༊*·˚ fools
"what are you thinking about?"
hyerin shook the thoughts out of her head. "how otters hold each other's hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart from each other." she looked at myunghee with her books out. "what are you doing?"
"work," she scoffed.
hyerin arched a brow at dongmin who gave her the look of "don't look at me, i don't know". myunghee only studied at home because anywhere else was too distracting so this was news for both of them.
"i'm going to get another banana milk," hyerin informed her friends before rising out of her seat and walking to the lunch queue. it was empty but after taking her banana milk she looked around at the left over snacks and took two steps back.
she shouldn't had done that because as soon as she did, a plastic plate clamoured onto the floor and she immediately whipped around after hearing a gasp.
the clamour had echoed on the wooden floor so now everyone was looking at them.
hyerin covered her mouth as she looked at the state of the girl in front of her.
"oh my, god– i'm so sorry."
the food had stained all over the front of her white blouse and dripped off her blue skirt with some on her white shoes.
when hyerin looked up to see if she could recognise the girl, she was even more horrified when she saw it to be donghyuck's girlfriend.
way to make things ten times worse...
"thanks... a lot!" the girl shrieked and ran out of the cafeteria.
myunghee and dongmin darted over to a concerned hyerin who'd frozen herself in place.
"are you okay?"
"clearly! i'm not the one who got food splashed all on me," she responded and took her bag from dongmin's hand.
following donghyuck's girlfriend out the cafeteria was him, jeno and some other guy she couldn't name. she took a glimpse over at their table and encountered jaemin looking at her with an uneasy expression but she gave him a tigh-lipped smile in assurance she was fine and paid for the banana milk.
"let's get out of here," she told her two friends and the trio left the cafeteria.
"that was..." myunghee mumbled. "oh, by the way, her name is park gina. just in case you were curious."
hyerin, dongmin and myunghee all sat in different steps on their usual staircase outside the courtyard. today, the boys were playing football and she admired them, eyes on the ball at all times.
one of the guys noticed her and breathlessly jogged over to one of his team members, gesturing to hyerin while talking to the guy before he jogged over to the end of the staircase they were sitting on.
"aren't you the girl who played with us last time?" he asked, one eye closed because of the sun in his face.
she nodded. "that would be me."
"do you want to play with us again?"
dongmin and myunghee turned to her.
"are you guys going to play?"
they shook their heads.
"nope, but we'll be your number one supporters from the sidelines!" myunghee exclaimed. "go!"
hyerin sprinted down the steps after discarding her blazer knowing she'd get warm from the running around and tied her hair into a low bun to keep it out of her face as she jogged beside the other guy to the centre of the pitch.
"what's your name, by the way?"
she smiled. "moon hyerin."
she played well for the whole game and even scored them a goal, again, doing a short victory lap around the field when her team won and receiving the booming claps and cheers of her two friends.
"you should join the girls' football. you have potential," the guy from before told her.
hyerin laughed. "i don't think so. but hey, any time you guys need an extra goal then just call me. i've got to go. it was fun playing with you guys!" she was waving them off halfway across the field before jogging up the steps and being handed her blazer.
myunghee gave her a double thumbs up. "you're super cool, hyerin!"
dongmin did the same. "very awesome of you."
she snickered, picking up her bag from the floor. "thanks, guys."
"when are you going to the ice skating rink again?" myunghee questioned.
dongmin chimed in. "yeah, i haven't seen you skating for a while and i want to see."
"i was planning on going after school today," she spoke. "it's been a few days since i've gone so..."
lunch came to an end and she made her way to her class stress-free since donghyuck hadn't appeared since he'd bolted out of the cafeteria after his girl.
but, of course, if he wasn't there then he had to be somewhere and he was leaning on the wall just before their classroom's back door and was talking to renjun and jaemin who stood a little further away.
hyerin tried to slip into the room unnoticed but just as she was getting a foot through the door, donghyuck held the strap at the top of her backpack to hold her in place.
"what did you do that to gina for?" he questioned, letting go of the strap shortly after.
she faced him. "it was an accident."
he scoffed. "sure, i bet. you probably did it on purpose to embarrass her."
"donghyuck–"
she narrowed her eyes at him. "is that really what you think of me, lee donghyuck?"
"i can't really think highly of you after what you did to me that night, can you blame me for what i think of you?" he shrugged.
she didn't even have any words but instead just shook her head and walked through the door, throwing her bag onto the floor and putting her head in her hands.
jaemin and donghyuck took the door from behind. donghyuck walked pridefully to his seat while jaemin looked over at hyerin with a pitiful look.
"that was a little bit harsh, don't you think?"
"harsh? i only told her the truth. are you going to defend her now?"
hyerin turned her head over to the two boys. jaemin's lips rested in a flat line as donghyuck waited patiently for an answer that he didn't receive because jaemin spun round in his chair. her brows furrowed at their interaction but the teacher walked in shortly after so she reached into her bag to get out her books.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
"i'll cheer for you the loudest," he said with a smile spread on his lips as he held both her hands in his giving them a little reassuring squeeze.
"thank you, hyuck," she thanked, stroking the back of his hand with her thumbs before slipping away from his hold.
he took a seat in one of the middle rows around the rink allowing him to get a good look at her and the whole rink. she skated to the back middle of the rink to begin taking her position. she pressed a button on a remote that controlled the speakers and
the soft classical music sounded through the speakers and as soon as she heard the strings of the violin, she opened her eyes and allowed her body to move as she felt the music.
she swayed as she skated around the rink to begin with. once she really felt the music, she picked up some speed and did a spinning jump followed by a twirl.
she went on to skate backwards, do little spins and big twirls, raising her leg, using her arms to help her turn and help with the elegance. it was like a free-flowing choreography.
donghyuck was enthralled by her and the way she moved with such grace and glided across the ice. his eyes were glued to her and his lips slightly parted in awe.
the song came to a slow end and she finished it with a series of fast twirls that made him dizzy just by looking at her before she fell into a delightful bowing pose.
at the centre of the rink, hyerin looked down at her skates to hide the stupid little smile she had on her face after remembering that.
"let's gooo!" myunghee cheered from the sidelines, followed with claps that resonated in the big room.
"woo! hyerin!"
she snickered at her two friends, going for a quick lap to get into the feel of things before stopping and taking her position giving them a signal to play the music. as soon as it started, so did she.
her graceful movements captured the attention of the pair as they followed her each and every little move and payed attention to every detail they could including how she modelled her fingers.
it was thanks to her they knew how to ice skate when it came to those winter wonderland theme parks that had ice rinks for the kids and adults. it was mostly for teenagers who took their partners on dates but regardless. they were way better at most people there and myunghee was even able to do a spin - most of the time - without falling.
when the music came to a stop, she stopped her skates in the middle of the rink and held her arms out as a finishing pose. myunghee and dongmin clapped the loudest and even whistled.
"that was amazing!" she gasped when hyerin skated to the railings to be with them.
"i filmed a little to post it in my instagram story, do you mind?"
she shook her head. "not at all."
"i can't believe you do something like this." myunghee was in disbelief although it hadn't been the first time she'd seen her friend's figure skating. "how long have you been doing this for?"
"since i was nine?"
myunghe gawked which only made hyerin's smile widen.
"you could make a career from this. go to the olympics or something," dongmin suggested.
she shook her head. "not for me, i don't think." she skated towards the exit of the ring and began unlacing her boots.
they said their goodbyes at the train station when hyerin hopped on and myunghee walked out to catch a bus.
when she arrived home, she was surprised to see her uncle at home in the kitchen making dinner.
he worked as a business lawyer for a company in gangnam but from time to time, when their family needed it, he'd step in as a family lawyer. this meant he worked long and tiring hours so most of the time hyerin was left alone at home and she was the one that made dinner for both of them.
"good afternoon," he greeted.
hyerin discarded her bag by the stairs in their hallway and walked closer to her uncle. "good afternoon, what are you making?"
"some stir-fried noodles."
jeju, the cat, meowed by the kitchen table where she patiently sat letting hyerin know of her presence.
"i thought you'd have to work until later? you're never home this early?" she questioned him over dinner.
"i brought some work home because they told me i didn't need to be in my office to do it, so i took the opportunity to come home to spend time with you."
"oh," she mumbled, "i'm sorry, i didn't know so i went to the ice skating rink..."
he smiled. "don't worry about it. i spent time with jeju instead."
hyerin felt guilty for leaving him home by himself when it was one of the first few times he'd been allowed to work from home and he noticed the visible sadness on her face when he looked up again so his lips curved into a smile.
"hyerin," he called, earning her attention, "it's okay, i promise."
she slowly nodded and forced a smile.
since he'd made dinner, hyerin was left on washing up duty while he went into his office to do some more of his work and afterwards she headed up stairs to get herself ready for bed. for the rest of the night, she caught up with some of her favourite group's content while crocheting until she was tired enough to sleep.
<3
the chapters for this one are gonna be longer than fast lane i hope that's ok 🙏