𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 & 𝐳𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 | All of Us Are Dead

one

TUESDAY 19/10/2021, 4:42 pm
[one day before the outbreak.]

Na-Bi sighed as she took out her phone for the fourth time within one minute, checking if Hyeon-Ju had seen her texts yet. The Oh girl was standing in the school courtyard, leaning against the staircase's bannister, waiting for her friend to show up. Hyeon-Ju had been assigned to clean the science lab while Na-Bi had scrubbed the hallway windows, so they had agreed to meet outside once they were done with their work. But Na-Bi had finished fifteen minutes ago and Hyeon-Ju was still nowhere in sight.

Taking another drag of her cigarette, she put the phone back into her pocket. Since it seemed like Hyeon-Ju would be a while, Na-Bi decided to people-watch.

She halted her movements when she heard a familiar voice speak her name. Only it wasn't to address her directly, they weren't talking to her but about her. The girl watched Gyeong-Su and Cheong-San make their way down the stairs. Her body was entirely still, not moving an inch (as if that could make her invisible to the two boys), and she strained her ears to listen in on their conversation.

"I know you guys used to be friends and all, but she's such a heartless bitch," Gyeong-Su whined, probably referring to the incident earlier that day in PE where Na-Bi had hit the Han boy straight in the face during dodgeball. And even though it had technically been an accident, Na-Bi hadn't apologised (due to the fact that it had made Hyeon-Ju laugh), resulting in Han Gyeong-Su disliking her even more.

"She's not heartless," Cheong-San defended. "She's actually a really nice person-"

"Not to me."

"Yeah, because you're a prick." Cheong-San let out a laugh, taking his friend in a headlock, both of them chuckling as they stumbled down the stairs.

Their laughter came to an abrupt halt though, when they spotted Na-Bi glaring at them. Realising that she had most likely heard what they had said - their conversation hadn't exactly been quiet- they straightened themselves up. And while Gyeong-Su avoided all eye contact, Cheong-San kept stealing nervous glances at her.

Na-Bi peered after them, only averting her gaze once they were a couple of paces away from her. Flicking her unfinished cigarette to the ground, she sighed in defeat and made her own way towards the gate.

--

"And I want green balloons, not blue ones like last year, and- oh, oh, can we get a clown?" Ji-Soo jumped up and down, tugging on Na-Bi's sleeve. "Kang Min-Ho got a clown for his birthday- or a magician! Can we get a magician, please?"

Na-Bi smiled at her little brother's antics. As soon as she had picked him up from school, Oji had not stopped talking about his upcoming birthday, saying that it was his most special one yet since he would be entering the two-digit age. Na-Bi didn't have the heart to tell him that they barely had the money to pay rent this month, let alone hire an entertainer for his birthday.

She watched skip ahead of her towards the elevator of their apartment complex, rambling on about whether they should bake a cake or get the Minion one they had seen at the store earlier.

When Na-Bi arrived, Ji-Soo was seated on the elevator floor, waiting patiently for her. She pressed the button for the third floor, turning to her brother.

"Have you made your invitations y-"

"Yah!" They looked up when someone suddenly screamed. "Wait!"

Na-Bi's eyes widened comically, seeing Lee Cheong-San run towards them, calling out for them to hold the elevator. The girl reacted quickly, repeatedly pressing the 'close doors' button, nervously glancing back at the approaching boy.

"Aishh, shibal." She cursed the person who built this elevator; Cheong-San had made it inside a second before the doors closed.

The Lee boy panted heavily, leaning his weight against the wall. "Hi."

Na-Bi's plan to simply ignore him was ruined by none other than her little brother, who - now that he was given the chance - started to tell Cheong-san all about his birthday preparations and, to Na-Bi's absolute horror, invited him.

What was even worse was that Cheong-San accepted, saying he would come gladly and promising that he would have the best gift of all.

The girl scoffed at that; no one could beat the 3000 piece Star Wars lego set she had bought for Oji. Unfortunately, Cheong-San's attention was now on her, looking at her with those kind brown eyes that she hated. (Or at least she tried to.)

Just as she opened her mouth, the elevator doors slid open, making her let out a sigh of relief. Quickly, she grabbed Oji's hand and dragged him to their apartment.

Unlocking the door, Na-Bi hesitated to go inside. She turned her gaze down the corridor, watching Cheong-San walk to his own apartment. And before she could stop herself, she had called out his name.

Now he was looking at her with those doe eyes, and Na-Bi's stupid heart started pounding in her chest.

Not knowing what she had actually planned on saying to him, she crammed her mind for anything to say.

"Tell your mom to stop calling me, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, she ushered Oji inside the apartment, rushing after him and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Well, that was uncomfortable to watch," Oji mumbled, earning him a slap on the back of the head from his sister.

a/n:
welp- that took about a month...
I don't even have an excuse I was just procrastinating like really hard. Anyway a big thank you to the people who have waited patiently for my lazy ass to update this book and I really hope this isn't a disappointment.
also this and the next chapter was originally one but I decided to split it cause it kind of made more
sense to me idk

word count: 1023
( not proofread )