shades of yellow » han seojun ff

03. bronze

AT FIRST, HAN SEOJUN wasn't sure what to think. Here was the carbon copy of his late best friend, in the flesh, standing right before him. The first thing that popped into his head was: A year away did her well.

To him, she looked the same as she always had. Tall and willowy, hair slung in its usual low ponytail. Although her hair, which in its natural state was a distinctive shade of dark auburn, was black now. It was now such an uncharacteristic jet-black, Seojun wouldn't have recognised her had it not been for her dreamy expression and face that mirrored her twin's.

Even as preteens, she had towered over her twin brother. Seojun wondered whether she would still be taller than him if he were still alive, or would the hormones have kicked in by now?

Seojun stole a look towards Lee Suho. He smirked at Suho's obvious discomfort. Good. At least the murderer felt some remorse.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Jeong Yeonwoo, please take care of me." Yeonwoo nervously bowed, amidst the oohs and aahs. Three or four of her classmates recognised her from their old middle school. They remembered the reason why she left so abruptly. But being the kind souls they were, they kept their lips sealed.

However Hyunkyu, as tactless as ever, wondered out loud, "Are you back for good? Are you okay now? Why did you leave so quickly? Is—"

The whole class flinched as Seojun slammed a hand onto his desktop. He growled, "Shut it. All of you. You're so noisy."

A deep flush settled on Yeonwoo's face. She was strangely grateful for Seojun's intervention, for she had had no idea how to answer Hyunkyu's question.

Hyunkyu, realising his mistake, began apologising profusely. "I'm so sorry Yeonwoo!" He hit his mouth. "I won't do that ever again!"

Taehoon slapped him on the head and scolded him. "You're such an idiot, Hyunkyu!"

"Settle down, settle down." Mr. Han cleared his throat, rapping the desk for attention. "Since it's the middle of the school year, can our handsome class president show Yeonwoo what she needs to catch up on?"

All eyes moved to Suho. Only Sujin remembered he had been best friends with Seyeon with Seojun. She looked uneasily at Yeonwoo, who looked equally as apprehensive.

"I'll do it, Teacher." Sujin volunteered, raising a hand.

"No. That's okay. I can do it." Suho interjected. He gazed at Yeonwoo wistfully, a look that was not lost by Seojun.

"Nice! Our president is so handsome and kind!" Mr. Han applauded. "Yeonwoo, you can take the empty seat behind Sujin."

Feeling very pleased, she slid into the chair behind Sujin, which was next to Jugyeong and diagonally across from Sua. Sua turned around to give her a big thumbs up and mouthed, "Tteokbokki after school with the three of us?"

Yeonwoo whispered, "Cool!"

Just before Mr. Han left the classroom, he said, "Yeonwoo, tomorrow is the school festival. It's too late for you to become involved, but you can still come and watch the performances, alright?"

"I'd love to." She responded sweetly.

An awed expression crossed the teacher's face. He laughed. "Wah, Yeonwoo, you can be our new class vitamin. Just your smile gives me the energy to carry on with the day." He raised both his fists. "Hwaiting! Good luck for your first day!"

The class groaned again, used to Mr. Han's silly antics. Yeonwoo giggled, already enjoying her first day back at school.

Seojun and Suho had been watching her. Their thoughts were the same: It's been a while since I've seen that smile.

The lessons weren't that difficult for Yeonwoo. She had studied similar things in the UK, only now that they were entirely in Hangul, she had a bit of trouble remembering which characters stood for what. Luckily, Sujin was allowed to help Yeonwoo and soon enough, the girl fell back into step.

During break, Suho came over to Yeonwoo's desk to show her the study list and textbook chapters she needed to catch up on.

"We're just going to the convenience store for snacks, alright?" Sujin said, beckoning Jugyeong to follow her. With her eyes, she warned Sua, who was staying in the classroom with Taehoon, to keep an eye on the two.

On their way to the convenience store, Jugyeong asked Sujin, "What was that about?"

Sujin pondered for a moment, but then decided that Jugyeong should be told in order to protect Yeonwoo in the future. "Im Jju, if I tell you this, you have to keep it a secret, alright?"

"I promise."

"Don't be too shocked, but Yeonwoo's twin passed away over a year ago. He was best friends with Han Seojun and Lee Suho."

"She was a twin? He was friends with Han Seojun and Lee Suho?"

"Yes. And now Seojun and Suho are enemies, right? They're angry at each other because of his death, and I'm worried they may say something that will hurt Yeonwoo."

Jugyeong mulled it all over before saying, "I like Yeonwoo. She's really nice."

"Yeah, she really is, isn't she?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to protect her." Jugyeong concluded firmly. She then shuddered, worrying for the poor girl for she knew very well how troubling it was to be in the middle of Han Seojun and Lee Suho.

Back in the classroom, Suho had drawn up Jugyeong's chair to sit with Yeonwoo. Their English Literature textbook was propped open, but none of them could focus. They simply stared at the book.

"You look good." The words had left his mouth before he could stop them. She looked up at him, startled.

"I—"

"How have you been? Were you really studying music in the UK? Have you been well?" Suho's handsome face was deeply concerned, because he really did want to know what she had been up to for the past year.

Yeonwoo fixed him a look. "What do you think?"

She then giggled and Suho joined in, his eyes crinkling into an eye smile. Their classmates had all been spying on them, and now they were dumbstruck. The cold Lee Suho laughing it up with the pretty new student? What was going on? 

His laugh, alien to the rest of the class, was familiar to Yeonwoo. She swore she could hear Seyeon's laugh in the back of her mind, a sound she hadn't heard for so long. Her heart ached, so she automatically raised a hand to press against the pain. Despite the pain, she kept her laughter light and airy, smiling through it all.

On the other hand, Seojun was pretending to sleep on his desk in order to listen in on their conversation. He clenched his fists at the sound of familiar laughing. He hadn't heard it in years, but he'd be an idiot not to recognise it. 

Nobody forgets their first love.

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a/n: I forgot who is the class president, so I just made it suho haha. I'll usually update every Wednesday and Sunday, but I'm updating on a Tuesday cos I've already written so many chapters :o