ephemeral ∅ l.d.h

seventeen ⁺⑅

I did not, is what I wanted to say when I jumped up from my seat, Jaemin's eyes going wide at my actions, quickly ushering me down back into my seat. "I'm guessing you didn't." My lack of response told him well enough. "Well, I've heard they're going out now." Jaemin whispered with fervor, tongue coming out to lick his bottom lip. "You mean you heard from me." Donghyuck cut in, and Jaemin made a face, leaning back in his seat with a grin.

This piece of information made me uneasy, if it had come from Donghyuck, it might as well have come from the gossip section in our daily news article that was known for its outrageous content and ridiculous accusations. "I mean I heard it from him." I chewed on my lip in thought, wondering if Na-eun had somehow brought it up along the way, and if she might have told something so important to me. I came up with nothing; I most definitely would have heard if she spoke of such a matter.

"Is it true though?" I pointed out with an accusing tone which made Jaemin laugh. "It's true all right. I've seen it too." That was not good, Jaemin never lied, at least not to me. Again, I wanted to make up excuses, maybe she was going to tell me, maybe she was scared because she moved on so quickly, maybe- maybe I should just ask her. "She didn't tell you? Surprising." Jaemin shrugged, leaning forward to push his textbook into his backpack.

I hated the tone that he used, and I felt my cheeks flushing at the same time, hyperaware that he had just accused me of not being important enough to be told this information, and instead having to hear it from someone else. "I-uh, she did." I coughed, running a hand through my hair. "Really?" He raised an eyebrow; I was terrible at lying. "Yeah, I knew, I just didn't know you had known." I coughed uneasily.

Jaemin nodded in contemplation, drumming his fingers on the desk beside him. The signalling of an alarm ringing shifted our attention to the man who shot straight up from his chair, rubbing his eyes with a yawn as he weakly opened an eye to grab at his phone. "Alright, time's up guys. Make sure I don't see your faces here again, you hear me?" Mr. Choi announced gruffly, fumbling for the key in his pocket before walking to open the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Jaemin had called as I practically flew through the door, desperate to go back home and fall into my bed with warm covers that looked especially enticing now. "Jaemin, I have to go, sorry." I turned back briefly, giving him a quick smile before leaving the place I had dreaded since I had set foot into it. The walk back to the dorms was brief and unusually silent as most of the students during this time would either be in their dorms studying for an upcoming test or at the library for similar reasons.

The quiet swooshing of the leaves provided a pleasant atmosphere that allowed me to indulge in my thoughts. Usually I hated going back to the dorms during this time; the students chattering around, holding iced coffees in their hand, seemingly in a huge rush to be going places. Everything seemed so hurried in the university, and the moments spent inside the place was only transitory. I walked slowly back to the dorms.

∅

When I opened the door, no one seemed to acknowledge my presence as I tossed my backpack onto my chair, stretching out my limbs and falling into the soft comforts of my bed. "I've heard you had to help Mr. Choi with detention." Eun-soo's voice was muffled by the dessert she had stuffed in her mouth, spinning around in her chair. "From who?" I kneaded the spot between my eyebrows as a pounding headache came to rest between them.