Back to that night...
The night was gray and foggy.
All the teenagers were seated down on the moist grass, facing Tae hoon on the stage who was singing a slow love song for his girlfriend.
The fog, the careless murmurs which made no sense from the surrounding, and the slow song were a romantic set up to the students who were making out on the ground.
Ju Young gaped at his classmates who were just right in front of his eyes showing every form of PDA. He frowned, gulped, and looked at his girlfriend.
"Go Woon ah!!!!!" he said sing-songy and clung to her hand.
"Oii, What's with you" she shooed him away and sat facing him "What do you want?" When Ju Young started to explain himself, Im Ju Kyung's gawking face from a distance caught her attention. Go Woon looked the same way as her and found her brother and Su Ho walking away. She felt happy for her brother but sad for Ju Kyung.
When she saw Ju Young's face nearing her's she placed her hand on his face.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I jhusht fold you that I wanched to jiss you!" he mumbled.
"What? Whatever! How is Eonni doing?"
He scowled at her "Why? What's wrong with her?"
"You know how is she handling-"
"Handle what? Did she fail again?"
"Noo... The break up" she whispered the last part.
"She got dumped?!" he was laughing "That's hilarious"
"How can you laugh like this?! That's your sister" her nostrils were flared open right now.
"Ok, let me put on my lil bro's face," he made an infuriated face, gritted his teeth, and clenched his fists "I'm gonna hunt him down and kick his ass right now!"
"Wait, so you didn't know?"
"No! not even a clue. I even saw them talking before few minutes,"
That's weird. They didn't break up? What about Oppa?
~
Ju Kyung hurried home when she saw her so-called boyfriend leave even though he promised her that he would watch her perform and spend the night together.
She sat in front of her mirror and stared at her reflection for hours. She stayed like a statue with a gloomy face and droopy eyes.
She only moved a bit when she heard her phone buzz.
It was Soo Ah.
Im Ju, are you alright?
Don't worry! Su Ho is just an asshole!
Do you wanna talk?
she didn't bother to reply to her friend, actually, she didn't have the strength to do so.
And next one was
Ryu Hyung jin
Hey beautiful! kinda missing you, wanna meet?
Also reminding you that I'm leaving in few days.
She threw her phone on the floor and grabbed her hair forcefully. She didn't want to cry, she only wanted all of this to pass.
She shakily took a lighter which she stashed in her room.
And she grabbed a paper which was lying on her lap.
It was her application to different cosmetology schools overseas.
She deeply sighed when she looked at her application - her future, but what about Su Ho her boyfriend! What did she mean to him? Why he was playing with her? Does this commitment mean nothing to him? What was her future with him?
She couldn't bear the questions being asked around. She was wheezing and wailing.
She lit the lighter and stared at the flame. She placed it on the sink and threw her papers away. Her hand was nearing the flare. Closer and closer...
A loud bang
"Noona!" Ju Young stormed in. she panicked and tossed it away.
"What?" she answered in an angry tone.
"You broke up with Su Ho? Why didn't you tell me! You should've told me you sad, I would've killed him right there."
"Ahhhhhh. Agrhhh hhaa" She made all sorts of weird noises, her breath hitched she wailed so loudly. He flinched, he thought his sister was going crazy from a heartbreak. He rushed out of the room covering his ears as he couldn't stand her screams.
Ju Kyung was rolling on the floor pulling her hair out thinking how obvious it was to other people to notice her situation and now with a new rumor about their break up.
And she just laid down crying there on the floor.
~~
Ju Kyung skipped school the next day, she went to the part-time place and took up an extra morning shift just for that day. She let the work wear her energy out so she wouldn't pity her sad self.
She took out the trash, poured coffee, did the dishes, took orders, and cleaned everything until the place glistened.
She received a voice message when she was in the middle of an order.
She just paused. She couldn't move, everything was rushing back to her. She pushed herself to look at her phone.
It was him.
But she wasn't going to give in. She wasn't gonna let him win again.
She turned it off and continued her work.
~
Han Seo Jun and his gang hung out behind the school ground, making a fuss back there.
Cho Rong couldn't help but notice that Seo Jun was sighing all day and was not being himself.
He slowly went up to him and whispered "Anything troubling you? You know you can tell me anything right!"
"Tsk. Nothing!" he saw him shrugging and walking away "Wai- wait. No never mind."
"Whenever you ready, man"
"Guys! Listen up" Seo Jun tried to get his buddy's attention and everyone looked at me.
"Have you.." he paused, he was almost inaudible, his friends had to lean in closer.
"What?" they said in unison.
"What would you do if someone you like doesn't want a relationship with you?"
"Are YOU asking for advice?" a few gasped.
"Hear me out!" he sighed "What if they wanna have sex with you but not a relationship" he mumbled but his friends got it this time.
"You dog, you got laid...." The boys started oohing and ruffled his hair.
"Yeah but.."
"Wait you got laid right? Why are you thinking too much about it?" Chu Rong laughed it off.
"Ah! Yes right, why should I worry" he couldn't tell want he wanted or who he wanted to his friends. If he did, will they accept him? But Seo Jun didn't care about that, he only cared about the stupid boy who left all of his questions unanswered and meddled with his heart.
~
It was almost evening, it was time for Seo Jun's shift. He walked in with an 'I-hate-this-world-and-everyone-on-it' attitude. He changed into his uniform and noticed Ju Kyung when he walked to the counter.
And he remembered that she was the reason that he couldn't have You-know-who. Words couldn't explain how mad at him he was.
There weren't many people at the café and the two part-timers were just sitting idly while Ju Kyung was cleaning the windows.
Seo Jun saw her working hard and just scoffed at her "What a wuss!" he whispered to himself shaking his head and looking down at his phone again while the other girl part-timer who heard him laughed at his words.
The lady who owned the café was frowning watching Ju Kyung work from the morning. She walked up to her. "Take a break, kid. No, go home Seo Jun and Ji Ya can look after the place, there are only a few people. Besides you've been working from the morning."
From the morning?
That's right he didn't see her at school today. And those bags under her eyes were so visible screaming out to everyone telling that she didn't get any sleep. What was she doing?
"It's fine I'll just finish up with the windows,"
"Did you get into any trouble at home and that's why you are here or maybe fought with your boyfriend? You look so pale Oh god!" the lady was worried about her.
Seo Jun slightly peeked at her.
"Uh... No, it's not that" she smiled awkwardly.
All of a sudden he felt guilty, Su Ho was cheating on her with him. Did she even know that?
So all of this time, she was going through the same as him. All the time they both suffered because of the person called Su Ho who left them hanging.
All the rage and anger on her was gone now. He only pitied her now.
"Ya! Ju Kyung, why did you skip school today?"
She looked at him in the corner of her eyes "Mind your own business"
He flinched "Never mind!"
~
Ju Kyung did stay until the end at her job, she was too stubborn to listen to anyone today.
It was late at night and she was waiting for the bus to go back home, she had no choice but to face them.
All this time Han Seo Jun was following her not in a creepy way but in an 'I'm worried about you' way. She did notice him but she didn't tell him anything.
Both boarded the bus but sat far from each other. She plugged her earphones on and drifted to sleep.
All this time, he was keeping an eye on her. Why did he do it? Because this was the only thing he could do to protect her counting the fact that he slept with her boyfriend.
...
After a while, she was fast asleep but she seemed very uncomfortable with the motion of the bus that made her head was bang against the window the whole time.
And the whole ride he was pondering on whether coming clean to Ju Kyung was a good idea or not, at the same time he didn't want to be the person who had to out Su Ho, so he remained silent.
Now Im Ju Kyung was in a disturbing position her hair and makeup were messy, her dress was disheveled.
It was almost his stop so he tried to go sit near her. That's when he noticed that her clothes were disheveled which made her chest exposing. He quickly looked away. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before sitting down behind her.
He removed his black jacket and covered her with it. When he got closer to her to lay it on her, the bus jerked and she hit her head strongly which made her wake up. She groaned and caught the back of her head.
He fell forward because of the bus's movement.
The first image she saw when she opened her eyes was Han Seo Jun, whose face was mere inches apart.
Without even thinking she pulled him by his neck towards her lips, slowly. It was a spur of a moment thing for her.
But in a split second, he dodged the kiss and looked away. "I know you are going through a hard time but never do something like that" with that said he took off leaving her behind, tongue-tied.
To be continued...
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