Seulgi was not that daring to miss more than one subject that day. As if in a dream, she walked to her Math class and sat there through the whole lesson feeling like she had left her body and wandered around in the air as a ghost. She tried her hardest to not spare a thought about what happened with Chanyeol at the gym. Basically, it was just too impossible to happen that she could even lie to herself that it didn’t.

After Math was over, then came Korean Literature lesson and after that, school was over.

She could see Yeri received a text and smiled broadly, then without glancing at her, she ran out of the class.

Seulgi really dreaded what could happen next, but it happened anyway.

Fifteen minutes later, Yeri came running to her, crying her heart out, “He broke up with me!”

“Ch—chanyeol?”

“Yes!” Yeri wailed, tears streaming down her pretty face.

Seulgi’s heart twisted seeing her friend like that, yet she was also sure that it was for the best.

“Did he tell you the reason?”

“I don’t know! He – he said he just changed his mind, saying there’s someone else – he likes – more – than me!”

It dawned on her that she should come clean then. That she should tell Yeri what she did, for her sake. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t form the words.....

“I’m very sorry Yeri.....sh – should we go for ice cream or bubble tea?”

“No. Thanks. I – I want to be alone”

“Al—alright. Text me when you’re home?”

“Ne.”

With that, Yeri left, her steps looked dragged, like she had no energy at all.

Seulgi felt cold all over.

I did the right thing, right?

I did this because I didn’t want you to be another victim of Chanyeol, ruined and thrown away and.....

“How long are you gonna stand there?”

Seulgi jumped at that.

Sure enough, Chanyeol was sitting on a desk, a few feet away from her.

“You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Seulgi sat down on her chair.

“I broke up with Yeri, like how you wanted it to.”

“I didn’t want her to be that sad.”

“Break ups are sad for girls, it’s just the way it is.”

“Why are you even here?” she asked warily.

Chanyeol shrugged. “Just visiting my girlfriend after school is over. What’s wrong with that?”

“You’re serious with that?”

He got up and sat on the desk beside hers.

“With what?”

“That. You. Me. Girlfriend – boyfriend thing.”

“Mm hm.”

“Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Boyfriends don’t leave their girlfriends alone, Seul.”

That nickname sounded so wrong and she shivered at that.

“I’m never going to date my best friend’s guy”

“I’m not her guy.”

“Well, the guy that she likes, then.”

“Too bad, I say you’re my girlfriend, so you are.”

Seulgi chuckled at that. “This sounds like a dialogue in those cheap teen movies that Yeri likes. Except we don’t like each other, unlike those character in her favourite movies.”

“Really? Maybe I like you.”

“Park Chanyeol. You don’t like me. How can you? You don’t even know me” she was getting frustrated, her tone sounded like she was trying to explain how to read the alphabet to a child. 

“That’s what you think.”

Feeling exasperated, Seulgi started packing her books into her bag.

“Maybe other girls would be happy to have a random guy suddenly playing this game with her. Well guess what, I’m not.”

Huffing, Seulgi wore her backpack and walked to the door.

“Kang Seulgi.”

“What???” she snapped.

“What if I say I like you, and I agreed to be Yeri’s boyfriend just to make you talk to me?”

“I’d say you’re low on vitamins and needs to start eating healthier, to make you stop spewing stupid things.”

“But it’s true.”

There’s something in his tone that made her stopped in her tracks. Something made her feet glued to the floor.

“You’ve been ignoring me for a year, Seul. Ever since that day last year.”

“What? Last year? Nothing happened last year! We don’t even have the same classes!!!”

“Ah, she doesn’t remember. Thought so.”

“As you go to your piano lesson,”

“Wait. How do you know I’m going to a piano lesson?”

“Think of what happened last year. I’ve liked you since then.”

At that moment, her phone vibrated.

Her driver texted, “Agassi, if you don’t go now, you’ll be late for your piano lesson.”

She texted back, “Will be there in 5 minutes, Ahjussi.”

“I have to go” she announced briskly, before she ran to the front hall.

As her driver closed her car door, her mind worked hard. Last year? What happened last year? She couldn’t remember.

**************************************************

Last year? What happened last year? Seulgi really couldn’t remember even talking to that guy at all before they met at the gym yesterday. What did he mean last year?

It made her head hurt.

**************************************************

One Year Ago

One evening, the driver that always accompanied Seulgi everywhere informed that the car broke down and had to be brought to the mechanics. It just so happened that her grandmother was abroad and her brother was in Busan. The only one left in the house, with the rest of the six cars in the garage was a young driver that was only on his third day of working and had never picked up Seulgi from her piano lesson.

It was located in the innermost of a busy shopping complex, and Seulgi was lazy to explain everything. The GPS couldn’t always help, when your new driver had always lived his life in Jeju. She finally said she would just hail a taxi.

She had to walk to the end of the alley to reach the main road. It was 9 PM and quiet in that area, so it scared the hell out of her when he saw a guy being tossed into the alley by two other men, while another man was looming on top of him, saying something she couldn’t hear from that distance.

Soon after, the three men left the wounded man.

Seulgi considered to turn around to where she came from, but it was the closest way to the main road. And....a wounded man couldn’t do much to harm you, right?

As she carefully stepped closer, she realized that he’s not really a man. He’s a boy still. And he was wearing a uniform. The same one she was wearing.

“I’d do anything for that water” the boy said.

She was shocked because he talked to her. And for a second, she couldn’t get what he was talking about. The boy had sat up, and she saw that there were bruises on his face, and there was also a cut on his lip.

He looked at what she was holding, and then she realized she was carrying a bottle of mineral water.

She gave it to him wordlessly.

The boy gulped the water like he had been thirsty for days.

“What happened?” she had asked.

“Nothing big” the boy said back then.

Nothing big. Being beaten like that was nothing big for him.

She suddenly could feel her phone vibrating. Upon checking it, it was her brother calling, possibly checking whether she’s home or not.

She had to go.

“I need to go home” she told him.

The boy nodded and smiled despite the cut on his lip.

“Thanks for the water”

Seulgi nodded.

“Oh, and—and you shouldn’t – you shouldn’t make pain a habit.”

After saying that, she walked away.

She wasn’t sure why she said that. All that she knew was that it felt like the right thing to say.

*********************************************

The car stopped suddenly and Seulgi woke up from her sleep.

There was a traffic jam, and she fell asleep. She was on the way to her piano lesson.....

And that dream, reminded her of what happened last year. Because of course, that boy she met that night, was Park Chanyeol.

*********************************************

Author’s Note:

Another update for this little story.

Hope you like the update.

Tell me what you think about this story so far?