fangirl | renjun

Chapter 23 [END]

Beneath the stairs by the gym, the staircase not a lot of people use, Aera and Yuri sat beneath it with their legs to their chests in absolute silence. Their bags were to their side and eyes wandered around where they were seated. They were looking at anything else except each other.

"How have you been?" Of course it was Yuri that tried to start a conversation with her.

Aera slowly turned towards Yuri. A shy smile playing on Yuri's face but her eyes spoke much more than the shy smile on her face.

She tries to open her mouth, Aera knew Yuri deserves her own set of apologies, but the more she tries to think of an apology the more guilty Aera felt. That tears–that she thought was all gone by now–were beginning to brim her eyes again. "Yuri..."

Her apologetic smile fades from her face as waits for Aera to speak.

"I'm sorry." She croaks out.

This was all she could say right now, but it was frustrating that she couldn't say more. Aera turns her head away from Yuri trying her best to hold in her tears. Then from her beside she hears a sniffle.

Aera turns her head towards Yuri.

Yuri was looking up as tears were falling by the edge of her eyes. "Aera–this whole thing–"she shakes her head. "I feel like this whole time you think I did all of those things because of you–"

"You heard?" Aera lets out a sigh. "Did you hear everything?"

Yuri still wasn't looking at her, but she nodded her head.

"I don't want you think that this whole thing should be a burden to you–"

"Aera," Yuri stops her from talking further, "none of it was your fault."

"What?"

Yuri shifts in her seat and turned to face me. "It wasn't because you didn't pass the high school exam of my dream school. It was because I didn't like their volleyball program. I hated their coach he was giving me an ick, but I couldn't tell that to my parents. They would think I'm overreacting over something like that."

"Ick?"

"Yes!" Yuri throws her hands to the side. "He was creepy and weird and I knew it wasn't safe so I used you as an excuse. I had no idea that my parents told you that–well, they shouldn't have told you that anyway."

"Why didn't you tell me that coach was creepy?"

Yuri pauses and looks at her. It was not a look that had anger in them, no trace of betrayal, but one that looked at her so fondly. "If you found out, you would have gone there and started a fight."

"I wouldn't–"

"Yes," she nods her head, "you would."

Aera shakes her head.

"You would have walked up to them and told them about the coach just so I could enter the high school volleyball team I've always wanted. You would have fought for me and that would have put you in danger."

Aera shakes her head. "It's because it's what you deserve! You're really good at playing volleyball, it would be such a waste for you to end up in a school with a newly formed team."

Yuri pauses and purses her lips together. "You should try watching more volleyball practices instead of the football team." For the first time Yuri cracks a smile at Aera. "It might not seem like it, but this school's sports clubs are really good–not the best–but with a little bit more practice and experience, they can start to be one of the best. Especially for volleyball."

Aera relaxes her back and leans her whole body weight on the wall that they were sitting against. "All this time–" she covered her mouth hoping that it would stop crying but her tears were beginning to overflow in her eyes.