bodyguard || heejake

chapter seventeen

it's been a week and i still had yet to even interact with heeseung. the thought of it terrifies me and yes, i've already messaged him beforehand that i could walk myself to school. it was kind of a downgrade but i had to do what i had to do.

unfortunately for me, i did mention that i'd only need a couple of days to decide and it's already past the deadline. i locked eyes with heeseung who was standing at my locker.

i gulped. this definitely wasn't good. i tried to act as nonchalant as possible when i dragged my feet towards him.

"hi?" i started. well this was weird.

"have you made your mind up yet?" he asked with desperation shown vividly on his face. it made me feel quite proud that i had that effect on him but i probably shouldn't get too ahead of myself.

"...can you give me another week?"

he looked as if he would die if i didn't give him an answer right this second. "i will literally get down on my knees and beg if i have to, sim jaeyun."

i raised an eyebrow and decided to test it. "go on then. i might consider it." what i didn't expect was for him to actually comply. when he started lowering himself, i hurriedly stopped him and grabbed his arms.

that probably wasn't the best decision as time slowed around us. my hands were still on his as i stared at him. my senses came back and i let go of him when i realised.

now we were standing next to each other in uncomfortable silence as we waited for the others to arrive here. oh, why did i have to leave my house so early?

our friends walked up to us and noticed the tension between us, nobody saying a word. only jungwon and sunoo knew what had happened and i wasn't sure if heeseung had told anyone.

"i'm gonna go to my lesson," i blurted off and rushed off. never in my life would i go through that painful experience again.

"hey jake!" felix waved me over to where him and his one of his friends were. i walked up to them with a thin smile.

"hi guys," i said.

he was with hyunjin, i think his name was. they both had insane face cards which i couldn't take my eyes off of. we caught up on each other's lives and i was surprised to hear that sooha now had no friends and that she sat by herself at lunch in shame, not daring to speak to anyone after the incident. i felt like this was my fault and decided to go to her at lunch.

~

i didn't know why i was nervous but my palms were sweating when i approached her. i went straight after my lesson so my friends couldn't question me. sooha was alone on a bench, scrolling through her phone. i could see that she hadn't been sleeping well, with eye bags and messy hair.

"sooha?" i hesitantly asked.

this made her look up in surprise. now i could definitely see how much she changed in the span of a month. her makeup used to always be caked on but now her face was completely bare.

"jake.." she said slowly, dragging my name. "why are you here?"

"can i sit here?" i pointed at the space next to her on the bench and she just nodded. i could see the confusion in her expression; maybe it was because no one had tried to talk to her after that, apart from all the gossiping.

i sat down and formed a coherent sentence in my head. "how have you been?"

all she did was let out a bitter laugh. "what does it look like?"

i looked down and felt sympathy for her. the reason she was like this was partly because of me. maybe i could make things right with her. "we've both done the wrong things to each other and i would like to apologise."

"oh.." she drifted off. "i guess i apologise too."

i offered her a small smile and stretched my hand out for her to shake which she obliged. "we should forget the past."

she looked dumbfounded but still agreed. we came to a compromise where we would acknowledge each other in the hallways and during classes, since i didn't trust her enough to be on the friendship basis. i felt like i was making progress with hopefully becoming less hated by half the school.

i left to go find my friends who instantly bombarded me with questions.

"where did you go?" sunoo wondered.

"heeseung was worrying about you," ni-ki smirked smugly.

"no, i wasn't! i was just doing my job as his bodyguard," heeseung defended himself hastily. with newfound information that he liked me, i knew it was probably untrue but i didn't comment on that.

i wasn't sure if i should lie or tell them the truth but they deserved to know. "just sooha."

"sooha? you mean the bitch that heeseung humbled?" jay said, disgusted.

"well.. i wouldn't put it like that but yeah. we just talked things out and decided to start over," i informed them.

however, they didn't take this well like i expected them to. heeseung looked furious. "are you serious? after what she did to you?."

"i know, but she said sorry," i frowned. i really hated it when people didn't like me.

jungwon crossed his arms. "well not everyone's gonna like you so focus on the people who actually care about you. we're right here!" he pointed to the group and i sighed inwardly. they would never understand.

"i don't know. i want to give her one more chance. if she does something bad, i'll end it," i tried to negotiate but they wouldn't have it.

"it's your own choice," sunghoon claimed. "but we're telling you now, it's the wrong decision."

"more like a deathbed," ni-ki muttered.

"she's probably gonna take advantage of you!" sunoo added.

"we'll see," i ended the conversation at that, not in the mood for this discussion. however, heeseung pulled me aside so we were in private.

"what now?" i spoke.

"listen. i know you think that sooha has changed but i'm being serious, you don't know her like i do," he attempted to explain.

i crossed my arms. "and how do you know her?"

"i told you i dated her for like three months. she's bad news, trust me jake."

"second chances exist."

"not with her! i gave her so many chances in the past and she stayed the same. she's going to manipulate you until she separates us," he basically shouted.

"if i make the wrong choice, then i'll know that i was wrong and you can say you told me so."

i walked away before he got the chance to stop me. maybe i was letting sooha off lightly but people change, right?

~

A/N: i'm so mad at jake but then again i understand him since i'm a people pleaser too 🥲