sola
😎📖💚🥞🌞🐙
I have never felt so uncomfortable in my own house before.
All the rooms and doorways look too small for Hyunjae's height. It's so unnatural having a boy other than Sunwoo here.
"Woah." I hear his voice from the other room. I've been standing in the front room for this whole time trying to calm myself down.
I regretfully shuffle into the living room to see what he's looking at. He's holding a rock from my moms collection that was on the bookshelf.
I lean on the door frame and I say, "that's my mom's."
"Oh. Sorry. Am I allowed to touch it?" He asks, and for some reason that question puts me a bit at ease. He seems almost... polite.
"Y-yeah. She wouldn't mind." I say. "Actually I think she'd thank you. I'm never interested in her stories about her souvenirs and things."
"It looks like obsidian." Hyunjae inspects it. "That would mean it's from a volcano."
"I'm pretty sure she got that in New Zealand." I answer.
"She travels a lot?" He asks.
"Yeah, with my dad. They travel too much though. I don't even know where they are now, I already forgot because they're in and out of the house to pack, and catch the next flight." I say.
"Sounds kind of lonely." Hyunjae says, and I turn on a few lights so it looks less depressing.
"It is." I admit quietly, and then I shut my mouth.
Why is he talking to me like we're close?
"At least they bring back cool souvenirs right? I've never traveled anywhere." Hyunjae says.
"Yeah. All I want is for them to stay home for more than a few days. Just to have dinner with someone." I say, staring at the kitchen table lost in my own thoughts. "But then again they had me when they were so young. They sacrificed their youth for me so it's only fair that they live it now, I guess."
When I'm answered with silence I look at Hyunjae, who's staring at me with thought.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said all that." I say.
And why am I talking to him like i trust him?
"It's okay," Hyunjae answers in such a casual tone it makes me question whether he was actually listening or not. Or maybe he's trying to keep the mood light. "I hope your parents come back soon."
"Thanks." I clear my throat.
"Now that you've said that I feel like it's only fair for me to share a secret." Hyunjae puts the rock down.
I straighten my back with interest.
"This isn't my natural hair." He points at his head and I raise an eyebrow with confusion. "It's wet right now, so it's straight. But when it dries, my hair is actually curly."
"What??" I ask, with genuine surprise. "I had no idea."
"Yeah. I wake up every morning early so I can flat iron it." Hyunjae says. "But you cant tell. Nobody knows."
"Why not? It's not like you murdered anyone." I say.
He shrugs. "You could say it's my one insecurity."
"I think it looks-" I stop myself from saying something I'd regret. "It doesn't look bad."
"It's too poofy. And it's too late, because if I go to school like this people will think I'm faking it for attention." Hyunjae says.
"I can't imagine going to school and everyone giving a shit about you," I think out loud.
"It's not all that it's cracked up to be." Hyunjae says.
"Then why do you do it?" I ask.
"Do what?"
"You know, be popular."
hyunjae
😳🎁🥍❤️🔥🍗🦕
I almost laugh when she says that, but it's a genuine question and I don't want her to think I'm some self-obssessed shithead.
I shake my head. "Like I said earlier. It's too late."
Her gaze on me makes me feel a feeling I've never had before. Almost like, she can see right through me, and that's scary.
Sola doesn't seem to know how to respond to me though, but I can tell she's thinking about it.
she looks cute when she's staring into space.
With that intrusive thought, I suddenly remember what I'm here for. The bet.
"You don't seem like the type to throw parties," I say.
"I'm not." She answers.
"So what do you do with this empty house with no parents?" I ask, taking a few steps closer to her with my arms crossed. I don't miss when her eyes flicker from my wet white shirt and back to my face.
"I try not to stay here much. I go to Sunwoo's." She says.
"Really? You're lucky, you could do anything you want." I raise my eyebrows.
She shakes her head. "I'm not really into parties and drinking and stuff."
"And what are you into?" By now I'm right in front of her. She's much shorter than me, and seems to have a hard time focusing on my face when my slightly see-through shirt is closer to her vision.
Sola swallows. "Books. Movies. That kind of stuff."
"Yeah?" my voice goes low by habit. It's scary how good I am at this.
She nods. As I'm closer to her face, I notice her peach pink lips. They glisten with softness, and I can't help but wonder how they would feel on mine.
I reach up and grasp a strand of her hair between my fingers. She follows my every move carefully, and she does that habit that I've seen her do a few times--sucking on her lower lip and I can't tell if she does that when she's nervous or not.
I swallow. For some reason she looks like a different person up close. I assume nobody has ever been this close to her except for Sunwoo. I kind of feel smug knowing that now I have too.
Her little habit is attractive. I lean down the tiniest fraction of a centimeter, and just like a squirrel that you've stepped too close to, she leaps away.
"I-I actually have a lot of homework to do. Thanks so much for bringing my wallet." She says. Her voice is shaky. She doesn't sound scared though, she sounds almost intrigued, just how I'm feeling.
And for some reason I'm glad she's leading me to the front door. Doing the bet right now felt wrong.
I shake my head.
I'm not supposed to care about these things. That's not how the game works. That's not how my friends work.
"I'll see you around school." I say to her, unbothered.
Sola studies me for a second, probably wondering if we just shared the same moment back there.
The answer is no, we didn't. I don't know this girl. She's cute, but that's it. I won't get attached because I have to do something purely evil to her.
