Chereads / Read Between The Lines / Chapter 77 - |Before it is Too Late...|

Chapter 77 - |Before it is Too Late...|

--Author's Point of View--

 "Have you seen her?" Yun Oh went throughout the entire school grounds, in every building, and room that had been built only for the sake of finding Honey Lou. "Catherine?" he checked inside the room of his friends belonging in Class 2-D.

Jihyun appeared on the doorway, sliding it open while Yun Oh was on the other end of it, calling Honey Lou. "She's not in school today. Or so I think..." his friend answered, squeezing her way through as he was blocking the way.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?" he took grasp of one of her hands and had her face him, lightly pushing her shoulders to direct her.

Jihyun tried not to meddle too much with other people's businesses but he left her no choice.

"Something happened yesterday. You have her number, ask her yourself." the girl replied, her bloody red lips forming a somewhat whimsical smirk as she felt like her charms wouldn't work on him anymore. "Now, leave me alone." she walked away from her friend and sat beside Dan who rested his head in the palm of his hands.

Jihyun crossed her hands and placed one of her legs on top of the other, sitting quietly beside her best friend as she stared at him in adoration, his dirty blonde hair looked golden from the light ray of the sunlight.

"Daniel." she called his name. In a second, he rested his elbows properly on his desk again, lending his almond black eyes and uncovered his ears.

Without a response, Jihyun continue what she wanted to say, placing her chin on her fist while her arm was on the table.

"Would you like me to talk about it here or somewhere private?"

She has been gathering her courage to tell him how she truly sees him, finding it the perfect time that she has been waiting for.

Her friend mirrored her position and movements, facing her as he motioned the girl to do it right then and there.

Jihyun was about to open her mouth and confess her feelings for him when suddenly...

"How come I've never met with your parents?" this question caught her off guard as it escaped through her lips. Dan had his eyebrows furrowed upon hearing his friend ask so randomly about his parents. "Because they live abroad, pretty face." he shook his head.

 The compliment didn't feel any special either since they often spoil each other with such words of flattery. Jihyun laughed and thought of it as a valid reason as to why she has never met Mr & Mrs. Nevuerra. ["Hey, Catherine?"]

Yun's voice took Dan's ears from his seatmate as he rummaged the empty shelf beneath his desk, looking for his charger.

"Are you still there?" his eyes averted from Yun Oh back to Jihyun, he made a sound that expressed his mind drifting from the topic they were talking about, clueless in regard to what she had just spoken a second ago.

"I was asking if you're free later in the evening, we never get to go out like we used to do." his eyes were still stuck on Yun Oh.

 "Helloo." Jihyun waved at her best friend so closely that when he regained his sense and faced her again, they were only inches apart from touching each other's lips.

She backed away in an instant to avoid making things awkward for them two.

"Sorry. Can you repeat that?" he asked her to say it again. 'Whatever it was that she said, I did not catch it.' his ears were also still on Yun Oh as their friend tried to contact Honey Lou.

"Hold that thought." he silenced Jihyun and finally found his charger, approaching Yun's side to use the socket on the wall, he took off his headphones and placed them down.

Plugging in his phone to charge as he listened in on Yun Oh's conversation secretly.

 ["Want me to come over after school? We could-"] the male was cut off from finishing the sentence when Honey seemed to have responded to him and intentionally cut him off.

["I understand, we can talk some other time if that's what you want."] he replied before stepping outside the classroom as the homeroom teacher finally entered.

"Okay, class!" Dan's now hollow-eyed vision followed the tall figure as it left the area.

"Daniel Austin Nevuerra." his name was called to attention while his knee lay flat on the floor with his phone in hand. His head returned the looks of everyone in the classroom, slowly rising from the ground and walking to his seat.

 "It's a surprise to me that you're all present today. Do we have a perfect attendance?" Ms. Choi checked on the total of students present with the class secretary.

"We're all present today, ma'am!" Jihyun concluded without even considering the fact that she isn't the secretary but rather the muse. "I guess that's good to hear. Let's proceed now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honey dropped her head on the pillow behind, putting down her phone as she decided to take a short nap before meeting with her stepmother, Ivy Go, to finish up some last arrangements for the ballet performance.

"There's going to be a stage rehearsal soon. Then there's the event on the 29th of May. The check-up as well."

Her bedroom was dark, the windows were shut and the blinds pulled down, her door was still locked as from the previous night and she was alone in her house.

'There's that feeling again.' she felt like crying but didn't want to have puffy red eyes.

"I have to get up now. Please, get up." her body was heavy in weight and did not have the will to get up. She remembered what went down in the evening before that day.

How it ended up in vain and after revealing her secret, not one of the people around her dared to comfort her or talk to her afterward. "Even when they now know, they don't seem to care or want to do anything about it to help me..."

Honey felt like she was going down deeper again. Deeper down a dried-up well where she feels like she is drowning. Her phone suddenly lit up, breaking the silence in her bedroom when a call was made and received from her friend, Yun.

["Hmm?"] she answered without opening her eyes to see who it was. ["Hey, Catherine?"]

Her head jolted from the pillow and felt a flutter of hope enter in her heart when she recognized the voice of the person. ["I've been looking for you!"] his voice was sincerely happy and genuine when he spoke of that. ["Did anything happen?"]

There was no answer, Honey Lou was staring at his picture that she set as his contact photo.

'I see nothing but a seemingly faceless person.'

Honey had such thoughts even when the picture contained one of her close friends that she trusted but then again, doubt can never be avoided when she doesn't have the key to see others' souls by a simple look in their eyes.

["Want me to come over after school? We could-"]

Honey let out a deep exhale, cutting off Yun Oh from finishing what he was meaning to say to her after sensing that she wasn't feeling cheerful.

["I understand, we can talk some other time..."] she ceased to listen or hear his last words to her during that call and hung up almost immediately.

'It is time to pick up myself again like always.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

'I could have sworn that she was getting better the other days before.' Yun Oh thought to himself as he shook hands with the opposing team they were paired to play with.

"What's with that face?" their coach gave him a pat on the back while he was thinking about Honey Lou, the expression plastered on his face was seriously feared by those around him.

"He looks serious about this game today." one commented as they all assembled in their stances before it began.

'Come to think of it... Same thing applies to me just when I thought I was getting better.' with this thought in his mind, he threw the item in his hand, and it stood as the beginning of their training.

"Easy on the throw, Yun Oh!" their coach yelled, getting a little concerned about his arm strength as it was only a game to train themselves.

'This isn't the real deal but why is he freaking me out?' Shin Haru evaded Yun Oh from the amount of power he was putting in training the new recruits of their football team, and yes, Shin Haru, a senior in their school in his last year joined his team.

 "What is in your mind, Yun Oh? You could have gotten injured, and we would have lost the upcoming football game soon." the coach left Shin Haru gasping from that kind of lecture he was giving Yun Oh. "But coach!" he tried to remind him that Yun Oh almost trampled him down in the field. The coach, however, glared at him.

"I'm just saying. This is considered favoritism, coach." he stormed away after throwing the head gear with his full force till it broke into two pieces, heading back to the locker room to get changed and get his things.

 "You're just going to quit like that?" Ji Eun appeared in a corner, trying to find someone. "And why exactly are you here?" he asked in return, not letting a nobody like her get under his skin.

"Oh, nothing..."

One can tell by looking into her eyes that she had something planned again.

"Listen, I'm done playing games with you." Haru remembered the things he did for her.

"I'm done being your minion..." the male with honey-like and light curled hair with square shape of a face containing a close set of dark cerulean, blue eyes and thin crimson red lips weakly added before intentionally hitting his shoulder to hers.

"You can't do this to me, Shin Haru." offended as she could possibly feel, Ji Eun couldn't do anything more.

Her nails broke as her hand landed on the wall for support because Shin Haru almost pushed her on the ground without even using his hands as he had a slim looking but built-up body of a young adolescent.

 "I just got these done." she pushed her hair back, walking back and forth near the entrance to the field. Soon enough, night came and almost the half of the amount of students that came there that day had stayed.

"I can never get used to your school coming up with these kind of events..."

Yua agreed with Hyunjoo.

The two of them were about to leave until Yua's eyes ought to have noticed a couple shockingly holding hands and walking outside the school gates. She repeatedly hit her friend who was assisting her to get on his motorbike. "What? What?!"

The male with hair as red as an old blood sample rebuked her, holding her hands in his as he followed the direction of her head that resulted him in getting hit multiple times.

"Wah!" they both looked at each other in amusement and exclaimed.

It was Sora Young and her Prince Charming hand-in-hand.

"Sora Youn-" Yua supposedly wanted to congratulate them but Moon Hyunjoo reached for her mouth and shut it with his palms touching her lips.

He came to realize that his friend was freezing and automatically lent his second layer of top. "Why would you stop me??" she complained while he continued to insist and place his bomber jacket that he chose to style with his white polo.

"Let them be." he sternly told her, helping their friends rid of the awkwardness as they spend their time together. "Oh, yes." Yua understood the assignment, gently accepting her friend's hand as she went up on his ride.

 Hyunjoo took the open-face helmet and attached the lock beneath the girl's chin. "I can do it on my own." Yua laughed at his actions while being treated specially that night.

"When will you tell them?" his voice was shaky and monotonous.

His reason being left with one layer of a top when the night is enchantingly cold.

"Just take me back to Honey's house..." she replied impatiently, lightly hitting him again with eagerness to leave fast. Hyunjoo did as she asked him, letting his friend take her time in gathering up her courage again to tell her two other childhood friends about her true identity.

 "Why do you care about that anyway?" he started the engine and wrapped Yua's arms around himself to secure her. However, Yua could not stop wondering why her friend keeps on nagging and meddling with her business.

"I told you my secret not because I want to get nagged all the time, Moon!" she collected all of her weight and had her friend carry it all.

"Stop, stop it!" he tried to balance the two-wheeled vehicle of his from the impact that Yua caused in the unbalancing of his driving the motorbike.

"I won't nag you, okay?" he assured her, giving his word.