It's Always Been You | Lee Suhyeok

Episode 8 - Campfire on the rooftop

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When Areum began to peacefully sleep on Suhyeok’s shoulder, the black haired girl drifted into a dream whilst her friends had small talk between themselves. Through her visions in the dream, Areum could see a figure was leaning its body against the wall in the toilet as the sound of bone crushing could be heard throughout the room.

Frowning her eyebrows in confusion, the beauty went to approach the lifeless figure. Once she reached the unmoving figure, Areum gasped in surprise when she saw the lifeless body start to gasp for air. The black haired girl took several steps away from the figure in shock when she saw it was Gwinam.

“I got to get to the rooftop. Damn it.” Gwinam muttered in a rasped voice. The Yoon boy then began to rise up from his sitting position and went out of the toilet and began to roam his way through the school hallways. Without wasting any time, Areum followed the bully from behind.

The black haired girl followed the boy in confusion as Gwinam went to the direction of the stairwells. The sound of discordant music from the music room  could be heard through her newly sensitive ears.

“Where are you planning to go, you crazy bastard?” Areum mumbled to herself as she continued to follow the boy from behind. 

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Worried about the girl he likes being quiet, Suhyeok glanced over his shoulder to look at Areum, who was leaning her head on his shoulder after they finished singing Daesu’s song. The tall boy chuckled in amusement when he found Areum was sleeping on his shoulder after listening to the melody song. 

“It was such a nice song.” Suhyeok heard Hyeryeong comment after a moment of silence once they finished singing the song. The tall boy smiled as he intertwined his hand with Areum’s. 

“Didn’t you say that it sucked?” Daesu uttered as he looked over the short haired girl that was sitting beside him.

“No. Now that I actually listened to it, I think it’s kind of nice.” The short haired girl confessed truthfully.

“That was encouraging, Daesu.” Wujin complimented his best friends as he put some firewoods to the fire. The compliment made Daesu chuckled in happiness after receiving positive feedback from his friends. On the other side of the group, Onjo slowly turned her head to look at the class president, who was staring at the lit fire.

“How long… have you been smoking for?” Onjo asked as she started the conversation with Namra. The intelligent girl glanced at the white hoodie girl when she heard Onjo was talking to her.

“Since eighth grade.” Namra paused. “I have no friends other than Areum and a lot of stress back then. I just don’t want to burden her by knowing that I was in a lot of stress.” The class president continued before she glanced over at her sleeping friend. Onjo followed Namra’s eyesight and smile watching the beauty rest after the exhaustion they experienced today.

“Did you ever need a friend, though?” The white hoodie asked as she looked at the fire clacking in front of her.

“I’m not sure. But after becoming friends with Areum, I was content with her company. She helped me realise that having friends by your side is not a bad thing. You rely on each other, laughing and joking with each other, doing what normal teenage girls do just like on TV.” Namra mentioned as she continued to stare ahead of her. “I’m happy to have her as my friend.”