"The Joker And The Queen" | Jeongyeon x M Reader

You are cleaning the house right now because you are alone in the house. You'd played enough rounds of video games and attempted a short nap, but it didn't work because you weren't even tired.

So you decided to be a little productive in order to make your rest more meaningful. You entered your bedroom and began sweeping the floor.

Successfully collected the fine dusts and some little pieces of trash onto the dust pan, you went on to rearrange your things.

As you dug through your cabinet for some personal accessories, you grabbed a very familiar object in your hands.

It was a pair of high-index eyeglasses of yours. You used to wear this when you were in college.

Staring into it, you started to recall everything that this simple important thing used to hold many memories years ago.

But the one that made you reminisce the most was the probably the most special of them all.

A smile formed on your lips as flashbacks started to run and play in your mind the firmer you took your grasped onto every temple of the eyeglasses while you deepened the stare within its each lenses, synchronized with your thoughts.

10 YEARS AGO

You just walked out of your classroom after your adviser announced to every one of you that the class is already over.

All prepared to go home, you maintained your direction from walking in the hallway through the near end main door of the building.

Your steps were abruptly halted when you noticed something that piqued your interest.

Yoo Jeongyeon, your classmate, was talking and laughing with other female students you assumed were her friends, except for the two you didn't guessed anymore because they were Jeongyeon's classmates.

Why is this the case? Jeongyeon is also a classmate of yours. She was the class muse due to her popularity not only in your section but throughout the entire class level.

She is known as the "queen" because you learned that she is the daughter of a wealthy family, she has a bright personality, and her main feature is her beauty.

To be honest, you concur. Jeongyeon is unquestionably attractive. It didn't surprise you when she kept getting invitations to do modeling, enter a student pageant contest at school (which she always wins), and the last heavy proof you had was that many men and even women too on this campus are head over heels for her.

That wasn't the reason your attention was drawn to her group. It was mostly because you thought you'd never have the opportunity to hang out with others as friends, especially someone like Jeongyeon, who has a higher profile alike her friends compared to you.

You are nothing, you reasoned. You don't deserve these things.

You had no idea that your time spent looking at them had drawn their attention to you, including Jeongyeon. They glared at you with confusion, cringiness and disgust.

"What are you looking at, creep?" one of the girls asked who is the smallest out of them, her long black hair tied into a pigtail. Her mole on the lower lip was noticeable too.

Her words got you back and cut your thoughts away, conscience now cooperating with you once again. You just realized that all the 8 girls except Jeongyeon were looking at you with different feelings, possibly negative, as you awkwardly received their venomous glare.

"I'm s-sorry. My mind just went black.", you pardoned to the group as you quickly rushed your walk to escape them and leave the school building.

The girls just stood there watching your back as you slowly faded away from them, their eyes filled with awful look.

"Weirdo.", the tallest girl among them said, scoffing in the air. The rest chuckled, agreeing to what she said.

Except Jeongyeon who just shrugged.

THE NEXT DAY

The bell rang to alert everyone that it was now lunchtime. You entered the cafeteria, joined the line, and waited patiently for your turn just like any other human being until you reached your turn and asked what you shall receive.

Based on your preferences, a tray of kimchi, tteobeokki, and fishcakes has been served to you. Instead of eating in the cafeteria, you went to your favorite secret spot where you could be separated from the students and enjoy your food in peace.

To be honest, you didn't care for it at all. You may grow accustomed to it, but it occasionally makes you wonder how it will feel if this becomes... the opposite? For instance, instead of being alone, you have someone who can join you and do what every friend does when they are together.

As you were about to turn and walk to the back of one of the school buildings where your spot is, you were startled to hear someone crying nearby.

You took a gentle step and hid behind the wall, then slowly peered over the edge to see who it was, and to your surprise, it was someone you didn't expect to see here... and to be in this state at all.

Jeongyeon is crying beneath the tree, with her body curled like a ball.

You sat your tray on the nearest available bench and walked towards Jeongyeon. The latter sensed that someone was nearby and could hear footsteps going nearer to her.

When she saw you standing in front of her, she raised her head and her eyes widened. Your usual innocent and nerdy stance appeared completely in front of her sight.

"Jeongyeon, what are you doing here?" you queried, intrigued.

"I should ask you the same thing to you. What are you doing in here as well?" Jeongyeon retorted, her voice was raspy due to the effects of her sobs but it didn't sound as if it has any emotions to it including her messy face other than... sadness and devastation.

"This is my spot whenever break comes; I eat my lunch in here," you replied, moving your hands around the room.

"Now, could you tell me yours?" you patiently waited for her response, but she doesn't seem to want to. You sighed at the attempt, but it has come to this that both of you have been put in this situation where she has a problem and you...

... although you are not her friend, you felt obligated to act as one for her. She is still your classmate and one of the people you see every day.

It doesn't feel right to see them bothered by something you don't understand.

Even you receive dislike to them, it wasn't effective enough still to prevent you from helping them once they had some trouble.

You still have faith in them, knowing that not all of them were evil when it came to you.They were either manipulated or made negative assumptions about you.

Returning to the situation, you preceded the flow of your choice. Jeongyeon turns her head to see if you're doing anything other than standing next to her. She expected you to stop asking her questions, but what she saw pointing near her face surprised her.

You extended your free hand to her. Jeongyeon furrowed her brows as she looked at you. You just mentally sent her a message to accept it as your genuine offer of assistance, nodding your head with a thin smile.

She just stared at you for a few seconds before giving up and reaching for your hand, which you gently grabbed and helped her stand up from the grassy ground.

"Mind if we take a seat?" you asked, referring to the bench next to another tree in this area. She only nodded slightly, her head slightly lowered as she followed you from behind.

You let her sit first before you joined. Jeongyeon noticed your lunch tray, which is now on your lap. "You were telling the truth," she thought.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you envious or hungry; as I said, I always take my lunch here," you said shyly after scooping up one rice cake. She remained deafeningly silent. What you're doing has no effect on her, actually.

She's not that hungry anyway, and she suspects she can't feel it because her mind is too preoccupied right now that distracts her irritatingly.

"I know we're not close enough for you to share what's gotten into you that made you do this... and I respect that," you began. Jeongyeon wasn't looking at you, but her ears were trained on you as you began speaking again, this time with words that are meant for her.

"But I just want to say that whatever it is, don't let it consume you; heavy or not, it deserves to vanish... and one way to do so is to ask for anyone's help," you continued as kept listening to you.

"It doesn't mean it's your problem, you have to face it alone. No, you deserve help. It could be a friend or a stranger, as long as it has good intentions. There, you can easily solve it with that someone." Jeongyeon finally looked at you after you finished speaking.

It truly impressed her and made her think twice about how you tried to comfort her without knowing any hints about her problem. She strongly agreed with what you said.

You were right, everyone deserves a help...and right now, the only person she can search for and trust to share her problem is none other than her classmate which is you with whom she just had her first conversation, currently sitting beside her and eating his lunch.

She heaved out a sigh before beginning to spill her troubles to you as what she decided to.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but this better should only be between us, you understand?" she finally said. You shifted your gaze to see her solemn expression as she awaited your confirmation.

"You have my word," you assuredly nodded. Jeongyeon felt at ease. She looked down at her hands, which were clenched around the hem of her dress, as she began to tell you about her problem.

"Earlier, I... I went to the third stairway, which is where I'm supposed to meet the g-guy who's courting me," she said.. You let out a silent "oh" as she revealed that it was about love, as you had predicted immediately based on your probabilities.

Perks of being a math genius, you kidding to yourself.

"He's from another section. I'm not in love with him so far it's just... he made me interested for him so I agreed to his request for us to meet.", she continued. "When I arrived there after the bell rang, I didn't expected that I'll see him..", she paused for a moment.

".... I'll see him kissing another schoolgirl at the locker.", she started sniffing and hiccuping at her tears as she covered her face with her hands. "Based o-on his m-moves... he-he does look l-like he's having f-fun."

"I-I mean... you weren't g-going to pin s-someone you're k-kissing and m-mirror her if y-you weren't feeling it," Jeongyeon said in a muffled tone. You agreed to her, but she's making a point. It does justify what caused her to react in this like this.