╰┈➤ ❝ [Everyone looked worse in the light]❞

TO SAY THAT KIM JI-AN was nervous was an understatement. She was anxious, and it seemed to be obvious to everyone around her, guessing by the way the person beside her was side-eying her as she aggressively tapped her foot against the floor of the bus. Her sweaty hands were squeezing the material of her backpack, needing something to keep herself busy with.

Million of thoughts filled her head as she looked outside the window. Ji-an knew things would not be the same as it used to, and that's exactly what scared her. She was the type that liked routines, in Miami she would wake up, eat breakfast, do online school, and then some days she'll have photoshoots but now? It was different.

Getting off on the stop beside the school, she felt like she was about to puke the orange juice she drank previously in the morning. Never in her life has she felt so anxious, but she knew that facing away from her problems won't solve anything. So, pushing the feeling away, she walked into school. Many whispers and murmurs followed her, students pointing at her left and right.

"Is that Kim Ji-an?"

"She's back?"

"First Lim Jug-yeong and now her?"

"She still looks as stunning as she did the day she left."

"I heard the reason she left was because Lee Su-ho broke up with her."

The comments bothered Ji-an, but she did her best to ignore them and quickly made her way into the office to grab her schedule. Walking in, she stopped in front of the teachers desks. The woman looked up with an annoyed expression. "How can I help you?"

"I'm here to grab my new schedule, my name is Ki-"

"Kim Ji-an! My second top student is back! I'm so happy to see you!" The principal rudely interrupted as he bolted out of his office and over to the girl.

Uncomfortable, to say anything back Ji-an nodded in response. The principal walked over to a teacher's desk. He took one paper on top of it before handing it over to her. "Here is your schedule, Mr Han here would be your homeroom teacher, he will guide you to your first class, which you have with him." Ji-an thanked him, before greeting Mr Han, who quickly returned it with a very adorable smile.

Mr. Han turned to the principal, "Before we go to class, there's something I need to talk to you in private. It's very urgent." Confused, at Mr. Han's sudden change of mood the principal frowned before nodding.

Excusing themselves, the two went to the principal's office leaving Ji-an alone. This allowed her to read over her schedule. Luckily most of her classes were around the same halls, which gave her less of a chance of getting lost. The door to the office opened, catching Ji-an's attention. Taking her eyes away from the piece of paper, her eyes widened as she made eye contact with the person she least expected to.

Han Seo-jun

When Soo-jin informed her Seo-jun was having a personal break from school, Ji-an thought she would at least have a calm first day back without having to worry about Seo-jun. However, now that he's back nothing warrantied her first day would be remotely close to calm.

When Seo-jun made eye contact with the girl, he halted in his tracks. Surprise clear on his features. Ji-an's sudden return caught him completely off guard.

Ji-an took this chance to analyze him. His hair had gotten longer, now covering most of his forehead and brows, he also got taller and had more ear piercings than what she remembered.

"You're back." Seo-jun walked over and stood beside Ji-an. He placed his hands in his pockets, his line of sight settled forward before looking down at her with a smirk on his face. "Why? Was a year away from me too much for you to bear?"

The girl fake laughed, "Funny, I could ask you the same thing."

Brows furrowed Seo-jun asked, "How do you know?" He paused, a chuckle escaping his mouth, "Have you been keeping tabs on me?"

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Seo-jun." Ji-an scoffed.

Before Seo-jun could reply, Mr. Han and the principal came back. "Han Seo-jun, I see you're back." The principal said, not sounding as enthusiastic as he did when he greeted Ji-an. "I hope you don't start causing any trouble on your first day back."

Seo-jun kept his eyes on Ji-an, "I can't promise anything."

The principal made a sound of disapprovement but didn't press on the matter. "I have some things to take care of, I'll leave you two with Mr. Han."

The moment he was out of sight Mr. Han turned his attention to Seo-jun and Ji-an. "Class is about to start in 2 minutes, we should get going now." Mr. Han spoke, swinging his bag over his shoulder and walking over to the door, holding it open for the two students to walk through. Seeing the solemn expressions on both of their faces, Mr. Han asked, "Do you two know each other?"

The two looked at each other before glancing away.

"No"

"Yes"

Both spoke at the same time before glaring at each other, causing a frown to form on Mr Han's face. No other words were spoken after that, and an awkward silence fell over the three, making Ji-an want to turn around and leave the school grounds as fast as she could.

They reached the classroom which was already full with students chatting and laughing. The moment they walked in, the class quiet down as their attention moved away from their conversations, completely falling into silence.

Ji-an scanned the classroom ignoring whatever the teacher was saying. She spotted Soo-ah sitting in the middle row. The two smiled at each other before Ji-an looked away, trying to find Soojin in the row's of students. She felt her heart stop as her eyes fell on Lee Su-ho. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Compared to Seo-jun he still looked the same but one thing she noticed was how his eyes missed that spark they used to have. Now they were dull and emotionless, making her question how much has he changed since the last time she saw him.

Suddenly, the voice of Mr. Han snapped her out of her thoughts. Breaking eye contact with Suho, she turned to her teacher. "What?"

"I asked if you want to tell us something about yourself." Mr Han explained.

Ji-an shook her head trying to avoid eye contact, "Uh- not really."

"It's okay, I understand it must be tough to come back after being away for so long." He sent her a reassuring smile before turning to the rest of the class. "Let's welcome them with a round of applause."

The class broke into applause, some students saying a welcome back.

After the class stopped clapping Mr Han said, "There's two empty seats, one in the back and another one next to Lee Su-ho. You guys can choose which one you like."

Both Seo-jun and Ji-an looked at each other before running over to the seat in the back. Neither of the two wanted to sit next to Su-ho for different reasons. Seo-jun because of his issues with the boy and Ji-an because she wasn't sure where their relationship stood. After all, he was the one that broke up with her and started ignoring her texts.

To Seo-jun's luck, Ji-an got there first. He glared at her, as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him. Their classmates stared at Seo-jun wondering if the boy would actually sit beside Su-ho as they knew the current rivalry between the two.

Ji-an watched Seo-jun clench his jaw before walking over to the girl sitting behind Soo-ah. Startling the poor girl with a kick to her chair he said, "Hey, you. You move."

Confused, the girl asked, "Me?"

"This was my desk."

Mr Han intervened, before the girl could respond, "Well, Jug-yeong sat there because she has poor eyesight. Tae-hoon? Will our handsome Tae-hoon give up your seat if you don't mind?"

Ji-an turned around in her seat, making hand motions signaling the boy to say no, as she did not want Seo-jun sitting behind her. But her attempts were ignored by Tae-hoon who pointed at himself, "Me? darn it." He hit the desktop before standing up, "Yes. I'll sit next to Su-ho." He exclaimed, happily walking over to the empty seat.

Sending one last glare to Su-ho, Seo-jun walked over to his seat behind Ji-an but not before flicking her forehead, making her slap his hand away with a glare.

"Yes. Tae-hoon. Nice."

Groans followed the teacher's words. "Gosh, stop that. You're making us cringe."

Ji-an zoned out, looking outside the window of the classroom. Immediately she regretted it as she made eye contact with Su-ho yet again. The two held each other's gaze for what felt like years before something moved Su-ho's attention away from her.

Looking away, Ji-an rested her head on her palm. The girl chuckled under her breath as she listened to Seo-jun mumble something to himself. She turned around on her seat, "I've been away for a year and you're already losing your mind. Didn't you know that talking to yourself might be a sign of schizophrenia?"
Ji-an said mockingly.

Su-ho looked away from Ji-an and watched Jug-yeong send him two winks before flashing him a smile. Confused, he ignored her, not understanding why she was acting like the two knew each other. So, turning his attention back on Ji-an he expected to see her still looking at him or doodling like she always did, but to his surprise she was talking to Seo-jun. From where he was he couldn't exactly hear what they were saying but either way he couldn't help but stare at the two.

Seo-jun rolled his eyes at Ji-an's comment. "Didn't you know that listening to other people's conversations is rude?"

Ji-an nodded. "Yes, but sadly for you that rule doesn't fit this case." She paused before planting a fake smile. "You know, you don't have to be embarrassed. If you're experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia you can tell me, this is a judgment free zone."

As Seo-jun was about to respond he was interrupted by Hyun-gyu's loud concerned voice, "Schizophrenia? Han Seo-jun, is that why you've been away from school all these weeks? You have schizophrenia?!"

Suddenly all the students went silent, their attention settled on Seo-jun, who started aggressively shaking his head. "W-what? ¡No!" This was nothing new for him, the girl always tried to embarrass him any chance she got, most of the time succeeding.

"Is that true Han Seo-jun?" Mr. Han asked the flustered boy.

The Han boy looked around, watching his classmates' faces as some of them started whispering things making his embarrassment turn into annoyance.

"I don't have schizophrenia okay?!" Seo-jun snapped, while Ji-an tried to cover her laugh with a cough but failed miserably. In the year she was away she had missed the constant bickering with Seo-jun. Even though a lot of things changed, this seemed to be the only thing that stayed the same.

And that felt oddly comforting.

"Okay, we believe you. There's no need to get embarrassed." After Mr. Han dropped the subject, the students went back to what they were doing, including Ji-an who turned back around and started doodling on her notebook, still laughing at the memory of Seo-jun's flustered face.

But her laughter quickly died down, as she felt Seo-jun's presence get closer, his breath fanning against her ear and neck, "If you think I'm letting this slide, you're wrong."

Ji-an ignored the goosebumps on her skin, "Try me." She challenged, knowing the boy could clearly hear her. From her peripheral vision, she could see Su-ho glaring at Seo-jun making the girl wonder if it was because of his dislike for the boy or because he was maybe just maybe jealous.

——————— ↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ——————

——Joy

I was going to make this chapter longer but I wanted to give you guys a new chapter as quick as possible so I decided to end it here.

So what do you guys think about Seo-jun's and Ji-an's dynamic?

Don't forget to comment and vote!

See you next time <33