Chapter 4
After the hilarious movie outing, Sana finally rejected Younghoon. It wasn't exactly a rejection since he hadn't confessed yet, but she had clearly drawn a line between them.
This made Nayeon both happy and sad. Happy because Sana was "temporarily" still "happily single," but sad because another period of time had passed, and she still couldn't express her feelings.
Sana's week of cleaning duty was almost over; today was her last day of detention. But it seemed like the vice president wasn't in a good mood, which was evident in the fact that Sana kept sweeping the same spot repeatedly, her eyes staring into space, completely unfocused.
Nayeon saw everything.
"Junho, just leave it there. Your part is done. You should go home early. Don't you have extra classes?" The class president turned to speak to the person who was cleaning with Sana today.
"Then I'll go first. See you tomorrow," The friend quickly grabbed his bag and left.
At this moment, Nayeon ran over and wordlessly snatched the broom from Sana's hand.
"What are you doing?" Sana, as if returning from a dream, was surprised to see her class president busily sweeping.
"Sit at your desk and wait for me to finish."
There was no reply. Nayeon turned back to look and only saw Sana bowing her head and absentmindedly playing with her hair. A faint smile appeared on her lips. That silly girl was sad, so she didn't even bother to ask why she was being so kind today.
"You don't seem to like being alone with me, do you?" Nayeon said in a slightly teasing tone.
"Are my thoughts that easy to read?" Sana looked blankly at the person in front of her, making Nayeon not know whether to laugh or cry. She only said that, and Sana actually admitted it.
"I, on the other hand, really like being alone with you..."
1, 2, 3, 5, Sana's heart suddenly beat erratically. It felt like she had just missed a beat.
"To bully you."
"YAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sana lunged at the other person and thumped her on the shoulder. But what she found strange was that the other person didn't seem to want to dodge, even though she was sure she wasn't using light force.
"What are you grinning about? Do I look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"
What she hated the most was that fake innocent smiling face. Even knowing that she was making the other person angry, Nayeon still smiled innocently as if she was completely innocent.
"It's precisely because you look like you're heartbroken that I want to tease you even more."
What "heartbroken"? What "tease even more"? And she even pinched her cheek. Minatozaki Sana was really being looked down upon by the other person.
"I'll hit you, I'll beat you to death, you bad, annoying, weird class president."
Sana hit her, while Nayeon endured it. The class president's face was emotionless, but inside she was extremely happy.
"If hitting me makes you feel better, then hit me more."
Nayeon swore, this was the truth. Although she often provoked her, she really, really didn't want to see Sana worried, didn't want to see those delicate eyebrows furrowed with hidden thoughts. It was better to be annoyed and yell at Nayeon than to endure everything in silence.
But it seemed that Sana didn't understand the sincerity of the class president. The beautiful vice president with her fist hanging in mid-air looked at the other person with a slightly helpless gaze. It would be another teasing sentence, right? Nayeon never said anything nice.
"I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going home." Forget it. Before that person said something harsh again, Sana thought she should go home first. And when she turned to leave, she didn't forget to give a sharp glare to someone.
"Hey, you've been hitting me this whole time, and you're just saying you're leaving like that?"
"What else? The cleaning is done. It's winter now, and it gets dark very quickly. If I don't go home early, my mom will worry," Sana frowned, stamping her feet, showing her dissatisfaction with Nayeon's words.
"Worry about what? With me here, what are you afraid of? You should at least pay me for being your punching bag this whole time."
"Pay you? As if I just randomly ran over to hit you. Why don't you watch your own mouth, and you're talking about payment? Want to get punched again?"
"I don't know. You have to treat me today, otherwise, I'll make you do another week of cleaning."
It was really infuriating. Nayeon was truly unreasonable. After saying that, without even letting Sana reply, she quickly grabbed her by the neck and dragged her away.
"Sit properly. Give me your bag!"
Nayeon turned around and snatched the black bag from Sana's hand and put it in the basket of her bike very calmly.
"What about your bag?" Sana's eyes widened, pointing at the thing Nayeon was carrying on her back.
"Of course, you have to hold it," Nayeon smiled at her with an innocent smile, her eyes sparkling with strange light. For a moment, Sana didn't know how to reply.
"Then I'd rather hold my own bag," Sana pouted in dissatisfaction, making Nayeon's smile even wider, feeling like it had reached her ears.
"You only have two choices: hold my bag or hold me. Choose," The innocent smile gradually became more cunning.
Sana was speechless. This was too shameless. Of course, she really, really didn't want to hold that person. So, she quickly grabbed the other person's bag and held it in her arms.
Seeing that image, Nayeon was extremely happy, secretly praising Sana in her heart, "Good girl."
"What do you want to eat?"
"That's strange. You told me to treat you, but you're asking me. Anything is fine, it's up to you."
Clearly, she was forcing people to take her out to eat and was still pretending to be concerned. How annoying!
"Then I'll take you to eat, and you can't have any objections."
"I know, you talk too much," She was also very tired of Nayeon. Normally, she looked cold and didn't talk much, but whenever she was with her, she talked annoyingly much, joked playfully, and was terribly hyperactive.
"Sana, I just realized... You're really heavy!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Nayeon received a very heavy pinch on her right hip. But because they were in the middle of the road, she didn't dare to yell loudly, only holding the handlebars tightly, afraid of making Sana fall. She was really fierce, Nayeon would probably have a bruise.
"Then drop me off. You look like you're sweating," Sana said resentfully.
"I like strong exercise. Even if you're heavier, I'll still take you."
"Then take me to Hongdae."
Sana said and grinned innocently. Hongdae was quite far from where they were. Nayeon already felt sweat dripping like rain on her forehead.
"You cruel person, Sana. Hold on tight, I'll speed up. It's so far, I have to run fast."
Then Nayeon started pedaling recklessly. Sometimes, she would swerve slightly, mainly wanting Sana to hug her. Every time she did that, Sana would grab onto the back of her shirt. Although Nayeon deserved it for calling her heavy, she also felt sorry looking at that back. Nayeon was just teasing her, she would never actually let her be tired or exhausted.
Sana had probably forgotten about her week of cleaning duty!
When they arrived in Hongdae, Nayeon said she wanted to eat cold noodles, so they stopped at a restaurant there. Although Sana scolded Nayeon for being crazy for eating cold noodles in winter, she nonchalantly acted like nothing had happened.
"Yah, this place looks too fancy. I didn't bring much money."
Sana frowned when they sat down. Seriously, even though she told her to choose the food, did she have to make things difficult? They were still students, and couldn't eat too fancy.
"It's okay, at worst, you can stay here and wash dishes to pay for it."
"That's easy for you to say, as the daughter of the owner of the biggest flower shop in Seoul."
"No, it's just a small business. Don't say that."
Nayeon said, showing a bright smile. She was being modest, but the class president's family owned a whole chain of flower shops.
"Speaking of which, do you want to be the owner of a flower shop?"
The noodles that Sana had just eaten almost came out of her nose. Nayeon's brain seemed to be broken or something.
"If you don't want to, you don't have to react like that."
“No, actually I'm jealous of the person you like. They probably get flowers every day, right? And later on can own a whole flower shop system, don't need to do much, just walk around the city every day and the pocket will be full of money.”
Sana said without realizing that Nayeon's face had turned like this -_-
“Being a boss is tiring. You have to calculate everything”
"But anyone who marries you won't have to do anything because they have someone as talented as you to take care of everything.”
"Well..."
"They won't have to study hard, be tired, and not even know what the future holds."
She said, poking at her bowl of noodles with her chopsticks. That sulky look was incredibly cute.
"You're so good at studying; your future will be bright. Why do you always worry so much? Or did you get scolded again?"
"Yeah, I got scolded by Ms. Yoon Hye for not putting all my effort into studying for the chemistry team. This afternoon, she gave me a practice test and said I was underperforming. As if I wanted that. If it wasn't for my parents wanting me to maintain good grades in class, I would have focused more. I'm not a god."
Nayeon looked at the dark circles under Sana's eyes and sighed softly. She felt sorry for her but couldn't do anything. How could she help her?
"I understand everything you're going through. I can only say be optimistic. Don't be upset all afternoon because of such a small thing. Smile, and everything will feel light as air. The gifted student exam is still a long way off. Just slowly cultivate your knowledge. As for your grades in class, just keep it as it is now. You don't need to try harder."
Sana, who was feeling down, received a gentle head pat. She was quite surprised by that. Did Nayeon have such a gentle side? When she looked up, the other person had already stood up and left. Sana was still confused and didn't have time to ask, but she thought she probably went to the restroom.
"Let's go when you're done eating," Nayeon returned a moment later, her face much brighter than Sana's gloomy face, but at least the sadness was gone from her face now.
"How much is it, auntie?" Sana asked while standing at the cashier.
"Ah, for both of you, it's 10,000 won."
"Why is it so strange? On the menu, it's 10,000 won per bowl."
Sana looked at Nayeon in confusion, but she only shrugged, pretending she didn't know.
"Today, the restaurant has a 50% discount."
"Why is that?"
"Because today is Tuesday."
Before the restaurant owner could even speak, Nayeon quickly interjected.
"That's right, every Tuesday the restaurant has a discount program."
Sana nodded and didn't ask further. Later, she even brought Momo here to eat on Tuesdays, with the irresistible introduction: "The food is delicious, and it's half price." But then both of them were greatly embarrassed because the owner said: "There's no such thing, dear. The person who was with you that day asked me to say that, and the remaining 50% was paid by that person." When Sana heard this, she cursed, "That damn Nayeon," but she was secretly very happy. That kind of silent care was bound to make people fall for her.
But that was a story for later. Right now, Sana suddenly remembered something important when the word "Tuesday" was mentioned: she had extra classes today.
"I'm dead, I have extra classes at 6 p.m.," Sana slapped her forehead and hurried off.
"Hey, let me take you," Looking at the clock, it was already 5:45. Nayeon also quickly ran after her.
After eating her fill, Nayeon felt energized, running even faster than before eating. Thanks to that, the vice president arrived at class just in time.
"Sigh, and no one's picking me up today either. Oh well, I'll just go to class first."
She muttered and ran frantically into the classroom, hearing someone's gentle voice in her ear, "I'll wait and take you home." Sana didn't say anything. Nayeon only said that, how could she really wait? First, she had classes straight for three hours, and second, Nayeon also had to help at the flower shop. Where would she find the time to wait for her?
But Nayeon really waited, for three whole hours without complaining. As soon as she stepped out of the classroom at 9 p.m., Sana was greeted by a dazzling smile as bright as the midday sun.
Nayeon ran over and, as usual, placed her bag neatly in the bike basket and put her own bag in the other person's hand. She also put a warm wool coat on Sana.
"It's cold, so take the scarf in my bag and wear it."
Sana thought the scarf Nayeon mentioned was her own, but it was a gray one instead of red, the one Nayeon usually used. She listened to Nayeon and put the scarf around her neck, and from then until she got home, the faint fragrance of the other person lingered around her.
Working at the flower shop has its advantages!
"Nayeon, where's my scarf?"
"At home."
"How nice. Why didn't you bring it back to me?"
"I don't want to."
"Then I'll take this scarf of yours. Don't even think I'll return it."
"Even better."
The person happily thought to herself, leisurely pedaling her bike.
They didn't say a word to each other, but the atmosphere between them was very comfortable. But in reality, it was because Sana was still thinking about something. That thought followed her all the way to her house gate.
"Hey, why aren't you going inside and just standing here? Are you too attached to me?" Nayeon said, with a teasing expression.
"Did you really wait for me for three hours?"
Sana finally spoke after a long time of thinking.
"Yeah, don't you believe me?"
"It's not that I don't believe you, but did your brain suddenly break? If you really wanted to pick me up, you could have gone home and then come back. There's no need to wait the whole time in such cold weather."
“I...I, I don't know when you'll finish your class. I'm afraid if you came out and don't see me, you wouldn’t know how to get home.”
Nayeon suddenly stuttered. It was really hard to say words that showed how much she cared for the other person.
"People usually only give care and attention to the person they have feelings for, do you know that, vice president?"
Nayeon's face turned as red as a tomato, struggling to say each word. While Sana seemed to still not have processed the information.
"Okay, I... I'm going home. You go inside so you don't get cold."
The class president sadly led her bike away. It seemed like she had scared her. Or perhaps Sana wanted to refuse but didn't know how, so she remained silent. It couldn't be helped. She knew this would happen, but she still felt sad.
That night, Nayeon hugged the red scarf to sleep, in her dreams still endlessly chasing after a girl...