pulling on cosmic strings ꩜ pi hanwool, study group

6. chocolate bread

Minju paid it no mind.

Hushed voices sounded, before Minhwan walked back towards her and plopped something onto her desk.

"Here."

Minju looked up, her gaze focusing on the chocolate bread in front of her.

"What's this?"

"Poison," he smiled sweetly down at her.

That was all Minhwan had said before he skipped back to the door and closed it behind him, leaving Minju looking puzzled at the snack in front of her.

Her hunger overpowering the questions she had regarding the bread's origin and Minhwan's motives, Minju opened the wrapper and took a big bite. She enjoyed the sweet chocolate flavor at her tastebuds, quickly chomping on it before the bell rang for the next class.

Contrary to what Minhwan had said, the bread, in fact, tasted nothing like poison.

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As Minhwan closed the classroom door behind him, he turned to face Hanwool, who raised an eyebrow.

"So, what did she say?"

Minhwan smirked, "About what, exactly?"

Hanwool eyed him suspiciously, "Everything."

"Hmm, she said that you should know why she's ignoring you. Care to enlighten me?"

The boy who walked alongside him sulked in silence, so Minhwan continued.

"She also said it was only you she was ignoring, not me," he boasted. "You know, if one of these days she stops talking to me, just know it's your fault. She might think I'm on your side with how much time I spend with you."

"Are you not?"

"Never."

Hanwool clicked his tongue, "What a good friend."

Minhwan lifted his finger, pointed to the ceiling, in defense, "I'm on the right side, if you must know. And in between you two, we both know who's wrong."

He slowly aimed his finger towards Hanwool.

Hanwool scoffed and shoved his finger away before hesitantly asking, "Is she coming later?"

"Nope!" Minhwan popped the p at the end.

Hanwool scrunched his brows and stopped walking. The boy turned to him, "Why not?"

After an overdramatic groan, Minhwan flicked his finger onto Hanwool's forehead, "Are you dumb?"

Minhwan shoved both his hands in his pockets and scurried away, prancing down the hallway.

Tracing the attack on his forehead, Hanwool narrowed his eyes before speed-walking towards the giggling boy. His voice echoed down the hallway, "Why? Why won't she come?"

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It didn't take long before Minju found Gamin and Sehyun, huddling together at a table in the school library. The latter looked utterly frustrated, while the former looked completely dumbfounded, both staring at what seemed to be Gamin's workbook.

"What are you guys working on?" Minju asked as she placed her backpack on one of the chairs before taking a seat on the other.

Gamin looked up and replied, "I didn't really do well on the practice questions."

"No worries, we can just practice some more," Minju offered. "How much did you get?"

Sehyun lifted up the workbook, only to reveal an overwhelming number of red crosses on each practice question. The score was written on the top right corner.

'6/100'

"Oh."

Gamin shuffled his books and papers away shamefully, ears red, "Yeah, I'm still working on that. Should we start with the meeting?"

They spent hours and hours discussing how to recruit more members, their study plans, materials they could use, and more. The soft glow from the evening sun slowly dimmed, the remaining students of the library relying on the warm desk lamps to study.

Out of the blue, Sehyun hesitantly asked, "So, why did you decide to join the study group? I mean, you don't seem like the type to join these kinds of things."

Minju looked up from her notes, noticing the boy fidgeting nervously. "Don't seem like the type?"

He stuttered, "Don't you have private tutors that help you study? You didn't need to join the group."

"I don't have private tutors. I study on my own. Besides, isn't studying a student's best interest? Why wouldn't I be interested in a study group?"

"Well, that's true," Sehyun shrunk back in his seat.

Minju ignored the Sehyun's suspicions and led the conversation to a question she was struggling with, hopefully taking his mind off it by changing the topic.

He didn't have to know her motives as of now.

Nearby, Hanwool watched as Minju continued to interact with the two boys. The meeting ran quite late, the moon already glaring brightly from atop the sky. He was hoping to catch her before she left school, try to reason with her indifference.

He felt... annoyed. Yes, that's what it was.

Minju was never this sociable. At most, she would chat with a few classmates from time to time, but she would still spend most of her time with him and Minhwan.

It ticked him off that Minju was ignoring him relentlessly, while she had no problem mingling with others.

Why did it have to be the study group?

The study group would only bring trouble.

Hanwool sighed. He was worried her getting involved would only put herself in danger. That was the only reason, right? Him concerned for her safety.

Defeated, Hanwool walked out the library and the school, the girl inside paying him no mind, even as he turns to look back.

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Author's Note

Thanks for 500 reads! We got a bit of Hanwool's POV near the end, and I'm hoping to write some more in upcoming chapters.

Let me know what you think about the plot so far!