afterglow ‣ s.jy

012

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JAKE

Jake clutched his bag as he got off the bus with one of his AirPods shoved into his left ear.

As expected, his mother didn't take the news of her son using the sports car without her permission lightly. For half an hour he stood in the living room across from his mother, who yelled the same words over and over again until they were carved into his memory. In the end, they delayed buying him a new car, leaving him with no choice but to rely on public transportation to go to school.

Not that it was a problem for Jake, he was far from reliant on a car, and in addition, he knew it was good for his health to expose his body to the sun. He followed the students who walked with their friends to the gate, his eyes gazing anywhere it could while savoring the warm rays of the sun as the breeze blew his hair softly. Half a smile crept to his face as he was reminded that the holidays were right around the corner.

Quietly making his way to the entrance of the school, Jake sees Siyeon standing there in the middle while people walked past her, minding their businesses as per usual. His eyes squinted, attempting to see clearly why she was standing there only to realize that she was staring directly at him. The distance between them was too far for him to discern how she looked at him, and quite frankly, he was not close to decreasing the space separating them because he had unconsciously stopped. Shaking his head, he pulled himself away from his thoughts before it tugs him deeper into them.

Jake began walking closer to her and to his surprise, Siyeon remained where she was as though she was waiting for him to catch up to her. In his head, he was convincing himself that it wasn't the case. That the person she was waiting for was just behind him. Yet he knew her gaze was fixated on him, following him while he slowly closed the distance between them until he was standing in front of her, fighting every urge in himself to give her a greeting smile.

Fortunately, she made it easy by not doing it herself.

"Why are you standing here?" Jake didn't wait for a second to ask her.

Siyeon shrugged. "I just wanted to check if it was you walking. Where's your car?" She asked, spinning on her heels and instinctively he followed her when she began walking.

"It's broken. Did you wait for me just because of that?" He couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his face while he glanced at her. During that process, he realized she was now standing next to him while they were walking side by side.

Siyeon rolled her eyes, pushing him farther from her. He laughed softly before walking back next to her, only this time it was much closer compared to before she pushed him away. Looking in her direction, he raised his eyebrow upon seeing that her head was turned opposite from him, rendering him unable to see her face. It was a surprise that two individuals who used to keep their distance from each other as if both fostered fatal contagious diseases now were standing at an extent where their arms were nearly touching; and the funny thing was, neither of them had realized it yet.

Whenever their arms would graze, like a magnet that repelled each other, one of them would withdraw their own. Jake had to pull his arm away from her as her touch was electrifying, as though a spark would ignite during the slight contact which always prompts him to shudder in an instant.

Despite their silence, the walk seemed short and upon arriving at the classroom, he hated himself when he realized the presence of disappointment building up on his chest, which much to his dismay, only disappeared by the gentle reminder that she sat next to him. Placing his bag on the floor, he put his head down on the table with both his arms serving as cushions.