Jjung, Chanyeol and “The Mystery Girl”: Age 16/18

Even though Ssul had rejected Chanyeol, they still remained close. I knew Ssul would never lie to me and I had seen Chanyeol flirting with other girls so I knew he was, in a way, over Ssul but it still made me uncomfortable whenever she hung out with him. I knew I didn’t have the right to feel this way but I couldn’t control how I felt. Still I felt bad that I had misjudged Chanyeol so I decided to seek him out and apologize for being so rude.

“Chanyeol hyung, can I speak with you for a moment?” I asked when I happened to run into him the day after the incident.

He looked at me and gave me a nod. “I assume you know the truth now. I told you…”

“Yes, and I just wanted to apologize for being so rude. I’m sorry I misjudged you,” I bowed.

“It’s okay. You were just being a good friend and I can totally understand that. I’m actually glad that Ssul has someone who cares so much about her even if I was at the receiving end of the wrath,” he joked.

I guess this guy really isn’t all that bad. “It still doesn’t excuse my being rude,” I explained.

“Don’t worry; I would have done the same. Although… you like Ssul don’t you?” he asked.

His bluntness threw me for a loop. “N-No… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“I can tell you do… but does she know?”

“Uhm…”

“You haven’t told her have you? And she’s probably too oblivious to notice.”

“N-No… I-I…”

“Don’t worry I won’t tell her anything. But let me give you a little advice. You can keep this a secret all you want but if you really like her, you should tell her. Ssul’s an amazing girl. You and I both know that. How long do you think it will be before some guy sweeps her off her feet? Do you think she’ll be available forever? You should tell her now before someone else does. She may have rejected me but she might not reject the next guy and then you’ll regret it.”

My mind was completely blown. How does he know? Am I that obvious? If that’s the case does everyone know? Does Ssul know? No, she couldn’t. If she did, she wouldn’t treat me like she does. What he said started running through my mind. Should I tell her? No, it’s not the right time. I couldn’t speak with all these questions crushing my brain.

“Just consider what I said. I know we don’t know each other that well but I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean. I’ll see you later,” he concluded and left.

I just stood there, still paralyzed.

I needed to clear my head. There was just too much to think about. Why is this getting so complicated? Being around Ssul all the time didn’t help at all. It made me even more confused because every time I thought about confessing we would either get interrupted or some guy would hit on her and she would reject them or she would say something like “you’re such a good friend Jjung” or “if only I had a brother like you”. There was no way she felt the same as I did. I’m just another one of those guys she rejected.

On some days, it was agonizing being so close to her. I wanted to look at her all the time. I wanted to hold her hand so badly. Curse you Chanyeol! Why did you have to say those things to me?!

I had been trying to avoid her whenever I could which really only meant during lunch time. I was hoping that not seeing her so often would make these feelings go away. I was convinced that I was just infatuated with her because she was there all the time. So, I made up excuses to avoid eating lunch with the gang and just hide away, somewhere, alone. It was getting more and more difficult to justify my actions without making it seem like I was avoiding them though.

Whenever I managed to get away, I usually hid in the auditorium. It was quiet and no one ever went there during lunch hour. It was the perfect hiding spot. I usually just brought my mp3 player with me and just listened to some music to drown away my thoughts.

One day, I snuck away from lunch again telling the other three that a teacher had me running errands. As usual, I crept into the auditorium and plugged in my earphone and closed my eyes. I had the music blasting and which meant I usually couldn’t hear anything else. I was beginning to drift away when suddenly I felt my earphones being yanked out which scared be to death because I wasn’t expecting anyone. I was so frightened I slid off my seat. I pulled myself back up to see who it was. Starring back at me was the girl that Chanyeol was hitting on that day, the same girl I bumped into.

“Ohmigod! You shouldn’t do that. You nearly scared me to death!” I exclaimed.

“Sorry, I called out to you but you didn’t respond so I had to unplug your earphone,” she responded. “Besides you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked sarcastically.

“I’m running an errand for a teacher,” she answered with a grin.

I thought it was ironic that that was exactly the excuse I gave Ssul, AJ hyung and Luna. “Fine, I’ll leave now. Besides it’s almost time to get back to class anyway.” I started to leave.

“Hey, wait! Before you leave, could you help me out?”

I sighed. “Sure.”

“Sorry, it’s just that I need to get something out of the storage room and the door tends to get stuck so it’s better if there’s someone else to hold it open,” she explained.

I nodded and followed her to the storage room.

“Just wait here and keep the door open,” she instructed.

“Okay.”

She went in and I held the door open. After a few minutes, I heard loud sounds of falling objects followed immediately by a scream. I didn’t have time to think. I immediately ran into the room to look for the girl. I found her pinned to the ground by some fallen objects. I hurriedly started removing the objects off of her.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” I asked worriedly.

She tried moving but she flinched in pain. “Ah! I think my I hurt my leg. It hurts when I try to move it.”

I thought about what to do for a second. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get help,” I told her and went back out. However, it turned out that the door was stuck just like she said it would. I kicked it in frustration. Then I went back to her.

“Crap! The door is stuck. I’m so sorry.”

“Well we can’t do anything about it now. We’ll just have to wait until someone finds us. The teacher is expecting me so if I don’t return soon they should come looking for me.”

I sighed. I went back to the door and started shouting for help and knocking at it.

“Don’t bother, no one will hear us,” she shouted at me.

I couldn’t just do nothing so I kept at it. After a few minutes, I eventually gave up. I then went around the storage room to see if I could find something useful for her injury. The only thing I found was some cloth. I took it with me and went to check on her.

“Can you stand up at all?” I asked.

She tried standing but she couldn’t.

“Can you move your feet?”

She tried moving it and she cringed.

“I think it might be your ankle,” I said. I took the cloth and wrapped it around her ankle.

Just then we heard the door open. “Hello?” the person called out.

I immediately sprang to my feet and picked the girl up in my arms. “We’re in here! A student’s injured,” I called back. I carried her in my arms to the door.

It was a teacher holding the door open. “I was wondering where you were, are you alright?” the teacher asked.

But even before she could answer, I uttered, “She’s hurt. I’m going to take her to the nurse.” Then I rushed out towards the nurse’s office.

I got to the nurse’s office as quickly as I could and laid her down on one of the examination beds. I explained what had happened to the nurse and it turned out I was right, she had sprained her ankle badly.

“I’m going to put you in a foot brace and you need to keep off your feet for awhile,” the nurse said to the girl.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“We’ll have to check back in a week and see how the progress goes but for now I would say she would probably need a few weeks to heal completely. Aside from the ankle, she also has a few cuts on her right arm and bruising on her forehead,” the nurse clarified. “I’ll call your parents to come pick you up.” Then she turned to me and dismissed me.

“Uhm, I’m so sorry about what happened. I hope you’ll recover soon,” I said to the girl.

“It’s not your fault. Thank you for everything,” she bowed her head.

“I’ll see you around,” I bowed back and left.

By the time I got back to class, class had resumed and I was late. I explained what had happened to the teacher and went back to my seat.

“Hey, what happened?” Ssul asked in a whisper.

“It’s a long story. A student got into an accident and I had to bring her to the nurse’s office,” I whispered back.

“Who was it?”

Just then I realized that I still didn’t know who she was or what her name was. “I-I’m not sure… some student.”

Ssul just gave me a suspicious stare.

(A few weeks later…)

Ssul and I were entering school like any usual day when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hey!” It was the mystery girl.

“Hey, you’re back! How’s the ankle?” I exclaimed. I was actually quite excited to see her again.

“All better, thanks to you,” she smiled.

I blushed. “Anyone would have done the same.”

“Not anyone would just carry a stranger in his arms all the way to the nurse’s office,” she teased.

“You WHAT?” cried Ssul. I had forgotten she was right there.

I blushed even harder. “Uhm, well… I didn’t really have time to think about it.”

“Well whatever it is, I’m grateful. I owe you one. Actually I owe you two,” she winked.

Two? What else did she owe me for?

“Anyway, I’ll see you around.” She started to walk off.

“What else did you do for her?” Ssul huffed.

“I-I don’t know…” I pondered. Then I recalled I still hadn’t gotten her name. “Hey, wait! You still haven’t told me your name…” I called out to the mystery girl.

“I’m Suzy, Bae Suzy,” she yelled back.

“And I’m…”

“Jung Soojung! I know…! I’ll see you soon… Jjung!”