walking to class with a text book on her hand, yerim is sure it is all she needs. she really hopes the next class will be a good start for this new year. being classmates with victoria kim in math is more than suffocating. their first encounter after a while was just now at her locker. victoria had called her with terrible names and such. if sooyoung is there, she would surely retorts with something uglier.
starring at the A4 paper with 'human reproduction' written with black marker. she sighs internally, not ready to learn this shit in her last year, knowing just well how male students will react.
a few seconds later, a sudden weight was placed on her left shoulder causing her to stumble in surprise. a small gasp left her during her action. "click clack boom bitch." sooyoung announced, her lips spread into a wide grin, displaying two rows of pearly white teeth. "woah, i already loves science." she adds as she reads what yerim was starring just now. a slight excitement expressed through her words. she pulls the smaller hand and drags yerim inside the room.
the tables were neatly arranged in pair, a little space were provided for students to walk amongst the tables and chairs. most students had occupied the seats, sitting with their group of friends, mostly at the back. normally, sooyoung would choose a place at the back so she could focus more on sleeping. one thing yerim is jealous about the older is that she always scores goodly in exams. however in this topic, sooyoung will surely don't want to miss any details in that specific subtopics in this class.
seconds after sooyoung and yerim chose their seats, the door was pushed open. a man dressed in winter coat steps in. his short and wavy hair were combed neatly to the left side, exposing his naked forehead. a rectangular frame spectacles stuck on the bridge of his pointed nose, covering his small eyes. he is not like other middle aged lecturers, instead, he looks like in his middle 30. his outfit shows that he is a tidy person.
"good afternoon class." he said after placing a thick file on the desk. the whole class greet him back politely. yerim did the same, taking out her only textbook in her bag. her eyes then focus on the lecturer, her lips tugging upward into a smirk. "well well, if it's not kim yerim and park sooyoung." the man sighs, shaking his head as his hand massaging his temples. the two mentioned chuckle at this.
the discipline teacher, mr kang is already too familiar with the two. since three years ago, the two always caught in something they involved by accident. example, there was one day where they both were heading to cafeteria —actually skipping class but they aren't confessing— they had caught few students making out at the back of the building. not more than 7 seconds after they reached the spot, a few teachers had arrived to get the students. seeing yerim and sooyoung together in such place, they accused the two are lesbian.
a year ago before summer break, they both skipped class unintentionally. they were running late because of the late night party. when they arrived, a group of male students circle around them. flirting and teasing, if it's not because of mr kang, the two would have being pulled inside their cars.
there are more. cigarettes, drugs, skipping class, alcohol in school, juul, sex, etc. it just happened to be when they are around. of course it is sick on their eyes to watch students behaving badly in real life, but they can't do anything. mr kang and two other teachers are always there when they want to run away.
"i'm changing your spot because of dissatisfaction. yerim, you change with harry." his forefinger pointing at a man with round frame spectacle. his brown hair were styled in mullet. the mentioned stand up, waving a dramatic goodbye to sooyoung before walk to her new place. "i'm gonna revenge." she said to mr kang, jokingly. they were so close that yerim and sooyoung was not even afraid of him anymore —despite him being the most fierce teacher and all students afraid of him— but that does not mean no respect. he lets out a devilish chuckles, "i'm looking forward it."
as yerim reached her new spot, she pulls the chair and place her butt down. her eyes scanning her new partner. he is dressed in black long sleeves, black loose-fit jeans with ripped hole on the knees, black high cut sneakers, his hair tucked inside the black baseball cap. "never knew we had depression kid." she mutters underneath her breath, so slow so the man can't hear her.
as the class go on, yerim had noticed the depression guy did not stop looking at her. but whenever she wants to return the gaze, the guy is looking somewhere else in the class —either on the whiteboard or outside the window— in one glance, the guy is strangely familiar to yerim, but her memories can't recall any encounter with a depression kids.
"so in this homework, i want you to list up everything about your partner. his appearance, personality, hobbies, likes and dislikes. i want the work by tomorrow or i'll cut your exam marks." mr kang assigned. he wipes the ink he had spread on the board with marker, then proceed to stuffs his books inside the file he had brought. "i'll give you 15 minutes to work because i have duty call. do your work, not talking." he warned before rushing out of the class.
yerim then look at her partner. "so-" she starts, taking out a piece of horizontal lined paper and a pen to write down about this man. "what is your name ?" she asks, observing the guy who had his eyes covered with his cap. "jungkook." his voice was smooth yet strong, very clear but not too loud. just nice. "so jungkook, what is your hobby ? and what do you like and dislike ? and what is your personality ? ooh and can you take off your caps so i can study you ?" she asks, studying the empty piece of paper in her hand.
the man did not answer. he lift his face a little to look down at yerim. to her surprise, he does not have any features like how yerim predicts depression kids would have —dark circle under tired eyes with pale lips— he is like other normal students. his features held a very strong and masculine aura. you can tell that he is handsome by looking at his eyes. his pupils are black, pitch black. unlike other eyes yerim had looked at, his eyes shows emptiness. it is either he have no emotion or he hides it well with those eyes. his nose are not small but not too big either. a line shaped scar painted his left cheek, almost invisible, indicating that like others, he is also not perfect. his lips are soft pink, upper lip is thinner than lower lip. it was tugs into a teasing smirk.
yerim is not sure why he is smirking, but one thing she knows is that this man is rather handsome. his smirk could kill. "kim yerim." a cold rushed up her spine, she froze when her full name escaped his lips. she is shivering. "you like reading ?" despite writing what he had asked, the man had listed out so many things about her. she can't guess if the man really wrote down that she loves reading. he is writing too much, shooting her with no questions as his hand busy working. too amazed, yerim did not have the chance to ask the man about himself.
8 minutes later, jungkook finally lift up his face from the paper and his hand stops writing. yerim watch his paper full with inks meanwhile she still have her paper untouched. "h-how ?" she stutters, eyebrows curls into a frown. jungkook did not say anything. he folds the paper neatly and throws it inside his bag. "wait." she calls, stopping him from lifting his bag as he stands up. "y-you can't leave. i have nothing about you." she tells, thrusting the clean sheet to his face. "i couldn't care less." he replies.
"wait. where are you going ?" she questioned, voice raised slightly by accident. "i have a pool match if you don't mind." his lips forming the sweetest smile ever, in this situation, everyone know he is such a tease. "of course i mind, my work with you are not finish." she states, unsatisfactory filled in her tone. he pushed his chair under the table, "oh amaranth." he heavs a sigh, sounding euphoric.
"i apologies, but i can't be late." he says, rushing to the exits. yerim follows him disappeared from the door with her eyes. she curses internally, "apology's not accepted !" she yells, knowing the man could not hear her.
sooyoung comes at the loud curses, she looks at yerim with raised brows. "you good ?" she asks which the younger replies with a pout. "i didn't have chance to ask anything about him. but he got a whole ass essay on me." she explains and crumples the paper. throwing it behind her while walking away with sooyoung laughing at her side.
"nick ?" sooyoung asks after settling down her laughter. yerim nods immediately, smiling ever so widely. her favorite carbonara spaghetti is already calling her from Nick, their favorite restaurant. after school, they usually dropped by the restaurant to enjoy foods according to their cravings.
she excuses herself from sooyoung, heading to the washroom to wash her face and look like normal human. when she reached the door of the washroom, a familiar feelings tingles her causing her goosebumps. she enters the washroom like normal, pretending as if she can't feel anything at the moment. a black shadow lurk from the door to the slightly wet washroom tiles. she sees all this through the mirror but ignores it and continues to wash her tiredness away.
then the shadow moves slowly under her sneakers-cladded feet. she feels herself lifted a little because of the touchable shadow. inhaling a deep breath, yerim pulls her bag straps up and walk out from the room. the shadow is no longer following her.
seeing the shadow creeps up to her is like a daily habit. she had saw that shit since she turns 15. at first, she was afraid and terrified because of the many ghost story she had watched with sooyoung. slowly, she starts to be used by its present. she reminds herself that it might be the shadow of his father's. because the shadow had been disturbing her a year after his father's death, two years ago.
the funny thing is nobody seems to bother with the shadow. it is like they cannot see it, not even sooyoung. yerim had been accompanied with the shadow everywhere she go. school, washroom, cafeteria, library, her own room, her apartment or wherever place her body took her. at least once in 2 days, the shadow will make its appearance on time yerim can't predict. sometimes too early and sometimes too late.
"let's go." sooyoung exclaims after catching a glimpse of yerim's frame. she pulls the younger to their car, right inside the driver seat. "i've been so tired lately, you should drive now." she complains, tilting her head back as she stretches her body. "but i've drove here !" yerim retorts, "oh come on–" before sooyoung could continue herself, a fresh idea pops up inside her mind. "foods on me."