Suji stepped out of the library, debating putting her sunglasses back on. It was already dark outside, so there wasn't much of a need for them. But she liked the feeling of having her face shielded.
Staying late after school to work on her admission essay was a choice she now regretted, because Hyunji had left early and Suji no longer had a ride up the mountain. She sighed, leaving her glasses on her head for the time being.
As Suji left the school grounds and began walking towards downtown Seoul, she began running through the list of people she could call in her mind. Not her parents, they were on a business trip. She had no siblings.
Her only real close friend had left her. Who else had a car? The idea that she could call Jaemin left a flicker of nervous excitement in her, but she squashed that down fairly quickly. He was Hyunji's boyfriend, which meant off-limits.
That left her with the only option of taking the bus. It wasn't an option she gladly accepted – the bus only came every hour, and then it took another hour to get to her house – but it was the only option she had. So, Suji set to plodding down the sidewalk to the bus stop.
To her surprise, it was not empty. She recognized the slightly slouched figure of Chenle, tugging on the strings of his hoodie.
She smiled hesitantly as she approached. "Hey."
He glanced up, and paled. "Hey." For a moment, neither of them spoke, and Suji began nervously pulling at the hem of her blouse.
"Um, so what's up?" She finally managed. Chenle looked around, seemingly wanting to be anywhere but here right now.
"You..." he started, taking a deep breath. "Look, you can't hang out with us anymore."
For a second, the world stopped making noise. Suji was left with an odd buzzing in her ears. "W-what?"
"We don't want to see you," Chenle ground out. "None of us. We aren't interested in being your friends anymore."
"Chenl-"
"Not the girls, or Jae and I, or Hyuck, or-"
"Chenle, look at me."
He did.
"Did Hyunji put you up to this?" She asked softly.
He choked, and hung his head. "Yes." Raising it, he looked at her imploringly. "But you can't tell her, she threatened my dog"
Oddly enough, Suji didn't feel that angry anymore. In fact, she felt a bit like laughing. "What a horrible person," she said, "letting her jealousy get to her like that."
"Suji-"
"You know the only reason she doesn't like me?" Her voice was rising steadily. "Because she sees me as competition. She thinks I'm prettier than her."
Chenle frowned. "You are."
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Look, I'm not – that is, I don't want to-" Her voice broke. Chenle moved forward, but she held out a hand. "No, I'm fine. Listen, I promise I won't tell her. I'll pretend you've gone and broken my heart."
"I'm sorry," Chenle murmured. His face looked anguished.
Tears threatened to spill over Suji's face. So she sniffed and squared her shoulders.
"No worries. I know she's blackmailing you." Firmly, she walked around him, passing the bus stop. She didn't feel like going home anymore. "See you around sometime."
