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Isu always lingered and was the last to leave the classroom.
She doesn't remember when it didn't bother her.
The teachers learned that Isu will wake herself up, so they stopped reminding her to get up. The students would murmur behind her back, but people always talk and Isu hasn't done anything to stand out. Her brother would just haggle her once she gets home, so just staying behind helps from meeting the inevitable. It was her definition of normal.
But lately, Seongha would also linger in the classroom.
Not always, yet Isu couldn't help but notice as she groggily gets up and meets Seongha's golden eyes as the classroom enters a honey sap hue as the afternoon sun leaves.
"Your dream," Seongha sighed, pulling up a chair, "I can see it clearer every day," she tapped on Isu's desk, "this isn't going to end any time soon, will it?" she grumbled amongst herself.
Isu thought of what Seongha said, before noticing something, "You... didn't enter my dream and wake me up this time?"
Seongha saw the confusion before flailing her hand, "I mean, you're going to come over to my place tomorrow," she tried to pass it off with a smile, "but while I'm helping you, I also need to study up for the upcoming midterms," Isu flinched as she remembered her own studies, Seongha noticing before sighing, "I know you'll do fine, you've always had good marks even if you're constantly tired." Seongha moved her hand to mess with her hair, "besides, compared to you even if I'm awake my marks are just average!"
Isu fretted as always, "S-Sorry," she immediately apologized, "if I'm just getting in the way of your studies, then I can stop bothering you until-"
Seongha lunged over to pinch Isu by the cheek, "Hey! What did I say about jumping to conclusions!" she groaned, letting go of Isu cheeks as Isu rubbed them in confusion, "Geez, I'm just saying that I can't nap just because I have to study later, that's it." Seongha inched closer, resting her head atop her palm as she sighed.
Isu looked at Seongha closely, trying to tell if she's mad at Isu or not. "Uh, but-"
"No, I want to help you," Seongha cut into Isu's sentence, "And besides, I caught a glimpse of your dream during class, and it doesn't look any different. I can't just wait on it, so tomorrow you better come over or I'm actually not going to forgive you!" she audibly 'hmph', seeming to grow more irritable with lack of sleep herself.
Isu fidgeted with her hands under the desk, nodding slightly but grateful that Seongha is going through all this for both their sakes. "Thank you, I mean it," Isu mumbled, "but I was saying if you wanted, I could help you with studying on the midterms..."
Seongha shot her head up, surprised, "H-Huh?"
"I mean," Isu leaned over, a bit fired up by her own proposal, "you're always helping me, and like you said earlier I have good grades," Seongha blinked as she listened, "and, well, since you've given me so much of your time it would be fair if I-" Isu began to realize she doesn't have the skills to teach someone else or even socialize for the matter. Isu covered her mouth and flush slightly, "Nevermind, I didn't think it through..."
"Hey, wait!" Seongha stumbles on her own words as she flails her hands, "If you're going to propose something at least stick to it!"
"Sorry..."
"You shouldn't be apologizing for everything," the vice rep pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking about her options and where to go from their conversation, "... if you're going to come over tomorrow, we can do some studying together before going to sleep, just to see."
Isu almost beamed at the thought that Seongha is giving her a chance.
"But I know that you aren't that good with communication," Seongha nodded, accepting the possibility, "even if it doesn't go well, it's better to have some studying than none, I guess."
"Then!" Isu perk herself right up as she looked at her classmate, "I will try to do my best so you can understand whatever subject you're having trouble in!"
Seongha looked at the tired girl before her, taking to account Isu's dark circles and constant nightmares, but the change in which Isu shows any other emotions other than awkward was nice yet a weight on her shoulders.
"You seem to be getting here quicker each time," Seongha opened the door to let Isu in.
Isu kicked her shoes off before walking in, nodding with a fidgety glance, "Is that a bad thing..?"
"What? No!" Seongha held her arms in a cross, shutting whatever Isu's doubts quickly, "I mean, I don't know if I would say I'm glad, but it's comforting knowing that I can trust you to know your way around here." She closed the door behind Isu, taking the lead to show the other to her bedroom.
"I like coming here," Isu mumbled as she trailed behind.
"Even though all we do is sleep?" Seongha glances back to see Isu and notice how Isu flinch ever so slightly by her words, "I-I mean, I guess it's more comfortable sleeping here than at school or where your younger brother is," the brunette opened her bedroom door, quickly walking in to pick up some stuff off the floor as she grumbles to herself how she missed them earlier.
Isu stood awkwardly, "I guess, but that isn't the whole reason."
"Is there even a reason?" Seongha turned to face the pale classmate.
Isu stepped into the room, glancing as she memorizes the layout and the guitar by the wall, "It could just be because I don't hang out with people often," she found an empty spot on the floor to lay her bag down.
"Hm," Seongha thought about it, looking over at Isu and deciding not to pry further.
'Actually,' Isu kept to herself as she looked at Seongha's CD collection, 'I want to come here more often because you might not invite me anymore.' she dwells on the feeling, knowing it's a bit childish. She felt a tap on her shoulder, turning her head to meet golden eyes.
"I was asking if you wanted snacks before we study," Seongha nervously took her hand back, "unless you wanted to do it later-"
"Oh! I don't mind!" Isu nodded, quickly crouching down to her bag to pull out textbooks and her notes, "I promised to help you with your studies so I tried to review all the important sections that might come up in the midterms," Isu looked back at the other, her silver eyes nearly shining with confidence.
Seongha blinked before letting out a small giggle, "Geez Isu, you're a bit more ready for this then I thought," she clapped her hands together as she remembered to add something, "but I'm just going to review for language and science today," she quickly mentioned.
Isu paused for a moment, picking up one of her notebooks and flipping through the pages, before nodding, "That sounds good."
"Then," Seongha turned her body before turning to her desk, "you can set the stuff over there, I'll go get another chair and some snacks," smiling, seeing how this study session might not be so bad after all.
--- 45 minutes later ---
Isu kept skimming through her notes and looking over at Seongha's work, trying to wrap her head on how to explain the moles of perchloric acid and turning it into grams. Seongha held her head back behind the chair, realizing that this may have been harder than either of them anticipated.
For starters, Isu isn't used to talking to people in general, and Seongha tries to not show it but she hates awkward and uncomfortable situations.
Isu continued to flip the notes as she tried to concentrate for an answer, before awkwardly taking her phone out and glancing at Seongha a bit embarrassed, "Can I borrow your headphones..?"
"Oh," Seongha sat back up, looking around her desk to reach over for her pair of earbuds and handing them to her now-tutor, "do you study better when listening to music?" she asked, a bit interested.
"What? No." Isu took the earbuds, holding them with more care than needed as she put them to her ear, "Usually when I study I listen to the recordings of the lectures in class," she explained, scrolling through her phone with the memory full of 1-2 hours audios. Seongha gulped just by seeing it.
"Oh yeah, you don't listen to music that much," she recalled, scratching the back of her head, before weaving her fingertips through her short hair, "I don't think I would have the effort to listen to any more of the teacher's voices-"
"Hold on a moment," Isu played audio that only she could hear, Seongha watching her face and wondering why she couldn't just share the audio with her instead. She watched as Isu's thin brows furrowed as she listens, replaying a bit as her gaze turns that of a goat. Distant and in her thought.
Seongha tried her best to not feel awkward again, focusing herself on Isu as to not feel antsy. She began to notice that no matter how many times she looks at Isu it's usually when she's asleep or deep in her nightmares, but as of this moment seeing her classmate in casual clothes, looking at her phone, and scrunching up her face. If it was anyone else, they could have mistaken Isu as a normal teen whose dark circles and unkempt hair are from keeping up with her studies. Seongha mused sadly, 'If only that was true,' she leaned on her palm, waiting on the other.
"Ah," she mumbled, catching the other's attention.
"Yes?" Seongha gathered, sitting up
Isu pick up her pencil and wrote down the compound, "Do you know how to read the periodic table?"
Seongha nodded, "Of course,"
"Then you'll need to find the atomic mass for each element." Isu pointed out.
"Right, well," Seongha flipped through Isu's notebook to skim through Isu's surprisingly neat handwriting and finding the page with the periodic table, "So hydrogen is 1.008, chlorine is 35.45, and oxygen is 15.9-"
"We can just round that up to 16," Isu commented, writing down the numbers, "the exam will let us round in the hundredth place since we're using our heads, so you don't need to be that specific."
"That makes sense," Seongha leaned a bit closer, seeing what Isu is writing.
"Hm," Isu looked at the compound and the numbers, "since perchloric has 4 oxygen molecules, we'll need to multiply oxygen's mass 4 times."
Isu continued to jot down the numbers and showing the other how to solve it step by step, having to add all the atomic mass together to find the grams, cancelling out the mols, multiplying, just to have the answer for the acid by the end. Seongha was getting it quickly, seeing as it isn't as difficult as she thought just by having Isu explaining it.
"Hm, that isn't as hard, it's just the question structure that was weird," Seongha grumbled, though accepting what she's learning, "so the answer is 1084.96?"
Isu nodded one again, before pointing at the last part of the answer, "You need to remember to write down what that number is for exactly or points will be deducted. This isn't just a math problem." she reasoned, removing the earbuds and looking at the paper.
"I guess I would rather have forgotten to write my name on the exam instead of losing points for forgetting something so small," Seongha sighed, writing down the last bit of the equation. "1084.96 grams of perchlorate."
"Hm? Wouldn't you just have a zero or retake the exam instead?" Isu tilted her head, not getting the joke, "Also, that's right."
The other set the pencil down before stretching, "I was joking," she yawned out, sitting normally bit feeling more relaxed than she did earlier, "you're straightforward at the most random times, you know?"
Isu's brows turned into confusion, looking at her phone and twiddling with her thumbs, "I don't try to be, it's just that..." Seongha waited for Isu to finish her sentence, but the tired girl seems to have lost her footing and held her head low, "nevermind, I don't know what I was saying."
"... It's not that it's a bad thing," she reached over to grab Isu's hands, stopping her from picking at her nails, "I want to communicate more, especially now more than ever. If I let you be during the midterms there might be miscommunications and we already have a lot of headaches as it is," she asserted her feelings, looking into Isu's pale blue eyes.
Registering the message, it sounded vaguely familiar causing Isu to hold her breath nervously, "Did Eunbyeol tell you that..?" her free hand clenched at the thought.
Seongha squeezed Isu's hand, "Yes," she admitted, but her golden eyes did not falter, "but does it matter if someone told me to?" Isu held her tongue, unsure how to respond to that. "I'm doing it for both our sakes, so during this time if you go through something I want to know. Can you at least manage that?" it was less of a question, but earnest for Isu's sincerity.
The black hair girl's palm began to sweat as she nodded, "I-I understand," she spoke softly, "I'll try to..."
'Liar,' Seongha thought, before sighing and letting go of Isu's hand, "Just try. That's all I'm asking," she ended that conversation, yet Isu seem to be fretting that she said something wrong or to have made Seongha mad causing the brunette to flick her wrist to gather Isu's attention, "let's continue studying, alright?"
Isu gulped, turning back at the papers, "Okay."
--- 2 hours ---
Seongha's eyes were beginning to grow groggy but continued to push herself to continue with her studies. Isu continued to help her with her straightforward answers and clean notes, but slowly Isu's voice began to grow sluggish.
"Do you want to call quits?" Seongha tapped the tabletop, causing Isu to jerk.
"No, I can continue," the exhausted guest stammered.
"You already taught me a lot and I think I'm done with all this studying," Seongha yawned, throwing in the towel as she stood up from her chair, "I'm going to go make the bed."
Just as Seongha went to leave, Isu tugged on the brim of her shirt catching Seongha's attention. The two stayed like that for an odd second, before Isu snapped to reality and let go of the shirt and brushing her hair behind her ear, "Um, where will you be sleeping?"
"The living room," Seongha replied rather aptly.
Isu looked down again, which could've crushed Seongha's consciousness if it didn't happen so many times. Still, it worried Seongha anyway.
"... Do you want me to sleep on the floor?"
Isu looked up before fretting, a tint of rose on her face, "N-No, I wasn't trying to force you to do anything you don't want to-"
"It's fine," the one standing up reassured the other, "I don't really mind where I sleep, as long as I enter your dream tonight."
As Seongha spread the futon across the floor and fix the bedding materials, the silence filling the bed before Seongha disturbs it with a cough, "I'm going to be busy all next week with studying and being the vice rep,"
Isu nodded, even if Seongha couldn't see it, "I know."
"So," she gestured her hand towards her guest, "do you want to do something after school once the midterm is over?"
Isu's eyes flickered at the suggestion, feeling slightly warm at the thought before tilting her head with a smile, "I'm hardly busy," her voice of affirmation, "so I'd be happy to."
And for once, Seongha gave her an appreciated smile before going back to fixing the bedding.
Isu calmly went to bed. Well, as calmly as someone can when they accept their constant night terrors. Seongha lingered just a bit, watching the girl breathing peacefully as she's the first to sleep. Seongha's eyes grew tired but continued to watch the other in case they ended up stirring.
But mostly because Seongha just wanted to watch Isu's calm face. Taking it in before she has to meet the bodiless hands and the disfigured ghost, and Isu standing calmly as she faces death head-on. She sighed, wondering how she got herself in this mess and when this will all end.
"Mhm." Isu trembled, uncomfortable. Seongha grew weary, placing her palm atop of Isu's forehead and brushing the stray hair out of her face. Isu remained calm and went back to being motionless.
"Guess it's time for me to head in," Seongha mumbled to no one but herself, getting up from the bedside as she sits to sleep on the floor, "hm. Goodnight," she yawned, ready to doze off.
But it didn't dawn on her that if all of this was over, what would her and Isu's relationship be after?