emotions | love alarm

1 ~

Chapter One

Ae-ri flips another book in her page as she bites into her apple, her legs swinging on the ledge of the school building. The day was warm and the schoolyard was busy with every sort of jock available, which meant that Ae-ri would be as far as possible from other humans.

Some might call her a sociopath but she preferred the term high functioning emotionally-selective individual. It's not that she didn't feel anything, she just thought feelings were redundant and unnecessary.

The book she chose for today was the second book of her Harry Potter collection she got for her birthday and she was about to really fall into the pages of the book when she heard a large sigh and a sniffle followed by it.

Wind rustled swiftly through her hair and she tucked it back before ignoring the sound as a glitch in the matrix and continuing on with her book.

Sniffle. Sob.

Ae-ri looked around confused before peeking her head up and realizing there was a guy near her, crying steadily. She frowns slightly before gathering a packet of tissues from her backpack, closing her book and heading towards the crying individual. As she walked over to where the person was, she saw the person wipe their tears away haphazardly and also realized they were in the same class.

"Hey. I heard you going through it. You can have these," Ae-ri greeted and offered the packet of tissues. The guy had nice shiny hair, with big eyes, and a handsome face; it's a shame he's so sad, she thought to herself.

She saw him look up and smiled warmly before squatting down and placing the tissues in his palm. Ae-ri held his gaze for a second before giving him a thumbs up.

Sun-oh glanced at the girl in front of him before nodding his head in thanks and grabbing the packet of tissues.

***

The bell rung on another school day but there was yet another afternoon of studying to accomplish. Ae-ri shoved her curls into a bun and grabbed all the supplies she would need, her hand reaching for her pencil case.

"Well if it isn't my favorite goody two shoes," Eun-si sneered at her.

If there was thing that made Ae-ri change into someone she wasn't it was bullying. So far she had managed to withhold her tongue but soon she feared her fists would collide with Eun-si's throat if the girl continued to harass her.

"Well if it isn't my favorite emotionally repressed idiotic teenager," Ae-ri replied; the reply might have seemed harsh but in all actuality, it accurately described the girl in front of her.

Shoving her pencil case in her bag and zipping it close Ae-ri saw the guy from earlier glancing at the situation curiously. He made eye contact with her almost asking if she was okay, but she just gave a small smile of acknowledgement and turned away before closing her locker shut.

Ae-ri made her way to the library with the obnoxious girls throwing insults at her left and right. She found some of them amusing but most of them lacked creativity. Once the girls had gotten bored and disappeared, Ae-ri sat down in her favorite studying place and began to bang out her homework, wishing to finish earlier than usual.

By the time she was done, it was around seven and the schoolyard was empty with very few people loitering the library. Ae-ri sighed out before grabbing all her things in her bag and exiting the library.

***

The next day was slightly more hectic and it was because for the first time in a long time Ae-ri had forgotten her book at home. To others it might not seem like such a big deal, but for Ae-ri it was her form of escapism from the scary world that sought out to destroy her every chance at happiness.

Hyperbole? Perhaps.

She sighed before tangling her hands in her hair and sluggishly walking into school and slipping into her classroom silently. Her backpack slung onto the side of her desk and her supplies out in her desk, she sighed and looked around the room.

She hadn't realized it before, which surprised her since she usually was very observant, but the guy she saw crying from the day before was actually seated across the row to her right—not only that, but he seemed sadder than yesterday. His eyes seemed lost and his face was paler.

"Class, let's get started," their home room teacher begins just as the bell rings.

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a/n

aliyat if ur reading this ily 🫶🏽