All Because Of her || A WenRene Novel

Lost In Thought - [Irene]

My name is Irene Bae. I live in Seoul with my mother. We discovered my father having an affair with some American woman a year ago, and he left us for her.

I'm in my senior year of high school and I have 2 part-time jobs that help me and my mother meet end's meet. 

We have a small apartment on the second floor of a building not so far from my school. My mother works as a cashier at the local grocery store. We don't have much money.

Although I come from a poor family, I'm one of the most beautiful girls in my neighbourhood. My mother says I get my looks from my father, and I know I do, but I don't want to agree with her. I don't want his name to ever come out of my mouth again.

Currently, I'm sitting in the cafeteria, alone. I don't have many friends. I've talked to Nayeon and Momo a few times, but that was just because we were put in a group for history. I've also spoken to Lia and Yeji, they were nice, but they seemed like they wanted to go somewhere else.

Pretty and alone. That's not usually how it works, is it? My eyes drift over to the popular group of girls, famous for their beauty and chemistry together.

Seulgi Kang smacks Yeri Kim's shoulder playfully and the rest erupt in laughter. Joy Park has her head down from the laughter, but my eyes head towards someone else in their group.

Wendy Son.

A smile stretches across my face as I see her laugh. Her eyes twinkle as she tries to stop and drink from her water bottle. I watch as her lips pull away from the rim.

Her laughter fills me with energy, making me sit up straighter. I've spoken to her a few times before, but they were all school-related.

It was junior year when she stole my heart.

I'd known who she was since fifth grade but I never paid attention to her. My class was taking a science test and my pencil ended up breaking. I didn't have a sharpener, nor was I allowed to stand up and sharpen it with the class one.

I was starting to panic, but then I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned beside me to see her, Wendy Son, offer me a pencil.

I gave her a look of gratitude and took the pencil, finishing the test. After the period ended I went up to thank her.

"Thank you for the pencil," I said.

"No problem," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I couldn't just let you not finish the test."

She then gave me a nice, warm, smile, and left me to join her group of friends. I felt dizzy and warm at the time, and I still do when I even look at her.

We talk so rarely, it's easy for me to keep track of when and where we spoke. The first time was during the test. The second time was during history class last year, where she asked me for an eraser. The third was during lunch a few months ago, where she asked me for help carrying her tray to her table.

Those are all the times I've spoken to her. Joy tells a joke which makes Wendy erupt with laughter, resting her head on Joy's shoulder. My smile grows bigger when she wipes tears from laughter. But then she looks at me.

We hold eye contact for a few moments. She smiles at me. I can feel my cheeks get hot and before I can smile back at her, someone smacks my table.

I jump and look in front of me. I was scared at first, but now I'm just annoyed. Taeyong Lee stands in front of me, his hands stretched out. He takes a seat across from me.

"Hey, who were you looking at?" he asks.

"Nobody," I say. "What do you want?"

"To take you out on a date," he says, smirking.

Oh, he thinks he's so sly. Taeyong and his friends are part of the popular guy squad at my school. He's the captain of the football team, with his godforsaken sidekicks Mark Lee and Jung Jaehyun There are quite a lot of jocks at my school. There's Taeyong, Mark, Johnny, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Taeil, Yuta, Haechan, Doyoung, and Winwin on the football team. 

Then there's Jaemin, Jeno, Renjun, Chenle, Kun, Ten, Hendery, Xiaojun, and Lucas on the baseball team.

Then on the track team, there's Kai, Suho, Baekhyun, Sehun, and Chen.

There's also Soobin's group, but I don't think they're jocks. They are still popular, though.

There are definitely more, but I can't remember any others. The only other popular group of boys at my school is Namjoon's gang.

As for the girls, Jennie's gang rules. They're completely ruthless. Everyone except the popular boys has been a victim of them before. Then there's Jihyo's squad, who are the nice girls. I don't think Yeji's group is as popular, but they're nice as well.

And then there's Wendy's group, which is of course popular. All of their beauty is unbelievable.

"For the last time," I groan, "I don't want to date you."

"Why not?" Taeyong asks, frustrated. "I'm hot, you're hot, we're perfect!"

I shake my head. "No, that's not how it works."

"Is it because you like someone else?" he asks. I try not to react. "Who is it? Johnny? Jaehyun? Haechan? Who?"

"I don't like anyone," I lie. "Besides, don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Jennie and I broke up last month, she's dating Kai now," he says with no expression. "I'm open! I'm a great guy, aren't I? I'm good at sports! Don't you like sports?"

"It's not that I don't like you as a person," I say. "You're just not my type."

Taeyong scoffs. "I'm not your type? I'm everyone's type!"

"Not mine," I say. 

"Then who is your type?" he asks. "Do I know them? Is it someone on the football team? Baseball? Who?!"

"I don't know," I say. "Can't you just accept the fact that I don't want to date you?"

"Come on, Irene, please?" he asks. "I'll do anything!"

I shake my head, "No thank you. Could you please leave now? I was in the middle of my lunch."

He gets up and shrugs. "I can't even sit here with you? If you're uncomfortable with it being just us, I can bring other people."

He truly is a nice guy. I just don't have feelings for him. "No thanks."

"Fine," he says. "I'll see you around, then."

It's not long before my eyes drift back to Wendy.