Butterfly Effect | Han Taesan

31.

Saneuleul's Story

Saneul's DM's was flooded with messages of concern and encouragement the moment she posted on her story.

Clicking on the story views, a pang of sadness hit her hard. His username situated at the very top. He saw her post, in fact, he was the first to see it.

No. Now is not the time to be thinking about him Saneul. Get a grip on yourself.

It was the start of the new semester and she was not ready to face anyone. Not even her friends. With how often she used to meet Taesan after school, the sudden missing presence was bound to be noticed by the other students. She did not want anymore rumors to be spread, she just wanted to live her life peacefully.

The lonely journey to school felt foreign. Reminiscing the days she spent waiting for the boy to appear in front of her apartment as she rushes to get ready for school. His annoyed expression laced with affection every time he watches her run around her room in panic engraved in her mind.

The many times she would mess with him, exclaiming that they missed their bus in such a panicked manner that he would actually get worried and check the bus timings only for the girl to laugh at him.

Saneul was too lost thinking about the past to notice Taesan entering the bus at his regular stop. He too was busy staring at the ground lost in his own thoughts to realise she was in the same bus as him.

Suddenly the sudden jerk of the bus broke the two of them out of their trance. Looking up from her seat, she made eye contact with him and suddenly she felt the urge to break the window next to her and jump out onto the street. She wasn't ready to face him. 2 weeks without seeing him or contacting him was the most painful 2 weeks of her life.

Forcing a smile, she gave him a subtle head nod acknowledging his presence before proceeding to stare out the window ignoring him. That hurt him more than he thought it would. She was so kind to him.

After hurting her she was still so kind as to even smile in his direction. Oh how he missed that smile. If he could turn back time, he would. But the immense guilt he felt from breaking his promises overpowered everything. He knew he didn't deserve her smiles but in that moment he wished she would continue staring at him, smiling like she always did.

When the bus stopped at their school, she quickly got out of her seat and headed to the exit. However with everyone rushing for the exit, Saneul was pushed back, resulting in her to losing her balance, falling backwards.

She closed her eyes to embrace the impact, but instead, an arm was quick to wrap around her waist, pulling her to bump into a hard chest.

"Be careful..." the person whispered. She caught a whiff of his cologne from the close distance. A whisper and scent she could never forget.

She refused to turn around. She knew that if she were to see his face up close, she would immediately break down. She was not about to ruin her $88 foundation and $50 mascara before class starts.