A Mistake (1/1)

The class was eerily quiet. Everyone was sitting in their respective groups, as I was sitting beside Junhyung. We were supposed to discuss about our current assignment, ‘The Effects of Peer Pressure’ (talk about great timing!), but I could feel that every eyes in the class were on Junhyung and I, scanning our every moves. There was tension in the air, I wasn’t sure whether our English teacher, Mr. Kim felt it or not, but I definitely felt it. It felt like hard to breathe. I arrived to my class to find that every single one of my classmates was told by Junhyung that the rumours about me were wrong. He said that the chocolate was his token of appreciation because I helped him a lot while working with him on our projects – which was true, and I was glad he was aware about it – and that I wasn’t carrying his child. And he didn’t forget to instruct everyone to spread the truth around, so my name would be clear from the accusations. Now I had another reason to thank him on top of the piling reasons, of what he did for me today.  I really wanted to show my appreciation, and I had tons of questions to asked him, but he was sitting there, looking nonchalant, so the only way for me to be able to do that was by separating ourselves from our inquisitive classmates.“Should we go to the library?” I asked him in whisper. But even my whisper sounded like a shout in the silent class. I swear I could even hear the echo of my voice. Everyone was holding their breaths now, waiting for Junhyung to answer me.Junhyung looked at me, he was thinking about it, furrowing his eyebrows. “Let’s go.” He said, while standing up, gathering his notes, and mine.“I could hold my books myself--”But he was quick exiting the class. I hurriedly asked for permission from Mr. Kim and followed him, leaving our disappointed classmates behind. We chose a table at the very back of the second floor, hoping to get away from other various suspicious eyes. I was glad that I was finally out of the attention, and I got to sit with him, just the two of us, so I could begin my interrogation. “Junhyung--”But he cut me off.“Don’t. Let’s finish the work first.”He wasn’t even looking at me, he had his eyes on the books in front of us. “Junhyung--”He lifted his head, his eyes staring straight at me.“I said don’t. I don’t have any explaining to do, and so do you. Turn to page 30, the notes are in there.”His voice was stern, I knew the best option was to follow his orders, but I had the stubbornness inside me that kept coming out when I was with him. “I can’t concentrate doing this with these questions in my head, Junhyung. Answer me, and we can proceed with the project.”I looked directly into his eyes, I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to let the matter slipped.“No. Page 30, Lee Hani.”He was calling me with my full name, so he meant business.“Why--”“Dammit, Lee--”“Yong Junhyung.” I reached out my hands, cutting him from his continuous attempts to escape himself from my questions. “You told Joon about me being on the rooftop. Why, Yong Junhyung?”He needed to know that I meant business, too.But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t move a muscle, he kept looking at me. We were having a staring contest, each of us challenging each other’s will. His eyes were dark, I could tell that he really despised the situation, but I needed the answers from him. Thank goodness English was our last period, so I had all the time I needed from him. He was not going to slip away from me this time. “Are you enjoying this, Lee?” He said out of sudden. “No, Yong, so you should answer my question, and we could end this right away.”“There is nothing to answer.”“I gave you a question. Answer that.”The air was intense, again.“I don’t have to give you reasons for my actions.” He said. He looked so serious, and I realised he was holding his pen a bit too tight, his knuckles even went white. “You do, since your actions involve me.”“And that was my biggest mistake. You are a mistake, Lee Hani.”That totally came out of nowhere and I wasn’t ready for that kind of retort.“What the hell are you talking about?” He was expressionless when he said that, and I wanted to scream at him, but I was wise enough to know that I can’t do that in the library. But did he really mean what he said?“Why was I a mistake? What have I done to you?”He was refusing to look at me, to answer me. “Junhyung?”I used my gentlest voice, I wanted to break his stubborn heart.“Junhyung?”“You--”But he didn’t finish his words, he just heaved out a heavy sigh. He packed his things, he gave me a glance, his eyes were unreadable, and he left at the ring of the final bell.