𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 [𝙴𝙽- 𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙴𝙼]

Chapter 71

This was the first time she had been alone with Heessung after that day. He hadn't really spoken to her much. And now the silence in the car was stressing her out and adding to her already stressed mind.

She could study to keep her thoughts at bay. But the thing was, she preferred listening to music right before the exam to calm her mind. But what about now? She can't put her earphones in. It's rude. She can't ask him to play music in the speakers. That just doesn't work out for her in this situation.

"Stop it." Heeseung said gruffly.

She looked at him in question.

"Stop stressing. You've studied a lot for this." He said.

"I'm not stressing." She waved her hand. She was. But for a very different reason than he thought.

"I can see your leg bouncing, princess."

She stopped moving her leg. It was such a habit and second nature when she was stressed that it went unnoticed by her.

"Plug in your earphones. I know you want to." He said.

Leah looked over at him. His eyes were trained on the road and the map on his phone.

"How do you know?" She asked curiously.

Heeseung finally looked at her for the first time since they sat in the car.

"I know you."

He averted his eyes to the road for a second before looking at her again.

"Don't think about anything else. Relax."

He turned back to the road. Leah couldn't explain what she felt but she did as told. She plugged in her headphones and stared out. When she still felt something was missing, she rolled down the windows and leaned back into her seat staring out. She liked the bus windows because of their elevation but car would do for now.

Heeseung was happy. Why? She didn't ask if she could open the window. It was a negligible thing. But he wasn't lying when he said he knew her. Before this, whenever they were going somewhere, she always asked him if she could open the windows. This meant that she was starting to do what she wanted instead of looking for permission or approval from them.

He sneaked a glance at her. The thin braids that Sunoo had made despite her multiple protests, sat prim and proper while the rest of her hair whipped around her face. She had a small smile on her face. And he saw her head move very slow to the beat inside her ears. So fucking pretty.

She was taking heed to his words. She was getting more and more comfortable with all of them together. There would be time for him to be jealous. But just not now. Right now, what mattered was that she accepted the prospect of all seeing all of them.

If the small gesture with the belt earlier wasn't a sign of it, he wasn't sure what else was. At least in an innocent way. He cleared his throat at the mental image of a not so innocent sign.

You need to calm down now. He thought.

They reached the center after some time. Leah checked her watch. 1 PM. Preferable reporting time was 1:30. They were parked a bit further down the lane to avoid unnecessary confrontations with any classmate. Heeseung prepared to get down.

"You can't come out, Hee." Leah said.

Heeseung raised an eyebrow at her. "Why not?"

"You know why." She looked at him with the smallest pout.

"But I want to take you to the gates." He frowned.

"You saying that is enough for me." And it was enough for her. She didn't like how careless he was being since the past few days. "I should leave now."