Chapter 5

“What did they say?” Na Ri nudged Jae Min as she tried to peek over his phone.

“Oh… nothing I just told Hyun Joo that I wouldn’t be able to get back to them” he sighed.

“Her again!? Why couldn’t you just tell one of your other guy friends?” she whined hearing that girl’s name.

“Na Ri ah~ you need to make some new friends okay? I won’t always be able to hang out with you like this” 

“Oppa! I do have friends, I just don’t want to be with them because I like you more oppa~” Jae Min didn’t know wether to fall for her words or to cringe at her cheesiness but he wouldn't’ say it was something he didn’t like hearing.

“Can we go get snacks after school today?” she broke her off from his thoughts. “Uh I think Hyeon Joo wanted to bring me somewhere, do you want to come too?” Jae Min gave her a better suggestion not wanting to leave you out again.

“But she won’t like it!” Na Ri whined again.

“It’s okay~ Hyunnie wouldn’t mind you tagging along, you can come with us!” he gave her a faint smile.

“Are you sure?” she sacristy asked but only to get a simple nod back as a reply. 

— — — 

After school you quickly dashed to your locker to put down a few text books before rushing to the main gate not wanting your boyfriend to be waiting for too long. As you approached the gates you noticed your boyfriend’s figure and was just about to run forward to give him a little surprise but something stopped you upon noticing another smaller figure next to time. You walked up to them making eye contact with Jae Min as you eyed him questionably.

“Oh! It’s my Hyun Joo!” he smiled and gave your hair a little ruffle. You returned him the smile before looking to the side noticing the new girl next to him. As if he knew exactly what you were thinking he spoke up in response, “Ah~ since Na Ri didn’t have anything to do today she wanted to know if it was okay to join us”.

“Oh… sure… I mean we were just going to grab some food anyway” you smiled at her only to receive a little smirk back.

“Great! Let’s go!” she tugged her arm in Jae Min’s and dragged him off leaving you behind. Not knowing what to say you just shrugged it off casually and followed them from behind. 

“Oppa where are we going?” you heard her ask Jae Min. 

Oppa? Since when where they so close? You couldn’t help but wonder.

“Hyunnie yah~ where are we going?” he turned back at you to see you walking with your face looking towards the floor. “Hyun Joo?” “Oh? Oh um yea?” you were a little startle that he suddenly called you out of know where blocking you from your train of thoughts. “Where are we going?” he asked again this time with a more worried tone. “Oh… I don’t mind you guys can choose” you gave him a small smile then looked towards Na Ri. 

“Oppa! I want to go to that ice cream shop we went to last time” she held on to him giving his arm a little shake. “Alright~ alright~ Hyunnie let’s go to the ice cream shop” he smiled at you before pulling you a little close into his grip on to the left as his right was pretty much fully occupied by Na Ri. You could sense her glare even though you weren’t looking anywhere near her direction.

As you guys arrived at the ice cream shop, Jae Min had managed to find a seat for the 3 of you. “For my Hyunnie, chocolate and vanilla? and Na Ri you want mango and strawberry?” you nodded at his statement while Na Ri made a huge grin giving him a thumbs up. As Jae Min walked off towards the counters for the orders Na Ri gave you a small kick under the table to get your attention in which you gave her. 

“Do you like Jae Min?” her sudden question got you into a bundle of confusion. If she knew you guys were dating why in the world would she even need to consider asking you this question?

“What do you mean?” for some reason you didn’t want to answer her question, not that it was a answer or was there anything to hide but it just got you very confused as she had clearly known the answer from the start yet she chose to ask you such a question.

“I mean he said you guys were dating but just because you’re dating doesn't mean you like him right? I was just curious to wether if you actually liked him or not” she smirked. 

“Well to answer your question I do” you simply replied giving your shoulders a slight shrug.

“Who confessed first? Did he ask you out?” as if she had a thousand more questions to ask you she continued to fire them on at you.

“Um… we met each other through a mutual friend and he confessed to me some time after?” you shrugged not really knowing exactly why you were giving her an answer in the first place… but then again it would have been rude just to ignore her.

Just as she was about to ask you another question, Jae Min came back with a tray with 3 ice cream cups on top. You watched as the girl sitting opposite you shuffled gesturing that he should sit next to her, in which he did. 

You weren’t even usually an awkward person but for some reason being here with your boyfriend and his friend of his made you at a lost of words. 

“Oppa! We should do this more often” she smiled at him nudging him on the shoulders.

“Yea I guess” he smiled back at her before turning to you, “Hyunnie ah? Is everything okay?” you simply nodded at his question. He could tell something was a bit off but he didn’t know why and seeing that you wouldn’t tell him he started to get a little worried. “Are you sure? If you feel unwell I can take you home” he suggested. “It’s okay I’m fine don’t worry about me” you could feel the other girls eyes glare at you even though you didn’t know the exact reason to that face she had made towards you.

You were eating the ice cream quietly as the two where in a conversation until something caught your attention. “Oppa can you take me home later?” she asked him and which caused you to cough almost chocking on your ice cream. “Hyun Joo! Are you okay?” he rushed over to your side before giving your back a few pats. You nodded before heading towards the counter to ask for a cup of water. Coming back immediately after you found what you had be looking for your eyes widened at what you saw in front of yourself.

“Ah Oppa~ Can you please take me home? Hmm? I don’t know the way! I’ll get lost!” she clinger over him which made you a little uncomfortable but what was worse was that he was smiling back at her actions giving her a head a little pat, “Alright alright I’ll take you home”. Jae Min noticed that you were back and got up immediately to see if you were okay. “I’m fine… I feel a little unwell I’ll just head home first” you gave him a faint smile before grabbing your stuff to head out of the store. Jae Min just blinked at your fast actions before sitting back down next to Na Ri. 

The truth was, you weren’t feeling unwell at all. You just didn’t want to be in that situation. It wasn’t like you to get jealous over small things and you were used to Jae Min talking to many girls anyway because of his out going personality, but there was something about that Na Ri girl that made you confused. Why was she still acting this way if she knew that the two of you were dating and more to the point why was Jae Min okay with all of this? 

Your thoughts were interrupted once you felt your phone vibrate.

“Hello?”

“I was just wondering if you were still at school” Jeno asked over on the other side.

“Oh… I’m at…” you looked around, for a minute almost confused where you were before noticing the school gates a few meters in front of you. “I left just now but I’m close by, are you at school?”

“Yea I’m leaving now”

“Okay~ Let’s go home together” you said before ending the call walking forward towards the gates in the process.

“Hyun Joo!” you heard a familiar voice call.

“Annyeong~” you flashed him a smile.

“You’re not with Jae Min today? I thought he promised to go somewhere with you?” You smile dropped as those words came from him.

“Oh… yea we did go… I guess… I just left early… yea” you tried giving him an answer but it only ended up like you were talking to yourself. Immediately he could sense that something was wrong. 

“Hyun Joo ah… is something wrong?”

“No” you said simply before walking straight ahead. He caught up to you grabbing you in the arm. “Yoon Hyun Joo.”

You knew that he wasn’t going to just let you off this easily since he could already sense that something was on. “It’s really nothing” you tired again this time with a smile, but obviously it didn’t work. “Did you and Jae Min have a fight again?” he looked at you worriedly. 

Sighing not knowing what to say you looked down. You guys didn’t even have a fight and he didn’t actually do anything wrong… you just… didn’t feel right and it wasn’t right for you to make this in to a big deal, not like you wanted to or anything.

“We didn’t have a fight” you looked back up to him once you found the correct words to say.

“Then? Did he do something?” he was not convinced at all. Knowing that you were quick a bright person, you would only get sad if something actually happened that had effected you by quite a bit.

“We were just hanging out after school with the new girl”

“Kwon Na Ri?” Jeno’s eyes widen. You nodded looking away again.

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened Jeno, I’m really fine don’t worry about me” you flashed him a smile trying your best for it to make real this time at least before continuing to walk on.

But it was not fine to Jeno, he knew something was wrong and he didn’t like knowing that you were hurt. You were his friend and the least he could do was to listen to you, yet for some reason you weren’t telling him this time. Maybe I’ll give her some time. He caught up with you once again, this time not asking you anymore questions but quietly walking beside you. 

For a few minutes everything was quite, no one said anything although the two of you had completely different mindsets. Your brain was full of so many questions to do with the two you were with earlier on where as Jeno’s mind was fixed to one, and that was are you really okay Hyun Joo? But obviously he had decided to keep that to himself as you seemed very reluctant to answer his questions. Just then you stopped walking and turned to face him. “Jeno can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, whats the matter?” honestly he had no idea what he was expecting to hear.

“You know the Na Ri girl?” 

“Yea?”

“Is she like very close friends with Jae Min?” your sudden question caught him off guard. He didn’t know the answer to that question either, but there was one thing he was sure of and that was that you were starting to doubt your relationship with Jae Min again.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know. I mean I see them together a lot but I don’t know wether thats because they're close friends or not” he signed not being able to help you even though he had really wanted to.

“Oh… I see…”

“Why? Is everything okay?”

“Yea.” you answer was short and painful. Well you had not exactly wanted it to found painful but Jeno knew that it was.