ᴀ ᴛʀᴜᴇʀ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ

ᴇᴘɪꜱᴏᴅᴇ 7

park beomi p.o.v

"hey, it's the boy again! he's with park beomi."

"they know each other?"

"they were both absent yesterday."

"he's so handsome."

"she looks bad today."

"i wonder what's up with them."

"they must be dating."

jihoo elbowed me softly when we heard the last comment, "they think we're dating."

"they think a lot of things."

"here, hold my hand."

i slapped his hand away from mine, "no. don't fuel the fire, you'll make it worse."

"come on, it's fun!"

"you were so serious yesterday. what happened to you?"

"you did, darling!" he teased.

"shush! don't call me that!"

jihoo and i arrived to classroom and sat together. somehow, jihoo convinced mr. han to switch his seat across from mine.

jihoo and i talked quietly when the classroom suddenly became very loud.

"beomi!"

sua dragged her boyfriend, sujin and jugyeong to my desk, "are you okay? do you feel better? why did you pass out? are you sick? did you go to the hospital? do you fe- "

"leave her alone." suho sat at his desk next to me.

i noticed jihoo stare at suho.

"no, i'm okay. i just have little problems with fights."

jihoo placed his hand on my shoulder as if to comfort me.

"wah, you were so brave to look for jugyeong despite that!"

"hey," seojun walked into the classroom, "you missed the punishment yesterday."

"she didn't even fight anyone! leave her alone."

the group continued arguing. i looked at suho. he was watching us.

probably mostly at jugyeong.

he pulled out his phone and began using it. i turned away, disappointed for some reason.

i felt my phone vibrate and pulled it out.

a message from suho.

i smiled and opened it.

'i'm sorry about the fight.'

i looked up at him and smiled widely before responding, 'don't worry.'

some other students joined in the group's conversation.

"so, beomi and jihoo... there's many rumors about you two."

"aish, guys!"

"well, you guys are always together at school."

jugyeong chipped in, "yesterday when we took you home, jihoo was already there. in his pijamas. you guys live together?"

everyone gasped. jihoo and i looked at each other.

he smirked, "we are da- ow!"

i pinched him from under the desk.

"he is... a family friend."

"aw, beomi. tell us the truth! the whole story."

"that is the story. now go back to your seats before class starts."

i turned to complain to jihoo about what he almost said, but my attention was diverted. seojun was staring at me.

or maybe jihoo? i can't tell. i should really get glasses.

...

jihoo and i left the school building and prepared to go to the school bus. but something got in our way.

more like someone.

seongyong ran up to me and kneeled.

"please, forgive me! i apologize profoundly. please."

what the hell?

jihoo whispered to me, "who is he?"

"don't worry about him," i muttered back.

i noticed a lot of people staring at us.

"get up."

"huh?"

i pulled him up, "why are you apologizing?"

"um...because i hurt you."

not physically. and it's not like you knew that fighting would hurt me mentally.

"okay..."

jihoo jumped in, "if you really want to apologize, never show yourself around here again."

seongyong nodded and scurried away.

so much for being a valiant gangster.

...

exam day.

it's exam day and i barely studied.

lucky jihoo got out of it since he's only been attending for a couple days.

school is too stressful. i give up.

i searched through my bag. i can't seem to find my pencil case.

how can i take the exam without a pen or pencil?!

i groaned and banged my head on my desk.

i felt someone touch my arm. i looked up and saw a pristine pen sitting on my desk.

who...?

i looked up at suho. he was organizing his things in his backpack. on his desk he had the same pen as the one on my desk.

i ripped a small piece of paper from my notebook and wrote on it. i taped it to the side of the pen.

after the exam, i'll leave the pen on my desk and the owner will take it back and see the note.

hopefully the owner is suho 'cause i definitely tested my luck by writing, 'thanks suho :)' on that note.

...

students received the scores to the exams today. i was so jittery, i kept biting my lips really hard.

i walked into class so distracted, i bumped into someone.

"ah, sorry."

"hey."

seojun looked at me weirdly.

he wiped his thumb across my lips, "you're bleeding."

the class 'woah'ed in unison. i felt my face heat up and walked away.

i took my seat and tried hard not to bite my lips anymore. i felt a tap at my shoulder.

suho was extending his hand, "here."

i accepted the tiny bandage, "thank you."

the class got excited yet again.

why is he being nice? and why is everyone watching me?

as the teacher began passing out the test score papers, i struggled to put on my bandage.

jihoo pulled me close to him and snatched the bandage from me. carefully, he placed it on my lips.

a few students noticed and whispered about it.

i feel so weird today, jeez.

mr. han called my name and i shot up. everyone watched me as i received the paper.

second place? i got second place!

i skipped back to my seat happily.

maybe school isn't so bad, after all.

...

ryu hyeong-jin. ryu hyeong-jin, the baseball player, is courting jugyeong and nobody told me?

students had rushed into classroom yelling for jugyeong. hyeong-jin had come to see her.

it was a loud mess until the dean came in.

"who are you?"

hyeong-jin rushed to the windows. he stopped next to my desk.

"oh. i know you."

the dean walked toward us. hyeong-jin patted my head and left out the window.

my brain isn't even processing these types of things anymore. seriously.

...

i went out to take out the trash. i looked up at the sky.

it's a pretty night. the perfect night to be with a loved one.

i looked around, enjoying the silence and lack of people. but, there was one person around.

they were turning the corner from jugyeong's street. i peeked over the wall.

!!

yes, exclamation points really did take over my thoughts.

i turned around to go back inside but was frightened. jihoo was standing at the door, shirtless.

!! again

i was so shocked, i nearly fell back. luckily, or maybe unluckily, i was caught.

i already knew who caught me, there was only one person nearby.

i turned around and thanked suho. he was looking behind me the whole time.

i looked behind me and realized what he was looking at. i gasped and pushed jihoo away from our view.

"whoops, hehe. my... bro..."

i smiled innocently at suho before running inside and shutting the door.

why the heck is jihoo waltzing around half naked?!

...

seojun had asked me to help him buy a gift for gowoon. i wasn't too sure but i accepted anyways.

i wonder why he didn't ask jugyeong. or at least the both of us... we're both gowoon's friends.

"hello, rawr undies!"

"hey, don't say that so loud! someone might hear you."

"heh, sorry. anyways, we're here to pick out gowoon's birthday present, so let's go."

seojun and i started walking but i stopped to answer an incoming phone call.

suho?

"hello."

"where are you?"

"i'm at a department store..."

"are you alone?"

the sound of seojun calling my name answered his question.

"are you with han seojun?"

"uh, it's kind of cramped here. i'll call you back later."

i hung up before he could respond.

maybe i should've let him talk. now i'm curious as to why he called in the first place.

i caught up with seojun, "is there anything specific you want to buy her?"

"look around."

makeup. he definitely should've asked for jugyeong's help as well.

"oh, makeup, that's a good idea."

"she said there will be a show at the academy soon. she's been practicing stage make up."

"i had heard that gowoon attends a musical academy."

"yeah."

"two siblings, both talented in singing. i'm jealous."

"you've never heard me sing before."

"no, but i know that you used to be an idol trainee. people say you sing really well. which really doesn't make sense as to why you stopped training."

"what's so great about being a celebrity? just help me pick something."

he got so serious talking about that. maybe it's a sensitive topic.

"hm, let's see... for stage makeup, it would be nice to get a color shadow with good pigmentation or a lip lacquer that's smudge-proof."

i basically just spit out all the makeup knowledge in my brain. there's no more. i'm empty.

i picked up a lipgloss, "oh, this looks nice. i wonder if it'll be long-lasting."

i noticed the little 'try me' sticker and did just that, i tried it on.

"i can't really tell over my lipstick."

i noticed seojun watching attentively in the mirror.

i turned to him, "let's try it on you."

he backed up from me, "no. you tried it on your lips."

"it's a sample. besides, you have the same skin tone as gowoon. i need to see if it's good for her. come here."

"no."

"come on," i pulled him close and carefully applied the lipgloss on his lips.

i stayed still, observing the color on his lips.

"the color is nice," i looked at him and smiled.

i'm proud. i think i found something good.

"do you want to get this one?"

he stared at me silently.

"hey, han seojun."

"huh?"

"this one?"

he took it from my hands, "l-let's get this one."

he began walking away, "d-do we go that way?"

he's taking the sample?? okay, sure. that's cool, i guess.

we paid for gowoon's gift and began leaving. i stopped to buy myself a drink. i offered, but seojun didn't want anything.

we got on an elevator and i finished my beverage. on a different floor, a large crowd of people got on the elevator.

i was pushed into a corner and seojun nearly slammed into me.

i stayed quiet and tried not to stare at seojun.

the elevator dinged, "the capacity is exceeded."

"i told you to lose weight."

"i'm sorry."

"everybody hold your breath. two, three!"

what are they saying? can't they just get off and wait for the next elevator?

the elevator dinged again, "the capacity is exceeded."

"i told you not to eat too much for lunch."

"let's get on the next one."

"get off. get off. quickly. quickly."

thank you! with seojun this close to me, it feels like my heart is going to jump out of my chest.

the elevator immediately felt lighter as they got off. or maybe it was the space between seojun and i.

just as the doors were about to close and hand stuck through them.

omg, doesn't that hurt?

my eyes widened as the doors opened completely.

"oh? what are you doing here?"

"let's go."

let's go? sir. this is a mcdonalds drive thru.

suho pulled me out but seojun dragged me back in.

"where are you going? we're not on the first floor yet."

the doors began closing in on me. i flinched and prepared to die an awfully awkward death.

suho pulled on me again, "let's go."

seojun also pulled on me, "what kind of bother is this?"

"excuse me, i am not a rope and this is not tug of war."

the doors began closing again. i let my head fall low.

it's death for sure this time.

suho pushed me in and hopped on the elevator as well just before it squished me to pieces.

neither of the boys let go of my hands, they just glared at each other.

suddenly, the elevator seemed to shake violently. i panicked and gripped onto the boys' hands.

"what just happened? the elevator, i think it got stuck!"

the boys barely reacted.

the elevator screen read, 'under maintenance'.

uh oh. this feeling... is not a good one... i have to pee. why now?!

i groaned so emotionally, seojun and suho looked at me concerned.

"why don't you let go now?"

"if you let go first. why are you here?

"to shop."

"you? shopping?"

"can't i shop?"

"if you came to shop, then go shop. why are you here holding on to her?"

"i'm shopping with her."

this is absolutely crazy. i'm going absolutely crazy.

"let go. i said let go. that damnable shopping, shopping!" i yanked my hands out of their grips.

i let myself fall to the floor. i crouched and hid behind my legs and arms.

"what's wrong? are you feeling okay?"

i looked up at suho with a desperate look.

"are you scared? they'll open it soon."

"hang on a little more."

they are not helping.

"no, no. just- just stay quiet, already."

"what's wrong?"

"what's wrong?! what's wrong is that you- han seojun- let me drink a large coffee all on my own and now my bladder wants to explode!"

seojun began messing with the buttons, "hello! hello! when are you going to open this?"

suho took the empty cup out of seojun's hands and offered it to me.

has he lost his goddamn marbles?

the look on my face spoke more than enough and suho pulled his arm away from me.

two workers opened the doors. the elevator had stopped between two floors.

i had to jump over the floor to get out but i did it smoothly.

that's bladder adrenaline for you.

i ran, looking for a bathroom as fast a girl could go.

welp. that was embarrassing.

after doing my business, i left the bathroom and headed for the exit. i went out and was pleasantly surprised.

snow! i wanna dance in it. but i've done enough humiliating myself today.

i put my hand over my head and began walking away from the building. i saw a figure in front of me and slowly looked up.

jihoo was standing there, with an umbrella, seemingly waiting for me.

"hi, beo."

"jihoo," i smiled brightly, unaware of seojun and suho surrounding us.

...

jugyeong asked me replace her spot at ryu hyeong-jin's baseball game today. he had given her extra an ticket for me, so i invited jihoo. also because i felt bad leaving him behind.

i wonder why jugyeong won't accept his pursuing.

ruu hyeong-jin did a really good job today. the crowd was really happy by the end of the game.

as jihoo and i cheered along, i noticed two familiar people on screen.

seojun and suho were celebrating and hugging.

how strange.

i even saw them talking calmly as we were leaving the arena.

i guess two enemies can get along thanks to one similarity. in this case, crushing on the same girl. jugyeong, obviously.