A layer of ice encased Nari, smoothing out her features and causing her heart to go dangerously calm. Her body stiffened, unable to move under the knowledge that she was standing right next to her betrayer.
Hyunjin quickly ran up behind her and picked her bag up, whispering in her ear as he handed it to her.
"Sit in my place," he offered her, gently hooking his pinky into her fingers and leading her to his seat, then sitting in between the two fallen friends.
Jisoo watched all of this with tired, redrimmed eyes, her hands fidgeting with her phone in her lap. She sucked her bottom lip and looked down, biting back the wetness creeping into her eyes.
Their teacher surveyed with narrowed eyes as the six teens found their seats, and stayed silent for a moment before picking up where she had left off with attendance.
When she called Nari's name, the girl didn't even stir, staring with cold eyes at the wood of her desk. Hyunjin meekly reached over and raised her hand for her, grimacing as their teacher squinted with suspect.
During the entire class, the boys nervously watched Nari stayed as rigid as a board, her fingers growing more and more white and she clenched her pencil in a fist. Near the end of class, the pencil broke, the splintered wood slicing into her skin.
Wincing, Hyunjin reached over to try and pry her hand off, but she held the pencil out of his reach and kept squeezing, even as blood began to trickle out of her palm.
The ringing of the bell startled the heated room, and most of the kids gratefully scrambled out, noting the obvious tension between the girls.
Nari stuffed her notebooks in her bag, an unreadable expression on her face and oblivious to her bloody hand. Nervously, Hyunjin watched her movements, waiting for her to stand up.
All the while, Jisoo stayed in her seat, staring blankly at her strewn papers lying in her desk. Nari mechanically got to her feet and slung her bag over one shoulder, starting to follow Hyunjin and the others out of the classroom.
As she passed Jisoo's desk, the girl shot up suddenly and grasped Nari's sleeve, her eyes full of moisture. "N-nari, please let me explain - "
Her shirt was torn out of Jisoo's hold by Hyunjin, who's fiery eyes burned into Jisoo's skin. "Don't touch her."
Nari had gone stiff with the sudden flurry of movement, but instead of hurrying away, she slowly turned and looked straight into Jisoo's eyes. "Don't talk to me. One day, if I'm feeling generous, you can explain to me how what you did was okay in your mind. But until then... if you speak to me again, I will break you."
With her back straight, Nari stalked out of the class. Jisoo numbly watched her go, fingers scratching grooves into her seat absently. The boys just stood in shock for a moment, taken aback by Nari's bluntness. They quickly followed her out, Hyunjin right on her tail.
He caught up to her in the school hallway and glanced at her face, searching for any sign that she wasn't okay. But the girl kept a stoic face, marching down the hall like nothing could touch her.
Just as they were passing a janitor closet, though, Nari deftly opened the door and snatched the back of Hyunjin's shirt, catapulting him in before shutting the door behind her.
Fumbling for his balance, Hyunjin put a hand on the wall and the other on his chest to catch his breath. "What in the world? - "
He was cut off by the breath being knocked out of his once again as Nari crushed her face into his chest, hands fisting into his shirt.
His face softened as he embraced her, hand stroking down her back as her sobs began to come. A keening sound came from the back of her throat as she cried, and Hyunjin rested his nose in her neck.
"It's okay, baby," he whispered, tears pricking his own eyes as he drank in the sound of her pain. "It's okay."
Another sob racked through her chest, causing her to bump her nose on Hyunjin's stiff shirt. "I'm so tired of crying," Nari whined, bringing her palms to her wet eyes. She yelped as the action caused her to stretch the injured skin of her palm. "Damn," she muttered, shaking the hand around as if it would help the pain go away.
Hyunjin glanced around the closet, eyes lighting up as they landed on a basic first aid kit. "Here," he said as he walked over to pick it up. "Let me clean it."
A bit drained, Nari nodded, following him to a small table sitting along the closet wall. Without hesitating, Hyunjin set the kit down and picked Nari up by the waist, lifting her and gently setting her on the table.
Even emotionally tired and in some pain, the girl couldn't deny how much he made her heart flutter. "W-we can't take too long. We still have class."
Hyunjin lifted an eyebrow. "This won't take long. Unless you had something else planned for our stay in here," he said, smirking as her ears turned pink.
Nari bit her lip and stayed silent, her face warm as Hyunjin opened the kit and took out an alcohol wipe.
Carefully, he opened her hand and swiped along the broken skin with the wipe, pausing as she hissed at the sting.
After she recovered from the initial pain, Hyunjin gently cleaned the rest of the wound before blowing on it and smearing some healing salve on it. For the last step, he took out a large square bandage and placed it over the cut, wrapping some gauze around her hand to keep it in place.
Nari bent her head forward to look at his handiwork, her hair brushing his own. "All done?"
Hyunjin inspected her hand again, turning it this way and that. "Almost."
Before she could refuse, Hyunjin brought her hand up to his mouth and placed his lips on her bandaged palm, holding eye contact as he kissed it.
Nari swallowed thickly, the fluttering reaching the pit of her stomach now. Hyunjin's eyes were mischievous and eager, staring her down as his lips brushed her hand.
The flustered girl opened her mouth and tried to speak. "We should go," she whispered.
"Yeah," Hyunjin replied, slowly giving her hand back to her. "We should."
Nari scrambled to her feet and practically ran to the door, making the mistake of using her hurt hand to open the door. She gasped in pain as a sharp ache spread through her arm.
Hyunjin tsked and opened the door for her before claiming her throbbing hand in his own. "Let me hold this before you hurt it even more."
Embarrassed by her carelessness Nari nodded and allowed him to carefully pull her along down the hallway.
The other boys were still waiting for them outside, which just about made Nari's heart melt into a puddle of goop. Chenle noticed the two holding hands as they came out and squealed.
"What's this?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
Hyunjin let go of her hand, sensing her discomfort from the attention. "Nothing, she just needed a bandage. Let's go."
While she appreciated the attempt to make her more comfortable, Nari hated the look of hurt that Hyunjin tried to hide.
He made it pretty obvious that he had feelings for her, and she couldn't say that she hid hers well either. Nari was done making each other hurt so that other people wouldn't suspect that they liked each other.
So before he could walk away, Nari grabbed his hand again and twined their fingers together. His eyes went wide as he looked at the others, but Nari was calm.
"Yeah, let's go," she repeated before turning and continuing down the hall.
Before they could make it very far, however, the school's loudspeakers came on.
"Will Han Jisung, Kim Seungmin, Lee Felix, Lee Nari, Yang Jeongin, and Hwang Hyunjin please come to the office. Will Han Jisung, Kim... "
hiii
hope you enjoyed :D