Chapter 7: New Friend?

The scene at school had surprised Jiwon. He didn’t actually think of the tension surrounding Hayi will be that dramatic. But it amused him. He thought that Hayi was some kind of an interesting character of a story that put everyone on edge.

It was Saturday night and he was on his to way to a club after getting invited by some of the guys in his class. When he got to the club, his new found friends were enjoying a game of pool with a bunch of guys he recognized as the guy from the other class. He came up to them and joined the fun.

While the rest of the guys were playing pool, he excused himself to get some more drinks. After placing his order at the bar counter, he heard two girls from his right talking about the school drama. He took a glance at the two girls and noticed that one of them was his classmate.

“Yeah, that’s typical of her.” The other girl said.

His classmate was about to say something to her friend when he noticed him looking their way. “Oh hi Jiwon!” she smiled and waved at him which he awkwardly responded with a nod before she returned her attention to her friend again. “Where are we again?”

“I was saying that we already know that Hayi was capable of that. She’s the drama herself.”, said the girl’s friend.

He tried to eavesdrop at their gossip.

“Actually, I heard that Hanbin would be engaged to her. That’s why Lalice was so angry about. Maybe Hayi was thinking of making Hanbin have a bad blood with Jinhwan after what happened.” His classmate told her friend.

He wasn’t the type of guy to eavesdrop and gossip about other people but somehow his interest with Hayi had made him curios enough to get into the gossiping. “Why? What’s the deal with the three?” he asked as he walked beside the two.

The two girls were quite surprised by his interjection since they thought that he was the kind of guy who doesn’t give a damn about the things around.

“Oh right, since you’ve just transferred I think you’re quite surprised with the whole school scene yesterday. Hmm…How to start? Well actually Hayi and Jinhwan were together but they broke up because Jinhwan liked Suhyun. Hanbin, Hayi, and Jinhwan basically grew up together. But Hanbin at that time doesn’t get himself involve with Jinhwan and Hayi’s problems because, you know, Hanbin doesn’t actually give a damn about petty things. Lalice was the only one who could make him involve since Lalice was Suhyun’s friend. When Hanbin did become involved with this situation?” his classmate, whose name was Hera, was talking too fast and if he hadn’t caught every word she said, he would actually call it babbling instead of talking.

Then her friend backed her up, “I think it was the cafeteria fight.”

“Oh yeah. Hanbin became protective of Hayi after that happened. I don’t know the deal between them but I heard my mother talking with Hanbin’s mom and she mentioned that they’d be having an engagement with Hayi’s. I think I would be really pissed just like Lalice.” 
Her friend added, “Hanbin actually got protective over Hayi since her mom told Hanbin about Hayi’s anxiety problem.”

“That’s scary. How did you know that?” Hera said before sipping from her drink.

Her friend answered, “From Lalice.”

“I thought that guy, Hanbin, was her boyfriend?” he asked when he remembered that awkward bleacher conversation.

“Oh no! Hanbin has a girlfriend, Lalice, the one who was on a fight with Hayi yesterday.” Hera was giggling as if he said something funny. “By the way, you sit right behind Hayi, right? I should tell you, you chose the wrong seat. Hayi’s a wreck of a person to handle.”

The two girls laughed before turning to a new topic that involves cosmetics and the latest drama on air. He got back to his friends still thinking of the interesting tale he just learned.

You better not, Jiwon. You better not.

A scene like what she was involved to doesn’t go away just merely because of weekend. Monday started off with a lot of hallway gossiping, and eyes like daggers to her direction. Hayi walked to her room only thinking of how to survive another school day without risking her temper.

As she entered the door to her class, she noticed that the new guy was already sitting at the desk behind hers. He was sitting lazily watching something out of the window, chuckling. When she came up to her seat, he looked up at her and smiled. “Good morning.”
She just looked at him before sitting with her back facing him never returning response to his greeting. 

He, on the other hand, smirked after his own embarrassment.

Suhyun entered alone. She usually has Lalice with her coming to their class. He caught Suhyun looking at Hayi before sitting on her chair, quite worried with no trace of anger in her face.

Their class for half of the day finished smoothly and rather quiet. And the whole time, Hayi just stayed on her seat reading notes which seems to be for the finals. Only during lunch did she got away from her seat and went out of the room. 

But the thing which amazes him about her was the way she brings herself. Although she was the most hated person in their year, she could still walk through the hall heads up confident though her eyes have a bit fear in it. Maybe that’s way people call her arrogant. But for him, she is arrogant not because of how she act after her reputation but because she fake it – she feign arrogance and she’s good at it because he could feel that aura.

Those made him look for her after the first class of the afternoon ended. Because behind that mask of arrogance, there was always hate for the world and fear in her eyes he saw. He looked for her secretly when she wasn’t in class after lunch break. 

Hayi wasn’t found anywhere the places he thought she frequently would be. Everyone in the class thought jokingly that maybe she was in the clinic vomiting her bad deeds. But she wasn’t. And she wasn’t on the bleacher where he thought she would be either. When he was about to go back to his class, he passed by three girl banging on the door of the comfort room shouting at someone inside to unlock it.
“I’m going to call the principal if you don’t open this!” 

“Hey! We needed to pee too!”

He was about to ignore and walk away when someone answered from inside but he thought otherwise and tried to help. Because he likes to help.

“Is there something wrong?” he neared the girls who squirmed and blushed at his intervention.

The girl with a ponytail answered. “Someone locked the door. We seriously needed to pee.”

He walked to the door and tried to twist the knob several time with no avail so he shouted, “Hey, if you can hear us, can you open the door? These girls needed to use it too!”

He heard shuffling inside before he came face to face with Hayi, surprised. Hayi, however, doesn’t look like a prim and finesse Hayi with her pale face and sweat beads running down her temple, breathing heavily. She looked at him then to the three girls with her usual annoyed glare. 

The girls started whispering to each other after seeing the look on her which got immediately shut up after she gave them a silencing glare. He was amused by that power on her. 

Before Hayi widely opened the door, she took off her blazer uniform and tied it to her waist. She walked out of the comfort room still disheveled and quiet weak allowing the girls to enter it freely.

His eyes followed her as she walked to the different direction. “Uhm, our class is this way.” He tried to correct her but she just continued walking her way.  He just eyed her until Hayi touched the wall on her right to lean before she sat down. He bolted to her thinking she collapsed and held her shoulders to help her stand up which just got shrugged off. He noticed that she was clutching her stomach and biting her lips as she fished her phone from her pocket.

“Mom…can…can you come here? At school. I need you. No, now. I…I…just come here. To the clinic.” She hung up.

She thought for a minute before turning her head slightly to him. “Get me to the clinic.”

He blinked at her trying to process her request before he hold her arms helping her to stand. They walked to the clinic not saying anything.
Jiwon had to wait outside the room as Hayi shouted at him to get out once they had arrived and she got tended by the school nurse. He should have gone already but his blazer was still on Hayi when she removed hers for no reason – which he learned later that it was because it got stained when she sat – and give his instead.  It was dysmenoria. Hayi’s mom came half an hour after with Hanbin behind her. Hanbin looked at him questioningly but never uttered a single word. 

Hanbin and her mom both came in the room only to have Hanbin got kicked out three minutes after. Hanbin stopped after getting out the room pretty annoyed and asked him, “You’re still here?”

But he never got the chance to speak when Hanbin just went off. He snorted. He and she are so alike.

He took a look at his wristwatch to see that it’s only 5 minutes before their next class so he decided to enter the clinic for his blazer. Hayi was now standing a few steps away her mother with few colors back to her face. The two looked at him.

“Uhm, I’m gonna get my blazer.” He told Hayi.

Hayi looked at the blazer lying on the bed to her side. “It got…stained.”

“Oh. Okay.” He foolishly answered.

“Are you Hayi’s friend?” Her mom asked him.

But he don’t know what to answer so Hayi scolded her. “Mom.”

“Is he your friend, Hayi?”

Hayi rolled her eyes impatiently. “Yes.” She looked at him who was pretty surprised by his recognition. “I’ll just return it to you after I dry cleaned it.”

He just nodded. He looked at her mom who just delightful smiled at him. They got back to class together though he was walking a little behind her. The people seemed to not notice and they never talked about the incident anymore.

 Here's a little trivia.

hayi's character is actually patterned to Yoo Rachel's character in The Heirs. This story had a different set of characters but I have to change all the character's names to Hayi, Hanbin, and etc to be in the Hanhi tags of stories.

So this is a pretty dark, angsty and dramatic fic I'm almost having a headache trying to proofread it. hoho

-ieunjae