It Began With a Text

Seungmin's Story: Part Three

     And just like that, months went by.

     For once in his life, Seungmin felt like everything was going his way. Word quickly travelled around school. Seungmin was friends with THE Hwang Hyunjin. The bullying quickly stopped after that, especially after the talk of how Hyunjin had ditched the party after some classmates had spoken ill about Seungmin.

     Kids didn't become nicer. They just stopped being mean, and to Seungmin, that was more than enough. In the end, he wouldn't have cared if the bullies had continued because now, he had absolute certainty that Hyunjin would never be one of them.

     And as fate would have it, Seungmin and Hyunjin finally got a class together in the new semester. Social studies. This obviously meant that Hyunjin turned to Seungmin far more often for school help but Seungmin didn't mind. They met for study session. Thanks to Seungmin's diligence, those session were able to reach at least 50% actual studying. The remaining half... kind of escalated to movies, games, and sleepovers. Then again, neither of them were complaining.

     Those were the happiest months Seungmin had ever experienced. He got his normal life back. No. His life was better than normal. Seungmin couldn't be more satisfied.

     Yes, those were amazing months.

     Because that happiness didn't last for more than a few months.

     Because something happened that brought that happiness to a full stop.

     The dreaded time of the year arrived.

     "Culminating projects!" the social studies teacher announced joyfully to her suffering students. "In groups of four, create a presentation and report covering all the topics listed on the sheets of paper I pass out."

     Seungmin felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Hyunjin in the desk behind him. "I'll find two more people, ok?"

     Seungmin nodded eagerly. Group projects were no longer a nightmare.

     And so, the brainstorming began. The two kids Hyunjin chose were not happy to be in a group with Seungmin but were overjoyed to be chosen by Hyunjin. So in the end, it all worked out.

     "What the heck is this work division?" Hyunjin complained, looking at the instructions. "A presentation AND a report!? Each can take up an entire project, especially the presentation! The task of doing the report might have to fall to only one of us."

     Everyone looked nervously at each other. No one wanted to be that person.

     "Hey, Seungmin, how about you?" one of the boys chimed in.

     Seungmin wanted to glare at him. His classmates could no longer insult him, so now they were piling the work on him? He opened his mouth to protest.

     "Because you're smart," the boy added. His expression showed that complimenting Seungmin was not his intention whatsoever.

     Seungmin gritted his teeth. Dang it, now that the opportunity to do the report was masked as an honour, Seungmin had no way of getting out of it.

     "Yeah! If there's anyone who can do it, it's you, Seungmin!" Hyunjin said enthusiastically.

     Seungmin could hear his classmates smirk behind him. They were getting what they wanted. But now, Seungmin didn't care. Since Hyunjin was in the group, he would do it for the group.

     "Okay, I'll do it."

     "Yes, you're the best, Seungmin!" Hyunjin said.

      Yup, Seungmin felt no regrets.