ENTHRALL° s.th

004

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SCHOOL
MORNING
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✧──────✦ it was definitely the boy from the alley. she knew what he was silently telling her to do, so she stood up with a sigh and kicked out the chair to the very back of the class.

jaehwa wasn't one to allow herself to be pushed around. so if she was going down, she'd drag them down with her. the bubbling rage could be felt throughout the class, but jaehwa just ignored it and walked around him.

to be honest, her heartbeat was going a million miles per hour at the thought of being targeted on her first day. but she gave him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he wasn't as violent as he looked. her legs securely sat on the chair and she put her head down on the desk.

the dragging of the chair back to the seat was all she needed to calm down a little. another teacher came into the room and told everyone to get their textbooks out. jaehwa knew she didn't have it, but still opened her bag.

"you," the teacher pointed to her. "where's your textbook?"

"i forgot it." she answered truthfully. jaehwa didn't think it was that big of a deal, especially since it was only her first day, but the woman thought differently.

the lady sighed way too dramatically, and smacked her hand on the desk up front. "you're a third year student, you shouldn't forget things like this. how will you survive in the real world?" now jaehwa was getting a little red, not with embarrassment, just pure irritation.

"i just forgot? i'll have it tomorrow." she tried answering again.

"i looked at your grades from your old school and obviously you need the extra help. how does someone even fail all of their courses?" she lectured. "well, at least you have the time to work on them now after you know what."

jaehwa wasn't positive on the law, but she was positive that talking about students' prior school records was not allowed. what a low blow from a woman who looked like her spine was on the verge of disintegrating. and plus, grades were the least of her concerns at the time. she didn't have the heart to do anything while she was wallowing in her own self pity in a dark bedroom.

she stood up and looked the teacher in the eye. "i'll go home and grab it." her school bag now over her arm, she began to walk out.

"no, just stand outside with your hands up as a punishment. but don't do this again or i'll call your parents."

jaehwa pretended to think about it for a moment, "it's okay. i'll go home and grab it."

the boy sitting beside her peeked through his arms at the retreating girl. who would've guessed the girl from the alley would be here?

she walked at a slow pace back to her house because her knee was starting to bother her again. it didn't help that her pain meds were at the house too. as she entered the house, she hoped her grandmother wasn't home.

it didn't seem like it, so jaehwa quickly gathered her textbooks and swallowed a few pills to help with her knee pain.

the door made a quiet clicking noise as it locked back into place. at the intersection, she looked down the street that led to the school, and went in the opposite direction. a little bit of exploration wouldn't hurt anybody.

a few restaurants, a few clothing stores, a little bit of everything. on a pole nearby she saw a flier. taking a closer look, she saw it was an ad for a taekwondo dojang nearby. that immediately put a pause to her good mood.

jaehwa remembered all of her favorite moments at the dojo. now that she thought about it, she hadn't really had any happy memories that didn't revolve around the sport. she had never thought about what would happen if she was forced to stop. and now that she couldn't do the one that made up her entire life anymore, it really tore her to pieces.

even after months and months of physical therapy, she still couldn't go back. just how much longer did she have to wait? jaehwa kept telling herself to keep it together just for a little bit longer, just a little longer and she could go back. she knew it wouldn't happen, but if she kept a positive attitude it might come just sooner.

her feet carried her to a nearly empty arcade, given it was the middle of the school day. she dug in her bag to find a 500 won coin and sat in front of the fighting game. jaehwa thought that if she could do the real thing, she could do the virtual one as well.

ai's were never this good at fake fighting. jaehwa looked through her coin purse and found two more coins. she inserted the coin and fought. the last coin sat on the machine. giving it a quick good luck, she slowly put the last coin in. jaehwa rarely got upset over petty things like this, but not even one win yet seemed like she was allowed to.

LOSER

she slammed her hands against the machine and stomped out. such a stupid machine built for stupid people. stupid people being people that were good at the game. at least she wasn't a loser in real life. in her angry fit, jaehwa didn't even realize that she nearly body checked an upcoming person.

taehoon walked out of the school gates and towards his favorite arcade. he had just gotten a few more 500 won coins from kids around school, and he couldn't just let them sit around and collect dust. as the boy neared the building, a raging girl rushed past him.

he turned around to see the girl from the alley again. with a scratch of his head, his feet took him inside and saw the owner. they weren't on good terms since he had a record of breaking machines, but the man spoke to him. "can you check if your machine is still running well? a girl just left and hit it after she lost."

the owner saw a thumbs up from taehoon saying that it was fine, and sat back down. he stacked up his coins on the machine and propped up his knee to play.