━━ STANDING IN FRONT of her new school brought a sense of foreboding to daiyu, wearing her new school uniform and tightly clutching her previously mailed schedule.
her heart was drumming in her chest, nerves pooling into puddles at her palms. daiyu had never been one to get first-day nerves, but for some reason everything seemed to frighten her these days.
mindlessly, the chinese-korean girl played with the sole bracelet on her wrist, the cool silver soothing her. it was like a piece of her brother had never left her, even when all she'd done was try to forget him.
such a thought made her heart ache, but she pushed it away and walked into the school as if she had always been there. maybe if she looked as though she fit in, daiyu could avoid any prying eyes.
every classroom looked the same as daiyu walked past, rows of neatly placed desks and a single stand for the teacher. she had forgotten what being at school felt like, and being back was like a kick to her ribs. it was strange to say she missed this.
the easygoing chatter, the content faces, everything. for a moment she could almost picture herself with that same smiling expression, talking to a boy glowing in light, but the image dissolved before she could clearly picture his face. it was obvious who the person her mind thought of was.
daiyu remembered her father taking her younger self's hand and guiding her into the classroom with promises of ice cream after school. she remembered crying in his arms and whining about not wanting to go, not wanting to leave his side.
it seemed like a lifetime ago.
suddenly the fear of entering the classroom was suffocating, such an uninviting prospect that daiyu stumbled back away like she'd been burned. there was nobody to tell her she'd be okay now. she was alone again, and this time it wasn't fine.
pushing through with a few deep breaths, she swallowed the feeling down along with the growing lump in her throat, and opened the door. with cloudy eyes, she took a quick look around the classroom and at that moment she felt like throwing up a breakfast she didn't eat.
that familiar silky ruffled mess of hair, sharp brows, and shiny silver piercings in his ears.
han seojun. a dashing smile extinguished, smooth voice tone gone silent.
why was he here, when he should've been back at the school daiyu promised she would never set foot in again? why were his eyes so bright and beautiful, and why did those dead butterflies rise in her stomach to create a cacophony of elevated heartbeats in the pit of her chest?
why, why was the boy she had tried so hard to detach from sitting there, a million emotions blazing through his face like wildfire?
the girl beside him looked from seojun to daiyu in confusion, wondering why he'd suddenly gone serious.
"seojun." daiyu could only mutter his name, so foreign on her tongue after its abandonment.
the box she'd put away, the one with all her forgotten feelings marked 'for later' suddenly opened and daiyu wished that it had just disappeared like everything else in her life had.
the look he gave her was nothing like she'd ever felt before. eyes so cold they tore into her soul, ripping her heart from out of her chest. guilt was all that filled her, because when she looked at seojun all she saw were memories of a past life.
a life where there were three more happy hearts beating alongside her own.
"daiyu," he scoffed, the bitterness and hate in his voice enough to bring daiyu crashing down. he stood up from his desk and slowly walked over to her. "i didn't think you'd show your face again, after what you did to seyeon."
