Chan held his head low as he walked along the narrow footpath to his house. Dongwoo's words from before were a never ending cycle in his head, causing his chest to feel tight.
"Don't trust Na Ri. She's not who you think she is."
What could he possibly have meant by that? Chan had always felt slightly suspicious that she'd transferred to his school in the middle of a semester when the school year was already so close to ending but it was never a thought he often contemplated. Chan couldn't help but wonder if maybe all along he had been searching for answers in the wrong places when the person that could piece it all together was right in front of him the whole time.
"I'm home!" He called as he walked in the front door to his small house. "Chan!" He heard his mother exclaim in relief as her short frame came into sight. She immediately froze in her tracks when she saw the blood on his face and the multiple bruises. Her look of relief quickly washed away, replaced with disappointment. "Channie." She whispered as she lifted his chin, tilting his head to face different angles while she examined the damage.
"I'm sorry, Mum. I really am. I did-" He began but stopped when she released her grip and took a step back, sensing that now wasn't the time for excuses. "Save it." She mumbled under her breath. "You promised me things would be different! You promised you'd try to make things right! You said you didn't want to tear this family apart, Chan! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to defend you and trust you when you are repeating old habits over and over again? It's tiring! I don't want to give up on you but I'm losing all hope here. Can't you see that? This family is struggling." Hot tears began to fall as she fell to the floor in despair, the two years of built up emotions finally getting the better of her.
Chan watched, feeling broken at the sight. He knew her words were true but nonetheless they stung him all over. "Mum." He murmured as he knelt down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry life turned out this way because of me." Chan held her close to him as her body trembled in his arms. He'd always known she was finding it hard and her brave face was just a facade. Chan wasn't the only one who's life changed after In Ho's death. His whole family suffered, his dad's business began to fail, nobody would speak to his mother and both his younger siblings begged to move in with their grandparents to avoid the bullying. He'd destroyed not only himself but his family, In Ho's family and all of their shared classmates.
"Sorry doesn't fix things. I'll always love you but things can't go on like this." She replied through her sobs. Chan didn't know how to respond, he couldn't possibly. How could he when everything she said made sense?
"Maybe I should just turn myself in again?" He pondered aloud and his mother tensed. "No!" She exclaimed, grasping his arms tightly for support. "You can't! You know how that turned out last time." She began wiping her tears, trying her best to revert to her normal strong self for her oldest son's sake. The pair thought back to the massive amount of reporters camped out on their doorstep after Chan's confession to the killing but with very little evidence pointing to Chan and only one witness statement the case was quickly dismissed, taking with it Chan's previous life.
"Just stop skipping school, okay? Keep your head down and do well at school and then as soon as you graduate we'll leave with your brother and sister. This is your last year here. You can do it, right?" His mother's voice was laced with hope but the look in her eyes told Chan she wasn't confident in him. He nodded and sat silently as she hugged him only to be interrupted by the phone ringing. She quickly got up and rushed to get it, leaving Chan on the floor alone.
Chan woke up the next day with a new mindset. "Today will be a decent day, Chan. You've got this!" He muttered to his reflection in the mirror. He nodded to himself before slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving out the front door. The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue which instantly gave Chan a positive feeling and a small smile on his pale face.
He made his way to school by cycling, not wanting to skateboard as a form of change. Chan was determined to fix his wrongs and today would be the fresh start he needed.
Na Ri sat in her usual place for study, the seat in front of Chan by the window despite the pair not being on speaking terms. She was determined to ignore his presence which wasn't hard since he hadn't turned up for study yet. Na Ri found this strange since Chan was nearly always first to every class but she thought nothing of it and forgot about the topic once she saw Jungsoo sit beside her, shooting her a warm smile and a small wave.
Na Ri opened her maths book and attempted some of the equations which turned into her doodling in her copy within a minute. She heard Jungsoo chuckle and she looked across to see him shaking his head in disapproval at her low attention span. "Leave me alone." She pouted while using her hand to cover her copy so he couldn't see what she was doing anymore. "Nice to see you're using your study time efficiently." He teased her playfully but stopped when a presence stood in front of his desk.
"Are you bothering her again?" Chan's eyes narrowed as he looked between the two. Na Ri looked up from her copy in shock as she took in his appearance properly for the first time since the party. He had massive dark circles under his eyes following countless nights of little sleep and his face was covered in cuts and bruises. She gasped, her mouth falling agape at the sight.
"What happe-" Jungsoo began but Chan surprised him by smirking. "You see this?" He said, pointing to the cuts on his face. Jungsoo nodded in response, feeling slightly confused with where Chan was going with the conversation. "This is just a demonstration on what you'll look like if you don't leave her alone. Got it?" He threatened the boy who leaned back in his chair, slightly surprised by the outburst.
Na Ri's heart raced as Chan moved away from his desk to stand in front of her. Their eyes met and for a moment she forget the harsh words he'd spat at her two days ago. He smiled down at her, a real genuine smile that made everything seem okay, even if it was only for a little while.
They stayed like this for what felt like hours to them but in reality was a few seconds, only to be broken apart when the teacher supervising came in. Chan shot a glare at Jungsoo who was still taken aback before he moved to his seat behind Na Ri where he spent the first ten minutes of study staring at her hair and debating on tugging it to get her attention or just passing her notes like a normal person.
He took his notepad from his bag and began scribbling a short note onto the paper.
'I'm sorry about what I said at the party. Let's meet up later so I can apologise properly. : )'
He scrunched the paper into a ball and tapped the back of her chair with his foot to gain her attention. She whipped around with an unimpressed look on her face but held her hand out to take the note he left at the edge of his table.
He smiled to himself proudly, thankful that for once things were really going his way. All he needed was for her to trust him, even just a little bit. He needed to know the truth about her. He needed to know what she knew.
Chan watched as she turned to Jungsoo who leaned closer to her, making Chan's heart rate quicken at his small gesture. His stomach turned to knots while he watched the pair whisper amongst one another. Chan could feel his heartbeat echoing in his eardrums and his head began to pound.
Within a minute she turned around again and tossed the note back to him. "Deal." Na Ri muttered. "But there's a catch!" She added with a mischievous grin. He felt his heart drop at the mention of a catch. What could she possibly want from him?
"I know that you have one of the best maths grades in this school. Tutor me!" Na Ri pleaded with him. She didn't particularly want tutoring but with her low maths scores and exams coming up she was running dry on options. Jungsoo tried his hardest to hide the pleased expression on his face over the fact that she'd taken his advice. Jungsoo hated Chan, no doubt about it but this situation was a win win for both Na Ri and himself. He needed her to get whatever information she possibly could from him and with the bonus of her grades improving it was worth whatever damage Chan might cause.
Chan's head was screaming no at her request but his heart seemed to speak differently. He didn't want to risk getting close to her. He wasn't ready for letting someone in again, not after Bo Ra who had shattered his heart. Honestly, all he wanted was to fix things with her and then end their short lived 'bond'. "No." He stated firmly, a feeling of pride washing over him at the strength of his will power.
Her face fell in defeat and she glanced back at Jungsoo who was listening to the entire ordeal. He gave her a quick thumbs up in encouragement so she played her next card. "I'll pay you." She stated with an innocent smile while twirling her hair and batting her eyelids. Chan didn't want to seem materialistic but with his family's current financial issues he couldn't possibly turn down the chance.
He pondered over how to reply, not wanting to cave but the mention of money along with her flirtatious charm was hard to deny. He let out a deep sigh and ran his hand through his hair before looking her straight in the eye. "Okay."
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Guess who's back! Back again! Chari's back! Tell a friend!
So BTS tickets go on sale tomoz and guess who won't be going...yeah, me. *cries in nine languages*
About my dilemma on the last chapter (i since deleted that part) I did take the advice you guys gave but the incident happened again...so it seems like a reoccurring event for us now.
Anyway, thank you for all the support you guys give me on this. Love you all!
GOOD LUCK TO THOSE OF YOU TRYING TO GET TICKETS TOMORROW!