𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 34

After eating dinner you decide to go home, the three of you leaving at the same time while Jugyeong follows you out with her mother to see you off. Jugyeong's mother hands each of you containers of food from dinner to take home, and you thank her with a grin. You know your mother will love the food.

Jugyeong's mother gives you a little hug which you return, before telling the three of you to get home safely.
"Make sure Y/N gets home safe, okay?" You hear Jugyeong's mother say as you turn to begin walking home. Your eyes widen in panic.

"Auntie, I'm okay. I'll be fine on my ow-" you refuse frantically, but she cuts you off with a stern look. You pout at her before nodding, and Seojun also agrees causing her to break into a smile. She pats your cheek lightly with affection, before saying goodbye to you all. You knew you were being stupid because you literally live next to each other, so you knew you didn't really have a choice. You were just being stubborn.

The walk home is silent, neither of you wanting to say anything, but the silence is strangely comfortable. Despite everything, it's nice to just be able to walk home with your best friend. When you arrive at your doorstep you turn to Seojun.

"Thank you," you smile softly, thanking him for dropping you off, to which he responds with a small smile of his own before taking a step towards his own apartment. However, before he moves you notice something. You lean up on your tiptoes and reach your hand up, thumb gently brushing against his cheek as you wordlessly wipe off a little bit of flour that was on his face. Seojun freezes and looks down at you, his heart racing because you haven't shown him any affection or even so much as a glance in weeks without running away, the action throwing him off.

You lean back once you're done and clear your throat slightly, the deja vu of the situation making you let out a little smile. You remember when he had some the same to you after the whole cake incident at school, before you realised you liked him, and the memory warms your heart.
"Good night Seojun," you whisper with a soft smile.
"Good night Y/N."

You walk into your apartment, closing the door before your smile drops slightly and you let out a sigh. You walk to the kitchen to put the leftovers from Jugyeong's house in the fridge, locating your mother in her bedroom.
"Hi mama," you say, and she grins at the sight of her beautiful daughter.
"How's my baby doing?" she asks, but her smile falters slightly when you don't respond. You're just so exhausted, and the events which unfolded throughout the day are all coming back to you.

When you don't say anything your mother just opens her arms, which you immediately walk into. All you need right now is to just be in her embrace. You lay beside her with your head on her chest, and she brings the blanket which was wrapped around her to cover you with it as well. You cuddle up to her with a content sigh, already feeling a little better as you let out a tired smile.

You stay like that in silence for a while, your mother hugging you tightly while running her fingers through your hair soothingly as you both watch what's playing on the television for a while.
"How are you feeling today?" you finally ask, and she hums in response.
"I'm okay, you?" You don't respond. Her hand stops moving on your head.

"Tough day?" You begin to tear up at her question. You're just so exhausted, so fed up.
"I love you mama, you know that right?" you say, your voice wavering slightly. "I know I tell you this all the time, but I really do. I love you so much." You sit up and look at her with a teary smile. Her heart breaks at the sight of you like this. "All I need in this world is you." She kisses your head with a soft but worried smile on her face.

"I love you too baby, but what's going on?" she asks worriedly, concerned about what's causing you to speak like this.
"I'm just stressed about exams, studying is just very tiring at the moment. Don't worry about me," you say, choosing not to mention what's really going on out of fear of worrying her. She nods with a sigh, choosing not to pry and having faith that you would tell her if something really bad is happening to you. She knows you're a strong girl and you can handle anything, and she knows you have wonderful friends that would help you through whatever is going on too.

She sings you to sleep that night, which helps you a lot because you love hearing her sing. You have always found her voice really soothing, and nothing is better than the comfort of her embrace. You know she always felt the same about your singing so you were always the one to sing her to sleep instead, since she needs the rest and comfort so much more than you. But her singing has never failed to bring you the comfort you need. It just makes you feel so safe and protected, and like nothing in this world will hurt you.

You fall asleep that night with a content smile on your face, listening to the beautiful sound of her singing and her heartbeat. Your mother looks down at you once you're asleep, her fingers running through your hair, glad that the tears have gone and you look a little happier. She ignores the pain she feels in her chest, just focusing on making sure you sleep comfortably that night.

The following day, you can't help but shake the gut feeling you have that something bad is about to happen. You brush it off though, assuming it might be just the nerves of seeing Seojun at school after the way you two left things the previous evening. When you arrive at school you miss the stares some of your fellow students throw at you, tiredly walking through the hallways to get to class.

When you get to your homeroom class, however, everyone rushes over to you while cheering. You flinch with a yelp when everyone starts screaming at you. Chorong and the others are in the classroom too, and you're flooded with questions from your classmates. You look around at them in confusion.
"How long have you guys been dating?"
"I lost my chance with her."
"We didn't know you were together!"
"Do we have two couples in our class now?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sua whines, shaking your arm. Your head is starting to hurt from all this confusion.
"Wah Y/N, do you know how many boys are going to be heartbroken by this news?"
"You look so cute together!"
"When did Seojun ask you out?" You freeze at that, eyes widening in panic. Wait, Seojun?!

You finally take the opportunity to look around the room, and you're shocked to see all the pictures from your photoshoot with Seojun taped around the room. Seojun walks in a few seconds later, and it only makes everyone scream louder at the sight of the 'lovely couple' together. They begin congratulating you, and Seojun finally understands what's going on when his friends run over to him. He looks over at you, and can immediately tell you're starting to get overwhelmed with everything that's going on.

When Chorong sees the way you two look at each other from across the room, gazes filled with pain and discomfort, he stops cheering. He frowns as he realises that this must all be some sort of misunderstanding, and his excitement changes to guilt and pity. You make eye contact with Chorong for a moment before you run out the room, Seojun following after you. He can see how upset you are because it's not true, although you really wish it was.

Before running after you Seojun takes a second to glare at everyone, slamming his chair into his desk to get everyone to stop. The room immediately becomes silent.
"We're not dating, okay? So you better clear all of this mess up before I get back, otherwise we're going to have a problem," he says angrily, before chasing after you.

When he finally manages to locate you outside, he speeds up a little.
"Why are you always running away these days?" he asks himself, before he finally manages to catch up to you. He reaches for your arm and pulls you to stop running. You close your eyes as you turn to face him, and he holds onto your arms. "Are you okay?" You nod.
"Peachy," you respond.
"I'm sorry, I know how uncomfortable that must've made you."
"It's okay," you respond softly.

"Y/N please," he says, trying to get it out of you one more time, "I just want to try and fix whatever I've done to upset you." You push his hand away, sighing. Not this again.
"Seojun, I just think it's better if you don't know, okay?" He looks at you in confusion.
"But-"

"It won't solve anything by you knowing," you say, reaching for his hand. He looks at you in shock at the fact that you initiated the contact rather than running away. "Please, I just need you to give me some time. I'll be back to being your bubbly best friend soon, I promise, but right now I just need to be alone." You squeeze his hand, and he's rendered speechless at that. The boy watches sadly as you throw him a tiny smile before walking back towards class, but the last sentence gives him a little bit of hope.