egoistic- lee haechan

1.3

"drop me off here please." narae ordered, finally speaking up after a car ride of complete silence. the world was beginning to finally wake up, and she knew they wouldn't be able to get to school early enough to avoid being spotted together.  she shifted in her seat anxiously, watching haechan drive, one hand placed on the wheel while the other rested outside the window, feeling the breeze as he drove. 

"you're going to have to walk atleast another mile, you know that right?" he let out a small laugh, lazily glancing over at her. "are you sure?" 

"one-hundred percent. pull over there."

haechan complied, seeing as there was no reason not to. he didn't want to get pestered by anyone for being near narae- he wasn't even prepared for the questions renjun was going to ask.  the car came to a slow stop right next to the sidewalk. haechan switched the car into park, watching as the girl got out without saying anything, only grabbing her bag and leaving. 

"narae!"

she rolled her eyes, turning around and standing still. "what? im not getting back in."

"i don't care. im sorry for pushing you today."

"its fine."

"hey- come back, i wasn't finished! ask mark out to the cafe sometime this week, come up with some stupid excuse like you don't like being alone. pretend you found it, only renjun knows we went. and order something with watermelon! he loves it. text me and i'll help you get ready, okay?"

narae let out a real smile. he was actually being helpful. "thank you... drive safe, haechan."

---

just as planned the girl had quickly made it to school, heading to her classes right away instead of lingering in the student council room as she usually would. sure, she'd probably need to stay after school again to do work, but it was better than renjun bugging her to spill details about what happened. oddly enough, she kind of liked hanging out with haechan today. he was more manageable when he wasn't trying to impress girls, she'd decided. 

she also still hadn't figured out when or how to invite mark out. haechan made it sound so easy but when it came to it, she felt her palms getting sweaty and a blush spreading across her face when she just as much thought of asking him. she was also faced with the problem of figuring out how to set sooyun and haechan up. sooyun already thought he was attractive, most people did, but did she like his personality? not really- and narae couldn't think of many ways to make her think otherwise if she felt the exact same way. 

it wasn't fair that after all the thought haechan put in, she had nothing to give in return. there was no friend she could really ask for help either- they were all protective in some form over sooyun. for once, there was nobody that would drop everything to help her, and the idea of that made her feel like this was even more morally wrong than she had originally thought. what a friend narae was. 

this was stressing her out, and despite the lunch bell already ringing, the girl decided to find a spot to hide away from everyone else. 

narae had always had one spot at school that made her feel disconnected from the rest of the world, away from all the stress and problems of life. she most often came up here when she needed clarity, breathing in the fresh air and laying her hands over the edge of the cold metal rails. sometimes all someone ever needs is a break from everyone else, to get rid of all the junk and worries filling their mind.

the rooftop was only accessible to clubs who worked with the school, although a handful of students still forced their way through the locked doors for smoke breaks. the amount of paperwork it caused had been such a nuisance that student council had all agreed to let the smokers off with a warning. narae let out a smile as she thought of all those meetings, how despite how stressed she was all her friends made an effort to keep her happy.

for a brief moment, she considered telling renjun. he was always so caring. or maybe jisung. sometimes he wasn't the best help, but he meant well. she just needed someone to talk to. she didn't want to be friends with haechan. not after hating him for so long. but it was the only option she had, wasn't it? if mark became her boyfriend she would have to be nice to his best friend. only if haechan continued to help her as he did earlier. 

he wasn't all that bad, yet every moment she took time to consider that, more memories of him being cruel popped up. this wasn't a one sided hatred. he wasn't innocent either. but atleast now he was better, and that counted as something. 

narae glanced down at her phone. it was getting late. her next class would be starting soon. she'd been out there for a long time, but it had worked. 

things were going to be okay.