Nyla was walking to the bus stop, listening to her favourite songs when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Cautiously, she swung around, preparing herself for who it could be behind her. But instead of a creepy old man it was Jungwon, thankfully
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, clutching her chest and breathing deeply "you nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were a weirdo"
Jungwon laughed at her and linked his arm through hers "you're the only weirdo here, Hye-Ji"
Nyla turned to look at him and narrowed her eyes but she had a small smile still "won, don't test me today" she said, exhaling "in a hour I'm going to be back in that hell hole" This was the first day back at school after a two week break, and nyla was dreading it
Jungwon chuckled at her lightly "Atleast we have all of our classes together" he smiled
She nodded and smiled at him "yeah" she said "that's a good thing"
The two got to their bus stop and waited for the bus while talking about what they were going to have for lunch at school. They got on the bus and soon enough they arrived at school building.
It only took seeing the school building to make nyla want to cry "Jungwon" she whispered, looking over at him. The last time she was in the school everyone was staring at her and talking about her. She hated that she had suddenly become the hot topic. Ever since the debut of 'stray kids' everyone treated her differently. Either they were really nice or they just gave her dirty looks. She had overheard a group of girls saying how she was irrelevant and that her group will flop, she also heard a group of boys talking about how 'hot' she was. She just didn't want to go back.
Jungwon looked over at her and squeezed her hand "it'll be okay, JiJi" he said "I'm not going to leave your side, okay?"
Nyla nodded and looked at the building again. She felt better now that she had every class with Jungwon, she knew that he wouldn't let anyone talk about her.
As they walked into school she could see everyone watch her, how they whispered and turned to their friends. However nyla didn't let them intimidate her, instead she kept looking forward and walked past all of them. The two went to their free period class and sat beside eachother, waiting for the lesson to begin "um excuse me" Nyla heard someone say from behind them. Both Jungwon and nyla spun around to see a group of around 30 students, some boys and some girls, all holding pieces of paper
Nyla breathed in and answered "yeah?"
"Do you think you could sign these things for us?" Another girl responded politely
"Oh" nyla breathed "why?" She asked, looking at all of them with a confused expression
Some of the students laughed like she had told a joke but then immediately stopped when they realised she was genuinely asking "oh well.." a girl began
Another boy beside her interrupted her suddenly, pushing forward "you're Kim Hye-Ji!" He exclaimed "nyla of stray kids!" All the students began to nod and agree with him
She ignored all the small comments and just nodded and put on a small smile "oh well then, yeah" she nodded "I can sign a few things, I guess"
The group began to cheer and thank her as she started to scribble her name on the pieces of paper that were being handed to her.
It took her the whole free period to sign everything. After the first group of people more came and then more came and then more. For some reason it seemed like the whole school just wanted her name written on scraps of paper. She understood that now she debuted she would have interactions with fans but this was different. It was so weird having people that have basically ignored her for the past few years all suddenly flock to her and praise her. It just didn't sit right with her. So as soon as she finished signing things her and Jungwon went straight to their first class and sat there in silence for a few minutes
Jungwon turned to her and smiled "you're famous now, JiJi" he said with a warm smile
She nodded and leant her head on his shoulder "I guess so" she sighed, half smiling. Jungwon watched her as the smile quickly faded, a worried feeling settling in his stomach. After a few minutes of waiting the lesson began. Jungwon immediately started taking notes and following along, while nyla stared out the window. Her dark eyes stayed staring out the window the whole lesson, all until Jungwon tapped her hand
Nyla turned to look at him and mouthed "what?"
He motioned towards the window that showed the hallway that was lined with boys. All of them immediately reacted when nyla looked over. One started waving, ones jaw just dropped, some acted calm and then one walked away like he hadn't just been waiting for her to look at him for the past hour
Nyla's jaw dropped and she turned to Jungwon "what the-" she whispered, looking at her best friend "Jungwon, I really don't want to be here anymore"
After that lessons the two went to the school nurse and made up an excuse that Nyla was really sick and Jungwon would have to take her home as she was very contagious. As they were leaving the nurse said something that stuck with nyla "you know that the whole of Korea is watching you, right?" nothing had warranted her saying that. she just said it.
After they left the school they walked back to Jungwon's house in silence, neither one knew what to say. However, as soon as they got into his room she broke down into tears "it's okay, Hye-Ji" he comforted, hugging her tightly. He waited patiently for her to calm down "are you ready?" He asked her after she had stopped crying. She nodded softly and sat up, wiping her eyes
"It's just that everything's so different" she said "I love being an idol, I do, but it's just so different. I've gone from having nobody watching me to apparently 'the whole of Korea' , I've gone from having no body in school notice me to having boys lined up at the window to look at me in class and so many students ask me to sign something . I go to interviews now and photoshoots and award shows" she explained, tears pooling in her eyes "and I have to act a certain way, I have to get used to grown men looking me and I get put on these insane diets. It's just harder than I expected....that's my point I guess" she shrugged, rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair back
Jungwon nodded and hugged her "whatever you need I'll be here. If you need someone to bring you food, or new clothes or to even fight some creeps. Just call me. I'll pick up"
Nyla smiled and nodded "you always do" she nodded with a fleeting smile. Never once in their whole friendship has Jungwon ever missed a call, he always picks up.
He nodded and smile again.
After a few hours at his house nyla left and went beck to the dorm. She did the work she would've gotten in class and then went to sleep
