Till death do us apart » Han Jisung

04

The thread of her words perished into the air as my mouth dries up. The stars of the ideas twinkling in my mind connected into a constellation, as the knot of confusion stiffened securely. My heart surged in my trampling chest, as the thumps of my heart entered my own ears. The knocking of my heart drowned into my stomach, as I swallowed the growing lump under my throat.

My eyes drifted around the suffocating walls of the lecture-room, as the faces of the people dwelled into me, as my stomach twisted at the curtain-of-abhorrence fell over their eyes. My fingers shuddered, as I enveloped them against each other. My gaze met the girl’s once again, “Wh… What?”

The sound of her chuckle encircled around my ears. The catapulting of her accusation drowned deeply, immersed in the pond-of-my-disquietude. She slanted her lower back against my desk, a small sneer meandered over her thin lips, as her voice rolled around the room again, “I mean, you and the class president did sneak away yesterday after school,” She pauses, her face displaying the tangle forming in her mind through a frown of her eyebrows. “Han Jisung, you know.”

The vine-of-my-heart withers at her words, drying and falling to my stomach, the spikes hitting against the walls of me. My throat aches as I try to attain the words that would untangle the knot around my throat. I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, a familiar voice called out.

“What about Han Jisung?”

My head revolved in the direction of the voice, my heart thundering even more in the sky of my chest, as Jisung walked in the classroom, his school bag dangling over his shoulder as he made his way to my seat. He stands across from me, his bag still dancing around while it hangs over his shoulder. His ashy eyes met mine, the stars in his eyes twinkling as they lingered over the girl’s and mine in anticipation.

The girl’s chuckle flows through the tense air again, but the crinklings swimming through the air in the classroom drowns as the door of the room creeks, the footsteps of the teacher hammering around the room. Jisung’s head turns around, looking at the teacher, before his eyes again trapped mine into his gaze. “Mind if I sit with you today?” He hints at the vacant chair beside me, pointing by his index finger.

I gazed at the girl that stalked away to her own seat at the arrival of the teacher, before shifting my eyes back at Jisung. A corner of my lips lifted up into a soft smile, as I pulled my bag that slumped down on the chair. The teacher begins speaking, as Jisung moves to sit beside me.

As he rustles in his seat, the words of the girl swim around in my mind again. My eyes fall onto the table, as my heart darts on the walls of my chest. The knot in my throat unties itself, as a dreary sigh escapes my mouth. I close my eyes, the teacher’s voice fading into my ears, only the hearsay concerning me and Jisung dancing in my ears.

A slight tap on my shoulder results in the quickening of my heartbeat, as my body jumps slightly. I turn my head, finding Jisung’s observing me. The curtains of his eyes were lifted, the windows of him displaying the slight shake in his pupils melting into mine. “Hey, uh, sorry about that,” He initiated from under his breath, scratching the back-of-his neck as he looked away. “I just wanted to ask, what was Aecha saying about me? You know, when I ca—”

The teacher’s piercing voice tears the tail of Jisung’s sentence, “And I don’t want any distractions in my class,” My eyes shifted up to find him glaring at me and Jisung, as Jisung coughs wordlessly, the trail escaping his lips dancing around the room.

“Nevermind,” Jisung leans back in his chair, fiddling with his pen. “Let’s just talk after school or something.”

—

The icy breeze swimmed around the walls of the bus, as it enveloped my skin while I played with the dangling fabric of the sleeve of my jacket. I let out a shaky sigh, as the boy sitting beside me cleared his throat. My eyes stayed fixated on the window, as the bright lights dancing outside stung my eyes.

“So,” He began, his croaky voice hitting my ears. I turned my head to him, looking away from the moving streets out of the window. “What was Aecha speaking of when I got there?”

My chest contradicted, as my heart hammered across my ribs. I steal my gaze away from his again, allowing my gaze to swim out of the window. My mind traps itself in between the knots-of-my-thoughts, as a huff of air escapes out of my nose, as I sigh with my mouth closed. My fingers follow each other’s direction, playing with the ring on my finger.

“Well…” I begin, my lower lip shivering as the breeze hits my bones again. My body turns to face his as averseness lingers behind my actions. “There are some rumors about us going on from yesterday. You know, when we got inside the empty classroom alone.”