Bittersweet | Do Kyung-seok

𝟭𝟬. cut to the chase

CHAPTER TEN
built to fall apart then fall back together

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     𝐈t was the next day when Chaewon fully realized the extent of all their actions. She didn't even come home to her and Eun's apartment yesterday, but she did end up at her brother's flat who thankfully didn't ask why she looked like shit. Seungmin ended up leaving after she arrived anyway. He had a shift at the hospital and he didn't even come home the next day, texting her that he had a few patients coming in that needed surgery.

     She went to the university like it was any other day. It didn't surprise her when she heard that everybody had been talking about the incident in the bathroom yesterday. It was all everyone could talk about as she walked around the university grounds.

    Eun, Jung-boon, and Mirae had met up with her earlier. Telling her how sorry they were that they couldn't do anything to stop Chan-woo, but Chaewon knew it wasn't their fault. Mirae believed it was hers though. No matter how much she told her it wasn't━a part of the girl believed it was her fault in the first place.

     Chaewon stumbled upon Hyun Soo-ah after that, and the girl invited her under the shade of a tree. Now they sat beside each other, a couple of spaces between them. Soo-ah was the first to break the silence, smiling at her ever so slightly, and for a second there, Chaewon felt her eyes twitch. She still doesn't know how to feel with the popular girl, with her kind smiles and backhanded compliments.

     "I'm sorry about what happened," Soo-ah said gently.

     "Why did you do it?" Chaewon looked at her. "Why'd you stand up for me?"

     "I just did what anyone would've done in that situation," Soo-ah told her. Chaewon didn't say anything. Still, she felt suspicion creep up on her. "I couldn't leave you alone in there. We're friends, you know."

     "Yeah?" Chaewon muttered under her breath.

     "To tell you the truth, I felt like I owed you an apology," Soo-ah began. "I wondered if Chan-woo sunbaenim was taking things out on you... because of me. He actually told me that he liked me, but I rejected him because it made me so uncomfortable. The thing is, he asked me if it was because of you. He totally jumped to his own conclusions."

     She was taken back to that night when Chan-woo confronted her and Mirae. Her brows furrowed. For a second, Chaewon didn't know what to believe. The senior does seem like the type to jump to his own conclusions and take his anger out on girls who reject him, but still, a part of her knew there was something more to it. She had no idea who was really being played in this game she didn't know that started.

     "That's why I thought he was taking it out on you." Soo-ah looked down at her hands, fidgeting them anxiously. "I felt so bad."

    "I shouldn't be the one you should be apologizing to," Chaewon muttered. She looked at the girl's face, trying to figure her out, but for some reason, Soo-ah looked genuinely worried and apologetic. "And the rejecting part━I don't really care, but good for you."

    Soo-ah smiled slightly. "Now, everyone calls him Mop instead of SOJ."

    "Yeah?" This time, Chaewon scoffed at the mention of the senior. "Well, I guess, it suits him better."

     "I didn't even do much," Soo-ah said, smiling forcefully like she was envious of something. "Frankly, Kyung-seok was the one who really came to your rescue."

     Chaewon almost rolled her eyes. "Don't give him too much credit."

     Soo-ah looked at her, trying to see any reaction from her. She puckered her lips, thinking deeply. "I must say, it seems like he gives you special treatment. Aren't I right?"