emotions | love alarm

5 ~

Chapter Five

A week or so had passed since Sun-oh and Ae-ri decided to be friends and they had somehow managed to throw the entire social system of the school into orbit. People were not only extremely confused, they had begun noticing her which she didn't really enjoy.

Eun-si seemed to find the friendship too good to be true and kept insinuating that she was obsessed with him and following him around for attention, but she would ignore her for the most part.

"We should get smoothies today after school," Sun-oh suggests and Ae-ri nods, "Sure. I need to put you on to the wonders of passionfruit strawberry."

"Um no, I need to put you on to banana strawberry."

Ae-ri shakes her head and smiles at him as they turn to go to their classroom. They are stopped by a grinning Eun-si. "Well, if it isn't my favorite leech. Sun-oh you should really think about getting better company."

Eun-si was raging with jealousy per usual, but Ae-ri couldn't be bothered. Sun-oh looks at his friend before frowning, noticing she didn't react at the negativity thrown at her. He looks back at the girl before them and quickly hugs Ae-ri protectively, "She's my friend. Do not condescend her."

Ae-ri opens her mouth to tell him to let her go before she punches him in throat, but only sighs and lets him have his way, patting his arm to show appreciation. Ae-ri usually despised being touched by people but she didn't mind Sun-oh's as much—unless she was occupied with doing something.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Did I stutter? I said don't condescend her," he replies once more.

The hallway was getting quiet as people turned to look at the pair of friends and the bully who had nothing better to do than to ridicule.

Eun-si only huffs and turns around, but not before saying, "One day he won't be there to protect you," to which Ae-ri replied, "Okay, and?"

They watch her walk away and Sun-oh looks down at Ae-ri who was leaning on his shoulder. "She's a character," he murmurs as he pulls away from the hug, only to swing his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, it's pretty sad," she sighs out wistfully.

They glance at each other momentarily before bursting out in gentle laughter.

***

By the time lunch rolled around, Sun-oh was tired and Ae-ri was excited to get the day over with. For whatever reason, their teachers had given the class more to do than usual which Ae-ri didn't mind—but she had to help the other students rationalize some concepts which was more painful than necessary.

Sun-oh and her walk together and just as they are about to turn to their usual rooftop, he proposes an idea at the intersection.

"We should sit at lunch together," Sun-oh suggests as he grabs her wrist to pull her back. He wanted people to see them together and know that he was still capable of finding genuine friends; he didn't want his breakup to define him.

"Why are you trying to use my presence as a mechanism to demonstrate social advancement?" she says as she slips her wrist out of his grip.

Sun-oh opens his mouth, but closes it when she glares at him and begins to grumble to herself, heading towards the cafeteria. "You think he would know by now...Fucking neanderthals...I can only tolerate so much stupid—are you coming or not?"

***

"This was an awful idea," she deadpans as Sun-oh smiles at her cheerfully. Everyone and their mother was looking at them, some shocked others jealous.

"This was a great idea," he says as he gathers his rice in his chopsticks. She looks at him flabbergasted before taking a grounding breath, and replying, "That can be heavily debated."

Sun-oh happily munches on his lunch and she analyzes him for a second more before deciding she should be as unaffected as him. She distances herself from the attention enough to ignore it. They eat silently for a few minutes before Ae-ri breaks the silence. "So how's your emotional intelligence training coming along?" she asks as she takes a bite of her food bowl.

"Pretty well, actually. I'm starting to be more aware of labeling my emotions so I know exactly what I'm feeling."

Ae-ri's silently congratulates him by offering her hand and he instinctively accepts to do their handshake. "As you should, king," she comments after they finish.

Sun-oh laughs at the comment and at the slang remembers to ask her about her ethnicity.

"I've been meaning to ask, what's your ethnicity?"

She begins to swing her legs back in forth, getting more comfortable in her new environment. "My mom is from the Dominican Republic and my dad is Korean. She was an exchange student and they hit off from that moment on," she explains.

He nods, interested about her lineage. "So would that classify your race as-?"

Ae-ri shrugs, "I don't really know I've never cared to look into it. My mom says I look afro-latina but my dad says I just look like a mixed asian."

Sun-oh laughs at her take on it and nods, "Understandable."

***

Ae-ri sighs out in relief as the bell rings and dismisses the students. Everyone rushes out, desperate to leave and Ae-ri packs up all the things she'll need to study with.

"Are you gonna study today?" Sun-oh asks as he places his books in his bag. She nods and he smiles, "Cool. I have some homework to finish."

They begin to walk to the library together, making small talk before they hear the soft cry coming from a girls mouth. Ae-ri looks for the source before Sun-oh can even register it and makes direct eye contact with the hurt eyes of Jo-jo. She seemed resentful or even lost for whatever reason and as Sun-oh goes to see what Ae-ri was looking at, her reflexes kick in.

Ae-ri clenches her jaw and yanks Sun-oh back into their classroom, grabbing his shoulders so he could pay attention to her. He stumbles at her harsh tug and he looks at her perplexed as she shuts the door behind them. He was mildly confused but soon realizes the cause behind her actions as she speaks to him.

Her eyes blaze through his with slight panic, "Okay listen. I know you're strong and you've been doing really good on the healing front, but Jo-jo is currently crying on the staircase and I just want you to know that however you handle this, just remember you choose what to feel—got it?"

He nods after a second and she exhales before shaking her head, "No, I need you to understand, your mind is going to want to convince you that you should be sad. You have full control of your mind and heart. Now give me verbal confirmation," she demands.

"Yes ma'am," he firmly says, raising an arm to salute her. She salutes him back and they nod to each other once more before walking back out.

Sun-oh felt determined to show his emotional stability, he knew he could be capable of so much more if he could get over the girl who hurt him so badly; when he finally sees Jo-jo, he doesn't bother giving her a second glance and instead walks past her.

Ae-ri hides her smile at realizing something he didn't even process in the moment and it's only when they are out of range that she lets out her excitement at his demeanor.

"Dude, you did it!"

"Did what?" he smiles trying to clear his confusion to match her excitement. Her eyes glimmer as she grabs his arm, her smile making him feel happy.

"You didn't ring her alarm!"

Sun-oh freezes at the news and goes back to what had just happened before realizing she is right. His eyes widen and he looks at her just as thrilled. They both begin laughing and excitedly hitting each other.

"That's insane," he breathes out as he watches Ae-ri give him a thumbs up and a big smile.

"You're a frickin beast," she nods proudly.

"I learned from the best," he nudges her softly. She nudges him back in acknowledgment before hiding another happy smile and focusing on reaching the library.