ethereal
The Seventeen CompoundTitle: Ethereal
Pairing: Yoon Junghan x Hae Bitna
Supporting Characters: Boo Seunggwan
Genre: Romance, Fluff
Length: Oneshot
Word Count: 2260
Warning(s): -
Author's Note: -
Description: e-the-re-al adjective 1. extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world: her ethereal beauty 2. heavenly or spiritual:ethereal, otherworldly visions
Alone, that peaceful and elated feeling when you're sitting alone somewhere. Or at least that what Bitna thought. There she was, at the school's rooftop, standing on the edge of the rooftop while she opened both of her arms, smiling as she inhaled the fresh air. No, she wasn't attempting suicide or something, she just liked that feeling, you know? As if she could fly and soar in the white puffy clouds.
"Hold on! Don't do it!" Someone opened the door, panting as he walked towards her. He was probably thinking that she was going to kill herself.
"Hmm?" Bitna turned herself around, meeting those pair of eyes that automatically turned larger the moment they locked their gazes.
"Uh...." Junghan's mind somehow turned blank, he felt a lump on his throat and he swallowed it hardly. "Go down, it's dangerous up there." Her smile vanished, it was replaced by a small frown as she jumped down, and her foot led her to him. She tilted her head upwards, realizing how tall he wasㅡor maybe, how short she was.
"Did you think that I was going to kill myself? I'm not that stupid, and I usually do this enjoying-the-view-at-the-rooftop-routine so don't worry." She smiled a little, her turquoise and lime green braces were peeking out from behind her lips.
"Braces. That's cute." He chuckled to himself although turquoise and lime green isn't really the best color combination. He rubbed the nape of his neck awkwardly as he saw her giving him a confused look. "Oh... alright then... I'm... sorry for disturbing your time." Junghan was about to go back to his class until her voice stopped his tracks.
"That doesn't explain why you were panting when you arrived her, were you running after me?"
"It's not like that-- I..." He poked the insides of his right cheek with his tongue, looking down nervously. What was he supposed to do? Telling her that he had been following her these past weeks? Although he lost his tracks on her every time during reccess, and now that he found her, should he admit all of it?
"I think I know why. It's alright, I'm not mad at you." Bitna spoke in a soft tone, walking to the door as she turned around for the last time, "As long as you don't disturb my time here, we could be friends." She said before disappearing behind that door.
"How did she know?" He silently thought to himself. This girl was more special than he thought she would be.
After school, Bitna took a bus to go home. Sitting at the seat near the window, she plugged in her earphones and stared onto the dark sky, rain was going to fall soon, she thought. Another passenger came in, he sat beside her and she didn't realized that someone was sitting beside her until he nudged her. "Oh it's you again." She mumbled. "My name is Bitna, Hae Bitna."
"Yes it's me.... I'm Yoon Junghan, you can call me Junghan!" He said while smiling, his eyes turned into an upside down crescent moon shape.
"Hmm." She nodded, she continued to stare at the sky, as if she was waiting for the rain to fall. While he simply sat there, not knowing what to do. Junghan wanted to talk to her, but seeing how happy she was just by looking at the sky, he didn't want to disturb whatever she was doing, again.
The bus ride was quiet, there were only the two of them in the bus. When Bitna arrived at her destined location, she hopped off the bus, with him following her behind. "Is your house also in this district?" She asked.
"No, actually... it's quite far from here." He explained half-smiling, she turned around, looking confused as ever.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I just... want to make sure that you'll arrive home safely." He looked at her, smiling as his ears turned bright red.
"Fine, see you tomorrow!" Bitna waved as she walked towards her house, while Junghan stood there, completely frozen when he realized that his wallet is empty.
"I guess I have to walk back home then..." Junghan thought, walking back to the main road while kicking some pebbles in process.
Inside her bedroom, Bitna sat quietly on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as she sighed before closing her eyes. She could felt that someone entered the room, but there was no one other than herself in that room. Yes, she could sense and feel about those supernatural things, and apparently she could also sense what people were going to say just by looking into their eyes. And no matter what, her feelings are always right.
Making his way through the busy and crowded hallway, Junghan was searching for Bitna in each and every room he passed by. Why? Because she wasn't inside her class. He was unsure, but he went to the rooftop since that was the only place where she might be. He slowly opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief, Bitna was there.
"Junghan." Bitna greeted him without averting her gaze from the book she was reading. His foot lightly made it's way to the bench where she was sitting, he raised an eyebrow and poked her arms as he asked her a question.
"What book is that?"
"Twilight." She answered shortly before closing her book, Junghan was about to laugh but she sent him a glare that made him shut his mouth. "Why? Even if I don't look like a girl who reads romance novels, I do, okay." She spoke, walked to the door and left him alone.
"Bitna! Wait up!" He shouted, ran after her while trying not to fall from the stairs. His left foot missed the last step, he fell down and landed bottom first. A hand suddenly appeared in front of him as he was about to get up. Quickly looking up, he was greeted by Bitna who was holding in her laughter. He took her hand, stood up and blushed embarrassedly about what has just happened. "Why are you here-- I mean, since when were you here?"
"I was there," She pointed to a nearby corner, "Waiting for you." She chuckled, which made him blush even more.
"So.... you saw my fall, didn't you?"
"Yes I did." That's it, she couldn't hold her laughter more as she laughed hard at him. Junghan could only give her a disapproving glare, shoulders down and he couldn't keep his head up because of the embarrassment. "Sorry, it's just your fall was too funny I-- let's just go to class, shall we?" Pulling him along the corridor, Bitna smiled brightly while he was trying not to smile.
"You know... you should smile more often." Junghan suggested, at last he couldn't take it anymore and he also smiled. Bitna, on the other hand replied him with a laugh. Maybe he was right, she haven't smile this much, especially because of someone else.
The newsletter committee was staying for a night at school, currently writing their mid-year report of all the events that has occured in Jaehwa High School. Lightly tapping her notebook, Bitna's eyes wandered around the room, most of the students were asleep. She decided to take a breath of fresh air as she closed her laptop and walked towards the rooftop.
When she arrived, she was surprised to see Junghan, sitting on the floor while writing something on his book. "Junghan? What are you doing here?"
"Bitna! I stayed here for some after school classes and since the newsletter committee are going to sleep here for the night, so why can't I join?" Junghan replied, he put down his book and tapped the empty spot beside him, telling her to sit there. Instead of giving him a reply, she only gave him a nod and sat quietly beside him with her arms hugging her bare knee. She felt a tad regretful that she didn't brought extra clothes. Seeing how she shivered a little, Junghan undressed his jacket and gently covered her knee with it.
"Thanks." Bitna thanked him as she smiled before she looked away, trying to hide her reddened cheeks.
"Uh.... Why don't you tell me more about yourself?" Recieving no answer, Junghan decided to talk first. "Or.... I can tell me about myself first, yes... I will do that." He nodded to himself, looking straight into Bitna's direction, who was still hiding her reddish cheeks. She finally turned around to face him, trying to keep a straight face. "I'm an angel, you know? Because I was born on October 4th." Junghan stated as he flapped his hands, pretending it was his angel wings.
"So why can't I see your wings?"
"Because angels need to hide their real identity." He answered as a matter-of-factly, resulting a huge laughter from Bitna.
"Oh really? Then tell me more about yourself." She told him while still laughing.
"Well.... I'm just an angel in disguise of a normal student, I don't have excellent grades or something... I guess I really am a normal student." He ended his sentence with a sigh. In all honesty, he wanted to improve his grades since he's on senior year now.
"Being normal.... is good. I'm the total opposite of you, Junghan." She chuckled, her eyes looked sad. It was the first time for him seeing her like this, usually her eyes shined when she talked. "I'm different from others. I can sense those supernatural things and I know what would other people say just by looking into their eyes." Bitna drifted her gaze to his eyes, which was blinking in curiosity.
"By being different, that means you're special." They both said at the same time, Junghan's eyes doubled in size as Bitna smiled.
"That's.... Amazing." The corners of his lips twitched upwards into a smile, revealing his pearly whites and his eyes disappeared once again.
"Not really, it ruins the surprise. And some people would think of me as a freak."
"At least you're special in my eyes.... if it makes any difference." He tried to cheer her up as he stood up, also pulling Bitna. His jacket that covered her knee has fell to the ground and she could felt the cold wind brushing against her skin again. "First of all, I know that we officially met yesterday although I do admit that I...."
"You stalked me a few days before, didn't you?"
"Yes I did." Junghan let out a chuckle and lightly brushed his bangs. "I think you should know what I'm about to say next." He smiled as you can see his eyes gleaming in excitement, locking his gaze on her fake grey lenses that he thought was attractive. Her big doe eyes were blinking rapidly, refusing to meet his eyes since she doesn't want to know what he will say.
"Let me play dumb for once, so speak up." She nervously bit her bottom lip as she started to feel tense. Her heart raced since she saw his eyes. Eventhough she already got a hint of what he was going to say, there's no harm in playing pretend.
"Can I ask you something first?"
"Ask away."
"Do you believe that actions speaks louder than words?"
"Um...." Junghan's eyes were searching for an answer and no matter how hard she tried, she can't seem to guess what he would say next. "Yes." And that was all he needed; a simple answer. In one swift move, he lifted up her chin and interlocked his lips with hers. She was completely frozen, there were too many things running on Bitna's mind as she blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. With her eyes slowly closing, she finally gave in and kissed him back. Fireworks, yeah, she felt fireworks bursting inside her head.
Neither of them realized that someone went through that door as they were too preoccupied with the kiss. That person took out his phone and the sound of the camera made her to push herself off Junghan and turned around. "S-Seunggwan!"
"Now this could make a great headline." Seunggwan smirked as he waved his phone, showing off the picture that he took. Junghan didn't know what to say, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his ear that was burning out of embarrassment. "Who knew that a member of the newsletter committee was actually kissing with her boyfriend at the rooftop when she was supposed to do her mid-year report? And when did you two even started dating?" Neverending chatter came out from Seunggwan's mouth before he ran away, leaving those two alone.
"I'm so--"
"Don't say sorry, it's okay. You were just testing your theory about actions that speaks louder than words, isn't it?" After regaining her posture, Bitna remained calm eventhough her ears were still a bit red.
"Yeah but I shouldn't have ki--"
"It's.... alright. I mean.. the kiss was alright." She tried to smile but her face turned crimson at the mention of the kiss. "Plus, Seunggwan can be such pain in the sometimes. Now we should go before he actually writes an article about it." She pulled his wrist and Junghan had no other choice but to follow. Their relationship? Definitely not official yet, but it's mutual. They knew that they liked each other but it's too soon to say the word 'love'. So let them enjoy their sweetest 'whatever' while trying to stop Seunggwan doing something that may endanger his life in the hands of Bitna.
Comments