๐๐ก 6 | ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ
"I just don't know what to do with you, young lady. Just look at your careless and reckless behavior!"
It was recess but Namjoon and Lindsay were seated in the front of the professor's desk, tight lipped and heads bowed enduring the most brutal scolding of a life time.
Well, actually, Lindsay was the one who was getting the most brutal scolding of a life time and Namjoon, who managed to clean himself up after class in the restrooms, was more of like a witness. A very horrible 'why did he have to be here out of all people' kind of witness.
"Please, Ms. Melody. I'm extremely sorry for what I did," Lindsay squeaked out hoping that her voice wouldn't crack. "It was a very unfortunate accident."
"I know that everything you do is an accident, Lindsay," Ms. Melody retorted. "You do know that the project of Namjoon's which you had just ruined is worth 50 points of his grade and academic position, right?"
Lindsay felt her lip tremble as she somberly looked at her hands clasped together on her lap.
The most destructive hands in the entire universe.
"Yes," she sighed morosely. Then she immediately looked up at her professor's angry eyes with her own shaken ones. "But I'm willing to transfer all of my credits to Namjoon in order to make up for my impetuous behavior."
"That won't be necessary," Namjoon's deep voice immediately spoke up. "I strive for the values encased in my own hardwork and I certainly will not be tolerating any charity work."
He spat the word 'charity work' as if it carried a bitter taste in his mouth.
"But it's not charity work," Lindsay protested. "I owe those 50 points to you." However, Namjoon just dismissed her with a swift flick of his hand.
"Namjoon, there is absolutely no way for you to excel in this class if I don't get to mark your project," Ms. Melody tried to explain to him.
"I understand. What other options would you recommend me, Ms. Melody?" asked Namjoon in a smooth tone.
Ms. Melody tapped her pen on the desk, seemingly lost in thought as she raked her brain trying to figure out a way to restore Namjoon's lost points.
Then the tapping of her pen abruptly stopped. Maybe, there is a way. She thought. However, it would be hectic for him.
Ms. Melody turned her gaze back to the two students in front of her before exhaling a low sigh. "Very well, Namjoon." She started.
"I will speak to the head of the school personally and I will try to arrange a special exam for you, to be done the following month.
Since you're an exceptionally bright student that accounts for a huge percentage of the impression of Northwest High, I'm quite sure they will be willing to give you permission."
Lindsay gave a gasp of joy at this. Oh yay! So the day is saved!
"But..." Ms. Melody said making Lindsay stop in the middle of her mental cheer. But? What but? I mean but what? She thought.
"However, it would be comparatively harder than the paper your classmates would be facing as I would have to make it catered especially for you so that I could assess the knowledge from your research task as well. Therefore, it would be an unpleasant challenge, Namjoon. Are you up for it?"
Is he?
Lindsay thought while looking between the concerned professor and the star student who appeared to be deeply considering the odds of the task.
Then Namjoon looked up at the professor with a determined smile. "Let's do it!" he said.
Of course he is, thought Lindsay with a little shake of her head.
"Excellent," Ms. Melody chirped. "I'll speak to the management today itself. You two are dismissed."
Namjoon gave a polite smile before picking up his messenger bag and swinging it over his shoulder and exiting the lab in a poised manner.
Lindsay watched him trail away and let out a huge breath that she never knew she had been holding.
She took the professor's hands in hers and uttered a gracious "Thank you" to her before rushing outside to go after Namjoon.
~Time Skip~
Lindsay to her infamous misfortune was not able to find Namjoon throughout the entire period of recess.
It was as if the guy had vanished. She just felt extremely guilty and absolutely agreed on the fact that Namjoon or basically anyone didn't deserve to have his hard work treated in this way, no matter how obnoxious he could have been to her.
She really wanted to apologize to him one on one.
Defeated, she hopelessly made her way to the school gardens where not a lot of people would be there.
She just wanted to be left alone to curse herself of letting this hideous day happen like it did. She let herself drop down to the ledge of the garden and let her aching head fall to her hands.
I hate this day. I wish my life is not like this. She bitterly berated herself.
Some moments passed as she buried herself in her dark clouds of regret and sorrow when a voice interrupted her from her self-hatred.
"Hey, girlfriend!" Lindsay looked up to see that it was her best friend Laila. "Oh, hey Lai," Lindsay greeted in a dull and beat tone.
Her only friend smiled adorably at her before taking a seat next to her on the ledge.
"Hey, by the way," she jabbered on cheerfully. "Did you see Namjoon earlier this morning as he walked down the hallway? The guy looked as if Santa Claus had shaved his fluffy, white beard over him." Lindsay cringed hard at that topic as Laila burst into a fits of giggles while she remembered the scene.
"Wonder what that was all about!" she said in between chuckles.
"Hmm," Lindsay glumly said with her head resting on her knees which were drawn towards her chest.
Laila finally noticed that her best friend was not feeling so hot. An expression of worry and concern for her best friend took over her. "Lai, what's wrong?" she hugged her gloomy friend tightly.
"What happened?"
Encased in her friend's irresistible warmth, she found herself unable to hide anything from her and found herself breaking her own walls and pouring out her miserable morning to her.
"I messed up so bad in Chemistry today, Lai," she mumbled mournfully into her friend's chest. "And I think Namjoon hates me more than ever,"
Laila took this information in deeply and felt pure love and sympathy for her friend. She pulled her even more closer to her.
"Lindz, it's okay. Everyone messes up sometimes and you'd have enough of chemistry experiments to succeed at in the future. And don't worry. No one hates you here, ok? If they do, they would have to put up a fight with me,"
"No, Lai. You don't understand," Lindsay wailed, separating herself from her friend to clutch her head in her hands. "I messed up more than messing up a dumb chemistry experiment. And Namjoon definitely hates me!"
-"No he doesn't. No one would go to the extent of hating you."
-"He hates me."
-"No he doesn't."
- "Yes, he does,"
-No, he doesn't.
"For God's sake, Laila, I set fire to the report that he spent all summer preparing for which was also FYI worth 50 points and then I sprayed him with a fire extinguisher!"
....
....
"Ok that's pretty bad," Laila grimly agreed and Lindsay scoffed in annoyance and self-pity.
"But I'm sure it's nothing a genuine apology could fix." Laila said trying her hardest to not only just convince her friend but herself as well.
"Did he truly lose those 50 points?" Laila worriedly asked.
"Yeah," Lindsay mumbled out. "I mean he has to do another even harder exam in the coming months to earn those points,"
"I see," Laila said comprehendingly. Then she squeezed Lindsay's shoulder softly before saying, "Don't worry. You'll find him today and apologize to him and even though he would be probably mad and all, I'm sure that he could spare the time to..."
However, Lindsay wasn't paying attention to a single word her friend was babbling on like a running creek.
She just sighed sorrowfully and rested her head on her knees. She gazed at the school park and gardens in front of her with people enjoying and walking under the warm sun.
But then her eyes caught something quite unusual in the distance.
She squinted her eyes as hard as she could to see it clearly.
That's strange and oh my god that's dangerous!
Lindsay got onto her feet as quick as a gazelle before pounding towards the distance as fast as her feet could carry her, leaving a highly confused and surprised Laila behind yelling,
"Hey, Lindsay wait up! Where are you going?"
Lindsay arrived quite out of breath at the giant majestic oak tree which was planted at the corner of the school garden.
And there she saw it! A little boy, no younger than 10 years, was trying to scale the insane height of the oak tree and the way he was clambering up the branches was extremely hazardous.
"Wait, little guy. Stop!" Lindsay shouted out to him.
The boy looked up in surprise at Lindsay's alarmed voice and that caused him to horribly lose his balance.
He let out a sharp scream as his little plump hand missed the branch of the tree and he started to plummet to the grassy ground below him.
"No!" Lindsay cried and then she whisked forward to stand under the oak tree's branches before she swooped her hands out and caught the screaming child in her arms.
The boy ceased his screaming and slowly peaked through his once closed eyes and realized that he hadn't fallen to his death or fallen hard enough to seriously injure himself.
He looked up to see the gentle eyes of a young girl who was panting in fear as much as he was and that she was his savior.
"Are you ok, little guy?" Lindsay asked the boy who stared back at her in awe.
He hesitantly nodded before stuttering out, "Uh-huh, yeah. I'm alright... I think," relived at his positive response, Lindsay gently placed the kid on the ground and made sure that he was safe and sound.
She got down to his level to meet his large hazel eyes. "You really shouldn't have been climbing that tree, kid." She said with a grave expression. "It's super dangerous."
"I'm sorry miss," the boy murmured quietly.
"I was only trying to get my ball back which is stuck in that branch above," he explained while pointing up at the giant branches of the oak tree.
Lindsay's gaze followed his little outstretched index finger to the branch that he was pointing and sure enough she saw that there was a bright red ball sandwiched in between two thick branches.
"Oh," Lindsay said with her eyes fixated on the bright red ball high above.
She grimaced for a while before turning back to the boy with a confident smile etched on her lips. "Allow me to get it down for you," she warmly said.
Before anyone could have stopped her, she had gotten up and was already at the foot of the oak tree.
She had never climbed a single tree in her entire life time but she was willing to learn.
She reached her hands around and clutched at the strong trunk of the tree and she used her legs to push herself up.
She grabbed the nearest branches to her to hoist herself upwards and her eyes never left the bright red ball which started to come closer and closer with every branch she grabbed.
She reached the last branch, the closest one to the red ball.
She sat down on the branch and reached her arm high above her, straining herself to desperately reach it.
Her fingers touched the smooth edges of the ball before she managed to grasp it fully with her entire hand.
"Got it!" she gleefully announced to the hopeful boy below.
But then
Crack! Uh-oh.
Lindsay froze petrified as she felt the branch that she was sitting on, lower itself dangerously with every sharp crack she heard and within moments the branch had completely given away and Lindsay found herself screaming as she fell to the ground which was rapidly getting closer.
She fell on the ground flat on her face.
The little boy gasped in horror and immediately scurried towards the girl on the grassy meadow. He slowly poked her arm with his finger. "Miss. Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
Lindsay groaned in pain and slowly rolled over to lie on her back.
Then she rose to a sitting position. She clutched her head as she felt the world spinning and duplicating before her. she felt her face and the sides of her body and fortunately everything seemed to be in order.
Her body felt a little sore but that's not something she couldn't handle.
Tripping was a daily occurrence to her. She rose to her feet and brushed off her dress with her hands. After doing so, she smiled at the little boy.
"I'm alright. Don't worry," she reassured.
She remembered the red ball she had been holding the entire time. she reached her hand that held the ball to the boy. "Here you go," she kindly offered.
The boy grinned gratefully at her before graciously taking the ball from her. "Thank you so much!" he gushed in utmost happiness.
"You were willing to risk your safety to save mine even though you said that climbing the tree is a dangerous task. You are very kind, miss,"
Lindsay couldn't help but feel her cheeks take on a tinge of light pink hue at the adorable boy's compliments. "Hehe. It's no problem at all. I'm no stranger to disasters and please, call me Lindsay. Who would you be?" she asked.
"Hi Lindsay. My name is Seo-jun," he replied adorably.
"Nice to meet you, Seo-Jun," Lindsay smiled. The boy grinned wider back at her before saying, "Wait, I need to give you something to thank you."
He quickly glanced around the lawn behind him and Lindsay caught his eyes suddenly light up at one point.
He turned back to her with a broad grin.
"Wait right here!" he instructed before running off towards some nearby bushes.
Lindsay saw him bend near the bushes seeming to pick something up before turning and running back towards her with what appeared to be a handful of blue flowers.
Once he had reached her, he reached out the small bouquet of aqua flowers to her. "These are for you," he chirped with a smile.
"Oh, thank you," Lindsay exclaimed ecstatically and took the flowers from him. Upon closer inspection, she found out that they are...
"Bluebells!" she gasped while touching their delicate petals.
Seo-jun beamed at her before replying, "Yeah. Do you know what bluebells represent? In Victorian times, Bluebells stood for kindness but now they represent care, warmth and as well as humility. That was my first impression of you so these flowers perfectly match you." The boy finished with twinkling eyes and Lindsay paused in between the task of admiring the flowers as soon as she heard this round of facts.
"Whoa, you're quite an intelligent young boy," she chuckled impressed. Like someone I know, she thought. "And thank you for the compliments," she finished with a kind smile.
Then out of nowhere, Lindsay heard frantic footsteps from a distance thud on the grassy meadow.
From far away, she saw Laila running towards her while waving her hands above her as if she were hailing a taxi.
When she reached her, she was exhausted and gasping for air. "There you are!" she breathed out within pants. "I've been looking all over for you!"
"Sorry, Lai," Lindsay said guiltily. "I was trying to save Seo- Jun here from falling,"
Laila suddenly noticed Seo-Jun standing next to Lindsay with a red ball clutched between his hands gazing up at her with a smile.
"Pleased to meet you," he politely said with an outstretched hand.
Laila smiled back at him before shaking his offered hand in hers. "Likewise," she said.
The trio gasped as they heard the bell ringing faintly from the school ahead of them.
"It was very nice meeting you both," Seo-jun said with one of his signature adorable smiles. "But I should get going now."
"Yeah, us too," Laila agreed looking at Lindsay who nodded back at her.
Lindsay who couldn't resist this sweet, polite young man that she had the greatest pleasure to meet today, bent down to his level and captured him in a bone crunching hug.
"I hope we'll meet again very soon, little guy." She said smiling so hard.
"I hope so too," Seo-jun breathed out as he returned the warm embrace.
And let me tell you that they did!
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