|Jiyoon's POV|
At that very moment, my mind went blank. All I could hear was my heart beating and his voice ringing against my ears.
"Jiyoon-ah, it may sound really dramatic but.. seeing you smile with another guy especially Eunwoo, drags my whole body down." He said.
"But Eunwoo and I aren't in good terms lately." I explained.
"I know." He quickly replied. "That's why you hurt me too. Seeing you cry in front of my very eyes makes my heart ache. I hate seeing you cry. I really hate it. And it hurts me everytime about the thought that I can't always be by your side." He said.
"Your sadness is my sadness. Your problems are my problems too. You have always been part of my business, ever since we were still kids. But right now, my intention is different." He explained.
At that time, awkward silence took over. The atmosphere was serious, to the point that I couldn't even look at him.
"Anyway! Back to your question." He exclaimed, causing me to snap out of my thoughts.
"Forgiving someone maybe hard, but it's for your own good. For the good of your relationship with that person. Forgiveness is removing the anger towards that person. It is remembering without any negative feelings." He said.
"He apologized right?" He asked.
"H-how did you-"
"Well, he made the right choice." Bin said as he passed me a smile. "It's up to you Jiyoon."
"I think you were awesome after forgiving Hyerim after that horrible thing she did. Betrayal is one of the most unexpected things that a friend could do. But seeing you give her another chance, I personally think you're just nice as ever." He said.
"Uh.." I was totally speechless at the moment. No word dared to escape from my mouth after what he just said.
"Right. Another thing, I'll accept whatever answer you give me. I'll wait for you." He said with a smile.
My heart beated faster, as if it was going to jump out of my chest right now. My mind was racing. I was just staring at Bin's face on my phone screen, listening to his words.
"Yah, it's almost 9:00, you should sleep now." He said smiling.
Gosh Bin, can you please stop killing me with that sweet old smile? I'm getting stiff here.
"I-uhh.. yeah. Thanks for giving me some advice." I nervously responded as I smiled back.
"Good night dummy." He said with that smile again. "Y-yeah. Good night." I replied.
"I'll end the call now. Bye." I nodded in response as the call ended.
I unknowingly grabbed my pillow and covered my face with it. "Aaahhhh!!" I screamed.
"What if you're the one who hurts me every single day?"
"I hate seeing you cry. I really hate it."
"You have always been part of my business ever since we were kids. But right now, my intention is different."
"I'll wait for you."
"Ugh!! Yah, what do I do now? I just can't believe two guys like me. One is my crush and the other is my best friend?! Can you believe it?" I whined as I looked at the white and brown stuffed bear.
•••
|MJ's POV|
We are now walking to school with Eunwoo this time. I wanted to tell them a joke but, something's odd.
Eunwoo was facing the ground while my sister was looking at the clouds. Is there something that I missed?
Finally, we arrived at the school gate. The atmosphere was pretty serious and awkward. "Hey..uhh guys, I'll go first. I've got some stuff to finish." I lied. They both nodded their heads in response as I quickly fled inside.
"Whew, I finally escaped that awkward silence." I said as I heaved out a relieved sigh. "Wait. They usually laugh and smile whenever they meet, why was is super silent earlier? Did they.. fight or something?" I asked myself as I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity.
|Jiyoon's POV|
"Uhh.. Eunwoo, I have something to say." I said.
"Forgiving someone maybe hard but it's also for your own good. It is remembering without any negative feelings."
"I.." I paused and took a deep breath.
"I forgive you." I finally said with a smile on my face.
"Excuse me?" He asked. "I accept your apology." I responded as I passed him a cheeky smile.
He looked dumbfounded for a moment so I tried to change the mood. "Hey, I can't keep our relationship so distant. I can't stay mad." I said with a smile.
"But.. I hurt your feelings." He stuttered as he lowered his head. "It's okay now. You admitted your mistake and apologized, you did the right thing and I forgive you. I may not forget what you did but it's time for me to remove that anger." I replied as I passed him a comforting smile.
"Thanks Jiyoon. And.. I'm still sorry." He said as he pulled me into a hug. "Aigoo." I chuckled as I patted his back.
He then broke the hug and smiled at me. "Come on Eunwoo, let's get to class or we'll be late." He then nodded his head in reply as we headed to our room.
•••
Time passed by and it was time for lunch. Bin, Eunwoo and I headed to the canteen and grabbed our lunch trays as soon as we got there.
We then walked to the table where Sanha and MJ-oppa was and took our seats. "Oh? Where's Soo-ah noona and Rocky hyung?" Sanha asked. The four of us sent glances and shrugged our shoulders.
As I took a bite of my food, Soo-ah and Rocky came. "Hey guys!" Soo-ah exclaimed.
Soo-ah took a seat beside me and Rocky beside Eunwoo. Finally, we were back to the way we used the be. No more problems and misunderstandings. Throwing jokes. Passing cheeky smiles. How I wish we'll stay like this until we grow old.
As the bell rang, Sanha and MJ-oppa proceeded to their respective classrooms while the five of us headed back to our own room too.
"Hey guys." Rocky called. We all turned our heads to him as we raised our eyebrows in curiosity.
"Let's hangout some time." He said with a smile. "Yeah! The seven of us." Soo-ah responded.
"Pssh. We already did that." I snorted. "Eh? When?" Soo-ah asked.
"That was like, weeks ago. Many, many weeks ago." I replied. "You mean, a month ago?" She asked.
"Uh.. yeah." I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"How about this coming Saturday?" Bin said. "Yeah. I agree." Eunwoo responded.
"Nice!" Rocky exclaimed. "How about you Jiyoon?" Soo-ah asked.
"Why not?" I replied with a smile. "Yey! Thanks Ji!" Soo-ah exclaimed.
"But, for only one condition." I said as I raised my index finger. "What is it?" The four of them asked in unison.
"You two.." I said as I pointed to Soo-ah and Rocky. "Should stick with us."
"What do you mean?" Rocky curiously asked. "Well, last time, you had your little date. The two of you parted ways from us and headed to 'who knows where?'. This Saturday, nothing like that is going to happen." I said.
Rocky and Soo-ah's cheeks were flushed with tint red as they avoided eye contact. "Wait, wait, wait. Are we missing something here?" Eunwoo teasingly asked.
"I dunno. Could you guys give us an answer?" Bin teasingly replied.
"Oh! I-I forgot that I have some stuff to finish. Hehe.. let me go back first." Soo-ah stuttered as she rushed to our classroom.
"Y-yeah. M-me too." Rocky stuttered as he was about to go after Soo-ah. Luckily, Eunwoo quickly grabbed his arm.
"You're not going anywhere young lad." He teased. "Come on man!" Rocky whined.
"Mr. Park.." I called as Rocky looked at me nervously. "You like her, don't you?"
It only took that question to make his face turn into a tomato. "W-what are y-you talking about?" He stuttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Eyy, you're already giving us your answer dude." I teased him as the three of us chuckled. "Don't worry Rocky, I assure you, everything between you and Soo-ah is going to turn out as you wish." His face lit up with expectation as his lips turned upwards.
"Come on guys. Let's go to class."
•••
"And, that ends our lesson." Mr. Han, our Math teacher said as all of us heaved out a sigh of relief.
"Finally! Math class aka Hell class is over!" I turned my head around and saw Bin stretching his arms in relief.
"Hey Jiyoon, I'll just use the washroom okay?" Eunwoo said as he stood up. "Oh, okay." I replied as I nodded my head.
"Yah! Ji!" As soon as I heard Soo-ah's voice, I turned my head to her direction.
"Come here. I need to ask you something important." She said as she motioned her hand.
I walked towards her and sat at Rocky's seat. "Wait. Where's Rocky?" I asked. "Oh, he said he wanted to use the washroom." She replied.
"Him too?" I asked. "What do you mean?" She replied.
"Oh, nothing. So, what's up?" I asked. "What did the four of you talked about earlier?" She curiously asked.
"Well.." I teasingly replied. "Wait. You didn't tell him that I like him right? Right?" She hopefully asked.
"I guess." I teasingly replied as I shrugged my shoulders. "Ahh! I'm done for! I'm totally done for!" She whined.
"Yah, don't worry girl. I didn't tell him. I don't have the right." I explained as I sent her a reassuring smile.
"Whew. That's a relief." She sighed.
"Speaking of liking someone, how do you know that you really like someone?" I asked.
"Heol. Don't tell me.. you still didn't give one of them an answer?" She gasped. "Yah! Lower your voice down." I whispered.
"You really are something Jiyoon." She teasingly said while clicking her tongue.
"Anyways, why'd you ask?" She asked. "Just." I simply replied.
"Wait. Why are you asking me this? You like Eunwoo right?" She asked. "Uh.." I was speechless at the moment. She's right.
"Wait. Are you perhaps.. confused of your feelings?" She gasped. "Aish! Just get to the point." I replied.
"You know you really like someone when they make you feel complete. You feel down when they're not around and incredibly happy when they're by your side. Realizing that you like someone may take time but, you'll come to your senses sooner or later." She explained.
Whoa. That's just like what Sanha said. That kid sure is amazing.
"You know, I read this quote once from the internet. It said, "When you have a reason why you like someone, it's a crush. But when you have no reason or explanation, it's the real love." She said.
"Real love my butt." I scoffed. "Yah! That wasn't from me, that was from the internet. THE INTERNET." She said as her eyes grew larger.
"Okay, okay. I was just kidding around." I chuckled. "And.. thanks for giving me such answer." I said with a smile.
"Right, one more thing." She said. "Choose the one who makes you happier, the one who accepts you as who you are and loves you just the way you are." She said with a smile.
"Thanks." I replied smiling back and went back to my seat.
How come almost everybody is an expert at these kind of stuff?
•••
"Hey Jiyoon, can you please return these books to the library? I'm really sorry but I'm in a rush. Is it okay?" Park Sujin, my classmate asked.
"Oh, it's okay. No need to worry. You can go now, I'll take care of it." I responded with a reassuring smile.
"Thank you so much Jiyoon!" She exclaimed then hurried outside.
"Now, how many books do we have here? 1, 2... 5?!" I groaned in complain. I was about to pick the books up when my phone suddenly rang.
"Omaya!" I exclaimed. I picked it up and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Oh, Jiyoon. I'm really sorry but I can't walk back home with you today, my mom picked me up and we'll head back to Busan to visit my grandma again." Eunwoo worriedly explained.
"Nah, don't worry about me. You should worry about your grandma first." I replied with a smile.
"Thank you Jiyoon."
"No problem."
"Oh, I'll be absent tomorrow too." He added.
"Oh, okay. Be safe." I said with a smile as I ended the call. "Now, it's time for me to return these books."
I carried all five books from our classroom to the library in one go to finish this work faster.
•••
"Thank you." I bowed my head as I thanked the librarian and exited the library.
An unexpected weather met me. "Ugh! I don't have an umbrella today and the rain is pretty heavy. So, let's just.. run. Great."
I took a deep breath and held my bag above my head. Then I ran off.
I stopped on the school gate when I noticed it stopped raining. I looked upwards and saw an umbrella. I turned to my left and saw the person holding it -- Bin. He plastered that wide smile on his face as I felt my heart beating crazily. I stared at him for a while as I blinked my eyes twice.
Suddenly, it hit me. "Oh my god." I looked at my shoes and it was drenched with water and.. the same goes to my uniform. "What the hell was I thinking? Ugh!"
I shook my head and continued running.
After minutes of running like forever, I finally got home. I opened the door with the dumbest thing I ever did was stuck on my head.
"Omo! Jiyoon-ah! Why are you so wet?" Mom worriedly asked as she hurriedly grabbed a towel.
She then wrapped the towel around me and assisted me to my room. "Are you okay?" Mom asked.
"Ah.. yes mom. I'm fine, thank you." I replied with a smile.
"Okay. I'll just cook some porridge for you downstairs." She said as I nodded in reply.
"Sheesh. What a stupid day. Let's get some bath."
•••
As I finished getting a bath and wore my clothes, I dried my hair with my towel and headed downstairs. "Achoo!" I sneezed.
"Yah! Kim Jiyoon!" I turned my head to my right and raised my eyebrows at MJ-oppa.
"What were you thinking?" He asked. "What do you mean?" I replied as I took a seat at the table in the kitchen.
"Why were you running all the way home?" He asked as he took a seat beside me.
"I don't have an umbrella, duh." I replied and took a bite of the porridge.
"And why did you stop at the school gate?" He asked.
I suddenly remembered that, at that time, Bin was holding an umbrella for me. I spat out the porridge that I was eating when I choked on it.
"Gross!" He exclaimed with a disgusted face.
"Sorry." Mom handed me tissues as I wiped the mess I made.
"I had an umbrella idiot. I was about to call you, when I noticed you stopped running and gazed at your left side as if someone was there." He said.
"Uh.. thank you for the porridge mom. Now, I'll get back to my room." I said with a smile as I avoided MJ-oppa's statement.
"Wait. Where are you going? I'm not done yet little sis." He said as he grabbed my arm.
"Ow, ow. My head hurts. I need to get a rest." I lied as I escaped from his grip.
I quickly ran upstairs to my room and threw myself into bed. "Aaaaaahhhhh!!! This is killing me! Why did I do that? What was I thinking?" I kicked my feet against the bed as I screamed under my pillow.
My imagination at that time was running through my mind and it's making me crazy. "Out of all people, why Bin?!"
"I'm going crazy here!! Somebody help me please!"