the spaces in betweenㅣtaeyong

6 ; he loves me, he loves me not

I shook my head, burying my finger in the fabric of my shirt and hoping that would do something. When I saw Hyeokjae was still looking at me out of the corner of my eye, I said, "It's fine."

I then proceeded to walk away at the fastest speed that wouldn't be considered weird if you were subtly trying to get away from someone.

I normally would've stayed and talked to him if the opportunity arose because he's a pretty nice guy to talk to, honestly. But my nerves always seem to win out.

•

"Aera, I swear I remember learning this, just tell me what the fuck comes after phytoplankton on the food chain."

I slouched in my desk chair as I held the phone up to my ear. The angel just sat in the grey chair in the corner of my room, a small amused smile on his lips.

I had half a mind to slap the smile right off his face, but I don't think doing that to someone I'm not even on speaking terms with would be a good idea.

Not to mention I don't even know if he's real or not, so more of a reason not to.

I just sighed when he caught my gaze, before quickly looking away and beginning to talk to Aera again.

I saw him give me a strange look out of the corner of my eye. And trust me, he wasn't the only one confused.

•

"Phytoplankton is a bunch of bacterias that are the basis of the ocean's ecosystem, and they're what gives all of the other life-forms energy. The next thing in the chain is zooplankton, which is basically immature normal species like shrimp, bigger bacteria, and small fish."

Aera told me all of this while she drove us to the school for the dance, but I wasn't really listening too much.

I was really excited, but I was definitely more nervous. All of the annoying nerves that have been showing up in the past few days were in overdrive at the moment. Plus, the situation from earlier with him just added to them.

When Aera finally noticed I wasn't paying attention, she put her free hand on my back, rubbing slow circles as a chaste attempt to comfort me.

"Don't tell me you're still nervous."

I didn't know how to reply.

She sighed at my silence. "Girl, seriously. Hyeokjae is the nicest guy ever, not bad in looks either, so just because you like him doesn't mean you need to curl up in a ball at the thought of him."

I nodded as I stared into space, "Yeah, I know he's the nicest guy ever, and I know he has good looks. That's why I'm nervous. He's the opposite of me."

Her hand left my back and went back to the steering wheel, "But that still doesn't change the fact that opposites attract. You told me that yourself, so chew on that and get it together."

The ride was silent for the rest of the way, the only sounds being the slight humming of Aera and the fast-paced finger-tapping from myself.

When we got there, I have to be honest when I say that some of my nerves dissipated at the sight of the school. It looked so different at night, the normally packed classrooms empty while students in formal wear wandered around the halls.

"Yuta said he and Hyeokjae were waiting at the entrance," Aera told me, slipping her phone into a small clutch she'd brought along.

This was the biggest dance of the year if you excluded prom around the end of the year, and I just happened to be going with my crush.

There's a pit in the bottom of my stomach.

When the pair we were meeting came into sight, Aera gripped my hand tightly, sending me a reassuring smile as we walked up to them.

"Hey, you made it!" Yuta greeted us politely, a huge smile showing up on his lips. He was greeting us, but you could tell he wasn't focused much on me. Aware and Yuta looked so happy to see each other.

When I looked at Hyeokjae, he wasn't doing much but playing with the cuffs on his sleeves.

The pit in my stomach was growing.

•

A/N: this entire chapter had me internally screaming from secondhand embarrassment.

but tbh, I sympathise with her. if I were in her place, I'd be a nervous wreck