☀️ Sunoo's POV
I was buried in my notebook, scribbling down the last few details of our lesson when Ji-wu's voice broke through my concentration. "Hey, Sunoo!" she chirped, her smile bright and cheerful. She had her two friends with her, all of them radiating excitement.
I looked up, returning her smile out of politeness. "Yeah?"
"We're planning to go out tomorrow since it's Saturday. We saw this new café that just opened up. Want to join us?" Ji-wu asked, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
I hesitated, my gaze drifting around the room as I considered her offer. "Uh, well... I'm probably going to be busy tomorrow. I need to review our lessons."
"Come on! It'll be fun. You can always review after," she urged, her smile never faltering.
A soft sigh escaped my lips. "Okay, fine," I agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than genuine interest. We weren't really close, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
Ji-wu beamed at my response, and just as I nodded, I noticed Heeseung approaching us from across the room. His expression was as blank as ever, his gaze fixed on the three girls standing in front of me. Something in his eyes made the air around us grow tense.
"What are you looking at?!" Ji-wu snapped at him, her tone defensive.
Without a word, Heeseung reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to my feet before I could even react. The suddenness of his actions caused my pen to slip from my fingers, clattering to the floor. I instinctively started to reach for it, but Heeseung's grip tightened as he tugged me out of the room, my heart racing as I stumbled after him.
I was too stunned to speak, too confused to fully grasp what was happening. The world blurred around me until Heeseung finally stopped at a corner, far from the prying eyes of our classmates. The hallway was eerily quiet, the only sound the faint buzz of the school's fluorescent lights.
"W-what?" I managed to stammer out as he gently pressed me against the wall, his hands gripping my arms just firmly enough to hold me in place.
Heeseung didn't respond right away. Instead, he just stared at me, his eyes dark and intense, filled with something I couldn't quite decipher.
"Don't go," Heeseung's voice broke the silence, his tone laced with a subtle urgency that immediately caught my attention.
I blinked, surprised by the sudden command. "Huh?"
"Tomorrow... with Ji-wu... Just don't," he repeated, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at me, searching for something in my expression.
Confused, I tilted my head, trying to make sense of his words. "Why? She seems nice. We'll probably get along."
Heeseung let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair as if trying to gather his thoughts. "Sunoo..."
"What? Is there something wrong?" I asked, feeling a strange knot in my stomach. The way he was acting—so out of character, so tense—was making me uneasy.
He looked away, his jaw clenched as he tried to find the right words. "It's just... Ugh... Fine... Before Ji-wu asked you to come, I overheard her talking to her friends. They wanted to invite you so they could ditch you, then make fun of you. They're not going tomorrow."
His words hung in the air like a heavy weight, and for a moment, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What?" My voice came out as a whisper, disbelief lacing every syllable. "You probably misheard them."
"Sunoo..." Heeseung's tone was softer now, almost pleading. His eyes searched mine, trying to convey something deeper than words.
But I shook my head, trying to brush off the unease that was gnawing at me. "Please... It's probably going to be alright," I insisted, though my voice wavered with uncertainty.
