jongdae starts attending school again a week later. she makes sure to avoid jongin at all costs--taking the long way to her classes and hiding in the bathroom during lunch. she doesnt even know why she’s hiding, this is stupid, she thinks, he probably forgot about me already. she exits the restroom and stars going to the cafeteria to grab some milk.

when she gets there, she doesnt expect kim jongin to be there. she almost freezes in her spot but someone accidentally brushed against her and pushed her a little so the faltering in her steps can be excused. jongin looks at her and smiles. her breath catches in and she starts choking on air. jongin’s got a worried look on his face and he grabs another drink and jogs to where jongdae is.

“here, drink it.” he places the bottle of juice in jongdae’s small hands and then he just stands there and stares.

jongdae unscrews the cap and starts drinking. neither of them move. “um, thanks, i guess.” she stares at the tip of her shoes and fiddles with the bottle in her hands.

‘i- it’s nothing. hey, i’m really sorry about taking your pencil. i didn't think you’d cry over something so stupid,” jongin laughs a little when he finishes his sentence and jongdae blushes. she knows it was unwise of her to cry over a ing pencil but goddamnit her mind’s ed up.

jongdae gives him a small smile and looks at his face. she notices the little marks of imperfection his face--most likely scars from previous acne. she wants to reach out and touch him, to pull him by his collar to bring him closer to her so she can examine his face more up-close. she wants him. “it’s fine, too. i was just having too many emotions that day. i almost broke,” she laughs bitterly.

there’s a look of concern in jongin’s face when she mentions the word broke, but jongdae thinks she just imagined it.

jongdae’s a bit disappointed when she learns jongin moved up to the front of the class. but she reminds herself that life’s not fair and we can’t have everything go the way we want it to be. she dozes off in class and completely misses how jongin turns around in his seat just to get a glimpse of her.

she runs into jongin at lunch everyday now and after the twelfth time, jongin asks her to eat with him. she hesitates at first, but soon gives in when jongin starts pouting. they eat under a tree in the quad of their school and jongdae lays her head down on her backpack and turns to her side to face jongin. he turns to look at her too, his sandwich halfway in his mouth. jongdae lets out a laugh because jongin looks silly like this, eyes wide and mouth filled with bread. she lays on her back again and she cant stop laughing.

she hasnt felt this happy in so long and she swears she feels better when jongin starts laughing with her. “why’d you start laughing?” jongin asks while he chews and jongdae decides he looks too adorable like this.

“your face looks funny,” she bites her lips when she turns her head to smile at him.

he smiles back at her and jongdae feels her heart rate increasing. jongin sounds like he’s about to say something but the bell rings, signaling that lunch is over. jongdae stands up and picks her slings her backpack over her shoulder. she’s about to say goodbye to him when he tugs softly at her arm. he opens his mouth but then goes back to closing it.

“what?” jongdae asks amusedly as she watches jongin blush furiously. “time is ticking, i cant stay forever, jongin. what do you need to say?”

jongin stands up and takes a pen out of his pocket, “here,” he takes jongdae’s hand and she suddenly feels conscious about the still healing cuts hidden by her blazer. but thankfully, jongin only writes on the palm of her soft hands and she giggles whenever the tip of the pen dips onto her skin. "text me later, okay?"

"I will. see you later," she promises and runs off to her next class.

to: jongin

hi it's jongdae :)

from: jongin

jongdae hi ㅇㅁㅇ

to: jongin

why the face??? haha //? ?//

from: jongin

you actually texted me(^○^) I was so scared you'd just ignore me

jongdae laughs out loud in her room, the thought of her actually ignoring jongin sounds preposterous. she replies to him saying that no, i'd never ignore you I swear. they text until it gets too late and their batteries are running low. jongdae falls asleep easily after.

jongin invites jongdae over one day to hang out and she just couldn't say no. jongin suggested that she get there as early as possible on Saturday morning and leave when the sun comes up the next day.

jongdae rolls her eyes at him and says she can only stay until eleven o'clock and jongin shrugs and tells her it's good enough.

they spend the morning cooking breakfast for the two of them only because jongin's parents left an hour before jongdae arrived. jongdae's frying eggs and sausages when jongin suggests they watch a movie.

jongin takes her to a theatre and picks a couple seat without jongdae knowing.

even though the movie jongin picked was terrible, jongdae doesnt mind because jongin’s warm against her side and the accidental touches when they reach for popcorn keep her so distracted.

but just as things start brightening up, a storm rolls around and floods everything out. jongin is absent one day and jongdae finds herself eating at the cafeteria at their usual spot alone. she doesnt mind being alone today, she’s used to it. she’s been used to it for years now. however, today is when things change because byun baekhyun decides to sit down in the same table.

“hello,” baekhyun waves her pretty, well manicured fingers. “you must be wondering why im sitting with you, right? like why would the most popular girl in school sit with a nobody like you, right? well, no need to ask questions! i’ll just give you the answers.

number one, i’m only here to talk to you about jongin. like, that’s it. no more. okay, number two is for me to tell you to back the off jongin. he’s been missing plans with his friends and me, for like, a while now. i’d really like for you to distance your pathetic self away from the greatness that is kim jongin. like, we were dating before you came into the picture. so like, erase yourself, yeah?” baekhyun nods her head slowly, as if trying to get jongdae to mimic her actions.

“oh, i,” jongdae is looking down at her food, clueless as to how to reply to what baekhyun had just said to her. fortunately, someone else arrives at the table and is tugging at baekhyun.

“baekhyun, come on, let’s go,” a tall boy tugs on baekhyun’s arm. he’s avoiding looking at jongdae and he looks guilty, like he knew what baekhyun had just said and as if he was a part of why baekhyun had said what she did.

baekhyun just rolls her eyes, flips her dyed hair, gets up, and leaves.

jongdae never looks up the rest of that day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yo hi im sorry for not updating for like 3 months hahaha sorry

but here you go enjoy it's unedited too