Minhae gaped at her test score, slightly open. Are you serious? she thought to herself while looking at the sheet. In the corner of her math test, there was big 56 circled with a red pen. All Minhae did was stare at the mark, as if it was making fun of her. But she was acting crazy; how does a big red failing mark make fun of her?

                She could feel the stares of the people as they tried to take a peek at her mark. When they did, she could tell that they started whispering. And when they start whispering, they never stop.

                Sighing, she stuffed it in her binder, and clumsily stood as the class representative was leading on a proper thank you and goodbye to their math teacher. The next class was history, and she had a test; the one she forgot to study for.

                A few minutes later, the next teacher walked in, and quickly, he handed out the tests. Minhae stared at the sheet of paper. Oh great.

                She studied for the wrong part of the unit.

                Sure, Minhae studied a few things that were on the test. But fully? Nope. She studied a few pages too early, resulting in a catastrophe. She let out an audible groan, her hands digging into her hair

                “We’d appreciate it if you were a bit quieter, Ms. Yoo Minhae,” her teacher suddenly called out in front of the class. Minhae swallowed, feeling the stares of the students. There were even a few students who felt the need to snicker. Immediately, she bowed her head, issuing a silent apology to the class and the teacher, though the class didn’t seem to care much.

                Trying to focus on her test, her eyes unconsciously shifted upwards to the one and only Choi Junhong. As if he knew she was watching, he turned around, and gave her a small, but uplifting smile.

                I can do this, she thought to herself, as she read over the question. Just think positive Minhae, think positive.

                “So how’d you do on the math?” A sudden voice asked. Minhae looked up from her notes, expecting it to be Seohyun; she always asked how Minhae did on tests and offered to help or explain certain things she didn’t understand. Though, it wasn’t her. It was Junhong. He took a seat in front of her.

                The cafeteria was fairly loud and busy; everyone seemed to be minding their own business, meaning no one was noticing the two ghosts talking to each other. Well, almost no one. Minhae only shook her head at Junhong, giving him a sad smile.

                “You did badly, huh?” He mused. Was he trying to make fun of her? “Hey, I’m not making fun of you! Trust me, I wouldn’t hurt y—“He suddenly stopped talking halfway through his sentence, though, Minhae barely noticed. She was thinking of her almost failing math mark. “Anyways, what about the history?” Minhae started to write on her lined piece of paper in front of her.

                “Horrible,” it read. Junhong had a smile on his face, amused.

                “And why’s that?” he asked.

                “I studied for the wrong section…” Minhae wrote, drawing a cute emoticon next to it. There was a moment of silence before Junhong chuckled. It was nice. Hearing him, someone who never talked, talk to her, as well as laugh with her. It was a miracle. She helped him. In some way, she thought she did.

                “Well that’s not good,” he responded between laughs. Minhae heaved a sigh, shrugging. “Just hope you don’t get a 56 on this one too.” She suddenly looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. How did he know? “Let’s just say that staring at your test with your jaw hanging wasn’t the best thing to do.”

                “It’s kind of rude to be looking at someone’s mark, don’t you think?” Minhae wrote, questioning Junhong. He just shrugged, swirling his hands on the cafeteria table in a circular motion.

                “I was curious, don’t blame me,” he whined. Minhae let out a small laughter; the first one she had ever had in what felt like ages. It felt good. Everything felt so much heavier now, and the pressure seemed to be so overwhelming nowadays. Before, she could just do whatever, but now, she always felt like someone was watching; that someone was out there to find any excuse to hate her.

                “Well what’d you get?” The paper read.

                “98,” he responded immediately, smiling. Minhae widened her eyes in response; that math test was difficult. It was amazing that he scored so high. Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

Park Chorong [11:07]: talking to mr choi junhong now huh

Park Chorong [11:08]: you finally got what you really want

                Minhae’s face, unconsciously, started to break out into a grin. Chorong finally texted her. She didn’t really notice it before, but she missed Chorong and her stupid, and strange remarks. She missed all her friends, actually.

Yoo Minhae [11:08]: oh you got your phone back!!

Yoo Minhae [11:09]: and yeah i guess i did but everything does come with a consequence

                “Why are you so happy now?” Junhong questioned, watching her with curiosity as she tapped away at her phone. Still grinning from ear to ear, she quickly scribbled down her reasoning the piece of paper

                “My friend texted me!” It read, a happy face next to it. All he did was smile, though she noticed a sad look on his face. She wondered if he had anyone to text. If he had anyone, when he was having a hard time, to talk to or vent out on. She wondered so many things but didn’t have the guts to ask.

                “Anyways, since you have that thing,” he pointed at her cell phone in hand, “I’ll be taking my leave.” Then, he left the table; he walked away without a glance back and most importantly, without saying goodbye.

                He’s such a strange person, Minhae thought to herself. But like I’m one to talk.

Park Chorong [11:09]: so how’s everything holding up, are you okay?

Park Chorong [11:09]: don’t hesitate to ask for anything

                Can I ask when you’re going to start talking to me again? Minhae thought to herself. A split second later, she hit herself lightly on the arm. No Minhae, think positive.

Yoo Minhae [11:10]: nope i’m just fine!

Yoo Minhae [11:10]: i have junhong to talk to if im bored, and i can always text you guys!

Yoo Minhae [11:10:] i’m used to this anyways

                Just because I’m used to this doesn’t mean I like it. She heaved a sigh.

Park Chorong [11:11]: alright then, i suppose. . .

Park Chorong [11:11]: ITS 11:11 MAKE A WISH

                Minhae took one glance at the time, a small smile appearing on her face. No matter how childish or dumb it may seem, she always wished during 11:11am during the morning. Maybe it was possible that her dream could become true.

                She closed her eyes, her hands held together. Slowly, she wished. She prayed. She pleaded.

                Please, she thought. Please make everything go back to normal. Normal before I put the letter in Junhong’s letter. Normal when I could still talk to my friends in public. I hate this. I want to cry. Please. Please. I just want everything back to how it was.

                Her eyes shot open when she heard a slight snicker. Looking to her right, she noticed a small group of girls who she knew were close friends. She instantly recognized the person as Wendy, the transfer student from Canada.

                “If you’re going to say something mean, just don’t say anything,” Joohyun, her friend, scolded, lightly smacking Wendy on her forearm.

                “Don’t be mean,” the youngest, Yeri, said in a hushed tone, as if she was scared someone was going to overhear and make them ghosts as well. “Let’s go,” she urged, slightly pulling on Seulgi’s uniform. Luckily, she managed to lead the group away from Minhae and her empty table. Sighing, she looked around the cafeteria; she glanced at all the smiling faces, the laughter, and the bickering.

                She truly was alone.

186 DAYS BEFORE

                Of course, loneliness wasn’t all that bad to begin with. Looking on the positive side, it meant much more productivity with her homework. Instead of folding paper airplanes and throwing them around the house with Eunji, she would actually do her homework. Instead of writing down the titles of fifty thousand chick flicks on her sheets and watching them all with Chorong, she would be finishing her textbook homework. She did miss Seohyun’s help though; considering she was a star student and Minhae was only a slightly below average student, she really did need the help from Seohyun. If she had a question, she had to consult the textbook, which wasn’t the best teacher.

                Rise… divided by run? What the heck is a rise? Minhae thought to herself, as she read through the pages of the textbook. Slopes can’t run. Or rise? Did I skip a few pages? She tried to block out the loud chattering of the cafeteria out by wearing a pair of earphones and blasting it; it was working pretty well.

                Humming the melody of the song quietly to herself, she flipped through the textbook, a look of confusion plastered on her face. She heaved a sigh, what is math? The song she was listening to was suddenly started to add these crazy adlibs in the background, raising Minhae’s spirit higher and higher. I don’t remember this, but it’s pretty cool! She started to drum her fingers on her textbook as she read the glossary, silently jamming along to the so-

                “Yoo Minhae, are you listening to me?” A voice suddenly asked, yanking the right earphone out of her ear. She pouted, holding her ear. In front of her was Choi Junhong; obviously, as he was the only person who was able to talk to her due to both of them holding a wangtta status. He laughed sheepishly. “Ah… I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?” He looked nervous as he stared at her. She just shook her head, relieving him as he sighed. “Oh, you scared me for a second. If anything happened, I would’ve--” He stopped.

                It was silent, the only things being heard were the students and the distant music through Minhae’s earphones. He quietly cleared his throat, beginning to talk.

                “You looked confused,” he noted, suddenly looking very interested in her math textbook. She discarded all miscellaneous thoughts, nodding to Junhong’s statement. “Slopes, huh,” he said aloud to particularly no one. “Do you need help?” Eagerly, Minhae nodded, making Junhong chuckle. A light smile touched her lips. “Pencil, please,” he commanded, making Minhae quickly hand him a pen. Their fingers lightly brushed, but neither of them noticed, both focusing on the math.

                “Okay well, the rise is this part…” he started to explain, drawing a line on her notebook. He then went on to explain the run, slopes, and all the other stuff that Minhae didn’t understand. She hung onto every little word he said, trying to grasp the basics of the math. After a good ten minutes, he stopped, taking a swig of water.  “Okay, do you get it?” He asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

                Slowly, Minhae nodded, trying to go over all the information she was given in her head. She understood most of it, luckily. He was a good teacher, she observed.

                “Why are you studying anyways?” He asked, watching her as she went over the notes he wrote for her. “I mean, there’s not a test or anything… “She began to write down a response in her notebook.

                “I’m studying just to keep up in class,” the notebook read. Junhong looked at her, surprised. She continued. “It’s not my strong point, I suppose, haha.”

                “Shouldn’t you ask for extra help then?” He responded. She just shrugged.

                “I don’t want to seem like an idiot. Most people already think I am, considering I’m mute and all.”  Junhong looked at her with a confused face, though he mostly seemed… hurt? Why would he be the one like that, though?

                “I don’t think like that,” he mumbled under his breath, though, Minhae didn’t catch it.

185 DAYS BEFORE

                For Minhae, school was literally the equivalent of hell. She thought she would be able to deal with it, but she couldn’t; she wondered how Junhong was able to keep up with it, considering how he was the only outcast last time.

                It was the same thing every time she woke up in the morning. Go to school, study, learn, eat lunch alone, study, go home, and… study. Studying was the only way she could get by, it was the only thing she could do. She missed her friends. She missed gossiping with Chorong, watching movies with Eunji, and just hanging out with Seohyun.  Of course, their texts were the best part of her day.

Seo hyun: how are you doing today (:

                Seohyun would send her that exact text every single day, at exactly 11:01pm. It almost became a routine to respond to her exactly two minutes after, usually the simple ‘fine’. Sometimes, she would go into extreme details about her making eye contact with someone, or someone accidentally almost talking to her. Little things like that would make her happy.

Jung Eunji: im laughin g s oo o o much the whole class is shipping chorong with mino and im internally cry ing this is hilarious

Jung Eunji: even ms. lee is ahahaha theyre seatmates rn this is honestly the funniest thing ive seen all day.

                Eunji, on the other hand, would keep her up with the latest gossip going around the grade, and her class. Usually, Minhae would hear these things from the girls gossiping behind her, but because of her status, she now sat in the far corner of the room, alone. She could barely see, but she stuck with it. Seeing Eunji’s texts daily made her laugh; half of the things she sent weren’t even gossip, but they were funny enough.

Park Chorong: he’s so annoying someone kill me

Park Chorong: no wait—someone kill him

Park Chorong: he’s not even that funny oh my god

                And Chorong would just rant, rant, and rant. She would rant about anything; whether it be her annoying seat mate Song Mino, her horrible marks, or the fact the teacher kept confiscating her phone. Chorong was the boldest one; the only one who would text Minhae during class. Eunji sent the occasional texts during class, but Chorong would full on take out her phone when her teacher was teaching, and text. It was heartwarming, in a weird way. Though, Minhae barely responded in class, trying to concentrate on her stupid math.

                She had Junhong, and she supposed that he had her, and only her. They talked frequently, especially when she was studying. He was unexpectedly smart; she thought that was the only thing that he could do, study, as he couldn’t talk to anyone. He slowly started to replace Seohyun’s role as her tutor, helping her with questions, especially with math.

                Assuming nothing was ever going to get better, she would need to get used to it.

                “Minhae,” a voice called out. Turning around in her chair, she saw Youngjae standing at the door of her room. “Let’s go to the hospital. This stupid cast is finally getting off.” He walked towards her as she started to write down a response.

                “It’s not like the cast got in the way during soccer anyways,” it read. “And plus, are you sure you want me there? What if someone sees?”

                “Uh,” he stammered. “Walk like five meters behind me? I don’t know, I don’t want to go alone. Dad’s at work.” Minhae furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

                “He is?” She wrote down.

                “Mhm,” he responded, slowly nodding his head. “Seriously, do you not know anything about dad?”

                “Of course I do!” She wrote furiously.

                “Like?” She hesitated.

                “His favorite color is… blue?” Youngjae just rolled his eyes. “Stop acting so sassy!” Minhae scribbled down.

                “Whatever. We’ll be leaving in like, five, so get ready.” He told her, before leaving the room and rushing down the stairs. Sighing, she slowly stood up, and in the corner of her eye, she noticed the small glass jar. It’s the one that ruined my life, she thought to herself, before shaking her head. No, I did something good. I think. Well, not for me anyways. After thinking for a split second, she walked towards it. Maybe it’ll give me a hint or clue or something.

                Opening the jar, she took the first piece of paper she saw and unfolded it, reading the quote on it.

                “Eat whatever you want, and if anyone tries to lecture you about your weight, eat them too.” For a second, she just stared at the paper in her hand, trying to take the words in. What the heck? she thought to herself, as she read the paper over. This doesn’t help at all, ugh. On the way out of the door, she threw the piece of paper in the garbage. Useless.

                Youngjae and Minhae quickly left the house after, entering his new Toyota that he got for his birthday.

                “Don’t worry Minhae, I got this, I’m 18,” he reassured her, though she still felt unsafe. He was driving with one hand for god’s sake. “I’m an expert at driving with one hand, Minhae, I play Initial D at the arcade all the time.” Putting the car in reverse, he started to back out of the driveway when—

                “Hey, watch where you’re going!” A voice shouted, causing Youngjae to laugh. “Youngjae, I swear, you’re going to kill me one day and I will come back to haunt you.”  Minhae looked out the window, and in her sight was a boy who looked around her brother’s age.

                “Trust me on this one Daehyun,” her brother joked. “I will not run a bird over this time.”

                “You ran over a bird?” The boy, Daehyun, exclaimed in shock. He then turned to Minhae. “If I were you, I would get out of the car right now.”  He pointed at Youngjae’s arm. “He’s driving with one hand! You know what—“Then, Daehyun proceeded to kick Youngjae out of his own car, taking over the driver’s seat. Somehow, Minhae ended up sitting in the back seat, Daehyun in the driver’s seat, and Youngjae in the passenger’s seat.

                “To the hospital!” Youngjae exclaimed, pointing down the road.

                “I’m kind of hungry though,” Daehyun responded. Minhae vaguely remembered seeing her brother hang out with Daehyun at school, but she didn’t necessarily know or talk to him, so it was a tad awkward. “Are you hungry, Minhae?” She shook her head, but his eyes were still on the road. What she liked about him was that he talked to her, at least, outside of school. Plus, the windows were slightly tinted so no one knew who was in the car from the outside.

                “She says no,” Youngjae said, taking a bite of his muffin with his non-injured hand.

                “Hey, gimme some of that.” Daehyun suddenly moved his head, stealing a bite of Youngjae’s muffin, his eyes still glued on the road.

                “That’s mine!” Her brother exclaimed. Minahe rolled her eyes, silently laughing.

                “Too late,” Daehyun mumbled, chewing on his newfound food.

                “Buy your own food.”

                “But I have to take you to the hospital.”

                “Nevermind, take me to the hospital.”

                The two bickered back and forth, as if Minhae wasn’t even in the car. Is it always like this? Seriously, how do they live? She shook her head at the boys’ argument about food; how grilled cheese was better than mozzarella sticks.

                “Grilled cheese actually makes you full, mozzarella sticks is just a snack,” Daehyun argued.

                “Not if you eat twenty of them!” Youngjae retaliated. It went on, and on, and on, until they finally reached the hospital. The trio got out of the car, and Youngjae, once again, reminded Minhae to walk a few meters behind them.

                What was the point of me coming, then? she thought to herself, as she watched Daehyun and Youngjae enter the hospital. She thought of going back into the car, but it was locked, and she didn’t have the keys. She quickly entered the hospital, looking around the crowded lobby. The duo weren’t in sight. Now what? Minhae took her phone out from her purse, texting her brother. Barely a minute later, he responded with “room 238”

                Minhae went to look at the map of the hospital, which was gigantic, and started heading up the stairs. 238, 238, 238, she repeated to herself. As she walked down the hall, she looked at the room numbers. 238, aha! She stood in front of the room, and hesitantly, she started to walk in.

                “So how are mom and dad?” A rumbling, deep voice asked. She paused. That didn’t sound like Youngjae. Contemplating whether or not to walk deeper into the room, she decided to continue. Maybe it was the doctor.

                “Which mom? Which dad? I don’t really care,” another voice responded. It sounded awfully familiar. She continued walking. She just recognized the voice a little too late.

                Junhong? She thought to herself, freezing on the spot. She saw him tending an older boy’s bed; he was fluffing up his pillow. The older boy had black hair, in contrast to Junhong’s blond hair. They didn’t notice her yet.

                Deciding it was best to leave silently, she started to walk back when her phone suddenly vibrated, causing the two boys to look up.

                “Minhae?” Junhong said, looking at her in confusion. He opened his mouth to speak, she noticed, but nothing came out. The other boy just watched her, his dark eyes boring into her light, hazel ones. She gave a nervous wave, before quickly checking her phone. Don’t tell me Youngjae--

Yoo Youngjae: woops, i meant 138! my bad

Author's Note: Hello, hello, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (: Slopes is actually what I'm learning, and I have a test for it that I should be studying for, but I'm not... haha. Can I just also say I have nothing against Wendy from Red Velvet, I just thought that she would fit the ‘blunt’ type of character the most. And also, that Chorong and Mino ship, laughs. I actually read a fanfic on this website about them and y’know… it’s actually pretty cute and compatible. I never thought about it before, but it just… works. I also am craving mozzarella sticks, so sorry Daehyun , but I’m on Youngjae’s side. I’ll be making them next week soo… Anyways, I hope that I will have the next chapter up by next Monday, so I hope you subscribe, comment and upvote~! I hope you had a happy Easter (if you celebrate it)! 

QOTD: Mozzarella sticks or Grilled Cheese? (I hope you guys answer this… it’d be awkward if no one did haha) 

(EDIT: sorry for the reupload, i just need to correct a few things that messed some stuff up...)