Redamancy

37

Changmin sighed as he took out a pack of plaster from his locker before he softly shut it with a click and unwrapped the paper, a cute cartoon plaster popped out.

He beckoned the girl who was leaning next to his locker, whose eyes darted on the floor all the time to stall her injured hand higher for him to see. Soobin got the signal, and though hesitant she obeyed.

Grumpily, Changmin put the plaster around her pointing finger, the girl could've sworn though the cut was small, the pain struck was massive. She couldn't help hissing which made Changmin scoff.

Paper cut - it was the cause of her injury which her friend was dying to laugh at how clumsy she was at the moment it happened but somehow, he couldn't. For, being clumsy wasn't Soobin's thing.

There must be something interrupting, he simply thought.

"Don't bite your lips," Changmin said in a warning tone as he put the last touch on the cut. "You're wasting your blood."

Soobin brought her bandaged finger to her eye level, "Is there anyone who died of paper cut?"

"Shut up!" Changmin was enraged, but then he attempted to stifle a laugh. It was annoying to be asked an absurd question but that absurdity was the reason for him to laugh. "Is it the paper's fault that you're hurt?"

"Can I blame it?"

"I shouldn't have asked that." Changmin pinched his nose bridge to ease the frustration welled up. If it was Chanhee, he would've swung some slaps by now but it was Soobin, someone who was always being random. "It's your fault, Chae. You're sleeping with open eyes."

"Right..."

"What were you thinking about?" He pondered, looking for her eyes. "You rarely spaced out."

At that, Soobin sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly she was interested in the white paint. It looked too blank - just like her head.

Changmin was right. She ain't focus in class, she didn't pay any attention to the lecture. She was drowning in her thoughts. But, she found it terrifying too - to have her mind wander around aimlessly just because of a petty thing.

"Sunwoo asked me to go to..." She trailed off, slowly breaking her stare off the ceiling and shifting to Changmin. "The ice rink."

There was a subtle move of his eyes widening, and his breath hitched as well. "You said yes?"

Soobin nodded with pursed lips. "I couldn't say no."

Silence then fell upon them. It wasn't an awkward silence, it had never been. It was only a silence where they were both thinking.

While Changmin was studying the girl, Soobin on the other hand had her focus darted onto the cute plaster on her finger. While Changmin was looking for an answer to 'what happened', Soobin was questioning whether this was worth it.

From a simple glance, Changmin could tell that she was avoiding eye contact. Because both knew very well, what would happen if their eyes met.

But, Changmin didn't give up. He would make her look at him.

"You keep doing something opposite to your liking these days." He started and Soobin looked tensed, probably got the hint. "Chae, you better tell me the truth. Have you started liking Sunwoo?"

Her heart skipped a beat, and a weird turn in her stomach. Soobin swore she felt her legs turn to jelly when there was no reason to feel so.

"I... don't know," she bit her lower lip and her brows almost knitted together. "I like him, I do. But, I'm not sure whether I love him."