Only An Obstacle, ㅤ ㅤ Baek Kyung

nineteen

Because of Jeongha's ankle injury she had been pardoned from P.E class and was sitting idle on the opposite side from where Danoh was sitting. 'He confessed?' Jeongha was still stuck on what happened last night.

Kyung confessed his feelings and while it made her giddy, she was terrified that he wouldn't remember. All sorts of what-ifs roamed her head. Kyung had entered the room and immediately made his way to Danoh without paying even an ounce of attention to Jeongha.

Jeongha was too far away to tell what Danoh and Kyung were talking about. She saw him drape his towel over Danoh, 'I'm also feeling cold.' She got up and neared Haru who was holding some towels.

She took one of them, blanketing on of them over her as Kyung did for Danoh, she held the towel close to her. Danoh, as soon as the stage, threw off the towel rushed away from Kyung and rushed to Haru.

Jeongha just stared at Kyung and made her way to him, he neared her except he walked right past her.

To bother Haru and Danoh.

Kyung splashed water towards the two making Haru visibly angry. Jeongha jusy watched the interaction with somewhat teary eyes, 'He doesn't remember?' She just stood and watched the three, Kyung was acting jealous outside of a stage.

"Why do you keep coming between us? I want to hang out with my fiancee." Kyung pushed Haru back, "I'm asking you why!" Kyung tried pushing the taller boy again but before anyone could do anything, Haru had pushed Kyung into the pool.

Jeongha continued staring before rushing out off the place.

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She couldn't stand to see Kyung, her friend who had coldly pushed past her as if he hadn't confessed just a few hours ago. "Why are you here?" The voice instantly soured her mood,

"Why aren't you in class?" Jeongha asked her stalker, Hyunsoo. He entered the class and sat in one of the chairs.

"I followed you, you're running from your lover, I wonder why?" He rubbed in her bad luck, "He confessed and yet he doesn't remember. Poor him." Hyunsoo faked sympathized with Jeongha.

"Just give up, you two are simply not meant to be." Hyunsoo laughed in her face and Jeongha just glared, she got up and rushed to her desk getting the sharpest thing she had. She made her way to stab Hyunsoo. 'At least one of my problems will be solved.' She was about to stab him when a familiar looking figure pressed the fire alarm. 'Y─'

sagak

The moment Jeongha woke up she took in several breaths. She felt out of breath and her ankle pained, only after hearing her a deep voice she realised she was in the hospital. "She thankfully was found, her ankle might need to undergo surgery but we will try are best to make sure she can do ballet again." The deep voice was of a doctor.

"Mom?" Jeongha called out for her mother. "Oh sweetheart you're awake, thank god." Miyeon rushed to hug her daughter. "You shouldn't overwork look at you." While her tone was full of pity and sadness as any mother would be, for Jeongha it felt threatening.

Jeongha just looked down to her knee, she knew the truth the writer was planning to use her ankle to punish her. 'Why?' Jeongha just looked at her ankle, no emotion on her face.

'Because I let the writer puppet me?'

The doctor and her mother had left, Jeongha just layed on the bed. 'Because I didn't rebel?'

'I don't have time to whine!'

Jeongha got out of her bed and almost fell if it wasn't for her fast reflexes she would have gotten hurt. "Thank god!" She got up and noticed the crutches near her bed, so she got a hold of them and got out of the room.

She noticed Kyung following a shorter figure, that could only be Danoh. She too rushed after the two, 'What is─'

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Jeongha, Danoh and Kyung had ended up at school. Jeongha had lost the other two, she was roaming around the school looking for any of them but stopped when she heard Kyung's voice.

"Are you looking for this?" Kyung's voice boomed in the mostly empty library. Jeongha entered the library and spotted Kyung and Danoh.

"Look at you, you must have been desperate." He reminded Danoh of her disheveled state, making Jeongha notice her similar condition. "Have you been having fun?" He monotonously continued, looking back at Jeongha making the girl step forward.

Danoh's eyes widened at the appearance, the two eerily similar because of their soaked hospital gowns. "You have had a crush on me for a decade, both of you, but I guess you don't know me well enough." He was talking to both of them, Jeongha continued walking now even nearer.

"I know you didn't have a choice, but I'm kind of disappointed. I had no idea what he was talking about at first." Kyung reminiscenced over the past where all characters dropped hints of their condition.

"Characters? Not real? What you said was all nonsense to me. But it turned out, that nonsense was really happening. Everything started to make sense after I read the book. What was even funnier was that there were other people who already knew that."

Kyung's words pierced through Jeongha, betrayal on his face. "Kyung let me─"

"It was fun to watch. He was a mere extra but was trying so hard." Kyung laughed, "You knew all this time?" Danoh's jaw was clenched, anger present in her eyes.

"You're the one who made me look like a fool first. You have been acting like a know it all, with that nameless extra shit. That's why he has disappeared." Kyung's cruel words hurt Jeongha more than his previous ones.

This wasn't the Kyung she knew. "Watch what you say about us." Danoh warned though Kyung didn't care. "You're just an extra. Did you think you finding your ego would have made you the protagonists?"

"What if you disappear too? Don't kid yourself, Danoh. You're just an extra." Though none of it was directed to her, Jeongha still felt hurt. "You're an ex─"

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"You're just a maid!" Hyunsoo shouted, "You and Kyung won't last. You're not meant to."

"He's the prince, and you're a mere maid."

"An extra."

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Danoh had left by the time Jeongha snapped out. "I'm not going to bother asking why you didn't tell me." Kyung addressed Jeongha directly but Jeongha couldn't reply. Her visions had returned she was seeing those flashbacks again.

Kyung walked past her, his shoulder brushing against hers.

"I don't know if you've become cruel because of your ego or you always were, and I was just too blind to see it. Maybe I don't know you well."