𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 ✓

you.

"you what?" 

Jihye exclaims in disbelief, 

her eyes becoming the size of dinner plates.

"hey, hey, hey, i can explain," Nari pleads, 

"this happened last year, remember? 

last spring, around April-ish."

"yeah, of course, i do. 

you wouldn't stop gushing over him, 

so much so that you were failing like every class," 

Jihye cheekily snickers, 

a smile finally spread across her face 

which causes the corners of Nari's mouth to turn up slightly too, 

but only to drop again.

"yeah, that. as much as i hate to say this, 

i loved him more than i did myself.

"silence hangs over the two of them like a thick, 

awkward blanket. 

Jihye studies the way Nari's forehead wrinkles up 

as if she's recalling bad memories that she's hidden away from her psyche.

"but the end came sooner than i thought," 

her voice cracks a little, 

and the tears start pooling in her eyes again 

"he was just the guy i tried convincing myself he wasn't. 

just a stupid player who finds pleasure in breaking others. 

they're all the same Jihye, every one of them. 

they're all the same."Nari ends sadly, her voice drifting off. 

she lets her tears silently roll down her face 

as she's numb to the pain 

and hurt she feels inside. 

Jihye can't look her in the eyes anymore. 

all this time, she was just trynna protect me.

Nari dries her face with the sleeve of her shirt 

and with a shaky breath, she continues,

"no matter what you think, they'll all be the same. 

all guys are the same."

the room gets quiet, really quiet. 

so quiet, Jihye can hear the sound of cars moving along down on the road, 

the rumble of the vents, 

and the chatter of students moving out of the building. 

she takes in a shaky breath and lets the dry, fuzzy air fill her tired lungs. 

"thank you, Nari. 

thank you for trying to protect me. 

thank you for saving me from an even more devastating heartbreak. 

i should've known better. 

i should've listened to you."

she gets up and dusts off her skirt.

Jihye extends her hand towards Nari like a sign of peace, surrendering her grief to herself.

Nari looks back at her best friend with glistening, 

sad eyes and down at her hand. 

she clamps her hand onto Jihye's 

and Jihye pulls her up and into another hug.

Jihye pats Nari's back soothingly.

"don't cry, don't cry. it's in the past now. he can't hurt you now. everything will be okay. everything will go back to the way it was."

Nari hiccups and sniffles while Jihye continues to pat her soothingly. 

i don't need a boy. i have my family, my friends, Nari, and myself. what more can i possibly ask for?

"let's get to the bus stop now, we don't want cranky Ms. Kim to yell at us again," 

she says with a cheeky smile and snickers.

Nari pulls away from the hug and gives her friend a small chuckle. 

the brightness and adolescent-like joy returns to her face.

"for once, you're right. c'mon let's go!" 

Nari sarcastically replies. 

Jihye grabs Nari's wrist 

and leads her out of the room joking and laughing again. 

leaving the mess of heartbreak and unrequited love behind and in the past. 

somethings are just meant to be abandoned, but others are too precious to ever be forgotten. 

-

woohoo! this is the end! sorry if it sucks, i will be definitely coming back and editing it some more! but thank you all so much for reading and voting! and the number of reads and votes are insane to me wow, tyasm ily! :) anyways, there'll be a short little a/n coming soon to just sum some things up and kinda close this book up! again, thank you all so so much for reading! ♡♡