Sigh - Nishimura Riki / Ni-ki

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓕𝓸𝓾𝓻

Narrator's POV

He ran towards her in a rush, without any idea of what he was doing. The other six boys side-eyed him, especially that one boy known for his sass, Kim Sunoo.

Juyeon had already walked pretty far, but since Riki was a member of a dance group, the leader actually, his stamina was really good. Because of this, plus his determination, he was able to catch up to her quite quickly.

Finally beside her, he caught a piece of the fabric of her jacket between his fingers, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around slowly, worried about the eventual conversation she was going to have because of this encounter. Every time she talked to a stranger, her heart suddenly started beating quickly, making her lose her train of thought, thus making her look like a complete idiot, staring into space.

Realizing the person who had stopped her was THE Nishimura Riki, one of the popular guys, the heartbreakers, her heart started beating even faster. She wondered what the hell one of them would want from her. Looking straight into his eyes without saying a word, she had obvious question marks in her dark orbs, reaching out to him for an answer.

"Hey, girl, why did you leave?" He asks, super casual. His unbothered tone shocked the girl, wondering why he was talking to her as if they were close.

"I-I umm.. I wanted to leave you guys the space, since umm, you know, you guys came to sit.." she answered.

Riki scoffed, looking at Juyeon with a slight smirk. "You're weird. But I like it." Confused by this phrase, the girl looked away, about to walk away. "Not so fast! Where do you think you're going? Come eat with us." Riki stopped her, offering something that he didn't even know if his friends would agree with.

"I-I'm sorry, I already have plans..." she lied, walking away before he had time to say anything. He was left there, standing like a fool who just got rejected. I guess I kinda did just get rejected, he thought. He walked back to the roof, trying to act unfazed whereas he felt a million different conflicting emotions inside him. The most prominent emotion was confusion. Why did he care so much about her? She was nothing out of the ordinary, just a normal girl who never really stood out. He kept trying to convince himself that he didn't actually care, that he'll just forget about it, but it was harder than he led himself to believe.

***

Juyeon had spent the rest of the day trying to forget about what happened at lunch, without really succeeding. When she arrived back home, she went straight to her room, closed the door and locked it, letting herself fall onto her bed. For the first time in years, she was thinking about a boy. It felt weird to her, as the last time was in elementary school, when she had a crush on a boy named Huening Kai.

He was a foreigner, from Hawaii, and he was quite handsome, so almost every girl in the class had a crush on him. Thankfully, one of her friends at the time, Kang Taehyun, had helped her overcome her shyness and actually talk to Kai.

Once. To ask to borrow his eraser. Still better than nothing, right?

Laying down on her bed, Juyeon was feeling conflicted. She had absolutely no idea what has happened that day, from Riki standing in front of the door when she walked out of class to the same boy running after her and inviting her to lunch with him and his friends. Why was he doing all this, all of a sudden? He had never known about her existence before, so why the sudden change? What did it mean?

Suddenly, while she was thinking about all these questions, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, but it was an unknown number. She sighed, upset that her thoughts had been interrupted, but relieved at the same time because her head was starting to hurt, and picked up. She failed to realize that the person on the line had heard that sigh.

"Hello, Juyeon here." She said in a barely audible voice.

"Hey Sunbae! It's Kim Sunoo from class 4B." Those words were enough for Juyeon's heartbeat to start racing. The boy's voice sounded so sweet and chirpy, as if they had been close friends for years. She was realizing more and more every day that she was too shy, and that most people didn't fear for their life every time they had to speak in a conversation.

Gathering her thoughts, she answered, "Sunoo... why d-did you call me?" Her voice trembled a bit, and she got mad at herself for letting her nervousness show once again. She really needed to work on hiding how shy she was.

"Well, Riki Hyung told me that you left when we arrived at lunch time, and I felt bad for that, so I wanted to call to apologize. I'm sorry!" Juyeon could imagine him bowing, apologizing profusely. She suddenly felt bad for making them feel bad.

"No no, it's okay! Don't worry about it! How did you get my number, though..?" She mentally congratulated herself for not stuttering during that sentence.

"Oh yeah, since I see you hanging out with Eunbi a lot, I asked her for your number. You're not mad, right?" He asked with a worried voice. The girl could imagine him pouting.

"N-no, I'm not mad! And don't worry about the... lunch thing, it's no biggie. It happens often, I'm used to it." Though she was trying to reassure the boy, it just made him feel worse, realizing how stressful lunchtime must be for the girl if she never knew if she'd have a place to eat in peace.

"Aww, well don't worry about that anymore, Sunbae! You can eat with us whenever you want, we'd all love to get to know you more." Juyeon felt really confused as to why the seven heartbreakers of the school were suddenly interested in her company, and she was weary of hanging out with them. To be fair, their reputation wasn't the best, breaking hearts left and right. The girl had no idea what would wait for her if she was to hang out with them.

Juyeon tried declining his offer but the boy wouldn't take no for an answer. She eventually gave up and agreed, telling herself that she would just avoid them and tell them that she forgot if they asked her about it. Her plan seemed perfect, but she had no idea how hard it was going to be to follow.

Words: 1121