STARSTRUCK | IJB

01

that was until he put his hand on top of her head at random as if he were going to pet her.

"uh," eunha stiffened and her mouth agape, her eyes slowly closing and sighing. she had to creep up on her tippy toes but she checked jaebum's forehead to see if he hit it too hard when he fell backward.

"s-sorry!" jaebum snapped out of it, slowly flustering red. he could feel himself eternally and internally screeching at what he just did. "it's just that you're so small, if i didn't see your face i could've mistaken you as a junior high student rather a sophomore."

"s-sophomore? junior high student?" eunha repeated, was this a joke? she had half of her schedule with him the year before that? does he seriously think she's legitimately a 15 year old?

she meant like, sure she's stuck in the body of a 13 year old but that doesn't explain how he could mistake her.

maybe it was too early in the morning for him to function?

jaebum, still holding the cat starting walking again, leaving eunha to process what in the hell just happened. she was going to start walking again when she saw a little bit of blood on jaebum's hand.

"oh hold on!" eunha grabbed his arm to stop him, odd she thought. wasn't this was the moment in k dramas that the guy would grab her hand? but here she was grabbing his. "you should go to the nurse's office when we get to campus, your head."

"no, no, it's fine," jaebum smiled, trying to make her attention waver to something else.

eunha puffed her cheeks as jaebum brushed her off. "you're bringing a cat into the school grounds?"

"maybe," jaebum looked over to her, surprised she was going to walk in with him. "she doesn't have anyone else to go to right now."

"if you take just a small visit to the nurse's room i can help you take care of her." eunha burst out, trying everything in her power to get him to the health room.

"what?" jaebum stopped walking. "you're joking," if the team found out that he had a head injury of some sorts, the coaches would pull him aside and he wouldn't be able to play in the next match or even worse the rest of the season.

"i certainly am not," eunha rolled her eyes as jaebum immediately turned around and started walking again, crossing the street. eunha noticed how agitated the cat was when something struck up in her mind.

eunha set her backpack down, looking through her bag for her lunch bag. she had salmon and rice alongside other things but she thought that the cat might enjoy the salmon. when she got up, jaebum was across the street, surprisingly digging through his bag too.

"are you looking for something she can eat?" eunha yelled across the street, jaebum giving her a nod.

"i got something, let me cross over." eunha crossed the street, looking both ways.

her backpack was jumping with each step. her steps faltered when she suddenly tripped, no, rather lost feeling in her legs, her steps flatlining. she fell down onto her knees, feeling them twitch a bit.

she quickly got up, brushing off the dirt and taking off her headphones. her eyes widened at the ground once she heard an alarming sound of a car horn, her head turning towards a blindingly bright light.

she took a step back away, wait no, she should've taken a step further, right? her body froze with realization as it all sank in. it felt like everything around her slowed down and froze, including her own body.

should she have screamed? she tried, no avail, it was as if her body was purposely trying to kill itself. this shouldn't be happening, why in the hell was there a driver driving as if he were on the freeway around a school zone at five or four in the morning? should she have worn brighter clothes? wait, it wasn't like she had a choice, she was wearing a school uniform.

the black car started to swerve around, eunha too much in a shock to actually function properly but she did get out of the straightforward way. she was about to finally choke up a scream when the impact of another force knocked her away from the car, her knees and arm scraping crudely against the concrete.

her eyes were wide open with jaebum panting, his hands also bloody from the concrete. his breath was shaky and quick, calling a close call.

he limped across the road, mostly assisting eunha. when they both got to the sidewalk, the two fell over, still catching their breath. somehow eunha had eventually rolled to land on her back with jaebum stopping himself from slamming into her by using both of his hands to hold himself up.

jaebum stared at her as she still had her eyes closed, wondering if they were dead or not. his palms hurt like hell but when she opened her eyes, it seemed as if the drifted sky was somehow imprinted into her eyes. she blinked a few times, confirming to herself she was indeed alive. she was struck with awe, no. she was certainly starstruck for this matter.

"holy shit," eunha was able to speak again, jaebum rolling over with his arm above his eyes. he tried rubbing the blood off.

"holy shit is right, i haven't sprinted that fast even in final match ups," jaebum's first reaction was to check if she was okay. he did pout a bit as he saw his cat run off.

"i'm fine, this is absolutely nothing compared to what could've happened." eunha tried standing up, in shock of what the hell just happened.

"here, you're bleeding," jaebum pulled out something from his backpack, freaking out a bit.

it was almost pitch black, fading into the familiar lunar transitions of mysterious purple hues coated with blue cotton candy drifts, where the twinkling stars would fade and eventually, golden stark rays of morning sun would poke through later.

"i don't have enough, field trip to the nurses office it really is then, your leg looks really gross." jaebum helped her up, carrying both their backpacks with extreme concern. they were maybe seven minutes away.

he looked at her, she was still in a daze as if she was completely starstruck and saw her celebrity crush. he wouldn't blame her, it hadn't really hit him in the chest that they literally almost got hit by a car a few minutes ago.

eunha wobbled a bit when her vision started to get blurry.

"h-hey, come on," jaebum's voice wavered as the girl with him started to stumble again only two minutes in out of the seven.

"i'm really, really sorry," she felt and knew what was going to happen. as much as she tried keeping her body up, her world went dark.
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