XV

I’m outside your house. He sends the text, then leans against the gate, hands in his pockets, the cart of ice cream at his feet. She told him earlier on in the day that she couldn’t do rounds with him today, and he couldn’t help feeling a little sad. He waits a moment, although it seems more like a lifetime, before his phone emits a light ding. He fishes it out.

Give me a minute.

He stows the phone back into his pocket and takes in a deep breathe of the night air. It is slightly chilly today, and even though he had protested, Dasom had made him wear a jacket before he headed out. He fiddled with the zipper of his hoodie, turning around when he hears a click of the door.

He smiles at her, but she seems guarded.

“What’s wrong?”

She looks at him, giving him a once over, before nodding. “Good, you’re wearing your jacket.”

His eyes fill with puzzlement, and she gives him an apologetic look.

“My classmate’s here for a school project.” She sounded so helpless. “I don’t know why, but she insisted. She’s… Scary. She’s loud and judgemental and I don’t know why she wanted to come over her when we could have done the thing in school-“

“Seohyun!”

Both their heads snap up. Standing at the doorway is her classmate. There is an aura around her that Myungsoo dislikes immediately.

“What are you doing out there?” Her classmate comes over. She catches sight of Myungsoo, her voice drops a tone lower, a sad attempt at sounding husky. “And who’s this?”

Seohyun clears , not knowing what to say. “He’s-“

“I’m Minji,” she said, moving to stand in front of Seohyun, cutting the girl off. “Let’s be friends.” She bats her eyelashes.

Myungsoo fixes her with a hard stare, before glancing at her outstretched hand. He has absolutely no inclination to take it. There is a beat of silence, and Seohyun gnaws at her lip, staring at Myungsoo in helplessness.

He turns away from the offensive girl, and instead gives his girl a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

She can only nod, speechless, and he gives her one last, lingering look before dragging his ice cream cart off.

She is snapped out of her reverie by her classmate.

“What an impolite man!” Minji scoffs. Seohyun resists the urge to roll her eyes.

You’re one to talk.

“Let’s go back and finish out work,” she says softly, not bothering to see if her classmate follows as she makes her way back into the house. Her heart flutters at how Myungsoo smiled only for her.

Her parents arrive at home soon after, but Minji’s pride is too wounded for her to say anything. Minji is not used to this, for she is one of the popular girls in school, and she never gets rejected by a boy. Seohyun is glad that Myungsoo didn’t seem the least bit affected by her charms.

All through the night, as their work on their project, he texts her constantly, trying to keep her sane while she does her report with Minji, and she replies almost immediately all the time, for she needs something to keep her sane while she works.

--

XXII

“How’s your school like?”

Seohyun looks at him. He seems happier, more contented, and she likes to believe that it’s because of the ice cream sales. He told her about how he had bought Dasom a cute little hat with his earnings, and how he can now afford mechanical pencils on his own. He seems to be eating more now, too – he has grown more muscular, but still retains his lean frame. She smiles at his question.

 “Its… Fine. Stressful.”

He laughs at that, lifting his head up to watch the flies swarm around the street lamp as the sky darkens in preparation for night. They are crouched along the sidewalk outside her house. They aren’t selling ice cream today, he hasn’t brought the cart along with him. He just had the urge to come see her, and come see her he did.

“It’s one of the best schools around here, can’t help that it’s stressful.” He watches the tiny flies dance around the lamp, carvorting around their source of warmth, relishing in the comforting heat. “You have friends?”

She is silent for a moment, contemplating.

“Not close ones.” She decides to say. “It feels like I only hang out with them for the sake of it, you know?

“Like for survival.” He supplies, and she nods fervently, surprised that he understands.

He trails his hand along the potted plants that line the sidewalks. He’s always known that she had problems, problems that she hadn’t been comfortable talking about to him. It hurt a bit, that she wouldn’t tell him her troubles, but he was contented with being able to talk to her regularly.

“It’s okay,” he smiles, “I’ll be your friend.”

She turns around to give him a grin, and his heart skips a beat. They enjoy the sound of crickets in the bushes, of the snippet of music coming from one of the houses down the lane, of the rush of cars in the distance.

“What about you?” She suddenly asks.

“What about me?”

“Your school, your friends?” She is intrigued.

He laughs again. “I don’t have friends.”

“You don’t have friends?” Somehow, he seems to be someone that people would want to get to know.

“I had brothers,” he said, and she knows that he means brothers in a gang. “And I have dorm mates now, and Dasom and my mentors. But nope; no friends. I work alone.”

“Well, I’ll be your friend.” She mimicks him.

“Nah, I don’t want you to be my friend.” Myungsoo is serious all of a sudden, and looks straight into her eyes. She is rather taken back by the sudden change in tone. He leans close, his eyes suddenly burning with a strange intensity. He is so close that she thought she would be able to count the lashes on his eyes, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her. “I’d rather you be my girlfriend.”

He regrets it the moment it escapes his mouth. That look in her eyes, of such shock – he could only take this negatively.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. What in the world compelled him to say such a thing? He wanted to hit himself. She was too precious, too sweet for someone as bad and as broken as him. She was beautiful and he was anything but. He didn’t deserve him, he should have just been happy at being friends. He just had to ruin everything by speaking his mind.

 “Sorry.” He mutters.

She is still frozen, stunned.

“Seohyun?” He calls softly. He cannot keep the disappointment out of his eyes.

“I-“ she chokes out.

Her phone rings, and she jumps, giving a startled yelp. She almost falls over, and he reaches out to steady her without thinking, his fingers wrapping around her wrist. She gulps at the contact – the rush of emotions is too much to bear.

Remembering the phone, she claws at her pocket, finally retrieving it and answering her call.

“Dad?”

He rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. He cannot quell the disappointment in the heart. Myungsoo has always been good at hiding his emotions, but he has a feeling that his sadness is etched all over his face.

She ends the call, and lifts her head to look at him, biting her lips. He doesn’t know why, but he is close to tears. Trust him to do something stupid, something to ruin their friendship.

“Myungsoo.” His name on her lips is like salvation from the toils of life. He would never tire of hearing her say his name over and over and over again.

“I’m sorry.” He places a hand over his face, too ashamed to look her in the eye. “I just like you so much.”

A soft gasp, then-

“Myungsoo.” She whispers softly. “Myungsoo.”

Cold fingers wrap around his own, and she slowly pries his hand off his face. He is startled to realise that there are tears in her eyes.

“Could you say that again?” She said, voice barely audible. “That last part.”

He starts. “I… I just like you so much.”

She sniffles, before letting out a watery laugh. She presses the heel of her palm against her eyes as she tries to stop.

“Sorry,” she lets out. “Give me a moment.”

Now it is his turn to pry her hands away from her face. He inches closer and gently pushes her head against his shoulder, letting her rest there while she sobs quietly.

“They-“ she starts, then bites her lip, unsure of how to continue. “They all hated me.”

This is news. He shifts so that he can look down at her eyes. “Who?”

“People... In school.” She hiccups. “They used to say, ‘nobody likes you’ and ‘you don’t have friends’ and I didn’t want to tell my mom because I was scared she would leave me too.”

A new bout of tears threaten to let loose, and he finds himself wrapping his arms around her thin frame. She shivers slightly.

“Seohyun,” he murmurs. “Seohyun.” Him saying her name is like a lullaby to her ears. He repeats it again and again until her sobs die down. His thumb slides across her cheek to wipe away a tear.

“They don’t know what they missed.” He says, shifting yet again so that somehow, she ends up curled against his warm body. She should be feeling scandalized, but all she can feel is the warmth of his body, and the rhythmic beating of his heart. “It’s their loss, for not wanting to be friends with you.”

Her eyes flicker up to meet his, brown on brown, and his arms tighten around her, and she realizes that this is the exact kind of warmth that she has been yearning for all her life. Myungsoo’s nose is inches from hers.

“It’s fine, really, you have me,” he whispers. “I won’t ever leave you.”

And she nods, because she believes.

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Pretty unsatisfied with how choppy this chapter turned out... It's not as smooth to read as the others, but I wanted to get things going.

Thank you for reading and patiently waiting! <3