fall into u | nishimura riki 엔하이픈

09

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Unsurprisingly for the both of them, Riki and Jia had not spoken for over a month since the school trip.

Riki was too nervous to speak to Jia, and Jia had little to no interest in speaking to Riki. Therefore, there was no progress made between the two of them.

Riki would occasionally see her at lunch when she was eating with Sunoo and Jungwon, or in the hallway when walking to class, but she would never look in his direction.

Riki felt annoyed at himself for what had happened, and he wanted to speak to her again and make amends, but he could sense that she didn't feel the same way.

On that drab and rainy afternoon, Riki wasn't paying attention in class, instead his thoughts drifted away to Jia, which they often did recently.

When class had finally ended, Riki got up to leave, only to be stopped by his teacher who looked nothing but frustrated at him.

"Riki, is everything okay?" Mr Satoshi asks as the rest of the students exit the classroom.

"Yes sir, everything's fine." Riki assures as he scratches the back of his neck nervously.

"You weren't paying much attention in class today, or at any point recently." Mr Satoshi points out as he crosses his arms.

"I've been distracted, I guess." Riki mumbles as he avoids eye contact with his English teacher.

"Riki your grades are dropping, and I'm worried for you." Mr Satoshi says, Riki nodding in understanding. This wasn't news for him, he had already seen his grades slipping. "I understand you're busy with the school newspaper club and most of your time seems to be going towards that, but your grades hold far more importance."

Riki doesn't say anything, instead he just continues to nod to let him know he's paying attention.

"I'm going to find you a tutor for English specifically, I fear that you're going to fail otherwise." Mr Satoshi says, to which Riki's head snaps up.

"A tutor?"

"Yes, I'll makes sure they can help with other subjects you're struggling with too." Mr Satoshi says, and Riki gives a strained smile back in response.

"Okay, thank you sir." Riki says before quickly bowing and hurrying out the classroom.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

"What's wrong with you?" Sunoo asks as Jia storms up to him with a scowl etched on her face.

"I've been asked to tutor Riki Nishimura." Jia says as she throws her bag onto the table, causing Sunoo to flinch.

"That's... unfortunate." Sunoo says, wincing as Jia slams a textbook on the table loudly.

"Yes, very unfortunate." Jia mutters, anger notable in her voice, "exams are starting in two months and I've been asked to dedicate my own time to tutor someone, that someone being a boy I've not spoken a word to in over a month."

"Okay Jia- let's try and think about the positives!" Sunoo says brightly, putting a hand on Jia's shoulder to make her face him.

"What positives could there possibly be Sunoo?" Jia asks with an impatient look on her face.

"Well- it looks good... for University?" Sunoo replies, unsure of his own answer.

"I don't need tutoring to make me look good when I get the grades I do." Jia says as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I mean- That's a fair point." Sunoo mumbles in response.

"Sorry Sun, I know you're only trying to make me feel better." Jia says softly, a small sigh escaping her lips as she rests her head on the table.

"I understand why you're annoyed! But it'll only be a few sessions, and maybe you and Riki can resolve your problems." Sunoo says, a small and hopeful smile appearing on his lips.

"Yeah, maybe." Jia mumbles, knowing that she had no interest in making amends with the boy.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Riki was waiting in the library, being told his tutor was to meet him there for their first session. The first thing he knew about his mystery tutor was that they were lacking in punctuality. Their meeting time was 8:00am, which was already far too early for Riki's liking, and his tutor had still not arrived despite the time being 8:10am.

However, five minutes later, the door to the library loudly swung open.

Riki didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't a miserable looking Choi Jia to walk through the library doors as she tightly clutched textbooks against her chest.

He gulps at the sight, suddenly wanting to grab his belongings and run out the library through the same doors she just stormed in through.

She sits down on the furthest seat away from him and takes her time to unpack her bag as Riki sits there, questioning what to say to her. The silence that fell over them was practically defeating, and Riki found himself fidgeting due to the awkwardness of it all.

"Jia, it's been a while." Riki says quietly, despite there being no other people in the library at this time other than one or two librarians.

"It has." Jia says, finally looking at him with a blank expression on her face.

Riki nods, not knowing what else to say to the girl sat in front of him. He suddenly felt upset, seeing the difference between them now and a month earlier. Jia had gone back to being stiff and closed off around him, yet Riki knew he only had himself to blame for that.

"So, did you volunteer to help tutor me?" Riki asks out of curiosity, as Jia flicks through the English revision guide in front of her.

"No, I didn't" Jia responds, not bothering to look up at Riki.

"Ah, I see," Riki mutters, "I hope I'm not causing you too much inconvenience."

"It's fine- now was there anything you wanted to look at specifically?" Jia says as she moves her chair closer to him.

Riki shakes his head, causing Jia to give a tight lipped smile in response as she scratches her head in thought. "Well, I guess we could go over this section?"

"Yeah, that would be helpful." Riki says, leaning over to look at her revision guide.

The next hour of studying goes painfully slow for the both of them, and as soon as their session finishes, they part ways without a single word exchanged.