❝ chapter six: hoping
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                                   chapter six of forever mute, a -byungkitty-  storyline

It was nearing the end of the week when it happened.

I was sighing to myself as I sat in my last period of both the day and week, since today was a Friday. The past few days had taken forever to pass by... It seemed as though the hours in school had been stretched to be longer than they actually are and the nights where I lay in bed with open eyes were endless, taking too long for the sun to rise. It wasn't a pleasant week, but I guess it could've been worse.

As if that wasn't enough, there were more tutoring sessions with the devil's advocate with every passing day. There wasn't any difference in the way Myungsoo treated me (like trash, if you're still wondering) and the tutoring sessions remained the same. He would sit and lounge around while I read the thick textbook of his by myself, trying to catch up on the material (for some reason, high schoolers here in Korea know much more than I do). I don't even know why I bother trying to study; it wasn't like it could help me, anyway.

I hated Myungsoo's guts and the time I had to spend in his presence, but the only reason why I could survive through the sessions was because of my curiosity. I knew being nosy isn't very smart, but I wanted to meet his mother again. Her mysterious aura was intriguing and I wanted- no, I felt a need- to know more about her.

But whenever I sat in Myungsoo's dim study room, I caught no sight of his mom. He was careful to kept an eye on me, not letting me leave to wander, and I never saw his mom around. She was most likely resting in her room all day and night, therefore leading me to believe she was ill or sick. If I asked Myungsoo about it, he would get pissed and that wouldn't be good.

Unfortunately, the glimpse that I got of her several days ago seemed like the first and last time I would ever get to see her. Just another glimpse would be fine for me; that was all I hoped for.

I emerged from my flow of thoughts once the teacher dismissed the class and immediately headed outside. That was the last period of the day, meaning all the students could finally leave. I needed to walk through the main schoolyard in order to get to where Myungsoo's house was located. Since there was some sort of sports club going on today, there was too many students to just cut through and I decided to walk around the entire building, being very unlucky about how my classroom was on the farthest side of the campus.

I knew Myungsoo would either be waiting for me in front of the school or at his house, so I sped up my pace a little bit and slung my backpack more securely over my shoulder. For some strange reason, I started to get a little nauseous as I walked along the brick wall of the school. Feeling a bit light-headed, my fingertips ghosted across the surface of the wall if I needed to support myself. What was happening to me?

Turning a corner to where the back of the school connected to the parking lot, I began to feel rather dizzy. My knees wobbled as I tried to focus my sight on something or someone and keep myself steady. I saw several figures standing next to a nearby parked car and I squinted.

I made out one of them to be Myungsoo, who's lips were moving but I couldn't hear any of his words. The other two guys were look-a-likes, twins if they were, and both held something in their hands. It took me a while to figure out they were cigarettes once they put it into their mouth and puffed out smoke. The wisps of gray floated gracefully upwards and disappeared entrancingly. I began to cough.

My hand was held to cover my mouth and try to muffle the retched sounds, but I couldn't stop because it suddenly got really hard to breath. What was wrong with me?

"Ye Jin?"

I think I heard someone call my name, but I couldn't really tell. The voice was distant and airy.

"Ye Jin, are you okay?"

The voice was closer now. It was a familiar voice. Was it Myungsoo's? I think I see him walking closer to me.

"Ye Jin!"

I coughed again several times again before blacking out.

"Is she awake yet?"

"I don't know, why don't you go look for yourself!"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Why do I have to? You're the one who asked!"

"So? That doesn't mean-"

"Daeryong, Soryong, would you guys shut up? She's awake now."

My eyes flickered open once I heard loud bickering voices. I could see two faces hovering over mine and I immediately tried to sit up. The twins from before, whom I assumed were Daeryong and Soryong, were standing near the bed I was laying in and Myungsoo was sitting in a chair on the other side of them room.

"You fainted so we brought you to the nurses's office, who went home already." He explained to me before I could ask. "You've been out for about twenty minutes or so."

The light-haired twin spoke up right after him. "It was really weird. We were just having a smoke when suddenly you were standing there, watching us, and then you fell to the ground. That's downright creepy."

The dark-haired twin nodded in agreement and I looked back at Myungsoo. Smoking? I thought smoking was strictly forbidden on school grounds. Maybe rules were different here after all... wait a second. Them smoking and me fainting? Don't tell me... The image of my old house engulfed in flames flashed in my mind and I groaned.

Please don't tell me that because of that fire, it became a traumatic memory that haunted me and gave me problems. If that was the case, then yay; one more reason to add to the list of Why Amy Lee is So Pathetic. Now I was kind of relieved the school nurse wasn't here.

Myungsoo abruptly stood up and my eyes followed his movements. "The nurse said to make sure you weren't sweating or doing anything weird when you were unconcious and once you woke up we could all go home."

I lifted my arms up from the bed and signed to him, Don't you have to tutor me today?

"Nah, let's just call today off. Mr. Choi won't mind." He paused, casting a glance over at the twins who were watching, before putting his hands in his pockets. "Are you able to go home by yourself?"

A little surprised at why such a question left the mouth of a person like Myungsoo, I slowly nodded and with one last look at me, he left the room with Daeryong and Soryong (I couldn't tell who was who) following suit.

Sighing, I caressed my temples before climbing out of the infirmary bed. Why did Myungsoo help me? He could have just ditched me outside when I fainted. Or leave once he brought me here.

I noticed my bag placed on the floor next to the door and picked it up before heading to Ji Eun's house, the place that I've learned to accept as my new home. Maybe having a quiet family that didn't ask many questions wasn't all too bad.

The moment I took off my shoes and opened the front door, I was greeted by my enthusiastic cousin. She was sitting on the living room couch, criss-crossing her legs, and holding a guitar in her lap. From the looks the pencil she held in her hand, she seemed to be composing a song.

"Ye Jin, why are you home so early?" Ji Eun looked rather startled to see me and took her attention away from her music sheets. She put down her beloved guitar and was about to walk over to me. "Don't you have tutoring today?"

I shook my head and was about to sign something to her before I realized she didn't know sign language. Sighing, I took the pencil she was holding in her hand and bent down, writing "my tutor was busy." in the margins of her music sheet.

Ji Eun nodded and tidied up her work space. "That means you're free for the rest of the day, right?" She continued happily before I could answer. "Let's eat out tonight! I have this particular place I want to you to try; it's really cool!"

Eating out didn't seem too bad, nor was it seem like a problem, so I agreed. After all, I didn't have the heart to turn down such an excited, innocent little girl.

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✉(A/N);

Another short update in celebration of Ailee's comeback, Infinite's comeback, and Tasty's comeback! I was planning on updating a longer chapter once version a of Destiny was out, but I didn't want to wait for too long. Maybe I'll update once Trollim puts it up. who's the troll now, me or them?