"are you backing down from one?" beomgyu asked back, provoking her on purpose.
"yeji do something—he's provoking me on purpose!" ryujin exclaimed, shooting him a glare from across the table.
"can you guys be civilized for like ten more minutes?" she sighed, "lunch is almost over."
ryujin cursed yeji for going out with yeonjun, who had an arm slung around her shoulder. now, she had to spend even more time with that guy because he's friends with yeonjun. wasn't it enough to sit next to him in class?
she was trying hard to not throw hands—or the rest of her soup, holding off until lunch was finished.
there was rarely a moment when they didn't fight. it's been like this since her second year of middle school. that fateful day was still remembered. clearly.
it was valentines day, and like any other girl, she was going to confess to her crush: choi beomgyu. there were so many that did, and by the end of the day, he had a full bag full of chocolates and notes. all from prettier girls. she knew that, but even so.
even if she's rejected, at least she would get to tell him—she'd feel better eventually. at least that was what she thought.
"what makes you think a rat like you has a chance with me?" he replied, laughing. the two of his friends he was with joined him. they were two other classmates—she knew them because they went out of their way to torment her every day.
"i hope you're joking."
his words might as well be knives, because they certainly felt like it. when she thought this couldn't be anymore worse, he took the homemade chocolates she tried so hard to perfect and threw them to the ground. to be even more dramatic, he stomped on them. at the same time, he stomped on her heart.
she was young back then, but her crush went deeper than looks. she saw that he was kind, at least before that had happened.
she noticed the time he had given away the guitar that she knew he loved so much—from secretly listening to his playing in the music room—to someone who really wanted to learn.
ryujin figured that this was how it was supposed to be after all. enemies.
<<<
it was hard to focus in class. beomgyu poked her hard in the side, making her jump and accidentally push her book of her desk.
"is there a problem, ryujin?" mr. kim asked raising an eyebrow at the loud distraction. everyone turned to look at her.
