taciturn- daerin !

'二,

"Sorry about that.." Hanni apologized, dipping her head down before raising it again and embracing Danielle in a warm hug. The taller hugged back, and they stayed like that for a bit. Minji just stood and watched the two like a proud mother, like she had made them make up after a girl fight.

The bell rang right then, and the two pulled away from each other.

"I've gotta go to class now, bye guys!! I'll see you at break, Hanni! See you at lunch, minji!!" Danielle yelled and she quickly ran to her classroom, the first class she had was English.

-

The moment she walked in, the bell rang. Haerin sighed, at least she wasn't late on her first day. She had checked her schedule the day before, and English was her first class.

Around her, students were rushing to get to class while some weren't fully awake yet. Haerin tends to be an early riser, usually waking up at about 5:00 am. She spends that time either dressing up for school if it was a school day, and sometimes scrolling around on her phone if it was the weekends. Today was Monday, and she was well awake.. unlike some people.

For example: Hwang yeji.

Yeji was known last year for her epic gaming skills, so she didn't get much sleep playing video games all night. She seemed fine with it though- just not it the mornings. She'd be yawning every five seconds and she could barely stay awake during lectures. Haerin found it intriguing, how one could stay up so late and wake up so early. If she even counted 7:00 am as early, that is.

By the time her train of thought was over, she'd already reached her new classroom. It was the same English classroom from last year, of course, but things were changed and moved around a bunch. The tables and seats were new, and they got a new, clean chalk board. And, there was a new addition: a fenced off area in the corner of the classroom. It was about a table's size, and it was covered with a giant blanket. Haerin was curious as to what it could be for.

"Good morning, haerin." Her professor greeted her with a smile, and haerin returned the gesture. She looked around the room to find a table that and her name tag on it.

After a few minutes of searching, she found her seat in the middle of the classroom, with another table beside it. Her seat mates name seemed to be, "Danielle marsh".

Just then, a girl ran through the classroom doors.

"Hii!!!" She greeted the professor with an awkward smile, and the teacher just waved at her. A few seconds later, she was looking around the room, just like haerin had.

Haerin watched as the taller girls eyes searched the room, landing on the fenced off area in the corner. She rose an eyebrow, looking at it with curiosity. She then shrugged, looking around some more. This time, haerin assumed that she was looking for her seat.

Their eyes met.

For a second, time froze. Haerin found it hard to look away from the other girl's eyes. Like she was pulled into some kind of trance.

At last, the cat-like girl broke the eye contact. She looked down, her cheeks dusted with a shade of pink.

A few seconds later, she felt a presence beside her.

It was the girl who she made eye contact with- Danielle marsh.

"Hi!" The taller girl sat down at her seat, offering haerin a smile. All haerin could do was smile back and wave, not having the confidence and guts to say a word.

She felt this awful feeling pile into her stomach, making her feel lightheaded. It was her social anxiety, making her feel this way. She hated talking to people she didn't know. And though Danielle seemed like a nice girl, haerin couldn't trust her that easily.

Taehyun had always taught her to be cautious around strangers, telling her about the risks and whatnot. But she obviously didn't believe what her older brother said, as he included, "I've never trusted a stranger before, and that's why I'm safe and sound a this moment." It was like he didn't know that she knew about his crush on beomgyu or something. Like, seriously.

The second bell rang, indicating that is was time for the professors to start the lecture.

-

For the next few minutes, the teacher talked about adjectives and how they worked. (ik this is like.. second grade shit but let's just ignore that, ok? ok.)

And then, haerin stumbled upon an interesting word. "Taciturn".

Her professor continued to explain the word's meaning and how to properly use it in a sentence and/or paragraph.

"Taciturn is an adjective, and it usually means to be reserved or uncommunicative in speech. Basically, not talkative." She scanned the room. Her eyes landed on haerin, but departed from her figure as soon as they landed.

"For example, 'after such gatherings, she would be taciturn and morose.' What do you think she was after these gatherings, after what I've taught you about taciturn?" Many hands shot up, and haerin noticed Danielle's hand going up as well.

"Danielle, explain the meaning of taciturn."

The brunette was quick to reply.

"Taciturn means to be very quiet and not talkative," she answered, and the professor smiled, pleased.

"Great job, Danielle. You were on point and spoke with confidence." She praised Danielle, and haerin noticed the girl's cheeks going a bit pink. The whole class's attention was on her. Haerins attention was on her. 'Mrs. Im is acting like this is drama class or something..' she thought, giggling internally.

"Thank you.." she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking down, embarrassed. The teacher smiled, and continued.

The only thing haerin heard for the rest of the lecture was 'project', 'partner', and 'taciturn'. Literally nothing in between.

She heard gasps and squeals, but that quickly turned into groans and whines. It was probably because Mrs Im said that she was picking the partners.

"Your partners shall be your seat mates. Good luck, everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow morning." As of right on cue, the bell rang. Everyone rushed out at the speed of light.

"So.. you and me?" Danielle turned to look at haerin. The girl only nodded, too afraid to say a word.

"Can I have your number, then? We could chat and plan out when we're going to meet!" The taller female took out her phone, handing it over to haerin. The cat-like girl quickly tapped the screen, entering her phone number and saving it as a contact. She saved the profile picture as a cat, of course. The name she chose was, "kittyyrin."

She handed the phone back to Danielle, and the other girl stuffed the device into her pocket.

"Well, I'll see you later, kitty!"

And off she went.

#... chapter oneeeee

its a bit short but yk, they'll get longer as we progress through the story!! for the contact name, i couldn't think of shit so i just went with 'kittyyrin' which is cringy asf but we wont talk about that..

anyways, im angela, and youre reading 'taciturn' !

1/21/24 ,, proofread *. ~