Chapter 26 (Part 3)

Strawberries&Cigarettes
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Do they always taste like you

You

 

"Three days left!" Joy hooted and Wendy, who was covering her ears, made a face.

"Why are you so excited?"

"Because!" The taller girl fell into a fit of laughter. "I'm out of my mind right now!"

Only 72 hours were left before the big test and Joohyun was so agitated and nervous she didn't even listen as she frantically searched for her notebook.

"I guess you're not the only one," Wendy muttered. "What are you looking for?"

"My notebook," Joohyun grunted. "I know I put it in my backpack.."

"Um.. Joohyun?"

"Yeah?"

"That's my backpack."

The bunny stared at the backpack she rummaged and blinked. "Oh."

"Rough day?"

"Stress is in the air." The bunny sighed. "Everything seems so stressful right now."

"Like.. Not seeing Seulgi?"

"Seulgi, my parents, everything."

"Isn't Seulgi your everything?" Joy said teasingly, slowly regaining her sanity.

"You haven't seen her since your last date, right?"

Joohyun nodded and sulked. Since at her CSAT, she needed to bring a lunch box with her so she decided to bring her own lunch box to get used to it.

So that meant she hasn't seen the younger for eleven days. Not even a trace.

It was a little disappointing Seulgi never attempted to visit her but she knew the bear was trying to give her space.

"We had a proper kiss and then she's just gone," Joohyun muttered under her breath. "What is she? Cinderella?"

As Joohyun's frown deepened, Joy and Wendy shared silent eye contact.

"You could just tell her you miss her, you know." Joy suggested carefully and the bunny scowled.

"I'm not going to distract myself from my studies."

"You are already doing it," Wendy argued.

"And I don't want her to see me in this state." With her comfortable, oversized hoodie and messy hair, wearing her specs, it would sure be a little embarrassing to bump into someone. Especially her girlfriend.

"You're kidding, right?" Joy snorted. "Seulgi would say you're beautiful even when you didn't shower."

"Very funny, Sooyoung."

Truthfully, she didn't want to see Seulgi because she was already struggling with her hurricane of emotions. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

It was her first and hopefully, the last CSAT she'll ever experience and she couldn't help but hope she could get a perfect, satisfying score.

But unfortunately, she was realistically far from perfect.

She wanted Seulgi to embrace her and say sweet nothingness to her but she didn't want the younger to be concerned more than she already was.

"Hey, guys!"

The three juniors turned to see Jisoo barely holding up four boxes each tied with ribbons with different colors.

"Is it Christmas already?" Wendy asked and Jisoo grinned.

"Guess who's Santa Claus this year!"

"I didn't know you fancy climbing up a chimney, Jisoo." Joy said as she grabbed a box with a green ribbon, with Wendy taking a box with a blue ribbon.

Jisoo snorted. "Yeah, right. Who else would give this to you guys?"

She pointed at the sticker of a bear and a Squirtle stuck on each of the box and the three seniors snickered with confused bunny staring at them. "What?"

"I believe this is for you." Wendy handed a box with a purple ribbon. "And I just want to say I approve of this relationship."

"Me too."

"Me three!"

"...Thanks." Joohyun finally noticed the bear sticker and smirked. "Oh, you typical bear." She mumbled and unwrapped the gift revealing all kinds of strawberry sweets she could think of. There were strawberry candies, strawberry chocolates, strawberry drinks, and even a pen with a little strawberry pendant on it.

And it seemed like her other friends had similar gifts. Joy popped an apple-flavored candy and said cheerfully,

"We'll get a lot of cavities and high blood pressure but I can manage!"

Wendy marveled at an orange slice with chocolate icing and Jisoo laughed as she read a small card.

"It seems like Yerim wasn't too happy about Seulgi forcing her to wrap all the sweets."

"Mine even says SOS." Joy said.

Joohyun reached out for her card, not really eager to see the Squirtle's writing begging for help but still her curiosity won.

 

You're sweet enough but I think a little more won't hurt.

And strawberries always taste like me, right?

 

Oh, you typical Kang Seulgi.

 

 

"It's been a while."

Joohyun gulped, even though she was the one who called the younger to meet under the cherry blossom tree.

And as she guessed, her hurricane of emotions seemed to worsen when she saw the bear, smiling like a kid waiting for Christmas.

The older managed a small smile but she could never fool Seulgi.

"I just wanted to.. Thank you for the gifts."

Seulgi raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You wanted to thank me?"

"I'm a very polite person."

"You've already thanked me through text." The younger grinned. "Just say you missed me and I'll say you're adorable."

"Okay, genius. I missed you."

Before the younger could answer, Joohyun stepped forward and leaned her head on her collarbone, biting her lips so she won't cry and spill out all her worries and doubts about the upcoming test.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Seulgi. She didn't trust herself.

She was afraid if she spilled all her worries at once, she will end up drowning into them.

Meanwhile, Seulgi frowned as she tried to look down to see if the older was crying.

She wished again she could not be the younger one between them.

For months Seulgi had been too busy doubting herself she felt like she didn't do enough for Joohyun.

She was too clueless to know what kind of pressure Joohyun was facing.

And she was too young to find the word to comfort the older.

Every word she thought of weren't enough to embrace all Joohyun's vulnerable state.

She was worried her foolish words might end up being no use and instead even hurt her.

So all she could do was look at her with her eyes filled with solace and lace her arms around her waist, holding the petite girl tightly, not too hard but warm enough.

She hoped her eyes and embrace sent the message she couldn't express into words.

.

Mrs. Bae was a woman who loved to spend her free time quietly sitting on the sofa, sipping her tea or watch television.

And since she was a career woman, that didn't happen very often.

But even though she was relishing her free time, she couldn't help but feel a lump on .

Her daughter's big test was only two days away and she didn't want to start another fight with Joohyun. So she thought it was best to talk only when necessary until the test was over.

However seeing her daughter almost withering with tiredness, she wondered what she could possibly do except for packing her lunch box filled with all kinds of food her daughter liked ever since she was a child.

Maybe she should pack spare blankets and hot packs too? She may also need comfortable slippers.

As she listed on what necessity she could provide for her daughter, her thoughts dispersed when she heard a knock on the door.

That was strange. Nobody hardly ever visited. Sang-won was out of town and all her packages were delivered. Then who could it be?

Another knock made her have no choice but to stand up and walk toward the door.

She peered in the peephole and saw a girl holding a bouquet of purple hydrangeas.

She decided to open the door and the girl smiled her in greeting. "Good evening, Mrs. Bae."

The stunned woman blinked but due to her strict household, she managed to politely answer, "Good evening. And you are?"

"Oh. I guess I haven't properly introduced myself." The girl chuckled nervously. "I'm Kang Seulgi. Joohyun's friend."

"Oh, so you're Seulgi." The woman smiled gently. "You're the friend who went to the cherry blossom festival with Joohyun."

"Yes. I wanted to give these to Joohyun before her big test."

"I'm afraid she's not here yet. She wanted to spend some time alone at the academy."

The teenager nodded. "I just came here to drop this and finally meet you. And,"

She held up her other hand and the woman noticed she was holding a box of green tea. "Joohyun told me you enjoy drinking tea so.."

Mrs. Bae felt a little pleased by the girl's effort and before thinking, she gestured the girl to come in. "You must've been exhausted carrying them all the way here. Why don't we try the green tea you brought me?"

The girl nodded gratefully. "That would be very nice, thank you."

As expected, Joohyun's house was big and clean Seulgi almost felt the need to wash her hands again. But at the same time, the house felt too big, almost hollow.

"The tea smells divine." Mrs. Bae said as she placed a teacup in front of her.

Indeed, the tea smelled very good with its warm steam tickling her nose.

"Thank you."

"It's the least I could do. I'll make sure Joohyun tastes this." The woman's smile faltered a little after mentioning her daughter's name.

"I know it's weird for me to ask this but.." Mrs. Bae paused, her eyes staring at the table. "How is Joohyun? She rarely comes home and when she does she just goes straight to her room."

"Joohyun is..." Seulgi struggled to find the right words. Why was it so hard these days? "Enduring it."

"I beg your pardon?"

"She is having a hard time coping," Seulgi admitted. "And it is frustrating I can't do anything to cheer her up."

"I should have been more.. motherly." Mrs. Bae mumbled with regret in her tone.

"I guess you know Joohyun and I are not in good terms right now?"

Seulgi nodded. "She says she doesn't care. But I can already sense that she may be more affected by that than she admits."

"I was obsessed with making Joohyun the top-class student because that way, she could get a steady, long-lasting job that is never looked down on."

Mrs. Bae had one regret in her life.

She was far from being a top-class student and even her family disregarded her value when she couldn't even find it herself.

She still ignored her mother's calls because her moth

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MeloMera
I don't have a twitter account anymore but thankfully I saw a pleasant surprise today when I went back to my account for the last time :)
Thank you @dinniebur for liking this fic so much! I'm very happy&grateful that you enjoyed it :) your reactions about each chapter made my day haha

Comments

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hollyhunterey
#1
One of the best.. Thank you very much 💕
Kylie_123 #2
Rereading !!! Kasi gusto ko kiligin ulit 💗💗💗
Jensoo4everlove #3
Chapter 59: I LOVED THIS SO SO MUCH 😭❤ And thankyou so so much Author for taking out time to write such a masterpiece!!! I really appreciate it!! But why can't I see the sequel? 🥺
httpsjaerchv
#4
I just want to ask if this is the original version because I read this but it's the Ryeji version on wattpad huhuhu.
AnneTokki 39 streak #5
Chapter 59: 💓💓💓💛💛💛🫶
Revemid12
#6
Reading this masterpiece for the third time, is my comfort fic, let’s goo!
Oct_13_wen_03 36 streak #7
Chapter 49: reread❤❤
serenedipitea
#8
Chapter 20: this chapter made me cry. the angst!!!
Seul_rene14 #9
Chapter 59: Am I the only one who won't get to read the sequel?🥺😭
gcpt21 #10
Chapter 49: This fic is so beautiful thank you so much author ily