judge me once, love me twice | 2yeon

13 | i see you haven't changed a bit

Jeongyeon stares at the equation on the board and mutters a few things to herself before finishing the task.

Miss Shin isn't even surprised anymore, she just hands Jeongyeon a worksheet which will be finished in approximately twenty minutes time. The class isn't surprised either, they'd use this to their advantage and get the answers from Jeongyeon. 

The speakers suddenly turn on, and a loud ringing noise occurs, the sound of feedback forces everyone to shut their ears. 

"Yoo Jeongyeon, please make your way to the office. A new student requires your assistance." Principal Im's voice booms, and Jeongyeon stands up, knowing that this little trip will not end well.

Mina meets up with her by the Art room, and the two make their way to the office.

Jeongyeon opens the door as slowly as she can, hoping that time suddenly rewinds and she can just forget that this all ever happened.

The second she locks eye contact with him, it's Jumanji 4 in action.

"Jeongyeon." He grins. "Long time, no see."

Principal Im makes his way to the two girls, smiling at them ever so innocently. "Yejun here said that he knew you, Jeongyeon. I presume he knows Miss Myoui here too?"

Mina nods, and doesn't glance in Yejun's direction.

"Great, it's a very warm welcome back to Hanlim High." Principal Im claps his hands like a seal. "You wouldn't mind taking Mr Han here for a tour, just to help him settle in again, would you?"

Jeongyeon grits her teeth. "I wouldn't mind at all, sir."

*****

"What are you doing here, Jeongha—I mean, Yejun?" Jeongyeon feels lasers shooting out of her eyes. "Why did you come to this school in the first place?"

"Same reason as you, sister." Yejun evilly grins. "To run away from home. Coincidence we both ended up in the same place, huh?" Jeongyeon doesn't answer him, and Yejun turns to Mina. "Sheesh, you've grown up well, Minari."

Silence.

"Still as cold as ever, I see." Yejun clucks his tongue as they turn to go to the English room, where his class is. "By the way, is Nayeon still in this school?"

Mina and Jeongyeon glare at each other, trying to communicate telepathically but they're not friends in any way, whatsoever, so it doesn't work out for them.

"Your silence tells me she's still here. Thank you for your cooperation." Yejun laughs, about to open the door to the room. He turns to Mina, who backs away about three steps. "Minari, is it alright if you can leave? I wanna talk to my sister about something real quick."

Mina's hesitant, but she doesn't want any knives or fingers puncturing her abdomen, so she walks away and hides behind the wall.

Yejun looks back at his sister with a sinister look on his face. "Jeongie." He starts, "I need you to leave for about a week or more, depending on how long it takes father and his goons to capture me again."

Jeongyeon can't believe her ears. "I literally came here like a month ago, and you're telling me to suddenly disappear off the grid?"

Yejun nods his head.

"You have no other choice sis, unless you want to be caught by father. It's either that or come back when I tell you to."

Jeongyeon bites her bottom lip in frustration, because she hates how her life isn't going the way she had planned beforehand.

"Fine." She lets out a sigh. "But if I hear a word from anyone that that old piece of trash is waiting to get me from this school, your life will just be written onto a gravestone. You will be no more."

"Fine by me." There's some sort of sparkle in Yejun's eyes, and Jeongyeon doesn't like the look of it at all. "You'd better get packing, you have a safe house, don't you?"

"I do. But you won't find out the address."

Yejun shrugs and opens the door, where the gasps of students can be heard. He turns back one last time to Jeongyeon, who is already about to leave.

"If I were you, I'd lose contact with everyone I knew here. Trust the guy who had to go through it himself."

Jeongyeon doesn't answer and just walks away, back in the corridors.

Mina runs to her and taps her back softly, because she heard everything Yejun had to say.

"Jeong, you alright?"

Jeongyeon gives a fake smile to her arch-nemesis and a broken thumbs up. "Everything's alright. I'll be back before anyone recognises I even left."

Mina's never really liked Jeongyeon, and the feeling had always been mutual, but right now her heart is aching for the older girl. She wants to help Jeongyeon settle in and live the normal life she had always wanted, but now she has to leave and lose all contact?

Life is hard when you don't really have anyone to depend on.

*****

The gang can't believe their ears.

"What do you mean Jeongyeon's leaving for an unspecified amount of time?" Sana can't process it. "She didn't tell you why she went?"

Mina shakes her head. "It's for personal reasons, she said."

Chaeyoung crawls up to Mina. "So even you don't know? Does Nayeon unnie know? I swear they've been getting closer."

"Nayeon unnie doesn't know." Momo butts in. "She's too busy dealing with Han Yejun, that son of a bitch. I feel sorry for whoever's related to that piece of trash."

Sana glances at Mina, who doesn't flinch a bit.

"Exactly! I doubt the guy has a sibling, or else maybe he'd be less of a serial killer, and more of a babysitter." Dahyun inputs, looking at Sana. "Right, unnie?"

Sana looks down. "Right." She coughs a little to clear her throat, and sees Nayeon walking out of the school doors. "Uhm, Mitang? Can I talk you like, right now?"

Mina nods when she sees who Sana is looking at, and the two leave the outdoor table everyone else is sitting at.

"Mitang," Sana looks worried. "I know you know what's going on. And I'm not just worried for Nayeon but I'm worried for Jeongyeon too. I overheard your conversation in the library like two weeks ago."

Mina doesn't say anything, and doesn't want to look into Sana's gaze.

"I know she's related to Yejun—which isn't even his real name." Mina still doesn't answer. "Look, I know what happened to Nayeon and Yejun before, and trust me, I hate the guy with my guts too. I don't want Nayeon to be hurt by him again."

"Well, Jeongyeon's gone and I don't even know where she went. She just disappeared after we dropped Yejun off at English, and she wouldn't tell me anything." Mina rubs her temples in frustration.

Sana glances over to where Nayeon has come to the somber table, all their faces down in the dumps.

She mumbles. "Nayeon likes Jeongyeon."

Mina looks up at Sana, and the latter knows that she would be surprised at that. "I don't know exactly when, but when Nayeon realised Jeongyeon was literally her dream girl...she kinda fell head over heels for her."

The younger girl doesn't hide her surprise, she can't even speak.

"They got closer in the past week. I don't know what'll happen now that Yejun's back. Do you have any way you can contact Jeongyeon for me?"

Mina shakes her head and pulls out her phone. "I've never really been friends with her. Our families are rivals."

"Figured." Sana mutters, and looks down at Mina's phone, where the latter is texting someone. "Who is that...?"

"It's Jeongyeon's only form of contact back into her old life with the exception of me." Mina gulps. "Park Jihyo."