nevertheless, - yeonji (adaptation)

Chapter 16 - The Period & The Help

Author's POV -:

Yeji had her head against the seat in front of her in the lecture room, her head hurt and so did her stomach, and as the teacher explained, she slept. 

Yeonjun was sitting beside her, and tapped on her arm. "Wake up," he whispered in her ear, but she groaned. "Yeah yeah.." she said, and closed her eyes again. 

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" He asked, looking worried. Yeji was sleepy, tired, and exhausted. She sat up, and the sketchbook along with her pouch, which were kept on her lap, fell to the ground. 

"Let me get it," Yeonjun said, bending down to pick it up. "No, it's okay. I dropped it," she said, and picked them up. She kept them on the empty seat beside her, and put her head on the seat in front of her again. 

She had rotten luck. She had just had her period, she didn't have a pad, she was sitting next to her potential crush, a small zit had popped up on her face and Jisu wasn't replying.

'Are you coming?' the first text. 'Can you get me a pad on the way?' the second text. Yeji sighed and groaned, closing her eyes again. 

"Come on, go easy on me!" Jisu exclaimed, in the gaming cafe. "Alright," Soobin replied, but shoot another one of her alliances down. 

"I hate you!" she mumbled, grabbing her ramyeon from the side, as he stole a glance at her. "My stomach still hurts," she mumbled, as he passed her the medicine. "Take that with water," he said. 

"Thank you!" she said, taking the tablet with water, and smiling at him. Not noticing that her phone was ringing, and Yeji was calling her.

"And that's it for this class," the teacher said. "Yeonjun hyung, are you coming for a smoke?" his friends asked. "No, I'll join later," he replied, still sitting next to Yeji.

"Do you want to come?" he asked her, as she turned her head to look at him. They were still sitting in the lecture room. "Uh no, I have to get ready for my presentation," she said, chewing on her lip. 

"You're presenting today? I should really focus and clap really loudly," he smiled and she smiled back. "But, you go ahead." "What?" he asked.

"Well, your friends are going for smoke. Go with them," she said, her eyes fixed on the door and sometimes at him. Yeonjun nodded, "You sometimes suddenly act cold to me." He got up and left, and she saw him leave. "I didn't mean it like that," she mumbled, and buried her face in her hands. 

Yeji groaned as she left the restroom stall, holding her stomach as she slowly walked towards the wash basin and the mirror in front of it. 

"Oh god, this isn't a zit. Mosquitoes!" she angrily mumbled. She turned on the tap, and rinsed her hands with water, his words playing her head. 'You sometimes suddenly act cold to me.' This was really bothering her.

"Hello, I'm Sculpture major, Hwang Yeji," she said, as everyone clapped. She stared down at her papers for a few seconds, and didn't notice Yeonjun walk into the room. Taking a good seat so that he could see her properly. 

Her eyes met with him for a second, and he grabbed his bag and went to sit with his friends. 

"Uh, the film I'm presenting today is known as the first science fiction film.." and she stopped. Code red alert. She could feel her pants getting stained. 

She stopped for a second, and bit her lip. Yeonjun looked at her wondering what was wrong, but she started to speak again. 

"The film I'm presenting is a Trip to the Moon. Director Georges Méliès was also kind of a magician," having your period was nothing to be ashamed of. 

"He was praised for his filming methods. Most of all..." she stopped again, her stomach hurt. she took a deep breath in, and started again. 

"At that time, films were not much different from theatre stages. the director made a unique mise-en-scène that was different from reality and other theatre stages. by applying perspective, space, distortion-" she was cut off. 

"Wait, you're talking too fast. Slow down and speak clearly," the professor said, and she nodded. 

Yeonjun noticed how she kept stopping in between and talking to fast sometimes. 

"Okay, well.." but periods were disasters. She quickly summed up her presentation and went to her seat. 

Disaster victims had to evacuate to a safe zone, and she did too. Holding her hoodie down, with her bag behind her. She got up, and her eyes met with Yeonjun's but she left the room, and he saw her leave. 

She was hurrying down the stairs when he called her name. "Hwang Yeji.", he said, and the bag dropped. Shit. 

She turned around immediately, in front of the window to hide her stain. He climbed down and stood in front of her. "Did I do something-", but stopped as he noticed her pulling her hoodie down. 

She stared down at her shoes, her stomach hurt a lot. He took his jacket off and straightened it. He stepped a little closer, one hand behind her hips, the other hand grabbing the other arm of the jacket from behind. 

He looked at her face once, but she was looking down at what he was doing. He tied the arms of jacket in a knot. "What are you doing? You said you have night class, you'll get cold," she said. 

"Should I take it back?" he asked, a playful smile on his face, as he did another knot to make sure it didn't fall off. "But still, it could get on your-", "Yeji, it's fine." 

She felt like crying with pain and happiness. Why did it have to be him? "Will you tell...other people?" she asked. And he sighed, keeping his hands on her shoulders. 

"Is that what you think of me?" he asked. "Then if you saw me suddenly getting a boner during class, would you tell others?", he asked. 

She chuckled, "But that's different." "I know it's not the the same, but would you?" he asked. "Of course not," her voice sounding so innocent and obedient. "Really?" he asked. 

"Of course," "Then I won't, either." He smiled at gently patted her head once, his hands off her shoulder now. It was then, when she realised that they were standing so close to each other. 

Would someone like him still be considered frivolous? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~