(Sunhwa POV)

“I’m leaving mom, bye!” 

“Wait, before you leave. Where is the daehyun boy?”

“I don’t know. Why are you asking me?” I look at her suspiciously. Why did she care about Daehyun all of a sudden?

“Well, he used to come over so often. I haven’t seen him in such a long while...”

“Mom, I’m not friends with him anymore.” This is the best lie I can come with. It’s pretty bad, but it’s still half true.

“What do you me-”

“Sorry mom! Gotta go!” I open the door, ready to tune out all thoughts of Jung Daehyun when he appears in front of my face.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” I don’t bother hiding the shock from my voice. What the hell is this kid doing on my front lawn? “Get off my property before I sue you!”

“Shut up, you wouldn’t.” He scoffs. “Now, let’s get going. We’re going to be late for class.”

I’m about to hurl another insult at him, when I hear the sound of pounding glass. I turn around, and I see my mom looking through the window, her smile as big as ever. WHAT THE HELL?

“Hello!” Daehyun bows innocently, and my mom nods in return. It takes all of my energy not to kick this kid in the nuts.

“Let’s go.” I grab his arm, and drag him out of my lawn and into the streets. As soon as we’re out of my mom’s sight, I let go.

“I’m not walking with you. You go ahead.”

“But I want to walk with you.” He casually swings his arm over my shoulder. “Oh right, we have band practice today. So, you better skip your tuition.”

“What?”

“B-A-N-D practice. You know? It’s when we play our instru-”

“I know what band practice is, you idiot.” I want to kill this boy. How can one being irritate another to this extent? “I’m not walking with you, nor am I going to your stupid band practice. I quit.”

“You can’t quit. I won’t let you.”

“Try me.”

I’m about to walk away when he suddenly grabs my arm, forcing me to face him again.

“What is it?”

“Come to band practice, and bring Jiyeon along as well. Then maybe, L and her can reconcile. And as for the walking to school, I’m following you even if you don’t want me to.”

I think over this for a second. Hmm....maybe it will be better if Jiyeon and L start to talk more. And it has been a long time since I’ve played.....

“Fine. But why are you so hell bent on walking with me? Do you like me?”

I wait for him to deny it, or to tell me I must be crazy, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just smiles. Like an idiot. His toothy grin is contagious enough to make me break into a small smile as well.

“Why are you smiling?” He asks me, his smile getting bigger with every word.

“Shut up, why are you?”

“Cause it’s always funny to see how ugly your face can get in the early morning.”

“Yah!” 

“We’re going to late for school.” He walks ahead of me, his backpack hanging on only one of his shoulders, his stance as straight as ever. 

But his smile never wipes off.

                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Jiyeon POV)

I’m laying down on a few sets of chairs, my legs sprawled all over the surface. My head is on top of my arms, and I can see the ceiling perfectly from here. I inhale the dusty scent of our classroom, and I close my eyes. 

Breathe in, breathe out.

There’s still about half an hour till school starts, and as usual I haven’t done my homework. Ms. Kahi will probably yell at me, and then I’ll be sent to detention. Then TaeTiSeo will probably mock me, and L will just shake his head while Suzy will ask me if I want a stupid cookie or some kind of gift.

“Life .”

“I agree.”

My eyes open, searching for the owner of the voice. Even though I already know who it is.

“Get out of here. This isn’t even your class.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m allowed to be here.”

“Fine, I don’t want you here. Out.” I point to the exit on his right. “You can use that one, or the one behind me.”

He smirks. “But I want to be here.”

This takes me by surprise, and he knows it. He takes this chance to enter the room, and sit next to me.

“So how are you?”

“Good, now that you’re out of my life. And it would be even better if you could get out of my classroom as well.”

He chuckles, and I can see his small dimple. I want to touch it, but that would just be creepy. Besides, we’re not dating anymore and I’m not supposed to like him, so I’m not allowed to touch it.

Am I even making sense?

“I’m great too, thanks for asking.” His voice drips with sarcasm. “Me and Suzy are on a break. She said I was acting like my old self, and I agreed.”

My eyes widen, my mouth fully open. 

“Close that thing.” He touches my chin slightly, but I immediately slap his hand.

“Don’t touch me.”

I sound so icy, it scares me. Never in my life had I sounded so mean...except when I talked to Sunhwa about Suzy, but that was a different matter.

“Sorry.” His eyes tell me he’s hurt. It’s the way they become more glassy than usual. As if he was barely holding himself together. As if he was holding back tears.

“It’s okay.” I gulp.

I’m probably encouraging him to bother me, but I want him to know I regret it. I wouldn’t want to hurt him. Even though he hurt me a million times more.

“I’m not sure about my feelings. I want to like her because that’s the way it should be. I should like my first love, I should have waited for her. Like a true lover, I should have stayed still.”

It hurts even more if thats possible. My chest tightens, and I swear I can feel myself dying a little.

“But then you came into the picture.” He looks at me, but I instantly look away. Any eye-contact with him will cause my heart to jump and that...that I do not want.

“You make me sound like a bad thing.”

“But that’s what you are!”

“What?” I raise my voice higher. “How dare you?”

“No, no. Jiyeon listen.” He starts to lay his arm on my shoulder, but stops halfway, and awkwardly stuffs his hand back into his pocket. “You’re bad to me in a good way. It’s like me and Suzy should be, we could be, but then there’s you. And that’s where I’m lost.”

If he described me to someone, they would probably think I’m some sort of a drug. Seriously. Bad to me in a good way? Other girls may fawn over this, but I’m just disgusted. 

“You sure have a way with words.”

He chuckles again. “I know. But listen Jiyeon, I’m sincerely sorry for ditching you. I’m probably the worst guy ever. You hate me, don’t you?”

I nod.

“Good. You should.” He tries to smile, but its hopeless. “Sorry again, and I just thought you should know. I’m not going to date anyone until I get my head cleared.”

“Good.”

“Uhm, what are you going to do about you and Junhyung?”

I look at his fidgeting fingers. “Why do you care? You jealous.”

Silence is what I get.

“Are you actually?” There’s a slight hint of annoyance in my voice, which was not was how it sounded in my brain.

This time he’s the one to look away, but not fast enough since I’m able to catch a glimpse of his red cheeks, before he stares at the empty chairs on the other side.

“Would it kill you if I was?” He whispers this so quietly, at first I thought I was hearing things. Then I can see his shoulders straight, his chest unmoving. He was waiting for my response, he was holding his breath.

“I wouldn’t necessarily like it.”

His shoulders instantly sag. His chest starts rising and falling but he makes it seem as if it’s a chore rather than a natural instinct.

“Jiy-”

The bell rings then, and I can hear the faint steps of the students entering the school. The nearby doors start clicking open, and it won’t be long until the door in front of us flings open and my classmates catch us two together, and then my already lost popularity will just plummet further and further down the social ranks, until I turn into a complete nobody.

Okay, okay so maybe things weren’t going to get thaaat far, but it was going to get worse unless I did something. Before I’d get “Hey’s” and “Hello’s” everywhere I went, but now I’d be lucky