Gold | Park Sunghoon

22

Secret's Out

Although the sky was bright a bright blue, Jangmi felt like something bad was going to happen— like an impending sense of doom. She walked into the school beside her brother and felt on the edge, eyeing everyone who walked past her as if they were bound to attack her at some point.

Jay glanced at his sister and raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" He asked gently, making sure not to scare her. It was times like this when he noticed how much more sensitive she was to her surroundings; and as much as he didn't understand it, he just did his best to help her overcome.

The younger girl snapped out of whatever she was thinking of and faced her older brother with a weak smile on her face. "I don't know," she told him honestly and shrugged. He placed his arm loosely around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "You'll be fine," he told her reassuringly. All his younger sister could do was nod. Deep down, she knew that Jay was right.

Nothing bad will happen.

As they reached the staircase, her brother ruffled her hair lovingly—to which she grumbled. "Take it easy today, okay? Nothing bad will happen," he reminded her again with a reassuring smile on his face. Jangmi returned the smile as she waved at the figure climbing up the staircase and to his floor.

The girl took a good look around the hallway to notice that Sunoo was not there. She sighed internally as she dragged her feet to her locker. It's not like she needed him there to help deter the fans and admirers, she just felt alone. During the past month, there was a significant drop in the number of people approaching her. Of course, there were still the few determined ones, but  they were the remaining few. They were nothing she couldn't handle. 

But, she still checked around her to see if someone was approaching her—just to be sure.

Jangmi reached her locker safely to see Heeseung leaning against it. "Good morning!" She greeted him cheerfully, waving and smiling at him. The older boy smiled widely at the sight of her so happy around him. It made his heartbeat quicken in his chest. He pushed himself off of her locker and walked to the other side so that his face wouldn't be covered by her locker door when she opened it.

"I need to talk to you," he said a little urgently. He was about to continue when he felt his heart started to beat faster than it already was, taking him a minute or two to calm down. The younger girl stopped taking a book from her locker as she stared at him and blinked in confusion.

"Oppa, is something wrong?" She asked him. All the boy wanted to do was tell her without feeling so nervous, but he couldn't. He made eye contact with her and gulped.

"Jangmi, I—"

"JANGMI, GOOD MORNING!" A loud voice boomed in their ears, making her jump slightly in her place. Heeseung looked around to find the source of the voice to see Sunoo running to them. His face contorted in annoyance as he watched the younger boy cling onto Jangmi with a big smile on his face.