oo2

The Past

"So…" I trail. "He gave you back your cranes?"

Eun Ah made 1000 cranes for months and put them all together in empty glassed jars. When she first showed me the result, it was so overwhelmingly pretty it blew me away by how beautiful it all looked. It was also mind blowing when you thought of the amount of time and effort she spent making those.

"Not exactly." She tightens her lips and plays with the pink crane that is still in between her slim fingers.

"What do you mean ‘not exactly’? " I shake my head, not fully comprehending her reply and fidget a bit to sit more comfortably on her bed.

With a soft sigh, she raises her head and gives me a firm stare, but I can read behind her eyes.

She’s not sad.

She’s disappointed.

"Chanyeol came earlier and gave them to me." She looks down and bites her lip, to stop herself from laughing bitterly, or from crying- I can’t be sure.

Hearing that Chanyeol gave them back confused me. Why didn’t Sehun give them back himself if he wanted to reject her all along? It didn’t make sense.

"Why-" I my lips. "Why did Chanyeol give them back to you instead of Sehun? And did he even say anything to you or at least explained?" I let out a scoff to show that I thought it was utterly ridiculous.

Eun Ah glances outside her window. "No. He just handed the box to me and bowed. Then he left." She looks like she’s in a faraway place, her thoughts wandering in astral space. I really wish I can hear what’s she’s thinking right now.

The sun’s setting and I feel my stomach clench since I didn’t eat dinner yet.

I never understood and still don’t understand Sehun’s behaviour, so I just shake my head, not knowing what else to say but, "That guy is bipolar or something."

At this point, I was sure he liked Eun Ah back. Guess my instincts were wrong for the first time.

Slowly, her head turns to me.

"It’s Sehun." She raises a shoulder. "You can’t question why he acts the way he does because… he just does."

Even she’s the one who was rejected just now, she still smiles and defends him while she’s the one hurting instead of him- because let’s face it. Her heart already belonged to him the second he mentioned her favorite book.

She may be hard to crack for some, but Eun Ah’s still like any other girl out there.

Sweet words still made her heart flutter lightly. Interesting boys with great choice of literature intrigued her.  Boys who seemed close yet so far out of reach would linger in her mind without her wanting to.

And mostly, she found out that she liked whom she was- personality wise. So, meeting someone who shared similar interests and hobbies as she, pretty much made her anticipate the further meetings with the boy.

And maybe… Just maybe- love brought more self harm than happiness.

***

The Present

"Hmmm…" The boy crossed his arms and leaned on one of his fists. "I’m not sure it’s supposed to look like that." His frown softened and his pursed lips turned into a small smile.

"Are you going to judge my work or help me?" I raised my brows and huffed, still holding onto the heavy tent. He nodded with a playful eye roll and jogged to come join my superb tent and I.

"Where’s your friend?" He asked, searching for Eun Ah, but he still walked over and helped me hold up the tent since it was slowly falling towards me.

"I don’t know. Probably by the bleachers reading- knowing her."

"Hmm." He bobbed his head and took the hammer to hit on the screws to keep the tent from wavering. "She reads a lot huh- your friend I mean." It wasn’t a question, more of a statement so I only nodded back.

For gym, our teacher told us to practice putting up tents on the football field. It was an exercise, which also counted in our grades, so that wed have it easier on our last assignment. She didn’t precisely tell us what it was, but we figured it involved tents. And wilderness.

After a couple of minutes of struggling, (more on Baekhyun’s part because the boy was incredibly weaker than me), the tent was slowly looking like a real one. Well, it was standing and shaped like a half moon, so it must have been okay.

"There." I exclaimed happily, fixing the last screw before pulling away with a proud smile. "Not bad huh."

He chuckled and got up before straightening himself and dusting his pants.

Baekhyun nodded in approval with his lips in a tight but teasing smile. "Not bad Yoo Jin Ae. Not bad."

"Of course it’s not that bad." I lightly scoffed. "I practically put up the whole tent."

"Pfft- what? I-" He pointed to himself with a offended look on his face. "-I helped okay."

"Sure." I nodded, unconvinced. "I’ll give you a medal for ‘participation’ if you want-"

He interrupted me with a proud face. His chest seemed to have popped out a bit too.

"I already have one from when I used to be a scout, if you must know."

I gave a low whistle. "Wow. Baekhyun is amazing isn’t he?" I gave him a light tap on the cheek to give a more dramatic effect and raised my eyebrows with a small smile.

I glanced quickly, but it seemed that his cheeks had turned the faintest pink color. I didn’t want to overlook it so I only looked away and sighed.

He mumbled something, but it sounded mostly sounded like gibberish.

"What?" I raised a brow, as if asking him to repeat what he just said.

"Nothing." His voice sounded a few octaves higher than his usual one and I just waved his immaturity away with a small chuckle.

Silence took place between us and I now took notice of all the tents that were already put up long ago before we finished.

As if reading my mind, Baekhyun spoke up.

"They all went inside already, probably to eat lunch. "

I didn’t even realize we had been putting the tent for so long. I guess when one is having fun working hard, time quickly flies by.

My stomach then grumbled, and my hands hastily went to my belly to keep the sound from resonating throughout the whole school ground.

Baekhyun must have heard because he was hiding his mouth with his hand, like he didn’t want me to know he was laughing. But the crinkling corner of his eyes and the twinkle in them gave it away.

I rolled my eyes. "As if you're not hungry." And I soon as I said that, I got my answer when his stomach growled.

"We should eat."

"Yeah." I approved.

***

"Where’s Hayeon." The boy lazily asked spoke.

Eun Ah recognized the voice without needing to over analyze it. That’s why she kept on reading.

There was a moment of silence, and she deeply hoped the intruder had left.

But sometimes, when you really hope for something, it often doesn’t occur.

"You don’t reply much, do you?"

Keeping her concentration on the words in her book instead of focusing on Sehun’s presence, she put her finger at the edge of the page and turned it, almost ripping it in process.

The bench moved a bit, meaning that someone sat down on it.

Without turning her head, she glanced from the corner of her eyes and said with much hostility, "What are you doing?"

Sehun gave her a look. "What does it look like I’m doing?" His hands still in his pockets, he looked down at his legs and back up at her, stating the obvious. "I’m sitting down on a bench? For a girl, you’re not that smart up there," he pointed his temple, "-are you."

Hearing the rhetorical tone he used, shed didn’t want to waste her breath, so she only shook her head and closed her book loudly.

While roughly putting her book inside her bag, she didn’t hear her phone chime. She stepped down the bleachers before Sehun could even open his mouth to mention her about it.

With much interest- Sehun watched her move hastily, as if she couldn’t stand the thought of spending another second with him. He found it fascinating that he wasn’t the one trying to get away. Usually, hed ignore people or simply avoid human being who tried to get close to him.

Not that he hated people- well, he kind of did, but only because he met too many uneducated people with no manners. Hed been raised well and when his old friends didn’t understand his doings, he didn’t understand what they didn’t understand about his doing.

So, here was Oh Sehun, the boy who was now fascinated by the girl who seemed to want nothing to do with him.

And, he wanted to find out why.

***

"Way to ditch me with mr. Bacon. " I took a bite out of my sandwich and glared at the salt at the middle of the lunch table.

"Sorry." She apologized, but I knew it wasn’t exactly sincere. She always did anything to get away from P.E and her condition mostly helped.

"You cant always use the hypotension card to make me do your dirty work, Eun Ah." I tightened my fingers around my sandwich, making the ham come out a bit as I clenched my jaw.

I didn’t mind being stuck with Baekhyun, but it just to be left alone by your friend for some book. A darn book shed read a thousand times already.

"But you know what happens when I exercise too much."

"What’s demanding about putting up a tent?" I mumbled and let the last few pieces of my lunch fall on some napkins.

At that point, I thought that Eun Ah was acting like a kid that was too stubborn to do things him or herself. And I was getting a bit fed up with her attitude.

"Hellooooooo!" A voice piped up, breaking the tension between Eun Ah and me.

My head snapped up and I looked at Hayeon with a forced smile.

"Whats up with the weird mood, guys? Were you fighting?" She asked us with a genuine look that showed she was concerned.

"No." We both reply. I turned my head at Eun Ah, and her face expression was as usual, blank. Not like mine. And I was sure Hayeon could see through it.

With weird grimace, Hayeon sat down and shrugged.

For a while, neither of us spoke, since Eun Ah didn’t like eating with others and I was done; which left Hayeon by herself. Munching quietly.

At times like these, it was some sort of silent contest between Eun Ah and I- of whom will back down from the silent treatment first.

Pursing my lips, I tried my hardest not to-

"You know," I heard Eun Ahs voice and practically gasped as loud as I could. She usually never spoke before I broke the silence.

But then, I realized she wasn’t exactly speaking to me, so it didn’t particularly count.

"That boy who has really dry hair."

Hayeon tilted her head with a confused expression. "Dry hair?"

"You know," she raised her brows. "The guy who changes hair color as much as I change my books per month."

Somehow, at that part of the conversation, it almost sounded like Eun Ah thought Sehun was Hayeon boyfriend. Or I may have been mistaken. Maybe.

Hayeon was finished her lunch and hummed, trying to find out who Eun Ah was talking about, but I knew it was him since it was probably the only boy she had an encounter with these past few days weeks.

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "You mean Sehun?" Hayeon was smiling until it reached her eyes, making them sparked a bit. She must really like that guy.

"Yeah. Him." Eun Ah nodded.

"What about him?" Hayeon fidgeted on her seat and clasped her hands together.

I blinked at Eun Ah and wondered why she was talking him all of a sudden. It wasn’t usual to hear her speak up about boys.

"Tell him to stop pestering me about you." She blurted and grabbed her bag before leaving both of us at the table, gaping at her words.

***

Finished with all of my homework for the night, I decided to spend some time on my computer.

When I opened up my facebook, my dashboard was mostly filled with pictures of people I didn’t speak to anymore and status updates from girls whining about how life is so hard and boys .

I continued to make my way down my feed when I saw a familiar name pop up.

Byun Baekhyun wrote on Oh Sehuns wall:

You free tonight?

Oh Sehun said: no. Hayeons at my house.

Byun Baekhyun said: ok. see you at school

I wondered if Sehun was dating Hayeon. He didn’t really seem like the kind of guy who had a lot of girl friends. Not girlfriend. But as in friends who are girls.

Out of boredom, I clicked on Baekhyun’s name and looked at his profile.

My brows rose in surprise when I saw his entire wall posts weren’t written by him, but they were all written by girls, either some from school or some I didn’t know at all.

Choi Ji Hyun (September 1st; 15:23PM)

<3 Miss you baekgu!

Byun Baekhyun: Miss you too!

"Is he some kind of player?" Was the first thought I had- I mean, who wouldn’t think that?

Ryu Da Hee ( September 2nd; 14:38PM)

Baek! You didn’t reply my texts :c

Byun Baekhyun: Sorry! Phone died TT TT

Seeing that post being written at 2:38pm made me feel odd. Baekhyun had texted me all afternoon after our P.E class, talking about some vocal contest he wanted to enter.

Huh. Weird.

I shook my head, not wanting to think about that any further.

Kim Hayeon (September 2nd; 19:11PM)

Yah, baekbaek! Why wont you come hangout with us?

Byun Baekhyun: Nahhhh, I like hanging out with you when he’s not there ;p

Kim Hayeon: is that some sort of discreet way of asking me out?

Byun Baekhyun: believe what you want~ lol

Seeing Hayeon and Baekhyun interact like that made me realize I knew nothing about them. I didn’t even know they knew each other. I mean. Separately, she’s Hayeon and he’s Baekhyun. But together, I just couldn’t find myself seeing Hayeon and Baekhyun as one.

But who was I to judge? They could date if they wanted. I had no place to say anything-

[1 new message]

I frowned. I always put my online status as offline since I found it creepy that people could literally stalk you and know when you were online. Some weird little phobia of mine.

So I didn’t expect anyone to start a conversation with me when I was always logged as offline.

I clicked on the message and blinked a few times.

Byun Baekhyun: What are you still doing up?

Now, that was creepy. How did he know I was still awake?

I had no choice but to reply since I had already opened the message, which marked my status as read.

Yoo Jin Ae: euh, finished some hmwrk and didn’t feel like sleeping.. you?

I pressed enter and received a reply no more than 10 seconds later.

Byun Baekhyun: ahhhh, the weird essay Mrs.Lee asked to do?

Now, this was creepier.  So I had to ask.

Yoo Jin Ae: ok. how do you know that and how do you know that I’m still up

I stared at my screen for a few seconds, then minutes, then until I dreaded his answer. Maybe he really was a stalker?

Byun Baekhyun: My friend Chanyeol is in your class and he told me about it. Plus, you liked some stuff from an artist and it went up in my feed. (p.s: it’s written how long ago you liked the post, just so you know ;) ) and I’m not some creep, alright. if that’s that you’re thinking, then stop thinking that! haha

Somehow, after reading all of that, I felt extremely relieved, but deep down, I still had my doubts.

Yoo Jin Ae: Ahh, lol. Sorry if I sounded like I took you for some stalker or whatnot. lol

Byun Baekhyun: s'okay. I guess that can happen to anyone!

When I looked away from my computer, my eyes landed on my mirror and my reflection was the first thing I saw. Quickly wiping away the smile from my face, I coughed and looked back down at the screen.

Remembering that he didn’t reply my question about what he was doing, I asked it again.

Yoo Jin Ae: What are you doing up, huh mister? Not on some kind of date or whatever

Byun Baekhyun: What? A date!?! its 1:13am! Who would go on a date at that time and who would be on a date and talk to someone else on facebook while being on that date?

Yoo Jin Ae: idk. You?

Byun Baekhyun: ...

Yoo Jin Ae: well, idk how you behave while being on a date

I noticed he was quick to answer, but the fact that his next reply was so... personal, it made me wonder how he was able to send it so fast.

Byun Baekhyun: Do you wanna know how I act out on a date?

Yoo Jin Ae: How can I

Byun Baekhyun: You’d have to go out with me

Now knowing how to reply to that, I gulped. And somehow, his reply was so blunt and bold, how could I have taken it seriously? I didn’t. With all the girls writing cutesy texts on his wall, it was kind of hard to think he was honest about those kinds of things- like 'dating' or whatnot. Or girls in general.

It would have been weird to date him anyhow. Its not like we were that close. We spoke in class, or in the hallways if we’d bump into each other- otherwise, nada. Nope. No sorts of interests towards mister bacon.

Yoo Jin Ae: LOL! No, thanks. I’m sure there are a lot of girls waiting for you to ask them out.

Byun Baekhyun: hm. not really, but thank you for thinking that

Yoo Jin Ae: how so? You seem like you have a lot of girl-friends, like girls who are your

Byun Baekhyun: I got it.

Yoo Jin Ae: -friends

Byun Baekhyun: Yeah, but I have to like them in order to date them lol. That’s how it usually works

Yoo Jin Ae: Maybe you can date them and see if anything builds up from there

Byun Baekhyun: I’m not that desperate to find myself a girlfriend Jin Ae...

Yoo Jin Ae: sorry dude, you just sounded like you were disappointed about that

Byun Baekhyun: I am disappointed, just not about that particularly.

After a while, I didn’t reply back because I didn’t know how or what to answer. I wasn’t the best person to ask for advice when I- myself, couldn’t even sort out my own thoughts.

So when he said about that, I really had idea what he was talking about and I was too embarrassed to ask. I didn’t want to sound like I wasn’t quick to catch on or something.

When I was about to ask him if he could date Hayeon, but Baekhyun ended the conversation before it even really started.

Byun Baekhyun: Anyway, im gonna head to bed. See you tomorrow :) Hope you dream about building tents haha

Yoo Jin Ae: Ha.Ha. Very funny Byun Bacon. Night

After that conversation, my friendship with Baekhyun changed. Good? Bad? Maybe a little bit of both.

Word count: 3372.

Updated: I have absolutely no idea why I've only decided to update this story now but.... Hey. Hope your day was good and I deeply hope this story was able to make you feel better. If not, then... I should UP my writing game! Haha. 

Stay anchored lovelies.

- Dyodoreu