble your story the story so far it’s interesting and I can’t wait for the next update i wonder what is going to happened next, keep up the good work 😊
Sey-ra
38 streak #3
Chapter 47: Omo ,you came back.And for Aereum don't go to the same part again.
fishaelee
#4
Chapter 46: it’s quarter to 4am now and im finally catch up with the chapters! i must say that reading this fic is such having a ride on a roller coaster. at first with the break up of sehun and areum, the pain she felt and how badly everyone treated her... also yoongi’s side story too... im pretty sure there will be a triangle love happening in the future too xD
fishaelee
#5
Chapter 29: yesss areum did it. i hope there will be justice for yoongi soon
fishaelee
#6
Chapter 28: AREUM !!!! :((((
fishaelee
#7
Chapter 27: areum don’t u dare let him slip away like that-
fishaelee
#8
Chapter 16: and how sehun started dating irene, the girl who had been the anti of his previous relationship since day one? oh man i fking hate it here, tf did u just do sehun ah
fishaelee
#9
Chapter 16: okay i’ve suffered enough with the first 9 chapters and i am just so frustrated and my heart hurts so bad for what happened to areum. I CAN FEEL THE PAIN thru the words u wrote...
Sey-ra
38 streak #10
Chapter 42: Sorry but I am still frustrated with Aerum.