𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃 ☁︎ 𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐔𝐑𝐀 𝐑𝐈𝐊𝐈

☁︎03

For the first time in a while, Baek Dayeon came to school with a big smile. Yesterday's events unquestionably still replaying in the back of her mind. She even felt confident enough, to decide to come to school with a new hairdo and not the usual boring ponytail that she always did.

She had put half her hair in a high ponytail and left the other half of her hair down along with two strands of hair at the front. ( i'm not sure if they actually allow hairstyles in most schools 😭 but for the sake of the book let's just say they allow them 🙏)

She headed to her locker to put some of her books inside as her back was killing her right now. She closed her locker and nearly jumped seeing someone stand right beside her. Upon seeing Riki's face, her smile immediately dropped. 

The way he was leaning on the lockers very much reminded her of those handsome male leads in those tv-shows except Riki didn't look as good as them. Not even in the slightest. His hair was slightly disheveled as usual because he never bothered to keep it tidy. 

"What do you want?" she sighed in annoyance, turning around to walk to the class as he followed behind her.

He scoffed at her words, "Believe me, you're the last person I wanna see too,"

Dayeon abruptly stopped walking and glared at him, "Riki, you've already ruined my day, so just say whatever it is you came here for."

Riki ignored the rudeness in her tone and spoke up. "I've thought of a way for them to start hanging out with each other," 

She slowed down and faced him, eyebrows slightly perked up in curiosity. He had a big smile on his face as he continued, "Since they always walk home and live so close to each other, why don't we make them walk home together?"

"Harin would never agree to that, she'd be way too nervous for it," said Dayeon and she was right. And because of that it could lead Harin to do things impulsively or worse, embarrass herself in front of Taki. Then she'd never hear the end of it for the next few months. 

"Taki too. Which is why we make it look like a coincidence. We just make them stay back a little, so there's no one left including us—"

She cut him off, knowing where this was going. "And then when they're going back home, they'll obviously bump into each other and have no choice but to go home together," 

"Exactly. It's simple yet effective," said Riki and she nodded her head. 

She had to admit, it was rather a clever idea. There wouldn't be any pressure for either Harin or Taki since it'll look like a lucky coincidence that they were walking home at the same time. She smiled to herself, having a good feeling about this. 

Not bad, Nishimura. 

And so, with careful planning, the two put their plan into action a few days later. To say it went well was an understatement. Harin was quite surprised that Taki was still at school as it had ended a while ago. 

She didn't even know why she was still here. Dayeon had told her she needed to talk to one of the teachers after school and asked if Harin could wait for her. They planned to meet in front of the teacher's lounge as they had a separate class for the last class of the day. She knew something was up due to how weird the whole situation was but didn't question her friend. 

But five minutes had turned into ten, then twenty, and before she knew it, she was the only one left here. She wondered why her last class was taking so long to end when she got a call from Dayeon. 

Apparently, she was just about to head to the teacher's lounge when she got a call from her mother saying that there was some kind of family emergency and her parents were already there to pick her up. On the way to the car, her phone died so she couldn't send Harin a text. When she finally charged it enough to make a phone call, she called Harin to let her know the 'unfortunate' situation. 

Harin was understanding of the situation and Dayeon promised to treat her to ice cream this weekend. And so, she was about to head home when she met Taki who was at the school entrance. He looked like he was just about to head home. 

He looked at his phone upon hearing a notification and furrowed his eyebrows. Riki said the coach wanted to meet him after school, something about the upcoming games so he waited after school for 20 minutes, only to remember that the coach wasn't even present at school today. 

And when Taki mentioned that detail to Riki, all that he replied was, "I never said today,". Best believe he was gonna give Riki a good smack when he comes to school tomorrow. 

He then noticed that he wasn't the only one there. He felt his heart race when she offered him a small smile. He was a little startled as he didn't think he'd see her still at school. They both began walking in the same direction and he could feel the awkward tension. 

He didn't want the walk home to be uncomfortable for her so he took a deep breath and struck up a conversation. 

He didn't even know where he got that confidence from but he was glad he did. The two then comfortably chatted with each other as they walked back home. 

Taki felt a small sense of accomplishment knowing that this was the first time they spoke with each other outside of class and he couldn't help but thank God that the coach wasn't here today. 

And as Dayeon suspected, Harin had given her a call as soon as she stepped into her home. She could barely contain her excitement. 

Hearing your best friend scream first thing right as you had just woken up from a nap was not what she expected. Her brain was still loading due to the nap she just had so she still hadn't processed everything. 

However, she felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on her when she heard that he had taken the initiative to talk to Harin first. Both of them squealed in excitement. And so, the two got comfortable since they knew they were about to deep dive into the whole thing for the next hour. 

slightly boring chapter sorry 🙏