Offtune Autumn (1/1)

Jaebum didn’t come to school for the past days. When Jisoo called he stated that he was busy. She became even more annoyed. She thought that it had to do with Oh Seyeon or that girl, Jung Nami. Jisoo pressed her lips together and suppressed her anger as she breathed, trying to calm herself by thinking happy logical thoughts. This relationship of theirs, she shouldn’t take it serious. Since they had a silence agreement on how to conduct their relationship, it was not meant to be serious, she thought. It was only meant to be a plan to help him feel not lonely until Jennie returns. But she herself had said that she would be the only Gaeul he remembered, so it should mean that she meant to take back her place. Jisoo sighed, holding onto her aching head as she sorted out her thoughts and feelings.  She groaned, holding her knees. Because Jaebum didn’t come to school so she hid in the stairways instead of going to the piano room herself. Furthermore, Kyungsoo had warned her that she would be punished if she go there without permission.  “Yah. Can you be quiet for a moment?” Said an unfamiliar voice.  Jisoo turned around and saw a girl with short hair by the terrace.  “Who are you?” Jisoo asked.  “A classmate.” She answered, taking a puff from her cigarette.   Jisoo coughed, waving away the smoke. “Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?” The girl remarked, “I’m all the way over here and you’re all the way over there. The wind is strong today, it should carry away the smoke before hitting you.”  Jisoo cleared her throat, “Sorry, I am very sensitive to strong scents and smoke is bad for my heart.” Jisoo said honestly.  The girl scoffed, “You rich girls are all the same. All fragile.” She said, however she put away her cigarette and introduced herself, “I am Lee Jooyoung, this is my last year.”  “Oh, I am Kim Jisoo.” Jisoo smiled, walking up to her, “You’re very pretty!” Jooyoung glared at her.  Jisoo pressed her lips together in nervousness, “I mean it. But, what do you mean by rich girls? I am not a rich girl.” Jooyoung scoffed, “You are one, how else could you get into this school?”  Jisoo’s eyes shifted, “Grades?”  Jooyoung laughed, “So you’re top of the class in our nation?”  Jisoo thought for a moment. She was not even top of her class in her small district school, let alone the country, “I…I’m actually pretty bad at school,” she confessed.  “Figured.”  “But, my dad is a normal office worker, and my mom helped out a convenient store. We’re not that rich.” Jisoo explained.  “Hm–“  “What is consider as rich in this school?” Jisoo asked.  “To own a business for the past two generations, whether big or small. You just have to be a business owner for the past two generations. That’s actually the revised version. Before it was either the past four generations or owned at least a mid-sized company that made millions annually,” Jooyoung replied.  Jisoo laughed uncomfortably, her family wasn’t even in the $60k a year bracket, “My family couldn’t even make 1/10 of that annually.” “Are you your dad’s accountant?” Jooyoung asked.  “Was there a need of one?” Jisoo asked when she considered how their family was not that well off, and accountants are mostly meant for people with money to spare.   Jooyoung laughed, “Everyone who is smart would have one. An accountant not just keep tracks of financial records, but they could be consultant for your financial situation. You’re obviously not one nor have you seen his financial records. So therefore, you don’t know anything,”  Jooyoung concluded.  Jisoo glared at her, but she agreed, she really didn’t know much.  “That boy that you spent your lunchtime with. I suggest you don’t get too serious with him. His family is dangerous and powerful. They don’t allow just anyone to be with him. So prepare your heart to be broken, ‘cause you might not be fitting.” Jooyoung warned, but in a mocking way.  Jisoo knew. She gulped and stared intensely at Jooyoung, “I know.”  Jooyoung looked away with a sigh, “Well, class is starting. Nice meeting you.” Jooyoung said before picking herself up to go back to her class.  Jisoo entered her home-economic class with slouched shoulders and a gloomy face that worried her group of friends.  “Yah, what’s with you today?” Inhye asked.  “Still not feeling well from the other days?” Minki asked. “She hasn’t feeling well since Sunday,” Sohee chirped.  “Sweets can make one feel better. Want a macarons?” Eunhee asked.  Jisoo couldn’t bring herself to smile but she had been eyeing the box of macarons since she entered the classroom. With Eunhee offering she just nodded silently. Eunhee gave her the whole box so she could pick. She took two, one on each hand: one green tea and one strawberry milk.  She sniffed them before taking a bite out of the strawberry milk macaron, “Hm?” Too familiar, the taste was too familiar.  “What’s wrong? It was the fresh batch that my mom made this morning. It was the best one–“ “Why does this taste like The Fish Pond’s?”  “That’s because it is from there.” Sohee said casually, resting her cheek on her palm. Jisoo gasped, all this time she never actually asked her classmate from which family they’re from. It seemed rude and she thought of them as normal kids.  “You don’t know? Eunhee is the granddaughter to the owner of The Fish Pond. That coffee shop has been there for three generations already. Very famous.” Inhye informed.  Eunhee smiled when Jisoo looked at her in awe. All this time, she had a golden goose for cakes in her class, as her friend, and she didn’t utilize her!  “Eunhee-ya!!” Jisoo said excitingly.  “I can’t get you Winter Lava Cake, it’s off limit as a free item.” Eunhee said, shaking her head with arms crossed. Jisoo’s spirit depleted immediately, “ugh.”  “That reminded me. Jisoo, who gave you the Winter Lava Cake last time?” Inhye asked.  Jisoo stuttered, “Um…”  “It was her first week in school and she found herself an admirer already,” Sohee joked, “Whoever it was, all the boys here are from some sort of wealthy family, so it’s not a lost.” Sohee smiled.  Jisoo smiled back.  Minki smiled, knowing who it was. He saw.  “But, It would be nice if it’s one of the boys in Class 2-A,” Sohee sighed.  “Isn’t that your homeroom?” Inhye asked.  “Yeah?” Sohee started to list them, “Im Jaebum, Do Kyungsoo, Kim Yoonhwan, Lee Seunghwan, Shin Hoseok–“  “Okay okay, we get it!” Inhye cut her off, “The whole school have already got them memorized by now.”  Jisoo was sitting in between the two of them and her eyes kept shifting back and forth to the both of them. Other than Jaebum and Kyungsoo, she had no idea who the rest were.  “Class 2-B is also nice.” Minki joined in.  “That class only have Oh Sehun,” Sohee snapped.  “Alright class!” their teacher came in, “Sorry I’m late. But let’s get started on simple notes. Let’s get our recipes memorized before we start our baking procedure.” The teacher, Mrs. Hwang, started to write down the recipes and steps on baking a simple custard cake on the board. The class jotted down everything.  Jisoo smiled enthusiastically while jotting down notes. She was thinking of baking the cake to perfection so Jaebum could eat it. She remembered him eating all those cakes the last time they were at the coffee shop.  “Uwah, never seen anybody taking down notes so happily,” Sohee commented on Jisoo’s bashful grin, making her blushed. “Yah, you have a boyfriend or something?” She prodded. Jisoo gave her an obvious look before returning back to her notes.  “Who is he?” Inhye whispered.  Jisoo quickly put up two fingers into an x in front of her lips, signaling ‘secret.’ “Aye~.” Sighed both Inhye and Sohee.  “No fun.” Sohee pouted, then narrowed her eyes at Minki.  Minki furrowed his brows at her.  Inhye clicked her tongue, “Whoever your boyfriend is, at least he’s not Im Jaebum. If he is, you’d have to fight with Jung Nami and that’s a losing battle even before starting.”  Jisoo gulped. She found it hard to concentrate after those words from Inhye. “Pft, in this world, love is a fair game!” Sohee retorted, “If you’re brave, you go for the biggest fish, with the most delicious bait.” “Not practical, just a waste of time fighting with those people,” Inhye replied.  Jisoo who sat in between them took in a deep breath before murmuring, “And here they go again.”  “It’s the most practical! You want to live a good life, you have to go for the most prosperous!” Sohee replied, “Of course you just need to know how to play their game.”  The girls in the rest of the class nodded in agreement. They were listening in to the gossips.  Inhye rolled her eyes, “No time to play games with those rich spoiled brats.”  “Class! Planning your marriage should be left to your family. Focus on your notes!” Mrs. Hwang shouted.  Jisoo glanced over at Sohee a few times while jotting down her notes.  “What?” Sohee whispered.  Jisoo was reluctant, wondering if it would be too shameless but she was somewhat desperate and didn’t know who she could rely on when it came to love, so she leaned over and whispered, “How?”  Sohee stared into Jisoo’s reluctant eyes for a brief moment then started roaring in laughters. Jisoo groaned embarrassingly when she saw all eyes were on her. She returned back to her notes while Inhye sighed at her giving in to Sohee.  “Okay, okay, friend, I’ll teach you later after class.” Sohee patted Jisoo’s shoulder, covering up her mouth to quiet her own laughs. She giggled throughout the whole class, enjoying Jisoo’s naivety.  ––•••–– Jisoo counted the steps when she made her way up and down the stairs in front of the school while waiting for her dad to come pick her up. She thought over of what Sohee told her today, “I have to be aggressive?” She sighed, “I thought I am? I gave him hugs before… I have to initiate a kiss?” She groaned, “It’s hard.” She talked to herself as she skipped on the steps, “It’s hard to even make him smile, it’s also hard to get a date with him these days. I don’t even see him in school!”  “Give up,” Said someone, stopping Jisoo in her track.  She looked up and saw Oh Seyeon, “Hm?”  “Give up on him. You will never get him. You won’t last long,” Seyeon advised.  Jisoo’s heart raced when she saw her face and hearing those words. She stared at her with eyes like daggers. Oh Seyeon smirked when she saw Jisoo’s jealousy.  “Really, give up. You are just a rebound Jennie. And she was just there to kill his time. Nami is the one that he care for the most. He has known her since they were ten.”  Jisoo made a big sigh and she raised her head and crossed her arms, “What do you know about Im Jaebum?” She said proudly, relying on those letters that she received from him for those years.  Seyeon smiled demurely at her, “Nami often lived at the Im’s main house and she usually live at Jaebum’s living quarter. When Jaebum is with Nami, he smiled very brightly. When he’s with you, all I see are gloomy expressions. Do you think this will last? You’re just his plaything for now.” Seyeon rolled her eyes as she walked down the steps and she stopped to say her last piece, “Just mentioning Nami’s name and he’ll smile very brightly. Don’t you want to see him smile like the other day? Try mentioning Nami,” Seyeon jeered.  Jisoo pressed her lips together tightly as she tried to calm herself. Her heart hurt, but she was just stating the truth. In the end, Jisoo couldn’t do anything but sat at the stairs and waited for her dad. But because Jisoo was sometimes timid but a straightforward girl, she wanted to ask Jaebum about this. Yet, she feared that by asking she had cross a boundary that she was not supposed to.  ––•••–– Jaebum just got out of the shower and already he saw Nami standing in front of his room with a big smile. She was holding onto a book. When he saw it, all he could do was let out a loud sigh. She wanted him to read to her again. Honestly, she wasn’t a child anymore, why did she still insisting on playing this game? Nevertheless, Jaebum came out to have a talk with her.  “Nami, it’s late, go to sleep.”  “Oppa. Wah! you look like a cute puppy with your hair down.” She grinned.  Jaebum put his hands in his pants’s pockets and stared at her stoically.  “I was joking. Oppa, remember you always read to me before?” She said, hoping for him to do it again.  “Go to sleep, we have school tomorrow,” Jaebum insisted.  Nami pouted, her eyes welled up, “Just once, please…” “Nami, we’re not children anymore. You can read–“ “Oppa,