afterglow ‣ s.jy

007

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JAKE

"If two people had asked for your help, one is a friend and another is a lover, who would you put first? Would you do the same as the main character who chose the lover or would you beg to differ?"

Jake wanted to get himself out of that class as soon as possible.

He hated how the literature they were learning was relatively similar to what he did to Siyeon earlier, the only difference was she wasn't his friend nor was Hyejin his lover.

He wanted to get himself out of there, even more, when Siyeon had raised her hand in haste once the teacher was finished stating the question.

"Yes, Siyeon?" The teacher said, glancing in the student's direction.

"I wouldn't choose on the basis of friend or lover. I would choose what task is more significant, and according to the story, the main character should have chosen his friend. Not only was the friend the first one to ask for help, but he was asking for help for the sake of their community, unlike the lover who only wanted help on something trivial." She spoke as though she was carrying a lot of anger inside of her which would probably be the case right now.

"Good point, does anyone want to argue with that?"

Jake raised his hand this time, and Jungwon had let out an audible 'oh boy' when he realized what was about to happen.

"I think Siyeon didn't consider that the main character wanted to help both of them, so the main character came up with a plan to put the lover first then the friend. The main character also thought the lover's request was trivial so she put it first, turns out she had underestimated it. So really, there was nothing wrong with choosing the lover! Don't we put the easy tasks first before the hard ones?" As he said the last sentence, he gave his seatmate a glance, whose tongue was pushed against the side of her cheek, clearly showing her annoyance.

"Are you trying to justify her mistake? It doesn't matter if she had put the lover first because she thought the task was trivial, the friend needed his assistance more." Siyeon refuted without raising her hand to request a chance to speak.

"She knew that! That's why she put the easy task first so she could give her whole time to the friend." He says, the one of his voice gradually getting louder.

"If that's the case, why did the friend have to do everything by himself?"

"Maybe he couldn't wait for one more second?!"

Just as Siyeon was about to contradict his answer, the teacher had already yelled at the two to stop. Both were forced to sit down while the teacher continued to scold them for the insolence they presented in front of the whole class. Not that it was their first time being scolded about their actions, they just never find the chance to get used to it.

"As punishment, the two of you stay after dismissal." Unlike Jake who took in the punishment very lightly, Siyeon didn't.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but can we postpone my punishment to tomorrow? I-I really can't stay after class." Her face was pale as she begged the teacher to postpone her punishment.

"Apologies, Siyeon. Punishments are not meant to be postponed. I will see you both in dismissal." The teacher's eyes were relentless as they dug into Siyeon's.

Jake stared at his defeated seatmate, nervousness surrounding her face while she tapped her foot on the floor. He wanted to ask if she was okay or what was it about staying after class that got her so nervous. Yet he knew the only response bound to come out from her mouth was a curse because it was him who had put her in that spot. He could only imagine his death, which was likely already planned in her head.