“Jonghyun might know that we know what he did if we stay here.”

“Know what? What did he do?”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

“What is it? Just tell me!” Aeri tugged her arm out of Minho’s grip as soon as they exited the gym. He hissed at her to be quiet making sure Jonghyun and Jieun weren’t coming out anytime soon.

He walked a little further into the empty hollow hallway. Being at the end of the campus, there were no lockers. Only boards filled with stuff relating to the school’s sports department decorated the walls.

“I just saw Jonghyun kissing that girl. Jieun?” Minho finally said turning around to face Aeri.

parted as she walked towards him. “What?”

“Kissing. They were kissing.” He repeated.

“Well…” Aeri gulped. “Who kissed who?”

“I don’t know. They were just there with their lips stuck together.” He sighed. “If you hadn’t distracted me, I would have seen what happened! But no, you had to be all annoying and .”

“So this is my fault now?!” Aeri snapped, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Because you were—Jieun!”

“Because I was Jieun?” Aeri scrunched her brows together but Minho paid no attention. He was concentrated on the very same girl they were talking about that was now making her way in their direction. She hadn’t seen them yet, her gaze on the floor.

“She’s coming!” Aeri whisper-shouted once she turned and realised it. She then moved to her left, hiding behind the wall next to the gym door and pulled Minho along.

There wasn’t enough time for them to run down the long hallway without being spotted and there was no place to hide either.

“Just act normal,” Minho said.

“No, I can’t!” Aeri whispered to Minho. “She knows me. She’ll know something is up.”

Minho looked back at Aeri questioningly not fully understanding what she meant by that. “There’s no time to explain. Think of something!” Aeri panicked.

A light bulb seemed to have lit up in Minho’s head as he thought of something. “Kiss me.”

“E-Excuse me?”

He wasted to time and pulled her face close, crashing their lips together. Naturally, Aeri’s arms went around his neck as she relished the feeling. He didn’t hold back himself, pulling her closer by the waist to get more depth.

They almost forgot what led them to the kiss. Until the sound of someone clearing their throat brought them back to reality. They stared at each other for a moment after pulling away.

“This is unexpected,” Jieun said.

She was ignored for a while as both Minho and Aeri took time to catch their breaths. “Hello?” She said quite annoyed.

“Huh?” Minho finally tore his eyes off Aeri and noticed her standing there. “Oh. Hello.”

Jieun looked at him unbelievably. “No that wasn’t a greeting kind of hello. I was—ugh nevermind. Go back to eating each other’s faces off….” Her words trailed off as she turned away from them and walked down the hallway.

Aeri’s gaze hadn’t shifted from Minho since. Her breaths were in short pants and she was trying to take in what had just happened. Once Jieun disappeared around the corner, Minho turned back to Aeri, meeting her eyes.

“That was…it worked,” He chuckled awkwardly and gulped.

Aeri simply nodded while still staring at him. It took them a while before they both started fidgeting and Minho excused himself. “I’m…gonna go now. Gym,” He said pointing to the entrance of the gym while taking small steps.

Aeri nodded and smiled. “Yeah sure. I-I’m going too.”

“Bye.” They both said at the same time and chuckled before parting.

__________

“I have bad news!” Aeri cried as she took a seat next to Luna in class startling her.

“What? What? Geez you scared me,” Luna sighed placing a hand over her chest. She raised an eyebrow looking at Aeri. “Your whole face is red. Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Aeri cupped her face and controlled her breathing. She slowly drifted away into her thoughts. Luna tilted her head to the side and watched her expression change and her face grow redder by the second. “Minho kissed me,” She whispered.

“That’s great!” Luna clapped her hands excitedly.

It brought Aeri back to reality. “What’s great?”

“You just said Minho kissed you,” Luna said slowly. “That’s great…right? I mean you do like him, don’t you?”

“No I don’t!” Aeri cried. “What gave you that idea?”

“It’s so obvious.” Luna shrugged and turned back to the paper in front of her but then paused and looked at Aeri again. “How is that bad news?”

“It’s not—“

“Aha! So you do like Minho,” Luna folded her arms and turned in her seat to fully face Aeri.

“Do you want to hear the bad news or not?” Aeri groaned. “It’s about Jonghyun.”

“Does it involve Jinhee?” Luna asked curiously, the smile on her face disappeared at the seriousness of Aeri’s tone.

“Sort of,” Aeri nodded. She looked around the empty classroom making sure the two other students in the room weren’t paying attention to them.  “Minho and I were at the gym. And…he sort of saw Jonghyun and Jieun kissing.”

“Wait I think I heard you wrong. Did you say, kissing?”

“Yes. Kissing.”

They went silent.

“Are you sure?” Luna asked quietly. “What if Minho was lying? He does want to replace Jonghyun in Jinhee’s heart…”

“No!” Aeri said. “I was there!”

“Did you see it for yourself?” She asked again and her point was proved when Aeri shook her head no.

Aeri sighed and raised her palm in mid-air. “I swear he was not lying,” She said. “I know him.”

Luna thought over what Aeri had just told her. It can’t be true, can it? Why would Jonghyun do that? She asked herself.

 “We can’t tell her,” Aeri said quietly; almost whispering.

“But then…what are we supposed to do?” Luna whined.

“We act normal.”

“Right,” Luna said. “Of course. Because it’s totally normal for my best friend’s boyfriend to kiss another girl who just happens to be the same girl who always seems like she’s trying to break the two up!” She whisper-shouted.

 “Let’s just tell Key,” Aeri took out her phone and dialled his number. “He’ll know what to do.”

__________

“Would you stop with that stupid grin on your face? “ Taemin asked, throwing a towel in her direction.

Jinhee turned to Taemin and feigned ignorance. “What grin?”

“That one!” Jinhee giggled and pursed her lips together to try and suppress her laughter. She was far too excited thinking about all the plans they made to spend summer together. She was especially excited to be spending it with Jonghyun.

“I can’t help it Taemin, I’m too excited!” She squealed.

“You mean you’re too in love,” He corrected her. She smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Excited for some summer romance?”

It was already Thursday; two days since Taemin found out about Jonghyun’s little secret from Luna. He hated the fact that Jinhee was in the dark about all this and he hated it even more watching her fall for Jonghyun even more each day.

Part of him wanted to tell her about it. He had to, she’s his best friend. But another part of him didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. He wanted Jonghyun to do it, and explain himself.

“Taemin?” Jinhee looked at him curiously. “Are you okay? Did you hear what I said?”

 He smiled at her and apologised. “Uh, I’m just tired. Sorry. What were you saying?”

“Nothing,” She sighed. “Just that I feel school kind of ruined our summer. Even if it was just for a few weeks.”

“That’s true,” Taemin agreed and opened the door for her. “I mean we were already having so much fun in Hawaii and when we got back suddenly it felt like summer was over with all the practicing and dance classes.”

Jinhee chuckled and nodded her head in response. “But that’s okay!” She skipped along happily. “Next week we’re free! And that’s why I’m so excited. I want to enjoy my summer with you guys! And Jonghyun.”

Taemin’s smile disappeared at the mention of his name. He couldn’t help it. He watched Jinhee go on and on about summer and was quite relieved when he saw Luna and Onew standing by the school gates waiting for them.

But once again, his expression changed when Jinhee ran off in the other direction towards the carpark area. “I’m going over to Jonghyun’s. See you guys tomorrow!” She smiled and waved to the three of them before running off to a familiar black car.

“She’s going to be so heartbroken if she finds out,” Onew said. His voice was deep and stern.

Taemin dragged a hand over his face. “I still feel like we should tell her. We’re her best friends!” He said to them.

Luna his cheek and nodded with a worried look on her face. “I know, I feel that way too.” She sighed and hooked her arm with his. “But Key thinks we shouldn’t. Not just yet.”

“That’s because they’re not as close to her as the two of you are.” Onew said. “You guys do realise that if she finds out that we knew about this too, she may not even want to talk to us anymore? I’m all for coming clean with Jinhee.”

“Key says he’s getting to the bottom of this though,” Luna said.

“But what if she finds out?” Taemin shook his head in exasperation.

“I don’t know but, let’s just try to think positive okay?” Luna cupped Taemin’s face and made him face her. “Maybe Jonghyun has a really good explanation for all this.”

“He better,” Onew muttered.

Taemin smiled and placed his hands over Luna’s before giving her a kiss.

“Bye, I’m leaving.” Onew groaned.

__________

Jonghyun smiled at Jinhee sitting beside him. They placed the sushi they had bought earlier on to the coffee table in front of them while the television was showing a rerun of a variety show from last night.

“Shushi, my favourite!” Jonghyun said. He opened his mouth wide as Jinhee fed him a piece and he returned the gesture by feeding her as well.

“I really can’t wait for next week,” Jinhee said with still full. They chuckled when she placed a hand over to stop the sushi from flying out. “I’m especially looking forward to our dates.” She hugged his arm and smiled up at him.

“Me too,” He pinched her nose playfully. “I’ve even planned a surprise date for us.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” He pecked her lips and his arm went over her shoulder. “Anything for you.” He said.

He stared at her lips for a moment, already smiling looking at the strawberry lipgloss she had on which he loved. He leaned in to kiss her and ended up hovering over her on the couch. Suddenly, his mind raced with thoughts of what happened with Jieun.

Jinhee still doesn’t know. She doesn’t know. He thought to himself.

His hands started to roam around her body and he found himself asking the same questions again. Does she trust him? Was Jieun right about Jinhee?

“You okay?” Jinhee suddenly asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He looked at her and moved in to kiss her once again. Slipping his hands under her clothes, she writhed around a bit before getting comfortable herself.

But his hand started to move lower, and lower. And she fidgeted underneath him, still kissing. It wasn’t until he slipped past the hem of her underwear did she finally pull away and stopped him. “What are you doing?”

He stared into her eyes and observed her face. “I’m being romantic,” He smiled. She hesitated and watched him suspiciously before breaking out into a chuckle herself.

“Well there’s other ways to be romantic.” She giggled and pushed him off her.

He tried his best to keep smiling and watched while she scooted nearer to the coffee table and picked up the sushi with her eyes glued to the television. He knew he was reading too much into it. But he was starting to believe what he didn’t want to.

He acted normally when she turned and snuggled up to him. His kissed her hair and held on to her, not wanting to let the thoughts take over his mind.

__________

Everyone met up at the school cafeteria the next day, as they had planned. It was their last practice day in school and so far only Key, Minho, Onew and Aeri were present.

“Jonghyun’s not telling me anything,” Key sipped his latte and the foam off his lips.

Minho shook his head and sighed. “Maybe it’s cause he’s guilty of it?”

“Yeah, we all know that thanks mr. obvious,” Aeri rolled her eyes earning a glare from Minho. “We just need to know why he kissed her. Maybe he was drunk? Or hypnotised?”

“By what, her orange hair?” Onew chuckled.

“I don’t know, something!” Aeri cried. “Jonghyun wouldn’t do that deliberately. Would he?”

Minho shrugged and tried to hide the smug smile forming on his face. “Hate to say I told you so but—“

“Then don’t.” Key placed a finger over Minho’s lips to stop him from continuing.

Minho shoved his hand aside. “I just meant that I knew this was going to happen. He’s a player. Didn’t I tell you this would happen? Do you remember Aeri?”

“Oh shut up!” Aeri snapped. “This is not about you! This is about Jinhee and Jonghyun.”

“Shh, she’s coming.” Onew whispered as they turned their attention to the three people walking towards them. Aeri and Minho continued to stare each other down before Aeri rolled her eyes and huffed.

“Is everything okay?” Taemin asked, noticing the awkward atmosphere at the table.

“Yeah just waiting for you guys,” Onew smiled, pulling a chair out for Taemin who took a seat next to him.

Luna looked around the table and turned to Jinhee. “Where’s Jonghyun?” Everyone else turned to her as well but she was too engrossed in her phone to notice.

“I don’t know,” She shook her head. “I’m texting him but he hasn’t been replying my texts since morning.”

No one said a word. Their minds were only filled with the constant reminder to not expose Jonghyun’s secret.

“Should I go look for him?” She asked casually.

“I’ll come with,” Key said with a smile. As she turned and walked off, Key glanced at the others who only gave him awkward smiles.

He flipped his fringe to one side and caught up with Jinhee walking next to her. “Has Jonghyun been acting strange recently?”

“Strange?” She looked at Key, observing his face for a while before shaking her head in response. “Not really, no. Just rather quiet lately.”

“Quiet huh?” Key nodded. “Same here. He doesn’t open up to me as much as before. I’m getting worried.”

“Worried?”

Key smiled and shrugged it off not wanting to create suspicion or unintentionally spill the secret. He didn’t want her to know just yet. Not until he knew exactly what was going on.

He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and he can’t seem to shake it off. Turning towards Jinhee who was once again checking her phone, he mentally sighed and hoped that this time, just once, his premonition was wrong.

__________

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Jonghyun panted and pushed Jieun off him. She clicked her tongue and picked herself up from the floor. He paced back and forth in the classroom and muttered to himself.

“I thought you said she doesn’t trust you,” Jieun said, annoyed.

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean I should go around kissing other girls, especially you!” He snapped. He knew it was wrong but he did it anyway. He made out with Jieun. It was as if someone else had taken control of his body and went against his conscience.

Slowly, she walked up to him and placed her hands on his chest. “Calm down,” She whispered.

“I can’t,” He shook his head. “I have to go, Jinhee’s waiting for me.”

“Stop saying her name!” Jieun yelled. “She doesn’t love you as much as I do.”

He paused and stared at her while his breaths came out in pants. “What?”

“That’s right,” She folded her arms and breathed out a sigh. “I love you. I’d even let you have me right here, right now just to prove that I do. Because unlike her, I actually trust you.”

Jonghyun looked to the ground. He knew Jinhee loved him and he trusts that she trusts him. So why was he even standing there, listening to Jieun when he should be with Jinhee by now?

“You know I’m right,” She said. “That’s why you’re still here.”

She closed the gap between them and pushed Jonghyun towards the teacher’s desk in front. He leaned against it as she climbed on top of him and straddled him while kissing.

Jonghyun’s eyes almost fell out of its socket when he heard the door click open. He gasped.

“Whoops, sorry.” One of their classmates took one step in but then backed out when he saw them together. “Wait a minute, you two…Jonghyun, are you seriously—“

“Get out, Saeryun!”

He glanced at Jonghyun who avoided his eyes before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

Jieun smiled and placed a finger under Jonghyun’s chin making him face her. “This is my chance to prove to you that I love you,” He watched as her hands slowly ed her dress shirt to reveal her white bra underneath.

__________

“He should be in this room,” Jinhee nodded towards the first music room on their left. Key simply followed behind, still trying to shake off the bad feeling he was having.

“Jonghyun,” Jinhee called out as she opened the door and pushed it open. “Jonghyun?”

“He’s not here,” A guy standing at the back of the class said. He was placing some papers into a drawer and had his back facing Jinhee but turned over his shoulder to look at her.

Key scrunched his brows together. “Do you know where he is?”

The guy started to walk towards them with papers still in hand. He seemed to have glanced a little bit longer at Jinhee before looking at Key. “He’s nextdoor.”

“Oh, okay!” Jinhee smiled happily. “Thanks!”

“Wait,” He called out again making Jinhee stop in her tracks. “Maybe now’s not a good time. He’s busy. You should come back later.”

Saeryun maintained eye contact with Key as if exchanging secret codes through their mind. Key seemed to have gotten whatever he was trying to get across. Even Jinhee, felt there was something strange in the way he said it. It made her want to find him even more.

“It’s okay I don’t think he’ll mind if I pop in,” Jinhee said. “Thanks again.”

This time, she didn’t stop in her tracks. Saeryun shrugged at Key who immediately went to Jinhee’s side. Without hesitation, Jinhee turned the doorknob in her hand and slowly pushed the door open.

“Saeryun, didn’t I tell you to—“

“Jonghyun…”

The air was still. And no one moved a muscle. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Uh oh...don't kill me for doing this to them guys lol. 
School has started for me btw ): I hate it. Sigh anyway I don't know if this chapter went by a little to fast? Hm.

Thanks for all the comments <33 And Taemin "got married" oh man D: