it has been two hours since that "incident" happened and haerin hasn't left the bathroom since then.
she can still remember all their laughs so clearly that it hurts her, but other than that, she overthought so much that she can't recollect anything that happened after that.
she felt ashamed. it's her fault. just why did she decide to talk back? she wouldn't have ended up soaked in chocolate milk from head to toe if she kept her stupid mouth shut.
the past three years she suffered silently and endured every single thing without letting anything escape her mouth, why did she decide to say something today?
stupid her. she's stupid for thinking it was a good idea, for thinking that talking back would make anything better. these girls are heartless, and there's nothing she can do rather than get bullied for no reason at all.
maybe she did something wrong in her past life and now she is suffering cause she deserves it.
she hugged her legs tightly and stared blankly at the floor as her back touched the door of the bathroom stall, sniffing loudly whilst rubbing her red and aching swollen eye from crying for the past hour.
she got out of the bathroom stall probably an hour ago or so, the disgusting smell coming from the toilet being the only reason why she left it to cry sitting in front of it.
"can i be lonely with you?" jungwon asked her with a small smile, sitting beside her on the floor while looking at her as haerin snapped out of her thoughts.
she made eye contact with him for a few seconds before gazing back at the dirty ground and resting her chin on her knees "why are you here? you're probably embarrassed to be my friend after what happened."
"i'm so stupid." thinking back about what happened, haerin felt her eyes becoming watery again but she closed them shut and pushed the tears back.
"i actually think you were pretty cool when you talked back at her. it takes a lot of courage to talk back to someone who bullies you and you're so cool for that." she turned her head to his direction with sparkly eyes as he nodded and a smile curved on his lips, but soon the spark faded as her own thoughts attacked her again.
"you're probably saying this out of pity . . " she looked down at her feet as they moved up and down, hating the sight of her favorite shoes ruined with light brown stains.
"i'm not, i'm saying this cause i really mean it." jungwon placed some spare clothes on her lap he brought for himself in case anything happened to his uniform while her eyebrows smashed against each other in confusion.
"those are some spare clothes i kept in my locker in case my uniform gets stained or anything happens, but you can have them."
she smiled and wrapped her hands around his neck almost immediately as jungwon's eyes widened and his whole body froze "thank you so much jungwon, you saved me." she broke the hug quickly before standing up and running into the stall to change.
what the hell was that giggly feeling? what's this stupid knot in his stomach now? why did he hope she wouldn't break the hug so quickly? why- no. what the hell is he thinking about?
"i'm done." haerin walked out with a smile on her face and her hair tied up in a ponytail as a smile unknowingly took over jungwon's lips.
"do they look too big on me?" he shook his head and realized what he was doing, quickly letting the smile fade off his lips. smiling? he hasn't done that in decades and he doesn't see why he should do it now.
"they don't. actually, they're perfect on you." she bowed slightly and thanked him before sitting on the same spot again, resting her head on his shoulder and jungwon placing his head on hers.
"do you think people will stop making fun of me?" she asked, staring at the floor blankly while she played with the hem of the hoodie he gave her. "i don't even know why they make fun of me in the first place . . "
"they'll stop, i'll make sure of that"
guys this story is on-hold so i won't update for a while