Fate's Little Bell

Chapter 18

Curled up in my bed like a potato, I was trying to be patient while waiting for Jeongguk to text me that he'd landed. He hadn't made it clear where he was going exactly, so I wasn't even sure how long I was going to be waiting, but all the same I was thoroughly bored. Which is how I wound up looking at more comments.

    It almost seemed like the more I scrolled, the worse they got. They started out with the occasional, "She's not very cute" or "She's kinda ugly" and escalated until one said, "She must be really good in bed or have a really amazing personality to have won him over with such an ugly face." Another one read, "WHO DOES THIS BITCH THINK SHE IS SHOWING UP WITH HER UGLY ASS AND LOOSE PUSSY AND RUBBING HERSELF ALL OVER JUNGKOOK?" While a part of me couldn't help cracking up with hysterical laughter, the rest of me still wanted to cry. It was around then that I turned off my phone and put it on my nightstand.

    I curled up into a tighter ball, wishing that I had listened to him and stayed away from the comments. Logically, I knew that people who'd said it were probably just jealous, but it still hurt. It's not like I was surprised either, because there will always be some fans like that, but also because they did have a bit of a point. I knew perfectly well that I wasn't very pretty and why Jeongguk seemed to like me was completely beyond my understanding. But there's a big difference between knowing that you're ugly and someone else actually saying it.

~ — ~

    He finally texted me on Wednesday morning. My mom had decided that I should stay home again, since Prudence's, Helena's, and Sofia's reports had indicated that the video had spread out of just the k-pop related friend groups and that now the whole school was talking about it, seeing as someone had figured out that a girl in their art class looked a lot like the girl in the video.

    "Hi," he'd said. "Sorry about not calling you yesterday. We were only stopping for a little bit, so I didn't think that was enough time to really talk to you. If you're up, can you talk?"

    I grinned, stretching my arms above my head. Rolling over in bed, I called him. As my phone rang, waiting for him to pick up, I grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my phone, tucking the earbuds into my ears.

    "Hi." His soft voice flooded through me, wiping away all the self-doubt that had been eating away at me since yesterday.

    "Good morning!" My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling and my voice was high pitched from bubbly excitement. "Did you get home okay?"

    "Yeah. Why do you... sound like that?"

    "Like what?" I asked, flopping over onto my back again.

    "Like... you're drunk or something."

    I giggled. "Well, Jeongguk, that's because I'm drunk on you."

    He laughed.

    "For real though, I'm just super happy to hear your voice," I continued.

    He sighed. "I miss you. I wish... I was with you."

    "Were," I corrected him. "And I wish I were with you too."

    "Really? It's 'were'?"

    "Yeah, it's a weird thing that happens when you're saying 'I wish I were blah blah blah' and 'if I were blah blah blah.' Sorry for correcting you, but I figured you'd want to know."

    "It's fine. It'll help... my English get better."

    "Okay, cool." I smiled. "If I ever correct you too much, to the point where I get annoying, let me know and I'll stop."