The Spring Fling That Ended in Tears

Jiyu hunched her shoulders, her voice trembling with confusion. "If that's not the reason, why are you acting this way? You don't even like me, do you?"

Hunter remained silent, his gaze flickering with the same unreadable intensity, his lips pressed tight in denial. Jiyu watched him quietly for a long moment before her eyes sharpened with accusation. "Hunter Hamilton. Tell me. Why did you want to kiss me for the third time?"

The question hung between them like an accusation. Hunter's jaw clenched, his voice low and edged with defiance. "Is that important? You kissed Rex without dating him. What's the difference?"

Jiyu’s eyes widened in shock. "What? You've been asking that weird question again and again since earlier!"

She narrowed her brows and glared up at him, the air between them crackling with tension. Hunter felt a surge of panic rising in his chest. This was his first kiss, yet for her it was far from her first, and Rex's voice echoing from outside only intensified the ache. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath, the word slipping out before he could stop it. "I should kill him."

His entire body burned with an unfamiliar fury, the kind that made his heart constrict as if squeezed in a vice. Hunter, who had never once been robbed of anything he wanted, now felt this raw, inexplicable frustration clawing at him. The strange emotion unsettled him to his core. "I don't know why I did it, okay? I was bored, that's all. Why do you keep asking? It's obvious, right? Curiosity, hormones messing around. You know the type-"

A sharp slap echoed through the photo booth, the sound cracking through the silence. Hunter's head snapped sideways, his blue eyes wide with disbelief. He slowly straightened his posture, staring down at her with a mixture of shock and something darker. The look in her gaze turned fiery red for a split second before tears welled up, threatening to spill over. Jiyu stared at the stunned expression on his face, her chest throbbing with pain. She quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, covering her lips, and bolted out of the photo booth. "Screw this," she whispered through gritted teeth. "I'm done."

With tears she refused to let fall, Jiyu left the photo booth and nearly collided with Chloe, who rushed over with a bright smile. "Chloe, I'm really sorry… I think I need to head home early."

Her voice cracked with emotion as she lowered her head and pushed through the crowd, disappearing into the night. For a brief moment, she glanced back toward the entrance, only to meet Sienna's piercing stare. Sienna's lips twisted into a mocking pout, as if on the verge of tears, before she turned sharply and leaned on her friend, letting out a loud sob. The surrounding girls glared at Jiyu with murderous intent. Jiyu bit her lip hard to keep from crying and slipped out of the party hall, her cheek still flushed red from the earlier incident. "Stupid Hunter," she whispered to herself, the words tasting like ash. "I hate you."

In the photo booth, Hunter tore open the curtain with a savage expression, as if ready to tear apart whoever dared to stand in his way. Rex quickly covered his mouth with his hands, eyes bulging in alarm. "Slap and kiss 'and' slap!" he shouted loudly, the words echoing through the chaos. Everyone present immediately forgot the instant photos, and Chloe snatched them up with lightning speed. "Got it," she said, her voice shaking with excitement. "This is going in my scrapbook."

Just like that, their first and last spring fling came to an abrupt end. The night air felt heavier than ever, carrying the weight of unspoken regrets and the sting of shattered illusions. Jiyu walked away from the scene with her head held high, even as her heart screamed for the boy she had just pushed away. "I don't need you," she told herself, though the words tasted bitter on her tongue. "You never needed me either."

For the rest of the spring semester, Jiyu avoided Hunter at all costs. She arrived at school a few minutes earlier than usual to dodge any chance encounters in the lobby, and left late just to be certain she missed him on the way home. The moment the official outdoor tennis season kicked off, Hunter immediately leveled up to the ITF Junior Circuit Tour after his National Tournament win. From then on, he skipped school more and more often, his focus consumed by the demanding circuit schedule. Sienna, however, wasn't about to let that slide without a fight. She gathered her friends and publicly declared that she no longer liked Hunter, then shamelessly started dating Lucas Preston, one of his closest buddies. "See that? Jealous much?" she taunted, her voice dripping with venom whenever she crossed paths with Jiyu. "He was mine first."

Chloe, unable to contain her excitement, described the entire spring fling scene in vivid detail during their next gossip session. "It was like a drama scene! Sienna was surrounded by her friends, sobbing like a girl who caught her boyfriend cheating. Then suddenly she stopped crying, slapped on makeup, and glared like a demon when she spotted Hunter and his crew. I thought she was going to blow up, but no—Hunter's friends are totally flirting with her right now! Poor Lucas got slapped in the face with the kiss-and-slap penalty!"

Chloe's tongue flicked out as she slurped up the last strands of her instant ramen noodles, her eyes sparkling with mischief. She shook her head vigorously. "Wow, right there in front of everyone! French kiss on the spot! She was literally eating Lucas alive. Yum!"

Jiyu shot her a sharp glare, but Chloe's playful teasing only made the tension worse. "Speaking of Hunter… have you two been close the whole time? You've always denied it whenever I asked. But now you're sneaking kisses in the photo booth? What the hell?"

Jiyu tried to snatch the photo back from Chloe's hand, but her friend held it just out of reach, waving it teasingly. "Spill it. You've been dodging the question for ages. Are you two officially together now? Or is this just some secret fling?"

The photo fluttered between them like a fragile lifeline. Jiyu’s face flushed with embarrassment. "It's nothing like that, Chloe. We just happen to live in the same apartment building. Our moms are friends, that's all. We had playdates when we were kids. And she doesn't even like me."

Chloe crossed her arms, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh? You kissed someone you don't even like? How lucky. I wish I had a childhood friend I hated. Kiss her, play dates, the works. Right?"

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, but Jiyu kept twisting her body to block the photo. "Stop it! Hunter was just being… I don't know, shy or something. He thinks I'm easy because he's used to other people. Give me that photo, Chloe!"

Chloe burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "Shy Hunter Hamilton? That's the worst excuse I've ever heard in sixteen years."

Jiyu shook her head seriously. "It's not what you think. We're really just friends."

Chloe glanced toward the group of popular girls and lowered her voice. "But Sienna doesn't seem to think so…"

Jiyu sighed deeply, as if the weight of the world was pressing on her shoulders. "Time will tell. They'll see he's not interested in anyone but me. He only has eyes for me."

Sienna and her clique constantly shot Jiyu deadly looks whenever they met, as if they could see the ghost of the kiss between her and Hunter. They deliberately shoved her shoulder hard enough to make her stumble, then snickered. In PE class, they tripped her during the starting line sprint. Jiyu kept her cool, but inside she seethed. She had no proof of the kiss, yet the damage was already done. "I deserved this," she told herself. "I went too far."

'As long as Chloe stays by my side, I can handle anything.' Jiyu whispered the reassurance to herself, even as the pain of loss dug deeper. She hated Hunter for blindly pushing her away with that lame "jinx" excuse, and she hated herself even more for blindly agreeing. Her only option now was to survive, to disappear quietly so Sienna and the popular girls wouldn't notice her at all. It was exhausting, but she had no choice. The silence after the party had already made everyone forget about her. Their interest in the "invisible nerd" had faded. Soon they treated her like a ghost, ignoring her existence entirely. Jiyu sighed in relief, her shoulders finally relaxing. "I'm safe now."

In early May, Jiyu's family moved into a small one-bedroom apartment on the edge of Yorkville, along 96th Street. It was their first real home, a small dream finally coming true after years of hardship. They had been living in a modest unit on Fifth Avenue, but an elderly woman who had resided in the three-bedroom apartment on the second floor for forty years had passed away. Her daughter in California decided to sell the property at ten percent below market value, skipping renovation. Jiyu's mother, Lauren, who was on the building's board, heard the news directly from the owner and seized the opportunity before it hit the market. "We can finally afford to be stable," she said, her voice steady despite the tears in her eyes. Hunter, however, remained oblivious, still chasing his tennis dreams in distant tournaments, completely unaware of the storm that had just uprooted Jiyu's life.