❀ arinsays ❀

aaa i can’t believe people are actually reading this, tysm ♡

guys, this will probably be my last update before december because i have to prepare myself for my really important exams in november. while i’m gone, do continue supporting seventeen and our precious baby hansol!! i’ll come back with (hopefully) better content, hope to see you all again very soon. ^^

also i’m so sorry for the cheesy ending. /shoots self/

Jaena allowed her backpack to fall to the tiled floor with a thud and didn’t even spare it a glance before she threw herself onto her neatly made bed. It wasn’t something her careful and organised self normally did, so it was a sign that she was in deep distress. As she was beginning to lose her breath from having planted her face on her pillow, she rolled over on her back, staring up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.

She still couldn’t believe what had happened only around an hour or so ago. To summarise things, she made the discovery that a trusted friend leaked a secret, her crush now knew that she liked him and their friendship was potentially ruined. And to make things worse? Her smart ended up lying to him about having a boyfriend, which she thought would be a good idea during the moment itself, but now she had to worry about whether she should keep up with the lie or come clean. If she wanted to keep going, who did she have to bribe so he could pretend to be her boyfriend?

Jaena certainly had a lot of guy friends, however, it didn’t mean she was particularly desirable among the male species. The reason why she got along with the boys so well—after overcoming her extreme boyphobia, that was—was because they considered her to be one of the boys and she didn’t mind it. So, she couldn’t think of anyone who liked her in any special way for her to forge an instant relationship with.

Immediately as the thought appeared, Jaena slapped her own forehead. She cursed herself for even contemplating on playing with another person’s feelings. She guessed that she had reached her breaking point, after all, she wasn’t one who was good at dealing with conflicts.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and the Kakao message that appeared on her lockscreen made her tense.

ugly chanie ♡♡♡

hey, where are u? i thought we’re walking home together?

sent three minutes ago

Cursing under her breath, Jaena quickly erased the notification. She wasn’t sure exactly whether it was Seungkwan or Chan who told Hansol, but she knew she couldn’t speak to either anytime soon or she would snap. Indeed, she was terribly angry, and also terribly hurt. She trusted them, especially Chan, the person she quietly thought of as her other half. And for a brief moment, she was angry at Hansol, too, for being so bad at keeping things to himself.

Yet when she tapped on the KakaoTalk logo and was directed immediately to her chat with Chan, she stared at the hearts in his contact name, something he did a long time ago that she never bothered to change. She began to feel bad that she left him waiting for her. As much as she lived by the saying, “Guilty until proven innocent,”, Chan was still her best friend and knowing him, he would wait for her even if the world was ending right before his eyes. Admitting defeat to the angelic voice inside her head, she typed out a reply of what she perceived as an apology and pressed ‘send’.

Right after the text was delivered, she turned her phone off, letting it drop onto her tummy. She sighed. This was going to be a long journey.

While absorbed in doing her homework that evening, EDM songs blasting from her earphones at a worryingly high volume, Jaena had her phone on flight mode to avoid texts from any one of the trio. It gave her a headache to think about tomorrow; how she was going to spend her morning with Chan without pushing him into a manhole, how she was going to sit beside Seungkwan the whole day without giving him a black eye, and most importantly, how she was going to face Hansol without having her heart shattering into pieces.

Upon seeing the door opening from the corner of her eye, Jaena paused the current song playing and gave her mother a forced smile. Her mother apparently had a sixth sense when it came to Jaena’s well-being, she couldn’t let her know that she was having boy issues.

 “Come, let’s eat.” her mother invited.

Jaena nodded. She was getting a bit hungry after all. It was a little after seven, a bit later compared to their normal dinner time. She didn’t think too much about it and left her room, following her mother closely.

 “What’s for dinner, Madam?” she asked.

 “Homemade pizza. And some chocolate for dessert.”

 “Wow, that’s all of Jisoo oppa’s favou—” Jaena literally stopped in her tracks once she stepped out of the narrow hallway and into the fused living and dining room. There was a man sat at the table for four and he didn’t have to show his face for her to run towards him in excitement.

Jaena attacked her brother with a tight backhug, Jisoo’s gentle chuckle sounding surreal to her. No wonder her mother’s grin was wider and brighter.

 “When did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me?”

 “I wanted to make it a surprise.” Jisoo smiled. As they ate their meal, they talked and laughed, making Jaena forget all the things that happened earlier.

Jisoo was older than her by five years and had always been her greatest protector. Ever since their father passed away when they were still children, he took on the role as head of the family. Despite initially not wanting to leave them, it was thanks to his mother and his sister’s persuasion and assurance that he accepted the offer into one of California’s most prestigious music schools. Now, he was living halfway across the world from them and truth be told, Jaena had really missed him.

The ‘tsundere’ and rough Hong Jaena that everybody knew was a completely different person when with her brother. There were only two boys she was soft on, one of them obviously being Jisoo. She was very affectionate towards him, unlike how she treated her friends, and naturally acted a lot more childish and as said by Kyulkyung, ‘cuter’ around him.

As for the other boy? Well, who else could it be?

Barely wanting to leave his side, Jaena tagged along with Jisoo to the grocery store as he wanted to buy all the Korean snacks he missed. Anybody who knew Jaena would be in shock to see her; the same girl who preferred to hit people instead of saying a proper ‘hello’ was the same girl holding her brother’s hand while they strolled through the snack aisle. It could be seen clearly how happy Jaena was, after all, it was the first time in six months that she was seeing him in person.

Not so far from where the two siblings were, there was a boy silently watching them from the ice cream section. Similar to Jaena but unknown to him, he was also there to accompany his older brother on an emergency mission to satisfy his sweet tooth. Unlike Jaena who willingly followed, though, he was forced to come.

 “Okay! I’m done.” Seungcheol dumped five boxes of different ice cream brands into the trolley.

Hansol flinched, a bit startled from the sudden noise, finally able to tear his eyes away from Jaena and the guy beside her. He realised that he had been gripping the trolley handle too strong, his knuckles having turned a pale white. Fortunately, Seungcheol took charge of steering the trolley without having to be asked.

 “Do you want anything, Sol?” he asked while heading towards the cashiers.

 “No, I’m good.” Hansol mumbled, not knowing whether he was heard. He returned his gaze to where he had seen Jaena. There she still was, pointing at something in the shelves as the guy with the white cap nodded. They then laughed about something together, Jaena’s head casually leaning against the guy’s chest.

 So that’s her boyfriend, Hansol mused.

There was the sound of something breaking, but Hansol knew it wasn’t something in the store. It was his heart.