• playing with fire | chaeyu au

• chapt. 16 | i'm here, always

all night, chaeyoung laid awake staring at her ceiling. tzuyu was just sick, nothing to worry about and yet, she found herself wondering if the brunette had enough to eat, drink, and had been getting a good amount of rest. her feelings were getting the best of her, something chaeyoung didn't particularly like. if it was anyone, chaeyoung wouldn't have minded showing affection to someone she took interest in, but tzuyu was different. she didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing. instead of letting herself ponder about it anymore, she shut her eyes and drifted silently to sleep.

*•*•*•*

chaeyoung had her eyes on the door - waiting. momo told her that she would be here today, lets hope that she was right. the red haired girl actually ended up coming to class earlier than expected, hoping to see the one and only.

come on tzuyu, come on, the girl thought.

she licked her lips anxiously as she waited for the girl to just walk straight in with a smile on her face like she usually did with sana. although, that wasn't the case.

"chae, are you okay?" dahyun asked, wondering why her best friend had her eyes trained at the door. all chaeyoung did was nod. she saw sana walk in, but she was by herself. this made the younger girl's heart sink.

chaeyoung squinted her eyes, what the hell?

the minute bell rang, signaling that they had exactly one minute left to get to class, otherwise they would be counted tardy. chaeyoung counted down the seconds and when there were only twenty seconds left, chaeyoung's eyes lit up.

tzuyu walked in wearing dark blue jeans, her black vans, and a cute dark blue sweater. the brunette's hair hung over her eyes and that was when chaeyoung realized that the girl was wearing shades. wearing shades, in school?

"miss tzuyu," miss dilaurentis called out to the taller brunette. the girl made her way over to the teacher and since chaeyoung was seating in the back with dahyun and jihyo, she couldn't exactly hear anything that the teacher was saying. "would you mind taking off your shades please?"

tzuyu worriedly glanced around the room as she shook her head. "i don't think thats a good idea miss," she said with a whimper. miss dilaurentis, clearly thrown off, squinted her eyes.

"okay, would you mind telling me why that is so?"

the girl stopped for a moment. she swallowed hard, trying to blink away some tears that were threatening to fall. thanks to the shades, it shielded her eyes away from her worried teacher. "please, i-i can't."

miss dilaurentis just stared at her broken student, knowing that she had hit a nerve with tzuyu. she felt a bit guilty and didn't want to push anything if the younger girl was not ready to share. she nodded her head and said, "yes of course. just know you can talk to me about anything."

tzuyu just nodded and turned around to find a place to sit. sana smiled at her and waved for tzuyu to come sit next to her - a usual permanent spot in the class. but to her surprise, tzuyu just looked away and sat somewhere far away from both sana and chaeyoung. the blonde turned around to look at chaeyoung with questioning eyes. the shorter girl just shrugged as she watched tzuyu set her stuff down and listen as the teacher begin to start her lesson.

something was very off. tzuyu clearly wasn't sick anymore, so what was the deal now? why was she acting so strange? chaeyoung was used to the gentle smile she had when she walked into the room. she was familiar with the way she accompanied sana and the two laughing at a joke one of them said. point is, everyday tzuyu was different than the current one right now, and chaeyoung was about to find out more.