Strange Hearts || Heeseung

6

"I don't need a receipt," Yuju said quickly and ran out of the convenience store. Her social energy was depleted for the day. First, she had small talk with Heeseung, then she worked at the café for three hours, and now the saleswoman had also engaged Yuju in conversation.

Thirsty, Yuju wanted to open her strawberry milk, but before she could, her phone vibrated. Who could it be, she wondered. Her only contacts were her sister, Sim Jaeyun, and her doctor. She checked to see who had texted her and saw him. Oh yes, Lee Heeseung was still in her contacts.

Reluctantly and feeling compelled, she opened the message and saw what he had written to her.

Lee Heeseung: Come to the Han River,

you know what will happen

if you refuse.

"Is he crazy?" Yuju wondered as she read the message again. What did the school playboy suddenly want from her? She wondered if she should do it. It was already 7 o'clock and it was slowly getting dark.

"Damn it!" Yuju cursed to herself and stomped to the bus stop, which was not far away. The Han River was a bit far from where she was, so she had to take the bus. It arrived and she got on.

Secretly, she hoped that Heeseung would drop his phone, Yuju would grab it and delete the photo. If he continued to manipulate her like this, it would end badly for her.

Tired, she looked out the window. Besides her, there was an old woman sitting on the bus. Yuju was still holding her strawberry milk, which she no longer felt like drinking.

The bus stopped and Yuju made her way to the Han River. She arrived and looked around. There was no sign of Heeseung anywhere. Had he tricked her?

"There you are," Yuju was startled and turned around. He was standing right behind her, grinning widely. He was dressed all in black and wore a black cap.

"Get to the point," Yuju said, crossing her arms. She had little desire for him, just as little as she had for his manipulations. He was just a playboy who had used her to avoid being expelled from school.

Suddenly, he took her by the hand and pulled her to a bench, where they sat down. Yuju tried not to let on that she felt uncomfortable with the situation. Only when she tried to look at Heeseung did she realize that he had noticed.

"Are you uncomfortable?" he asked, concerned. Yuju nodded briefly and hoped she could leave, but instead he sat even closer to her, which frightened her. He laughed and then sat a meter away from her.

"Idiot," Yuju thought to herself and stared at the Han River.

"What did you want from me?" she asked again, looking at him. But when he answered her, he didn't give her a single glance.

"Nothing," he said, looking at the Han River too. Yuju wanted to get up and leave, but just then Heeseung continued:

"Just spending time"

Yuju sat down again and thought about it. Then she was just something to combat boredom.

Suddenly, Yuju felt a pain in her chest. She touched it and tried to make it go away somehow. She squinted her eyes and tried to ignore the pain. But it became so unbearable that she had to take a deep breath and fell off the bench.

"Invisible girl, what's wrong with you?" asked Heeseung, sitting down on the floor next to her. She looked into his eyes with pain, which looked different than usual. Usually he looked cool or arrogant, but at that moment she saw concern. Where did that come from all of a sudden?

He grabbed her arm and shook it so that Yuju could answer him. Only then did she notice that she had a few pills in her jacket pocket. She quickly grabbed them and swallowed them. She paused for a moment and the pain subsided.

She stood up and wiped her sweaty forehead as if nothing had happened. Heeseung was still sitting in the same spot, looking at Yuju in disbelief.

"I forgot to take my vitamin B pills, that's why I was so scared," Yuju lied, forcing a smile. Heeseung laughed briefly and stood up.

"You're weird," he said and was about to leave when Yuju took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket.

"YAH"

She ran along the Han River and tried to unlock Heeseung's cell phone with all possible character codes. When one suddenly worked, she was pulled back by her hood and slammed her back against Heeseung's torso.

His right hand was wrapped around her, while his other hand tried to take the cell phone from Yuju.

"Let me go," Yuju squealed, but Heeseung snatched the cell phone from her hand. He checked to see if the picture was still there and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was. He still had Yuju in a half-hug, and she was trying to get out of his hands.

"Stay here, madam," Heeseung's focus was now entirely on Yuju. He turned her toward him and put his hands on her shoulders so she couldn't run away.

"Starting tomorrow, every day during the first break, you will bring me sushi to the new development area, do we understand each other?" He looked at her seriously. Yuju was offended that she had failed in her mission.

"Invisible girl, answer me!"

Yuju nodded sleepily and looked down. She was close to tears; she didn't feel like doing this anymore.

"Are you crying?" Lee Heeseung touched her head, which had dropped. Yuju lifted her head and smiled provocatively at him.

"Good," he ruffled her hair and headed off in the other direction. Suddenly, Yuju had a question:

"What do you need the teachers' room key for?" She knew he was a troublemaker, but maybe there was another reason.

"You'll see," Heeseung gave her one last grin before disappearing into the darkness. In fact, it was already around 8:30.

Annoyed, Yuju turned around and made her way home. Now she had found a bully without telling him about her illness.

Suddenly, she felt pain in her chest again. But it was even worse than a few minutes ago. Yuju clutched her heart and sat down on the ground, overcome with weakness. It hurt, a lot.

"Girl, are you okay?" Yuju heard an old woman call out. It was the woman from the bus. But Yuju couldn't think any further because she fell into darkness.