「 deja vu」° || baek kyung ||

chapter 14

In a defeated silence, Yeonha followed Kyung out of the school building. She kept a distance between them lest he turn around and scream at her for something.

What if I mess up and he ends up having me killed like in the previous manhwa? But this was a romance manhwa set in modern times. Why would anyone be killed here? But what if the story changes because Danoh and Haru and maybe, to an extent, Dohwa want to change their set-up?

Yeonha stared at Kyung's back, deep in thought, until she bumped against his shoulder blades. He didn't bother turning around to glare at her, and instead clicked his tongue. Following his annoyed gaze, Yeonha spotted Kyung's younger brother ―half brother ―Joonhyun waiting by fountain. At the sound of footsteps, the younger boy turned around.

"Hyung! You're h―" At the sight of Yeonha, Joonhyun blinked in surprise, "Noona, you're here too. Did you stay back for practise?"

Ruffling his hair fondly, Yeonha nodded, "Yeah, the coach has been making us train non-stop. He's panicking about the upcoming tournament." She pointedly ignored Kyung as he scoffed and walked past the two to stand away from them, "Studying hard, Joonhyun-ie?"

Joonhyun smiled in confusion at the nickname. She had never called him with such familiarity before. "Yes, I stayed back to study and thought I'd wait for hyung so that we could go back together." He looked over at his brother, "I rarely get to see him."

Kid, you're better off not seeing him because you and I both know he hates you.

Kyung didn't bother acknowledging whatever the younger boy had said. It had been like that for years now. Baek Kyung more or less abhorred his family, including his half-brother who had done nothing wrong. The boy's only fault was that he was born due to their father's affair while Kyung's birth mother was bedridden with sickness. Director Baek had then divorced the poor lady while she was still in the hospital and didn't bother conducting a proper funeral for her. What was worse was that he was busy getting married again on the day of her death to actually pay attention.

Bitter from his father's nonchalant behaviour, Kyung did the only thing he could think of and pushed everyone away, including Joonhyun and Danoh. The latter was a constant reminder that he had lost his mother, the one person most important to him, to sickness. And the fact that Danoh was gravely ill as well was terrifying to Kyung. He wouldn't be able to handle anyone else leaving him, especially his fiance.

Joonhyun tried not to show his suspicion as he sneaked glances at Yeonha. As far as he knew, the girl was infatuated with Dohwa and would rarely leave his side. Yet, here she was with his hyung, in school after hours. Could it be...?

"Yah, Kyung-ah!" She called out to the grumpy boy, "Come stand with us. Why do you act like we have cooties or something?"

"Get lost." Kyung carelessly tossed the phrase over his shoulder, not moving a muscle from where he stood.