Paperclips - YJH

Seven

The way that the long curls of his hair rest on his forehead while he sleeps has to be one of the cutest things ever.

We both spent an hour reading books and completing assignments in the library before Jeonghan fell asleep. That's when I noticed it.

He is handsome; no lie there. You had to agree to it, even if he was your mortal enemy. He has beautifully crafted features, and they're visible at first glance. Staring at him, I notice the small scar on his left elbow, just like the one I had from falling from the swing today.

As soon as I realised what I was doing, I sprang up and started to go through the books on the bookshelf, embarrassed.

While lazily going through the Cactus encyclopaedia, a whisper from behind startled me: "What happened to your elbow?"

Jeonghan appeared behind me and noticed the wound on my elbow. Looking down, I hide the wound with my palm and chuckle, "Oh, this? This is nothing."

"It doesn't look like 'Nothing'; it's bandaged up and all." He expressed, with a slight hint of concern in his voice, "What happened?"

"Fell down; nothing big. What happened to your elbow?" I asked back. He looked down at his own elbow before hiding his arm behind his back and clearing his throat. "Fell down, nothing big."
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After spending 2 hours with Jeonghan in the library on a Saturday, I should be feeling tired. However, I feel the opposite—a freshness, kind of? Whatever it was, I decided to visit my home since I felt bad for hanging up on my mother this morning. I haven't gone home in a few weeks anyway.

My house is about 7 hours away from the university, so I decided I'd return tomorrow evening after spending the night back at my house. The train ride was long, needless to say. I had my phone, but playing games and listening to music got boring after a while. That's when I drifted off to a deep slumber. I was woken up by the staff at my stop, fortunately.
____

"Hey!" I entered my house and hugged my little brother, Hong Min, who's now in high school.

"Noona! You didn't tell us!" He sulked cutely before offering to carry my luggage for me to my room. As I was giving him the luggage, a throat cleared behind me, and I turned back to my mother, leaning against the wall.

"Hey Mom." I greeted her politely before smiling at her too. "Who said you could just enter my house without giving us a call beforehand?" She questioned me with a stern look.

I expected her to be like this; after all, I hung up on her this morning and basically disappointed her. "Sorry," I apologised, and she nodded before gesturing for me to come inside.

"So, how's college? Tell me everything." We were now seated at the dinner table together, and she started asking me about college while sipping on her glass of fresh juice, "It's going fine." I was soon cut off because she threw the glass of juice on the floor.

"Such awful juice! Who made this?!" Her anger was clear through her voice and facial expression. She sternly yelled once again, and that's when a maid stepped out, keeping her head down and bowed.

"I don't want to see you in here again! OUT!" My mother threw a towel at the maid before drinking a glass of water. The maid walks out of the room, visibly holding in her tears that are threatening to fall at any moment.

"Mom, that-" I was interrupted once again when she threw the same towel at me.

"What, now?" She glared at me, giving me a 'you dare say that' face, which meant that I should keep quiet. I did.
____

Dinner was over, and I was heading to my room when a maid came to me and said, "Miss Y/N, your mother is asking for you."

I sighed. "Where is she?"

"The study."

"Alright, thank you." I started walking towards the study and entered quietly.

"Mom? You called?"

"Sit down. I need to ask you something." My heart began racing for some reason, even though I knew I hadn't done anything.

I sat down across from her and waited for her to speak.

After a while of silence, she passes me a bill of sorts and gestures for me to open it. I opened it, and it was my bank transfer records. She was watching my money transactions.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" She suddenly asked me, making me shocked.

I was shocked, obviously. "What is this about?" I ask her, cautiously. 

"Let me ask you again. Do you have a boyfriend?" She repeated herself, clearer and stricter this time. 

"Why-", She shot me a glare. "Answer me." 

"No. I don't have a boyfriend." I said while looking down. What was this about? 

"Then who is this?" She passed me a couple of photos. I felt my heart stop when I saw the photos, they were of me and Jeonghan- In the park, the convenience store, the cafe, the library... basically everywhere we've been together. 

"Mom were... were you stalking me?" I finally managed to look at her and she still had on the expression of not caring. Just like she always did.