Cellcoholic || 이희승

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓

"Do you enjoy grinding my gears?! It's a shame I can't hit you."

"Are you going to repair me again?"

"Ugh!!"

--

Jake's POV:

I walk down the street, one hand in my pocket. I hear shouting coming from the park near me.

'Is that... Lee Iseul?... With a boy? I didn't know she had a boyfriend... What are they doing out this late anyway?'

I look away, continuing to my destination.

--

I sit on the seesaw, posing like I'm not paying attention while Heeseung takes my picture with his eyes. He blinks to capture the picture.

"Is it done? Did you take it?" I spring up from the seesaw.

"Yeah." He holds out his hand to show me the picture which is visible in the palm of his hand.

"Wow. That's so cool! You know, you're pretty useful. What else can you do?"

"I can do everything..." He starts his sentence, apps like messages, youtube, and instagram come up. "That you can do with your phone."

My jaw drops in amazement as I stare at the floating screens.

"Amazing..." He closes the screens.

"Also... I have something important to say."

"What?"

"I..." He leans in closer until our faces are only inches apart.

"Wh-What do you want?"

He stares into my eyes for a few seconds before dropping to his knees, "I only have 13% batter left..."

"..." I stare at him, shaming myself for thinking he wanted something else. "Okay, Let's go home. How are you already at 13%? I know you're a Galaxy S2 and all but still..." 

--

"Iseul, wake up. You need to go to school."

"Dad... just five more minutes..." I wake up but keep my eyes closed, feeling my pillow soaked in drool from sleeping so hard.

"Alright, then..."

'That voice...'

"I'll set another alarm for five minutes from now."

I sit up frantically, looking at him with wide eyes as he stares down at me unfazed with his hands on my back and underneath my head.

"AAAAHHHH!!"

I stand up, walking to my door and opening it, drool still dried on my face.

"What's wrong, Iseul?! What happened?" My dad asks, worriedly.

"Umm... It's nothing..." I trudge to the kitchen to get breakfast.

--

"You scared me! From now on, you can't transform unless I tell you to. That goes especially for when we're at home or school! Okay?"

"Why do I have to do that?"

"If you transform anywhere you want, South Korea-- No, the entire world will flip out! People will take you away and dissect you piece by piece! And I've told you this before, but you're just as important to me as my life. You can only be in this form when it's just the two of us. Promise me." I hold out my pinky for him to intertwine with his. "hurry up!"

"Okay." He takes his pinky in mine.

--

I sit on the bench outside near the bike rack, staring at my phone in annoyance.

"Why is the battery so low? I definitely charged it before I went to bed." I hold my phone closer to my face, squeezing it tightly causing it to tremble along with my hands. "Tell me the truth. How many times did you transform without me knowing? Hey why aren't you saying anything? Answer me!" I say, swinging my phone around in the air, looking for some sort of reaction. "Hmm... Is it just a normal phone in this state?"

"What are you doing?"

"EEK!" I jump harshly, nearly shitting my pants as I turn around to see Jake staring at me, no expression visible on his face. 

"Why are you so surprised?"

"W-What do you want! Why do you keep acting like we're friends? I don't want to talk to you."

"You don't have any friends right?"

"...What did you just say?"

"With a personality like yours, I'd be surprised if you did have any friends."

"What?"

"Loosen up a bit. Or else you'll be alone for the rest of your life."

I look at him in annoyance. 'How could he just diss me like that? Not even discreetly either!' 

"Hey." He ignores me and continues walking. "Hey!! Get back here!" He ignores me again. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, LECTURING ME ABOUT MY LIFE?!  BEING SINGLE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE IS MY LIFELONG DREAM! I TOLD YOU TO GET BACK HERE, YOU PUNK!" I shout, running after him as he just shakes his head.

--

I lean against the wall with my elbow, huffing and gasping as I'm out of breath.

"How did I not catch up to him when he was walking and I was running? Is it because he has long legs? He'll come eventually. I just have to wait."

I'm staring at my phone until a girl walks up to me saying, "Iseul, the homeroom teacher asked you to come to the teacher's office."

"Why now of all times? All right." I stand up, leaving my phone and portable charger behind.

--

Jieun POV:

I walk into the classroom, making sure Iseul is gone before walking inside. I stand aboveher phone, reaching out to grab it when a message pops up onto the screen reading, 'GO AWAY.'

--

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