Angel Smile 138 Scene 138

"What? So quickly?" Yeo Ri sighed.

They were in their cla.s.sroom for a short homeroom session before moving over to the auditorium for the graduation ceremony. The cla.s.sroom was foreign to her but because both Min Chae and Jang Mi and most of her previous cla.s.smates were in the same cla.s.s as her, she was able to acclimate herself.

"Yeah. The boys were in a craze since the school's G.o.ddess came back. Ah, they were talking about you, of course," Min Chae snickered.

"..." Yeo Ri ignored the girl, refusing to acknowledge her words. Since when had her status upgraded? It was 'angel' last time, but now it had became 'G.o.ddess'. There were no shortage of celebrities to look up to in Korea, so she wondered why they chose her.

"Loosen up, Yeo Ri. Today's your first and last day at school, after all," Jang Mi commented upon seeing her discomfited expression.

"Yeah," Yeo Ri straightened her back and offered a weak smile to the two girls. "Is it strange that I feel kind of glad I don't go to school anymore?" Yeo Ri asked the two girls.

Min Chae and Jang Mi exchanged glances and shrugged. It felt like something was missing without her around, but thinking back to the overdramatic reaction of her fanboys, they could somewhat understand part of the reason why she was so disinclined to go back to school.

"Just so you know, I'm still angry that you won't go to high school with me," Jang Mi complained. Putting aside Min Chae whose grades didn't meet the requirements for the school Jang Mi was accepted to, Yeo Ri was more than good enough to join her.

Yeo Ri was about to repeat the words she had said to Gun earlier, but a girl came over and cut her off.

"Yeo Ri, you're not going to high school?" The girl asked in surprise. These days, it was rare to find someone who didn't go to high school. Even those who had specialised jobs like idols or actors went to high school.

"No, I want to focus on taking care of my family, so..."

"That's too bad," the girl said. She was one of the few who got along relatively well with Yeo Ri. Even though they were not particularly close, she still felt bad to part with the girl. Yeo Ri was a pretty and popular girl, but having been her cla.s.smate for some time, the girl knew that she lived up to her nickname—she was truly angelic inside and out.

"Haha, serve those boys right. They chose to go to N High because it was within Yeo Ri's catchment area, so they thought Yeo Ri would choose to go there," another girl joined in, cackling. "Some of them even delayed sending in their further education form just because Yeo Ri hadn't chosen any school yet."

"What the heck? What's with them?" Min Chae laughed, finding amus.e.m.e.nt in those guys' obsession with Yeo Ri.

"I wonder why they like me so much," Yeo Ri said with a troubled smile.

The girl chattered and laughed. There were still a few minutes left before the teacher comes in so they wasted the time filling Yeo Ri in on some school gossips.

"Hey."

The girls' t.i.ttering stopped just as a figure approached them.

"Park Jin Ae," Yeo Ri muttered in mild astonishment. It was the first time she had seen the girl ever since that day she tripped her. The girl looked somewhat different than how she remembered.

Park Jin Ae's hair was cut short. The length was starkly different than her long tresses which used to be swept back in a ponytail. Instead of the almost insidious look she used to throw around, her expression seemed more tame and downturned. It was like she was a completely different person compared to the aggressive girl she used to be.

"What do you want?" Min Chae glared at the girl with some animosity. Even if the girl had changed and was no longer as crazy as before, Min Chae still could not forgive her for hurting Yeo Ri back then.

"I..." Park Jin Ae shuffled her feet, looking as if she had trouble speaking. "I just wanted to apologise... for back then."

"Oh," Yeo Ri replied, her eyebrows jumping in shock. She hadn't expected Park Jin Ae to apologise to her. Yeo Ri didn't even remember about the incident until the girl brought it up.

"Back then, I was... kind of jealous of you. You weren't in the wrong, but I still hated you anyway. I was immature. Sorry," Park Jin Ae said, lowering her head slightly with a unsettled look. "Also, I hope you're fine after... what happened to you."

Actually, after she got sent to the hospital after Hyuk beat her up, she had some time to think. At first, she was angry and wanted to get revenge, but the more she thought about it, the more she could see that the one in the wrong was actually her. She had believed the rumours and senselessly took it out on Yeo Ri. She had wanted to follow Gun's order and apologise to Yeo Ri, but when school opened up again, she found out that Yeo Ri had been hospitalised because of some terrible accident. Park Jin Ae had considered going to the hospital, but she could never seem to take another step inside whenever she got there.

In the end, Park Jin Ae was not someone who was without conscience. She was young and immature and had learnt her lesson. She felt ashamed for having committed something like bullying a girl and even physically hurting another girl. Since then, she swore to change herself and had spent the whole year repenting.

Yeo Ri smiled softly at the girl after listening to her quietly, "Thanks."

"And sorry," she apologised. She had heard that Hyuk had went after her. Yeo Ri still remembered that she had pinned the blame on the poor girl back then, causing her to get hurt even though she didn't deserve it.

"Anyways! That's all I want to say! I hope you... have a good life? Or whatever..." Park Jin Ae felt embarra.s.sed after saying her piece and immediately left the girls. She returned to her seat and her friends crowded around her, patting her back and whispering words of comfort.