Naeun’s POV:

 

It had been a while since I had last seen Sebastian Lee.

Despite my numerous attempts to check if he was ok and meet up with him, he had picked up my calls, replied any text messages and even not answered my persistent knocks at his newly refurbished apartment at different times of the day. God, I made it seem like I was the die-hard sasaeng fan now instead of anyone else. But as much as I wanted to believe that he had undergone a 3 week hibernation, I could sense something was wrong, or rather that something was bothering him. And that bothered me, as someone who cared about him.

No matter. He was supposed to return to school today, and I was understandably excited to see my best friend, because I could share honestly and be natural without being judged with him. Pfft. The forever-necessary protection of an idol’s image really did start to get on my nerves, after just 3 years.

And he couldn’t like ignore me or not. Could he?

“ Brrriingg!” The school bell rang, signaling the start of the first class. Right on cue, Mr. Kim entered the class, and almost immediately dived into his lecture, not giving a moment’s thought as to whether everyone was here.

5 minutes passed.

10 minutes passed.

15 minutes passed, and it soon became clear that Seb wasn’t coming to school. I hung my head in disappointment, even if I did understand that he needed the rest. Now there was no one to talk to in class, which meant I actually had to pay attention in class now. Sigh, sounded stupid, I know.

“Bang Bang!” My head flew up from its resting position on the desk as the classroom door rattled furiously under the pressure of repeated knocks. The door opened ajar, and a hooded figure limped into class while profusely apologizing that he was late because of his injury-hindered leg.

Sebastian! I would live to see another day.

So. I tend to exaggerate a lot. Sorry.

He hobbled over to his seat next to me. I helped him carry his bag and take out his books and stationery, all while broadly smiling at him.

How did he reply? A muttered word of thanks before sitting down and starting to furiously take down whatever Mr. Kim was saying.

He wasn’t usually this studious in class. Something, something was definitely bothering him, badly. And being a self-professed good friend, I was supposed to help him.

Finally I plucked up the courage to ask him. I prodded him once teasingly, one of usual antics in class. No reaction.

One more prod. Nothing.

I frowned in confusion. Now it was clearly evident that he had been rattled, enough that he didn’t respond like his usual self.

Maybe one more time? Yeah, why not?

So I poked him, much harder than the previous two times, and whined “ Seb,” subtly including a burst of aegyo, which I hoped would work on him. Cos you know, it usually doesn’t.

He turned sharply, and in an uncharacteristically rough and rude voice, he exclaimed, “ What do you goddamn want!”

I withdrew my finger from his shoulder in a flash, shocked by his outburst, as the whole class turned around to stare at the two of us.  Seeing an angry, frustrated look on his face made me want to shrivel up and lament what I had done to deserve his sudden change of attitude towards me.

Yes, I admit I was hurt that he would turn his back on me like that so to speak, without any warning. He had been such a good friend, and we had become real close. Or so I thought. Pfft.

All I was trying to do was to help him, couldn’t he see that?

I felt my eye tearing in sadness, which was probably another exaggeration on my part, and quickly wiped it away should anyone see it and come to conclusions too quickly.

Sigh. I would try again later, when he had hopefully calmed down. So for now, all I could do was focus on another guy.

Mr Kim. Seriously, what do you think I meant?

 

At the end of the day:

 

Absolutely no success whatsoever.

Initially, I was going to try and catch him for lunch-break  and get the lowdown on what the problem was. However, as soon as the bell had rung for lunchbreak, he had literally sprang from this seat like a predator ambushing its prey, and dashed off to the canteen as fast as his injured leg could carry him. Strange, I didn’t think it was possible for someone in his condition to walk that fast. Oh well.

Luckily, the canteen was small enough to pinpoint where he was and true enough, there he was, sitting in a quiet corner with D.O and another friend I didn’t know. I had walked up to his table with a smile, in an attempt to try and make friends again. That is, of course, if we had ceased being friends in the first place.

“ Hi Sebastian! Nice to see you again! I was wondering if-“

Before I could even finish my sentence, he stood up with his tray, still not completely empty of food, and went to clear his tray, leaving me speechless and mouth agape.

“ Uh, uh, ok, I’ll try another time,” this time really about to break into tears, evident in the hiccups punctured between my words.

I stifled a cry as I turned to return to my original seat, startled at the turn of events. He had been so rude to me, and it hurt even more that he wouldn’t even talk to me. I would rather him have the courtesy to tell me that I had done something wrong, because his silence and his cold treatment was unbearable.

My 3 friends looked concerned as I slumped down onto my seat gloomily.

“ Omo! Is our pretty Naeun ok?”

“ What happened with you Sebastian?”

“Can we do anything to help?”

I just sighed and shook my head in disbelief. “Thanks guys, but I think it’s just a boy thing. Maybe, he’s playing hard to get in our friendship or trying to act tough to look cool in front of other guys.”

All 3 stared at me. “ Naeun-ah, no one would play “hard-to-get” to be friends with a famous idol like you, because everyone wants to be friends with you! People would definitely be afraid of losing the chance, if they even had it in the first place, that “hard-to-get would not be scraping one of the options!” Lizzy started.

She had a point.

While I was considering that, I noticed my friends nudging each other out of the corner of my eye. It was a collection of very subtle movements, but I had enough experience to know something was up.

“ All right girls, spill. What do you want to tell me?”

Hyesoo had opened to start talking but Minyee had clamped her hand over the former’s mouth. “ Not yet!” She had hissed to her friend.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “ What not yet?”

Lizzy perked up. “ There is really nothing we want to tell you now Naeun-ah, don’t worry. Just know that we’ve got your back and we will support you in anything that you do.” At this, her companions nodded their agreement with a “ Ne.”

I didn’t lose the suspicious look on my face. “ Whatever guys.”

Now waiting outside a campus building overlooking the main plaza, I was eagerly waiting for his arrival. I had an offer he could not possibly refuse. Well, at least, any normal young guy in South Korea wouldn’t refuse. But Seb wasn’t normal then again. And that, unfortunately, in this case, was a problem. Dang it, why couldn’t he be a lovestruck normal fanboy for once!

I frowned and crossed my arms. Well, maybe it would work once. Just once, maybe, he would be typical.

AH! There he was! A figure, hunched over and limping slightly had exited the building and was headed straight for the gate. Go go go Naeun! You can do this!

I picked up my pace as I briskly strode towards him to intercept his parth as he crossed the square in front of the main campus.

“ Hi Seb!” I tried once more. “ Would you like me to go home with you again? You look like you could use some help!”

Surely he wouldn’t turn down an idol, especially when extreme fan service was on offer? Hmm?

Well, either he hadinvisible headphones or I was transparent, because he did not even register the speech directed at him and continued walking, all while I had stopped in my tracks. I stood stranded there for a bit, looking quite awkward like a fish out of water. Stunned? Yes, definitely. Clearly I had overestimated the attitude of Sebastian Lee. Wow indeed.

Before I could even pause to think about what to do next, because he had just thrown a curveball and messed up my gameplan. I ran over to the increasingly quick Seb, and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back, and stopping him in the process. Collective gasps were heard around the plaza, signaling my identity was already compromised even with sunglasses on.

 A quick note unrelated to events. I know the wrist grab sounds really really cheesy and the sort of thing you see in soppy, predictable Korean dramas, and I cringed internally while doing it. But honestly, how else was I supposed to grab his attention without making physical contact?

Well, I could pull a gun on him…

ANYWAY. Back to a relevant point. The hell Naeun?

“Seb.” I sounded desperate now. “ Why are you ignoring me? What have I done wrong?” No response. My voice bordered anger now. “ Can’t you see that I really, genuinely, want to help you and find out the problem? I care about you.”

No time to take back those last four words and rephrase them. By now, I had everyone in the surrounding vicinity’s attention.

He slowly turned around, again like in super clichéd dramas. Damn, was my life becoming like one of those? Too early to tell. Ha.

The look on his face that I saw however chilled me to the bone.  It was a cold, cruel look, tinged with perhaps a bit of pain. As they say, you can tell someone’s feelings and personality by their eyes, and in only this regard did Sebastian Lee fulfill the typical guy description.

“Why won’t you stop trying? I don’t need your help.” I had to strain my ears to pick up what he was saying.

“ But-”

“ Just leave me alone!” The sudden shout that was emitted from his mouth made me jump back a foot in surprise. “ You of all people in this school should know when people want to be left alone!” As he said that, he shook, or rather, yanked, my hand of his arm roughly, gave me one last look of filthy disgust and disappointment, and stomped off on his way.

I felt utterly humiliated watching him stalk off into the distance, having been outrightly rejected in a completely open area where everyone could see. Thank goodness there weren’t so many people at this time.  

And this time, as much as I tried to restrain myself, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I ran into the main building, streaking past startled onlookers, and darted quickly into the toilets. I pushed into a cubicle and slumped down in a squatting position against the wall.

I cried. Badly, letting the tears flow freely and sobbing loudly and uncontrollably. I had never been rejected by anyone before, especially guys, who I rarely engaged in conversation with. Now, in the reality of it being someone who I considered a close friend, it stung so much worse.

“ Why? Why are you like this Sebastian? W-what have I done!”  I moaned aloud to myself, not bothering to conceal my thoughts even though there would be people who could hear me.

Who knew friendship was such a treacherous path to take? One minute someone was best buddies, and the next, they could ignore you for an unknown reason.

What if Seb never talked to me again? It hadn’t even been 3 months since we had met. The thought made the tears flow even faster.

Goddamnit! LIfe was so hard!

It was a good 10 minutes before I could bring myself to stop wallowing in self pitu and pick myself off the floor. Trying desperately to compose myself lest there be people waiting outside, I exited the cubicle with the intention of hurrying back to my dorm. I reached my locker and in a slow, deliberate manner, began to pack my things in a lethargic way.

As I slammed the locker door shut, I turned 90 degrees to the right to find a guy standing a few feet away from me. He looked nervous and clearly hesitant about something. Yet he seemed so familiar.

Aish! He was the guy at Seb’s lunch table who I didn’t recognize! But what did he want?

“ Um, chogiyo, are y-you friends with Se-Sebastian Lee, uh, Miss Son?” The dude spoke for the first time in a timid voice, looking down and avoiding eye contact?

I wiped a tear from my eye, and replied half-heartedly, “ We were.”

“ Uh, can I ask you a question? It’s a bit personal.” Without pausing for my answer, he continued. “ Has Seb been consistently ignoring you today?”

Holy-moly! How did he know? Was he psychic? I hadn’t told anyone fully, not even my three musketeers. Not point lying or feigning ignorance however.

“ Yeah, he was. How did you know?” I sighed and waited for an explanation.

When I didn’t receive one however, I looked and saw him turning away slightly, muttering “ Oh ,” as if his worst fears had been confirmed. Which, I sincerely hoped they had not been.

“ Chogiyo? Is there a problem?” I inquired, determined to get to the bottom of this.

He looked back at me.

“ S-s-seb is , uh, avoiding you, so to speak, because-“

“ Yes?” I almost shouted, genuinely curious and nervous at the same time.

He gulped very hard.

“-  Because he doesn’t want to hurt you.”

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Wassup guys! I'm back from a self-professed hiatus!

First off, I'm real sorry for my lack of updates since the last one, I was hit by a bout of a deadly virus called procrastination, which caused for a really long break in between updates. For that, mianhae. I'll do my best to make sure to update on a somewhat regular basis from now on.

But back to the story. What does the last statement mean? Is Seb's past going to be revealed? Find out soon, in the next chapter!

Apologies for the slightly boring update lol, bear with me.

As always, remember to vote for this chapter and previous ones too if you have enjoyed them, follow me and comment/pm me for feedback and such! Also share this with your friends if you think that they'll enjoy it! 

That's it for now! See you soon in the next update! Peace out!

-Elliot