Author's Note~

I'm a little unsure about this. I'm worried that you guys would get bored because of the lack of Daehyun in this story so far :c But if I promise that there will be more of him in the next chapter, will you still read this and love me? :3

“Lee Yumi!”

My eyes shot open.

nonononononononononononono

A looming figure towered over me as I gulped and slowly pulled my head up. I gingerly looked upward to meet my normally friendly-looking teacher’s gaze.

“A-ah s-sorry, seonsangnim!” I flushed, mouth twisting into a nervous frown.

“This is the third time you’ve fallen asleep in my class, Yumi,” she said firmly, shaking her head. I shrunk back in my seat. “I really don’t know what’s gotten in to you. Come see me in the office after school. I want to talk to you about this.”

I nodded slowly, feeling tears threatening to push through and cascade down my pink-tinged cheeks. I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry.

I wasn’t being weak. I could be a cowardly, shy, introverted girl, but I certainly wasn’t weak. I did know how to be brave when I needed to. I did know how to handle my feelings. I did know when not to cry. But right there, when I was sitting in the middle of a class in school, being lectured like that was one of the last things I had wanted to happen to me. I always tried my best to be the best that I could be. I was one of the top students academically and favoured by many teachers in my school. Falling asleep in class was just not an option. I buried my face in my hands, rubbing my eyes furiously. A tear slipped out my left one. It felt warm in my hand and I rubbed it off my cheek, not wanting anyone to notice. Not that anyone was looking at me anyways.

I directed my attention back to the board and tried my best to stay awake.

~~~~~~

I stood in front of the teacher’s office with my right hand clenched tight against my uniform skirt and my left raised to the door. I was just standing there, staring at the old wooden door. Trembling.

Scared.

I was scared.

“Hey,”

I looked over my shoulder to see Miyeon, one of my closest friends, standing behind me, a warm smile painted across her pretty face. Her eyes were turned up into little crescent moons. I felt a small tug at my heart when I saw that familiar eye smile that I had swooned over so much; it really did remind me of him.

“Hi…” I said softly.

She sighed, spreading her arms. I threw myself into them.

“Yumi-yah,” she cooed, my hair. I giggled. Just a little. “I couldn’t catch you after class. You ran so fast! I told you I would come with you didn’t I? I told you to wait for me!”

I loved that I could practically hear her smiling. It made me feel so safe. She was so sweet to me. Exactly like the older sister I’d always wanted. I sighed and pushed her away.

“I know I seem like I’m overreacting and all but this is a really big thing to me, Miyeon, and I’m just really scared of what she has to say to me, I just- I’m so worried that-”

“It’s okay!” she laughed, ruffling my hair. “I understand what this means to you.”

I nodded sadly, feeling my eyes turn down again.

“Look, this isn’t your fault. I know it. I know you. You would never do something like stay up late to watch TV or whatever. Just tell her what’s wrong.”

“W-what’s wrong?” I echoed nervously. “How did you know something’s wrong?”

“Didn’t I already say I know you, Yumi?” she chuckled. “I know something’s bothering you, it’s just not bothering you enough for you to tell me. You will soon. I know.” She added a spunky little wink at the end. “Just go in there and be brave. I know everything will work out. Trust me, okay?”

I nodded, breathing deep. I turned to face the door again.

I reached up and knocked.

~~~~~~

I emerged from the office with tearstained cheeks, but a soft smile playing on my lips nonetheless.

Miyeon stood up from where she was sitting on the floor, placing a bookmark into her novel and holding the book to her chest.

“Well?” she smiled.

I had told my teacher the truth. Well, the partial truth. I explained that I was having nightmares beyond my own comprehension and that they had been haunting me every night for a week. I had poured every single emotion out to her without actually telling her what I had been dreaming of.

She understood.

I felt like an entire load had been lifted off my shoulders.

I sighed and wordlessly stepped forward, looping my arm through Miyeon’s and walking with her down the hall. Miyeon remained silent as we walked towards the bus stop, knowingly allowing me to collect my thoughts. She knew me so well.

“Miyeon, I have to tell you something.” I admitted when we reached the bus stop.

“Mhm.”

“Um.” I started and stopped. I realised I had no idea how to tell her. It was such a ridiculous story.

“It’s okay, you can just tell me.” she said as the bus screeched to a stop in front of us.

“Um.”

Miyeon sighed as we boarded the bus. “You know what, just call me and tell me about it later when you’ve figured out what to say, okay?”

I gave a tired smile, thankful for a best friend like her. “Okay.”

I sat by the window, eyes training lazily over the shops and cars that whipped past us. I found my eyelids getting heavier.

~~~~~~

“Yumi, wake up.”

“Ughh five more minutes.”

“Yumi, everyone’s waiting for you.”

“Ughhhhhhh”

“Yumi you’re sleeping on a public bus and every passenger on it is waiting for you to get off so that you can go home and they can continue their journey.”

I shot up and out of the bus, my face heating up when I exchanged a quick glance with the bus driver. I threw an apology over my shoulder as I hopped off the last step and waved an awkward goodbye to Miyeon through the window of the bus. I groaned inwardly, slapping my palm onto my forehead. I fumbled for my keys in my pocket and unlocked the door.

I guess mum’s out, I thought, noticing that the lights were all switched off.

I sighed, dragging my feet lazily across the tiled floor to my room, pushing my door open and placing my bag on the floor against the wall. I yawned, craning my neck to look at the clock above the doorframe. I threw myself onto my bed.

“I still have time,” I mumbled to myself before falling fast asleep.

~~~~~~

Two arms extended.

Fingers fanned out over palms that moved towards each other like magnets, desperately wanting to join, as one. At last.

Two hands bumped into a sheer wall of glass.

Dismay crossed the faces of the ones who had reached out. Between them stood a wall so fragile and thin, yet they did not break through it. Could not break through it.

Two hearts that wanted to beat in time.

Was that too much to ask? For pulses to race together out of untainted happiness. For fingers to cross and to intertwine. For hands to be held and for hearts to be healed. For eternity.

Two palms pressed against stone cold glass.

Fog spread across the thin wall, the warmth of their hands penetrating the icy barrier that forced them apart. There was nothing they could do.

Two pairs of dim eyes met through the crystal wall.

Tears of joy and sorrow trickled down rosy cheeks and rolled off their chins, falling noiselessly to the floor. Reassuring smiles were exchanged and they tried their best to let each other know that everything would work out the way they wanted it to.

The glass glazed over.

Their eyes were not to meet. Their mouths were not to speak. But their hands had never left the glass pane. They could both feel each other’s warmth seeping through the thin glass, and that alone was what they deemed their hope.

Ear-splitting cracks resonated through the empty abyss and lines s across the only thing that stood between them.

They could feel the glass shaking beneath their palms. It was cracking, splitting in every direction. It was breaking. The glass was breaking.

The noise ceased and they both remained silent.

They looked at each other through cracked glass.

It did not shatter.

~~~~~~

I sat up in bed, forehead pressed against my knees as I hugged my legs tightly to my chest. Warm tears ran down my reddened face as I heaved pants, trying to catch my breath. I lifted my head up, inhaling deeply as I dropped my arms to my sides. Falling back against my pillows, I turned weakly to my bedside table. I felt another tear trickle out the corner of my eye and drop soundlessly onto my pillow.

I heard a vague knock on the door and my mother’s faint voice calling me for dinner.

I did not move. I remained sprawled out on my bed, limbs limp and mind spinning. I knew that I could not keep this up. I knew that I had to do something to end this torture. This pain had to stop.

Tears blurred my vision and I blinked, letting them all tumble out. They didn’t stop, little salty droplets streaming down either side of my face as I covered my mouth and released a few muffled sobs.

Why is this happening to me?