I rushed back to the locker room after escaping from the gym storage to get changed quickly so I could go to the next class. But well, it turned out I was too in a rush, and flinging the door open and running into the room at full speed wasn't a good idea.
:Bump:
"Ouch!"
There was someone that was just about to come out of the locker room and I ran directly into her, making her fall backward.
"Oh no, I'm sorry!"
"Aw, that hurts"
"Are you okay?…er… Eri?"
"Oh, it's you again, Jenn"
"Oh no I did this to you again"
"How-, what are you doing here?"
"Man, I was locked in the storage room, can you believe it? I managed to escape so I came rushing here to grab my stuff so I could go back to class"
"You were locked in the storage room?"
"Yeah"
"How did you get out?"
"Well, I was locked in together with a beast who could break the door open"
"How fortunate… and weird"
"Yeah, tell me about it. Are you okay by the way? Can you stand?"
"Help me get up"
I extended my hand to help her get up. When she grabbed my hand, I noticed again just how tiny her hand was. She was a girl with a really small build, possibly the shortest and smallest girl in the whole school.
"Looks like I can walk"
Then Eri tried to take a few steps and she could indeed walk, but it looked like she was in pain every step she took.
"Are you sure you are okay?"
"Yeah my legs are fine, but my bum hurts like hell. I think I banged my tailbone"
"Oh let me see if it's okay"
"Jenn…"
"Yeah?"
"Do you realize that tailbone is right on my butt? What do you mean 'let me see'"
:Facepalm:
What was I thinking…? It was certainly weird to ask someone if I could see their tailbone.
"I heard rubbing an egg helps with bruises"
"I'm not gonna be rolling an egg up and down my ass. Forget it"
"I"m sorry…"
":Sigh: you bump into me twice now. Jenn-"
"Yeah?"
"Have we met before? Do you remember seeing me somewhere?"
"No, not at all"
"Really? Are you sure?"
"I… think so"
":Sigh: Then maybe I must have done something bad to you in my previous life or something. Now the karma's catching up"
"Hah, you really think that?"
"I was joking"
"Oh, sorry"
"Anyways, I'll get going now. Next time, try not to hurt me"
"Right, I'll watch out"
Eri then gave a quick wave of a hand to say bye and walked out of the room, looking like her ass hurt every time she took a step.
When I got home after the eventful day, I headed straight for a shower. There was no physical contact with Hechan, but just being stuck in the same room with him made me feel like I just got out of some sticky hot jungle full of bugs.
Deep inside though, I knew it wasn't just the disgust I was feeling due to what he was like and what he had done to me before. I just stood there and watched as he kicked the door open, or more like, literally tore the door off the frame, and what I realized then was just how physically strong he was. After the little confrontation I had with Soojin and her friends Yuji and Sunmi, I felt pretty confident in myself, that I could stand my ground and protect myself if I ever had to.
Looking at Hechan break the door though, I couldn't help but admit to myself that no matter how skilled in martial arts I might be, no matter what muscle memories from years of training I had, I would not have been able to stop him if he tried to use brute force on me. Just the thought of that already made me feel violated and made me feel sick.
Maybe I should seek some advice from Hana for these situations, I thought to myself. She seemed to be doing fine in the violent world of charity work, which I was sure is mostly dominated by men.
As I got out of the shower and was drying my hair in front of the mirror, I noticed a message flash on my phone that I left on the table. I picked it up to check and it was from Minsu the Mamoha Fan that I met with Jihee and Jiho at the karaoke some weekends ago. I have been in group chat with him and the others from that day since then so it wasn't unusual to get a message from him, so I just flicked on the phone to open up the chat to read.
"Hey, how are you?"
Well, someone would say something. I'll just keep quiet for now. I wasn't in much of a mood to join some group chit-chat.
But then after some minutes, I saw that nobody had replied to Minsu yet, and now he was saying "Are you there? Jenn?"
Huh? Then I realized that he messaged me separately, and we were not talking in the group chat.
"Sorry, I thought this was group chat, lol", I replied to imply that I didn't know he was talking to me.
"Lol"
Then a minute or two more has passed. What was I supposed to say? Well, he contacted me first. I guess he will say something if there's anything he needs.
"Hey, are you free this Saturday?"
"I think so but I'm not sure. Maybe my family has some plan"
"Right. Please check and let me know if you are free"
"Why?"
"Guess what"
"What?"
"You really don't know?"
"Just say it"
What could it be?
"There is a special event I thought maybe you'd like to go to"
"What event?"
"It's a surprise. You will know if you come"
"I'm not going without knowing"
"Meh, you force me to spoil the surprise"
"Just say it"
"Yamura, the Mamoha Voice Actress is having a meet-the-fans event!"
"Woot, really?"
"Yeah, and since it's her event rather than just Mamoha event, we probably get to see her doing some other roles too"
"You mean like Kiki and Navida from Ginseng Impact?"
"Lol. You really know your stuff"
"Of course!"
"They will be selling some goods there too and we can get them signed. Probably have to queue like forever but would be worth it"
"Count me in. I will go"
"Yay, really?"
"Sure, just say when and where"
"I'll send you the event page link to you. We can meet up outside the venue. Probably better be there at least an hour early"
"Cool. Thanks"
"No problem. Thanks for coming"
Yes! I finally have someone to go to these events with!
Oh, and wait-, I'm RICH now, I can afford to buy some goods!
This is going to be so cool.
That's all I thought then.