Collateral Love | Tao

Chapter 14

"Mom!" I flew down the stairs, "Mom!"

A few customers looked at me weird, "CJ, you're disturbing the customers."

"Mommy, my wrist, look," I held my bruised wrist out in front of me.

"Ah, honey. I can't take you to the doctor right now. Could you ask Sehun to take you?"

"What if they tell me it's broken or sprained? I can't play tennis."

"I guess you'll have to deal with it."

I groaned and tried to call Sehun, he didn't answer me though, so I left a frantic message, "Stop being ignoring me and listen for five seconds! I need you to take me to the doctor!"

He called me back, "Why? Do you think you're pregnant?"

"Knock it off, Sehun. I hurt my wrist."

"From what? Jerking off Mr. Huang?"

"I'm serious! I fell on the stairs because I was tired from working late."

"I'm not missing class to take you to the doctor," He hung up.

"He says he doesn't want to miss class."

She pulled some money from her wallet, "Here, take the bus. Be safe."

I hated taking the bus more than I hated how much of a jerk Sehun was being. I felt like I was being watched the entire bus ride, so I decided to look behind me before I got off. Big mistake. I recognized the guy from Tao's instagram yesterday. I wondered if he knew who I was. He probably would if he scrolled through Tao's instagram once, I posted a lot. Yesterday I posted a selfie with Amber and a selfie with Yixing. I kind of had an addiction.

When I turned back around I felt his eyes burn into me even more. When the bus came to a stop I got off as fast as I could. The doctor told me my wrist was broken, which only pissed me off more. To make my day even worse, my phone had disappeared from my backpack somehow. I was really starting to freak out about my phone being missing. What if it got into the wrong hands? I had some messages that could get me in huge trouble. The guy from Tao's instagram got back on the bus at a different stop, "Hey, you."

I pretended not to hear him.

"I'm talking to you, Jisoo."

"H-how do you know my name?"

"How do you think? Who's the only other person you know who calls you Jisoo?" I felt scared of him. He was super tall and had an intimidating look. Was he going to beat me up for breaking up with Tao? He reached for his back pocket and I feared he would pull a gun on me, which made me feel stupid when I jumped at the sight of my phone, "You dropped this. My name is Kris."

"Are you following me?"

"No, but it's ironic that I ran into you. Man, you should've seen Tao yesterday, it was kind of hysterical," He stifled a laugh, "He was sobbing and made him self sick drinking. What a mess."

"Keep your voice down, would ya? Do you want to get your buddy in trouble?" I exhaled, "Besides, I already feel bad enough, trust me."

"Then why'd you do it?"

"Because he's my teacher, genius. I don't want us to get in trouble."

He shrugged, "Life's short. I say do whatever you want."

"Is that why you're riding a bus instead of working?"

"Who says I'm not working? Maybe I'm a spy that's been hired to watch you."

"I doubt it. TaoTao has a lot of money, but not that much."

"TaoTao?" He laughed.

"Don't make fun of me!"

"Since we're good friends I gave him a discount."

"Huh?!"

"I'm just kidding."

"So where do you work then?"

"It's a secret."

"So you're unemployed?"

"No, it's just a secret."

I rolled my eyes as the bus rolled to my stop, I got off without saying another word to Kris. I made it back during first hour, "Uh, sorry I'm late, I had to go to the doctor," I held up my wrist and bowed slightly. Nobody else was in the classroom, "Where's everyone?"

"Assembly."

I sat in my desk, "Anything good?"

"Just academic awards from last school year. What happened?"

"I fell on the stairs last night."

He nodded, it felt strange to talk to him normally like this, "You should work on your project if you're going to be in here."

"Okay," I still hadn't really thought of anything to write about.

"By the way, sorry for the texts last night. I was a little drunk."

"Um, it's okay," More than a little judging by what Kris told me. I shifted awkwardly in my seat, "Did you hear that principle Kim is installing cameras everywhere?"

"You're not going to let that stop you, right?" He peeked above his glasses and smiled.

"I'll find a way around it, somehow."

"I have a friend that's a hacker."

"Kris?"

"You know Kris? How?"

"I met him on the bus. I dropped my phone out of my bag and he returned it to me."

"He probably stole it out of your bag."

"Why?" I opened my phone and nothing seemed deferent.

"Check the music store."

I opened the music store and found that every song was now free, "Woah! How'd he do that? Why'd he do that?"

Tao shrugged, "Recognized you. It was a random act of kindness."

"You asked him to do that, didn't you?"

He smiled again, "You'll never know."

I shook my head with a laugh, "Huang Zitao, I'll never get over you."

"I'll never get over you either. So let's not, until we can be together again."

I missed him, even though he was right in front of me. It still felt like he was so far out of my grasp. I missed cuddling with him in front of his desk, or on his couch. I missed him putting in a horror movie just so I would hide my face in his chest when I was scared. I missed his love. I missed him.