"You should call me Mi-Mi. All my friends do." Mirae said, her obnoxious voice giving Jisung a headache as she still clung to his arm. 
"No." Jisung mumbled, lifting his free hand to massage his temples. 

"But all my friends call me that. And we're friends, aren't we Ji-Ji?" Mirae asked, making Jisung's face scrunch up in disgust after listening to the cringy nickname. 
"My name is Jisung." he firmly said, rubbing his temples even harder. 

"You didn't answer me." Mirae pouted, tugging on his hand even more. 
"We're not friends." Jisung spoke, finally making eye contact with Mirae, letting her see that he meant what he said.

"But, you wanted walk here with me." Mirae said, looking down. 
"I was forced to. I didn't want to." Jisung simply replied, going back to scrolling through tiktoks on his phone. Mirae looked down, feeling a little dejected, her grip on Jisung's arm getting loose. Jisung wiggled his arm out of Mirae's grasp once he felt her grip fall loose. He left Mirae there as he walked past her, walking to his classroom- which was within his sight. 

He entered the classroom, wincing from the loud sound being produced by the class. But the sounds didn't last long, for everyone stopped whatever they were doing the moment they laid eyes on him. Everyone except Aera, of course. She continued watching big bang theory, not fazed by the entire class suddenly going silent. She hadn't even noticed Jisung enter the classroom. 

Jisung looked around at everyone's faces as they stared at him. His gaze stopped as it fell on Aera, the only person in the room not looking at him. He saw the seat beside her; it was empty. He looked around the room at all the empty seats. There were two other empty seats in the middle of the room. Maybe he could sit on if those. He didn't want to look like he was trying to hard with Aera. But his gaze fell back on the empty seat beside Aera. That's where he wanted to sit. Where he needed to sit. But then again, he didn't want it to look like he was trying to hard to get close to her. That would blow his cover. 

Just then, Mirae entered the room, a smile painted on her face; as if she wasn't looking dejected just a few minutes ago. Her smile widened once she noticed the two empty seats in the middle of the class. She rushed to one of the two empty seats in delight, setting her bag around the back. 
"Come Jisung, you can sit beside me!" she exclaimed, pointing at the empty seat beside her. 

Jisung stared at her for a few minutes before rushing to the seat beside Aera. 

There was no way in hell that he would sit anywhere near cringy Mirae. 

Aera looked up when she noticed a big figure standing in front of her. She tore her gaze away from her laptop and onto Jisung standing in front of her. She blinked at him expectantly. 
"Can I sit there?" he asked, pointing at the seat beside her.
"No." Aera replied, getting back to her show. She thought he'd leave now. 

"But I want to sit there." Jisung spoke, still pointing at the seat beside her. 
"I mean," Aera started, a smirk making its way onto her face as she turned her laptop off, resting her elbows on the table, and her head resting on her palms. The rest of the class gulped in fear, knowing that whenever she did that, something bad always happened next unless the person who that was directed to was confident, or knew enough to back out. 

But Jisung didn't seem fazed. He looked at her, and raised his eyebrows, motioning for her to continue. Aera felt a little surprised that he didn't back off, but she didn't show it. Instead, she continued, "I personally don't have a problem with you sitting here, but, you see, the thing is, that girl" she pointed at Mirae, " that girl looks like she wants you to sit with her. So why don't you go to her?" her voice was soft, but there was just creepy, and eerie about it that sent shivers down Jisung's spine.

"Because, as I said before, I want to sit there." he spoke, looking into Aera's beautiful, brown eyes. He may have been intimidated by the girl, but he would never let her see that.

"You should listen to a lady when she asks you of something politely." Aera spoke, maintaining eye contact with him. 
"'You're not a lady. You're just a girl in high school." Jisung smirked. 

The entire class was listening to their conversation with interest. And Jisung and Aera knew about that. It made Jisung more nervous than he wanted to be, and it made Aera more cautious. She knew rumors would spread after this, but she didn't want those rumors to be about her dropping her stone cold personality. 

Aera chuckled. "Well, you're not wrong. But in case you haven't noticed, everyone here tends to stay away from me. Sit with me, and you'll become a social outcast. And we don't want that for you now do we?" 
"I don't care what I become if I sit there. I'm just not sitting beside that girl." Jisung sighed, pointing at Mirae. 
"If that's what you want" Aera shrugged, turning her laptop back on. She was done with Jisung. 

Jisung, on the other hand, didn't expect Aera to be like that. He expected her to be a bright and bubbly person, not a down cast person with a stone cold personality. She was interesting, and different from most. 

But why couldn't she be like what the file said said she was? I would make stuff so much easier for him! 

He set his back on the back of the seat and sat down, scrolling through tiktoks because he had nothing better to do. 

"YOU CHOSE TO SIT WITH THAT SOCIOPATH INSTEAD OF ME?!" Mirae screeched, approaching Jisung once she realized whom he was sitting with.  
"Yeah" he replied, not sparing her one glance. Jisung didn't like Mirae one bit, from the moment he first talked to her. He only met her 15 minutes ago, and she was already acting as though they had known each other for years. Like seriously, who did she think she was? 

Mirae forced a smile at his reply and stomped away, leaving Jisung smiling to himself. But just then, he remembered why he was here. Not to find joy in annoying others, but to become friends with Aera. He turned towards her and put his hand out smiling brightly as he said, "I'm Jisung. And you are?" 

"The sociopath." she deadpanned, not moving her gaze away from her laptop. 
"I know that, but what's your name?" he asked, not giving up. 

"Why do you need to know?" she asked, not sparing him a single glance. 
"Cause we're sitting together. Would be weird if I ever need a pen or notes from you and I just go, 'HEY YOU'" he shouted. 

"Aera." she mumbled, still focusing on her show.
"Nice name. What else can I know about you?" Jisung asked, mentally face-palming himself for the stupid question. He was socially awkward, and Taeyong just had to give him a mission that needed a lot of socializing. 

"Look, do you want to be my friend or something?" Aera asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the screen. 
"Maybe?" he uncertainly replied.

"I don't have any friends, and I don't need any friends. You're just one person I am forced to sit with, so fuck off dude." she spoke, going back to her show. 

Jisung opened his mouth to reply, but the teacher walked in, forcing him to shut up and start studying. 

⩽⨝⩾

The bell rung, signaling the start of recess. Jisung took this as his chance to get to know Aera better, so with that in mind, he turned to where she was supposed to be sitting, and was surprised to find it empty. 

His eyes searched the room, trying to find her, and he caught her leaving the room. 
He rushed out the room, trying to find her, but she was no where to be found. 

And... she's gone.

Jisung knew this mission would be interesting. What he didn't realize was how complicated it was going to be.

⩽⨝⩾

life is a scam. period.