Wonderland || Park Sunghoon

nineteen

The next day at school, Sunghoon approached Nari as soon as she entered the classroom. 

It made her happy. Her heart fluttered when she saw him. 

"Hi," he said shyly, standing in front of her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other students looking at them quizzically. 

"Hi there," she greeted back, grabbing onto his shirt sleeve and pulling him over to where she usually sat. 

"Isn't this Jay's seat?" Sunghoon asked nervously, hesitating to sit down. 

"It's fine, just sit with me for a little bit," she said, this time grabbing his hand and pulling him into the seat. 

She didn't want to let go of his hand, and so she didn't. And she was happy when he didn't try to pull his hand away either. 

"I wanted to ask if you were okay, after yesterday," Sunghoon said gently, looking at her with those soft brown eyes of his. 

Every time he looked at her like that, she just melted. 

"I'm okay," she said, smiling at him. And she was... kind of. At least better than before. Yesterday, after visiting her father and having a long talk with him, she went home and spent time with Nayeon and her mother. They looked through photo albums and talked about their memories with him and just laughed and cried together. 

And it was perfect. 

Of course, it would have been better if he'd been there in real life. 

She could still picture him. His smile. His voice would have been long gone from her memory, but thankfully she had videos with him that she'd go back to whenever she felt his voice and laughter fading away. 

Tears polled in her eyes again. 

"You're not okay," Sunghoon whispered, reaching forward and hugging her with his free arm. 

Her heart almost stopped beating. Right there, in the middle of the classroom, he hugged her. Shy, flustered Sunghoon, hugged her? 

Her feelings were so conflicted. She missed her dad, and she wanted him back. But she also loved the feeling of being in Sunghoon's arms. She liked him. And she wanted to confess to him. But then she felt guilty for thinking about that when she should be sad, she should be grieving. 

She felt the tears start to fall from her eyes. She was clutching his hand tight. 

"Do you want to leave for a bit?" 

Nari hid her face in his shirt. "No," she whispered. "We'll get in trouble. Just... give me a minute," she said softly. She was already nervous to look up, to see the faces of her classmates. 

"Nari, what's the matter?" 

She started crying harder when she heard Jay's voice and felt his steady hand on her back. She looked up at little, peering at him. 

"I miss him," she whimpered. "I thought I was okay but I miss him so much." 

Jay rubbed her back in comfort. "Do you want me to call your Mom?" he asked gently. "She could call the school and let you leave." 

"Maybe that's a good idea," Sunghoon told her gently. 

She shook her head. "I don't want her to worry about me."

"She'll be more worried not knowing how you're feeling," Jay insisted, taking out his phone. "Go home. It's Friday... you guys can have a three day weekend. What do you say? Can I call her?" 

Nari finally nodded, unable to find the strength to argue. Jay left the classroom to go call her mom. She wanted to go after him but didn't want to see the kids who were probably staring at her. 

"Let's go," Sunghoon said gently, taking off his blazer and putting holding it over her head, effectively blocking her from everyone. "I got you." 

***

A/N

Hehe, I felt like double updating today. I hope you guys like it🥰