A change of heart

Hyunae’s POV
The dizziness fades away and I can start to feel my arms and legs again. Where am I? I open my eyes but the harsh sunlight blinds me. “Close the blinds!” Someone whispers harshly. “The light will make her worse!” Cho? The room becomes dimmer as I hear the curtains being drawn over the window. I realise that I am back at school, in the first aid room, lying down on one of the beds. “Hyunae? Are you alright? Hyunae?” That is Cho. My eyes finally focus and I see Cho, Miyon, Haneul, Sojin, Yugyeom, Jinyoung, Jungkook and some guy crowding around staring at me. The first words that come out of my mouth are; “Who is that guy?” I groan, looking at the guy I’ve never seen before. “He’s my boyfriend, Namjoon.” Miyon says. “Are you feeling better, Hyunae?” “Define better.” I say as my eyes roll back and my eyelids shut. “Hey, stay with us.” Cho says worriedly. “Don’t worry, I’m just resting...” I say sloppily. I try to rest, but they just keep talking and asking me questions. “How does your chin feel?” Cho asks. “My chin?” I ask. I pucker my lips and move my mouth from side to side to feel a thick bandage on my chin. “Oh, I fell during the marathon.” I say. “What about your foot? How does it feel?” Yugyeom asks. “What’s wrong with my foot?” Miyon suddenly wails and grabs hold of my hand through the blanket. “They sabotaged you! They did it, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you. Those pushpins...” Her eyes start to well up with tears. “Hold on, slow down. I don’t understand what you’re saying.” I say sluggishly, sleep is trying to drag me into it. “Two girls put pushpins into your shoe before you ran the marathon, and they were responsible for stealing our water bottles because they know about the hydration deprivation. You foot was all bloody when the nurse took your shoes and socks off.” Yugyeom says sadly. He hands me a cup of water, which I am dying to drink. I slowly sit up, and when I wince my friends come running and urging to help me. “I’m fine, guys. I just need some water.” I attempt to laugh, but my head throbs. The school bell rings which sound like gunfire in my ears. I try not to show that I am in pain in front of my friends. “Ugh, we still have two more classes.” Haneul says with a scoff. “There are still classes on today?” I ask. “At our school, people don’t usually turn up to athletics carnival, they take the opportunity to skip school, therefor the carnival doesn’t take long to end. Now we still have two periods of class left before we can go home.” Yugyeom explains. That’s funny, at all my previous schools, everyone would participate in the athletics carnival, not necessarily join in the events but they would support their friends. The carnival would take a whole day at my old schools... “I have a free period next so I think I’m going to keep Hyunae company until my free period ends.” Jungkook smiles at me. I’m not sure if I’m dizzy from the lack of hydration, or his charming smile. I wave goodbye to my friends as they leave to attend their class. Now it is just me and Jungkook, alone, together. He walks around and sits on the edge of the bed, facing the door.
“So...How’s your foot?” Jungkook asks.
“Now I understand why I was in agony during the whole marathon.” I say with a light roll of my eyes.
“You did pretty good considering you were practically stabbed every time you stepped.” He smiles.
“What happened after I blacked out?”
“Well for one thing, I had to carry you on my back.” He smiles cheekily.
“Oh, I hope I wasn’t too heavy.” I say in a sarcastic tone.
“I’m a strong boy.” We laugh. Anyways, I walked all the way to the first aid room where they called for an ambulance. They took care of you and brought you back to school where the principal is trying to contact your parents but they aren’t answering their phones.”
I look down at my hands in my lap. “My father is in hospital so he cannot answer calls and my step mother has work and turns her cell phone on silent.” I sigh.
“Step mother...?” Jungkook asks uneasily.
I nod. “I lost my mother when I was little, but my father soon remarried a nice lady...” I drift off and tears drop from my eyes. I frantically wipe them before Jungkook notices. “Um...I need some rest. Is that OK with you?” I say. “Of course!” He says and stands up. “You don’t need to ask me for permission silly.” Jungkook laughs. “Get well soon, Hyunae.” He says before closing the door behind him. He’s the first person I have told about my parents. I wonder why it was so easy to tell him, the words just spilt out of my mouth. I usually have a hard time talking about these things to people, but there’s something about Jungkook that makes me feel...safe...

Sehun’s POV
OK...it’s the last period of the day and I have a free. Why not see how she is doing? Maybe she’s sleeping. I stand at the door of the first aid room, contemplating whether I should see how Hyunae is doing. I don’t want to disturb her sleep, do I? But if she’s not sleeping, I can see if she’s gotten better...I suddenly realise that my palm is resting on the door and my muscles push the door open. That’s it, I’m going in; my brain decides. I walk in to find Hyunae struggling to reach a plastic cup on the table next to her. I take my earphones out of my ears and approach her. “Hey, Sehun.” She says casually. “Um...Hey...Hyunae.” I say uneasily. Stay calm, stay cool. I hand the plastic cup to her and she sighs in relief. “Thank you.” She smiles. “So...How are you doing?” I ask. The voice that comes out of my throat sounds robotic. How do I make myself sound casual? “I’m not doing well, my chin is itchy but I can’t scratch it, my leg has gotten pins and needles and it hurts when I try to move and I was dying of thirst but luckily you came in and saved the day.” She smiles cutely and my heart leaps to my throat. She takes a sip from the cup before continuing. “By the way, thank you for helping me when I was down.” I try to swallow the lump in my throat. “What do you mean?” I croak. “Well, when I fell the first time, you tried to help me up. And when I fell the second time I heard your voice.” She smiles again. My face turns hot and I turn away from her. If she could stop smiling that’d make my life easier. “What’s wrong, Sehun?” She asks. “You’re getting pink.” “It’s nothing.” I say, still not looking at her. “It’s just hot today.” A silence dawns on us and I start to feel awkward. I don’t know how to talk to a girl. This is probably my first time since high school started. “Um...” I start. “Yugyeom told me how you collapsed...” I say awkwardly, but she just nods. Oh dammit what do I say now? “Thanks for everything, Sehun.” She says suddenly. “Wha-what?” I stutter. “We only just met and you’re making such an effort to keep me company and see how I’m doing, for that I’m really grateful.” She smiles. Again with the smiling! “Uh- Yeah...no problem.” I reply. “Love Day is coming up.” She says. My ears turn hot at the word ‘love’. “I’ll show you my gratitude then.” Love Day at our school is like a mini valentines day. I have absolutely no idea why the school chose to have such a ridiculous event. Love Day is a day where you get to show your love to someone, whether it’s romantic love, friendship love, anything, you can even show your gratitude. It’s a stupid day if you ask me. The bell rings, indicating that it is the end of the day. “Will you be OK on your own?” I ask. She nods and waves good-bye. “S-See you tomorrow.” I blurt. She smiles; “Yeah, see you tomorrow.” I close the door behind me and lean on it. I can hear how loud and fast my heart beat is going. I haven’t talked to a girl in ages. It’s such a big change for me. I blush when I remember what she said about Love Day; ‘I’ll show you my gratitude then’. What is that supposed to mean? Damn, now I’m all curious and worked up. I’ll just have to wait until that stupid day to find out I guess.

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