; 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟳
"Mirae?"
"Mirae?"
"Mirae..."
My name felt like a waterfall lingering off of my eardrums. Half asleep as I was, I half opened my eyes.
Everything was blurry, and I could not make up anything that was in my vision, including the figure which stood in front of me.
"H-huh?" I let out a confused whimp, trying to wake myself up.
"Mirae?"
My view finally fixated in one place, and it made up Sunghoon.
Sunghoon?
What was Sunghoon doing here?
"Sunghoon? What are you doing in my room?"
"It's not your room" I look around only to realise that in fact it wasn't my room. His voice made me snap my head back to look at him.
"Then, where am I?"
"Do you not remember anything?"
"Remember? Remember what? Last thing I remember was I fell asleep on some table"
Sunghoon let out a blunt sigh.
"Yeah, you did fall asleep, so I let you sleep at my house"
H-HIS HOUSE?
I slept at Sunghoon's house???
I was left with a blank yet surprised look on my face.
Sunghoon looked at me for a mere second, before getting up.
"I took care of your uniform. Change and let's go to school. Don't be late"
I was still in the morning thoughts and barely managed to comprehend what was happening, or what happened.
Rapidly getting changed out of the Sunghoon's comfy clothes that he let me borrow, I made my way down the stairs, where I caught a glimpse of him sitting mindlessly at the kitchen table.
"Come grab some breakfast" his monotone voice ringed through the walls of the kitchen.
I walked up the table and took a seat.
Wow. Maybe there is some glimpse of kindness in his name. I thought as I looked down at the breakfast he prepped for us: a cup of milk, toast with butter and ham and some fruits on the side.
"This looks appetising, thank you"
And his nonchalant self was back.
♡
We were walking together to school and the walk couldn't be any more silent. It was early in the morning and I don't know why I was working my brain to think of something to talk about. It was clear enough none of us had the energy to move our mouths so early.
"Sorry for all the inconveniences I may have caused"
Sunghoon looked back at me with quite a peculiar look.
"Forget it. I didn't mind it" was all what he said, and with that, we made it to the gates of the school.
We walked into our classroom, where I was met by Sunoo and the other boys.
"Mirae!!!!!!" the brightest out of them all dashed towards me, tackling me into a hug.
"I went to your house this morning and you weren't there, I thought you'd miraculously left without me so I went to school thinking I'd find you here. But to my surprise you weren't here either! Where were you?!!"
His voice could already be heard through the whole classroom, as it raised the eyebrows of some students.
"I- uh. You know- I never actually left Sunghoon's house"
To the blunt confession I had just dropped, Sunoo's face did as well, along with some other faces from the boys at the back.
"H-huh? You slept at Sunghoon's place?? Sunghoon what did you do to her!!"
Sunoo's gaze now fell onto Sunghoon.
"Like I'd do anything to the likes of her" was all what he said, before walking past us and taking his seat.
His table was already filled with the boys asking him questions, but he only tried to ignore them by putting his head on the table.
Meanwhile for me, I was left with an angry Sunoo in my sight. His gaze told me "tell me now before one of you becomes dead meat"
I gulped hard before I let out a sentence.
"I was really exhausted and fell asleep. Sunghoon was kind enough to just let me sleep in his spare bedroom. There. Done. Happy?" I explained to him, while making my way to my seat as well.
"And he didn't do anything weird to you??" Sunoo followed me to my table, he made sure he asked the question while passing Sunghoon's table and looking at him.
"No. He did not. Unless I was asleep and I didn't know-"
I turned around to look at Sunghoon, who's head was still on the table.
He raised his head and leaned back in his chair, "like anyone would do anything to you"
"Huh?? What do you mean by that?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him. Was he calling me unattractive or something?
"I'm not a dickhead, Mirae" he said, before going back to resting his head on the table.
"Some would say otherwise" I said under my breath, whether he heard or not remained a mystery.
♥
It was lunch time when I caught myself wandering through the halls of the school, they seemed quite empty since majority of people were in the canteen.
It was probably better if I was there as well, because to my unluck, I was caught hand in hand with Hang Haera.
I did not miss seeing her face one bit.
"Heard you were walking with Sunghoon this morning, for what reason?" her petty nature was already bashing my last nerve cell.
"Do I need a reason to walk with someone? We just live in the same neighbourhood"
"You should maybe be aware with who you walk with, you might make them feel uncomfortable"
With every syllable of the word uncomfortable, she pushed my shoulder back until I collided with the wall behind me.
"Then you be careful who you talk to as well, you might make them feel uncomfortable and like they want to rip your hair out"
"H-huh?!"
At that point it seemed like I touched one of her nerve spots, because I was already pushed to the ground by her, my body touching the cold concrete of the floor.
"Can you not just mind your own business and stop hanging around him, you lowly brat?! This is why your parents left!"
My face immediately dropped. My parents were a topic I preferred to ignore, erase from the existence of this earth if possible. And more than that, I hated people who would throw random parts of who you were at you in order to make you feel degraded or something. It was truly, truly petty of them.
"Hah! Look at how her face dropped just by the sound of her parents!" Haera laughed in my face, at that point there was no drop of emotions left in me.
I let her laugh at me, I did not care. My head was already somewhere else. It was hard not to make myself cry. I wouldn't cry, I don't cry, but it was hard not to let myself cry in that moment.
"The bell's about to ring"
A familiar tall figure overtowered Haera.
"O-oh, Sunghoon, hi!" Haera's voice became annoyingly pitchy again.
"Clear out the corridors" Sunghoon said with a cold tone. Haera and her minions did as he said and left in an instance.
Me, on the other hand, I didn't dare raise a glance at him, or else I might catch myself dropping some tears.
I didn't see, but I could sense his figure crouching down in front of me, and that's when I decided to look up.
"You okay?" I was met up with his usual emotionless face, but something about it seemed cool to me. There was no change in it, but I could sense some kind of worry in his words. At least, I made myself think it was worry.
My eyes probably had already gotten red by me trying my best not to cry, and my lips made a flat line as I looked down at my hands.
Out of nowhere, Sunghoon got up and reached out to my hand, dragging me along the corridors somewhere.
He took me to the rooftop, the exact place we had our "1 on 1" meet up.
"Cry here if you want. No one will hear you" he said, while taking his seat on his usual place on the rooftop.
"How do you even expect me to cry?"
It was too late for me to say that, as my voice already cracked and the first warm tear drooped down my face.
I slowly but continuously started silently sobbing, attempting my best to catch my breath.
I crouched down with my back to Sunghoon, silently sobbing in my arms.
A few good minutes passed and I once again felt Sunghoon's figure crouch next to me.
"You done?" he asked bluntly.
Catching up on my last breath, I looked up at him with my red and puffy eyes.
I felt the need, the urge to hug him. To feel someone's comfort and and fall into his embrace. I need to be comforted so bad right now. But too bad that none of us were fans of skin contact.
"Okay okay cry more if you need to" he said, awkwardly and slowly patting my shoulder as his vision drifted away.
That is when I completely broke down. I let myself fall into Sunghoon's embrace and snug my head into his chest while holding onto his shirt.
He must have felt startled by it, since he took a while to loosely wrap his arms around me and pat my back.
Why was I hugging him? I didn't know. I wasn't the biggest fan of physical contact.
But I felt comfort, the comfort kept me from pulling away.
It was only after a few good minutes of crying when I pulled away, silently sobbing for the last times. I wanted to look at Sunghoon- I wanted to look in his eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to. Instead I looked down at my hands on my knees, seeing Sunghoon lean forwards in front of me.
"You done for good now?"
I nodded my head in response.
"Look at me" his hoarse voice demanded, but I was too embarrassed to do so.
He let out a deep sigh before raising my head with his finger under my chin.
"Oh myyy look at this droopy face of yours" he said while wiping my last tear with his thumb, looking a bit disgusted after doing so. My eyes were still red, ready to start crying any time again.
"Go wash your face"
"But people are gonna see I cried.." I managed to let out some words in a soft voice.
Sunghoon let out a sigh again, before getting up and reaching his hand to help me get up.
"Then I'll come with you. Hide all you want behind me"
I did as he suggested, the entire walk to the bathroom I was tightly clutching onto Sunghoon's sleeve, burying my head in his shoulder whenever someone passed by.
When I got out of the restroom, there was no sight of Sunghoon.
I started to panic and frantically looked around. Did he just ditch me?
I was then startled by a tap on the shoulder.
"Drink some water, you'd be a nuisance if you passed out due to dehydration" it was Sunghoon. He came back with a bottle of water, which I took and chugged it down immediately.
His mean and cold self never left him, but for some reason it made me happy that it didn't.