"maybe in another world, another life, we were meant for a happy ending, but not here, not this time"
in which nishimura ayame is struggling with her mental health and home life and yang jungwon tries to help her but nothing could ever go right for...
ayme was currently in her art class. they had recently done a project and today was the day where the teacher would grade them in front of all the students.
ayame wouldn't be nervous about it usually but this time she tried a different art style than what the teacher taught. she hoped the teacher wouldn't mind but of course, nothing goes ayame's way does it?
all the paintings were spread across the floor with the students surrounding them and the teacher in the middle, giving criticism and feedback to the students.
"jungwon ah.." the teacher started, "jungwon has increased the chroma of this cherry. he emphasized the main point very well-yah.." she pointed at another picture, looking at the students, "whose is this? who painted this cartoon? there is no dimension in this painting at all"
ayame bit her lip and the teacher looked at her, "is this your finished painting?" the girl nodded and now all eyes were on her, "how could you call this a finished painting? it's incomplete. you shouldn't draw like this if you plan on going to a art school"
as she was being scolded, jungwon looked over at ayame, feeling bad for her and wanting to say something to the teacher but no words came out of him.
"then how" ayame responded
the teacher scoffed, looking annoyed, "there are rules. there are certain things that colleges require of you. why are you just ignoring that? huh? if you're going to prepare for college, just keep it as a hobby" the teacher then looked at the rest of the students, "everyone, this is an example of painting as a hobby"
a few of the students chuckled but jungwon was feeling horrible as he continued to look at her but ayame was just feeling awful. she tried to venture out and do something different but of course that didn't work
"now jungwon's on the other hand..wow.." the teacher continued and this made ayame feel even worst, "it's different isn't it?"
the teacher wrapped out the rest of the evaluations as everyone grabbed their paintings and went back to their seats. ayame took a seat down and laid out her painting, staring at it.
ayame looked over at jungwon who was talking to his friend in the class, "he did perfect and told me he was horrible at drawing.." she muttered, looking back at her drawing.
ayame grabbed her paper, rolling it up before grabbing her phone and getting out of her seat
"ayame" ayame looked at the boy who called her name; jungwon, "where are you going?"
"throwing this away" she responded in a monotone voice and before he could say anything, she turned her body away and walked out of the classroom.
walking to the end of the hall where the trashcan was, she ripped up her painting before tossing it in the trashcan, "didn't plan on going to college anyways.." she muttered
｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡
jungwon was in the library looking for a book that he needed for his upcoming project. looking through multiple books, he finally found one. reaching up to grab it, he pulled it out, not realizing the book that was placed on top of it.
before it could hit the boy's head, another hand grabbed it. jungwon looked to his right and saw ayame standing there with the book in her hand, "be careful" she spoke before turning around and walking away
jungwon stood there for a second before he quickly caught up to her pace, "uh ayame?"
she hummed, walking to another aisle to put the book in its rightful place, "thank you"
"it's a book" she looked at him, "you wouldn't have gotten that hurt"
"yah..you're right i guess" he chuckled awkwardly, "uhm..your painting earlier was good"
"obviously not good enough" she smiled bitterly, "yours was really good though"
"uhm..i swear i'm not a good artist. i just try harder for my school projects. other than that i'm horrible" he spoke
"you don't have to lie to me jungwon" she responded, "plus i don't really care about that. i just..was upset about the teacher's really harsh criticism"
"hey hey yours was good regardless. the teacher doesn't know what she is saying. there isn't just one way to draw" he defended her and ayame just weakly smiled, feeling slightly better, "anyways, what are you doing here?"
"just helping organize the books" she spoke, "i didn't want to eat lunch so yah. speaking of which" she dug into her school bag and pulled out a packet of bread, handing it to the boy, "i don't want it"
"but you should-" he cut himself off, biting his lip
"if i do, i'll end up forcing myself to throw up" she responded, "i rather not so just take it"
"ayame...you know you should go to therapy for that right?"
ayame bit her lip and looked around before grabbing jungwon's wrist and pulling him to a part of the library where no one really was.
checking one more time, she stood in front of jungwon with her arms crossed, "i can tell you things right?" jungwon nodded, "therapy is expensive and my family doesn't have the money at the moment"
"..are you planning on getting therapy for it though?"
no
"uhh..yah..my family's financial situation just isn't the best right now so we're waiting.." ayame lied straight through her teeth
her dad and brother had no idea of her bulimia. while riki had suspicions of course, ayame denied them and continued with the narrative that she is okay when in reality she is not.
"that's good to hear" jungwon responded with a small smile on his face, "i just want you to be safe and healthy"
there goes her heart again.
racing up at his damn smile.
"ayame? are you okay? your cheeks are red. do you have a fever?" he placed the back of his hand on his forehead making ayame freeze up even more.
she shook her head quickly, pulling herself away from him, "ahaha..uhm no fever i'm good. just uh it's hot in here. i'm going to go.."
the girl quickly ran the opposite direction, getting away from the boy and running out of the school library, "that was embarrassing"
she was still refusing to accept the fact that she liked jungwon. she knew she did but she kept shrugging it off. why did she have to like someone? why?
about to walk back to her class, two students past her and she was going to ignore it but stopped when she heard what they said
"wait!" ayame exclaimed. the two students stopped and looked at her, "what did you two just say?"
they looked at each other before one spoke, "we heard your brother got into a fight"
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