Siyeon stood in front of the class, writing her answer on the board without at least bringing the solution she had written on the piece of paper that sat flatly on her desk.
A week later since his conversation with Hyejin and his unexpected meeting with Siyeon, the only noticeable change that occurred was an even worst silent treatment from the person sitting next to him. At first, he didn't comment about the sudden shift between them as it was no different from how they used to treat each other, but as the days progressed, there he descries their lack of conversation and argument. It was unusual enough for the teachers to think the two finally got along, when in truth she was only refusing to speak to him.
There came a moment where Jake tried to approach Siyeon, but she quickly evaded him by hiding in the restroom (her best attempt in keeping her avoidance towards him subtle). He went as far as texting her also, yet the response he got was nothing. He was at the most horrible point of suffering from desperately missing her presence. A part of him wanted to annoy her just to steal her attention. But there was something about her silence that was fearsome enough to stop someone from trying anything that could break her from her peace, and funny enough, after being the receiver of many glares from her, she still scared him.
Siyeon returned to her seat, grabbing her pen before lightly tapping it on the table as she fixated her gaze on the notebook lying on her desk, sparing no effort to give attention to Jake. The class ended and like any other day, she walked away without so much of a goodbye. There was a wondering in him that thought deeply about the cause of this treatment, yet the only thing that ever comes to mind was the memory of them under the bus shelter as she speaks about topics that she was never willing to venture. He wanted to say that was it, but gaps still remained that left her cold shoulders towards him inexplicable.
With a frown on his face, he watched as she walked away forlornly.
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The holidays passed by like a blur, and what has always seemed like a merry week turned into the longest time of despairing over the fact Siyeon wouldn't notice him. Rather than watching his family open their gifts, his gaze spent most of its time on his phone, waiting for a greeting from her. At some point, even a thumbs up would've made his day.
Suddenly, Jake felt a soft tug on the sweater he was wearing. Looking down, he sees Haneul, another one of his cousin, smiling at him. "Hana told me not to stop bothering you until you join us in the living room."
"Your sister is evil for doing this." He mumbled which much to his luck, the younger failed to understand.
Their family had a small gathering hosted by his mother who only invited their immediate relatives, which was more than fine for Jake as the chances of him enjoying a party filled with people he couldn't care less to know was as low as his chances of getting a reply from Siyeon. Unable to resist his little cousin, he finally stood up from his bed and allowed the kid to pull him to the living room where Hana was smiling triumphantly after succeeding in dragging him down. Next to her cousin was their grandparents, who as always, stared sternly at the surroundings before offering a warm smile to their other grandchild that descended the stairs.
