Chapter 41. The End of Vacation. And the Beginning of Hell?
Finally, it came. A day I wished would never come. I dragged my heavy body and staggered as I prepared. Mongi rubbed her body against my leg as if she knew how I felt. I patted Mongi and left. From the first day of vacation, I shared a classroom with senior Kim Taehyung. But if I pretended to know him, I felt like I would go back to the old days, and if I pretended not to know him, I was afraid that he would change too. I headed to school with my head filled with strange thoughts.
I started noticing the gazes I usually didn't notice. I felt like everyone was staring at me, and like they were whispering about me. It felt like the airport I had been through in high school had come back to me. My stomach was churning, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I walked as fast as I could and went straight to the bathroom. I felt sorry for myself, as I was covered in a cold sweat and just retching into the toilet bowl. As I went outside the bathroom, I saw Park Jimin leaning against the wall, waiting for me.
"are you okay?"
"Don't worry." Ji-eun
I passed by, patting his shoulder as he worried about me. My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding like crazy. Jimin-senpai was standing quietly behind me. But I can't help but be scared of their obsession. At first, I thought my school life would be happy, but it seemed like it would become an unhappy life. In a way, it felt like no one cared about me like that and I was the only one. Holding my breath, I headed to the classroom. Without realizing it, out of habit, I went and sat in the seat where Taehyung-senpai used to sit. Taehyung-senpai, who arrived later than me, saw me and went to sit in a different seat. It was actually a relief.
This class was spent lying face down for a while. That calmed me down a little. I lay down quietly until class ended and everyone left. After about five minutes, when I sensed no one was around, I slowly got up.
"Lee Ji-eun. Are you okay?"
Taehyung-sunbae was looking down at me, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a bag slung over his left shoulder. I flinched in surprise at the sight of him. I looked around to see if anyone was there. Fortunately, there was no one. I ignored his words, slung my bag over my shoulder, and got up, but my legs gave out and I collapsed back into the chair. At that moment, Taehyung-sunbae's expression hardened. For the time being, my legs gave out, and I gathered the strength I didn't have in my legs to get away from this place. I regained my balance on shaky legs and passed him. At that moment, my sunbae grabbed my wrist from behind and walked away somewhere.
"Senior, please put this down." Ji-eun
"....." taehyung
"Let go," Ji-eun said.
He dragged me out silently without even answering me. Feeling that I couldn't do it anymore, I shook his hand away. Then he turned around and hugged me with all his might. I struggled in his arms, trying to get out, but he ignored my struggles, as if he had no intention of letting me go. Eventually, I lost all strength and stopped struggling. After being held by him for a while, I felt some inexplicable comfort, and tears flowed down my eyes. He hugged me with less strength than before, and instead of saying pretentious words like "Are you okay?" or "Cheer up," he remained silent and slowly stroked my back. Maybe that's why I cried out loud.
After crying for a while and not hearing any sobs, the senior officer let me go and went to the bench and sat me down.
"Wait here for a moment." Taehyung
After saying that, he ran off somewhere, and within five minutes, he was running towards me from afar. Holding a can of coffee in each hand, he sat down next to me, panting, and opened the can and put it in my hand.
"Thank you." Ji Eun
I didn't drink my canned coffee, but just sat there, fiddling with it. He just stared at me without even opening the can. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"Would it be rude to ask why you did that..?" Taehyung
Strangely enough, I felt like telling him about something I had wanted to carry alone my whole life.
"Senior, I was actually bullied." Ji-eun
"You? Why?" Taehyung
"I also had a normal school life at first. But..." Ji-eun
Chapter 42. The Story of That Day
I was just a normal kid, stuck with the crowd. But then one day, a boy caught my eye. He was playing basketball on the playground during lunchtime. He was tall and handsome. I always watched him from afar. After having a crush on him from afar, I finally gained some courage. So I secretly told my best friend, Yeonji.
"Oh, what is it? Stop hesitating and tell me quickly." Yeonji
"Hey hey. I actually like Kim☆☆." Ji-eun
"Huh? Really??" Yeonji
"Ugh lol." Ji Eun
"Hey, you should have told me earlier. I'm close with him. I'll push him hard." Yeonji
"Really? Thank you so much. If it goes well, I'll shoot you a lot."
"Don't forget that" Yeonji
From then on, whenever I approached Yeonji, she was always playing with ☆☆. Until then, I believed she was just trying to help me. But then one day, she started acting tough. So I asked Yeonji.
"Yeonji, when are you going to help me?" Ji-eun
"Just wait a minute. I have everything planned out." Yeonji
"Really?? Thank you" Ji Eun
Yeonji told me to wait, saying she had plans. After about a week, when Yeonji didn't help, I decided to approach her first. So I often went to the cafeteria at the same time he always did, and somehow I became close with him. I became closer with him too, and one day ☆☆ confessed to me. So of course I accepted. And rumors that ☆☆ and I were dating spread quickly. But when I came to school the next day, something strange happened. Yeonji was crying, and the girls around her were trying to comfort her and glaring at me. I didn't know why Yeonji was crying, so I tried to approach her, but the girls pushed me and knocked me over. They wanted to keep me from getting close to her. And then one of the girls said...
"Hey. Lee Ji-eun. Yeon-ji asked you to help her because she liked ☆☆, but you tricked her and cheated on her."
"Oh, no! No, Yeonji! You say something" Ji-eun
"Ji-eun...what's wrong..." Yeon-ji
"Somehow, I thought Lee Ji-eun was strong."
"Guys, don't do that. It's not like the author did it on purpose." Yeonji
"Why are you so kind?"
I saw it then. The upturned corners of Yeonji's lips visible between them. But the boys really didn't notice and protected me. Including ☆☆. After that, the bullying from the girls got worse, and the boys just started to watch me. Even though it was so painful and hard, ☆☆ stayed by my side, but I told her to break up. That's when the bullying suddenly happened, but I didn't know and just held it in. But ☆☆ suddenly stopped bullying me for some reason. So slowly, the misunderstanding was resolved and the bullying got better.
And then we had a class reunion this summer, and it was nothing special. So I laughed and played with my friends. But there, Jeon Jungkook was working as a helper for a friend I knew. Jungkook took great care of me back then. But then I overheard Yeonji talking to some girls who still hated me from afar. After hearing that, I texted my seniors that, worried things would go back to how they were before.
Chapter 43. Just listening to a story brings comfort.
"Well... that's it." Ji-eun
"What did the dogs say?" Taehyung
"...a rag. I guess it's okay now" Ji-eun
"Did you get the apology?" Taehyung
"Huh? Yes. I got an apology from my classmates. Haha" Ji-eun
"No." Taehyung
"Did you get it from a girl named Yeonji?"
"...No. But it's okay. It's in the past anyway." Ji-eun
"You said it was okay because it happened in the past, but why is the airport problem happening again?" Taehyung
"Did you notice..?" Ji-eun
"Uh." Taehyung
Taehyung seemed upset about something. Still, he felt a sense of relief after confiding in someone.
"Thank you for listening to my trivial story." Ji-eun
"It's not a trivial story." Taehyung
"Yes?..yesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ" Ji Eun
Suddenly, Taehyung's big hand came up over my head.
"She's pretty. Ji-eun has a pretty smile.
So don't make a sad face"
But something felt off. I felt like I'd forgotten something. Ah, just sleep, class.
"Senior, our class..." Ji-eun
"It's okay. It's okay to be like this for a day or so." Taehyung
(HINT #04)
Jimin, Yoongi, and Jungkook responded to Ji Eun's texts and words, but Taehyung didn't?
Jimin is planning something right now.
Yoongi will cause a big problem soon.
