freshmen again

⋆ five ⋆

"god, close your mouth when you chew!" i cringed, pushing mark's face away from me.

he pouted, but did as he was told, swallowing the piece of chicken he was currently working on.

"aw, come on, yerim. have some more chicken," he urged, pushing the plate closer toward me.

my stomach grumbled a little, but i felt like i wouldn't be able to take a bit without it coming right back up. i had a couple of pieces already, but i felt like that's all i could stomach.

i shook my head, pushing the plate back towards mark. he frowned but popped another piece into his mouth. 

"what's on your mind, rim?"

rim?

haven't heard that one in a while. 

"nothing, just thinking about all the assignments professors have loaded on me," i replied, dismissively waving my hand.

mark paused his eating, raising an eyebrow. "like hell you are."

i sighed, running my hand through my hair. "i just--i don't know if i was ready to come back."

mark placed his chopsticks down. "yeri--"

"i didn't realize everything i tried to leave behind would be waiting for me as soon as i returned. i thought that with enough time, everything would blow over," i looked at my hands, fingers fidgeting as i confessed to mark.

mark stayed silent for a moment, carefully listening over my words.

"he--jungkook--i saw him the first day i returned," i laughed humorlessly. "he was at the grocery store, and he wasn't alone," i was shaking as i looked up at mark. "he was with the girl he cheated on me with."

mark grimaced before reaching over to grab my hand.

"yeri, i know i probably won't ever know how you're feeling, nor do i know how to remedy your pain, but know that i am always here for you. fuck jungkook. that jerk never deserved you. four years was a long time without you, yeri, and i don't think you should let him intimidate you into leaving again. you're stronger than that, i know you are."

i gave him a small smile, "thanks, mark. i've missed you and your idiotic self terribly."

"hey!" he playfully glared. "i'm trying to console you and you call me idiotic."

i laughed. "insults are my love language."

"yeah, yeah, i've been known," he replied, rolling his eyes. he picked his chopsticks back up. "you really should have some more chicken."

i hesitantly picked up my chopsticks, picking a small piece of chicken to nibble on.

"hm, this chicken is pretty good."

"i told you," he sang, popping another piece into his mouth.

___

i blew a piece of hair out of my face as i practically threw my pencil on top of the desk. i had been studying in the library for the past couple of hours for some stupid math quiz my professor assigned. math was my weak point, so i decided to slave over my textbook in order to prepare.

i frowned at the math problem in front of me. math was never my strong suit, and it always brought me to the verge of tears when i couldn't understand how to do problems.

i was tempted to throw my pencil down and chuck my textbook across the room, but i took a deep breath to calm myself before i did anything rash. after a few minutes of glaring at the book, i decided to take a break from the complicated numbers on the page, and stopped by the library cafe. 

i scanned the menu, deciding whether i wanted a latte or a hot chocolate, when i heard someone call my name.

"yeri?"

i slowly turned in the direction of the voice and my eyes widened.

"j-jaehyun."