IRIS HAD NEVER BEEN AS angry as she had been after the little incident with Seojun near the playground. She shouldn't have let his words get to her as much as they did, and she had a feeling she knew why they did. They had a truth to them because with how close Suho seemed to be getting with Jugyeong these days and becoming more distant with Iris, she felt insecure.
She had never felt this way truth be told, and it was probably because Suho never treated any other person, or even any other girl, the way her treated her. But ever since Jugyeong came, all of the started to change and at this point, Iris felt like she was the only one that was desperately hanging onto their years old friendship and she didn't know what to do anymore. Everything was just - falling apart.
Iris sighed as she rested her cheek on her palm, getting lost into those same depressive thoughts she had been so immersed in all of yesterday night and this morning.
Though Suho and her had walked to school today earlier in the morning, the air was kind of tensed and awkward as the two did not really have much to say anything to one another. Whilst Iris was still hung up on seeing Jugyeong and him together, Suho was hung up on seeing her and his former best friend together. So as you can see, it was kind of a mess if misunderstandings.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Naelea asked upon noticing the frown on her friends face. She had been that way all day and she wanted to know what was up.
Iris sighed as she sat up straight, giving her friend an assuring smile, "It's nothing, I'm just over thinking." she muttered picking at her food, not eating any of it as she had no apatite.
Naelea knew there was something bothering her friend, but she didn't want to push it because she knew once Iris was ready, she would tell her herself what was going on, so instead she put her hand on her arm in a comforting manner, "You know I'm always here for you, right?"
At this, Iris' face lit up, "Of course."
Naelea too smiled in return seeing how contagious her friends smile was, "Good. Now eat up!" she gestured to Iris' tray of food that had been untouched and Iris too nodded, now having mood lifted.
She got through her portion of rice and some meat, before she caught sight of Jugyeong looking around in search for someone. Iris was about to wave to her to indicate where they were sitting at, when Jugyeong suddenly turned towards Suho who was making his way towards the cafeteria line. The two stood situated in their spots staring at one another, before Jugyeong casted him a small smile, pointing towards her bandaged knee as she did so. Just like that, Iris felt her mood become sour again.
Seojun had seen the whole interaction unfold before him and the frown that formed on Iris' face was enough to make him approach Suho and say what he had been planning on saying since the day before. Meanwhile, Jugyeong approached her group of friends with a rather happy look.
She greeted each of them before sitting next to Iris, who didn't glance at her even once, and across from Sua. Her happy mood didn't go unnoticed by the group and this was one of the first times they had seen the girl so excited, especially during school.
"What's got you so giddy?" Sua asked as she looked at the girl in confusion.
"Well, you guys wont believe what happened yesterday." Jugyeong responded. However, before she could say anything, a loud noise was heard, and instead of the usual chit chat that went on in the noisy cafeteria, it was replaced with silence.
At this Iris looked up and saw Seojun making his way towards their table after having knocked over Suhos tray of food as all of the contents were on the floor now. Whilst Suho glared at Seojuns retreating figure, the latter seemed calmer. He was unbothered by the attention on them because upon approaching Iris' table, he causally seated himself onto the open seat next to her as though they were great friends.
Iris was confused by his actions and wondered why he was sitting next to her, seeing that she had made sure to return his helmet the following morning to avoid further engagement with him. "Why are you here? This isn't about the helmet again, is it? Because I already returned it." she pointed out.
Seojun however smirked as he stared at the girl before him in amusement, "Of course not, I'm just here to eat with you Lors." he said now using a nickname he hadn't used in years for her and everyone in the cafeteria gasped dramatically.
Everyone knew how much Seojun and Iris didn't get along, given that the latter never tried bothering her distaste for the boy. It was the same for Seojun, so seeing him here acting all friendly with her was a definite shock. To say Iris was entertained would be understandable as she wondered where all of this confidence in Seojun came from and had led him to act all friendly with her, given that the two were practically at each others throats the night before.
Just as she was about to say something, Seojun turned his head to a now stunned Jugyeong, "And you."
Just like that something snapped in Suho and he suddenly went charging towards Seojun in a marching rate, not before yelling out, "Han Seojun!"
Suddenly he grabbed Seojun by the collar and yanked him off his seat, now turning to face him towards him, which caused everyone to gasp even louder than before. Iris was stunned by the sudden action and glanced around to see everyone with widened eyes, now staring at the two boys, waiting and anticipating for the next move.
The playful smirk that was once on Seojuns face was now gone and replaced with a serious look, "Are you serious right now?" he said as his eyes narrowed into slits at the Lee boy before him. However, he wasn't backing down and clearly looking for a fight.
Soojin glanced at Iris, though she didn't say anything her eyes pleaded for her to do something and to prevent anything from breaking out.
Though Iris didn't want to get involved, she knew nobody else would and that they would only break out into a fight. She didn't want to see Suho getting hurt, despite the weird tension between them now. He was important to her and held a special place in her heart. So without another thought, Iris stood up and stared at the two boys in exhaustion over the petty little scene they were causing.
"Suho, what are you doing?" Upon saying those words, everybody whipped their head towards the brunette once again. Some were shocked that she was even getting herself involved, while others not so much, seeing the close relationship she had with the Lee boy.
"Yeah Suho. What are you doing?" Seojun taunted now repeating her words.
Iris however had to calm herself before she too exploded at Seojun as she was trying to stop a fight from breaking out, not cause a fight to break out, "He's clearly trying to get a rise out of you. Why are you giving him the satisfaction he wants?" she asked trying to reason with the boy
Seojun smirked, "Yeah Suho. Listen to your little girlfriend and walk away before you get yourself into something we both know you can't handle."
However, instead of listening to her like Iris had hoped Suho would, he had a hard look on his face as he analyzed the girl before him, "This isn't your business Iris, so I'd suggest you stay out of it."
Iris was offended over his words to say the least. But the brief second that Suho wasn't looking at him was something Seojun took to his advantage and before Iris could process what was happening, Seojun pulled himself out of Suhos grasp and sent a punch his way causing him to stumble back from the impact. Though the punch was unnecessary, the little comment Suho made to Iris after she was just trying to help him pissed Seojun off more than he already was.
After that chaos broke loose.
As Suho laid on the ground from the sudden force that made his way, everyone began to gasp and point, unable to process that the Han boy had really punched Suho just like that.
Meanwhile, Iris turned to Seojun in astonishment, "Seojun! What the hell!"
Seojun however shrugged rather coolly, "I warned him."
Before anyone could say anything else, Suho quickly jumped up from his spot and rushed towards Seojun, now grabbing him by collar again with his other fists raised. "Suho! No!" Iris exclaimed, but Seojun wasn't as panicked as she was.
He instead grinned at Suho like this was some sick game. "Go on, do it. Hit me." he taunted, but of course before Suho could do anything else, a teacher found them and ordered them to split apart and sent them to the office, leaving a panicked Iris behind.
