the pizza girl | p.js

16-an unfriendly encounter

Jisung woke up the next morning with zero motivation. Heeyeon was upset at him and he absolutely dreaded having to see her in math class. Nonetheless, he rolled out of his bed, the weight of his regret causing his shoulders to slump. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and he noticed the bags under his eyes. He didn't sleep much last night because he was rehearsing his apology.

Jisung drove to school, taking a deep breath before entering the school building. He walked all the way to class without seeing Heeyeon in the hallway once. He assumed she was already in the classroom. He entered the classroom and immediately directed his eyes to the back of the room. There she was. She glanced at him for a split second before averting her attention back to the book in her hands.

As he looked away from her and walked to his seat, Heeyeon watched him through her freshly cut bangs. She had let them grow out for a while but she decided to cut them again. She even somehow convinced Jaemin to help her.

Heeyeon stared holes into the back of Jisung's head but when he turned around to shoot her a solemn look, her head dropped faster than the speed of light. She was trying to figure out if she was still mad at him. Ultimately she decided that she wasn't but she would still need time before talking to him.

After class, she waited for him to leave first before getting up. When she walked through the door she was surprised to see a boy standing outside waiting for her. She tried to pretend that she hadn't seen him but she failed. As she was trying to basically run away, the boy reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist preventing her from speeding away. 

"Heeyeon." He said sternly. She turned around to face him, reluctantly. "Anjae told me what happened." Heeyeon dropped her head, staring at her white sneakers. "Even though I'm hurt that you didn't tell me...are you okay?" Chenle asked his best friend. "Yeah, I think I was more hurt by the memories it brought back." 

"So, you're not mad at Jisung?" Heeyeon shook her head. "No, but I'm still disappointed that he didn't trust me. He actually believed that I would cheat on him." She looked up to Chenle with hurt in her eyes. "I think you should cut him some slack. For two reasons, you never told him what happened with Minseo and he was just cheated on in his last relationship. He was just scared." 

"I guess you're right. I can't really hold that against him..." She admitted. What happened wasn't Jisung's fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. The couple had just been victims of their past relationships and they didn't know how to deal with it properly. Heeyeon was just now realizing this. "Wow, Lele, you're actually being very helpful right now." She teased. 

"Hee, admit it, you'd be lost without me. And single." He muttered that last part under his breath and he was thankful that Heeyeon didn't hear him. At least, he thought she didn't hear him. "Chenle, I will make you bleed." She said with a creepy smile. "Okay, I gotta get to class now." He hurriedly ran away from the girl until he was safely in the classroom.

~

After school, Heeyeon was walking to her car but she was met by someone leaning against her door. "Excuse me." She said to the girl that was blocking her car. Heeyeon tried her best to be polite but she was in a hurry because she needed to get to work. The girl just looked at her in disgust which caught Heeyeon off guard. She had seen this girl around school before but she had never even spoken to her. 

"You should be ashamed of yourself." She spat. Heeyeon looked at the girl in pure confusion. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about but I have somewhere to be and you're blocking my car." The girl just scoffed and rolled her eyes. Heeyeon was starting to get annoyed. 

"Oh, you must have a date with your new boyfriend. The one you cheated on Jisung with. Wow, how could you be so shameless?" She condescended. "I hope he's worth losing Jisung." 

Angry, heated, and furious were all understatements to the way Heeyeon was feeling at that moment. She was beyond annoyed and irritated. She absolutely hated it when people involved themselves in situations that had nothing to do with them. In a blinded rage, Heeyeon lifted her hand into the air with the intention of bringing it down onto the girl's face. 

Before she could, a hand grabbed hers from behind. "NingNing, I suggest you get far away from her. Now." A deep voice spoke from behind Heeyeon. "Jisung, I-" She tried to save face. "I don't really care to hear what you have to say and I know that she doesn't either." He said referencing Heeyeon, whose arm he was still holding. 

"NingNing, go now or I'll let her go," Jisung said sternly but he was actually trying to warn the girl. Heeyeon had never stopped trying to bring her hand down. Jisung was almost using all of his strength to stop her. NingNing finally took the hint and walked away. Jisung waited until she was in her own car to let Heeyeon go. Heeyeon didn't say a word. She just turned around to look at him. "Heeyeon..." He began. "I have to get to work." She said quickly. 

She wasn't lying. She did have to get to work and thanks to NingNing, she was going to be late. There was another reason she climbed into her car and drove off so quickly. She hadn't mentally prepared herself for the conversation they needed to have yet. Especially for what she would have to tell him. She would be revisiting the traumatic events of that night and she needed to make sure she was completely ready first. 

Jisung didn't know what to think. When she looked at him, she didn't seem mad. He just figured that she needed time and he was willing to give her that. It was the least he could do. As he sat in his car and pondered on the situation, a sound rang from his phone. He pulled the device from his pocket and looked at the message displayed on his lock screen. 

"We can talk later if you want." Read the message from Heeyeon. "Sure, I'd like that." He smiled to himself as he typed out his response. Then, someone entered his car and occupied the passenger seat. Jisung turned his head to Chenle. "Would you like to tell me why I had to find out what happened between you and Heeyeon from Anjae?" He said with a fake smile plastered across his face.

"I'm sorry, I- uhh..." 

"You're forgiven." He said cutting Jisung off. "I've decided not to be mad at either of you. Now, did I just see you talking to Heeyeon?" Chenle must've missed the whole thing with NingNing. "Not exactly...NingNing had pissed her off and I was trying to stop her from hitting her." Jisung explained. "I should have let her." 

"Chenle, Heeyeon is strong. Like scary strong. It took almost all of my own strength to hold just one arm back." Jisung said in shock. "Well, that's not saying much." He teased. "Why do you think I'm so scared of her? She's so small but she has strength like a grown man." 

"It was better that you did hold her back. She would've made NingNing bleed." Chenle patted the boy on his shoulder. 

~

Heeyeon sent Jisung that message in hopes that she would be ready to talk to him by the end of the day. She didn't necessarily know how to tell if she was ready so she just decided to let it happen. After all, it had been a while and she should have grown from it a lot. At least, that's what she hoped. 

After that unfriendly encounter with NingNing, she couldn't even focus on anything but that. On her break at work, Heeyeon decided to do her math homework to help her calm down. It was something only Jaemin understood about her. The subject that was normally stressful was soothing to Heeyeon. Heeyeon herself says that doing math calms her. 

Fun fact: I actually think math can be soothing. I know it sounds weird but when you fully understand it, it's so easy and can actually be calming.