“Ya, that was a fake number you gave me,” Joochan complained the next day. His body was towering in front of Soojeong, Minji and I who were eating our lunch. Soojeong and Minji looked at Joochan and I back and forth in total confusion. 

“Actually, that number was a dare from Jibeom. And thanks to you, I owe him $20,” he stated. 

I could hear giggles from the table across from us. It’s the table with all the soccer boys from his club is in. They were looking at Joochan and I as if something funny is about to happen. 

“It’s none of my business,” I said, “go away.”

Joochan stayed put in his spot. “If you gave me your real number, I’ll gladly forget all of this ever happened. Also, I wouldn’t have to owe Jibeom $20 because he’s the one that wants your number. You see, he likes you.”

I put down my utensils and I sternly said no. “He wants my number? He can ask me that himself. What are you, his pet?” I mocked and suddenly the atmosphere was quiet before the soccer boys shouted “BURNNN”.

I could feel Joochan starting to get mad at me and his fist clenched. I closed my eyes, expecting a blow but all I felt was the wind as he turned to walk away. 

•

There was no need for Minji and Soojeong to hear an explanation for me as they heard the details from the soccer boys. 

“Ya, Jibeom likes you!” They said for the nth time that day. I waved them off as I was trying to finish my homework so I don’t have to bring them home. 

“Rihyun and Jibeom, sitting on a tree...” Youngtaek started to singsong.

“Shut up, Youngtaek,” I said.

“K... I...” he started and I covered his mouth with my hands, “I’ll kill you.”

When I let go of my hands, Youngtaek took a deep breath. “You’re so scary,” he mocked. 

This is all so weird to me. Sure, it’s normal for girls to be liked by boys but I don’t even know who Jibeom is.

“Speaking of that, I actually don’t have your number,” Youngtaek said. And I don’t plan to give him mine. 

•

My heart sank when I was added to the class group chat by Minji. This means that Youngtaek will probably annoy me all day outside of school. The class chat was ongoing when I was added.

jang june: ooh look who’s here 
young tag: took u ing long to arrive here rihyun
minji: is there anyone else to be added?
kdh0223: I think everyone is in
hongjoochan: can someone lend me $20? I lost to a bet because of A PARTICULAR SOMEONE.

I rolled my eyes to reply.

rihyun33: if you know you wouldn’t be able to complete a bet, you wouldn’t be so stupid to take it up. 
young tag: BURN
jang june: BURN
kdh0223: BURN
soojeongii: BURN
hongjoochan: BURN
bae seungmin: ok break it up children
young tag: y u break the streak mr class pres :(
soojeongii changed “bae seungmin’s” name to “smol class pres”
smol class pres: HEY I AM NOT SMALL!!!!
kdh0223: says the shortest student in class
jang june: wait
jang june: HONG JOOCHAN DID U JUST BURN YOURSELF?
young tag: why am I not surprised. he’s a ing idiot. 
hongjoochan: 😡😡😡😡😡😡
rihyun33: stop swearing youngtaek. 

I put down my phone to grab a glass of water from the kitchen. When I came back, my phone was buzzing like crazy. 

young tag: yeet
young tag: this is ing amazing
young tag: I can ing swear directly at u
young tag: and now I have your number too ;)
young tag: this is ing great
rihyun33: don’t make me block you son youngtaek
young tag: oh !
young tag: don’t block me pls

I rolled my eyes and blocked him. 

The next day, Youngtaek didn’t come to school. I wondered why. Could he be sick? But if he is, he would be complaining all about it on the group chat. But that day, no news come from him. I thought I would enjoy this day where I don’t hear his nasty words and embrace the silence, but I felt uneasy. 

I unblocked his number and sent him a text. 

rihyun33: where are u?
rihyun33: why are u not in school?
rihyun33: is it because I blocked u yesterday?
rihyun33: I unblocked u now, so pls come tomorrow.
rihyun33: it’s super quiet here.

The next day as I entered the class, Youngtaek was already on his desk, playing his phone. Usually, I would be one of the first people to arrive and he would always be late. But today, his eyes were puffy, as if he was crying all night. 

“Ya, are you ok? Are you sick somewhere?” I asked him, concerned. He just doesn’t look like Youngtaek at all. 

“You miss me, don’t you?” he said and I crunched my face, “hell no.” 

“Then what is this?” He asked, pointing at the text I sent him. “It’s super quiet here,” he mimicked. 

“Ya,” I lightly hit his shoulder, “hajima. Wanna tell me why you weren’t here yesterday? You don’t look like you’re sick though. Or did you get dumped by your girlfriend? You look like a panda.”

“I’m not even dating. And even if I’m dating, I’ll be the one dumping!” Youngtaek said as he hit my shoulder lightly too. I rolled my eyes.

He was trying to say something but the words he wanted to say didn’t come out of his mouth. I could see his eyes glistening as if he was afraid to say what he wanted to say. What I was seeing is certainly not the Youngtaek that I know. And him breaking down is not something I wanted to see. So I opened my arms and gave him a hug. 

“It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me,” I said as I let him rest his head on my shoulder. I could hear silent sobs as I patted his head to calm him down.

“Geez, you cry so much, my uniform is wet,” I said as he wiped his tears away from his face. Who would have thought a giant boy like him could have cried his much. But he looked like he was about to cry again.

“Ya, I’m joking, I’m joking,” I said, “go freshen up. No one wants to see our Youngtaek looking like this.”

I realised that on that day, Son Youngtaek has taken me, his complete opposite, to be his best friend.

What I didn’t realise was that at the back of the classroom, behind the tilted window, Jibeom and Joochan saw everything that happened. 

•

“Ya, are you and Rihyun dating?” Joochan and Jibeom asked Youngtaek one day, during soccer practice. 

“What the , y’all. Hell no,” Youngtaek said as he made a disgusting facial expression. 

“Then what were you doing the other day, huh?” Jibeom asked and Youngtaek was confused. Doing what? Joochan mimicked the hug with Jibeom and Youngtaek rolled his eyes. 

“I will never date someone like her. She’s just not my type,” Youngtaek said. 

Jibeom frowned, “are you saying she’s bad? Don’t say that.” 

“No,” Youngtaek defended, “if you like her so much, why don’t you date her?” 

•

I was never close with Jibeom. But that doesn’t mean he was never around me. My closest friends were his closest friends too. So wherever they go, he goes.

I never found out who Jibeom was until Jang Jun and Donghyun pointed out who he was to me. Jibeom is from class 1-1, which means he is actually a pretty smart student. Everyone in class 1-1 is considered a higher level student, thus making 1-1 an elite class. 

But for a smart student like Jibeom, he can be a bit of a dumbhead sometimes. 

It was white day, where guys confessed his love to girls they like. Like any other group of friends, the boys were supportive of Jibeom having a crush on me. But I don’t really take these things into account, and I don’t really care. 

But that day, I was in class reading a book during break time when they strolled into my classroom with Jibeom walking in front. He was really shy and the boys were pushing him to go forward. Behind him was Bong Jaehyun (from class 1-1) and Joochan saying ‘hwaiting’. Youngtaek, who was standing somewhere in the middle, eyes me to stand up. 

I gulped. 

“Hey,” Jibeom said as he approached me, “this is for you.” He revealed the thing he was hiding from his back. It’s a box of nicely wrapped, expensive chocolate. He handed it to me and said, “me like you. No, I mean, you like me. Wait what the heck. What I’m trying to say is that I like you.” 

I laughed at him saying silly things. It was the first time he spoke to me directly and I didn’t know he was that nervous.

But despite that, I could sense the sincerity in his voice and smiled, “thank you.” 

“Look, umm,” he continued, “I’m not asking you to date me. I’m just telling you how I feel. No pressure, alright?” He said and I nodded, “it’s all good.”

The bell rang and it was time for everyone to go back to class. The boys ruffled Jibeom’s hair, giving him pats on the back for being brave. I didn’t know it took a lot of courage to confess to someone.

During class, I pulled out the box of chocolate that Jibeom gave to me. Surely, it is an expensive chocolate as I can see come gold glittery decoration on the side. There was a small note from Jibeom, and his cute drawing of little hearts. 

“Stop smiling,” Youngtaek pointed out, “it’s so creepy.” I hit his arm lightly, “shut up.”

My inbox was exploding after school, with questions from the entire class asking if I’m dating Jibeom now. 

kdh0223: uwu today our jibeomi finally confessed 
soojeongii: are you two dating now?
rihyun33: no
rihyun33: he didn’t ask
minji: that entire scene was soooo cute
bae seungmin: UWU
young tag: UWU
soojeongii: UWU
minji: UWU
jang june: UWU
hongjoochan: big fat uwu
bae seungmin: oh come on
young tag: u joochan
young tag: always breaking the streak u er
hongjoochan: :(((((((((( 
bae seungmin: this is a christian household! mind your language. 
young tag: no
kdh0223: no
jang june: no
minji: guys time to hajima
soojeongii: I actually took a picture earlier
hongjoochan: pic of what?
minji: pic of jibeom confessing, you idiot
hongjoochan: ooo
soojeongii: sent a picture 

The picture looks nice and without my realization, I pressed save. 

jang june: THAT IS SO CUTE AJSJKDKFKKFKG
rihyun33: soojeong ah........ .-.
young tag: LOOK AT HER SHES SMILING IN THE PICTURE
minji: GAHHH THAT IS SUPER CUTE UWUWUWUWUWU
bae seungmin: not gonna lie, that is a really nice picture. 
kdh0223: DATE WHEN???!!!!
young tag: JIBEOM AND RIHYUN SITTING ON A TREE
jang june: K I S S I N G
rihyun33: guys no
hongjoochan: FIRST COMES LOVE
kdh0223: THEN COMES MARRIAGE
rihyun33: oh jesus christ
young tag: THEN COMES A BABY
hongjoochan: SITTING IN THE CARRIAGE
rihyun33: you guys
bae seungmin: ...
minji: ...
soojeongii: ...
young tag: guys
young tag: SHE SAID
jang june: OMG RIHYUN
young tag: GIRLLLLLL 
kdh0223: OH MY GODDDD
hongjoochan: ABOUT DAMN TIME

•

Youngtaek was giving me his creepiest, evilest, dirtiest smirk that day. “You have completed the first course of the ing Module with flying colors,” he said as I dropped my bag on the floor. 

“It was once and never again,” I said. Youngtaek frowned, “Nope. Once you go black, you never go back.” He was right. 

The first time I actually said it was because of Joochan. 

Mrs Kim paired us up for a video making project for our literature class. We were supposed to play out a scene from a Shakespeare book and change the dialogues into our own words. I was in charge of changing the dialogues and directing, another girl, Im Sowon was the main actress while Lee Donghyuck was the main actor. Joochan was the video guy. It didn’t take long to complete the project as we were only required to make a 3 minute long video. Joochan did the editing and he was supposed to give me the files on a USB. 

I plugged in the USB to the class computer to see the end results. But what I saw was the word “File cannot be opened. Warning: Corrupted File.”

I widened my eyes in horror. No, this isn’t happening.

“Ya, Hong Joochan, why is this file corrupted?” I asked him. 

“No, it’s not supposed to be. I double check and it was working,” he said. But he was as shocked as I was when he saw the truth.

“Where’s the copy?” I asked him and he looked at me like he’d seen a ghost. 

“You didn’t make a copy, did you?” 

Joochan nodded sheepishly, “yeah...”

I facepalmed myself. My heart sank to the ground. All the hard work is gone. We have to submit this today and now we have nothing.

“,” I cursed under my breath. 

It was as if the world stop spinning and the entire classroom stayed silent. Everyone looked at me as if they’ve seen a god for the first time. I realised what I did and instantly cupped my hands over my mouth. 

“Ya, Hwang Rihyun,” Youngtaek approached me and gave me his big hug, “I’m ing proud of you.”

He was right. Once you go black, you never go back. 

 

---

at first i wanted rihyun to end up with joochan but that would have to mean that jibeom has to be left somewhere so I'm like nOOOOOO and yeah idk now...
help me