A/N:

hello there!

i realised i had been away from this story for almost a year now. there isn't much to it - i was feeling really overwhelmed with some real life problems and it killed my muse for this story, sorry! T____T

but i'm almost finally ready to return. (who knew all it took was a txt comeback) it's been a long time, and i'm not even sure if anyone is still waiting for this to update. (if you are, i thank you from the bottom of my heart.)

my schedule will be cleared in a month from now, so while i get the rest of the season organised, here is chapter 11.

 

in case a refresher is needed:

Soojin's been balancing a lot of extra-curricular activities, from volleyball to mathletes, all the while trying to navigate through highschool AND set her brother's best friend up with the prettiest girl in the school. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except it seemed that Yeonjun and Jisu already shared a strange, mysterious relationship that Soojin just couldn't figure out.

 

that's all from me for now. please enjoy!

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

who's that?

 

 

My phone vibrated in my lap. I was sitting opposite Taehyun in the dining hall as we waited for Kai and the others to show up. Taehyun was going to help me try and recruit my stubborn best friend for our mathletes team because we were missing a member. 

 

 

I caught a glimpse of Yeonjun's name on my screen before choosing to ignore it. Then, it vibrated again. And again.

 

 

Taehyun was happily digging into his food like the hungry teenager he was. Today we were served marinated beef with rice and dried squid as a side dish. It was my favourite lunch combo ever. It seemed to be Taehyun's too.

 

 

are u dating?? is he your crush?

 

 

i know u saw my message why aren't u replying

 

 

u bet i'll come over if you don't~

 

 

 

I flipped my phone over, annoyed at how little breathing space he was giving me. I didn't have to turn around to know that he had gone to sit at the seniors' table today, probably in confusion as to why I was sitting with someone who wasn't Hueningkai. I also knew he was watching me with that darned crooked grin of his.

 

 

Kai joined us a while later with Shin Yuna and one of her friends, Yang Jeongin. He seemed surprised to see Taehyun, someone who normally always hung out with the other members of Class A. Kai would've normally sat next to me, but he didn't today. He let Yuna sit between us, so he could be a little further away from Taehyun and myself.

 

The moment I realised that Kai did this because he felt slightly uncomfortable with Taehyun's sudden presence, I knew anything we tried to do to convince him to join our matheletes team was about to go down in vain.

 

 

Luckily some seniors came to save the day.

 

 

 

"Hey Soojin. Hey Soojin's boyfriend."

 

"Oh my goodness, Yeonjun, I swear–"

 

 

Before anyone could stop them, Yeonjun and Hwang Hyunjin slipped into the vacant seats next to Taehyun and myself.

 

"So, how long has it been?" Yeonjun teased as he nudged my shoulder with his while he stared straight at Taehyun. I couldn't even look at my poor teammate. He must've been so embarrassed.

 

"Stop, Yeonjun, we're not dating."

 

 

"Oh?"

 

 

"Yeah, we're just on the same mathletes team." Taehyun piped up, making Yeonjun purse his lips.

 

 

"Oh." He mused, chuckling sheepishly. "Well, do excuse me, I almost got carried away there."

 

 

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Taehyun answered with a warm smile.

Why was Taehyun so kind? He seemed like someone who didn't have any flaws at all. It was almost robotic. He always had the same contagious smile and he was polite to everyone.

 

That's why it was the funniest thing when Wooyoung jumped out of nowhere and grabbed Taehyun by the shoulders, shaking him up. I couldn't help but crack up when Taehyun's soul seemed to leave his eyes and the polite, model student yelled out profanities like it was the most natural thing to do.

 

Everyone else cracked up too, especially Hyunjin, who leant back in his seat as he howled with laughter and looked up at Wooyoung, who was grinning devilishly.

 

 

"Why didn't you two tell me you knew him already?" Wooyoung asked as residual laughter were still leaving our systems.

 

"Who?" I asked, grinning widely.

 

"Him." Wooyoung nodded at the two seniors. "Our new team member."

 

"Hyunjin??" I gasped.

 

"Noo." Wooyoung laughed, sticking an arm out to point at him. "Him."

 

 

 

He was pointing at Yeonjun.

 

 

I sobered up pretty quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

Mathletes caught up on us quicker than expected. Because of schedule conflicts, the team couldn't practice with Yeonjun much at all.

"We'll wing it," he insisted. I was surprised that Chaeryeong was okay with it. She was always so tense, but I guess that was Yeonjun's magical power. Everything was fine if he said it was.

 

 

A couple days before the competiton, Kai asked me if i was comfortable about the fact that Yeonjun joined my team. I wasn't sure how he picked it up when I didn't even realise I was the slightest bit uncomfortable. Kai didn't elaborate, nor did he press on to ask more.

 

Yeonjun's presence on the team did actually bother me. It didn't at first, except it got a lot worse on the actual day of the competition.

 

He didn't stick to the plan and changed everything.

 

 

I was supposed to be the team's runner, which meant I was the one who had to deliver the question sheet between the judges' desk and ours... but Yeonjun insisted that Wooyoung had to be the runner.

 

That wasn't the plan. Taehyun and Yeonjun were supposed to be in charge of the odd number questions, Chaeryeong and Wooyoung on the even numbers, and I focused on running.

 

 

I couldn't do almost all of the questions Wooyoung was supposed to have so Chaeryeong had to solve what I couldn't in addition to hers.

 

I was the only one who couldn't solve the questions.

 

Wooyoung noticed it too, so he would try to help by starting to solve my questions while running back to our table.

 

 

 

"Are you okay?" Taehyun leant over and whispered at one point. We were halfway through, and Chaeryeong had grabbed my paper and scribbled through it as I sat there lame and embarrassed.

 

"No."

 

Taehyun looked apologetic, but there wasn't much he could do either. It was too late to change runners at this point, and what's more, the team was actually doing really well – he knew they shouldn't change anything in case something went wrong.

 

"I feel so dumb," I mumbled as I picked at the lint on my school jumper. "I haven't done much to help and I feel really bad."

 

"Shh, don't be." Chaeryeong said without even looking up. She circled the answer and shoved the answer sheet into Wooyoung's waiting arms before he was off again. "You're alright. We're doing really good. Aren't we, Yeonjun?"

 

 

The older boy was seemingly distracted, his eyes glued to the other side of the hall. I followed his gaze and saw Wooyoung bent over, solving a question at the judges' desk in order to get the next question sheets for the team.

 

 

 

"We are," he answered after a bit. "But I have a question."

 

 

"Hmm?" Chaeryeong hummed as she rearranged her scrap papers.

 

 

"Before we came, did we know the runner had to solve a question by themselves at the judges' table?"

 

 

Taehyun and Chaeryeong's heads whipped to Wooyoung, who was still struggling over the question.

 

 

"Oh , you're right." Chaeryeong muttered. "No, we didn't actually know. It must've been a new rule."

 

Taehyun turned to me and gave me an encouraging smile. "At least you're here with the rest of us and not the hot seat over there."

 

He was right. As terrible and uncomfortable as I felt not being able to do anything here, Yeonjun did make the right call. I would've let the whole team down if I was the runner.

 

 

 

It still didn't sit right with me. I wished he would've discussed it through with the rest of us before making decisions like that.

 

Why did Yeonjun decide that I wasn't good enough to be the runner? He wasn't even the team leader. Taehyun was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came 2nd.

 

 

It wasn't as bad as we thought, but we didn't get 1st, even with two seniors on the team. I couldn't help but feel that it was because I barely helped. The test questions were so much harder than the practice ones we did with Mr Hong. I was not at all prepared for today. Everything about it made me extremely uncomfortable, especially how chill Chaeryeong was about hard carrying me.

 

 

Taehyun pulled me aside after the awards ceremony as we were all filing out of the noisy hall.

 

"Are you sure you're okay?"

 

The look in his soft brown eyes told me he was genuinely concerned. He wasn't asking just to be polite. It was because he noticed that something was wrong with me. I appreciated that, but I couldn't quite put my discomfort to words.

 

"I'm fine, Tae." I sighed. "Stop worrying about me."

 

 

"You deserved this silver medal just as much as the rest of us. Arin would be so proud of you. Shin Ryujin too."

 

 

I wasn't sure how to respond so I nodded, unable to quite meet his eyes again.

 

 

 

 

Mathletes ended a little while after the last bell, so I had to take the second bus home. The second bus normally took some teachers and the unfortunate students from detention. I had never taken the second bus before, but I think Kai did during freshman year when he got detention from the stern Korean history teacher.

 

 

 

 

"Why so blue, nerd?"

 

I knew it was Yeonjun without having to look up. The silver medal they put on me hung heavily on my neck and I didn't want to look at him. I just wasn't in the mood for his jokes.

 

The bus pulled up to our stop and I promptly boarded it.

 

Our second bus was always pretty empty. Today it was just Yeonjun and I and a couple of others who lived in our neighbourhood.

 

I slumped into the row Kai and I always sat at. To my surprise, Yeonjun slipped in next to me.

 

 

I've never sat next to him on the bus before. He was always with the other maroon-clad seniors at the back.

 

 

"Soojin. What's wrong?"

 

 

 

"Everything, okay?! Everything's wrong."

 

 

 

Surprised at my outburst, Yeonjun pursed his lips and nodded.

 

 

"Will you tell me?"

 

 

 

Between the white noise of the bus ride and the silence that hung over us, I realised this was one of the rare times Yeonjun actually took me seriously. I was half expecting him to slip on that crooked grin and say something dumb like he always did.

 

He didn't.

 

I wasn't sure when he noticed I was upset. Was it during mathletes? During the awards ceremony? Or even before that?

 

 

 

 

"I feel so inferior. To the others and to you."

 

 

 

When he whispered "I'm sorry", I turned away to stare out of the window, watching the familiar way back home.

 

 

 

I forgave him.

 

I didn't have to say for him to know that I did. It wasn't really his fault to begin with. He was protecting me when he didn't have to.

 

 

 

Then, he reached for my hand.

 

And I let him.