𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 ─── ˢˡᵒʷ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ

⁰³. 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

''  ᶠʳᶦᵈᵃʸˢ: ᵗʰᵉ ᶦˢˢᵘᵉ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵗʰᵉᵐ, ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵒˡᵘᵗᶦᵒⁿ ''

✧─✧──✧─────────────────────────────✧──✧─✧

A month had passed since their first encounter at their spot.

With every day that had passed by, Nari and Sunoh had spent more and more time with one another, and soon it felt unsettling for both of them when they were apart. They became a source of warmth and comfort for one another, and their separation affected them more than they would've ever wanted it to.

During lessons they exchanged glances, used every opportunity they could to work together, and hurried over to one another as soon as the teacher would leave the room. They would share their notes, point out one another's mistakes, and doodle in one another's books.

During break times they wandered around the parts of school that no one else bothered to go to, having short conversations about things that didn't even matter like what their favourite cake was and how spicy they liked their noodles. Their voices would be quiet, their gazes soft, their arms brushing against one another's as they walked side by side.

During lunch times they sat in their spot, pulling one another close and occasionally commenting on what was happening in the courtyard below. Sunoh would run his fingers through Nari's hair gently while she absentmindedly drew patterns on his arms.

While some days were full of soft-spoken words and gentle touches, others were full of heart-wrenching sobs and desperate embraces.

Sometimes Sunoh broke down after spotting Jojo happily laughing with her friends, or even after just thinking about her and what had happened between them. On those days, Nari would pull him close and stroke his back while he would bury his face in the crook of her neck and sob.

Sometimes Nari's composure would snap after seeing a couple do something she used to do often with Tae-joon, or after a boy wearing a football uniform would appear in her line of sight which would naturally trigger her memories of her ex-boyfriend. On those days it would be Sunoh's turn to pull her closer while stroking the back of her head, allowing her to sob into his chest.

And sometimes they just felt overwhelmed by everything that they had been through, allowing their tears to silently fall down their cheeks before disappearing into the fabric of Sunoh's red scarf which he wrapped around the both of them as they cuddled on the top step.

The first time that this had happened, Sunoh had rested his head on her shoulder while whispering, "I trust you." His voice broke from the weight of emotion the words held.

Nari had leant her head on top of his and sniffled before whispering back in an equally quiet voice, "I trust you too."

Ever since then, they didn't speak on those days. They didn't have to.

─🌊─

Sunoh began to hate Fridays. He would always be left to sit on the step alone, wondering where Nari disappeared to every Friday and whether he had the right to ask her about it or not.

As close as they were, they only ever spoke to one another about little insignificant things while never mentioning what was going on beneath the surface. They could feel one another's pain and neither of them wanted to add to it so they avoided topics that could possibly trigger either of them. The issue of Nari's Friday disappearances seemed to fall under a trigger category and so Sunoh couldn't bring himself to ask no matter how curious and left out he felt.