Gym class. It was Eunjoo's worst and least favourite class. Yeah, yeah, exercise is important, but that didn't mean Eunjoo had to like it. It was track and field season, so the class was outside to practice.
"Alright, kids." Mr. Kim, the gym teacher, called. "Get into partners! We're going to do the stretches!"
Kids all around started rushing to their friends. Eunjoo looked around, then remembered that her friends had moved the saturday. She had no partner, and would have to do the stretches alone. She looked down with a heavy heart as her nose tingled and her eyes grew moist.
Suddenly, Eunjoo felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She whipped around and there was a girl in front of her. Her name, if Eunjoo could remember correctly, was Lee Jieun. With straight eyebrows, large, doll-like eyes, a small nose and mouth, and a small face, Jieun was cute and pretty at the same time. She had a shy smile on her face.
"Uh, sorry, but do you have a partner? If not... can we be partners?" Jieun asked quietly. Jieun was taller than Eunjoo, being about 160 cm in height. Well, being taller than Eunjoo wasn't a great feat, seeing how short she was. Jieun's hair was pulled into a high ponytail.
"Sure! I don't have a partner, either." Eunjoo said with a large smile on her face, showing how relieved she was. Jieun reflected that emotion.
****
"Good job, guys! Now, go change." Mr. Kim shouted.
Jieun had been the best partner for gym that Eunjoo could've asked for. Their level of athletics were similar, so their paces fit together well when running, and they could give each other words of encouragement that they knew would help. After the period had ended, they'd gotten closer, even though Eunjoo was the one talking most of the time, but she could tell the Jieun wasn't being that shy, but was naturally quiet whereas Eunjoo loved talking once she got familiar with someone.
They headed towards the changeroom.
"Hey, Jieun?" Eunjoo asked. The said girl turned towards her in curiosity. "Do you want to have lunch together?"
Jieun smiled brightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that."
And Eunjoo was happy. Really happy.
****
It was finally the end of the day, and Eunjoo wanted to go home as quickly as possible to tackle the biology homework she had as soon as possible, since she had vocal lessons that day. She swung her backpack on and headed towards the entrance, when she was stopped by Jieun, who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Uh, Eunjoo, cold I have your phone number? I have a question I have to ask you but you look a bit busy right now." The taller girl asked.
"Aw, thanks Jieun! Yeah, give me your phone and I'll give you mine." Eunjoo grinned.
Once the two had exchanged numbers, they said goodbye and Eunjoo started towards the entrance again. She was almost out of the school when she was interrupted by another person. She looked up at the person with an annoyed look on her face, but a smile crept onto her face when she realised that it was Chunji.
"Oh, hey!" Eunjoo said. "Do you need something?"
Chunji looked nervous. "Uh, I just saw you with Jieun. Are you guys close?" He asked.
Eunjoo nodded hesitantly. "I mean, we met today, but yeah, I'd say we're kinda close?"
The boy smiled widely and grabbed Eunjoo's hands."That's wonderful! The thing is, I think Jieun's really cute, so would you... like, if it's not too much to ask, would you ask Jieun what she thinks of me?" Chunji asked shyly.
Everything came crashing down. Eunjoo looked at him in disbelief but when she met eyes with Chunji, all she could see was hope.
Oh, right. He doesn't like me. How could I forget that I'm unlovable? Eunjoo thought bitterly. I mean, look at me.
Face frozen into a smile, Eunjoo just nodded. Her nose started tingling again and before anything happened, she tried to look as busy as possible.
"I'll ask her. Sorry, Chunji, but I have vocal lessons soon so I need to go do bio homework." She said and rushed out.
"Wait, we're in the same class for bio though! We can hang out and do it together!" Chunji called after Eunjoo, but she pretended not to hear and kept running. She didn't want to see him right now. It was just too humiliating.
She ran as fast as she could past the other students and headed straight for the tunnel of light, which, with its calming aura, helped Eunjoo cool down. She didn't want to be sore after crying, so she started slowing down after no one was around and took deep breaths.
Once she reached the Tunnel of Light, she felt calm and collected. She dried her eyes one last time.
She contemplated between going home and doing homework or staying for a bit to relax and doing homework later. While thinking, a refreshing breeze blew past and softly grazed her face. Eunjoo hadn't even noticed that she was sweating. Her blazer felt too warm and her hair was sticking to her face.
She sat down and put her backpack to the side. She took out her phone and played some calming music.
"Hey, Eunjoo~" The girl heard a voice say. She turned around, taking out one of her earphones.
"Hey, ajusshi." She gave him a small smile.
Suga just raised an eyebrow and gave her a weird look, then sat down.
Sighing, he stretched his arms and legs. He was wearing the same thing as when Eunjoo had last seen him, but was wearing an orange beanie.
"Mondays. They ." Suga said, as if he knew Eunjoo was hurting.
Eunjoo nodded as she looked at her feet.
"Suga… have you ever… liked anyone?" She asked, then shook her head. "Of course you have. You're only human, too."
Suga laughed a knowing laugh, then patted her head. "Of course I have."
Eunjoo bit her lip as she thought of Chunji. She looked at Suga, who was also looking at her. "Can I tell you what happened at school? Please don't laugh though, I know it sounds insignificant." She asked carefully. After all, who wants to listen to a teenage girl's love life?
But Suga just nodded with a curious look on his face, so Eunjoo just opened and poured out her heart to Suga. She told him about her friends leaving, about what happened the other day with Chunji, about how she met Jieun, and how Chunji had asked about the taller girl.
After listening to Eunjoo silently, Suga finally starting talking. "And you like this Chunji boy?" He asked, and Eunjoo just nodded. Surprisingly, she'd been able to hold in her tears while talking about her problems by staring intensively at the ground. "Are you… ok?"
Eunjoo wanted to scream. She wanted to tell Suga the truth, and tell him, no, I'm not ing alright and it hurts like hell. She just wanted to tell him the truth. But Suga had already listened to her patiently, and she didn't want to yell at him, too, so she just nodded. Trying to look as fine as possible, she smiled, but didn't want to directly look at Suga just in case it was obvious she wasn't telling the truth.
"Of course I'm fine. I'm stronger than you think." Eunjoo lied and laughed.
When she was met with silence, she looked at Suga curiously. The elder was just looking at her with a sad expression.
"Eunjoo, you don't have to always act like everything's alright when it's not."
Suga's words triggered something in Eunjoo and tears started forming again. Maybe it was because she couldn't hold it in anymore, or maybe it was because Suga actually seemed to just… understand. Whatever the reason, Eunjoo just started bawling. Suga just kept looking at her as if his own heart was breaking just from seeing her cry, and brought her near him. He took her into an embrace, and while Eunjoo would usually pull away, not wanting to ruin a perfectly clean sweater, but this time, she just kept crying into Suga's chest, as he patted her head.
Even the tunnel was crying, for it had started to rain and the drops of water the were dripping at the mouth of the entrance resembled tears.
Eunjoo's other earphone fell out, and the biology homework was forgotten.
****
Eunjoo was ready to sleep.
After calming down after crying, Eunjoo had come to her senses and apologized to Suga. Thankfully, her hair had covered the sweater while she was crying, so it wasn't wet with tears.
Since it was raining, Suga demanded that Eunjoo would wear his sweater while going home.
I know how expensive those school uniforms are, he's said.
Reluctantly, Eunjoo had taken the sweater. Since it was a bit oversized for Suga, who was almost 20 cm taller than Eunjoo, the sweater was massive, but cozy, on Eunjoo. She showed an obvious liking to the sweater, so Suga insisted that she kept it. Saying that his favourite colour was white and that he had at least two more of that same sweater since it was so cozy, Suga said it was alright. Eunjoo had said that it was alright and that she would return it, but finally accepted the gift because Suga jokingly said that he deserved a wish after staying with her. Thanks to the sweater, Eunjoo was able to go home without catching a cold.
She'd also had a good time at vocal lessons, as she was told by her teacher that she was improving a lot.
(Oh, and don't worry about the bio homework. Eunjoo had forgotten that he'd done most of it at school and finished the homework in less that five minutes.)
It was almost 10 o clock and Eunjoo had finished brushing her teeth. Her hair was still a tiny bit damp because of her shower, so she'd put it in a loose bun that piled on top of her hair. Eunjoo was wearing one of her dad's old t-shirts and loose leggings for pyjamas. The sweater Suga had given her caught her eye. It was a bit chilly, so she was wondering whether or not she should wear the sweater. Of course, she'd washed and dried the sweater in advance. The sweater had shrunk a tiny bit so it fit her better and wasn't as ginormous, but was still huge nonetheless.
Before she could make a choice, her phone rang.
She cocked her to the side in wonder. Who could be calling her at this hour?
Eunjoo's phone was on the bed, so she flopped onto the bed on her stomach and reached for the phone. It was Jieun, so she assumed it was the thing Jieun wanted to ask about at school. She was a bit bitter, considering what had happened with Chunji, but Eunjoo knew it wasn't Jieun's fault. She turned so that she was laying on her back as she accepted the call.
"Hey, Jieun. What's up?" She said casually, with a lazy smile on her face. She listened patiently, then her eyes started growing wider in realization. As she rushed downstairs, Eunjoo grabbed a light jacket and shouted that she'd be right back to her family and rushed out the door.
Jieun, are you alright?
A/N: Lol at the failed cliffhanger
Anyway, as usual, thanks for reading :)
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