𝐈𝐕

It was yet another busy day for every student as morning came which meant another day of classes. Chatters around the classroom filled the atmosphere, teens talking to their peers with diverse topics. Minju shortly arrived, opening the door and was greeted by the endless muttering and whispers of her classmates.

'ˢᵉʳᶦᵒᵘˢˡʸˀ ᵀʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᴵⁿˢᵃⁿᵉ'

'ˢʰᵉ ᵈᵒᵉˢⁿ'ᵗ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵏᶦⁿᵈ ᵒᶠ ᵍᶦʳˡ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ'

'ᵀʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᵃʷᶠᵘˡ ᶦᶠ ᶦᵗ'ˢ ᵗʳᵘᵉ'

Minju, who just arrived, was confused and unaware about what was going on. Her classmate shortly noticed her arrival as they shifted their focus into the girl, which caused more whispers to ensue.

'ᴼʰ, ᴹᶦⁿʲᵘ'ˢ ʰᵉʳᵉ'

'ᵂʰʸ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᵍᵒ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵃˢᵏ ʰᵉʳˀ '

Hearing the whispers from her classmates and the sudden shift of focus to her, Minju's confused expression turned into one of worry. What could be happening right now? Minju tried to recall if she ever did something bad recently, to which she failed as she can't recall doing anything negative.

'...What?'

"Minju!"

Minju heard the familiar husky voice calling out to her, causing her to turn her head to the direction of the voice. Her guess was right, It was none other than her best friend Yuri and next to her was their other friend named Yena. They seemed to be quite worried. Yuri then motioned Minju to come closer. Without hesitation, Minju walked her way to them .

"What's wrong?"

Minju asked, noticing the facial expression of the two. It seems like they have a clue about what's going on.

"You haven't heard?"

Yuri whispered to Minju, causing Minju to be confused again. What is Yuri implying?

"It seems like... there's a bad rumour about you."

...What? Minju was surprised by what Yuri said. Rumour? A bad one at that? What did she do?

"It's like, Minju is a player and flirting with a lot of boys. Things like that. They even said you had another boyfriend while dating Hyunjin. Those sons of a bitches."

Yuri said, anger evident in her voice. Who could've done something like this to Minju?

On the other hand, Minju simply looked down while gripping the straps of her bag. Minju furrowed as she felt mixed emotions about her predicament.

'What the heck is that?... I'm sure Hyunjin spread the rumour about me.'

There couldn't have been any more logical perpetrator about the rumour circling around about her. Minju's guess was Hyunjin, her ex who played with her and cheated. He was probably butt-hurt about Minju dumping him.

Feeling really annoyed about that, Minju raised her head. At that moment she catched Y/n looking at her.

Oh.

Just like that, Minju's annoyance dissipated and her heart felt fluttery yet again as she remembered the events yesterday.

Y/n, who was caught off guard by Minju catching him on the spot, jolted and quickly turned his head away from Minju and into his desk.

...Huh?

Minju felt the fluttering stop as she felt a hint of bitter feeling after Y/n broke eye contact with her. He didn't even greet him or acknowledge him. Brushing off the action, Minju excitedly walked over to Y/n's seat.

"Um... Y/n-ssi, Good morning."

"Good morning."

Y/n blankly replied, no excitement or happiness in his voice. It was a bland and formal greeting. He didn't even look into her eyes and remained looking at his seat with an empty stare. At this point, Minju was getting nervous about Y/n's sudden change in behaviour.

"U-uh... Thank you for helping me with my studies yeste-"

RATTLE

"Excuse me. The teacher wants to see me, so I have to go."

The rattling sound came from Y/n's chair which was caused by him suddenly standing up, cutting Minju who was in the middle of thanking him. He'd firmly put his hand on the desk, still not looking Minju's way. Minju can only watch as Y/n turn and walk away from her, not even daring to look at her way. Y/n proceeds to leave the classroom, leaving a stunned Minju. Minju didn't know what to do, not only did a rumour about her suddenly appear and now suddenly Y/n is avoiding her.

'Has he heard the rumour? Y/n... does he hate me now?'

Minju would open her locker, take the necessary things and store some stuff of hers. She really wasn't in the mood for anything today. Minju sighed as she closed the locker before locking it.

"Oh. Minju, Long time no see."

And as if Minju was thinking her day couldn't have gone worse, Fate decided to play with her. Just hearing his voice infuriated her so much. Minju turned and what greeted her was her ex-boyfriend and the boy who probably was the cause of the mess happening today.

"What do you want Hyunjin?"

Minju said with a blank tone. She wasn't keen on talking to him right now.

"Oh nothing, I just heard a rumour about you going around."

Hyunjin was slightly smiling with a hint of smugness hidden. This really annoys Minju more.

"Anyway, you seem to be close to that nerd these days. Are you?"

Minju already knew who Hyunjin was talking to. She kept her composure and remained quiet, not giving Hyunjin any reaction as she kept her blank gaze on the clown that was talking in front of her.

"Are you dating him or something?"

Hyunjin said getting closer to Minju.

"I didn't know that was your type. You sure have bad taste, huh?"

Hyunjin was now not even trying to hide his mocking tone. Minju couldn't keep her composure anymore as she gripped the straps of her bag tightly, seething with anger.

"You don't know anything..."

"Don't say anything bad about Y/n!"

Minju angrily said to Hyunjin. Gone was her calm demeanour and instead was now full-on angry.

"He's the complete opposite of you. He's honest, faithful, and cool. Unlike you, you're a half-assed monkey in heat who can't control himself!"

Hyunjin was taken aback by Minju's sudden outburst but immediately snapped back as he too was now angry.

"Huh?! Why are you getting upset?!"

It seems Minju's roasts clearly angered Hyunjin as in that moment, Hyunjin suddenly raised his hand clearly with the intention to hit Minju. Knowing what was about to happen, Minju closed her eyes and waited for the impact. The impact however never happened, causing Minju to open her eyes.

What greeted Minju was the sight of Y/n grasping Hyunjin's wrists so tightly which made Hyunjin grunt in pain.

"Yah. Are you trying to hit a woman?"

Y/n glared at Hyunjin which somewhat intimidated Hyunjin. He showed evident anger as he tugged Hyunjin's wrist tighter, causing Hyunjin to grunt even more.

"You should be ashamed as a man."

Noticing that they've attracted quite a bunch from the commotion, Hyunjin immediately pulled his wrist away from Y/n's grasp.

"Get off!"

Hyunjin immediately walked away in shame with Y/n and Minju just watching him.

"Are you alright?"

Y/n then turned his head to Minju and checked on her. Minju only nodded as she avoided eye contact with Y/n who seemed to return to normal.

"I.. thought you hated me now. Aren't you staying away from me because of the rumours?"

Minju was obviously sad after saying that, after all, Y/n has been avoiding her all day. Y/n however was surprised by what Minju said.

"The rumours? No I was just...

... I was just playing hard to get."

Y/n meekly said while smiling as if he was proud to accomplish something. Minju however was shocked beyond belief. Here she was sulking and upset about Y/n avoiding her thinking it was because of the rumours. Instead it was because Y/n was trying to be hard to get... What the hell?!

"I read a magazine the other day... It said only showing how much you like the person isn't enough... And you have to play hard to get it once in a while... So I followed that advice."

Y/n explained innocently what his reason was and why he decided to avoid Minju. Turns out it wasn't even connected to the rumour but instead because he was trying to follow a love advice. Y/n truly know how to shock and surprise Minju in many ways possible.

'What?!'

Minju can only remain speechless while Y/n was explaining. She was really embarrassed because of the misunderstanding, though it was mostly Y/n's fault for abruptly ignoring her.

"Keeping away from you was a little hard for me too..."

Y/n confessed while slightly blushing. Minju was still silent as she was conflicted, it was as if she's trying to say something. In the end, she decided to push through.