The student suddenly had a change in attitude as his previously friendly vibe was replaced with that of hostility. He swiftly turned around and scanned her appearance with a slight glare. Minji was flustered with this abrupt change and avoided his gaze.
"I recall my neighbors to be a childless couple," he said with a cold voice and dropped the grocery bags on the floor. He slowly stepped closer towards her. Minji gulped as she couldn't look away from his bright pink eyes, and she took a step back.
"Are you another one? I'm sure we managed to cut off everyone..." he mumbled in such a low voice that Minji couldn't understand him. She didn't know why he suddenly acted this way and frantically tried to defend herself.
"I don't know who lived before we moved here, but it was really recent, so I'm sure you don't know --" her voice became more thin the longer she spoke and Minji cursed at herself internally. Now, it really did sound like she was lying. She retreated backwards since the boy got too close to her and bumped into the wall. She cursed again as she stared into his pink eyes flaring with anger. He lifted an arm and she flinched, thinking that he would hit her. She lifted her arms quickly and closed her eyes as she awaited her impending doom.
"Minji?" a familiar voice rang out and Minji looked towards the direction of her home.
*Mom!*
She had never been so grateful to see her mom before. She lowered her arms and gave her a "help me" teary look.
"Is that your boyfriend?"
...
"Oh, so it's your classmate~ I was by the entrance cleaning the shoes and I heard some voices outside. I went out and thought this handsome student was trying you hug our little Minji~" her mom beamed proudly. Unable to read the atmosphere of the room, her mom invited the student into their home. As they made their way into the kitchen, she saw the boy scanning each corner of the room, as if he was making sure she actually lived there.
"Yes, I live next door ma'am. My name is Jo Minjoon. I apologize for the late introductions, I should have greeted you earlier, but I was unaware of the move" he said rather nonchalantly as he placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter.
"It's okay. What a handsome and kind fellow you are~ you even helped Minji with these heavy bags" her mom smiled happily as she watched Minjoon take out the heavy items from the bags and help organize the produce. Baffled with the entire situation, Minji just trailed along and watched Minjoon's every action. Just what was he doing..? How could he pretend that everything was alright when he was threatening to hit her earlier? She huffed at the situation and glared at him whenever she had the opportunity to make eye contact with him.
"I'll cut up some fruits for you! You can sit with Minji in the living room and have a conservation while waiting~" her mom proposed. Minji always shouted at her mom for this absurd suggestion, wanting to just immediately kick out this rude student. She shot a glare at Minjoon so that he can at least take the hint.
"Thank you ma'am. But, I don't want to trouble you, so I can go home without any fruits," Minjoon rejected her kind offer. Minji almost kneeled in gratitude as the student at least had some sense to reject staying here.
"No, no stay~ I'll feel too bad if I left you leave so at least have some fruits~" her mom insisted once again. *Mom please stop being so friendly! Please let him leave,,*
"If you insist, then thank you for the fruits," Minjoon accepted her offer this time, perhaps not wanting to seem rude.
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*No!!! Why would you accept it, just leave!*
Minji felt tears well up in her eyes as she weakly lead the way to the living room with Minjoon trailing behind her nonchalantly.
...
Minji dropped her bag next to the television and flopped roughly on one of the couches. She glared at him while staying silent. He stood by the door for a moment while she did so and started to approach her once he saw that she settled down. Minji felt her heart beat in anxiety again.
*No way, will he try to hit me again?*
Minji braced herself to fight, but Minjoon stopped a considerable distance from her and suddenly bowed 90 degrees.
"I'm sorry for scaring you earlier. I misunderstood the situation and didn't believe in your words," Minjoon said with an apologetic tone.
*...huh?*
Minji stared at the still-bowing Minjoon in silence.
"Sorry for making you uncomfortable too," Minjoon wrapped up his short apology. She felt more uncomfortable seeing him apologize so formally and quickly tried to change the situation; she actually preferred the earlier, less friendly Minjoon to this too formal, super polite one. She stood up from the couch in panic and almost bowed in awkwardness too, her limbs flailing everywhere. Seeing her panicked face and actions, Minjoon let out a small laugh and stood back up properly. After seeing Minjoon laugh at her appearance, Minji pouted and gave him another glare. She knew that she was an awkward person, but seeing him laugh at her serious attempt to lighten up the mood made her feel more self conscious.
But, seeing Minjoon this close properly made Minji feel more self conscious in a different way. How was he so tall compared to her? Unable to handle the awkwardness any further, Minji flopped back down on the couch quickly. Minjoon sat down next to her with considerable distance and just stared at the television which was turned off.
And they spent the rest of the time in silence, both staring at the black television until Minji's mom came to break the dead silence.
...
*I am never ever ever going to go home at the time he goes home... Nor am I ever going to interact with him ever again*
Minji was washing her face after spending a long day with her mom gushing over Minjoon and "trying" to hook her up with him. It wasn't too obvious, but she could plainly see through her mom's intentions and also noticed that Minjoon was keeping up appearances for the sake of her mom. She has never felt more embarrassment in her life ever. Even just recalling the moment makes her clench her fists and yell at the air.
Remembering it again, Minji washed her face even more furiously. She just wanted to wash everything away until she could no longer remember anything about this day ever again.
But what if she ends up running into him again? Would she need to greet him or would it be okay to just ignore him? But what if ignoring him makes her come off as rude? Would he even greet her first or would he just ignore her?
Minji began her worst habit, overthinking, as she settled down in the covers of her comfortable bed. Her mind was filled with concerns about her relationship(?) with Minjoon. For now, they didn't seem close enough to greet each other. But then again, they didn't seem to be on bad terms either once she recalled their conversations from earlier. Although her mom did 90 percent of the talking, she managed to exchange some words with Minjoon.
What was the answer to all of her questions from earlier? Perhaps it might be better for her to ignore him until he greets her first.
*Yeah, I think that's the right answer*
She grabbed one of the stuffed animals on her bed, a cute teddy bear wearing a little blue hoodie, and stared at it. This bear also had pink eyes.
She threw the bear out of the bed and settled back down into her bed. It took some time for her to fall asleep, but after an hour, she finally fell into a deep sleep. Her mind was cleared from her haunting thoughts.
...
The next morning, Minji scrambled to grab her belongings for school. She slept late last night because her thoughts overwhelmed her to the point that she couldn't sleep.
The smell of perfectly cooked scrambled eggs seeped into her bedroom, causing Minji to move even faster. Even if she had to lazily tie her hair up, she would never miss her favorite meal of the day: breakfast.
After quickly munching down on the meal prepared for her by her mom, Minji slowly made her way out of the house. She first checked the window by the door to make sure that no one was there. She waited for a moment in case Minjoon came out and headed for the elevator. Once the coast was clear, she greeted her mom and hastily opened the door, prepared to leave until,
"Oh, you're finally out. I was actually about to leave since I didn't know when exactly you would come out," a voice rang out as soon as she opened the door.
Out of all of the thoughts that kept her awake the previous night, this situation was completely out of her expectation.
Minjoon was standing next to her doorway... presumably for her?