a few weeks ago — dohwa's POV
"dohwa they're calling for you. you have to go to the teachers' office." a feminine voice wakes me up from my nap. her hands are all over me—typical. i hate how people think they can just touch me whenever they want.
i rise my head from my desk and fake smile at her, thanking her. then i abruptly stand up and she scrambles to get out of my way. everyone here is always treating me like a celebrity, only because i'm good looking. i hate it.
i make my way to the teachers office, having no idea why they called me. hopefully not to recruit me again. i join the crowd that's entering the teachers office and immediately i can hear people whispering my name.
i notice y/n standing to the right and without a second to think my legs make their way over to her side. she looks up at me and smiles. i wish i could see her smile everyday, it's so beautifully contagious.
"so from the very beginning! it's very basic! starting with addition and subtraction-" the teacher starts but then gets cut off.
"sir! i'm a science major!" a guy in front of y/n announces.
"your major is not the problem right now. the bottom rank for science and liberal arts majors are the same, okay?"
two girls walk in and start making fun of all of us for being bottom rank. i tune my head in their direction noticing that su-ae was beside me too. but it looked like she was embarrassed and was trying to cover her face with her bangs.
i find it funny so i grin before whispering, "why? are you embarrassed?"
"then, you're not embarrassed?" she glares at me in return.
"well i'm a trainee. trainee's don't have time to study." i lie—but she doesn't have to know that. i hear a scoff from beside me which makes me look at y/n, the person standing beside me.
"liar." she mouths, before turning her attention back to the teacher.
a grin creeps up on my face remembering her singing in that karaoke booth...and then her forcing me to sing. she's one of the few people that know i can't sing.
"oh, eunhyuk is here." the teacher says, disturbing my thoughts. "wait a minute."
"yes." eunhyuk replies. i look over at him and i can feel the tension between him and su-ae. he starts reaching his hand out but ra-im shows up and stands in between them. if i didn't know any better i would've thought she was being a protective older sister.
"hey, ra-im!" a boy in the front calls out. "you cut your bangs?"
clearly this guy is stupid. i sneak a glance at y/n to see a frustrated look on her face. i wonder what's going on in that pretty...- pretty complicated head of hers. i turn my attention back to ra-im. she has a pout on her face while she points at her forehead.
"pick me, choose me, love me!" i hear y/n mumble, making me turn my attention back to her, again.
"what?" i ask, confused. i've never heard that saying before.
"how do you like that girl." she seems genuinely curious mixed with an unfamiliar expression.
"i don't like her. what made you think that?" whats she saying? where did she get the thought of me liking...i mean i guess i hang out with ra-im all the time and all of our 'friends' ship us but we're purely platonic. i see her roll her eyes in response. i should clear up this misunderstanding, i don't want her to think i have feelings for anyone else.
"ra-im and i..." i try to whisper but the teacher cuts me off. it doesn't look like y/n heard my attempt to speak anyways.
"sorry for the wait. congratulations first, second, and third rank of our school! you're going to get a scholarship soon, so tell your parents in advance." the teacher praises. how boring.
"every thursday from now on there's going to be a make-up class for an hour after school, so don't skip it. and make sure not to end up in the make-up class next semester, okay?"
"yes ma'am..." every student responds.
"since it's starting today, don't make excuses that you didn't know about it. now go back to class!"
—after school—
all of the so called bottom rankers gathered in a class where a teacher has to teach us everything from the start. it was boring but it's not like i have anything better to do.
"since i explained it all earlier, you must be able to solve this, right?" the teacher announced and i noticed almost everyone panicking. i would panic, but it's not like i actually have to do it.
"and just so you know, you're not going home until you solve everything. understand?" the teacher opens his annoying mouth again.
it's okay, i'll find a way out of this. im not the one and only famous dohwa baek trainee for nothing.
.
the clock finally ticked at the number 6. everyone had managed to leave, one by one, so it was just y/n, su-ae, and i. and the annoying teacher too, i guess.
"i won't be able to go home because of you three!" the teacher snapped. oh no, what a shame.
"leave it in the teachers' office as soon as you finish and...i'm confiscating your phones so that you can't cheat!" he grabbed all of our phones and walked back up to the front of the class, getting ready to leave.
"ah, sir! that's ridiculous...!" su-ae spoke up.
"woah...how could you do that to a student..." i added on.
"the thing that's ridiculous is you three not being able to solve those easy questions, even after hours." he fumed. "i'm going to punish you for every wrong answer, so don't fill it out randomly." he, funnily, narrowed his eyes at us before leaving the classroom and slamming the door shut.
a silence fills the room and i realize that i should speak up and break this awkward silence. "shall we do it together?"
—
the sun was starting to set and both y/n and i had barely finished...one question. su-ae on the other hand...
"finished!" su-ae yells putting her hands in the air and standing up. y/n shoots me a look sayinh 'we need to hurry' and i agree, although i'm in no rush, there's no way i'm being the last one here.
"please share." y/n and i say at the same time.
su-ae looks over at both of our basically empty sheets and says, "woah i know i'm bad, but you two are..." she pauses, then sighs, "just hand it in and receive your punishment."
"wow, you're too good for your friends now??" y/n jokes.
"i don't want to get punished because i gave you a cheat sheet." she says.
"you're so heartless." i smile but i furrow my eyebrows.
"i'm going first." she grins and then walks over to the door. i decide to turn my attention back to my paper but all i can hear are loud thuds. i look back up to see su-ae trying to pull the door open with all her might. it was a pretty funny sight to see.
"n-nooo!" she cries out, and starts to panic while looking for other ways to get out.
"looks like the almighty and great su-ae is stuck with us." y/n laughs. a smile appears on my face when i see hers. i wouldn't mind if it was just me and y/n stuck in this room together. thankfully, she doesn't notice me staring at her because she's too busy looking at su-ae.
suddenly she turns her head around to look at us, with a confused expression.
"why are you so restless?" i smirk, comfortably resting my head on my right fist.
"what?! ...you're just sitting around as if it's got nothing to do with you, huh?!" she looks defeated as she starts walking over to us.
"it's too late for me. that damn manager must be barking like crazy right now." i sigh, being forced to remember all the bad memories i have of him. "no doubt he'll nag my head off next time. he's such a bully"
su-ae now in front of us, i notice she has an expression on her face that i know all too well. "you must be thinking 'he himself is a bully' right?"
"n-no!" she lets out immediately.
"i think it's true though..." i pretend to be hurt.
"t-that's enough! we should be thinking about how to get out of here!" she changes the topic. i comply and stand up to start helping her.
after a while of 'us searching'—mainly just y/n and su-ae since i don't really want to leave—for ways out, they finally give up realizing that there's no way out except for the windows. but they ruled that out as an option since we're on the second floor, thankfully.
"there's nothing...no way out...other than here." su-ae says.
she peaks her head out the window to which i reply with, "you want to go like that?"
i lean closer to her—placing my left hand on the ledge to stabilize myself—to get a closer look out the window. but when i look down i realize that i accidentally caged su-ae in against the window.
"i don't want to go out, though." i beam, trying to distract both of us from what i just did, while i step back from her.
out of the corner of my eye i notice y/n standing near us in silence. she has a hurt expression on her face and but as i'm about to ask her 'what's wrong' su-ae cuts me off, making me turn my attention back to her.
"you're in the mood to joke?" she glares at me with disappointment in her eyes.
"it's not that you don't want to go out but that you can't get out." she scolded.
"that's not true." i retorted, does she think i cant jump out this window right here, right now?
"you're ridic-" every light on the school campus turned off making her stop mid sentence.
"woah. this is driving me crazy. they even turn the lights off??" su-ae presses her face against the window. i decided to lean on the desk beside the one where y/n was sitting.
theres a silence.
"i have three part time jobs." the words slip out of my mouth. i don't know why but i feel like i can trust su-ae. even though i've barely talked to her my body and my brain are telling me that i should completely trust her. and when i'm with her our conversations flow perfectly, almost too perfectly. it's really weird but i feel this connection with her.
"i always knew there was something strange about you- not that you're strange just that um- i- your clothes are strange- no wait that's not what i meant-"su-ae rambles while stuttering.
her words make me burst out in laughter. not that what she said was necessarily funny but the way she didn't want to offend me yet was still being completely honest was funny.
"i was curious what your reaction would be." i pause, still smiling. "but the answer isn't as bad as i thought."
"my boyfriend cheated on me with my friend." su-ae opens up too.
that must've been what ra-im was talking about on that day we went to that playground.
.
.
.
me and su-ae have been having a deep conversation for a bit. but when a silence finally arose between us i realized that y/n hadn't said a single word since i stood up to starts searching for ways out. it's like my brain forgot about her presence on purpose. which is really weird considering the fact that i could never forget about her presence if she's in the same room as me.
i look at her to see her head on the desk. i signal to su-ae seeing if i should wake her up or ask if she's okay but su-ae just shakes her head and makes a hand motion saying she's probably just tired.
"hey, dohwa... i need to go to the bathroom..." su-ae reveals.
i sigh, standing up and then making my way to the window. i do a jump of faith out of it with no hesitation and land on my back, on the cold grass.
i'm gonna be honest, it hurts a lot more than i thought it would. but at least it's better than dying!!
"that wacko!!!! baek dohwa!!!" i hear su-ae scream from back inside the classroom. i close my eyes and pretend to be hurt because it's funny.
"dohwa...?!" i hear y/n squeak out.
y/n? she's awake now?
"oi i know you didn't hurt yourself." su-ae says loudly so that i can hear. okay the gigs up i guess. i open my eyes a giggle a bit "hold it a bit longer. i'll go up there soon." i shout.
i hear su-ae's voice yell something else but i was already on the track, making my way to the entrance, so i was too far to hear her.
——
we're now walking away from the bathrooms after su-ae did her business.
"woah...i really didn't think i'd be able to go home today. thank goodness." she sighs a sigh of relief.
"let's go quickly. it's already late." she says while turning her head to me.
"yeah...it's really spooky here." i reply but then i get an amazing idea to prank them. "ouch." i let out and start slowing down while limping.
——
su-as had managed to carry me all the way to the field and i was more than impressed. she is one strong person.
but then she started huffing and puffing until she finally collapsed on the ground., dropping me on her way down.
"gah i can't go any further...!!!" she sprawls her body across the grass.
"hey! i'm a patient!" i pretend to act hurt.
"lets rest a bit first!" she replies, still trying to slow her breathing.
"are you tired?" i smirk. su-ae is really funny.
"am i tired??? you're heavier than you look! maybe you've got some extra hidden layers." she points out.
"hah, hidden layers??!" i spring my body up, ready to prove her wrong. "hey look."
"forget it." she has a smug look on her face.
"no i mean it, look. i need to prove you wrong."
she rolls over to look at me as i lift my sweatshirt up.
"hey, cover yourself!!" she shields her eyes immediately. but then she looks at my ankle and realizes that i'm not actually hurt.
"hey...what the heck? were you faking it????" she fumes.
"oops."
suddenly she springs her body up and i immediately know she's going to try to make me pay so i start running away from her.
she yells at me while i just giggle. soon, she stops running to bend over and rest her hands on each knee, being worn out and all.
"man. why are you so funny?" i clench my stomach while laughing which makes her laugh too.
after catching our breaths i realize that y/n isn't with us. i can't believe i didn't notice that she disappeared. how long has she been gone??
"wait...where's y/n?" i ask su-ae, hoping she has an answer but to no avail.
"i...i don't know. wasn't she just here a second ago??"
i immediately get out my phone to text her and su-ae soon copies my actions after realizing what i'm doing.
at first i thought it was a joke but when she didn't respond after a bit i got worried.
"do you think she's okay?" i ask with a worried tone.
"yeah she probably just went home and forgot to tell us...i hope." su-ae responds with the same tone. "i think we should get going now, its pretty late."
— the next day , lunch time —
it's lunch time now and i didn't feel like sitting with my usual group of 'friends'. they're only friends with me because of my looks anyways. and now they're blowing up my phone asking where i am. i sigh and turn my phone off.
i texted y/n last night and she read the message but didn't respond. so, earlier i walked by her classroom to see if she was at school and...she was... so i texted her again asking why she didn't respond to which she dryly responded with, "i forgot." it made me wonder if she was angry at me...
i was walking outside lost in my thoughts when i spot y/n and her group of friends sitting on the steps. now's my chance to talk to her. i make my way over to her and take a seat beside her.
she looks so pretty with the sunlight shining on her making her skin glow. but she looked like she was struggling because of the sun. her hands were fidgeting, her head kept on moving side to side, and her eyelids were twitching even though they were closed. so i put hovered my hand above her eyes to block the sun and help her sleep.
"y/n you have an unexpected visitor!?" the girl with short brown hair spoke up.
"y/n and dohwa?? i would've never expected that. i thought you would get with minu first." the other brunette giggled. she likes minu? y/n's eyes suddenly sprung open and widened at the sight of me.
i wish her friends didn't speak up so i could admire her for longer.
she rubbed her eyes and then said, "dohwa...?"
"hey y/n." the sight of her sleepy eyes and her voice made me smile.
"why are you here?" she asks, propping her knees up.
"i wanted to see you." i half joke.
"uh huh. and why are you actually here?" she glares at me. did i do something wrong?
"i thought something was off with your dry response, earlier." i respond, honestly.
"that's the first time you texted me how do you know i'm not just a dry texter?"
"you also just left me and su-ae yesterday without saying a word...?"
"didn't think you'd notice." she mutters before turning on her side. it was almost as if she didn't want to see me and was trying to move away from me...
"what? of course i would notice." i hover my head over hers. my hand moves on it's own, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. the tip of her ear turns slightly red before she springs her body up. i barely manage to move my head of the way on time.
"well that was fun. i need to go. um to the bathroom." she says abruptly.
"i'll walk with you." i respond, starting to get up but she lightly pushes me back into the step. huh? that's weird?
"no need." she smiles, "bye guys." she directs her words towards her friends before turning around and...walking in the opposite direction of the bathrooms? what? was she trying to get away from me? were my suspicions right?
"aren't the bathrooms the other way?" i ask her friends, hoping they'd know her well enough to tell me why she did that. but they just shrug their shoulders.
"maybe there's another bathroom in that direction?" the blonde one responds nonchalantly before going back to her previous conversation.
what...? i don't recall there being bathrooms over there...but maybe they're right? there's no way y/n would be avoiding me right?
after sitting on the steps for a bit i finally decide to follow after her for closure. i'm about to turn a corner fully but then i see y/n and eunhyuk sitting close together...they look like they're having a deep conversation. did she leave me to meet up with eunhyuk? i start to feel an unfamiliar feeling.
whatever. it's not like it's any of my business if she likes eunhyuk or not...i guess...
i turn around and slowly walk back to class, just wanting to sleep.
—
the bell rings just as i enter y/n and su-ae's class. i wanted to talk to y/n about earlier, to clear up stuff and maybe...ask why she left me to be with eunhyuk earlier? but just as i take a few steps in the class i see y/n whispering something in the boy that sits beside her's ear while smiling and laughing.
maybe now isn't the best time...i'm about to turn around when my something inside me starts screaming at me to walk su-ae home instead. i don't really want to but my body starts moving on it's own. what the fuck?
"do-!" i hear y/n speak up before cutting herself off, probably thinking that i came her to talk to su-ae instead. i smile at her, wanting to say something but, freakishly, my mouth won't open...? i turn my attention back to su-ae. since i'm already in front of her i decide to just ask her, "hey su-ae. you ready to go home?"
it was too late to act like i came here for y/n which was the only reason i came here in the first place- but whatever.
su-ae looks at me, extremely confused, but decides to comply and stand up.
we walk out of the class and i can feel all eyes on me but the only pair of eyes i care about are y/n's.