𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔

nine.

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ [CHAPTER NINE] ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉﹉

IN WHICH IT
BEGINS TO
BLOOM.

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"THAT stupid little—ugh!" jieun rubs her temple, spinning her highlighter in her free hand. she sets it down on her stack of papers, slumping down in her seat and letting her head rest on the table. "choi yeonjun, you are unbelievable. ignoring me for two days now? and i really said i would apologize to him... i guess not since he's being a little—" jieun sighs as her professor dismisses the class.

she sits back up, carefully placing her papers into a folder, and shoving her highlighters and pens back into her pencil pouch. "i'll just head over to the library and finish studying. my second class got cancelled anyways." she looks down at her phone as she picks it up, eyes widening. "oh damn, so i'll be free until three?"

jieun walks happily out from the lecture call, making her way towards the law library. on her way there, she spots beomgyu talking to a girl. grinning, she runs up to the younger boy, bumping shoulders with him. "mr choi beomgyu!" she says, "fancy seeing you here!"

beomgyu laughs, shoving her softly. "what a coincidence miss kang jieun! i was just talking about you to a friend!"

"oh," the girl says, "is this the kang jieun you were talking about just now?"

beomgyu nods. "jieun, meet my friend baek haein! haein, meet miss kang jieun, my role model!"

jieun freezes. she glances to see, lo and behold, baek haein standing in front of her. she starts fiddling with the edges of her folder, tapping her foot against the ground. "nice... to meet you haein."

"ah, you too, senior—"

"no need to use honorifics with me!" says jieun. "i don't really like using honorifics, so you can just call me jieun!"

haein beams at her. "you're so nice, jieun! oh, this may seem a bit abrupt but... are you free tomorrow?"

jieun looks at the grounding, humming as she thinks. "i... think i might be free tomorrow. why?"

haein's eyes sparkle as she reaches forwards, grabbing hold of jieun's hands, taking her by surprise. haein bounces, smiling at the older girl. "would you be able to come out and eat with beomgyu and i?"

"ah... y-yes, of course!" jieun says, laughing nervously. she quickly shakes off haein's hands off her while she's busy smiling.

"that's great! oh, i hope you don't mind if another friend of mine tags along," haein says, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. "i think you may know him, jieun! i'm supposed to be meeting him here in a little bit..."

oh, jieun thinks, her heart falling to the ground. this must be why he's been ignoring me.

haein looks down at her wrist, checking the time on her wristwatch. "i have to get going now, jieun! i'll see you tomorrow~"

jieun doesn't hear what haein says. she starts coughing, the sensation of something slowly crawling up her throating making her want to cry. her coughing becomes a bit more violent as jieun tries getting whatever's stuck in her throat out.

"jieun, are you okay?" asks beomgyu, his eyebrows furrowed as he watches jieun bend over, still coughing. he lets out a small breath of relief when she stops coughing.

jieun stares at the blue tulip petal that's splashed with hints of purple at the tip. she swallows the lump in her throat and picks up the petal, shoving it in her pocket.

"yeah, i'm fine," she says, forcing a smile onto her lips.

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UNFORTUNATELY,
I LOVE YOU.