Jihyun is stuck in a love scandal with someone whom she hates. This person is coincidentally the stubborn Riki on her debate team and her favorite mainstream artist at the same time. And Jihyun is just a college girl who gets wrapped into a dating s...
"What do you mean there's no winner?" Jihyun fires, nearly slamming her hands against the table. She did not want to get close to another loss against Riki, not even touching that possibility with a ten-foot pole. But the main root of her frustration was because that's not how it worked.
Regardless of whether she would win or not, a debate needs a winner. That's what makes a debate a debate, safe for the actual debate. "There can't not be a winner. This is a debate, someone has to win, someone had to persuade you more than the other."
"Though you are right Jihyun, for this debate I must say that both sides convinced me equally. I'm not inclined to choose one over the other."
"How?" Riki asked.
"It's a balanced argument. In the end, I am still persuaded by both in some way. So I will give this debate a pending result where the winner will be announced another time."
"A pending result?" Riki repeats incredulously.
"Yes, but in the end, it means that you two argued your points fluently. Despite there being no clear winner at the moment, at least know that you all did well on this topic."
Unlike her team, Jihyun does not cheer in the slightest. What?
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Jihyun holds her face in her hands as she sits in front of Rohee, a pout clear on her lips. "It was a pending result today. The arbitrator said he couldn't choose immediately because both sides did well on arguing their point."
Rohee smiles and nudges her. "That's good then! That means you didn't lose—at least not immediately. So I think that's a win."
"But—"
"Hey don't be upset about it. If you do lose you were still good enough to make someone hesitate before coming to a decision."
"Oh," Jihyun pauses. "I'm not upset."
"You aren't?"
Jihyun grins and straightens her posture. "Nope," she chimes, rather elated though for a different reason. "Matter of fact, I'm glad," she tells Rohee, whose face scrunches upon her confusion.
"Why? I mean—not like you can't be glad, but y'know."
"Listen up—"
"This room is pretty empty," someone says, making Jihyun turn her head to look over her shoulder at the group of students at the door. A couple of people carrying cases with instruments in them, or just a bookbag in their hands. Band kids, Jihyun instantly thinks when seeing the huge cases.
Nothing entirely wrong with it, but she quickly remembers the weird stigma around them. Band kids—at least around here—were the more foreboding group of kids. Their presence was just overhanging in any room, but nine times out of ten they turned out to be really chill people. Oh well.
Jihyun turns back to Rohee, ignoring them.
"There's an empty corner over there," someone else says. Jihyun swore she felt her eye twitch.
She looked back at them, watching the ever-familiar face of Riki come into view from the doorway. She almost looks over in his direction slowly, eerily slowly. Seriously? What was Riki doing following her around now?
Well, it didn't look like he noticed her but still.
"Oof," Rohee voices.
Jihyun shrugs her shoulders. "Nothing. I don't care. I still have good news to share y'know. So listen up because I'm only saying it once."
"Is this about the thing from yesterday? Whatever that was on your phone when we were at the snack shack?"
Jihyun nods. She casually moves her hair behind her shoulder, as if the news she was about to deliver was nothing intense. "So like...I got a notification on my phone."
"And what did it say?"
Jihyun grabs at the end of her chair. "Shiru is having a tour here, and I guess I can say that I snagged myself a ticket at his first show."
Rohee's eyes actually widen, looking surprised. "Oh? Wait how does that work? Isn't he some faceless artist? Is he going to have a concert just singing the songs backstage or something?" She chuckles to herself.
"No clue," Jihyun says, not even bothering to conjecture other possibilities. "I just know that I'm going to have fun."
Rohee smiles. "Well in that case I'm happy for you and you better return with some videos and photos to show me. I've been supporting you and your endeavors for this faceless artist anyway, I feel like I deserve it."
"Bet. I just have to free up some of my storage because I'm sure that I'm going to take too many videos. I get carried away," Jihyun says.
"Yeah, you do. Last time we went to the zoo and you came back with 300 new photos in your gallery, only for you to delete them all."
"I'm kind of a photo hoarder, but at least I delete them eventually," Jihyun murmurs.
"Kind of? Do you still have that one reaction photo in your gallery? The one that you never ever use."
"In my defense, I may need it. Like what if I delete it and then go 'oh shoot I need that photo right now'?"
Rohee narrows her eyes. "How many photos are in your gallery right now?"
"I cleared it out yesterday so like maybe somewhere in the 100s for photos and videos," Jihyun answers.
"Fine," Rohee huffs playfully.
"So like, should I wear something cute and preppy or something similar to the dark concept of his last album?"
Then she overhears something, "Riki, if you want us to notice which one you're talking about maybe it'd be best to highlight it."
Highlight. Highlight, neon.
"Maybe—"
"I'll wear neon."
Rohee shakes her head in disbelief. "You're doing this for someone who hadn't even shown their face before."
Jihyun suppresses a laugh. Rohee oftentimes had the best reactions, which in of itself made their interactions fun. Just how much Jihyun truly loves befriending people who know what to say.
"Let me have my moment. You're saying all this but when I come back with a video of me getting noticed, waving it in front of your face, we'll see."
