"do you remember me?"
- LEE HEESEUNG AU, in which woo jieun and lee heeseung went from childhood friends to strangers.
somehow fate brought them together again, but what is happening between them?
STARTED: june 6, 2022
ENDED: july 13, 2022
31/07/22:...
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it turns out kyungjun actually went to jay's party for a good hour before leaving with jake, only to go to his friend's house afterwards and drink until he was completely wasted.
even today, on a monday morning, he complained about his hangover, even though he laid in bed yesterday.
"jieun, let's drive to school!", kyungjun yelled. as always, dad left early in the morning, while mom has already prepared breakfast for us... before leaving too.
"can't. i'm taking a ride with someone else.", i mumbled before shoving a spoon full of cornflakes into my mouth. "with whom? the guy from saturday?"
just when i was about to answer, the doorbell rang. it couldn't be jake because he'd always barge in as if it was his own home. "don't even-", i started, but kyungjun already had that cheesy smile and ran to the front door.
"oh? heeseung!"
"good morning, is jieun still here?" kyungjun pretended to look around, but he was just waiting for my response. i immediately formed an 'X' with my arms.
"uhh, she said she needed to leave early. what's the matter?"
"right, okay. maybe you could help." i heard him inhale sharply: "are jake and jieun dating?"
my brother couldn't hold in his laughter and started to wheeze like maniac: "my best friend and my sister? are you okay? are you feeling sick?"
"no, but... i saw him confessing to her last week. just wondering. maybe they aren't? because she came to the party with jungwon last time."
"listen, heeseung. i don't know about jungwon and her, but jieun rejected jake. she was so frustrated that she ruffled her hair all the way home after it happened. guess she's not okay with the fact how awkward the friendship has become, she looked horrible. maybe you know that feeling, heh. it wasn't the first time for her after all."
mentally, i was already beating him up. why would he even tell him that?
jungwon, 7:03 i'm waiting outside! even though your entrance is open. everything okay?
honestly, i didn't even waste a single second before grabbing my bag and rushing to the entrance.
"i'm so sorry, i gotta go. see you around!" i pecked my brother on the cheek real quick and almost ran to jungwon's car. why was i even rushing so badly? it's not like i was happy about going to school.
maybe it was because i wanted to avoid heeseung for a while. plus, he shouldn't recognise the hatchback, which obviously was jungwon's.
"good morning!", i yelled out of breath. my classmate just chuckled: "what's the matter with you? did you run away from a tiger?" "no, i ran away from heeseung like a coward. i didn't know he was planning to stop by my house today."
"well, i guess we should get to school quickly then.", he smiled.
———
"what was... that?"
kyungjun watched as the car jieun just entered drove away in an impressive speed. i was confused, too. when jieun didn't accept jake's confession, then she must be single after all. i really thought i'd have a chance, but now it seemed like she despised me and wanted to run away... again.
i didn't like her coping with problems, my heart ached because she was always avoiding me. did she hate me that much? i thought we were on good terms?
"heeseung-ah.", kyungjun cleared his throat, "if you want to... you can get to school with me and jake. car sharing saves lots of gas... i suppose."
"w-well, if that's okay with both of you, i'd like to.", i stuttered.
"GOOD MORNING, MY DEAR FRIENDS!", jake screamed and ran across the streets. "heeseung! long time no see!"
did we ever talk though? i don't remember.
jake looked quite happy, even though he was rejected a few days ago. but what was i expecting? him locked up in his house, bawling his eyes out while eating ice cream? cliché.
in the end, we actually went to school together. the two of them even accompanied me to my class, perhaps they wanted to check on jieun. i refused, they would invade her privacy after all.
and once i opened that door, i was even more confused.
it seemed like kazuha and sunghoon were avoiding each other, even though they got along so well last saturday. shuhua now sat on jieun's seat, asking her friend what was going on.
talking about jieun; she sat next to jungwon, two seats away from me. since when are they so close? they were talking, giggling and exchanging news with each other, which made my blood boil right away. it should have been me who did all those things with her, not jungwon.
"good morning, heeseung hyung.", riki brought me back to reality as he patted my back not so lightly. "take a seat, you look like a ghost. don't faint in my presence."
i just nodded and quietly got to my seat as i eavesdropped on their conversation.
"please don't tell me you like mint choco."
"ew, who are you taking me for? my favourite flavour is... strawberry."
"lame.", jungwon commented playfully. "what did you say?", jieun raised her voice and was about to hit him. childish. but that was the kind of friendship i was aiming for.
a sigh escaped my lips before i turned around to jay. "jongseong."
"huh?" he put down his pen.
"should we go out tonight?"
"go out? why? it's monday, i was planning to work out after school."
"but i crave soju."
"you don't remember the last time i gave you soju, right? which was actually last saturday." my eyebrows furrowed. "no? i don't remember you giving me any alcohol."
jay exhaled sharply: "you horny dude grinded on min hyejoo from senior class as if there was no tomorrow. what were you even thinking? she's graduating this year anyway, you wouldn't even have a chance."
"i did what?", i yelled. the classroom went silent and looked at me in confusion. "sorry.", i mumbled and sat down again. "jay, why didn't you tell me?"
"i thought you'd remember. because i don't think you drank that much."
"my alcohol tolerance is at literally 0, jay. one soju and i'm gone!", i exclaimed. was that the reason why jieun wanted to avoid me today? ha, good terms. jokes on me.
"you're not the only one who messed up. kazuha and sunghoon might got closer, but i guess something happened and now they don't even want to talk to each other.", sunoo joined the conversation with a mischievous smile.
"shut up. she confessed she has a boyfriend back in japan." sunghoon hid his face in embarrassment as he recalled the few moments from saturday.
i shrugged and let out a sigh: "what about jungwon? since when is he friends with ji?"
the other boys were confused too. never have they ever seen the two of them being together, laughing and giggling like fools.
