Strange Hearts || Heeseung

5

Exhausted, Yuju leaned against the window. She wanted to sleep, very much so. Sometimes she thinks that less sleep would kill her faster than her heart. But now for something else: Who voluntarily comes to school at 6 a.m.?

Yuju simply couldn't fall asleep after visiting her neighbor, which is why she left for school at 5:30, an hour earlier than usual. And now she's sitting in an empty room, probably the only one in school with the janitor.

"Hey, invisible girl," Yuju opened her eyes in surprise and saw Heeseung sitting in front of her. He grinned at her.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. Yuju looked at him thoughtfully. Should she start a conversation with him now? With the school playboy?

"Hello, I'm talking to you," Heeseung nudged her foot with his foot.

"Just like that," said Yuju, looking out the window. She was definitely not going to tell him about her illness now. But he didn't seem satisfied with her answer.

"Nice photo, isn't it?" He held yesterday's photo up to her eyes. Yuju wanted to reach for her phone, but Heeseung stood up and Yuju lay flat on her desk. Exhausted, she lay there and didn't move. She was far too tired for that.

"Invisible girl, what's wrong with you?" Heeseung knelt down next to her and looked for her face, but it was hidden by her voluminous hair. Yuju still didn't move and lay there with her eyes closed.

"You're weird," Heeseung laughed and sat down on his chair. Another thing annoyed Yuju. Why did he sit wherever he wanted?

"Why are you sitting here all of a sudden? You weren't sitting in your seat yesterday either," she muttered, and Heeseung heard her loud and clear. He turned to her and saw her still lying half on her desk with her hair scattered around her. A small smile formed on his lips.

"No one will mind," he said mockingly. True, he was the most popular boy in school and everyone hoped for even the slightest contact with him. But why was he suddenly interacting with Yuju?

"Why are you talking to me about—," but before Yuju could say anything, Heeseung pushed her head down onto her desk so that her face made contact with her math notebook.

"Sleep, you haven't had enough sleep," he said and turned to his cell phone. Yuju listened to him and lay tiredly on her desk. She closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep before class started.

A few minutes passed, or maybe an hour, and Yuju thought about everything under the sun. About her illness, which prevented her from sleeping, or her sick heart, which meant she could die at any second. Yuju would have died three times already if Mr. Sim hadn't saved her. Mr. Sim is a very good doctor, and it's because of him that Yuju is still alive. But for how much longer?

--------------

It was the first long break, and Yuju was walking around the new development area. It was still off-limits, but she didn't care; the teachers were all sitting in the staff room with their coffee anyway. Yuju took out her cell phone, but someone snatched it out of her hand.

"Hey!" she shouted and confronted the person. It was Lee Heeseung again. He held her cell phone up so that she couldn't steal it from him. He typed something, which scared Yuju. She tried to grab it, but Heeseung was much too tall and had much too long arms.

"Here," he said and gave her back her cell phone. Stressed, Yuju looked at her display, where she saw a new contact. Lee Heeseung. Confused, Yuju raised an eyebrow.

"My number, and if you dare to block it, your beautiful picture will be published," he provoked her. Offended, Yuju put her cell phone away.

"Don't you have anything better to do than walk around this new development?" Heeseung asked.

"Don't you have anything better to do than talk to me?" Yuju asked in return. Heeseung leaned sideways against a wall and looked at Yuju. Embarrassed, Yuju looked away.

"You're right," he said and walked past her to the exit. Confused, Yuju stared after him.

"See you later, invisible girl," he laughed and jumped out of one of the unfinished windows. Yuju ran to the window and looked down, but Lee Heeseung was already on his way to his friends. Besides, the distance from the window to the ground wasn't that great, not for someone of Heeseung's height, so why had Yuju been worried?

Before Heeseung reached his friends, he turned to her and grinned, giving her the peace sign.

"Pff, show-off," Yuju laughed and sat down on the floor. She would also like to be able to run fast or do sports, but she's not allowed to. If she overexerts herself, it's bad for her.

"This stupid heart," Yuju looked at the place where her heart was and wished that one day she would find out that she was healthy.