Distant Sky

20

Uncertain Heart & Mind

He's not here. That's the first thought in Joohyun's mind as she enters the class. Taehyung was usually the first one to arrive, since he rode to school daily with Bogum, who had to be here early due to his duties as student council president. She was used to seeing Taehyung, sitting in his usual place at the back of the class everyday, giving her a smile as she entered.

At first she doesn't think much of it, thinking he just might be running late that day. But as more and more students start filing in and there's still no sign of Taehyung, she starts to get worried.

She texts him, asking where he was. When a few minutes pass and she doesn't get a reply, she decides to give him a call, but right at that moment the bell rings indicating the start of classes and a teacher enters the classroom.

She reluctantly puts her phone away. Now she knew that something was wrong. If he was just taking a day off she was sure he would have informed her in advance. She clutches her phone tightly, waiting for him to reply to her text.

Halfway through the first class, Joohyun is a worried mess. She hadn't heard a single thing the teacher had said. She has a death grip on her phone under the desk, willing it to ring with his text.

By now she was fairly certain about what might be the reason for Taehyung's absence. That idiot had gone and gotten himself sick. She is angry at his careless and foolish behaviour of last night. She can't wait to get a hold of him so she can give him a harsh scolding that he wouldn't ever forget.

'You're sick, aren't you?! 😡' She texts, knowing she won't be getting a reply anytime soon. She just had to take out her anger on him a little. She puts away her phone and tries her best concentrate on the rest of her classes.

In lunch break, she goes to the dance club and gives Taehyung's lunchbox to Seulgi, who happily accepts it. Seulgi asks her to join her and the rest of dance club members for lunch but she politely refuses. She wasn't in the mood for chit chat and socializing.

She sits quietly having lunch by herself on the roof, with only the potted plant to keep her company. The cornflower seeds Joohyun had planted a few months back has now grown into a small plant, about 2 feets in height. She and Taehyung still took turns watering it. She smiles remembering how Taehyung would keep on asking her when it will start to flower.

"He's sick today," she tells the plant. She was done eating and was bored having nothing else to do. "Usually he's very careful and thinks things through before acting, but sometimes... I don't know...he has these moments when he seems to let go of logic and common sense and does very questionable things," she continues.

"Like, did he really have to come see me last night? We were gonna see each other today anyway. I just don't get him sometimes..." she sighs. She turns and looks at the plant beside her and sighs again. What am I doing? She thinks feeling a little embarrassed.

Even though there was no one around to see her talking to a plant, she knew she shouldn't make a habit of it. Talking to inanimate objects is usually frowned upon. Definitely not a good indication of a person's state of mind.

She picks up the papers she had brought with her, deciding to finish up the proof reading work for art club that Baekhyun had given her last week. It was not due till a few more days but it's not like she had anything better to do.