#jaeu

“Ji Eun! Wait up!”

She turned around when she felt someone grabbing her wrist from behind.

“What?”

Jae Joong narrowed his eyes in a disapproving manner.

“Can’t you talk to me in a nicer way?”

Ji Eun let out an exasperated sigh and forced out a huge smile. “What is it, honey? Did you forget something?”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, yet Jae Joong was still smiling cynically. He cocked his head to one side and bored his eyes into hers. As usual, it made Ji Eun squirm uncomfortably inside.

“Don’t forget, we’re going home together from today onwards. So don’t run off first without me!”

Ji Eun rolled her eyes.

“Is that all? You ran all the way just to tell me this?”

Jae Joong let go of her hand and hoisted his backpack up his shoulder.

“I don’t know...” he shrugged. “Who knows you might just leave me when you meet up with your boyfriend later.”

Ji Eun frowned in confusion. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah...” he said slowly. “The guy who you are always with.”

“Ah!” Ji Eun snapped her fingers. “Wooyoung, you mean? He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Well, whatever.” Jae Joong looked like he was brushing off the matter as though it doesn’t concern him in any way, but Ji Eun could see he was trying to suppress a smile. “We’ll meet back here later, after you’re done with class.”

“Okay, I got it. Are you done? Can I go now?”

As if on cue, Wooyoung shouted her name from across the corridor.

“Ji Eun, come on! We’ll be late!”

“I know I should’ve taken the same course as you,” Jae Joong muttered under his breath but Ji Eun missed it.

“What is it?”

He quickly shook his head.

“Nothing. Go, or you’ll have to stay back for extra credit and then we can’t go for ice-cream later.”

Ji Eun couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Ice-cream? You actually have the sense of a normal human being?”

“What do you mean?” he snapped. “Of course I do. I’m not a monster, am I?”

“You eat ice-cream?”

“Yah! What is that supposed to mean?”

Ji Eun burst out laughing, even though she didn’t know which part of it she found so humorous.

“Bye Jae Joong,” she waved at him without offering an explanation. She was still giggling, much to Jae Joong’s bewilderment. “We’ll have some ice-cream later, aye?”

“Yah! Lee Ji Eun! You...!”

Jae Joong crossed and uncrossed his legs restlessly under the table. Every few seconds, he keeps on glancing at the wall clock, but it seemed like not much time has passed since the last time he checked.

He scribbled something on the blank piece of paper in front of him, just to cancel it out a second later and crumpled the paper up.

Somehow, he was feeling uneasy – like something bad was going to happen. He hasn’t been feeling like this for so long; the last time he did was when his twin was still alive. It was like a twin’s intuition.

But now that Jae Jun is no longer around, why in the world is he still feeling this way?

Suddenly, a movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He turned his head to take a look outside the class glass panels.

One look – no one can actually tell the difference; especially since it was lunch time for a lot of students. The hallway was filled with bustling students and no one would actually notice if anything suspicious were to happen.

But Jae Joong knew. His instincts are still strong and he could tell there was something off about the two men who had just walked past him; talk, brisk, in black suits.

Jae Joong stood up immediately, ready to take off after them but then his teacher’s voice made him stop in his tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going, Mr Kim? Your assignment is still not done yet.”

Jae Joong cursed silently inside of his head.

“I’m just...going to the toilet,” he fibbed.

“No, you’re not to go anywhere until you’ve finished your essay. You still have a lot of assignments that you owe me.”

“So you’re saying I should just pee here?”

“By all means,” the lecturer gestured. “I have an empty bottle here.”

Jae Joong could hear his other classmates snickering behind him, and some of the girls were giggling.

It reminded him of Ji Eun’s soft giggle earlier – and then it struck him hard.

Those men, they must be after her. They are kidnapping Ji Eun in broad daylight.

He was starting to feel desperate.

“Please, Mr Lee. Just for awhile. I promise I’ll be back soon.”

“No, return to your seat now.”

If anything happens to me, you’re the one who’ll be responsible for her safety...

Jae Jun’s words were haunting him again.

But what could he do? With a heavy heard, Jae Joong trudged back to his seat, and was about to plop back down when he happened to glance at the car park’s direction.

It was the two same two men, but this time there was a girl walking in between them. She had her head down but he could tell that she was being forced to follow them.

The girl was wearing a yellow cardigan; just like the one Ji Eun had been wearing when she left the house in the morning.

What was happening? Why wasn’t she even attempting a fight?

Jae Joong couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Without wasting another second, he dashed across the room and ran out the door – ignoring his lecturer’s protests.