"I know who your crush is." You choked on a piece of grape and instantly gasped for air. His taunting laughter immediately beamed through the other side of the line.
Moments later in a timed remark, he added in amusement. "You okay there, babe?"
You...
"Have you ever admitted to a mistake? Learned to let go? Willed yourself to heal from your wounds? Told yourself to be a better person? To forget the past and focus on the present?"
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The neighbourhood was silent and peaceful, all the inhibitants already tucked into bed and drifting off to sleep.
You couldn't relate.
It was bad enough that you came down with a fever that afternoon after you just returned home from school. You just had to feel like puking our your dinner on your bedroom floor. Which, considering how sick you felt, could be at any moment.
You stared up at the ceiling, feeling room spinning all around you. Everytime you closed your eyes, that uncomfortable feeling seemed to amplify and you felt as if your body was the one floating in the air.
How sick am I? You cursed unintelligently in your head and shifted from laying on your right side to your left. Your skin felt hot and cold at once and it irritated you so much.
Maybe it was because of the PE class this morning? You had spent a whole hour under the hot weather, running laps around the school field. Perhaps you forgot to drink enough water after that?
Relenting, you decided the only thing you could do was to skip school tomorrow so you could spend some time at home to rest. You closed your eyes and tried to focus on going to sleep rather than the pounding in your head and the feeling of undigested food shooting up your throat.
Your phone buzzed repeatedly on your nightstand and you peeled an eye open, shifting your head to the side just a little bit to see who it was. Then, swiping the accept button up, you placed the call on speaker.
"Hello?"
"Niel, hey," you breathed, trying your best to sound like you were normal. "Is something wrong?"
"Just calling to make sure you were okay since you weren't replying to my messages all day. Are you okay?"
You licked your dried lips. "Y-Yeah. Just tired from school this morning. I had a lot of assignments to finish up so I couldn't reply to you. I'm sorry."
"No, no. It's fine. You don't have to apologise," Daniel said, flustered. "Just take some rest. I hope you'll feel better tomorrow."
"Thanks, Niel," you answered. "Good night."
"Good night, Sol."
When the call ended, you plopped down onto your pillow in exhaustion.
Your thoughts unconsciously drifted off to Jihoon and the day you brought him and Daniel out with you at the same time. Their usual bright demeanour around each other had surely changed. They weren't so close anymore. If anything they looked like they even resented being in each other's presence.
To think... that you were the reason things turned out the way it was between them now. It made you feel even worse, both physically and mentally.
They didn't deserve that at all. As much as you wanted to think that it wasn't your fault and they both made their own decisions, the last arrow of the long mind map you made in your head still pointed to you as the cause of their broken friendship.
