It was close to eleven in the night when the boys were done playing. Hyejin had left earlier as she had a bus home to catch, and she declined all four guys when they offered her a lift back home. She had insisted that it was fast and convenient for her to take a bus home and that the boys shouldn't trouble themselves. 

That was typical Hwang Hyejin, Jongdae had realized by then. 

And when Hyejin left, Jongdae had stopped getting mad at every single thing Baekhyun said, and stopped snapping at Chanyeol for not playing properly, and stopped totally ignoring Kyungsoo when he tried to talk. 

"You were a jerk," Chanyeol moped. The four boys were seated on the ground together after their game, and each, except Kyungsoo, held a bottle of icy isotonic drink which they savoured. 

Jongdae swallowed the drink in his mouth before biting his lip. "I know I was. Sorry." He was aware his mood swings were strangely extreme that day — in the afternoon he had felt so bubbly and happy, but in the night all the effervescence had disappeared off of him and he had become an angry soda drink exploding and losing his gas at every opportunity. 

Now he felt normal, or so he hoped. And he felt a little bad. 

"Never mind," Baekhyun grinned and lay his sweaty head on Jongdae's shoulder. Jongdae didn't push it off like he would have normally. (It reminded him of lunchtime again, and Jongdae was sure there was a smile creeping up his face when he thought about that) 

"You had a reason, anyway," Kyungsoo said in his mock-serious voice (Jongdae could always tell) and nodded his head, which caused Chanyeol to burst into spontaneous laughter for the umpteenth time. 

Baekhyun got up from Jongdae's shoulder and sprawled his legs outward, leaning back and using his hands for support. "So who's Hyejin?" He asked, smirking. 

"My trainee," Jongdae replied plainly. He honestly knew where this conversation was going, and he knew the three of them would press on and squeeze every last bit of information out of him. But, honestly, it was okay with Jongdae — they were his best friends after all. 

"Your trainee," Baekhyun repeated, the smirk growing bigger. 

"So... How are you related to her?" Kyungsoo asked teasingly. 

Jongdae narrowed his eyes at the three of them. "Okay, don't think I'm stupid — I obviously know what you're trying to do." 

"What are we trying to do?" Baekhyun asked innocently, and Jongdae hit his thigh. 

"Don't pretend, you idiot. So... What even makes you think I, you know, like her?" 

"So you do like her," Chanyeol grinned breezily. 

"Stop it! Just tell me first," Jongdae insisted. 

"Well..." Kyungsoo started, looking at Baekhyun and Chanyeol for support. "Back when we were in the office and I said Hyejin was pretty..." 

"Did you know? You actually glared at Kyungsoo like he had committed a huge sin," Baekhyun completed the sentence. 

"And then when I invited Hyejin to come somewhere, you barged into our conversation and asked where I would be taking her," Chanyeol said. 

Jongdae's face was beginning to burn up. Oops. He looked down at his shoe and began to finger his laces, embarrassed. 

"When Hyejin agreed to come with us you immediately said you were going to tag along too," Baekhyun said. 

"While you were getting ready and tying up your laces, you stared at Baekhyun while he was dancing with Hyejin and you got the shock of your life when he suddenly linked arms with her," Kyungsoo said. 

"You even tried to stop me," Baekhyun laughed. 

"And..." Kyungsoo stretched the word for effect. Jongdae looked up. What? There was more? 

"When Hyejin asked Baekhyun was the type of flower-boy basketballer back in school, you cut in and said that you were one — and even changed facts!" Chanyeol said, giving Jongdae a overly exaggerated shocked face. 

Jongdae looked down again, more embarrassed than ever. 

"Okay, to be honest, when we knew Hyejin was coming and we noticed the first piece of evidence of your liking towards her, we did everything on purpose," Baekhyun confessed. 

"Excuse me, it was only you," Kyungsoo said. "Chanyeol and I were just waiting to watch a good show put up by Kim Jongdae." 

"What do you mean 'everything on purpose'?" Jongdae asked. 

"Like grabbing on tighter when you said to stop linking arms with Hyejin, teaming up with her although I knew you were about to ask, and everything else," Baekhyun grinned. "It was just to see your reaction." 

"And if you still hadn't realised, I was laughing at random points in time because I saw you getting grumpy and showing so many signs," Chanyeol said.

"So," Kyungsoo leaned forward. "Is this not enough evidence for you, Mr. Kim Jongdae?" 

"Shut up!" Jongdae laughed, still embarrassed, suppressing Kyungsoo onto the ground, but the latter was definitely stronger so he had managed to bounce back upwards to look at Jongdae. 

"Would you not like to admit that—" 

"Okay, fine, I like her," Jongdae suddenly confessed, smiling at the ground. "I really do." 

The boys were quiet for a while, seeming a little shocked, and then Chanyeol and Baekhyun both swooned as if they were teenage girls watching a romance drama, and Jongdae rolled his eyes, laughing as he let go of Kyungsoo. 

"Well, that answer was easier to get than I had expected," Kyungsoo beamed. 

"Kim Jongdae, I better not see you hiding your feelings for her," Baekhyun warned, pointing a finger at Jongdae. "That makes for a coward." 

"So what do you want me to do? Call her over now and confess to her? Or say that I like her in front of everyone else in the office?" Jongdae joked. "That would be ridiculous, Byun." 

"No, not like that! As in, make her know you like her. Secretly treat her better than the other trainees — okay, that sounds mean but whatever. Be more proactive, and be a man. Don't pretend you don't like her. If you don't show your feelings how do you expect her to fall for you back quickly?" Baekhyun said. 

"Someone please tell me if I should listen to Byun's advice for once," Jongdae said jokingly. 

"No," Chanyeol said. "Never listen to anything the idiot tells you. But this time he actually makes sense, so I guess yes." 

"See!" Baekhyun exclaimed indignantly. 

Jongdae considered it for a while, thinking about Hyejin, and couldn't help but worry a little about her depressing blog posts again. "And how would you help someone with low self-esteem?" 

The boys were quiet, then Chanyeol smiled at Jongdae. "Just be there for them, just like how you guys were there for me when our classmates teased me about my ears and my weight in the past. Stay by their side, like you did for me last time." 

_________________________________________________

Jongdae watched as Hyejin slurped her noodles. For lunch the next day, they had just decided to go simple and get instant ramyeon at a convenience store nearby. (No more eating in the office with packed food — sitting at his desk and doing work, Jongdae had already been distracted the whole morning by the thought of Hyejin sleeping on his shoulder the day before. Lunch with Hyejin at his desk would make it even worse.) 

"Is it good?" Jongdae smiled, and Hyejin chewed her noodles and nodded. 

"Ramyeon's still one of the best comfort food," she said, mouth full of food. 

"Comfort food?" Jongdae asked, and once again a pinch of worry was felt by him. He made a quick mental note to check her blog for any new posts. "Wait, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing," Hyejin said, shaking her head as she continued to eat. "Don't worry." 

"People are the best comfort, you know," he tilted his head slightly to one side. "You can always confide in me or anyone else who takes up a lot of space in your heart — although it's mostly me, I know." 

Hyejin chortled, almost choking on her noodles, and Jongdae, shocked, handed her his can of soda. She glanced at the can of soda, then at Jongdae. And then she broke into a soft laugh. 

"You really like to flatter yourself," Hyejin shook her head. "And if you hadn't already realised, if I really drink from your soda can, you'll have to clean away the lip gloss on it when you want to drink from it again." 

"It's yours, it doesn't matter." 

Hyejin raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "What?" 

It was then that Jongdae had realised what had just escaped from his lips, and he felt his palms getting sweaty. "I didn't say anything."

If there was only one thing he was hopeless at, it was trying to make his feelings show — after all, this was his first time feeling such an affection towards a girl. And he had no idea how in the world he was to go about doing it.  

Jongdae took a big gulp of his soup to hide his embarrassment. Then he took a quick glance at Hyejin, and almost spat out his soup when his eyes met with hers, which were staring intently at him, as if trying to figure out what was wrong. 

"You're different today, Chen..." Hyejin mused, still staring. "But I can't figure out why and how." 

Jongdae blinked. 

Hyejin continued to stare. 

Then she broke into a grin and clapped once. "I got it!" Hyejin exclaimed. "You haven't trolled me today! And your strange jokes are gone!" 

"S-So do you like it better when I troll you and joke with you? Or..." 

Hyejin beamed. "When you're your normal self — Troll Chen." 

"Really?" Jongdae's lips curled into a smile. "That's kinda nice to hear, for some reason." 

Hyejin nodded as she started eating her noodles again. "It's the truth." 

"Since we're on the topic, can I ask you another question?" Jongdae asked. He wanted to try to see if Hyejin was comfortable sharing about her feelings and insecurities, and Jongdae would plan how to make Hyejin feel better from there. 

"Sure, go ahead." 

"Do you like the other trainees?" Jongdae asked carefully. 

Hyejin looked up, chortling. "What sort of a question is that? Yeah, of course I do." 

"But... Are there times where you feel... Well, like... I guess, a little annoyed with them or anything?" 

 Hyejin thought for a while. "I can tell you anything and trust you won't tell anyone else, right?" 

Jongdae nodded earnestly. Was Hyejin really just going to tell how she felt to him? He had mixed feelings — of course he was elated Hyejin would share, but at the same time he was slightly nervous: what if he didn't know how to comfort her properly? What if anything he said just made her feel worse? 

Hyejin inhaled deeply. Jongdae held his own breath. 

A motorbike whizzed past and broke the silence. 

Then Hyejin burst into laughter, and Jongdae was confused. Wait, wasn't she going to tell him? 

"Okay, sorry, I just can't do it," Hyejin shook her palm in front of her tinted pink face. Jongdae stared at her curiously as she continued. "I wanted to troll you and tell you that I hated all of your guts but the moment I tried to say it I started to laugh." 

"You were coveting my Troll King title again?" Jongdae teased. "You're mean! And I told you it isn't easy." 

Hyejin pouted indignantly. "Well, at least I tried!" 

He pretended to think for a while. "You can't be the Troll King but... You can be the Troll Queen, if you want." 

"I'll take that offer," she grinned. "Troll King and Troll Queen. I like it. Then what are Taehwan, Chaeyoung and Jinkyung? And your friends? Are they trolls too?" 

"Don't drag them into the picture. It'll just be for the two of us," Jongdae said, shoving down his slight discontent at the mention of other names. 

"Alright then," Hyejin said, raising up her ramyeon bowl. "To the new Majesties of the Trolls!" 

"You're so childish," Jongdae laughed, but he raised his up as well. "Cheers to the Troll King and Queen!" 

They both drank their soup after their mini toast, and their eyes met for a short while. Both smiled as if they were sharing a joke. 

"I'm still going to call you Chen, though." 

"Ditto. I'm still going to call you Jasmine." 

___________________________________________

The carefree lunch was followed, sadly, by a stressful afternoon. Jongdae had his head buried in mounds of work, and the seniors weren't making it better. In fact, they just made everything worse. He had approached them after lunch to ask about the workload, but the seniors, for some reason, seemed to have a newfound dislike towards Jongdae, which, actually, he noticed had been going on from before that day. 

Jongdae had gone up to the seniors' main office to ask about the workload, but when he greeted them in his usual cheerful way, it was returned by a icy silence. Then, one stood up, followed by a few more, and the group approached Jongdae stealthily, with no obvious emotion on their face. 

He took two steps back. 

"W-What's the matter?" He stuttered, initial confidence lost, when he noticed one senior rolling her eyes subtly after Jongdae had asked the group of them about the sudden increase of workload. No matter how confident a person Jongdae was, he still had his small fears. Looks of scorn were one of them that made him a little scared inside. 

"You really don't know? Or are you just pretending?" She narrowed her eyes at Jongdae. "Don't think just because you are who you are, you can have the easy way out, climbing up the positions and ranks like nobody's business, and have everyone, even your seniors, being polite to you." 

Jongdae bit his lip and looked down, hiding a file behind his back. "Sorry if this sounds rude, but I really don't understand what you're talking about." He knew his own voice had turned small, but it was hard to be confident at that point of time. 

"CEO Kim. And you." The senior raised her eyebrows. 

"Sorry?" 

She scoffed. "Never mind. Drive your imported sports car back home where you can lounge comfortably while money earned by the work of us rolls in and your father gives you the position of the manager or something." 

"Huh?" 

"I guess you proved us right by coming here to ask about reducing your workload. You aren't capable enough for your position at all." The senior strutted away, and the group followed suit, and Jongdae bowed his head respectfully, though he was still extremely puzzled, and a little hurt. 

He sighed as he went back to his team's office. 

Jongdae had no idea what that senior was talking about, especially the things about his father and CEO Kim, but one thing for sure was that he hadn't gone up to the main office to ask for a reduction of workload, but rather just to try and clarify the reason the workload was so crazy these days. 

The thing that puzzled and hurt him most was that he had actually known that senior since he was still a trainee, and she was friendly with him all right up until recently — the same with many other seniors in the office. He had no idea what was going on, and what he had done wrong to make them dislike him so much. 

It was four-something in the afternoon, and Jongdae was absolutely beat. This was one of the times where he missed school — lessons would be over by now, and even if they were still going on he would just be bored and staring out of the window... Not exhausted. School work was a lot easier than what was in front of him then. 

"I miss Gyeonggi-do..." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

Lying facedown on the table, he tossed his pen to the side of his table and decided to just focus on the sounds of the office for a while. He listened to the quiet murmur of the air-conditioner, the quick rap of fingers on computer keyboards, and an almost inaudible voice. 

Changing his position of his head on his table so he could see, he stared straight at the group of interns, and at Jinkyung especially, who was waving a sheet of paper at Hyejin. Hyejin flipped through a stack of her own on her table, and Jinkyung shook her head, frustrated, and there came the almost inaudible voice again from her again. 

Honestly, Jongdae wished Jinkyung would stop looking at Hyejin like that — like she couldn't do anything right, and that she was a burden. No wonder Hyejin felt that way about herself. 

Jongdae watched as Hyejin looked downwards at the floor. Her hands jerked away from her table, and lowered slowly downwards, before resting on her lap in deject. He saw Hyejin's body rise subtly and fall back down, and he knew Hyejin had just sighed. 

From where he sat, he could never see Hyejin's expressions, but he could almost always tell what she was feeling — her body gave away too much. 

Unconsciously, Jongdae had already gotten up from his lying-down position, hands clutched together as if he was praying, but he wasn't. His eyebrows furrowed and he himself suppressed a heavy sigh. It to see Hyejin so dejected. 

At that point of time, the only thing Jongdae wished for was to drag Hyejin away from the office and pull her into his arms somewhere, telling her that everything was alright and her hair to comfort her. 

Jongdae picked up his pen and tried to pick up where he had left off on the document. For now, he guessed, that would just be a far-away fantasy. 

[a/n: aw jongdae + i finish my last exam of the year tomorrow YEET]