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MORNING finally came around, and Eunhee wanted nothing more than to sleep, having stayed up late. Tho, she didn't regret it at all.

Heeseung made her feel comfortable and safe whilst talking about her past, despite only knowing him for such a short amount of time.

Currently, the tired girl walked alongside a very energetic Ni-Ki, who was talking very passionately about a new Nintendo switch game he had gotten recently. Although she zoned out half of the conversation, she found it cute how happy he seemed talking about it.

"Yeah, it's really fun.. you should get it." Ni-Ki ended his rather long rant, before letting out a hum and snapping his fingers in her direction.

"Oh! Why were you up at two in the morning?" The boy tilted his head, as Eunhee shrugged.

"Nothing important." She replied, earning an eye roll.

"Liar.. Heeseung-hyung said you two stayed up til almost three in the morning." Ni-Ki pointed out.

Eunhee pressed her lips together in a thin line, opening her mouth to speak when a familiar voice cut her off.

"Ni-Ki, you're tiring her." Jungwon appeared, beginning to walk on the left of the girl. Said boy gasped dramatically, reaching over the girl that stood between the two boys and lightly pushing Jungwon.

"Hey! It's not my fault that she stayed up until three in the morning!" Ni-Ki defended himself, crossing his arms over his chest as a pout settled onto his lips.

Jungwon paused, before turning his attention to Eunhee, looking at her with furrowed brows. "You stayed up until three?"

"Have you not checked your phone?" Ni-Ki asked, as Jungwon quickly shook his head.

"I haven't been on my phone yet today.. anyways, why did you stay up so late? Did you forget we had school in the morning or something?" Jungwon questioned.

"No, I was very well aware of that. I just couldn't sleep and got bored, that's all." Eunhee muttered. Not all of it was a lie.

Jungwon squinted his eyes slightly, not fully believing her words but shrugging it off, deciding to leave her be. Whatever it was, she clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it right now.

"Mmm, okay.. I can't believe next week is the last week of school.. then we'll officially be done with high school." Jungwon sighed out, resting both of his hands behind his head.

"I know, I'm so excited to get out of this hell hole." Ni-Ki mumbled, earning a sharp glare from Jungwon.

"Nishimura Riki! Watch your language, you're literally a child!" The older scolded the younger, earning a scoff.

"You're literally only a year older than me! And also, I'm not wrong! I'm so glad I'm graduating at seventeen. I don't know why you both are graduating at eighteen, but I, personally, could never." Ni-Ki stated, earning an eye roll.

"Tch, whatever.. you both are going to prom, right?"

Ni-Ki nodded quickly, "of course! I heard there's gonna be lots of food there, so I'm really excited. I better be able to request songs though."

Jungwon chuckled and nodded his head in agreement, as he himself would like to hear songs he enjoyed. Noticing Eunhee had not yet answered, his gaze traveled down to look at her, only to furrow his brows slightly, seeing her staring off into space.

She had completely zoned out.

Jungwon frowned, reaching his hand out to grab hers and giving it a small squeeze, snapping her out of her trance.

"You okay?" He quirked a brow, a concerned look spread across his face. Ni-Ki stared down at the girl with confusion, watching as she hurriedly nodded her head.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just a little tired." She spoke, a shy smile at her lips.

"Are you sure?" Ni-Ki asked, a hint of concern laced in his tone.

"Yes, there's no need to worry.. hey, uh, I'm gonna go meet up with my friends. But I'll see you all later, yeah?"

Jungwon nodded his head, letting go of her rather soft hand and she smiled, waving her hand slightly as she began to walk away.

Almost immediately, Jungwon and Ni-Ki both shot each other a look of confusion.

"Is she okay or..?" Ni-Ki pursed his lips, as Jungwon could only let out a sigh and a shrug, before wrapping his arm around the younger's shoulder and patting his back.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." He said. Tho, he wasn't so sure if he was trying to reassure Ni-Ki or himself.

Meanwhile, Eunhee hurried through the busy school halls, dodging people left and right as she made her way to the place she and her two friends normally met at-- Minji's locker.

She felt quite flustered over two things. One, Yang Jungwon held her hand. And two, she had managed to completely zone out on accident, making a fool of herself.

She had a lot on her mind, what could she say?

Whilst she appreciated Heeseung saying he'd show up to the graduation ceremony for her, part of her still couldn't help but be upset.

The thought of seeing everyone else's parents there, cheering their child on from the crowd made her stomach drop, wishing she could have the same.

She longed for it.

For her parents validation, support and love. But, of course, she couldn't have any of that. Whilst one parent was no longer with her, and the other wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.

With furrowed brows, she took a deep breath and shook her head, attempting to push away the draining thoughts as she approached Minji and Hanni, immediately being brought into a hug by the two excited girls.

Hopefully, hanging out with her friends later could cheer her up and take her mind off of the whole thing for a little while, right?

______

AUTHOR'S CORNER
things keep falling in my room at night and it's kind scary but oh well 😔 there's nothing i can really do to fix it

also, this book has almost a thousand views already :') thank you all so much, that's insane!

as well as the 85 votes!

thank you all so much for all the support on this book. i really do appreciate all of you voting and commenting <3

i may not reply to your comment every time, but just know i do read all of them and it genuinely makes me smile seeing you all interacting with my story.

please let me know if there is anything i can improve on!

once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart <3
january 15th, 2023 -- 12:53am

not proofread