Chapter Text
It was the start of Sara Lin’s senior year, the soft autumn air blew slowly as Sara was walking home from school after a long tutoring session. Each of her steps crunching the dried leaves underneath them.
‘ Ugh.. I can’t believe Rose decided to start up the newspaper club, it’s literally the only thing I like writing about.. ‘
Sara then notices someone walking ahead of her, speaking loudly into their phone as if they were arguing with someone..
“You can’t control my life anymore! I’m an adult, I can make my own decisions!” The person walking ahead suddenly stopped walking and froze.
As they turned around, Sara suddenly recognized who they were, her school bully, Rose.
‘ Speak of the devil. ‘ She thought.
“Wha-” Sara stammered.
“Sara Lin? What are you doing, staying after school so late?” Rose says, stuttering trying to brush off the conversation Sara had just listened into.
“Why do you care? I can see you have other issues to worry about.” Sara mutters, making sure Rose could make out her words.
“What did you just say?” Rose said through her teeth.
“Oh, nothing.” Sara teased.
“Just- Go home Sara Lin!” Rose screamed, frustrated as she turned around on the verge of tears.
Sara then starts walking the other way, carefully stepping so as to not make much noise.
—————
After Sara arrived home, she started working on her submission for the newspaper club, trying to keep her mind off of Rose.
‘ Who was she calling? Is something going on that I don’t know about..? ‘ Sara thought to herself, sighing.
‘ Why am I so concerned for my literal bully.. It’s not like I have a crush on her or anything.. ‘ Sara thought, blushing as slammed her head onto the table. *DING!* A notification pops up on her phone.
‘ What the- Why is Rose texting me this late?? ‘ Sara thought to herself, screaming internally.
“Hey, Sara? Can you uhm, not tell anyone what you heard today? I’d rather it stay private..” Rose’s text read.
‘ Oh, should I say yes? I mean, she has been bullying me all year.. ‘ Sara thought quickly before making her decision.
“Oh yeah sure uh, I’m sorry for saying that earlier though, I hope you can understand.” Sara replied, wondering if Rose would even accept her apology.
“I guess I accept it, sorry for yelling at you btw.” Rose texted back quickly.
‘ Welp, I guess that’s the end of that. ‘ Sara thought, trying to shrug it off.
—————
(A few days later)
Right before Sara headed over to lunch, she had stopped by the bathroom to wash her hands. But suddenly, she heard someone crying in the corner of the bathroom. After she finished drying her hands, Sara walked toward the corner, tip toeing on the tiled floor.
“Hey, are you oka-” She stopped when she saw who was there. Rose.
‘ Man, I just can’t seem to get away from this girl can I? ‘ Sara thought as she froze.
“What is your problem Sara Lin? Mind your own fucking business for once.” Rose muttered, shoving her face into her thighs.
“S-sorry jeez! I was just trying to help. It’s not my problem you’re so stubborn..” Sara replied, trying to seem like she didn’t care.
“Just get out of my face! God.” Rose yelled, trying to push Sara away.
She backed away, holding her hands up as if she had a gun pointed to her head. When she walked out of the bathroom, she seemed to feel a sort of.. Guilt? It felt like her heart had just dropped, her guts were spilling everywhere and she seemed nervous whenever she saw Rose, a feeling that she’s never felt with anyone else, even Patrick.
‘ What is going on with me lately..? I don’t want to feel these.. Things when I'm around Rose! I thought I liked Joe, she doesn’t even think I matter.. ‘ Sara’s mind fumbled for a moment, trying not to think about her.
‘ What is going on with me lately..? She just wanted to help me, and I-I.. Pushed her away! The moment someone shows a hint of empathy for me I push them all away.. I wish I wasn’t like this, I wish I was normal.. ‘ Rose thought as she sobbed even harder.
‘ I don’t want to live like this.. ‘
—————
Sara sits down at the lunch table with Oliver, Patrick, and Joe.
“Where the heck were you Sara?” Patrick says, chomping on his lunch.
“Well I wouldn’t say that Patrick, we saved you some lunch Sara!” Joe replied, trying to excuse Patrick.
“Oh uhm- I was just in the bathroom!” Sara said, sweating nervously as she pointed behind her.
“What, were you dropping a bomb in the toilet or something?” Patrick laughed as he slammed his hand onto the table.
Oliver stared at Sara solemnly as she conversed with the others. As she glanced back at him, he turned his head and blushed.
‘ Why does she look at me like that? I have no reason to be thinking of her in this way when she obviously has a crush on my brother! ‘ Oliver thought frantically.
—————
(At the Yang’s home)
A couple hours after the Yang’s got home, they both were peacefully sitting on the balcony together, chatting away while breathing in the beautiful night air. So calm but so noisy at the same time.
“Hey Joe, this might be a little out of pocket but, do you have a crush on anyone at the moment?” Oliver adds into their conversation
“Oh, me? Well, I guess. What makes you ask that, Oliver?” Joe replies softly.
“Oh.. Nothing, I was just wondering.” Oliver says, brushing his hands through his hair to cover his flushed face.
‘ I shouldn’t have asked that, now he’s going to start suspecting me.. ‘ He thinks, sighing heavily.
—————
(Meanwhile, at Sara Lin’s home)
“Sara Lin! Come here right now!” Sara’s father yells. She lifted her head from her pillow and started getting up. As she makes her way over to the kitchen, she checks her phone and sees a notification from, Rose?
‘ Why does she keep texting me? She made herself pretty clear earlier.. I’ll just ignore it for now. ‘ Sara thinks before placing her phone on the kitchen table.
“Could you taste test this soup I whipped up?” Her father says, scooping up a spoonful of the concoction he boiled.
“Didn’t you almost burn down the kitchen that one time you tried heating up microwaveable phó?” Sara mentioned, jokingly condescending. Her father looks at her as if she just admitted to a war crime.
“I'm just kidding Dad! But it's not like it hasn’t happened multiple times..” She mumbled, drinking up the (supposedly) chicken noodle soup.
After dinner, Sara picked up her phone and rushed to her room to see what Rose had said. As she plopped down onto her bed, she got a notification. It was from Joe?
“Hey Sara Lin, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out anytime soon? There’s a nice fried chicken place not too far away from here!” Sara’s face immediately flushed and slammed her face into her pillow.
‘ WHAT!? I THOUGHT HE LIKED VICKY.. DID HE ACTUALLY TAKE HER ADVICE? ‘ Sara’s mind immediately went feral, as she checked Rose’s message, it got worse.
“Sara Lin, I’m so sorry about how today went down. I noticed how horribly I treated you even when you treated me with kindness a-” She stopped reading it, but then she noticed something, she completely misread that.. It actually read ;
“Sara Lin, please don't take what happened in the restrooms the wrong way. Leave me alone.” Her heart dropped. She didn’t know how to feel, she's never experienced someone reject her like this, before she even confessed at that matter.
She didn’t know what to do anymore, should she go out with Joe even though she’s hung up on Rose? Should she try to resolve things with her, even if she hasn’t tied down her feelings yet? As she layed on her bed, she slowly drifted off, sleeping on the matter before her to see if she could make a decision the next day.
—————
(The next morning)
Yawn. Sara thought as she checked her notifications to see nothing there except one from Oliver, about their tutoring session during lunch that day. As she got up, she remembered. She completely forgot to reply to Joe or Rose last night!
“Oh crap, oh crapp..” She whispers to herself, slapping her face as she starts grabbing her school uniform.
After she finished changing and having an existential crisis, she headed over to the kitchen and checked the time. It was way too early for her to usually be waking up..
‘ I guess this is a good time to make some breakfast! ‘ Sara thought, grabbing some eggs, fish sauce, and green onions from the fridge.
As she chopped up the green onions, she thought to herself, ‘ Maybe I should try going out with Joe. I mean, if he had the courage to ask me out, maybe he does like me back! ‘
“Honey.. What are you doing up so early?” Sara’s dad says, walking out of his room while adjusting his bright red tie.
“Oh, I just decided to.. Manage my time better!” Sara replied, whisking up the beaten eggs and green onion pieces into the black stainless-steel pan on the stove.
“Oooo, it smells good in here!”
“It’s just scrambled eggs with fish sauce and green onion dad, nothing special, but I’m glad you think that!” She says, smiling warmly towards her dad.
“I could never insult your cooking honey! You’re lucky I’m a nice person” He replies, giggling while grabbing a cup of coffee. She scoffs, adding a few drops of fish sauce into the eggs.
She places down the perfectly portioned breakfast for two people onto the table and hands her dad a pair of chopsticks and some spices. As he starts eating, she asks,
“Hey dad? Have you ever had someone ask you out but you like someone else already? And you really thought you liked this person but your new crush already rejected you before you even confessed?” Her dad immediately spits out his coffee and stares at her.
“What? Did that little tutor boy break your heart? I’ll kill him! Even worse, that gangster!” Her dad immediately replies, glaring at her.
“When did I say it was about me? It’s just like a.. Hypothetical question!” She replies, sweating heavily as her father kept jumping to conclusions about Patrick and Oliver. After she calmed him down, they both ate in silence. I mean, what else were they meant to talk about?
“So.. are you sure it’s not that gangster boy?”
“Daddd! I already told you, Patrick’s a good guy, he was just messing with you!” She said, glaring back at her dad before taking another bite of her breakfast. He then checks the time while still chewing on his last bite of food.
“Wow! We’re really making good time this morning, it’s only 7:00!” He exclaims, lifting up his thumb with a grin.
“That means i’ll be heading out I guess, bye dad! Have a nice day at work!” Sara says, putting on her shoes and opening the door.
‘ Dang it, I have to see Rose today in class.. It stinks sitting so close to her in math. And I keep forgetting to reply to Joe’s amazing offer! ‘
Sara thinks, sighing heavily while walking down the quiet hallway, about to enter the crappy elevator. Until, she hears someone walking down the halls.
Subway Boy.
“Sara Lin?” He says, trying to strike up a conversation with her.
“I didn’t know you went to school this early, I wanted to ask if you wanted to meet again today, since midterms are coming up in a couple of weeks.” He stands next to her as they’re waiting for the elevator to come up.
“Oh, uhm.. Sure! It'd be nice to get some practice in, also, have you uhm.. Heard anything from your brother about maybe, romance? Just a question though!” She mumbles the last part as Oliver looks at her, leading her into the elevator.
“He doesn’t talk to me about that stuff, and by the way, you should be more focused on getting a time set up to study! I’m not going to watch as you throw precious time away Sara Lin.” He replies
‘ Was I too harsh on her? I knew my suspicions were correct! He probably asked her out, I’ll never get a chance.. Wait, no. I can’t be thinking about this when I’m about to have lunch tutoring with her. I can’t let my feelings get the best of me! ‘ He thinks, letting his mind wander, leading him to stare at her beautiful, soft pink lips.
By the time she’s noticed, she had already covered talking about Joe and Vicky. She turns her head away while blushing, trying to see if the elevator had gotten to the bottom floor.
It hasn’t?