𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝, lee heeseung

004. avoiding

AVOIDING

almost two weeks have passed since heeseung's sudden arrival and minah had been avoiding the boy as if he was some sort of contagious disease.

luckily, the difference in schedules made it somewhat manageable for her to steer clear of him, but of course she still ran into him from time to time due to their god forsaken lockers.

in a short period of time, heeseung had already become a much discussed topic at school. the girls were all over him as if they were in middle school and he'd already made plenty of friends. the boy was constantly busy with all the attention he received from his fellow students.

however, that didn't stop him from trying to spark up a conversation with minah everytime he saw her, to which she just responded with a nod or an occasional hum. he had yet to see her smile, since all he noticed were the cold facial expressions that seemed to be glued to her face.

to minah, there was no point in striking up a conversation with him since she wanted nothing to do with him or his tricks. she couldn't fathom the fact that he was even trying to make an effort with her when it was obvious she loathed him.

as of now, minah was grabbing her books from her locker, ready to leave the building and go straight to her dorm afterwards.

but of course, she halted when she noticed a tall figure approach, appearing to be the boy she had been avoiding. he made his way to his locker and threw some off his stuff in there before turning around to greet the smaller girl.

"hi, minah." he smiled at her, causing the girl to break her habit of avoiding him and instead turned around to face him.

it was rare for her to actually look at him, since she usually just continued what she was doing, paying no mind to the boy and his words.

"hey." minah forced a crooked smile for less than a second, before returning to her cold exterior.

the girl kind of caught herself off guard by her sudden change of character. she never said hi. let alone smiled, especially not towards him. it was safe to say that even heeseung was mildly surprised that she didn't try to ignore him this time.

"are you finished right now too?" heeseung questioned while taking his hoodie out of his locker and shutting it.

the girl nodded. "mhmm." she hummed and started walking, knowing he'd follow her anyways, and he did.

if anything, heeseung was like a lost puppy. but, instead of being cute, he was just straight up annoying, following her everywhere she went because he didn't have anything better to do.

heeseung faintly hesitated before speaking again. "i'm gonna go grab some coffee at the cafe around the corner. you wanna come with?" he offered to which the girl froze a bit.

normally, this would be the moment where she would excuse herself or just walk away. but right now, she was doing neither of those things. for once, she actually kept facing him.

she didn't know what came over her, but she opened herself up to the the possibility of having a conversation with him. just to see how he was doing, because frankly, she never even asked him that.

"yeah, su—"

minah was cut off, just after she had mustered up the courage to accept his offer.

a few guys, who seemed to be some of the friends heeseung made, approached him from behind and caught his attention. his eyes now turned from minah to his friends.

"hey man, you wanna grab a drink with us?" one of the guys suggested, not paying any mind to minah, who was waiting for heeseung to turn around again.

"actually, i was planning to get some coffee myself. if minah wants to come with me." he replied while emphasizing the last part, which pretty much implied that he would only get coffee if she agreed to come with him.

his gaze returned to the girl again as he waited for her to answer his question. however, that was interrupted when one of his friends leaned on his shoulder before speaking.

"you two know each other?" he questioned, switching his eyes to minah while pointing at the two teenagers in question.

"yeah, we used to be best friends." heeseung simply responded as if it was nothing.

minah gulped at heeseung's words. she didn't expect him to ever talk about their past friendship so casually, especially to other people. partially because it was just plain awkward, but also because he had acted as if he'd forgotten that part of their lives.

him admitting to their previous bond caused her to form somewhat of a lump in her throat. of course, she was glad he finally acknowledged it, but it also felt like a stab in her heart to be reminded of the painful memory that brought with it.

"so minah, are you coming with m—" heeseung tried to ask again, but was cut of by the girl.

"sorry, i have to go." minah blurted out and made her way towards the exit of the building.

she felt stupid to think that trying to mend the broken pieces of their former friendship was ever going to work, when she could never forget all the pain he caused her.

as she was walking outside in the direction of her dorm, minah heard a voice behind her call her name. she turned around to see heeseung exiting the school building.

"minah, wait!" heeseung called and ran to keep up with the girl. "here." he panted while grabbing her hand and putting something in it.

"wait, what is thi—" she was about to ask him, but he already walked back towards the school again.

"i'll talk to you later, minah." the boy shot her a bright smile before turning back around, leaving minah clueless.

tilting her head downwards, minah fixed her eyes on the small piece of paper that heeseung just gave her out of nowhere. softly, she folded it open with her fingers and looked to see what her former friend had written on there.

(xxx) xxx-xxxx
hee