FIRE DRILL. / lee haechan

twenty-seven

seri closed her eyes once again. she held the paper on her hand tight. it can't be. she held her breath and exhaled as she opened her eyes.

she glanced at the crumpled paper on her hand. she slowly opened it while squinting her eyes as gulped.

74

she closed the paper again. it can't be. maybe it was just a typographical error. she can't have a seven. just-

seri bit her lower lip. she was currently seated at the bus stop. it was already dismissal. dongsook's bus already left and she was alone seated while stressing out with her grade.

how can she go home now?

i can just lie about it though, seri thought. just thinking about the possible scenarios that might happen when she reaches home made her knees week.

how would jaehyun react? for sure he will be so disappointed. seri can't even handle the thought of jaehyun looking at her with disappointed. she felt her heart drop.

"i'm not going home.. i can't," she stuttered.

then her bus came, she just stared at it as it go. then again, she glanced at the piece of paper on her palm before stuffing it on her backpack's pocket.

seri stood up, eyes scanning the busy streets with cars passing by. empty minds, her feet started dragging her nowhere.

her mind was drifting away on what to do with the 74 that she got. an 85 was already low for jaehyun. she always had straight As. and now, a 74..

she wasn't paying attention to where she was going until she bumped with some guy wearing a mint hoodie.

"sorry," seri mumbled, looking down, not noticing that the guy was deeply staring at her.

"you should be. pay attention, jung."

upon hearing her last name, seri looked up and saw na jaemin walking away with a plastic on his hand.

she is currently standing infront of a convenience store and she guessed that it wasn't that far from the school but not too near either.

seeing the snacks displayed made her gulp. she slowly opened the door and got her way inside. there were only a few people inside and all of the tables were available.

after paying for a ramen and water, seri did what she needed to do with the ramen to cook it and then settled down on a table for two near the glass wall.

seri opened the lid of the cup and placed it beside her before picking uo her chopsticks and attempting to slurp some noodles.

"fuck!" she couldn't help but curse out when the noodles were too hot.

suddenly, a guy took a seat infront of her. he picked up the lip of the ramen cup and started folding it to form a small bowl then he handed it to her.

"be patient if you don't want to burn your mouth," said by the sun kissed male.

seri just started at him for a second before she started eating again. then she caught him staring at her. the male didn't even bother to look away and just continued looking at her.

"stop staring," she commands and donghyuck scoffed before he looked away. "why are you even here?"

donghyuck eyed at her again after hearing her question. "to pick you up. jaehyun's worried..." he saw the girl's eyes squinting, "jaemin told me he saw you here."

"and why would you pick me up?"

donghyuck ran his fingers through his hair. "as i said, jaehyun's worried."

"why does it bother you that my brother's worried?" seri questioned.

the male stared at her for a solid minute, not uttering anything to respond to her question before he stood up. "just finish your food. i'll wait for you outside."

seri tried her best to eat slowly, hoping that the male would go away but after one hour, he was just there... waiting.

seri just sighed, giving up. maybe if she goes home, jaehyun would be sleeping already. she really do not want to be confronted by her grade.

when she got out, donghyuck was sitting on his motorcycle while chewing some gum. he started the engine when she saw her walking out of the store.

"you should try turning your phone on, seri. i bet jaehyun tried to call you atleast 23 times now," he says, handing her the extra helmet.

the girl didn't bother to answer as her mind is now filled with worries and different scenarios that might happen the moment she reaches home.

but seri knew she cannot run away from it forever. even if she won't go home today, she'll need to go home tomorrow or the next day.

"thanks," she muttered as she got off from his bike and handed him the helmet. "i get i'll see you around tommorow."

the male nodded.

the girl was about to go inside their house when he spoke.

"seri... grades aren't everything, okay?" he says, "i know their kinda important but always remember your worth or value isn't measured by those numbers..."

donghyuck bit his tongue, feeling the heat on his cheeks. "anyway, goodnight."