a siren's tail | l.jy

eleven

waking up in the morning was the bane of every student's existence. however, something changed for adelaide. she grew more excited about going to campus than she ever had in the past. she'd be lying if she didn't say that she was ecstatic about seeing juyeon. it had been a couple of weeks since their last encounter. on the contrary, she found him hard to read. like a book that refused to be opened.

she grabbed her usual bowl of cereal, downing it. she didn't want to keep her friends waiting outside for any longer than they already have.

"why did they have to close this lane of the road?" sunwoo was visibly annoyed, "now it's going to take even longer to get to the campus. stupid potholes." for a change, the group thought it would be best to drive to the campus rather than walking. sunwoo had been the group's designated driver since chanhee had an ungodly amount of road rage. but sunwoo being the driver meant he had control of the aux cord. this meant rich brian songs being on loop for the majority of the drive. occasionally there would be a few songs from outside of rich brian's discography though.

"i don't think juyeon likes me much," adelaide accidentally said out loud while stepping out of the vehicle.

"what makes you say that?" chanhee wondered.

"ever since what happened in the library, he's been cold towards me. he claims that i was seeing things and that i've got it all wrong. do you guys think i'm crazy—actually, don't answer that—i don't think i'm crazy. i know what i saw that day. my eyes weren't fucking with me," she remembered the encounter quite fondly.

"probably just had a bad day," changmin had always given people the benefit of the doubt. it was one of his strengths at times and one of his weaknesses at others.

"then i guess everyday is a bad day to him," adelaide mumbled.

"wait a minute...rewind," kevin's eyes grew bigger, "so you've talked to him before?"

"only a couple of times but each time led to the same outcome..."

"which is?" mirae inquired.

"small talk leads to him disappearing on me annoyed," she sighed, "he's so...confusing. i could usually get a good read on everyone. but him, i can't."

"sounds like he's the human version of fort knox then," sunwoo joked only to get punched in the arm by mirae.

"sun! don't be mean!" she frowned.

"what?" he whined, "it's not mean if it's the truth."

"well, if it's bothering you then why don't you just confront him about it, minseo? that way you can get things addressed and all that pent up tension could go away, hopefully. i'm sure he'd be willing to talk if you play your cards right and find the right approach. and as for you," she shifted her focus for a brief second, "you make him sound like a monster when i'd bet he's from that, sunwoo," mirae said, turning to sunwoo at the very end of her spiel. she was right. the only way to squash whatever issue they had between them was to confront it head-on.

she hoped to keep that same ambition later on in the day.

‧ ᖭི༏ᖫྀ ‧

as per usual, there was a mutual silence as the both of them took their respective seats. juyeon kept his eyes glued to his textbooks and the notes he had been taking. his notes were freakishly organized. not to mention his handwriting and spacing as well. it was as if he were an expert on the subject. perhaps he himself could teach their biology class if he really wanted to. there were terms within his notes that she couldn't recognize in general.

she shifted her focus towards the powerpoint presentation their teacher had been sharing with them in hopes of ignoring his presence. it was an impossible task for her to execute. excruciatingly difficult. and when the bell rang, she gathered her things, back turned to the other, expecting him to be one of the first to leave the room as he usually was. but he wasn't. he stayed where he was.

"hey—um—chae?" he asked with an uncertainty in his voice.

she turned around slowly, not wanting to look at him directly in the eyes. she gave him a wary expression but his was unreadable. but what did she expect out of him?

"yeah?" she responded carefully, "so you've gotten a change of heart now? you're talking to me again?"

"no...not exactly. don't set your goals too high with me," he said flatly, keeping a straight face.

it wasn't foreign for adelaide to feel herself getting irritated by juyeon's cold-hearted aura. she hadn't realized that she was gritting her teeth up until after he spoke. he had been waiting for a response.

"you know what—what's your deal? what do you want from me, juyeon? i don't understand you at all quite frankly."

"look—i'm sorry," he seemed to be sincere in his apology, "i know i'm being a bit of an ass. i'm well aware of it. but things are better off this way."

adelaide gave the boy a confused expression.

"i'm not following with what you're saying..." she kept her guard up while speaking to him.

"what i'm saying is that it's best if we weren't friends or even on the roadway to being friends. trust me. it's for your own good," she tried to sense any traces of amusement in his face but there were none. he was being serious.

her eyes narrowed towards him. she wasn't a stranger to those words.

"you know, if you regretted saving me in the library you could've just said so," she spat, "you could've just left me to get crushed by those books. wouldn't that have made your life easier? then i wouldn't be much of a burden to you, right? is that what you want to hear so badly?"

he was caught off-guard by the sudden change of tone in her voice. let alone the animosity her words carried. "...regret?"

"i know deep down inside that you do."

he hadn't spoken immediately. he was in disbelief with the conversation they had been having.

"you think i regretted saving you? is that what you think of me?" the anger resonating in his voice wasn't hard to miss, "you don't know me or anything about me. you don't know anything. so stop pretending you do just to fit the narrative you've came up with inside your head."

he grabbed his things and left the room without another word. adelaide let out a heavy sigh, waiting until he was completely gone before doing the same.