Remnants of the Heart | Kim Taehyung

34: confronte

ACT 4 – SCENE 2.
SHE CONFRONTS

THERE SHOULD be a reason why the most popular literature usually centers around a tragedy. Why students are told to spend a few weeks discussing Romeo & Juliet when they're both going to die anyway or why people read Macbeth when it's really just a story about a man drowning in his own ambition. Happy stories always come with boring endings, and no one likes boring endings. Seojung should know that best out of anyone being the bookworm she is. It's the stories with the most flaws that are most compelling, stories that teach you and make you think.

But no one wants to be in a bad story. No one wants to be a victim in their own narrative. It's just inherently human to be selfish and try to beautify everything that's not supposed to be beautiful. Of course, it all comes down to subjectivity, but Seojung thinks that no one would want to read a story about a lovesick girl who never listens to what everyone says.

After spending most of the day looking around everywhere she walks, trying to spot that one familiar face, Seojung finally sees him first. He's standing right in front of what she assumes was his previous lecture, looking down at his phone while other students are filing out of the room. He's wearing that beige oversized cardigan that makes him look so cozy, the one that frames his shoulders perfectly and makes him look taller than he is. Makes her want to snuggle into him, wrap him in a tight hug, but for once Seojung can't stand the sight of him here. How unbothered is he to be able to attend his classes and casually scroll through his text messages like that? Seojung can't even wake up without Taehyung being the first thing she thinks of. The absence of another body on her bed makes it all even more obvious.

Taehyung's good at avoiding people just as good as he dodges questions and runs away from his problems. She had known this since the beginning, having seen him work his way out of problems growing up. If this was a novel, he'd be the character everyone hates, but she doesn't think it's completely fair to label someone an antagonist based on some prominent characteristics.

Her feet move before she wills them to, taking long and determined strides to minimize the distance between them. He sees her marching up to him a little too late, and Seojung's glad because that gives him no time to think about fleeing. She grabs his wrist and drags him to the closest empty classroom, shutting the door behind her. This is the closest they've been all week and Seojung doesn't know how to feel. The air between them feels too tense, too awkward, like everything they had built up to this point just doesn't matter anymore.

When she turns around, Taehyung is leaning against the teacher's desk with his arms crossed, expression blank and eyes fixated on her. Days of not seeing him and suddenly she's put in a position where he's looking at her like that. She thinks of how these are the same eyes she used to wake up to on most mornings, the same eyes that she thought about at night back when she was a little younger, and then she stops thinking altogether.

Ironically, he's the first to break the silence. "We need to talk."

"No shit." Seojung rolls her eyes. She takes several steps forward. "Funny how you're the first one to say that out of the two of us but you're also the one who's been avoiding me. Where have you been all week? Hooked up with the first girl you laid eyes on to forget about the argument?"

"I would never." His face contorts in disgust as if that's not what he's known for on campus. She wants to tell him that he has no right to feel offended by her words when all she's stating is the truth, especially when she had willingly chosen to disregard them in favor of believing that he was better, but she doesn't feel like starting another argument.