bitter days of july | yang jungwon

—them

     The two decided to forget about that day, as requested by the paranoid girl. Jungwon didn't really mind it, but since she asked him to, he decided to respect that.

Or at least try to.

Being told to forget about something, only made him remember it more. It distracted him during school because there was the fact that this girl was his classmate, and this hasn't ever happened before.

From his desk, he'd find himself glancing over at her from time to time. It even confused his friends because of how distant he seemed all of a sudden.

"Jungwon. Hey? Did you hear me?" The boy in front of him snapped multiple times to get the latter's attention, which he finally succeeded. "Hm? Oh, yeah." Jungwon lied, quickly making eye contact with his friends to show that he was now being attentive.

The two exchanged glances before looking back at Jungwon. "Um, you okay? You've been spacing out these past few days." Jay asked in worry. Sunoo nodded, "You can tell us if something is troubling you. You know that, right?"

Jungwon quickly denied their concerns, "No, I'm fine. And what's with all that talk?" He awkwardly chuckled, "I'm not used to all this sappiness..."

The two looked at each other once again. The worry on their faces didn't fade. "You're always like that Jungwon." A small smile forming on Sunoo's face as he looked down. It wasn't his usual sweet smile, wbich made Jungwon anxious.

Were they finally catching on to the fact that he genuinely can't seem to feel for another? That he's so awkward when it comes to emotional stuff to the point that he can't find the correct reaction to express?

There was just this silence that stirred amongst the three. It didn't last long because Jay knew that it was that type of silence that felt almost damaging, so he decided to change the topic and the atmosphere.

Sunoo was one bubbly guy and not to mention, a very talkative one. So he immediately joined in on the conversation. Jungwon joined in a bit later on as well, but he didn't talk too much since he had other things on his mind. Everything felt like it was going back to normal, which made Jungwon feel a bit relieved.

Because of this girl, Jungwon had now been put into a tough spot. He was worried that if he continued to think of that incident, his friends would catch on and wonder things about him. Maybe even try asking things other than academics and school related things.

Building up this image to get through middle school with a decent social status and good grades, just for it to go into shambles might've been his greatest fear.

So now that he knows a little secret about her, that was that. There was nothing more to it. It was accidental, and it was going to stay like that.

Jungwon didn't want to get involved with things like this. That's what he promised himself.

Dealing with people's problems was something he'd prefer to avoid.

Unfortunately for him, God had different plans. Because on one specific day where he was playing soccer with his friends after school. He decided to leave earlier than he usually did.

There was no club, but they played soccer almost everyday. But on that day, he wanted to rest and go home sooner since he didn't have much sleep the night before.

There were some things clouding up in his head. Partially his homework, but other things as well that he'd rather not admit to thinking about.

As he went back into the school building, he slowly walked back to his classroom. Reaching the sliding door handle. He hesitated before opening it, getting a flashback of the events that happened the last time he did.

A part of him hoped it was empty, another part of him was curious to what might happen if she was there.

But once he slid the door open, the room was dead silent. Only the fan in the corner of the class that automatically turned 24/7 was to be heard.

He looked at that fan that was attached to the wall as he spaced out for a second, a bit disappointed.

He sighed, walking to his desk and quickly grabbing his stuff before leaving the classroom.

He swung his bag over his shoulder and quickly left, stopping by his shoe locker to switch out of his mandatory school shoes to his regular ones.

Right after that, he took his leave.

While passing the school gates with a tune in his head, he couldn't help but get distracted by the sound of what seemed to be arguing voices.

It sounded like a younger girl with a higher pitched voice. She sounded like she was resisting something, and so he immediately turned to check out where that voice was coming from.

There he saw a black car of a man who wore formal clothing. He was pointing his finger at the young girl who seemed to be a student. When he squinted to get a clear look at who it was, he couldn't believe his eyes.

He couldn't make out any of the words the girl was yelling, but he could tell that she was really holding her ground.

Until the man aggressively grabbed onto the girls arm, she winced and quickly tried slapping it away. She was very tough, fighting back as hard as she could but the man seemed to have enough and just aggressively dragged her in the car with ease.

All Jungwon could do was watch. He watched as his classmate possibly got kidnapped.

He was frozen on the spot, his hands clutching onto the sides of his pants nervously. Sweat travelled down his forehead in fear. He couldn't even do anything...

He stood there silently, waiting for it to all be over. This sight is gonna be embedded in his head, replaying to remind him that, 'On this day, Jungwon watched his classmate get kidnapped while he did absolutely nothing.'

♡