Kwangmin walked closely beside her, worried that she would collapse at any second from the looks of her crooked and unsteady walk. He was counting on an early arrival from the bus to relieve him but before they could get to the bus stop, Jangmi insisted she wanted to walk. They had the entire afternoon and evening, maybe even nighttime to get home. What she didn’t want was to be bombarded with questions from her parents about why she came back alone or even Eungyo who never truly supported her choice to be with Youngmin. They strolled down a path beside the main road, occasionally shaded by overhanging trees for forced urban greenery. Kwangmin, though, was always awkwardly one step behind. Jangmi’s tearing subsided but she was still suffering the aftershock of a bad epiphany.

            “Today’s really strange.” Jangmi observed, her eyes darted upwards towards the clear blue afternoon sky.

            “Hm?” Kwangmin asked a little flustered. He could never really think of good responses when prompted. Jangmi turned her head around to examine Kwangmin’s nervous face before explaining,

            “It seems like every time I’m with you the clouds will start to turn gray and the rain will start to fall. It’s strange that the sky is still clear right now.” Kwangmin himself glanced upwards only to be blinded by the blazing rays of the sun.

            “Oh, really…” Kwangmin mumbled, biting his lip as he realized her assumption to be true. He knew she didn’t mean it as an insult but only a light ice breaker to lighten up the dark atmosphere she had previously created.

            “It was like this even when we were little, remember?” Jangmi continued, keeping her walking pace slow but much more stable than earlier. Kwangmin remembered—he remembered how they parted eight years ago at the beaten down, abandoned playground not far from where they still lived. Why did it have to be like that? Why did his presence always bring forth a rainstorm?

            “What do you think of me?” She suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had slowly crept in. He wasn’t prepared to answer something like this, and she had never asked anything so personal before. Jangmi had always had a feeling that Kwangmin felt more towards her than just friendship, but it was her own pathological ignorance that allowed her to turn a blind eye towards him. She took every kind gesture as something he ought to do, and for that she felt sorry, but despite all that she was still unwilling to acknowledge his feelings; all because a part of her still had hope in Youngmin.

            “You don’t have to answer.” She added, noticing his reluctance to open his mouth. Sighing, she turned her gaze away and walked forward to be now two steps ahead. Kwangmin made no effort to catch up.

~~~

            The weekend went by coldly with little or no contact between two households. Youngmin wasn’t sure if Jangmi had forgiven him for standing her up but even his guts had limitations. This was a step in messing with her heart, and he had a perfect plan to ‘make it up to her’. Monday was going to be a big day.

            “Jangmi-ah, how was your date on Saturday?” Eungyo asked casually, showing only slight interest as she pulled open her Japanese notebook. Eungyo paid no attention to the pages assigned to read nor did she do her homework, but Japanese was just an extra class to fill up space so she really didn’t care. Jangmi shrugged in response, fiddling with a lead pencil in her hand but not sparing her a glance. Eungy could tell immediately that their meeting didn’t go well. Once a jerk always a jerk and he was capable of hurting her without shame. Still not paying attention in class, she pulled out her cell phone and browsed through old pictures she took back in Japan. Without noticing the vibration to alert the arrival of a text message, her eyes caught sight of the small envelope like thumbnail beside the digital time on her screen. She quickly scrolled to her inbox and she froze when she saw the name; Jo Youngmin. They hadn’t spoken since that incident on Saturday, but now he was casually texting her like nothing had happened. It was a shameless action, but she tried not to think much of it.

            “What’s up with you?” Eungyo pondered, slamming her notebook closed and glancing over at Jangmi’s cell phone screen.

            “Youngmin—“

            “I’ve been trying to understand what you see in that kid all weekend and honestly, I don’t get it. He’s got a conceited personality and does things shamelessly. How can anyone stand a guy like him? I… tried to let him off since you said you believed in him and you wanted me to see the good in him but after what happended with Minwoo and everything I really don’t understand.” Eungyo burst, getting straight to the point as irritation took over.

            “Yah, don’t you dare badmouth Youngmin.” Hyunseong turned around angrily to defend his ‘master’.

            “Stay out of this; you’re just another one of his little followers with no backbone.” Eungyo pushed him away with her words and kept her attention on Jangmi. Her idiocy needed to end. Ignoring Eungyo’s outburst she explained,

            “He wants me to go to the gymnasium at lunch.” Eungyo breathed out heavily in disbelief and pushed her bangs back with her right hand.

            “Don’t go.” She said almost commandingly. She knew she was in no position to tell Jangmi what to do or not do with her boyfriend, but she just felt a bad vibe about it. Something bad would happen, she was sure of it.

            “I’m going to go, Eungyo.” Jangmi insisted; her expression was indifferent but stern at the same time.

            “Geurae, do what you want.” Eungyo surrendered and returned her focus to the thick textbook in front of her.

~~~

            At lunch time, Eungyo headed straight to Kwangmin’s table making it there first and taking a seat directly across from where Kwangmin always sat. She was irritated at how every friend she made ended up falling head over heels for an ignorant jerk, which resulted in her distance from Chanmi ever since Jangmi showed up. They were still friends, just not as close anymore.

            “Why is the mood so dark here?” A familiar, upbeat voice asked from behind her. She shifted her head to the right to see Minwoo plop onto the empty seat beside her with his usual optimistic smile. He never wore a hat today like he usually preferred, and to Eungyo he looked more handsome that way.

            “I’m just a little irritated today; it’s nothing.” She admitted, crossing her arms over the table as her head slowly sank. She didn’t want to be a whiner, but she didn’t want to pretend that she was happy.

            “Is it about Jangmi?” Minwoo assumed, taking a bite out of the apple that was in his hand. If she didn’t know any better she would guess that he was on a diet from the lack of protein in his lunch but she wasn’t in the mood to tease. Only recently did it hit her that something was wrong. Why was Minwoo sitting here rather than jumping around, breaking it down on the dance floor with his usual crew? Now her growing curiosity was getting the best of her as she watched him happily eat his apple glancing here and there. No one would ever guess that anything was wrong.

            “What? Is there something on my face?” Minwoo asked jokingly, wiping invisible dust off his left cheek when he noticed Eungyo’s curious stare.

            “Ani,” Eungyo laughed light-heartedly. Minwoo had a charm for lifting bad moods, “I’m just wondering why you’re here, that’s all.” She poked a hole in her juice box with the plastic straw and started taking a sip.

            “It’s not fun around Youngmin and them anymore.” Minwoo admitted briefly, avoiding all details as he kept a steady smile on his face. He really was the master of hiding things. Kwangmin joined them shortly, slightly alarmed that his lunch hour company grew over the weekend. He was just glad it was Minwoo and not Donghyun.

            “Where’s Jangmi?” Kwangmin managed to muster up enough courage to ask. Minwoo shrugged, finishing up his apple and chucking the apple core into the garbage can effortlessly.

            “I heard everyone was going to the gymnasium.” Minwoo shrugged casually, not thinking much of it.

            “Youngmin told her to go there at the start of lunch.” Eungyo remembered, now feeling the need to see what was going on. The cafeteria was emptier than usual, so it couldn’t be something small. The three of them rushed to the gym and were shocked to see the pull out stage set up with the loud speakers marking the sides.

            “What’s going on?” Eungyo muttered, noticing Youngmin standing up on stage with a microphone in his hand. Kwangmin was first to spot Jangmi sitting to the left of the stage right next to the speakers, smiling foolishly as she eyed her boyfriend on stage. The music started, a cool, calm melody filled the entire gym as the crowds swayed side to side, waiting for Youngmin’s voice to form a perfect harmony. The moment he lifted the microphone to his lips and sang; the crowds in the back grew frustrated. They couldn’t hear him; the microphone wasn’t on. Confused, he took a quick look to see that the switch on the individual microphone was on and then shot a desperate glance at the tech crew behind the stage. They gave him a worried shrug, meaning that everything should be working fine. Youngmin tapped on his three times and began expecting it at every angle. Jangmi watched him obliviously, waiting for the sound to go back on when Youngmin accidently pointed the microphone directly at the speakers, causing a high pitch screeching noise. It didn’t occur to Youngmin that his microphone direction was causing it until five seconds after and once the screeching stopped, the entire crowd was complaining. The smooth sound of the music coming back on quieted them down again and this time, the microphone worked fine. Youngmin’s warm voice filled the room and heads were swaying once again. He was too caught up enjoying the limelight to glance at the girl he had dedicated everything this noon to.

            “His singing isn’t that bad…” Eungyo nodded, watching Youngmin capture the crowd’s ears effortlessly. Minwoo, though wasn’t completely on good terms with Youngmin again had to admit this performance wasn’t bad.

            “Something’s not right.” Kwangmin noted, his breathing grew rapid as he started sprinting onto the stage. It was unbelievable that no one but him had noticed Jangmi’s struggling. When Kwangmin got closer he saw that her eyes were tearing up as her hands covered her ears, then fell back to her lap. She was cringing in her seat, her head shaking back and forth.

            “Jangmi,” Kwangmin called, now beside her. Eungyo and Minwoo caught on and rushed to her side after Kwangmin.

            “Jangmi!” Eungyo called out much louder than Kwangmin did. Her voice broke the audience’s attention and brought all eyes to Jangmi.

            “Wae irae?” Kwangmin asked, holding her steady by her shoulders to force her shaking to stop. He was certain it wasn’t a seizure.

            “An deulryeo…” Jangmi mumbled, tears pouring down her face at the fact that she herself couldn’t hear her own voice.

A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday like I promised ):! I anticipate that this fanfic won't be too long x] Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter :D!

Geurae - Fine

Wae Irae - Why are you like this?

An deulryeo - I can't hear