𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 31

"Jugyeong-ah!" your friend hears the following morning at school. She looks around from the bench she's sitting at to see you running over to sit beside her, a big smile on your face. She smiles in response and waves you over, happy to see you looking so excited. "I have some good news!"

You explain to her that you spoke to your manager at the coffee shop who told you that a vacancy had just opened up, so she wanted to know if your friend was still interested. She called you that evening after you had gotten home and explained that one of your colleagues had quit suddenly, so she was hoping to hear more about Jugyeong. You explained that you would pass her number to Jugyeong when you see her and get her to give your manager a call.

You had been looking everywhere for her when you arrived at school to tell her, and finally managed to find her on the benches outside school, thanks to a few of your classmates who guided you in the right direction.
"You just have to go in and speak to the manager, but don't worry! She's really sweet, she will probably give you the job on the spot," you explain to Jugyeong, handing over her business card with the phone number written on it. She nods in excitement.
"Oh my gosh this is amazing, thank you!" Jugyeong is over the moon, the girl quickly pulling you into a hug and mirroring your excitement. When you pull apart your smile drops a little as you remember the other thing you planned to say.

"Also, I'm sorry for disappearing so suddenly yesterday. I just couldn't handle being there for any longer." You look down with a sigh and start fidgeting with your hands, feeling frustrated with yourself. You don't even understand why you're avoiding him so much anymore. You know it's stupid, but you can't help it. Whenever you're around him your heart feels like it's going to burst, and you hate feeling like that when you know he doesn't feel the same way. After seeing the way he was on the trip with Jugyeong, how close they were and the pure adoration in his eyes, your heart just hurt too much at the realisation that he's never going to look at you in that way.

"Did you guys talk at all?" she asks gently, placing her hand over yours.
"Not really," you respond, shaking your head lightly.
"What happened to you guys?" she asks sadly, not understanding where everything went so wrong between the two of you.

"I ran away because I was afraid," you tell her, laughing to yourself because of how insane it sounds even to you. "He was just so close and my heart was beating so fast that it terrified me, and all I could do in that moment was just run away." She squeezes your hand lightly, as if to tell you she's listening. "I just can't be around him. Whenever I look at him I feel like I'm suffocating, because I know he doesn't feel the same way about me. And I know it sounds crazy, but the only thing I can think of is to just avoid him until I can finally accept it." While you speak you reach for the bracelet that's hidden under your bracelet sleeve unconsciously, and while you don't realise what you're doing, Jugyeong does.

You hear a voice calling out Jugyeong's name at that moment, so you look over to see none other than Han Seojun approaching. He falters for a moment when he notices you sitting beside her, and your heart breaks once again.
You stand up with a sigh, adjusting the straps of your backpack on your shoulders as you turn to her. "It's okay though, it doesn't matter."

"I'll see you in class, okay?" She looks at you sadly, nodding in response and watching you walk away, the skip in your step from earlier no longer present. She turns to Seojun once you're gone, and he finally walks over to sit beside her in the seat that was occupied by you just moments before.

"Here," he says, pulling out a small card from his pocket and placing it in her hand. "My manager at work told me she has a vacancy open so I told her I knew someone who's looking for a job." He explains, looking forward as he leans back onto the bench to get more comfortable.
"Thanks, but I already got help from Y/-" she begins explaining, but when she finally looks down at the card in her hand her eyebrows raise in confusion. "Huh?"

Seojun looks over when Jugyeong's sentence is cut short, only to see two identical business cards in her hand.
"What?" he asks himself as he looks at the two identical cards, genuinely shocked by this information.
"You work at the same place as Y/N?" she asks him, but he's just as confused. He had never seen you on a shift before, nor had he heard your name being mentioned at work. You never even told him that you had a job.

Realising he can use this to his advantage, he looks over at Jugyeong.
"Don't tell her, okay?" Jugyeong agrees, hoping he can figure out a way to fix whatever's going on between the two of you.

After your first lesson is complete everyone disperses as usual, you going over to Jugyeong's desk to chat until your teacher comes for your next lesson.
"Y/N, I love your jacket!" you hear from behind you, the voice belonging to Sua. "Where did you get it from?" You can't stop yourself from glancing over at Seojun at the question, since it's the jacket he gave to you during the camping trip. He seems to be asleep, his head resting on his arm at his desk. "Ooooo, did someone give it to you?" She asks at your lack of a verbal response. You just shrug at her question.

"No, I just wear it because it's really warm." The conversation is cut short when your teacher for your next lesson arrives, everyone making their way to their seats. Seojun just sighs dejectedly and closes his eyes again, having heard your response. It's a complete lie though. The reality is that the jacket is really comforting to you, it almost feels like having him around even though he isn't, so you cling to the tiny amount of comfort it brings.

After school you decide to go to the comic book store to spend some time with Gowoon. You thought it would be nice to go and help her out a little with her shift and also to get your mind off everything. You felt really guilty when she told you that she misses you last time, and honestly you missed her a lot too, so you thought you should try to make more of an effort with her. It wasn't fair that she was being left out just because of what was going on between you and her brother, which wasn't even technically his fault either. Your only plans for the evening were to make dinner and catch up on some studying anyways, which you can do once you get back, so you thought it was the perfect opportunity to go see her.

Gowoon is pleasantly surprised to see you, and the two of you have a lot of fun working and chatting. The two of you catch up, and she even tells you about this boy at school who seems to be completely obsessed with her. You stay at the back of the shop for a while to organise some books onto the shelfs, and when you're done you check the time. Realising Gowoon might be hungry, you grab your bag and walk to the front of the shop where she should be.

"Gowoon-ah, are you hungry?" you ask, still looking down to search your bag for your purse. "I'll get us some food," you finish, but as you look up your words are cut short at the sight of the one person you were hoping to avoid standing right in front of you. He's holding a bag of food which he's obviously dropping off for his sister, looking at you with an equal amount of shock. You sigh at your luck. Why is he everywhere?

"Never mind, I guess you already got some," you say, quickly shoving your things into your bag and walking to the door. You finally look at Gowoon with an apologetic smile, "I'll come visit again soon, okay?" but she's already nodding, completely understanding and not feeling upset at all. You throw her a brief smile and take one final glance at her brother before leaving to head home as quickly as you can.

When you leave Seojun doesn't do anything, just staring helplessly at the door you just exited out of.
"Oppa what are you doing?" Gowoon asks him, and he finally looks away from the door to turn to her. "Go after her!" she urges, and he nods in response before running out the door to chase after you.

As Seojun leaves, Gowoon looks at the door with a sigh. "How has he not realised yet?" she says to herself. She can tell that he clearly has feelings for you, and the fact that he's the only person who hasn't figured it out yet is upsetting. You're like an older sister to Gowoon, and she's always thought that the two of you would be perfect together. Even her mother loved you for her son, and she's been hoping for the two of you to end up together ever since she met you. They can tell you like him, and they can see that he clearly feels the same way, but the fact that he's not admitting it is heartbreaking.