never | h.rj

12.

The first person Renjun saw this morning was the second to last person he wanted to, Eunbin. Once again, the couple was on the rooftop. Eunbin's paranoia of getting caught was both, aggravating Renjun and making his Friday mornings very inconvenient. Waking up extra early on the last day of the week to meet his girlfriend on the rooftop should feel exciting but it was more of a nuisance.

"Let's get this over with," he huffed, digging his hand into his bookbag.

"Wait, not yet. Let's just enjoy the morning breeze for a little bit. We still have some time before school starts." Eunbin said, walking over to the edge to look over the student parking lot.

Renjun quietly followed her, they watched all of the cars slowly pull in. One car, in particular, caught the attention of both of them. Eunbin dramatically groaned and rolled her eyes, while Renjun just watched as Mina climbed out of her black Toyota.

The expression on her face was the farthest thing from a joyous smile.

Renjun's curiosity was interrupted when he heard the girl next to him call his name. She seemed sort of irritated but he didn't care enough to ask why.

"School's starting soon," is all she said. Renjun grabbed the stack of papers from his bag and handed them to her before turning to walk back into the building.

"Excuse me? Aren't you going to walk me to class?"

The boy stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the girl. The expression on his face read, "you better hurry up", so that's what she did. She shoved the papers in her bookbag, nearly wrinkling them, and hurried to his side.

One of Renjun's hands was tucked into his pocket and the other was clutching the strap of his back. Eunbin linked her arm around his and they made their way into the building.

~

Mina angrily slammed her locker shut before marching down the hallway to her class, resulting in a loud sound resonating through the hallway. Renjun silently thanked God that he had to walk Eunbin to class as he approached his locker. The last time Mina was in a mood like this, he ended up in the nurse's office.

The boy peeked around the corner to see his enemy walking at an extremely quick pace. From his view of her back, he saw her bring her sleeve close to her face and wipe. Renjun assumed she was just wiping something off of her face but he dismissed the possibility of that something being a tear.

The last thing he saw was Mina miss her classroom and quickly run into the girl's bathroom. After that, Renjun returned to his own business and finished gathering his things for class. He began walking down the same hallway towards his class then he saw Mina come out of the bathroom.

The girl looked at him briefly before her eyes shot to the floor. However, that brief glance was enough to let Renjun see everything he needed to. Her puffy eyes, the tear spots on her blazer, and the slight redness of her nose were all dead giveaways.

His suspicions from earlier that he dismissed ended up being confirmed. He chose to display some compassion by asking if she was okay. He ended up regretting that when she sassily snapped at him, claiming that she was fine. With the way her voice hitched, Renjun knew better than to believe the blatant lie she just told but he also didn't care enough to try to pry it out of her.

"I know you're lying, it's pretty obvious that you've been crying," Renjun told the girl. "You might want to go check in the mirror unless you want to receive that question a lot more today," he advised.

Mina took the advice, whispering a "thanks" to him. She walked back into the bathroom to see how much of a wreck she looked like. As she rinsed her face with cold water, the thought of the truce she made with Renjun crossed her mind. She was starting to believe that it was one of her best decisions.

This small encounter reminded Mina of how good they were as friends. She felt a small pain in her heart but she knew better than to cry over spilled milk. Whatever happened between them happened and she knew it was highly unlikely that they would ever get back to the way they once were.

She just had to find peace with that.

After Mina finished erasing any evidence of her crying, she grabbed the crinkled paper towels next to the sink and placed them in the trash can on her way out.

When she reached the door, the vibration of the device in the pocket of her blazer stole her attention.

She viewed the screen to see a message that made her want to run back into the bathroom and have another sob session.

It was a message from her father and it was far from a warm, encouraging message. The message in itself was actually quite unnecessary.

"You need to get your head on straight, young lady."

Mina audibly scoffed. That was really rich coming from the man that just lashed out on his seventeen-year-old daughter earlier this morning because he was stressed.

Mina completely shut her phone off and finally made her way to class.

~

"Mina! Focus!!" Coach Nayeon shouted. She was surprised by the girl's drastic change in performance. It was as if she was on another planet completely.

She watched as Mina missed a pass that came straight at her. She had it when she saw Mina let the ball miss the floor instead of diving for the save.

With a loud blow of her whistle, Coach Nayeon successfully grabbed the attention of the team.

"Good work out there ladies," she smiled at the group. "I want you guys to work on serving and passing drills for the remainder of practice," she said glancing at her watch.

As the girls dispersed to go hone their skills, Coach called Mina back.

"What's happening? You're normally my star player but today it's like you don't care."

Mina nodded her head. "Yes, Coach, I'm sorry. I've just been having a bad day."

"What if you have a bad day on game day? Are you going to let that cost us a win?"

"No, ma'am."

"Don't let me down, Mina," she said sternly.

"I won't," Mina said, feigning enthusiasm.

That "pep talk" just gave her even more to think about, causing her to be more distracted. She knew Coach was right but she also knew she didn't have full control over the events that transpire in her life.

Her mind was racing with so many emotions, feelings, and thoughts she didn't even think to look before pulling out of the parking lot, onto the main road.

Hi, I know it's been a while but don't worry there are definitely more updates to come this week!

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