Jihyun had woken up the next morning with her eyes puffed up like popcorn. She blinked, feling the dryness in her eyes, and rolled over in bed to check her phone. To her dismay, there weren't any texts from Taeil, but if she were being completely honest, she wouldn't know what to do or say if he texted anyway. She wasn't sure if she was still mad at him, but at this point, she just felt a strange bout of listlessness. She didn't want to get out of bed or even move, but she also hated feeling so terrible about herself and groaned loudly. 

She turned back to her phone and called Aeri, in hopes of her being able to distract her from her current worries. 

"Hello?" Aeri mumbled into the phone, as she picked up. 

"Aeri..."

Her best friend already knew something bad had happened, judging by the tone Jihyun used. 

"What happened?" Aeri sighed, and Jihyun could hear her rustling in bed, probably getting comfortable to listen to what she had to say. 

"I did it," Jihyun replied. "I told Taeil."

"What? What'd you say to that loser?" Aeri grumbled, already planning her attack on Jihyun's awful boyfriend. 

"Well," the other girl hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I just told him about my concerns and everything, but it's so stupid because he kept brushing it off! He said it was unfounded so I shouldn't think about it, but I don't know, it was really weird. He was being so defensive and I just... I feel awful but I also don't know." Jihyun could feel the tears forming at her eyes again. 

"Jeez, he's awful. Is he really taking Haemi's side here?" The reception wasn't the best, but Jihyun could definitely feel her friend roll her eyes in annoyance, adding a long sigh after that. "Well anyway, what are you gonna do about it?"

"...Not sure. I'm just gonna avoid him today." 

"Good thinking. I'm going to get ready now, but don't worry. I'll protect you today with my entire life," Aeri promised, and Jihyun laughed before hanging up the phone and getting ready for school.

When she arrived at the front gates, she could feel anxiety rising under her skin. It felt uncomfortable and hot, and she was extremely nervous for what may follow. She wasn't sure on how she'd act around him, but she definitely knew she wasn't going to be very friendly after he snapped at her, and although it was with good reason, Jihyun still felt hurt that he didn't take the chance to listen to her concerns before brushing it off. 

After taking a long sigh, she walked past the school gates and bit the inside of her cheek, anxiously looking out for him. She didn't want to be caught off-guard and have to face him, and if her predictions were correct, then he'd probably be sitting in his classroom already or hanging out in the quad with his friends, so she made sure to avoid those two places. 

With a bated breath, she headed towards her classroom, feeling slightly less nervous about encountering him and when she saw the door leading into her classroom, she immediately walked in without an inch of hesitation. Jihyun just wanted to sit down and hide. 

For most of the day, she thought about Taeil and wondered if her was avoiding her the same way she was with him. She certainly didn't get a text from him yet, which was incredibly disappointing, but just held onto the hope that he was waiting for her to text first, so that she wouldn't be even more hurt from this entire situation. She couldn't even believe that he didn't try visiting her once, so they could talk about things, but when the lunch break had started, she meekly stole glances at the door, waiting for him to magically appear. 

"You know... You could text him to ask to talk about things..." Aeri muttered under her breath, as she observed her best friend looking so down. 

"I don't know... I'm scared," Jihyun admitted. 

"Well, maybe he is too," the other girl replied, and while Jihyun knew that it could be a possibility, she didn't particularly want to admit it. 

"I don't know, I feel like I'm the one that deserves the apology," she mumbled back, feeling a hot rush of immaturity pass through her. She knew that she should just be the bigger person and do something about it, but she really just wanted to see if he even cared about her... Though that's definitely a mindset that a middle schooler would have. 

"You do, but I just think that Taeil is kind of... passive and he might be mad at you too, you know," Aeri offered. "I mean, he didn't take it too nicely when you said that his best friend was just trying to his di-"

"Aeri!" Jihyun cut in, refusing to even hear the rest of the sentence being said. 

"Okay sorry, but you get the point I'm trying to make here. You should say something if you want to talk to him," she encouraged. "What happened to the bad I knew?" 

"I was never that bad of a ," Jihyun sighed, feeling very reluctant. "I'm scared." 

"Okay, well so is he. You can't expect him to 'be a man' when it's literally the modern age! You can't perpetuate this patriarchal tradition, you also can 'be a woman' and a strong one at that," Aeri retorted passionately. 

"...I guess you're right," she groaned, dread piling up in her stomach. She just wanted to crawl into a ball and stop existing. 

"So do it now," her best friend coaxed gently. 

Jihyun bit her lip as she opened up her messages with Taeil and stared at the screen for a good minute before attempting to type something. Aeri stared expectantly at her, but she couldn't dare to send a message to him. Why did she have to do this? 

Holding her breath, she quickly typed 'hey, can we talk?' and sent it, immediately placing her phone down afterwards. She couldn't believe she just did that. She did not just do that. 

"If you put your phone on its screen, how are you going to see his reply?" Aeri said, and Jihyun shook her head. 

"I don't want to see it." 

And that's what she did for the rest of the school day. She kept her phone face down. 

The end of the day had arrived and Aeri sighed as she grabbed her bag. "You know.... I'm pretty sure he replied." 

"If I don't see it, then it doesn't exist," Jihyun groaned, already feeling the anxiety rise in her stomach. She had been sitting at the edge of her seat ever since she sent that message and she didn't dare to check it. 

"I'm surprised you guys are legit a couple," Aeri mumbled. "You guys have communication issues." 

Jihyun looked up at her friend and while she didn't want to admit that her statement was true, she knew that it wasn't wrong. 

"I'm just saying, you should check your phone now. Want me to hold your hand?" Aeri offered, and Jihyun nodded, grabbing her best friend's outstretched hand. She braced herself and turned over her phone, going past a bunch of notifications before seeing that Taeil did indeed respond. 

"Sure. Let's meet in the quad after school, if you'd like. I'll be waiting."