nostalgia, fourteen.
❛ unanswered questions ❜
"Yebin! Thank god you're here!"
Those weren't the first words Han Yebin was expecting to hear as she stepped into the school gym, still groggy from falling asleep on her desk the night before. She was half-awake, but decided to help out with the festival preparations anyway.
Go Taeri was the one who'd called her, and the girl was sitting next to Jin Micha. In front of them were some signages that had yet to be made, and Yebin made her way to her friends.
She pointed to her work with a grimace. "My handwriting isn't even legible at this point, I don't know what to do."
"No, I think it's great!" Yebin insisted. Taeri gave her a look.
Yebin bit the inside of her cheek. "Well, I guess- I could do it for you, if you want."
Taeri's eyes lit up, and she threw her arms around the girl. "That'd be amazing! You're such a good friend."
Yebin jokingly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, ok."
Taeri sat next to Micha as Yebin took her place, crossing her legs and taking the paintbrush to start working.
"Go, Jin, what do you think you're doing?" Choi Beomgyu suddenly walked up to the group, hands on his hips.
"What?" Taeri and Micha looked away from the picture they were taking. They exchanged glances. "Do you want to be in our selfie?"
"I- Yes, but that's not that point!" Beomgyu shut his eyes, flailing his arms around. "You guys are making Yebin do all the work!"
"No, I offered," Yebin told him.
"Shut up." Beomgyu pointed a finger at her, causing the girl to raise her hands up in surrender. He then looked at Taeri and Micha. "You two, get to working."
"We don't have any brushes," Micha explained.
"Oh, I've got some in my backpack. It's in the big compartment," Yebin said, her eyes trained on the signage she was working on.
Taeri unzipped her friend's bag when something caught her eye, and it wasn't a paintbrush. "Oh my god."
She pulled out the Sanheoli High School blazer, holding it up to take a good luck, her lips slightly parted. "Whose is this?"
Yebin looked up weakly, before her eyes went wide. Taeri was holding up the blazer Jungwon had left with her the night before. Mr. Nam had briefly explained what happened after she woke up, and the guilt she felt drove her to hand-wash and iron the piece of clothing the moment she got home. She even hung it outside her window to dry, to avoid any questions from her nosy family. Too bad she failed to avoid her nosy classmates.
She meant to return it on the bus that morning, but she fell asleep and it completely slipped her mind.
"Uh-"
"Is it a boy's?" Micha asked.
Beomgyu gasped. "Our Yebin has a boyfriend?!"
Yebin shook her head. "He's just a friend-"
"So it is a boy!" Micha clapped excitedly.
Yebin covered her face with her hands, wanting to bang her head on the gym floor.
Beomgyu crouched down next to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking her. "Who is it?"
Micha's jaw dropped in realization. "No way, is it-?"
"Choi Beomgyu, what are you still doing here? You have to leave, this is girl talk." Taeri crossed her arms at the boy.
"Hey, you can't talk to me like that, I'm your senior!" Beomgyu feigned offense.
"Exactly, shoo!" Micha gestured with her hands.
Beomgyu ignored her. "Yebin, don't you think I should know? And you're still too young to be dating! I need to meet him-"
"Beomgyu!" Taeri and Micha chorused.
"Fine, I'm leaving!" He turned to the girl again. "I'm hurt, Yebin. Turns out we aren't besties after all."
Yebin stifled a laugh. "No, of course we are-"
"I can't hear you over the sound of your betrayal." Beomgyu raised a palm, before glancing and Taeri and Micha. "And I don't want to be in your selfie anymore."
With that, he walked away, and left the three girls smiling. He always did love the dramatics.
Micha broke the air. "So, when'd you and that Jungwon guy get together?"
"We're not," Yebin said exasperatedly.
Taeri scoffed. "What, he just randomly gave you his jacket?"
"The driver said he threw it on me."
"Still romantic!" Micha exclaimed.
"Soulmates don't have to be romantic." Yebin sighed.
"Soulmates?" Taeri and Micha said slowly.
Yebin winced, just then realizing the information she'd disclosed. Within seconds, she was bombarded with questions she didn't know how to answer.
"How'd you know?"
"What's it like?"
"Soulmates are real?"
Realization hit Yebin like a bus. How did she know? What was it like? Were soulmates even real? She tried responding to the easiest out of the bunch.
"I just saw him one day on the bus, and i just- knew?" She decided to skip out on the part where he avoided her like the plague.
Yebin tilted her head, trying to explain. "But when we talk, it really isn't anything special. It just feels- easy, you know? Like I've known him for years."
Her two friends blinked at her, probably expecting more. Micha's gaze shifted to behind her.
"Oh, here he comes right now! Introduce us." Micha linked her arm with Yebin, pulling the girl to her feet.
Jungwon, Heeseung, and Sunoo walked through the gym doors, heading right over to help out at their respective stations. Their Sanheoli uniforms stood out as always, their blazers now a little more familiar to her.
Yebin eyed them. "I don't think that's a good idea,"
Her friends didn't budge, so she had to find another solution.
Yebin pointed to the window looking out to the courtyard. "Look, it's Zhong Chenle! That hot senior we talked about the other day."
"Where?" Taeri automatically turned around.
"There, I think that's him over by the benches!" Micha said.
It really wasn't him, and Yebin pursed her lips as her friends left to go check.
She looked back at Jungwon, only to find him already staring at her. She gave him a small wave, with a warm smile on her face.
His stare lingered for a few seconds, and he looked like he was going to say something- but didn't. He just looked away, and went back to whatever he was doing at the table, as if he'd never seen her there.
Yebin furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what she did wrong. Was he mad about the blazer? She didn't think it was that.
She sat back down on her place by the signages, still extremely confused as she picked up the paintbrush to continue working. The third and last question sprung back into her mind.
Are soulmates even real? Yebin asked herself. And if they are, why is mine so moody?
a/n. what was the reason 👏 wHAT 👏 WAS 👏 THE 👏REASON 👏 im sorry ill leave now if you're still reading ty ily😭