09 | CHAPTER NINE — SWEET ❝ i'll be right here the whole time ❞
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THE TENSION in the room hung heavy. Usually Yu-ri would enjoy the silence but this time, it made her particularly uncomfortable. Silence left too much room for thinking and Yu-ri's thoughts in that moment weren't the most pleasant.
Luckily for her, a few kids spoke up about how desperately they needed to use the restroom and it sparked conversation throughout the whole group.
With the help of On-jo's survival skills that she acquired from her father, they were able to come up with a solution in which they build their own toilet in the recording room.
Yu-ri was in charge of making the actual toilet with Cheong-san. They stood at the table, putting items in a basket. Yu-ri muttered not a single word the entire time, leading Cheong-san to take worried glances at her.
"What?" She mumbled. "You're staring at me."
Cheong-san looked back down at the basket in front of them. "So," He hesitated. "You and Su-hyeok?"
Yu-ri almost scoffed. "What about me and Su-hyeok?" She kept her voice low so no one else would hear their conversation and go tattling to the boy that they were talking about him.
"You seem okay now." Cheong-san nodded even though he himself sounded unsure about what he was saying.
Yu-ri shrugged, pretending to be clueless. "Why do you say that?" Cheong-san let out a small chuckle and Yu-ri turned her head. "Hey, what's funny?"
"Yu-ri, the two of you were literally hugging on the floor."
"That doesn't mean anything," Yu-ri responded defensively. "He was just comforting me. He was just being nice."
"And you let him." Cheong-san pressed his hand firmly on the table as if it would help emphasize his point. "That's like a first."
Yu-ri pursed her lips together, struggling to figure out what to say. "And the last." Cheong-san couldn't help but roll his eyes. "It was a mistake. I let my guard down and it's not gonna happen again."
Yu-ri was aware her words were a little dramatic and a bit childish but the situation, that to others seemed like nothing, meant so much more to Yu-ri.
She spent so many years of her life despising Su-hyeok, promising herself that she'd never fold for anything he did or said. She always believed he wasn't worthy of her forgiveness.
Yet when she sat in his arms earlier, she faced a moment of nostalgia to when the pair were younger; when they'd sneak out at night to go to the park and talk on the swings for hours; when they'd sit in the school garden during lunch and Yu-ri would read Su-hyeok her favorite poems from the poetry book he gifted her; when it was Yu-ri's thirteenth birthday and the only person to show up to her party was Su-hyeok but she was okay with it because he assured her they'd always have each other.
