popular | kim jungwoo

two

as usual, the school day passed by painstakingly slowly. and as usual, i had to walk home alone.

you'd think that by now, i'd already gotten used to the feeling of loneliness, being put through it almost the whole day every single day.

but, sometimes, i still find myself glancing at the different cliques in my class as they make their way to the canteen for lunch, shamelessly hoping that one day one of them would be nice enough to invite me to sit with them during lunch.

plugging on my earbuds, i turned my phone to the maximum volume and took a deep breath, inwardly smiling to myself.

maybe i have gotten used to the feeling of loneliness after all?

just as that thought came into my head, i felt a tugging sensation at my ears. my earbuds were being pulled out from my ears.

i whipped my head around in a mixture of annoyance and confusion, and was straight up about to attack whoever destroyed my peace and tranquility.

"what the f-"

"oh, my bad! i didn't mean to mean to scare you! i was calling your name but you couldn't hear me, so i just.. you know."

there stood a person i'd never expected to see at that time, and also a person i'd never expected to be talking to me out of school. or talking to me at all.

"..jungwoo? why are you.."

"you left your chemistry textbook in class. we have a test coming up so i thought that you'll probably need to revise for it soon."

he handed the thick book over to me, and i accepted it with a soft 'thanks'.

..so awkward..

"so.. i'll be going home now.. thanks for giving me my textbook. goodbye."

i glanced to my side, expecting to see his back view, but instead, i was more than surprised to see him walking in the same direction as me.

"h-huh?"

"my house is in this direction, too."

"oh.. sorry. but how come i've never seen you around here before?"

"i just moved here a couple days ago. my parents wanted me to stay closer to the school."

"oh.. then, let's.. go?"

the atmosphere surrounding the two of us was so painfully awkward that it was difficult to keep my legs from running away on their own.

our footsteps moved in sync with each other, and i started to walk a little slower so that it wouldn't be the case anymore.

jungwoo seemed to notice it, and for a reason unknown to me, he slowed down his pace as well.

i mumbled a 'what the fuck?' to myself, and tried to discreetly quicken my footsteps. it would take way too long for me to get home if i continue walking this slowly.

"wait," i stopped abruptly in my steps,

"how did you know that it was my textbook? i didn't write my name on it."

"uh, i-"

the sudden honk of a car shocked the both of us into a state of oblivion. i hadn't realised that we'd been walking right in the middle of the road the entire time.

i pulled jungwoo by his sleeve, towards the side of the road, and watched as the black van drove past us.

the side window of the van rolled down, revealing a male who seemed to be around the same age as us.

he wore a different uniform from us, one i've never seen before.

"wow, jungwoo. a new one, already? you're really something."

he chuckled dryly, his eyes moving from jungwoo to me.

his eyes were big. if his gaze wasn't so intimidating, i would've called them pretty.

"let's go, eun-ae."

his voice sounded different from usual, and the way he walked away without even sparing another look or giving a reply to the person inside the van, weirdly sparked my interest.