Gold | Park Sunghoon

19

Invitation

After what she told herself in the bathroom, Jangmi was now determined to pull herself together. As much as she wanted to run away from Sunghoon, she couldn't. She knew she shouldn't. She had to act normal around him and do exactly what Sunoo told her to—but sadly, she was not sure how to do that. 

When she left the bathroom, she made a beeline back to her table and sat down quickly. "Are you okay?" Sunoo asked concernedly. He started to notice how her movements were quicker than usual: sitting down quickly, finishing her meal quickly before proceeding to flip through her notebook in rushed manner. She even wrote quickly, which made her penmanship a little illegible.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She replied to her best friend, chuckling nervously. Sunghoon's presence was making her nervous—and it was very obvious to Sunoo, who shook his head at the the girl. For some reason, her nervousness was also obvious to the other person sitting next to her.

"Jangmi, are you okay?"

She turned around and saw Heeseung's doe-like eyes staring into hers. She nodded, releasing a silent but frustrated sigh as she ran her hands through her hair. "Yeah I'm okay, oppa. Thanks for asking though," she chuckled awkwardly. No matter how much she forced herself to sound okay, he could still sense the uneasiness coming from Jangmi.

"You know," he called her again as he pointed at her notebook. "If you're stressed with schoolwork, I can help you. Just like when you first arrived," he suggested.

In a desperate attempt to stop herself from saying things ("If you talk more, you might spill your secret," Sunoo told her before everyone arrived at the table) she just nodded. "Please help me with schoolwork, oppa," she pleaded. 

Heeseung smiled at the girl widely and ruffled her hair. "Of course, I'll help you," he told her as he scooted closer to Jangmi.

As the both of them started to answer Jangmi's homework, Sunghoon kept his eyes on them. He couldn't help but feel something tight and heavy in his chest. The eldest sat very close to the younger girl, and it made him frown. He wasn't crossing her boundaries, yes he was sure of that, but seeing them sitting that close to each other angered him a little.

Sunoo had just returned after placing his and Jangmi's trays away when he noticed the frown on the older boy's face. He could also see how Sunghoon's hands were balled into fists and instantly wanted to laugh out loud and tease him, but he didn't. In fear that he might point out something—something that was not meant to be pointed out—he stopped himself from talking about the strange behavior. 

"My final answer is correct, right?" Jangmi asked Heeseung. The older boy smiled as he nodded his head. "Yeah! That's right," he praised her. Lifting his eyes off of the notebook, he lifted his hand to give her a high five. 

"Jangmi, it's 15 minutes before our next class," Sunoo called her attention, making her turn to the clock in a panicked manner. She knew she wasn't going to be late, but she didn't want to meet the crowd of students exiting the cafeteria all at once; which usually happened 5-10 minutes before lunch time was over. Before she closed her notebook and stuffed her stationary into her pocket, he bowed to the eldest to thank him for the help.