afterglow ‣ s.jy

001

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JAKE

Jake was beyond annoyed.

And he didn't even know who he truly was annoyed with. Was it the teacher that had put him beside the classmate he never wanted to sit next to? Was it Siyeon who has once again challenged his answer by defending her (hopefully) wrong answer? Was it with himself because he couldn't stomach the fact that Siyeon would once again disprove his answer? Or was it with his friend that was taking so damn long to solve a physics problem?

Heeseung was by far his smartest friend and if he wanted to get the correct answer, he knew it was Heeseung he had to approach. But the thing was, he was taking so long to solve the problem that Jake was starting to grow impatient. Well, perhaps it's his fault too considering his friend was busily eating when he slammed a piece of paper and a pen on the table.

"She's correct, Jake."

His heart dropped. "Are you sure? Check again!"

Heeseung lets out a sigh. "I could happily consult another smart student but I'm telling you, Siyeon's answer is correct."

Jake huffs in annoyance and crumpled the paper, leaning on his seat as he annoyingly crossed his arms.

It was only last month when Jo Siyeon transferred to class b, and at first, he never paid attention to her presence. She just sat there quietly and raised her hand maybe twice every day. She kept her presence low and never even spoke to any of her classmates. But that all changed when she and Jake would often get different answers to a physics problem.

He let her go once. He didn't even argue and just corrected himself. But the more she contested his answers, the more provoked he felt. As if she was doing that on purpose, and if it was playtime for her it wasn't for him. Nevertheless, he doubted it was playtime for her considering she was often— if not always— annoyed when opposing him. 

He didn't like Siyeon, not even a little bit.

"Oh for heaven's sake, be the man and accept you're wrong." Sunoo appeared behind him, sitting next to Jake as he spoke. "Mr. Choi already put you two together, must you ask for another punishment?"

"Sunoo's right," Jay adds, sitting next to Heeseung.

"She's just so annoying! She can't let it go when she's wrong and of course, I can't let it go if she thinks my answer is wrong!" Jake argued but as if he was talking to a wall, nothing changed with his friend's expression. "You just don't get it."

"I'm number one. Do you think number two doesn't challenge mine daily?" Heeseung glared at him. "And do you think I don't challenge hers?"

"You're friends with her. That's different." His eyes narrowed. "And I don't think any of you are as short-tempered as Siyeon."

"As short-tempered as you, you mean." Jay comments.

Growing more annoyed than he already was, he looked at his watch, and relief washed over his face when he realized he had a valid excuse to get away from them. Standing up, he excused himself from his friends and went back to his classroom to grab something from his bag. Lucky for him, Siyeon has yet to return from lunch so he didn't have to worry about running into her.

After getting the brown paper bag, he made his way to the music room. And upon pushing the door open, he was welcomed by the beautiful sound of Debussy playing in the background. A smile crept to his lips as he watched Hyejin gracefully play the piano, closing her eyes as she felt the sound resonate with everything she had.