PAPER HEARTS

24

"- is definitely the worst subject I'd opted for in my entire life. Mr. Lee makes it look like an easy A - grader, but then it's so frustrating and soul-sucking, why did I even choose to take chemistry for my last semester of the year? Because the teacher was cute? I mean, let me give him that much credit at least because he totally can't teach." Ryoko huffs, twirling the rear end of her straw into the frothy brim of her latte.

Tearing my attention away from my mobile screen, my eyes flicker across the room once before falling on her. I purse my lips together, nodding in sympathy before looking down at the device again, searching for the dotted bubble to rise underneath my text in one of the chat rooms. Tugging my bottom lip between my teeth, I push a hand into the pocket of my apron as she stands near the counter with an elbow propped against it.

We hadn't opened for the evening yet, and the last fifteen minutes of my time was spent in Ryoko's self-invited company. I don't think that her presence is doing me any good. Somehow, even as I force myself to listen to her, my mind pans back to the steep mountains of assignments and paperwork that I still have pending.

"And we have our finals this whole week." She continues in a drained voice, "I literally can't wait for Saturday so I can finally pack my shit and get out, oh my god."

"Wait, Saturday?" I perk up, placing my phone against the desk before facing her again. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh, ha ..." My best friend laughs nervously, her missile launch of gossip coming to a disgraceful end, "I'm going to Kyoto this weekend. For Christmas ..." she trails away slowly, a tiny flare of peach shining against her velvety skin.

I raise my eyebrows, waiting for her to proceed. Ryoko coughs, fixating her gaze over the foam that lathers the rim of her coffee mug, blushing furiously.

"With Jeongguk."

"What!?" a discreet yell explodes past my throat. Her eyes widen, mortified at my loud outburst and she clamps her fingers against my lips whilst looking around and smiling in apology to my coworker.

Then, she looks at me with a shy, lopsided grin daunting her features. One look at her face and I could already tell that she's started putting more effort into learning new, different ways of wearing her makeup, and just by that factor, I know who must be the cause of this glow up. My eyes bulge as she lets go of my face, and squishes her fingers into my cheeks instead. When my attention spans to my co-worker and his look of astonishment blares from across the desk, Ryoko takes advantage of my awkward stance.

"You're so cute, Jae," she squeals, flouncing her fingers against my head, "If Taehyung hadn't put you off-limits, I would've gender-bent and forced you to be my girlfriend -"

"Stop." I blubber as my chin juts out and cheeks swell against her hold. "You're embarrassing me."

"Aw," She coos, booping her forefinger against my nose, her grip on me slackens to a loose and I pull myself away.

I rub at my jaw, "I'm working, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Ryoko rolls her eyes, "You're physically present here, and mentally in Taehyung's wake. You think I wouldn't know what you sneaky rats are up to."

My lips curl up against my will whilst she flips the tables around at the velocity of a bullet train. Ryoko gives me sinister smirk, and I lower my eyes whilst dishing out a few plates that are freshly washed and dried, and put them against their stands.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, of course, you don't." Ryoko shrieks with laughter. "But I do! Tae and Jae sitting under a tree, s-e-x-t-i-n-gee -"