D!CKHEAD | Lee Haechan

new beginnings

"You're breaking up with me?"

Arin asked, her eyes piercing into Jeno's darker ones as he held the contact, not wanting to back down on his own decision. He couldn't find it in him to speak further, knowing his voice would give up on him, so he settled for the affirmative nod.

"Do you really have to do this now?" She asked with a scoff, looking down at her watch to see their first exam about to begin in exactly 20 minutes.

"Yes." He answered shortly, trying his best to bot roll his eyes at her condescending tone. She was hurt, but she was also angered that he had done this to her before her SATs

"You couldn't have waited until the exams were over? Why are you so selfish-"

"Asking me to wait...is selfish too." He said, cutting her off before she could turn it on him

"Okay." She said, sighing as she placed her hands into her hoodie pocket. Shoulders dropping as she realised it was officially over. She could see it in his eyes, he was done. He was tired if fighting and so was she. Yet she was fighting for love and he was fighting for peace.

"Okay? Just okay?" He asked, chuckling dryly, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek as he let her words sink in

"Well what do you want me to say? Well done? Congratulations?" She asked, scoffing before she turned around, heading down from the rooftop, ignoring his calls for her to come back.

She shook her head, cursing under her breath as her eyes started water. She couldn't believe that he could do this to her. She knew they were having problems yet...right before the exams she had been preparing all her life for? He knew how hard she studied and how much she needed to get into her dream university.

Three painful words both Jeno and Arin had to confess to their separate friends. Jeno's friends, in attempts to comfort him, made sure that he lived his summer before college out to the max, forgetting all about the girl he had broken up with over the entrance exam period. The little arguments, the silent fights, the pent up frustration and the insulting sarcasm from her side all got to him, who was usually the more quiet type in the relationship.

While his friends didn't know much about the girl who was his childhood friend, studying in the school halfway across the other side of the city, they knew how much he loved her and how much he tried. But ultimately, his need for a stress free summer had been prioritised. And he didn't try to contact her, not even once. He found it easier to lose himself in alcohol and entertain other girls than face the one he had hurt.

On the other hand, Arin spent her summer abroad, visiting universities in America since her mom so desperately wanted her to follow in her father's footsteps and attend an Ivy League school. She had applied last minute under her parents' commands, not telling anyone about applying overseas, which started the fight that led to her and Jeno breaking up in the first place.

She made new friends, spent most of her type in cafés reading books and almost going off the face of the earth, trying to prepare her life for college. However the dreadful day of the results came out, and she was nowhere near getting an admission into an Ivy League college overseas, she barely even passed the quota for one in Korea. It was a hard time for her, letting go of her dreams since the exams didn't go her way, yet she was certain that she was going to turn things around in college.

And here she was, standing infront of her apartment block, taking in the views of the ten story buildings around her, all of them housing several students that attended Hankuk University. The sound of the football pitch behind her went in one ear and out the other as she walked towards the steps. The oversized navy and white varsity jacket she had got from the gift shop slung on her shoulders as she took in a deep breath.

"This is it..." she sighed, reaching for the door handle to let herself upstairs. She stretched and sighed in relief as she approached her dorm, the music playing from speakers in the room across from her made her smile a little at the lively energy her floor had, hoping that she wouldn't feel lonely for too long with her parents living and working half way across the city of Seoul.

She scanned her keycard, letting herself in and kicking in all of the boxes that had been delivered and left at her door by the moving van guys her parents arranged for her.

She looked at the room that seemed furnished to a good amount already. A comfy sized mattress on the floor at one end of the room that looked out the window, getting an amazing view of the football pitch and running track. She smiled at the little bear plushie placed on the bed, her subconscious mind assuming the room belonged to a girl with how tidy it was kept. The other side of the room was kept empty enough, and she was so glad since her mattress would be delivered tomorrow morning and thankfully she had a set space for it.

If it wasn't for how tired she was, she might have caught onto the oversized slippers by the edge of the bed, the lazily tossed pack of cigarettes and car keys on the coffee table and the men's razor in the bathroom. Yet the only thing that was on her mind was playing some ballads and singing her heart out as she took a nice hot shower.

She decided to keep the unpacking for later, hoping her roommate wouldn't mind, opting to take her towel and a fresh set of house clothes into the bathroom and thinking about all the things she still had to buy. She moved into the dorms exactly a week before classes started with the aim to make some new friends since most of her old school friends had drifted apart as they branched out across the country for university.

She sighed as she closed the bathroom door, letting her hair down and thanking the lords above for the constant heating and hot water provided by the college knowing that Korea would soon be freezing when winter hits. She let the hot water fall against her skin, washing the stress and anxieties she had pent up inside her away as her mind now filled with more positive tones about her impending college experience.