𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐑 | 𝖫𝖧𝖲

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: restart

not going to lie, the whole woo family consisted of charmers.

woo kyungjun, the school crush in senior year. his eye smile could make a girl's heart melt and his actions were genuine. he'd help students in the hallway or deliver documents to the teachers, even though the paperwork was quite a lot. he signed up for a few clubs where he also became the face of. all in all, an angel in humans' eyes.

woo jieun, the youngest of the woo family. she happened to be very nice, but very shy. it's not like she despised people, she was simply scared to talk to them. she only felt comfortable in her little friend group that consisted of three people. still, jieun loved to accept every challenge the teachers would put her through, simply because she wanted to prove to everyone that she's actually able to do something.

   
and right now, she sat in the school library, headphones on and her folders and everything spread on the table. it was past the time our lessons would occur, meaning the school gates would close soon. i didn't mean to eavesdrop in class, but if i didn't, i wouldn't find her here. who knows, maybe she'd have needed to stay here overnight.

"jieun.", i tapped her shoulder and packed up her things quickly. ji put down her headphones and looked at me: "huh? you're still here?"

"i could be asking you the same thing.", i replied.

"if you were waiting for me, you shouldn't make it your habit." she stood up and grabbed her belongings out of my grip: "but thank you for reaching out to me. i appreciate it."

"we're walking home together.", i said.

"no, we're not."

"why not? we live right next to each other!" jieun just walked out the library and straight outside while i was chasing after her like a dog.

"don't worry about me, just go home already. it's dangerous in the evenings. i just wanted to go grocery shopping.", she tiredly exclaimed as she turned around to me. "can't i join?", i asked with a pout.

"heeseung, we're not even that close anymore. you have your own friend group, i have mine. don't you think it's for the better if we just stop interacting with each other?"

the cold breeze made her hair move a little. i guess the hairstyle from this morning wasn't quite pleasant for her, the hair was down again. to be honest, i didn't prefer her with her hair down, simply because i couldn't see her pretty face properly.

but right now, i was standing opposite to her and let her question sink in.

jieun was so distant with me to the point where it just hurt. sometimes i interpreted it as her shyness, but she's always been bold to me. because we were close friends after all, so she didn't have to be scared of anything.

"ji, i don't understand why you just don't want to talk to me anymore. i know we had difficulties before you left, but are you so distant because... you maybe have feelings left for me?" i was literally scared of dropping that question. would she chop off my head? hit me? yell at me?

"heeseung, what are you even saying?" jieun covered her face with the palm of her hand: "i liked you back in middle school. that was a long time ago, maybe two and a half years ago or so. don't get ahead of yourself."

"but i need answers. you can clearly see how much i want to be close to you again, why are you pushing me away?"

"look, i'm really tired now. i've been studying without any break and my head hurts. can't we talk about it on another occasion? i really just want to head home." what i noticed was her feet, because she already started to bend her knees. jieun looked quite pale, too.

don't tell me she's about to-

i couldn't even finish my thought, she fell on the ground instantly.

"holy shit, jieun?" i gasped and quickly picked her up.

———

"heeseung-ah!"

kyungjun jogged towards me and almost tripped because he was out of breath. "i'm glad you're here.", i greeted him.

"how is she doing? what happened? and why the hell were you with her?" the last question left me in confusion. wasn't i supposed to be?

one of the doctors approached the two of us and pulled the older one away from me, updating him how his sister was doing.

i must say, i was right. jieun was exhausted from studying and especially today, she suffered from dehydration and stress. no wonder her head hurt.

luckily, the janitor heard me when i screamed for help. if it wasn't for him, i wouldn't be in the hospital with jieun now.

kyungjun rejoined me as he patted my shoulder like a proud father: "good job, lee. i might have doubted you, but that wasn't even necessary."

"why are the two of you so weird towards me? i don't understand.", i asked kyungjun in confusion. "did i do something wrong? first, jieun is acting weird and now you're saying you have trust issues when it comes to me."

he on the other side just looked at me with a stern gaze: "listen. if you know jieun like you always claim you do, you'll know she overthinks a lot. she beats herself up mentally for breaking your friendship with her, simply because she was just confessing to you.

i guess she's having a hard time talking to you again due to the fact that she thinks like that. it's awkward for her and it's getting more awkward if you try to abruptly interact with her. maybe... talk to her calmly and explain your point of view instead of that lousy 'should we walk home together?' or 'what are you up to?'. unnecessary questions. you're pretending you two are still as close as back then and it's confusing her. so just... restart."

"restart?", i repeated. something about what he said was true, i suppose.

i treated jieun like someone i used to know, but i never really asked about her well-being ever since she came back. i treated her like someone i had met up with for the past years, but it wasn't the case. of course she'd be confused about my behaviour, why haven't i thought of it?

"are you perhaps here for woo jieun? she woke up around two minutes ago.", the nurse informed us with a smile. kyungjun thanked her as he left me to walk into jieun's room quickly.