21 | CHAPTER TWENTY ONE — YOUTH SLIPPING AWAY ❝ tomorrow's not promised, not for any of us ❞
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THE KIDS SETTLED DOWN, but the storm picked up. They'd stopped dancing and laughing as realization kicked in—help came but not for them. They hadn't gotten rescued, and they weren't safe.
Yu-ri sat beside Nam-ra. The class presidents' ears had been hurting courtesy of the roaring thunder so Yu-ri tore off a piece of her white button up to create makeshift earplugs for the girl. It wasn't perfect but it helped.
Around them, their classmates and friends cried. Tears mixed with raindrops as they let out sobs of defeat. The hope drained away from their bodies like the rainwater in the gutters below.
"What happened back there?" Nam-ra's small voice spoke.
"Huh?"
"During the bonfire earlier, when you went around the corner and Su-hyeok followed you? Neither of you came back for a while." Nam-ra was asking but she already knew. Due to her enhanced hearing, she was able to hear a bit of their conversation, though she tried her best not to eavesdrop.
"Oh," Yu-ri started, crimson flushing her cheeks. Thankfully it was too dark outside for Nam-ra to notice. "Nothing."
"Hmm," Nam-ra hummed. "So what was that whole slow dancing thing? I guess that was nothing too, right?"
Yu-ri looked down at her lap. Nam-ra was right, It wasn't nothing. Su-hyeok had apologized and she had accepted it. They had kissed, something Yu-ri had secretly dreamed of ever since they were kids. They'd let each other in and for that one second, despite everything they were dealing with, she felt as if things were going to be okay. They fixed things, her and Su-hyeok.
She could check that off the bucket list.
"I think we're okay now," Yu-ri said, hesitantly. She wanted to tell Nam-ra everything, but she wasn't even sure where to start. "Him and I."
Nam-ra nodded. "That's good."
"I've wanted us to be okay for a long time," Yu-ri continued. "I missed him so much. Really, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't think about him. I hated him for what he did, but what I hated even more was that he wouldn't get out of my head. I hated that I couldn't really hate him, not even if I tried."
Nam-ra listened to the girl, taking in every single detail. She could tell there was so much more that Yu-ri wanted to say, so she let her go on.
"I tried to pretend like he didn't matter to me, that I wasn't thinking about him constantly. I tried to pretend like I didn't feel anything towards him because I've never been good with that. The idea of someone liking me or me liking someone back was insane, because I never felt like I was worthy enough for it. I always thought that I didn't deserve to be liked by anyone because no one had ever shown me that they did. And if I couldn't be liked, how could I like anyone else?"
