|<Really cute, but you should practice calligraphy. I had a hard time understanding that it was writing and not a scribble> Hyunjin suddenly pops next to me, followed by Yeji and Felix.|
I quickly turn my head to him, surprised.
<Hyunjin, there is no need-> I try to whisper but he stops by placing a hand on my head.
He then smiles softly.
<Let me do what I should have done before>
Those words melt my heart.
We then look at the duo of girls in front of us, who are visibily judging me.
But their faces suddenly morph into innocent looking ones as they notice Hyunjin's gaze on them.
<Hyunjin-ah! Thank you for calling my graffiti cute!> The pink haired girls says, I think she is Shin Lisa.
<Do you have selective hearing?> Hyunjin asks, raising an eyebrow.
<I listen only to what interests me> She says, blinking her eyes multiple times.
She is even more annoying to when she acts mean.
Mina is also smiling like a doll.
They aren't even sparing my a glance, their eyes are locked on Hyunjin.
Are they so desperate? I really want to know what runs in their brain.
<Then I think you're going to find this interesting. Hear: Eunbi is my friend. So leave her in peace> Hyunjin says, bringing his arm around my shoulder.
I know he is doing this just to defend me, but my mind is now focused only on his arm placement.
The eyes of the girls follow Hyunjin's arm until it lands on my shoulder.
Their eyebrows lower and they look at me as if it's my fault.
<Why are you touching someone like her?> Lisa says, her face assuming a disgusted expression.
Do they see me like some sort of rat?
I'm not made of shit, if you touch me you're not going to dirt yourself.
<Because I think she is a good friend. And I'm surprised I'm even giving you an explanation for this> He says, shaking his head in disbelief.
I guess he also thinks that their behaviour is so dumb.
In the meanwhile, Yeji and Felix stay in silence behind us.
But their presence is enough to comfort me.
<Eunbi, let's leave them alone. Go finish your lunch> Hyunjin says, using his arm on my shoulder to gently pushing me towards my table.
<Okay...> I nod but as I walk away, I hear Hyunjin saying a last thing to them.
<And immediately deny what you have spread about her family situation. It's not something you should care about>.
Hearing that, I look back at him before he walks away to his friends' table.
I don't know what I would have survived here without Hyunjin, Yeji and Felix.
I need to find a way to express my gratitude to them.
We finish lunch in tranquility. I ate half of my sandwich. I feel like I'm not very hungry but its time to start thinking about my health.
Even if it's hard, I take another bite, then another and yet another one.
I keep doing this until I swallow the last piece.
I'm not physically feeling well but I'm still proud of me. It's been a long time since I ate so much.
I think that if I continue to put effort into this, I might actually recover once and for all.
The rest of day goes on as it should.
I tried to ignore everyone's comments and glares and, once I get used to it, I felt better.
I say goodbye to Yeji and Felix and I come back home. My mother said to stay at home today because I have to help her with organising the house since it's not long that we've moved here.
I get home and I start to open a lot of boxes. I see a lot of things I forgot about: some childhood peluches and framed photos of me with my parents.
Sometimes I think if I miss my father or not. If I miss what we where before my dad started to distanciate himself from us.
I was too little to remember how was life back then. But the fact that I miss him or not won't change what happened so I stop to think about it and I finish to help my mother.
I'm so tired today as well. I lie on the bed and I turn on my phone.
I see a text from two unknown numbers.
I click on the first one and it says "Hi Eunbi! I'm Felix. I realised that we haven't exchanged numbers yet. I hope that I won't annoy you if I text to once in a while ^^"
Oh it's Felix. He is right. Until now, I only had my mother's and Yeji's numbers saved.
I smile and I reply back. "Hi Felix! Don't worry, I would love to receive messages from you every now and then"
So I save his number as "Felix" and then I click on the other unknown profile.
This text says "Hi. Yeji gave me your number because I didn't know how to ask you. When are you free to talk?"
Uh... who is this? He knows Yeji and from what he has written, we already met before.
I then reluctantly write back.
"I'm sorry but... who are you?".
The user immediately sees the text.
"Ah sorry. It's me, Hyunjin"
As I read Hyunjin's name, I breath in relief. I got scared for a second.
I then run my finger on the keyboard to digit a reply.
"Oh, hi Hyunjin! Do you want to talk in person or on call?" I send the message.
"I prefer in person" He quickly texts back.
"Okayy, then tomorrow after school should be fine for me" I write.
"It's ok for me too. See you, then" He answers.
"Perfect, see you too" I finally text, turning off my phone.
Wait. About expressing my gratefullness to Yeji and Felix. I need to think of a gift.
Something that can be appreciated by both of them.
I think I can try to draw to portraits of them. I love drawing and I find art the best way to express myself.
But I don't have a photo of Felix.
Mhh... I can try to ask him one? But I can't tell him it's because it's for a gift, so I'm afraid it would seem weird.
I can try to search him on Instegram.
I write "Lee Felix" on the search bar and he surprisingly comes out first.
I click on his profile and I see that he has over 10k followers. Wow, he is really popular.
His last post is a group photo. I recognise everyone in there. There are Hyunjin, Seungmin, Bangchan, Changbin, Han, Jeongin and Minho.
The caption of that photo says "Finally meeting my mates. I'm happy that I changed school so I can spend time with them".
It reminds of me. So he also met them for the first time recently and that's why Yeji didn't know about him when we first meet at the canteen.
I look at his posts and I smile as I find a perfect picture of his face to be drawn. I screenshot it and, out of curiosity, I click on the account he follows.
"hynjinnnn" catches my attention. I click on it and I get the confirmation of who he is, just by seeing his posts.
He posts a lot of photos post-training and I stop on one in particular. He is shining because of his sweat and his white tank top has become transparent because it's wet.
He is surely very confident to post something like this. But somehow I can't seem to mive my eyes away from that photo.
I then compose myself and I try to scroll up but the screen is like frozen.
I try again but it doesn't move so I start to aggressively tap on the screen in an attempt to unlock it.
But my heart sinks as I see the famous animation of the heart that appears when you like a post.
My eyes widen. I refuse to believe that I've just liked THAT post among all.
It was even posted like two months ago so that means he is going to know that I've scrolled down his pictures.
I can't even unlike it because then it's going to be obvious that I'm embarrassed about it.
Let's just hope that he won't notice. After all, he also has about 9k followers so he won't mind this notification.
I then stand up from the bed and I sit on my desk. I need to start the drawings if I want to give them tomorrow.
I look throught my gallery, choosing one between plenty of photos I have of Yeji. She used to send me one everyday when we were only online friends.
I grab a blank sheet of paper and I hold my pencil. I start to delicately slide the tip of the pencil on the white surface. I observe the photo, noticing her facial structure and recognizable features. After about 30 minutes, I lift the sheet and I examine the drawing. I think it came out pretty good.
Now it's Felix's turn. I display his photo on the screen of my phone and I take another sheet of paper.
I observe the curve of his eyes, the sharpness of his nose and the soft smile he is doing in the picture.
I try to replicate them on the paper as accurate as I can. I want to reproduce the same gaze he has.
Deep but somehow comforting. Felix has an unique charm and that's why it's easy to get infatuated with him.
Once I finish adding the lights, I check it. It also looks like the picture so I assume I did a great job with this too.
I put the both of them in two little plastic bags and I close them with adhesive tape.
I write on the bag their name so I'll recognise which is Yeji's and which is Felix's.
I tidy up my desk and I go downstairs.
<Oh Eunbi, I was about to call you for dinner> My mother says, noticing me. The table is already set and there is steaming pasta in the plates.
I smile and I sit on a chair. My mother does the same and she sits in front of me.
We usually don't speak during meals so it's normal for us eating in silence.
<So, how is school going? You like the S.E.H.S?> My mother suddenly asks me.
I think about it. If I tell her about everything that happened, she is going to make me change school again.
I don't want to because I want to keep seeing Yeji. But also Felix and kinda Hyunjin too.
<It's ok. I've already made a bunch of friends.> I just say, before cleaning my things from the table and going upstairs.
I put on my pajamas and just when I was about to go to sleep, the sound of a notification from my phone echoes in the room.
I grab my phone and I turn pale
as I read it.
"hynjinnn has started following you."
>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<
Author's note
It's hilarious how this day took only a chapter compared to the day before who lasted 12.
By the way the one at the start of the chapter are the photos that Eunbi chose to draw.
See youu