Kim Taeyeon could recognise that back anywhere, walking right in front of her is Byun Baekhyun.
What is he doing here early in the morning? In this neighborhood?
The reason she woke up early is because she wanted to grab some breakfast in the convenience store near her house, since she is tired of eating at home. The sky is still dark, so she was surprised to bump into Baekhyun here of all places.
She watched from behind as he entered the convenience store she was planning to go to. She stopped in her steps.
What am I so nervous about?
She chewed on her bottom lip as she slowly walk towards the convenience store. When she reached the store, the door was opened for her. She looked up to see Baekhyun holding the door for her while smiling down at her. She nodded politely as a sign of 'thank you' before walking into the convenience store herself.
She purposedly went to a different aisle to avoid Baekhyun. She doesn't understand why she wanted to avoid him, probably because she's just afraid to bump into anyone she sees from school. It's a habit for her to avoid people who goes to the same school as her.
She bought a small carton of banana milk and a strawberry sandwich.
She sat down on one of the stools and placed her goods on the table. She started unwrapping the packet and sticking the straw into the carton. When she is doing that, Baekhyun walked past her and exited the convenience store. Taeyeon kept her eyes on his back as he took a seat on one of the chairs prepared by the store.
She glanced at the empty stools beside her, feeling a bit dissapointed that he chose to sit outside than inside with her. She sighed as she took a big bite out of her sandwich, resting her lazy eyes on Baekhyun's back, staring intensely into the back of his head.
As if he felt someone staring at him, he looked back, causing Taeyeon to dodge away quickly. When he saw her, he felt the urge to go over and talk to her, but some unkown reason is holding him back to do so.
Talking to her during winter break felt like a wave of calmness to his heart, because he doesn't have to deal with so many people at once. It felt nice to talk to her because he could just be himself. And when she talks to him, the sparkle in her eyes when she talks about something she loves doing was unforgettable.
But when she avoids looking him in the eye just now, he started to wonder if approaching her is a good idea. He thought back to their mild interactions in class. Although it has only been two weeks since school started, they never had a single conversation.
Their eyes meet every now and then, but that's it.
He feared that his approach will intimidate her, which is also why he decided to just sit outside the store while waiting for his friends.
But is that really the only reason why he didn't approach her?
It could be because he can't get caught by his friends talking to her, an outcast. He heard a lot of rumors about her and he felt like she is just a heavily misunderstood girl who is socially awkward. He wanted to say something when his friends were gossiping about Taeyeon, but-
He didn't.
Because he didn't stand up for her, he felt that he doesn't deserve to talk to her like that. He is so torn between peer pressure and what is right. She deserves to have a friend who genuinely treats her right and is brave enough to stand up for her no matter the consequences.
Not long after, Chanyeol, Minho and Kibum came to join him.
And Baekhyun pushed his confusion to the back of his mind and started to chat with his friends.
-
"I feel sorry for you because you have to partner up with someone as dumb as me."Tiffany said softly, feeling genuinely sorry. "I still don't understand how to do this."
Taeyeon held back a heavy sigh, secretly wondering if her partner ever paid attention in class, or else how could she not know a thing about this assignment. "It's okay, I will do this part. You can just do the introduction and the conclusion."Taeyeon said, deciding to let her do the easiest part.
"But I think it is unfair for you. How about I take one more part? Like this part."Tiffany asked, pointing at one part of the paper.
"Are you sure?"Taeyeon asked. "Cause this part requires a lot of analysis."
"Don't worry, I will come up with something."
"Okay then, send it to me by Saturday then I will compile it and print it on Sunday. Can?"Taeyeon asked, worried that her plan isn't okay with Tiffany.
"Okay. Sure!"Tiffany smiled brightly at her.
"Give me your e-mail and your phone number so that I can contact you."
Taeyeon thought that everything is going to go well, now that she has a reliable partner for the assignment. She finished her part on Saturday and was waiting for Tiffany to send her her part through e-mail, but that e-mail never came.
It felt awkward for her to contact Tiffany first because she has rejected every invite to their lunch table since there is nothing to talk about aside from the assignment and it also puts her in an awkward position in their lunch table.
Taeyeon glanced at her watch.
It's 10:30 p.m. already.
She decided to just give Tiffany a chance to finish it by tomorrow and hopefully she will send her parts of the assignment by tomorrow noon.
This assignment takes 30 % of my overall grade.
Taeyeon refreshed her inbox a few times, waiting for Tiffany's part to arrive, but she eventually gave in to her bed and fell asleep.
-
Taeyeon successfully handed in the assignment on Monday.
She couldn't reach Tiffany on Sunday at all, her cell phone was switched off and she isn't replying to any of Taeyeon's texts at all. Taeyeon gave up after a few hours of trying to reach her and do Tiffany's part herself. By the time she finished it, it's 3:00 a.m in the morning.
While printing, she was hesitant to put Tiffany's name on it, because Tiffany didn't do anything at all.
But she remembered the rules, she will fail if she finish the assignment alone.
So she bit hard on her tongue as she handed in the assignment to the teacher with both of their names on it. Tiffany shamelessly showed up at school, but she still stayed far away from Taeyeon, probably feeling guilty for letting Taeyeon do all the work. Taeyeon only glanced at Tiffany who is sitting at the other side of the class, talking to a bunch of girls, not bothering to come forward and explain herself.
When Taeyeon got back to her seat, she felt like crying.
Why does nothing ever work out for her?
The headache she is having for not having enough sleep wasn't helping her either, her head throbs harder and harder as she tried to hold back her tears. She buried her face into her arms that were resting on the desk.
What am I doing wrong? God please tell me.
When she lifted her head up, she was surprised to see a carton of banana milk on her desk, right beside her elbow. The very same banana milk she drinks almost every morning at the convenience store.
Who put this here?
-
a/n : is the story interesting for you guys? it's been so long since i write high school themed stories, so hopefully you guys enjoyed it.
don't worry guys, baekyeon will interact soon. they are at the age to be confuse about friendship. u guys might be getting frustrated now that even baekhyun doesn't approach her himself when he's the social butterfly. But that's the way he is, sensitive about others :")
i personally think that baekhyun irl is like that, although he is very sociable, he doesn't come off too strong on someone new, that's probably how he approached taeyeon too. Slowly drift into her life.
