swxtched. | jhs

BETTER OFF DEAD

❝ when she's all alone in her room, she cries; the way she feels inside is too much for her. ❞
(prepare yourselves)

•

HAVING NEVER BEEN to Hoseok's house, Namjoon noiselessly observed the house and his companion, the girl he's liked possibly a month since school started.

When he first met her, he noticed her prosthetic arm. It intrigued him and actually made him research about it, but he never asked her about it. The topic spread so negatively at their school that he could only assume that bringing it up would hurt her.

He didn't understand how people disliked Green though, besides the fact that she spontaneously dated Jung Hoseok, the beloved senior. If they got to know her even a little bit, Green was actually clever with a lot of wit, and also thoughtful. Not thoughtful in the way that she thought of other people, but more in the way that she thought outside of herself often.

Abstract thinking was a sign of maturity and intelligence, two things that Namjoon found attractive. He liked complex girls disguised in simple appearances.

On the rare occasions he spotted her in casual clothes outside of school, Green wore simple clothes with basic colors— sweaters, leggings, converses, flip flops, often with a baseball cap— never wearing jewelry or styling her hair for prom everyday or caking her face in makeup. This could be because all of those tasks were easier with two skillful hands, but something about her told him that she never liked dressing up much anyway.

She was raw, with dark, short hair and dark, beady eyes, cracked thin lips, porcelain skin, and very Korean. Very, very Korean. Her English attempts were cute and they amused him often.

He liked her smile and laugh the most. It was mostly due to Hoseok that he was lucky to be the recipient of Green's supposed-to-be rare expressions and noises. Her voice sounded like a melody, even if she sometimes criticized it for being monotonous.

Namjoon thought she was beautiful inside out.

But she was dating Hoseok.

Neither Namjoon nor Green knew if Hoseok even liked her back.

While he was zoned out, Green had a talk with Hoseok's distressed mother. Hoseok's mom was pleasantly surprised to see her, and apologized for not contacting her sooner.

"Hoseok's in the hospital?" he heard Green choke out, snapping him out of his trance and concernedly scanning over her to catch her dumbfounded face. She was impressively frozen still, waiting for Hoseok's mother to continue.

"Yes. He was in a coma since about three weeks ago because he slipped and knocked his head on the table in the living room. He's rambunctious, but not that rambunctious. But he woke up this morning," she explained, voice cracking, eyes dull and not sparkling with mirth and life as it usually did. "My daughter Jiwoo-ah is coming to pick me up and head on over to see him. She's Hoseokie's older sister. You're welcome to come with us."

She continued to express her gratitude that Green thought of Hoseok and came over, when Namjoon regarded how Green was handling all of this. As expected, she was shaken a bit from this information and accepted the mother's offer, but unexpectedly, she turned to him and asked if he could join her.

"I know that this is a lot to ask, since you might be home late at this rate," Green breathed out in concern, rubbing her right arm where flesh met plastic at the elbow.

He nodded understandably, hesitating for a moment, before nodding again. "I'll come with you."

The rest was a blur for him, really. Within ten minutes, Hoseok's sister Jiwoo dropped by, and they exchanged quick greetings, Green's arm momentarily ignored, before he hopped into her car. A stranger's car. Driving off to see his crush's boyfriend.