Stranger | Yang Jeongin

21.Partners?

Jeongin POV

I've been thinking about how I should tell Jaehwa I'm Stranger and when I should tell her how I feel, but I couldn't come up with a good idea.

"Why are you sitting here sulking?" Hyunjin asked as he took a seat next to me.

"I don't know what to do."

"About?"

"Jaehwa."

"I heard we were having an end-of-year field trip soon. Why don't you do it then?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think the teachers are going to tell us about it today. Didn't you want to make it official before Seungmin beat you to it?"

"But it's hard. What if she doesn't like me? What if I fail? What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You're thinking too much, don't stress it," he patted me on the back.

I let out a sigh and watched as Hyunjin started playing games on his phone. Although my eyes were fixated on his screen, my mind was elsewhere.

"We're here," Eunhee announced as she walked through the door with Jaehwa.

"Eunhee!" Hyunjin exclaimed as he looked up.

"No." She deadpanned before sitting down.

"Why are you in my seat?" Jaehwa asked him.

"It's comfy here," he smiled.

"Can you move?"

"No, I like it here. Let's just share," he said as he moved closer to me, leaving half of the seat available. She let out a sigh before taking a seat and rummaging through her bag.

"What are you looking for?" Hyunjin asked as he peaked over.

"The letter I got today."

"Oh, I have it," Eunhee said as she held it up.

"Why do you have it?" Hyunjin asked.

"She asked me to hold it while she looked for something."

"Open it," he had his eyes fixed on the letter. Eunhee opened it and placed the envelope on my desk as we crowded around to read it together.

-

Jaehwa,

Congratulations on winning the second game during Sports Day! It seemed like you had a lot of fun. Although we didn't get to talk much, I had a really good time :)
I found these cute stickers that might help you in figuring out who I am. I hope you like them.

Stranger

-

Jaehwa picked up the envelope and looked inside before pulling out a stack of small stickers. "They look like foxes.."

Everyone exchanged glances but I wasn't sure what they meant by that.
Did she figure it out?

"I like this one," she said as she picked one out of the pile and proceeded to stick it to the back of her phone case. She whispered something into Eunhee's ear before walking back to her seat.

"Wait, Jaehwa don't sit down!" Hyunjin screamed.

"Why?"

"Because you have to wait for me to sit down first, duh."

"Nope," she took a seat right as he started to run over.

"I'll just sit on you then," he stuck his tongue out in a playful manner.
The bell rang just as he was about to sit down.

"Looks like it's time for you to go to class," she laughed.

"I'll be back later," he glared.

After Hyunjin went to class, we started talking about the field trip. As we were discussing our plans, Mr. Yoon walked in and stared at all of us blankly.

"Is he okay?" Jaehwa whispered and I shrugged.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "No need for introductions today. We're going straight into today's topic," He smiled and looked around the classroom, clapping his hands together.

"Are we in trouble?" someone asked.

"Of course not! I just wanted to congratulate the class for winning this year. You guys did a great job, especially you Jeongin. That's why I've decided that you'll be my lucky guest in telling your fellow classmates the good news," He gestured for me to stand up and walk to the front of the room.

I looked at Jaehwa and we exchanged looks of confusion before I slowly got up and walked to him as everyone's eyes followed me.

"Here you go, please read this to everyone," he said as he happily handed me a sheet of paper.

I carefully took it from him before looking at the paper and beginning to read.

"For all of your hard work this year, the school has provided an end-of-year field trip for all students. You will be split up between certain classes, but allowed to interact with one another as instructed by your teacher. Please make sure to follow the school's guidelines and enjoy yourselves as much as you can. Stay safe and have fun!"

Everyone seemed excited and started whispering to one another. The only thing on my mind was making things official.

"Well done," Mr. Yoon said as I handed the sheet back to him.
"Before you go back to your seat, would you pass this out to each student," he said as he handed me a stack of forms.

"Make sure you return these to me by tomorrow! Also I have a small treat for all of you for your accomplishments. Come to my desk and grab one at the end of the day. That's all for now, keep your voices down," he said as I passed out the forms.

Mr. Yoon left the room with Dowoon and it was study time. I sat back down and handed a form to Jaehwa.

"Thanks."

"We have partners for the field trip?" Eunhee asked as she turned around.

"I guess so, do you want to be partners?" Jaehwa responded.

"Um--"

"Mr. Yoon suggested it would be better to partner with your deskmates!" Dowoon announced as he returned from the teachers' room.

"I guess we're partners then," Jaehwa smiled as she looked at me.

Perfect.