you're annoying | ryeji

THREE

chp. 3

Yawning as she walked past the gates of the school, Yeji scratched the padding of her band-aid-covered thumb.

She had woken up that morning to the sound of her parents fighting, but it wasn't as terrible as the arguments she had experienced when she was younger, so she took that as a win. Despite that, her father had accidentally knocked down one of their family pictures, breaking the glass frame and damaging the photo that was filled with genuine happiness. Yeji had cleaned it up since her parents hadn't stopped fighting, even when she left the house without a word, and she managed to cut her thumb while throwing away the glass.

Yeji didn't feel anything about her parents fighting, as it was a usual occurrence, but that didn't mean she liked it either. She wished it would stop, truthfully. Nothing annoyed her more than hearing her parents fight over some stupid money problem. It wasn't the end of the world, and their finances were stable, so why were they fighting?

After seeing how her parents were, Yeji promised herself that if she ever married (which was unlikely), she would never settle for less. But because of this generation, she barely had any hope for any future relationships.

Sliding open the door to her classroom, Yeji's attention was caught by her class president standing by the podium in front of the class.

"Morning, Hwang." Chaeryeong nodded as a greeting, eyeing her before turning her gaze back. Yeji pursed her lips and walked to her seat, thinking that the girl was probably still thinking about how she kicked Ryujin, her friend.

Class went on, and everything was normal, except for the fact that Yeji could hear murmurs and whispers behind her, probably gossiping about the incident from yesterday. But maybe she was overthinking things, as usual.

When the bell rang, the brunette fixed her things before making her way to the door. However, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted a certain purple-haired girl at the doorway. The girl looked odd, or maybe it was just Yeji, but she looked a bit... hot?

Not in that sense, no. Yeji meant her temperature, yes.

Yeji took a deep breath and attempted to leave the classroom while avoiding Ryujin.

Key word: attempted.

"Hi, Power-leg!" Ryujin greeted, stepping in front of her with a sleepy-looking smile. "Did you get home safe?"

Yeji pursed her lips and turned her head towards the girl, spotting two other people beside her. One was Chaeryeong — who smiled at her like how she normally did in the mornings, a polite one —, and the other was a puppy-looking guy — that she didn't know — waving at her with the widest grin.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Yeji said, tearing her gaze away from the boy and looking over to the shorter girl. Ryujin's head tilted in confusion. "—For your umbrella." She finished.

Ryujin let out an 'ahh' while nodding, waving it off, and Yeji thought that was her cue to go. But her friends seemed to have other things in mind.

"So that's why you're sick?" Chaeryeong scolded, smacking the girl on the shoulder before muttering, "Dumbass."

"Hey!" Ryujin nearly shouted, shooting a glare at the girl.

Sick?

"You're sick?" Yeji asked, wondering if it was because of the stunt Ryujin pulled yesterday. Maybe she ran through the rain and got soaked. Despite the incident yesterday involving the purple-haired girl, Yeji still felt a slight sense of guilt for accepting her umbrella, and it would partially be her fault if Ryujin was really sick.