𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 ☇ Park Sunghoon

☾ 11

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People cry, not because they are too weak. It's because they have been strong for too long
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Ji-eun's pov

I slowly turned around by the sudden sound of trampling footsteps radiating on the floor, my eyes trailing on a kid falling forward in my direction, suddenly colliding with me.

The very little air in me was knocked out as I felt my body fall but alarmingly, two hands launched forward, gripping my hips and behind my neck, pulling me forward. Out of natural instinct, my eyes were tightly shut, my senses coming back to me in a sudden rush.

"Sunghoon?" My tone was laced with confusion as I slowly fluttered my eyes open. I squinted my eyes at the boy in front of me, his body closing in the distance between us as we were both left in a trace, staring awkwardly at each other.

"Oh..", he exhaled in a low huff, pulling his hands away from latching onto me protectively. He rubbed the back of his neck, slumping his head down to evade eye contact with me.

"I-"

"Are you hurt?" He whispered out abruptly, reverting his eyes up at me, scanning my body for any signs of injury. I shook my head, looking down at myself for clarity.

"I'm fine- you should be more careful next time." I replied, concerned, giving him a soft smile to ease the underlying awkward tension.

"It's those guys-" he turned around, his back now facing me as he looked down the empty corridor, retracting his hands to his face, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Nevermind." He exhaled deeply, drawing closer to me with a softened expression hinting on his face.

"Are you going back to class?" Sunghoon walked alongside me, closing the gap between us. I bit my bottom lip, recalling our recent interaction yesterday at the rink, feeling my cheeks heat up just by thinking about it.

"Yeah."
"Hey, about the thing our teacher said- I don't need it you know." I remained still, fiddling with my fingers habitually as I awaited for a response from him.

"What?"

"The tutoring...errr extra classes for you to help me, you know?" I pressed my lips together until the were merely just a thin line, despising myself for sounding so awkward.

"Oh that? There's no going back on it now. You've missed a lot of work so I suggest you retrieve those quickly and seeing how I'm the smartest in class." He paused, of course he was basically boasting about himself.

"You should really accept my help. I don't think you'd want to fail finals AND that tournament now, would you?"

I scoffed at how self conscious he was, lightly pushing him away as we walked down the corridor heading to class.

To be honest, maybe he isn't that bad after all.

-

"Hey! Where have you been? Why did you just disappear like that??" I pinched Sana's cheek gently, ceasing her attention away from Sunoo who rolled his eyes at me for taking away his girl from him.

"Uh...nowhere?" She said with a hefty smile, lies seeping through her teeth. She earned a raised brow from me as I looked at her suspiciously, tracing circles on the sill of the window as we stood by it behind the class.

"Yeah right. We have Mr James English class next and he wants us to pair up so you're sticking with me, okay?"

"Sorry but Sunoo already-"

"What?? So who am I going to pair up with??" I said lazily, scanning the entire classroom of students but not seeing a single valid partner.

"I don't know. Maybe the person next to you?" Sana said unconvincingly, flipping his hair behind her shoulder.

"You know, I should be hating you for leaving me like that but you're too cute."

A smile appeared on her face, grinning evilly as she observed me.

"I know I am."

"I swear everyone in this class is full of themselves-" I huffed out, resting a hand on my hips as I leaned on the pillar, looking ahead at the bustling class.

"I can't pair up with the person next to me can't you see Jake's with Jay already." I let out a sigh, squinting my eyes at how the two boys who I just mentioned were playfully hitting Sunghoon while grinning at him. He kept shaking his head, denying whatever they were talking about. Jake and Jay were also glancing at me weirdly but I couldn't figure out why.

"What about Sunghoon? He doesn't have a partner."

"No."

"What? Why-?"

"No."

"But-"

"Never."

-

I sighed heavily, scrunching my nose while I played with the chimmy keyring that was attached to my purse, wondering how I ended up next to Sunghoon.

He was facing straight ahead, listening to the teacher as he spoke English which I could barely understand a single word.

"H-how....ould are...youh." I tried repeating what the teacher said but failed miserable which made me earn a teasing chuckle from Sunghoon.

"The c-chace to be l-uved...ah I can't do it." I slammed my hands down on the desk out of frustration, the feeling of incompetence gushing through me as I failed.

I heard shifting from Sunghoon's side, making my head turn his way, now looking at the boy who was laughing at me struggle.

"My English isn't that good but I think it's this."

"The chance to love and be loved exists no matter where or who you are." He said it so fluently in English it took me by surprise.

"That was awesome!" I hummed, even though I didn't understand what the sentence meant. He sighed, sliding his tongue over his bottom lip, turning to face me.

"The chance to love and be loved exists no matter where or who you are." He repeated the sentence once again but in Korean.

I was left in quite of a daze as I heard how the word fell blissfully from his lips. Oddly, my inside was heating up and I had a tingly feeling in my stomach. Our eyes were locked, entranced in a somewhat calm state as we both took in each other.

His knees were lightly brushing against mine and his gentle stare piercing into me as we were caught up in the moment.

"Miss Yang and Mr. Park? Would you like us to give you some privacy?" The teacher snapped, our heads now turned in the direction of the board, feeling a bit embarrassed. We both muttered sorry before continuing the lesson.

-

When the bell rang that signalled class was over, I jolted from my seat, gripping my backpack strap in my hand, headed to the door when I felt a sudden force weigh me down from behind, holding me back.

I turned around, brushing my hair away from my eyes as I looked up at Sunghoon.

"Yes....?" I said incoherently, slightly raising a brow at him.

"Tutoring." He mouthed. My heart sunk into my stomach as I watched the boy behind me grin cheekily.

Just then Sana, Sunoo, Jake and Jay were about to leave class when I snatched the four of them, taking them by surprise, pulling them beside us.

"Study group." I smiled, happy at the thought of coming up with such a good interjection for being alone with him.

"What?" The four of them exclaimed but I still managed to drag them along with us.

He knew I couldn't decline because of my damaged skates, meaning I had no excuse to make up about having to practice and we hadn't much homework so I was only left with agreeing. Tsk tsk, smart boy.

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