There was peaceful silence. Even though she and Jaemin don't exactly get along well it wasn't awkward she began to see a light within him. Maybe he doesn't hate her? She felt a little giddy inside thinking that they both can be on better terms.
Her flow of positive thoughts fell downhill as soon as a voice broke through."Oh Hi guys! What are you doing here?" she asked, smiling at both of them. The last person Taeyeon would've wanted to see.
"None of your business" Jaemin said in a monotone. The boy walked away bumping into the girl's shoulders before making way down the stairs.
Not wanting to be there alone with her, Taeyeon followed suit. She didn't even send a glimpse towards the girl. An emotionless expression, not even taking in her existence.
Out of the blue a soft warmth tingled her wrist. Byeol held her hand gently, looking into Taeyeon's eyes.
"Hey Aer- I mean Taeyeon... can I speak to you?" she asked softly. Instantly, Taeyeon shook her head. Not hearing any footsteps trailing behind him down the stairs Jaemin stopped, confused as to where Taeyeon is. He began to climb back up in search for her.
"Can you let go? I have to leave!" Taeyeon harshly lashed out. "What did I do to you? Why are you avoiding me?" Byeol cried out, her voice sounding hurt. Jaemin laid back, not stepping in. He just watched the two afar hiding.
"I'm not avoiding you!" she denied. "Yes you are! I've been meaning to talk to you Aera!"
"I'm not Aera! You've got the wrong person" Taeyeon cruelly pulled her. Spinning around on her heels she tried to run away. "You're not fooling me Aera! You were my best friend!"
"Were? ..." Taeyeon scoffed. She couldn't help but feel a slight pain in her heart from the word.
Were... i'm not your best friend anymore - she thought
"Look ... Han Byeol is it? I'm not the girl you are looking for. She is dead! Long gone so stop pretending that you know me" Byeol's mouth dropped. She was about to advance towards Taeyeon but was stopped when Jaemin walked up to the girl.
Seeing Jaemin, Taeyeon froze. I thought he was gone. Did he hear?
"What's going on?" he asked, acting clueless. He raised his eyebrows at Taeyeon waiting for her to respond. Her expression relaxed and she shook her head.
"Nothing! We should leave" Taeyeon pushed him to walk down. As she took the set of stairs she glanced back. They were far from Byeol but Taeyeon could still make out her features. Emotional and .... her eyes were glassy.
If Taeyeon wasn't wrong, Byeol looked like she was crying. "You coming?"
"Huh? ... yeah..." she slowly walked up to the boy not turning back around.
↠
Lunch hadn't finished yet and the two joined the table in the canteen. Was Byeol really crying? She couldn't help but think back to what she saw. A chair moved in front of her. Taeyeon looked up to see Byeol sitting right in front of her greeting the others.
"Hey guys!" she cheerfully waved.
Her eyes - they didn't look like she was crying. Taeyeon scoffed at herself for believing something that wasn't true. For a moment she thought maybe Byeol cared for her and she might've mistaken Byeol in the past.
But then again Byeol seemed unfazed about her being alive. I mean she did look shocked that Taeyeon was alive but there was no sign of happiness that the girl was somewhat not dead for the past 4 years.
Why would she cry? - Taeyeon scoffed chuckling internally at her stupid thoughts.
But there was something that went unnoticed by Taeyeon, her eyes may have not been red however her eyelashes were wet. She may have not cried to the extent that it was shown in her eyes but there were definitely a few tears.
Jaemin was watching Taeyeon's every move. Her eyes were focused on the girl in front.
"Is everything alright?" Taeyeon flinched by the deep whisper that brushed against her ear. When she turned around she saw jaemin extremely close to her. His breathing fanned against her face. She couldn't help but feel a swarm of butterflies in her stomach, her heart skipped a beat.
"Umm... you guys gonna kiss or something?" They both turned to see the rest of the table's eyes focused on them. Renjun was waiting for them to answer his question, a cheeky smile across his lips. Taeyeon felt a blush creeping up her cheeks and she pushed Jaemin away. Jeno groaned and slapped Renjuns head which made the older whimper.
"If you didn't interrupt then maybe they would've" jeno stated and shook his head. Taeyeon bit her lower lip and played with her food feeling slightly awkward with the situation. She turned to face Hyuck after he nudged her shoulder. She had a big urge of wanting to wipe that smirk off his face.
"Something you wanna tell me?" he whispered to her. Taeyeon shook her head and face down. Slightly flustered. "OMG you're actually blushing!!" he whisper-screamed, his voice resounded against her eardrums making the girl instantly squirm at the feeling. "I - I'm just embarrassed that's all" she quietly spoke disregarding his comments.
Sealing her lips shut and calming her heart rate down she held her utensils to finish her food. Rest of the group were immersed in their own conversations. Slowly Taeyeon lifted her head up, munching on her kimchi, to find herself connecting to a pair of eyes already on her. Byeol's pupils dilated, realising that she got caught staring at the girl. Furrowing her eyebrows Taeyeon faced away continuing with her meal. Her eyes fell on the vegetables. Carefully the girl ate the healthy veggies while removing the spinach she finds nasty.
↠
By the time lunch finished Donghyuck and Dasom had already left to go back to class. Taeyeon was still eating because she reached the canteen later. After being fulfilled by her meal, Taeyeon walked back to class rubbing her satisfied stomach. However a hand dragged her back leading her into the janitor room.
She couldn't escape nor say a word as the whole event occurred by the blink of an eye.
"You can't tell me that you're not Aera! You act like her, speak and sound like her, look like her and you also don't eat spinach just like her. Aera hates spinach!" Byeol furiously ranted.
"I-" before Taeyeon could respond she was cut off
"Please let me finish!.... Aera... I don't know what you're hiding, I don't know why you changed your name, I don't know why you're acting like you don't know me. I don't even understand if I did something wrong but I miss you. I miss my best friend." she cried out.
Speechless, Taeyeon let out a heavy sigh. There is no point hiding it anymore "Call me Taeyeon. Aera is dead and so was my past along with everyone in it" she exaggerated everyone making Byeol's hands shake, her eyes became teary. She reached out to hold Taeyeon's hand gently.
" If you want me to pretend that you're not Aera. I will. If you want me to forget everything from our past. I will. But please don't push me away. You're the only person I have" her voice was shaky and unstable, fear riding her nerves.
Only person you have?
The bell rang indicating that it's end of lunch. She wanted to ask what she meant by that comment but Byeol let go and ran down the hallway before she could even question her.
↠
The whole of last few periods Taeyeon couldn't concentrate and kept on fiddling. She couldn't keep her eyes off Byeol.
What did she mean by that?
Another thing which disturbed her is Byeol's eyes, something within them which is confusing her. Taeyeon saw Byeol's expression that day, her eyes showed betrayal and how Byeol didn't help her when she was getting bullied. Now she is acting like she didn't. It was driving her crazy. And why was she tearing up? All of it was overwhelming and hard to understand. What was Byeol getting at?
Donghyuck's orbs fell on Taeyeon, her pen circulating between her thumb and index finger. Her eyes staring down at Byeol, ever so carefully not looking away, narrowing her sight. She was acting unusually.
Curious as to what's up with her he wrote a note to her and was about to throw it on her desk. Unfortunately the plan failed when he got caught by the teacher who then gave him a detention.
At the end of the day he told taeyeon to go back home by herself as he couldn't drop her off. She sweetly asked if she could drive in his car home but the boy hates it whenever other people drive his car.
She begged him saying she is good at driving and won't let a single dent in it. However, he refused and said that he had to get home as well so she either has to wait for him until the detention finishes or go on another mode of transport.
So Selfish! How annoying!