"YOU WHAT?"
I quickly put my hand on top of her mouth, shutting her off, people around us starting to look at us with strange looks on their faces.
"Are you crazy?" I told her and she opened her mouth in disbelief.
"I am the crazy one?!" She snapped, smacking my shoulder "You are the one who ran away like a scared cat!"
I sighed and sank into the bench we were sitting on.
"I'm so stupid" I faced-palm "I left him there..."
She hit me again "Yes you are. How could you just ran away after hearing that?"
I covered my eyes with my hands, feeling guilty and stupid at the same time.
"I don't know"
"You don't know?" She scoffed, crossing her arms "Seo, don't push people away. Don't push him away"
I looked at her and saw her expression soften when she saw me. She put her arm around me and caressed my back, sighing while pushing my head to her shoulder.
"Please, Seo. He doesn't deserve it, you need to tell him how you feel too"
"I know, I know. I don't know why I didn't say it yesterday, I was just caught in surprise and my first instinct was to-"
"...runway?" She finished my sentence while arching her brow at me and I smiled guiltily.
"Yeah..."
"Just try to talk to him today okay?" She took my hands "It's the last day of school. You won't see him that often anymore"
Pain hit my heart when I heard those words. I couldn't believe this is going to be my last day of school, the last day of high school, the last day of seeing my friends every day.
"Yah! Why are you suddenly sad?" Nayeon told me while looking at me "You're going to college next year and we won't stop being friends"
"I know" I gave her my best smile, and I hit my legs firmly like some kind of incentive for me to go on with the day, getting up. She chuckled, rolling her eyes slightly, grabbing my face, and with both of her thumbs pushing the corners of my mouth upwards.
"That's how my best friend usually is. And how someone likes to her" She smirked and I clenched my teeth embarrassed, hitting her on the arm.
"Yah! Can't you take a joke?" She intertwined our arms together and pushed me inside the school, giggling excitedly with her own joke.
As soon as we entered, we felt someone engulfing us in a tight hug, a skinny and tall person completely blocking our view.
I smiled when I saw the curls in his hair and his normally rosy cheeks. He left the embrace and I saw a cute pout that was forming on his mouth while he looked between me and Nayeon with a heartbroken face.
"I can't believe next year you guys won't be here anymore" He faked like he was crying, making me and Nayeon shaking our head "You are going to leave me alone"
"Yah, Yoon Sanha" Nayeon called him "We're still going to be friends, but you need to promise you are going to study in the library even if we aren't there"
"Yes, ma'am" He sighed, bowing at her. She chuckled, ruffling his hair due to his cute action.
"Hey guys" I heard Moonbin's voice behind him. I peeked behind Sanha and saw him waving at me, Rocky by his side and surprisingly Chaehyun and her friend and last but not least, Dahyun.
I hadn't seen her that often lately and I honestly don't blame her, being with us means being with Dongmin and I'm sure she's trying to have time for herself, take care of herself and heal.
I gulped when I noticed his absence.
He wasn't here.
"Hi" I gave them a small smile that suddenly grew up, arching my eyebrow "Last day of school, you know what that means?"
"What?" Rocky looked at me with a scared look on his face.
"Group hug!" I exclaimed and they started laughing except for Rocky that was shaking his head.
"You guys are so cheesy" He sighed but then smiled at us, showing us his attractive smile.
"But you love us that way" Moonbin pinched his cheeks and he gave him a death glare, removing his hands from his face.
"Do that again and you're dead" I saw Moonbin gulping after hearing it, putting his hands up in surrender.
"Let's just hug!" Sanha smiled, motioning for everyone to gather in a circle.
"Is there room for one more?"
I bit my lip when I heard that voice. I knew it too well.
Everyone turned around to look at the person, my eyes slowly looking at them, afraid of what I could see on their expression. But to my surprise, they were smiling.
"Dongmin!" Sanha exclaimed happily not before glancing towards me.
His eyes then averted to me and time seemed to slow down around me, he was wearing his backpack only on one shoulder while his hand tightly grabbed its strap, white shirt with the red tie and black bangs falling to his eyes.
"Hi" He said softly, giving me a little smile before looking at Sanha who threw his arms around him, squeezing him tightly.
I felt embarrassed as I looked at him.
Isn't he mad?
"Okay, now that we are all here we can have our group hug!"
My eyes quickly took a glance at the person a few steps away, my heart suddenly feeling heavy while seeing how tense and nervous they were.
Dahyun was quietly standing next to Rocky, her eyes fixed on the ground and an uncomfortable expression played on her face. I could see how hard she didn't want to look at him, not even sparing a glance the moment he arrived.
I sighed. How did everything turn out like this?
First, Moonbin and now Dahyun. And we're somehow in the middle.
"Yah, Seoyeon. Stop thinking and come join our hug" I head someone saying, interrupting my thoughts. I looked to the side and saw everyone already had gathered in a circle. Moonbin waved me to come to his side, between him and Sanha.
I smiled and jumped to the spot, putting my arms around their shoulders.
"Let's hope our last day will be awesome and then we'll always remember the good moments we've been through" Moonbin said, looking around, fixing his eyes with someone on the circle.
"Yes!" I cheered up, grabbing him and Sanha tighter.
"I hope you guys will be happy in college" Sanha said, his eyes slowly averting from me to Moonbin, then to Dongmin and finally Nayeon.
"Finally we won't have to listen to you scream every day" Moonbin teased him and he pouted, kicking him softly on the leg as payback for what he just had said.
"Shut up, I know you'll miss me" Sanha stuck out his tongue at him.
"We will" Dongmin shrugged while chuckling, seeing those two teasing each other as always.
"I will miss you more, Dongmin" He told him, giving him puppy eyes "Who's going to help me with my homework every day now?"
"It's time you do them yourself already, don't you think?" I shook my head, arching my brow at him.
"But-"
"You guys are lucky, I'm the one who has to stay in school and has to put up with Sanha alone" Rocky spoke with a cheeky smile on his lips, doing his best not to crack up smiling when he saw the horrified expression Sanha had on his face.
"You're the worst" Sanha rolled his eyes right in front of him "I know you are playing the tough guy but inside is crying because they are leaving"
"Shut up, don't reveal my secrets" He smiled before composing himself again, getting serious again.
"I really am going to miss you picking at each other and your lame jokes" Dahyun suddenly spoke, making everyone surprised. She showed her teeth in a sad but grateful smile, her eyes seeming shiny almost like she was about to cry.
"Dahyun..." I said, seeing the state she was in. Couldn't believe we were going to part...
"I'm okay" She exclaimed, chuckling while wiping her eyes with the arm she had removed from Nayeon's shoulder "I just hate changes and I'm going to miss you all next year"
My eyes involuntarily fixed on Dongmin and I saw him looking at her with worry on his eyes, trying to understand if she really was okay. She looked up, her eyes instantly meeting with him but she only looked away, gulping and giving Nayeon who was on her side a little smile, trying to ignore his stare on her.
"Another group hug!" I suggested. Everyone grabbed each other again and we started jumping in a circle, starting to spin around. Obviously it wasn't a good idea to make it in the middle of the school hallway because a teacher just scolded us telling us to stop it and go to class.
The bell rang and we parted ways, leaving only Dongmin and me who would have Math together.
I gulped. I should say something to him after running away like that yesterday.
I opened my mouth to say something but a voice behind him interrupted me.
"Lee Dongmin?" Someone called him and he turned around, come face to face with a girl with big eyes and rosy cheeks, smiling nervously at him "I don't know if you know who I am but we have English Literature together and I want to give this to you"
She quickly extended her hands at him, a pink envelope on her hands with his name on it. He widened his eyes slightly, taken aback by the situation.
"Thank you" He bowed at her and she looked at the ground before looking at him, running away with her friend.
He turned again to face me and I kept staring at the envelope in his hand.
Is that a love letter?
"Do you-" I started "...receive that many letters?"
He shook his head repeatedly, hiding the letter behind his back "No, just.... some times"
"Dongmin, you lie terribly" I scoffed, crossing my arms at him "I saw all the letters on your locker the other day, they just don't seem to be a few"
"I'm grateful for them" He replied with a smile and as I looked at his face, yesterday suddenly came into my mind and I cursed myself for letting it go even just for a second.
"Listen-" I started but he interrupted me, speaking at the same time.
"It's okay, I'm not mad"
"I know, I just wanted to apologize and have a conversation with you" I bit my lip nervously, waiting for his reply.
"Ah, so you were confident I wouldn't be mad at you for running away after confessing to you?" He asked archly and I widened my eyes, looking frantically around to see if anyone had heard.
I tried not to blush with his bluntness "Yah! Don't you know walls have ears?"
"Meet me in the school's garden after the reading of our texts later tonight" He said, bending closer and then whispered, his voice low and raspy "I want to know your response"
He then slowly backed away, a little smirk appearing on his face, leaving me surprised and speechless with such a bold move.
He must be crazy.
Dongmin lifted his slight shoulder and smiled, starting to leave for the class, not without sparing a glance behind to see me standing there.
"Why is he acting so seductive lately?" I asked myself, face-palming myself and leaving for the class just a few steps away from him, walking behind his tall and slender figure.