Minji's mom hit Minji on her head lightly. "What do you mean terrible idea? How rude," her mom said while passing out the dishes to Minji and her dad.
"No, wait... I don't mean that it was a terrible idea... It's just I don't really want to attend the house party," Minji tapped her fingers on the table as she talked, her voice low.
"Well, we already decided on the date. We're going to meet with them on Saturday," her mom said, giving her no plan to escape.
*Saturday?? That's in two days...*
Minji suddenly felt her appetite disappear as she fiddled with her food, dreading that day already. She didn't even listen to what were parents were discussing the rest of the night.
...
"Hey," one of the girls slammed her hand on Minji's desk, "step outside the classroom for a bit." Once the teacher stepped out of the room, somebody approached her. Minji raised her eyebrow at her. Just what were they doing disturbing someone's peaceful lunchtime? The girl waited for Minji to stand up, her arms crossed. She was tapping her foot impatiently.
Minji let out a huge sigh. She already knew what was going to happen. The girls were probably going to give her a "warning" or some sort.
"Alright," Minji said reluctantly as she stood up to follow the girl. As she left the classroom, she noticed that the other girls were gone as well.
*Did they gather the whole gang or what?*
As Minji followed the girl outside the school building into the yard, other people naturally opened up a path for them. It was as if everyone knew what was happening, just as Minjoon said. Minji arrived at the spot and saw many familiar faces, including Jieun. Jieun seemed to avoid eye contact with her, perhaps because she was feeling guilty.
*Or she just hates me*
"Hand it over," one of the girls stepped forward and pushed Minji's shoulder.
"Hand what over?" Minji staggered backward, trying to catch her balance, "What did I do wrong?"
"Minjoon's phone number," the girl who pushed her opened the palm of her hand, presumably demanding Minji's phone. Minji gave one look at her open hand and sneered, "I'm not going to hand over any private information to you." Even though she didn't like Minjoon that much, she didn't want to cause trouble to him by giving out something like his phone number.
"Look at her!" One of the other girls shouted, "She's acting so stuck up." This one statement caused the other girls to start yelling at Minji.
"Yeah, what a cunning person. Lying to us saying she's going to the bathroom and then meeting with Minjoon secretly," another girl shouted out.
Another girl pushed Minji much harder this time. She lost her balance and fell over. Even as she fell, the yelling did not stop. In fact, she felt something tug at her hair.
The girls pulled Minji's hair and shoved her continuously. It got so bad to the point where Minji started screaming at them to let her go. The girls finally stopped.
"There's her phone!" One of the girls snatched Minji's phone that fell on the ground, "What's the password?"
"Hey, she asked what the password is," the girl closest to Minji pulled her hair again. Minji let out a small welp at the pain she felt. She did her absolute best to hold back her tears as she inputted her password. Once they got what they wanted, the girl let go of Minji's hair and gathered the group to leave.
"Took you long enough," The girls sneered at Minji's pathetic appearance. Her hair was an absolute disaster. Once they stopped laughing at her, they collectively left along with her phone.
But Minji wasn't focused on her lost phone at all. Instead, she felt so miserable at the entire situation.
"Oh god, is she okay?" As Minji was collecting her mentality, she heard whispers surrounding her. When she lifted her head to look, she saw the curious eyes of many bystanders looking her way. Feeling embarrassed, Minji stood up as if nothing had happened and walked through the crowd. "Excuse me," she growled as she pushed through the people.
Minji didn't want to go back to the classroom. So, she went to the secret meeting spot. Fortunately, Yejoon wasn't there. She sat on the grass, feeling miserable. "God damn it," Minji finally let go of her tough facade and started to cry. She hasn't cried this hard in so long. Her tears streaked down her cheeks, ruining her eye makeup. But she didn't care. All she cared about was letting out all of her feelings.
She didn't know how long she cried, but she quickly stopped when she heard footsteps. She looked up to see the owner of the footsteps and saw that it was Yejoon.
"Oh, hey," Minji said trying to pretend that everything was alright. She was wiping away her tears quickly.
"Don't 'hey' me... Are you okay?" Yejoon pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping Minji's face with it: her tears and her snot. Embarrassed, Minji tried to push Yejoon away, "Stop, I'm okay," she said in a low voice.
Yejoon didn't say anything in response. He gently patted her hair and continued wiping her face for her. Minji stopped resisting and allowed Yejoon to clean her up. But her ears became bright red in embarrassment. Seeing that, Yejoon gave a gentle laugh.
Yejoon stopped laughing and said in a serious tone, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I don't know what happened to you, but I'll stand by your side."
Hearing his words, Minji started to tear up again. It hasn't even been that long since she had known him, but hearing how much trust he had in her touched her. "Thank you," she managed to squeeze out through her tears. Yejoon smiled at her as he wiped those new tears. Minji stared at his dimples. She didn't know why but she thought his smile was very captivating.
"Are you feeling better?" Yejoon asked carefully. Minji nodded and took the handkerchief from him. "I'm sorry for ruining it. I'll wash it and then give it back," she said apologetically.
Yejoon stared at Minji's hair and seemed to be contemplating for a bit. "Want me to fix up your hair?" Yejoon asked her.
Minji stared at him blankly for a moment before nodding her head. Yejoon took out a hair tie from his pocket and began rubbing Minji's head. Was he giving her a massage? Whatever it was, it felt nice. Minji closed her eyes as she focused on Yejoon's touch. She liked it much more than the hands that touched her earlier.
For the remainder of the lunch period, Yejoon focused on fixing Minji's hair. He braided it in a very beautiful way. Minji looked at herself using Yejoon's phone camera and gasped.
"You... have very skillful hands," Minji said amazed.
Yejoon laughed again. "I have an older sister. I do her hair for her frequently," he said. "I see..." Minji took in his words.
*So he has an older sister...*
Minji and Yejoon continued to talk until lunchtime ended. Before heading back to her classroom, Yejoon gave her a thumbs-up for encouragement. Seeing his efforts, Minji laughed as she felt her fear decrease a little.
...
Minji slammed the door to her classroom harshly. She glared at the girls and headed over to the one that took her phone. "Give me back my phone now," Minji commanded. The girl gave her a nasty look and threw Minji's phone at her face. Thanks to Minji's quick reflexes, she managed to dodge but was speechless at the girl's behavior.
Minji went to where her phone dropped, picked it up, and sat back in her seat. She felt as if lunchtime was extremely long today.
*At least it's over*
Minji leaned over her desk rest her head on her arms. She was tired and wanted to go home as soon as possible.
It only took a moment for the peace to be ruined. Minjoon walked over to Minji's seat and tapped on her shoulder.
"We need to talk," Minjoon muttered to Minji. "Right now?" Minji stared at the clock. It was five minutes until class started. Without replying, Minjoon stepped out of the classroom. Minji just stared at him. She started to hear whispers again from the girls. After a moment of contemplation, Minji stood up from her seat and left the classroom.