Clique (txtXitzy)

22. Day 53

Soobin gazed at Lia from the other side of the classroom, on their last period before dismissal. If students in a class were grouped by personality, they would be miles apart. Lia sat at the middle in the very front, and Soobin on the back corner almost sleeping through class everyday. Not that day though. Because he really wanted to know how that one girl put up with all the shit in her life.

Lia was nowhere to be seen during break times, even when he casually did a swift scan of the cafeteria, and visited the library to make sure. Even when he dropped by the front yard and backyard of the school out of curiosity. And came back in class to see her still on her seat with the same position she had been keeping since the recess bell rang. Twice.

He was in all honesty anxious about it. He knew about the nasty accusations against her that were being posted on the internet. He knew that although the alleged victims of her so-called bullying had been sued the previous year, they were bound to resurface along with everybody else's; Soojin, Hyunjin, Aisha, Chuu, Sunwoo, Kihyun, Mingyu, Hyuna and more actors. Because entertainment networking had to back up hiding the SA issue in the Blue Ho...

The dismissal bell finally rang. Instead of being the first to leave after bidding the teacher farewell, like he usually would, he slumped back in his seat and returned to watching her who remained hollow-spirited. It came to a point in which everybody else had left, and the school janitors shooed them out.

As they were putting their shoes back on Soobin tried to ask her a question, but only halfway into it she did not hesitate to walk away and not turn her head to look back.

"Choi Jisu, I asked you a question."

She didn't stop or anything, despite hearing him call her by her name, not her moniker. So Soobin chased after her without a doubt and blocked her with his height and arms.

Lia immediately looked down, but not in time for Soobin to unsee that she was crying.

Soobin dropped his tense shoulders and argued with himself whether or not to try and do something about it. At that moment, Lia pushed him away and continued walking. It wasn't fast enough for Soobin to lose her though. In a matter of minutes they were inside the school library, getting comfortable around each other when Soobin shared with her the cookies he made by himself.

"Hasn't JYP done anything about that?" Soobin asked, watching her nibble on the chocolate cookie bit by bit.

"He said it isn't that big of an issue," Lia replied softly. It was perhaps the first time he heard this voice from her. The deep voice he hears when he sees her on Youtube shows, talking comfortably with her four girls.

"But since JYP's contract with Dispatch ended, why isn't he going to deal with anything?"

"We never had a contract with them, Soobin. JYP really has the nicest and best-manered idol athletes in the industry. He makes sure of it and kicks out whoever has the potential to ruin that stainless image."

"Like Kim Woojin?"

"Exactly."

"But what happened now?"

"JYP might suck like hell because of his damned narcissism but he treats his 4th generation athletes well. He probably regretted that Rain, Wonder Girls, Miss A and Got7 abandoned him so he's at least learning from his mistakes. He trusts Itzy and Stray Kids very much, and believes that we won't get involved in seriously bad scandals so he's taking it easy on my case. Just that Hyunjin's known to be vulnerable and since they grew more famous, they're getting more malice and smart hate."

"I don't think it's okay to ignore youself and your feelings, Jisu."

"I'm not ignoring myself."

"Saying that sentence makes it show even more."

"What do you want me to do now?"