Pick A Side

Part 4

You had swapped your photograph on the photo wall to a new one – a shattered window in the night, the street lights filtering through in wildly refracted ways. In fact, it was just one of the broken windows on the first floor of the school dorms, but through the viewfinder, it looked wry and distorted. An entire week passed, and then there was a post-it stuck to the corner of your photograph again:

"A sound of something breaking
I awake from sleep
A sound full of unfamiliarity
Try to cover my ears but can't go to sleep"

The words dug deep into you, especially after what happened a few days ago.

—

That lesson came and went again. The professor had instructed Hyesoo to split the class into groups for the next assignment. At the end of the class, you waited for Haejoong to submit the assignment to Hyesoo together; it was a convenient enough excuse to not face her alone. The two of you were one of the last to go to her.

"Haejoong, seems like you are close to Y/N in class, I'll put you in the same group as her then", Hyesoo smiled charismatically at him, as she took in Haejoong's report.

"And Y/N...", she smirks again, "I think you will enjoy your project very much, you should really thank me for grouping the both of you together with Taehyung and Jihyun, since you guys hang out all the time."

It was not surprising but still irritating that she would abuse her power as the teaching assistant in this way and your expression must have been a tad too obvious.

"What's with the face? Didn't you always like being in the same group as Taehyung. I was still hoping to receive a 'thank you' for helping you with this", she scorned.

You knew what she was hinting at, and you couldn't believe her childishness for being still hung up over something that happened more than a year ago. This is a fight you can never win. But the considerate guy standing next to you was not prepared to let it slide. "Do you want to swap with someone?", Haejoong asked you, while Hyesoo side-eyed him in anticipation, waiting for him to challenge her directly.

"Y/N...", Jihyun's voice came out of nowhere. She walked over, Taehyung trailing behind her, "... don't ask to swap groups please."

There was a serious urge to roll your eyes at her feeble demand but Jihyun continued talking, "You don't want to hear our explanations, that's fine, we won't force you to. But you just stopped talking to us, left the painting club and now you want to swap out of the project group because of us? I don't want people to think that we are...

"That you are what?", you squinted a little, taunting her to complete her statement.

"That you know... we are...", Jihyun was dragging out her words, perhaps reluctant to say it herself.

"Why do you keep saying 'we'? Does Taehyung share the same sentiments?", it was even refreshing to yourself, that you were able to say such things now that you were no longer afraid of being branded as the petty other half.

Jihyun could only wonder why Taehyung had no response, did he not hear you, did he not want to support her? She always thought that Taehyung will take her side but what's with him now?

There probably isn't another situation more complicated and full-circle than this.

Haejoong glared at Hyesoo, annoyed that she is taking advantage of her position as the TA; Hyesoo sneers at you, just because she never liked you in the first place; you looked at Jihyun in confusion, wondering if there was a sliver of yourself that you saw in her, now that she is assuming the role of the 'petty' girlfriend; Jihyun in turn glowers at Taehyung, finding it increasingly difficult to swallow his lack of support for her yet again; and Taehyung, just trying his best to pierce Haejoong's face with his stare, bothered by his constant presence next to you.