“Rumors?”

My chest loosens as a sigh escapes my mouth, the knot in my stomach turning as his words melted over the walls of my ears. The waves-of-confusion crashes into each other around the ocean-of-his eyes, they too, drown my hammering heart.

“Well, you know,” I trailed off, my train-of-thought coming to an abrupt stop as I tried to search for the right room of words. His gaze melted into mine, as the tapping of his foot on the floor filled the walls-of-the bus. “Yesterday, when we went to the classroom alone, some people saw us, and well… Got the wrong idea…”

“Wrong idea?” The pointed start of his eyebrows crash into each other as they form a furrow, his eyes still drawn to mine as they wander over my face. He tilts his head to the side, as his hand lingers on the back of his neck. “Do you… do you mean…?”

My lips pursued into a thin line, my eyes shut tightly as I strained my neck to the window. My heart strangled in my chest as Aecha’s words filled my ears and mind once again. I nodded my head with a dilemma trailing behind, my hand messing with the skin of my ears. The lights illuminating the streets sting my eyes as I look outside of the window.

A single, throaty laugh escapes through his mouth, as it melts over the walls of my ears, while he leans back on the seat. I peek through the corner of my eyes, finding him to remove his glasses as he puts the cover of his hand over his eyes. The shallow sound of his laugh stung my bones.

“Wow,” He begins, his hand hovering over his face once again as he puts his glasses back on. The honey in the usual tone of his voice had turned-to-stone that hit against my heart, that already dashed around in my chest. “Some people are really… brain-rotten.”

“Agree,” I breathe out, with a silent sigh following behind. My head dipped down in between my arms, my heart withering down to my stomach, as dread over-filled the jar of my body. “What are we gonna do? Like, you know, it’s going to be all twisted.”

A faint ‘hum’ fights off of his mouth, as the hoarse sound melted over the walls of the bus. He rubs his fingers over his chin, while his teeth trapped the lower lip in. His pearly eyes crash against mine again. “You know what?”

“Mhm?” I hummed, my eyebrows raised to my forehead as my gaze captured his into mine, laced with a coat of curiosity. The rustling of the harsh tires against the grumbling roads waited with me for the boy to speak his thoughts, as he laid his gaze over mine.

“Let them say what they say,” His words drowned in the pond-of-my understanding, as I tilted my head to the right. “You know, those kinds of people never think right. It’s of no-use to care.” The string of his prose tied around my heart, fading into it.

“You’re right.” I sighed, my gaze traveling back to the window. The bus slowed on its way, as the familiar stop came into the trail of my gaze. My chest loosening as my stop came into view. I turned to Jisung, picking my bag from the floor. “Well, my stop is here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” A smile played over his lips, his gaze fixated on me as I walked ahead from him, climbing down the little stairs of the bus.

—

The sound of my sigh harmonizes with the creaking of the door to my house. My eyes roamed around the deserted-of-a-body living room, stopping over the kitchen before I allowed myself to set my foot in.

“You’re home?” My sister, Jaewon’s voice fills my empty ears, washing me over with a wave of dread. My eyes caught over her face, the frown settling itself in my mind.

I scratched the back of my head, pulling through my hair. “Uh, yeah. Home.” Responding, I moved to brush past her to my room, but her words cut through my steps.

“Wait,” Her harsh voice commanded, as she stepped in-front of me, her phone reached out to me. A picture played over it. My eyes narrowed into a narrow alley of thoughts, as my mind worked out to figure the picture out. Tilting my head to the side, my eyebrows furrowed as I took it in.

A photo of me and Jisung chatting on the bus. My heart drowned down to my stomach, a knot tying around my chest. “What about it?” My throat groaned out, my voice strangled in the anticipation of her next words.

“Who is this?”

The abounding lump in my throat washed down to my chest, her question withering away the air in my lungs. “He’s my friend, Han Jisung. The class pres—”

Her voice cut through the trail of my words, filling the dreaded room with the thick air of serenity. “I don’t care who this is. I better not see you with a boy again.”