✓ nostalgia | jungwon

chapter 37.

nostalgia, thirty-seven.
❛ waiting for tomorrow ❜

"So are you guys like, a thing now?"

     "Uh," Yebin struggled with her words under Taeri and Micha's stare. "We haven't really- talked about labels like that."

     Her two friends exchanged glances, before smiling. "They're totally a thing."

     Yebin nervously laughed along as they squealed, attracting several stares to their lunch table, especially from the underclassmen. They had been back in school for a while, but it still felt weird whenever she remembered she was a junior now.

     Seems like just yesterday they were preparing for the annual festival with Choi Beomgyu bossing everyone around. Now the boy was off at college, and Kang Taehyun had succeeded his position.

     "When are you seeing him next?" Micha asked.

     "Later, actually," Yebin said. She and Jungwon had been meeting at the local convenience store nearly everyday after school, where her mother couldn't find out about them. The girl had brought up the possibility of her dating in a recent conversation, and the woman reacted as if she said she wasn't going to college. Basically, it was hide the truth or die.

     "That's sweet," Taeri commented, before sighing. "It's kind of sad, though."

     Yebin tilted her head in confusion, not knowing what she was talking about.

     "Oh, you haven't heard? Jungwon went from rank one in his class to rank eleven."

     "I'm rank one hundred and twenty-one..." Yebin trailed off, shocked at Jungwon's academic rank and feeling completely ashamed.

     "Yeah, but no one's really surprised about that, you know?" Taeri explained. "I mean for Jungwon- well, he was Sanheoli's golden boy last year. And now if he keeps this up, he won't make the cut for automatic scholarship."

     "He can't lose that," Yebin muttered, knowing how important getting into his dream university was for him. They'd talked about it before.

     "It's not because of you, is it?" Micha asked. "Falling in love can be very distracting."

     Yebin opened her mouth to answer, but closed it again. She had nothing to say. Was it because of her?

     She had been taking up a lot of his time lately, and although they were having fun, that wasn't going to help him with his future. She zoned out for the rest of the day, knowing she had to do something about it as soon as possible. As soon as the dismissal bell rang, she sent him a text.

     Yang Jungwon bid goodbye to his friends, before eagerly jogging up to board the bus bound for- well, not quite home just yet. It was his favorite part of the day whenever he got to see her, even if it was just for an hour or so.

     Upon reaching the convenience store, he bought two mini-cartons of banana milk. Then he waited by the counter table, just as he always did, humming a happy tune to himself.

     When she didn't come for another several minutes, he pulled out his phone to call her up, but it turned out she'd already texted him. He couldn't help but grin at the contact name.

     They jokingly had each other down as 'noona' and 'oppa,' something they came up with after realizing they had the same birthday, and their parents had no idea what time they were born. They'd never know who was older.

noona </3
sorry, i can't make it today
don't you have that test tomorrow?
you should go home and study

     Jungwon's face fell as he read through the messages. He had waited the entire day to talk to her. But I guess that'll have to wait for tomorrow, he thought.

     And so he waited for tomorrow, but that didn't come either.

     Han Yebin couldn't let it. She purposely tried to distance herself from him, using every excuse she could think of to give him more time for himself. Micha was right, falling in love can be distracting.

     Not that they were so-called 'falling in love.' Her mother had always told her young people that were incapable of that.

     Yebin went out of her way to start texting him less, and even on the weekends she'd say she was busy with school or hanging out with a friend.

     Everyone around her told her this wasn't a good idea. They didn't understand. Even Xiaohui would express her disappointment, asking Yebin to at least give Jungwon the explanation he deserved. In truth, the guilt was eating her alive. But if he lost his scholarship, she would never forgive herself.

     The only people who supported her were- quite surprisingly, Taeri and Micha. They'd stayed by her side the whole time, assuring her that she was making the right choice for Jungwon's sake.

     "You guys were moving way too fast," Taeri would tell her.

     "Yeah, no one's serious at this age anyway," Micha would add.

     This all went on for a good two weeks, and Han Yebin felt like an absolute hypocrite. 'Why is it that every time I think we're doing okay, you make it feel like we're not?' her own words rang through her head. The thing was, she didn't they were okay. In fact, it was as if things had gotten worse. And little did she know that for Jungwon, it really had.

     The boy was restless. Sleep felt like a chore to him, something he couldn't bring himself to do. The insomnia had him struggling to keep his eyes open in classes, and that only sunk his grades like a heavy anchor.

     It didn't help that Yebin barely replied to any of his texts, acting as if she wanted to avoid him at all costs. maybe this was him getting a taste of his own medicine, but he didn't know how he could keep this up any longer.

a/n. was gonna have jungwon do that whole nail puncturing the banana milk carton like in that spicy treasure drama😋 teumes ya feel me,, stan treasure if you don't already, anyway this chapter rip sad times y'all