CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Zing!
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀ "That class dragged on for way too long!"
The very millisecond the bell rings, Sujin and Jay are packing their belongings away at lightning speed - both equally as eager as the other to leave the classroom as their heads pound with the difficulty of this morning's lesson.
"Yeah," Sujin tugs at the strap of her bag with a huff, "About an hour too long."
Jay lets out a snicker as he holds the door open for the girl to walk through, "The class only went on for an hour, though."
"Did I stutter?" She rolls her eyes, slipping through the threshold.
Jay shakes his head with a laugh as he follows suit.
The two walk in stride down the hallway, dodging past other students in a hurry to make second period in time. If there's one thing Sujin has learnt in the last week of attending Darisan Preparatory School, it's this: no one's ever not in a rush.
"Where's your next class?" Jay asks.
"Mm..." Sujin takes a moment to refresh her memory, "Upstairs, I think. I've got Chemistry in one of the labs."
The boy lets out an impressed hum, "Look at you, already knowing your way around!" He claps her on the shoulder with a lopsided grin, "Respect, Sujin. Even I still get lost sometimes."
She snorts, "I don't find that surprising at all."
"Wowww."
The pair share a laugh at the lighthearted jab.
When they reach the end of the hallway, Sujin turns to the left to go up the staircase. She doesn't know why, but she subconsciously expects Jay to do the same. She's gotten used to the boy's company, she thinks; even if it were only for the last hour. There's a playful yet all the more mature easygoingness to his presence that calms her, almost like the sensation of a cat curled up and purring in her lap.
"Ah, I've got Music in the East Wing." Jay frowns, tipping his head in the direction of the classroom, "It's the one class I actually like, so I probably shouldn't be late."
Sujin nods, "I'll see you around, then."
"Yeah," He beams, "Take care!"
"Bye!"
Jay disappears down the corridor, and Sujin makes her way up the flight of stairs.
As she emerges on the second floor - huffing and puffing from all the steps, mind you - the girl catches wind of a distinctive pair of voices echoing through the halls.
"Dude, the Headmistress' been on my ass all week... I don't know how much more of it I can take."
"'S why you don't go around dating her daughter, dumbass."
"We're not-"
"- Dating. Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, though - whatever you wanna call it, you guys have been on quite a few dates."
"Only two!"
"My point exactly! And another one, what, next week?"
"... Tomorrow."
"Sim Jaeyun, you rascal!"
"Shut up, Sunghoon."
Sujin rolls her eyes.
"Besides... Ugh - I don't know... I don't really think it's going anywhere, to be honest."
"Go on..."
"Don't get me wrong, she's a great person-"
"Debatable."
"She is! Most of the time, at least. But there's just something... missing. I don't know how to describe it."
"Do you know what that 'something' is?"
"Nope. I think it's just one of those things where I'll only know it when I feel it, y'know?"
"That's deep, man. I get it though, sometimes you just need the right person to- Oh!"
Rounding the corner at a hurried pace, the two boys almost collide with Sujin as she reaches the door of the lab at the same time.
"Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Sunghoon clutches at his chest dramatically, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm in your class, genius." Sujin drawls, fighting the urge to drop her face into the palm of her hand.
"Ah... true." Sunghoon chuckles to himself, "My bad."
Sujin lets out an exasperated sigh as she watches the boy pry the door open to walk inside. And she's about to follow right behind him, but not before she feels a soft grip on her wrist that keeps her rooted in place.
"Not so fast."
Sujin groans.
She's managed to successfully avoid the other boy's persistent nagging for the past couple of days, but she should've known better than to think he'd just let her off the hook. That guy always has something to say, apparently.
"What now, Sim?"
Jake purses his lips, ignoring her harsh glare and irritated tone.
"You're out of uniform." He states simply.
"Huh? No I'm n-" Sujin glances down at her attire, words dissipating as soon as she catches out the missing piece, "Fuck!"
Of course it's the tie. In her rush to get ready, the girl barely even had the time to think about putting it on. And God knows it would've added a good twenty minutes to her routine - a good twenty minutes she most definitely did not have the luxury of this morning.
Jake merely hums in confirmation. A wordless exchange, but Sujin hears it all the same: I told you so.
She huffs, "Seriously?! It was an innocent mistake!"
"I never said it wasn't." Jake shrugs, "But rules are rules... and that's Strike Three."
Sujin gawks at the boy, mouth flapping open and shut stupidly as she tries to formulate words that aren't either insults or expletives.
The firm expression coating his features and the sureness of his tone, however, tell her that there's no use in even trying to reason with him.
So she clenches her jaw shut.
"Fine."
Something akin to shock passes over Jake's eyes, and he almost has to double-take to make sure he didn't just hear her wrong.
Is Han Sujin really giving up a fight?
"I'm not 'giving up' anything. I can pick my own battles, thank you very much."
Shit. Did I just say that out loud?
Jake clears his throat, shaking off the annoying little voice in his head that just never quite seems to know when to shut up.
All that he can bring himself to say is, "Expect a call to the Headmistress' office soon."
"Uh huh." Sujin replies, voice devoid of any readable emotion.
A pause hangs in the air, as uncertain as it is brief.
"You can let go of my hand now, by the way."
Jake looks down to see that his grip is, indeed, still locked around the girl's wrist.
It's as if he feels a jolt of electricity shooting up his arm - Zing! - and he immediately drops it to his side, cheeks glowing a bright shade of pink.
"I- Uh... Sorry." He mumbles, eyes darting everywhere but Sujin's own, "Have a good class."
Real smooth.
Sujin holds back a laugh at the boy's flustered state, committing his gobsmacked expression and raging blush to memory as she enters the classroom.
"See ya."
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀ Ding! Ding! Ding!
Fourth period is well underway, and still no word from Jake nor the Headmistress.
The lesson had drawn to an early close when Sujin's Japanese teacher excused herself to the office to pick up some paperwork. Naturally, their class has taken it upon themselves to fill the room with lively chatter to pass the time. Sujin, Sora and Sunoo have long since ditched their notebooks to discuss the events of the day in a hushed whisper.
"Do you think he's really going through with it?"
Sunoo only pauses his current task of absentmindedly braiding Sora's hair to shoot Sujin a pointed, curious look.
"I don't know." Sujin murmurs, rhythmically tapping her pen against the wood of her desk, "He seemed pretty serious about it this morning... But then again, it's been three whole periods and I haven't heard anything since!"
Sunoo hums, "Maybe he was bluffing."
"Please." Sujin scoffs, "That guy couldn't bluff me if he tried."
"And it's Jake we're talking about here, Sunoo." Sora is quick to add, "No way he's taking this lightly!"
"True."
"He's playing the waiting game, if you ask me." She muses, raising her eyebrows at Sujin in a mockingly serious manner, "You know, letting you sit on the threat for a bit before he pounces."
Sujin rolls her eyes, "God, he's such a tool."
In all honesty, she didn't think the boy had it in him to be so calculated with his actions. If it were up to her, she would have preferred if he'd dragged her to the Headmistress' office earlier this morning. Get it done and over with right then and there, instead of making her wait through every other period in sheer paranoia.
When am I going to get called in?
How am I going to get called in?
Am I even going to get called in at all?
Question after question swarm her mind until her knee starts to subconsciously bounce up and down in anticipation.
Sujin hates the fact that she's getting jittery over something as stupid as a missing tie. She hates the fact that the mere idea of having to deal with Headmistress Jeong yet another time has her breaking out in a cold sweat. And most of all, she hates that Jake Sim has actually managed to get under her skin.
"Ugh!" She whines, burying her head in her hands frustratedly, "I hate him!"
Sora frowns empathetically, "Hey, I'm sure it's nothing personal."
"Nothing personal?!" Sujin hisses, "He's been breathing down my neck ever since I got here! What's with that?!"
Sora opens her mouth to speak, but shuts it promptly when nothing comes out. Having spent most of her time with Sujin in the past couple of weeks, she's seen firsthand just how hard Jake's been on the girl lately. She finds it baffling, really - how he just happens to be everywhere they go, closely monitoring Sujin's actions like a starved cobra waiting to strike. She's never seen anything quite like it before.
"It is out of character, even for Jake." Sora admits, giving Sujin a light squeeze on the shoulder for reassurance.
"The pressure must be getting to him... He's got a lot to prove this year, by the looks of things." Sunoo's features scrunch together in slight puzzlement, "I've never seen him so stressed out in my life! He's always busy with something, staying up 'til crazy hours in the night and disappearing off to God knows where. Even Sunghoon's getting worried... and that's saying something."
Despite the outward confidence Jake seems to carry himself with at all times, Sunoo would like to think he knows the older boy well enough by now to be able to sense these shifts in his behavior. It's been a mystery plaguing him, Jay and Sunghoon's minds more than they'd like to admit over the past few days.
"Look, whatever he's got going on - good luck to him." Sujin grumbles, "But that doesn't mean he has to take it out on me!"
"... You're right." Sunoo sighs, "You don't deserve that. This place has gotta start cutting you some slack."
Sujin huffs in defeat, "Tell me about it."
Screeech!
Their conversation is brought to a sudden halt by the sound of feedback blaring through the PA system. Caught off guard by the shrill noise, Sunoo accidentally tugs on Sora's hair as he jumps in his seat.
"Motherf- Ow!"
Sora scowls at the sharp pain, smacking her best friend's arm in a scolding manner.
"Oops. Sorry!"
She rubs at her scalp with a mumble, "Last time I'm ever letting you near my hair..."
"Pfft." Sunoo rakes a hand through the girl's tresses a final time to help her unravel the braid, "Yeah, right."
"I'm serious-"
"Guys," Sujin interjects, bringing both of her friends' short-lived attention spans back to the subject at hand, "What the hell was that noise?"
"Probably gonna be an announcement." Sora shrugs, "Or a fire drill... Ugh, I really hope it's not a fire drill."
Sunoo perks up, "But if it is, we get to skip PE!"
"And have to stand outside for hours instead?! Hell no!"
Sujin rolls her eyes, lacking the energy to even try cutting another round of their bickering short.
Luckily, an automated voice does the job for her.
What the announcement actually says, however, doesn't have her feeling so fortunate: "Han Sujin, please report to the Headmistress' office immediately."
All eyes in the room immediately snap to the back row, and Sujin feels herself shrink under her classmates' invasive stares.
"Shit..." She curses under her breath.
He actually went through with it.
And just when she'd thought the worst was over, the PA system buzzes back to life. This time, it's a voice laced with smugness, and maybe - more like definitely - even a hint of amusement.
A more human voice.
A more Jake voice.
"See ya."
SAGE'S SPACE! 🗯️
✨ ZING ✨
i'm kind of... sort of... okay, really obsessed with all this back-and-forth sujake have going on right now 🤭 it's just sooo much fun to write! as always, i hope you're all finding it just as much fun to read 🫶
i promise we'll be unpacking a WHOLE LOT of that tension in the next chapter. (god knows they need it, fr.) but if i keep rambling i'll end up spoiling all the fun for you, so i guess i'll just leave it there for now... 😉
til next time,
sage ♡