𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 ━━━ 𝖏𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖓

6. unnecessary efforts

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Aera's POV

"Please stop shouting. You'll wake Aheon up." My mother begged her husband to stop causing a ruckus this early in the morning as I kept quiet in my room simply wearing my uniform. Nights were ruined and so were the mornings. Parents quarrelling was indeed the only thing that ruined my entire childhood. Did I even have a childhood? I didn't know.

"Noona.." the weak tone of my 11 year old brother made its way to me as I quickly looked back at him. The young boy was still wrapped around his blanket with his hair all messed up. I softly smiled and approached him. "Come on. Let's get you back to sleep." He never complained about these fights not letting him sleep or the nightmares he got, rather he just came and stayed in my room. I put my brother back to sleep and got ready for school.

Grabbing my bag, I quietly left the house without attracting much attention from anyone.

-

School was bearable today so far as the students were all busy preparing for their upcoming exams. I was once again doodling on my copy not wanting to study for a while when the noises by the students grew louder. "Is that Jake for real?!" "He is really attending class??" They all gossipped as I looked up to see Sim Jake entering the class uninterestedly. The guy stared at the empty sits for a while before his eyes met mine as he quickly looked away.

He walked over to my side and sat in front of me as I stared at the back of his head and then at Jay. "He is in our class?" I whispered as he nodded. "Both Sunghoon and Jake are in our class. But they barely attend." He continued and got back to studying as I nodded understanding it. The guy was so quiet in front of me. Everyone was talking about him but nobody talked with him making me feel bad. I took all my courage and decided to knock him up.

"Hi Jake-" but I soon got cut off as the other guys entered the classroom and caused more noises. "Ahh Sim Jake attending classes?" They curiously stared at Jake as the guy raised one of his eyebrows and simply ignored them. "Damn barely saw you after her death." One of the guys said out as the others stopped laughing and quietened. In a way the unknown guy's friends were basically telling him to not talk about it but he didn't take the hints.

Jake glared at him for a while before looking away again without saying anything. "What dude? I'm just worried you lost yourself after losing her." He said out once again before chuckling out but Jake wouldn't say anything making him feel frustrated. I slowly eyed Jay as he gestured that he'll explain it all later. The bell rang as the teacher came and everyone settled down.

I looked straight as I noticed the boy in front of me balling his fists tightly.

-

"Tell me." I asked Jay again as we both walked inside the library before going to the canteen. "Tell you what?" He asked looking at the books. "Tell me about what that student was talking about in class today with Jake." He figured it out and looked at me and sighed. We both got the book and walked to the canteen as he started talking finally. "Jake had a girlfriend. I don't exactly know her since I wasn't in the same class but they both had been dating for about 3 years." Jay pointed out the facts as we walked to the crowded canteen and got our plates.

"They were really famous. The ideal couple, people would call them that. I saw them together once and oh god I felt myself die over the cuteness." He smiled on his own looking at the food as I curiously yet attentively listened to him. "But last year.." the guy's smile disappeared as his look got a bit unreadable. "Jake's girlfriend died in a car accident." I felt my heart rate going fast as I heard him say it out.

I genuinely felt bad because the way Jay was talking about them at first did prove they were very happy together and I can't even imagine how bad it must have been for Jake to lose the girl he loved. "That's so.." I was out of words and didn't know what to say. Jay sighed as we both grabbed our food. Walking to our table I saw Jake sitting alone at a table, having his lunch as I quickly looked at Jay. "I'll eat with Jake. See you later." With that I walked over to the familiar guy's table.

"Hey hey." I said out sitting in front of him as he looked at me confused. "What are you doing here?" He asked out acting normal as I shrugged it away and gave him a big smile. "Nothing just wanted to eat with you." I said out as he tilted his head and stared at me innocently. "Gosh just eat, will you?" I said out as he nodded and continued eating his lunch.

We both walked to our next class. Well you could say I was following him because I genuinely wanted to do something to make him feel better. I might not know how he really feels but I know how bad he must be feeling. "Why are you suddenly attending classes?" Asking the boy, I walked quickly to match his fast pace. "I don't have practice today." He simply said out entering the lab as I followed him. "Ohh I see."

"Why are you following me?" Jake stopped on his way as I hit his back. The last class had just ended and I was now following Jake not knowing where he was going. I stared up at him nervously and gave him a weird smile. "Cause why not?" Saying out, I felt the guy coldly glare at me before walking away as I quickly ran behind him. My friends were surely right. He could be quiet and cold sometimes.

We walked outside the school. "Go away Aera." He said out from in front as I was confused as to how he knew my name but then again I remembered about my id. "Do you even like being alone soccer boy?" I said out stopping him as I stood in front of him. "Why do you care?" He walked past me as I scoffed. Uhh rude. "Gosh Jake why are you being so rude?" I stopped him by holding his hand as I noticed his cold look changing back to his normal one.

"Sorry." He sighed and continued walking. Running to walk right by his side, I pushed him all of a sudden as he looked at me. He pushed me back catching me off guard. Pushing him harder yet once again I laughed as he stumbled upon his steps. "Boo see I'm stronger than you."

"Yeah I totally wasn't the person who made your nose bleed." He said out in sarcasm as I remembered that event again. Embarrassment went down my body as I got paler. It all got back to normal as I saw the guy chuckle softly seeing my dead self before his chuckle changed into a laughter making me frown. I stared at him with a done look before walking ahead leaving Jake behind.

That made him laugh? Tch I was trying hard for no reason.

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Jake's past might seem very overdramatic but trust me I have seen this happen in real life and it was high-key painful :"(