earbuds (lipsoul)

4

Jungeun had had a pretty productive evening, despite her previous distractions. She sat at her desk, eyes focused on her sketchbook intently while she listened to music through her earbuds.

The blossoming sunset shown bright shades of yellow and slowly deepening orange outside while her room was dimly lit. Faint fairy lights lit up her bookcase and bed gently, while the strongest source of light from a lamp concentrated on her desk. Jungeun had spent many focused hours sitting there throughout her life; completing school assignments, working on projects, or carefully crafting her artwork. 

The teenager finally stood up and stretched her legs after hearing her mother call her for dinner. She looked down, satisfied with the sketch she had almost completed: a birds-eye view of a pond with lily pads and large koi fish.

Jungeun yawned as she walked over to her phone on the bookshelf and opened it as she went to leave her room. She hesitated as she saw a new message from a number she didn't have saved. Her stomach sank slightly as her nerves rose. She had never gotten a text from an unknown number. What if it was dangerous? She stopped suddenly, realizing what she was thinking and feeling slightly embarrassed although there was no one around to judge her. She had to open it, she decided, though the teen was still cautious.

Nervously, Jungeun clicked on the messages app and hesitantly opened the text from the unknown number.

hey it's jinsoul ! do u wanna meet some day this week to work on the project? i know a really great cafe nearby !!
5:46pm

Jungeun's eyes bulged slightly in surprise. Jinsoul texted her?? After they had just met that day??? She then glanced quickly at the small alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. 7:14. Jungeun still stood in the doorway of her bedroom, growing more anxious by the second. Jinsoul texted me almost 2 hours ago and I haven't responded yet? How awkward.

Biting her lip and staring at her phone, Jungeun was shocked out of her thoughts at the sudden sound of her father at the foot of the stairs.

"Jungeun, come down for dinner. Now." He growled strictly. The brunette quickly tossed her phone onto her bed and hurried down the stairs without another thought.

Jungeun turned the corner into the kitchen to find her father already sitting at the head of the set table while her mother finished setting down the dishes. The older woman gave her daughter a small smile that was laced with nervousness as the man watched her place a serving dish of chicken before him.

Jungeun sat down at her seat next to her father. As much as she wanted to hesitate considered his current state, she had found poor results in previous attempts to do so. These days, the teenager tried to draw the least amount of attention to herself.

Her mother was a kind-hearted and hard-working woman and she and her daughter had a good relationship. Jungeun started to keep more to herself as she got older and her quiet mother respected her space. Jungeun knew she could go to her for anything, which she had before, and that was reassuring enough for the both of them.

Her father was a strict man, usually spending most of the day working long hours at a law firm in the city. Being the way he was, he needed everything go exactly as he planned. The man left early in the morning to avoid traffic, and usually worked long into the evening. The schedule he held himself to usually left little time for Jungeun's father to see his wife or daughter, and he was usually not in a very good mood at home in recent years. Jungeun tried to avoid her father as much as she could because of this, and he didn't make too much of an attempt to reconnect with her. He was either silent and irritable like tonight, or yelling about anything or everything to his wife. Jungeun was terrified that she would be the brute of his attacks one day soon.

Soon enough, Jungeun's mother took her seat across from her father. The room was dripping with tension and neither of the women moved, waiting for the silent man to make the first move. He finally scooped some of the chicken onto his plate, still avoiding eye contact with anyone at the table. Jungeun did the same. The meal continued on quietly, the only sound being the clinking of silverware of plates.

Usually, the anxiety that dinner provoked would prevent Jungeun from thinking about anything other than the volume of motions and fear of her father. Today, though, Jungeun's mind once again wandered back to the text her blonde classmate had sent, and how she desperately needed to get back to it. After quickly finishing a small portion of the food her mother prepared, Jungeun quietly asked to return to her room, making some fake excuse that she ate on the way home from school. The teenager hurried back up the stairs and left her shy mother somewhat regretfully behind, her father not even looking up to see her go.

Grabbing her phone and putting her earbuds back in, Jungeun bit her lip again and opened the message again. As much as she felt awkward now that it was a little late, she decided it was probably better late than never. She quickly typed something out and sent it before she could overthink her response for the rest of the night.

hey jinsoul
yeah, that sounds good.
see you tomorrow
7:49pm

Jungeun cringed at the simplicity of her response as it lit up the screen, but it was too late to do anything now. Frustrated, she turned her phone off and went to sit back at her desk to distract herself with her sketch.

...

Jinsoul looked up from her biology notebook at the sound of her phone vibrate next to her. She opened her phone, a small smile gracing her lips upon reading Jungeun's response. I hope this project will be interesting, and I have a good partner this time.

In past projects, the blonde athlete always seemed to end up with bossy, rude girls and the occasional flirty hotshot guy. She tried to be polite and was kind to them, but it really was very frustrating and made the work a lot harder than necessary. This time, though, Jinsoul had a good feeling about it. She didn't know Jungeun very well, but she definitely was not upset to work with her.

On that note, the blonde set her phone down and continued going over the biology notes on her laptop, taking notes in her notebook.

See you tomorrow.

________
this took way longer than expected im sorry! more to come i promise<33