Baekhyun gazed out of the window, sitting in the classroom. The teacher had long entered and begun class, but the male's thoughts were elsewhere. With Areum, to be exact. It honestly pained him to have behaved like this towards her, as he truly enjoyed her company. It felt great to be with her because he knew that her actual thoughts were similar to his. Her 'normal' image and her seldom random actions were farce, he figured. But as much as he wanted her to reveal her actual characters, her actual thoughts, as much as he wanted to help her overcome those barriers he'd overcome long time ago, he realized that changes were not easy. Also, changes do not come without consequences.

That was something he only realized when he heard her friends talk about him. He had just pulled Areum out of her comfort zone, kept her with him, thus damaging her and her friends' relation. Although he'd admit that he wasn’t very fond of the two other girls, he, for sure, didn’t know much about their friendship (it could be a deep one), so when he realized that he was indeed the cause of the problems between Areum and her friends, he felt bad. Although he wanted to show Areum the world from his point of view, he didn’t want the girl to have to bear the consequences.

For the following days, he occasionally walked past Areum's classroom, pricking up his ears to listen to a few conversations of Yura and Minah. He also asked a few gossipers in his class, and all that came to the conclusion that he indeed worsened Areum's 'reputation', if you will. The said girl wasn’t popular – by all means, no – but there had been rumors going around. For all he knew, Areum definitely didn’t like rumors or badmouthing behind her back – heck, that girl wanted to seem as normal as possible – and she seemed a bit afraid of changes.

So Baekhyun felt bad for suddenly intruding into her life and making her 'lose' her circle of friends and having her aim to seem normal destroyed. However, he hadn't spared a thought on it before, be it for obliviousness or ignorance.

But the male did not know how to solve this logically, and the guilt inside him resulted in suddenly blurting to Areum it'd be better for them to distance themselves. With a bit time, he could probably figure out a better solution, but for now that was all he could think of. It was safe to call him an idiot, but in the end it just came from the guilt, which was the result of the fact that he cared for Areum.

Oh, if he only continued to be oblivious and pull Areum more into his world, ignoring the consequences, then things would be easy. But he was a kindhearted person – so meone who often felt guilty for things he wasn't at fault for.

-

Areum leaned against the back of her chair, a sigh escaping her lips. A few days already had she not talked to Baekhyun. One reason was because she'd been taken aback by what he suddenly said and also felt … fed up with the sudden change of his behaviour. The other reason was the fact that she hadn't found him sitting at the trees when she went there. He had probably spent the breaks in the classroom or elsewhere. But Areum had too much pride to go to his classroom, as she didn’t see why she had to take the initiative and make him come back. He was the one who suddenly left, wasn't he?

The emotions seething in her chest were a mix of disappointment and confusion.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter