lviii. Things Genuinely Misread & Generally Missed I

“He’s been out of sorts lately.”

Myungsoo twirled his straw, ice clunking against glass. Beads of sweat traveling down the surface of his drink left a ring of water on the booth table. Gray beanie pulled down over his ears, he couldn’t properly hear the response you mumbled to him. 

You repeated yourself and he smiled as he answered, “Nothing’s happened. Nothing in particular, anyway.”

He seemed to have been weighing B-bomb’s oddly irritated behavior in his mind for awhile now. Why he came to you about it, however, when you hadn’t been in Springfield whenever “nothing” happened, left you confused. Confused and silent as you popped another cut of syrupy waffle into your mouth. 

“Does it bother you at all?” Myungsoo was laughing as he continued somberly, “Or are you content with this?”

Shoving your half-chewed food into your left cheek, you managed to squeak out, “This?”

“With us.” He clarified it to himself, failing to clarify it for you at all.

You swallowed down, “You and me?” 

And for whatever reason, that had him laughing again. But laughing like he meant it this time. Like you’d answered his question whether you knew it or not, he nodded his head, “Yeah, you and me.”

“I mean,” you started slowly, almost giving yourself away, pulling back at the last second, “I can’t complain about free breakfast.”

“I never said I would pay for it.” He spoke up.

“I can’t hear you over all the glorious carbs before us.” You spat out.

Myungsoo scoffed before turning to his food again. The meaning of his ambiguous question wasn’t lost on you as he exchanged small talk with you. Most of it revolved around what had transpired since you left. The hunter and ex-hunter fraternization aside, he filled you in on the “nothing” that had happened. 

He told you about the pure, female werewolves seeking mates within Sunggyu’s pack. He divulged to you the reason for B-bomb’s behavior: a recently departed for London, impure werewolf named Miso. He even asked to drive you back home.

You declined, saying it was too out of the way. That he should be getting ready for the big party tomorrow. He did anyway, somehow coercing you into it. And under the guise of being on the brink of entering a sugar-induced comatose, you leaned your head to the left and watched him from under hooded eyes.

He caught you looking numerous times.

You would smile sheepishly on each occasion, rubbing your hands together where you tucked them between your thighs. Not saying anything. Humming every so often to the radio. Listening to him sing along every now and then.

The ever constant nervousness in the pit of your stomach fluttered furiously.

Could you be content with this?

You could certainly try.

“Is it weird?”

Minah looked up at you expectantly, eyes big, bright, and vulnerable. Inspecting her upper body she revealed before you beneath a gray hoodie, you disagreed completely. In fact, the black and pink skull print bikini top she now dawned was anything but weird.

Wrapping her in a tight hug, you cooed, “If you don’t stop being so adorable, those wolves out there will eat you alive.”

She didn’t reciprocate the action, frowning into your shoulder, “I only wore one because I thought you would.” Pushing you back, she got a good look at the black spandex that was visible through your enormous white tee, “But what’s this one-piece nonsense?”

“I don’t own a bikini,” you honestly admitted.

“I could’ve lent you one.” 

“I doubt we’re the same size.”

Minah er-punched your shoulder, jeering as she practically yelled, “Like yours are any bigger than mine!”

“Hey, Bang, Hyunjoo.” Sungjong interrupted your precious girl talk, wearing a pair of black swimming trunks with a white tribal design that stretched up either thigh. He pulled on the collar of his shirt, sweating like crazy despite his breezy clothing, coughing out a strangled, “Can I talk to you?”

Minah quickly zipped her hoodie up all the way, tossing the hood over her head. She didn’t want to talk to Sungjong — that much was clear. Yet, she still accepted your invitation to your impromptu pool party at the lakeside. It was an idea that struck you as you mused about what you hadn’t quite done in Springfield yet — swimming being the thing that came to mind. It was an idea Minah didn’t dislike, saying sweet things like “I missed you, Joe,” over and over again as she recounted the past three days you were gone like they lasted a lifetime. It was the people involved she couldn’t bring herself to like: Sungjong, in particular. It was Sungjong, in particular, who wasn't a part of her retelling.

“I wonder if the meat’s done grilling.” Minah questioned out loud to no one in particular, using food as her scapegoat. Fiddling with the tassels of her hoodie, she cleared as she pushed past both you and Sungjong, nodding your way before she disappeared through the trees.

Sungjong watched her the entire time, sighing when he heard everyone greeting her back at the lake. Running his fingers through his hair manically, he was fighting against himself. Peering over his shoulder, your tone remained the same as you questioned him, “Are you going to make something up or will you just own up to the fact that it’s not me you wanted to talk to?”

Fighting against the not easily moved rock that was Bang Minah, he himself his own hard place, he huffed, “Bang’s been avoiding me since yesterday.”

“What’d you do?”

“Why does it have to be something I did?” He took offense. 

“Well,” waving your hands in the air, gesturing largely and obviously, you continued the conversation despite the look in his eyes that asked you to do anything but, “it’s usually the person who did something wrong that comes around wanting to talk about it.”

But, he needed to talk about it. 

And if Minah wasn’t going to listen, you figured that’s where you, the best female friend, came in.

“It’s her fault, honestly.” Sungjong finally said after a brief silence, “Getting all worked up over nothing.”

He then proceeded to tell you what happened in extensive, yet somehow lacking, detail. One-sidedly, he expressed how wronged he felt when she “threw a fit” yesterday morning. After telling her you were coming back that day, and that no one had planned to greet you, she yelled at him “Then what are you still doing here?” As he’d been spending his lackluster mornings gaming with her at her house since you’d left, and even before then, he didn’t understand why she suddenly expressed distaste towards the idea. It wasn’t only that, apparently, as Minah was thoroughly pissed he hadn’t even told her when you’d be coming back so that she could go pick you up when no one else would.

“Don’t you like her, she asked me like I didn’t know. Like I was somehow unaware of my own feelings. Like I’m a child who doesn’t know up from down.” His fingers tugged and twisted into his hair again, “And before I could even attempt to defend myself against her accusations, she went as blank as a slate and said, you don’t like me, do you?”

“Do you?” You interjected, biting back a smile.

“Despite years of chasing after the same guy to no avail, I see you’ve grown accustomed to the idea that every human being of the opposite must be in love with you,” he snarled, both ignoring your question and making a face that would cause a child to cry on sight, “is what I said to her.”

Immediately after he finished, however, his conflicted expression returned.

“The point is, I wanted to apologize after it happened.” He looked over his shoulder, her small back no longer visible through the brush of the forest, “But she’s not giving me a chance to.”

You hummed just once before asking again, “Do you?” 

He frowned, “Do I what?”

“Do you like her?”

A line that grew harsher as he answered without missing a beat, “No.”

“Then grow a pair of balls and apologize instead of dancing around the topic.” You laughed, passing on the same punch Minah gave you earlier. “If she’s avoiding you, find a way to make her stop.”

“You make it sound so simple.” He enviously looked on at your smiling face.

“Trust me, it’s not.” You shook your head. “It’s hard as all hell.” Still smiling as you said, “But if you really do regret it, isn’t your relationship with her worth saving?”

“We’re not in a relationship.” Sungjong diverted his eyes, clarifying his words a bit too late, “Romantically, I mean.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

You couldn’t hold back a laugh at his ridiculous insinuation. The one he made all by himself. The one word that was stopping him from growing up — immature despite how mature he wanted to be. 

Bringing him down to your level with an arm around his shoulders, your yourself childish no matter how hard you tried to fight against fleeting impulses, you dragged him back towards the others, “Maybe the first step is for you to stop getting ahead of yourself?”

“You’re surprisingly awful at this.”

Yura let slip as she watched Sunggyu roll a semi-burnt sausage onto its side. He could only manage an ashamed hum in response, brows furrowed as he focused on his task. Yura watched him intently, their closeness not deterring her confidence in the least. 

“Loosen up.” She delivered a hard smack to his stiff shoulder, causing a beef patty to slip from his spatula. The meat lost its circular shape as it landed on its edge, bending oddly on the grating of the grill. Cringing as she felt his glare on her temple, she meekly laughed, “I’m sure it won’t taste as bad as it looks.”

He still said nothing, sighing as he went about flipping the other select pieces of meat. Chicken drumsticks here. Strips of fatty bacon there. The grill top was filled with the entire meat section of the supermarket. It was a pricey grocery run, and that made Sunggyu all the more nervous.

Dongwoo was the grilling expert. Dongwoo was currently racing laps around the lake with Hoya. But, even so, while he wouldn’t enter any cook-offs anytime soon, what Yura said was true. At least, he liked to think it didn’t taste as bad as it looked. It still smelt good, anyway. 

Another topic coming to mind, Sunggyu did something he’d never done before: start a conversation with Yura first.

“You two look good together.” 

In the past, Yura's persistence was always a nuisance. Her timing was all wrong. Her approach was self-centered and off-putting. He couldn’t even stand to have her look at him for more than a specified amount of time. When she did, her eyes would say all the words she never would. 

Protect me. Be with me. Protect me. Love me. Protect me.

With everything on his plate, with all the new pieces of meat that were being added to his grill with each passing day, the unnecessary pressure aggravated him to no ends. 

Anything but fragile and weak in front of the person he was referring to, she smiled widely, “Don’t we?”

Yura glanced back at the two boys that had planted themselves at Minah’s side, protecting her from the wolves that threatened her on all sides — and she hadn’t even taken her hoodie off yet. One of whom was tugging at Minah’s sleeves, attempting to convince her to show some skin.The other letting his eyes wonder for a moment, Yura’s own what he ended up finding.

“Look, look,” Yura consecutively slapped Sunggyu’s arm, “he’s looking at me.”

Too amused by her excitement to be upset with the second patty she’d caused him to effectively squish, he followed her gaze. Niel turned away immediately, embarrassed to find both Sunggyu and Yura looking back at him. Sunggyu stifled a laugh, “Good for you.”

And he meant it.

He was happy for her.

Niel was a hundred times more of a genuine match for her, generally more human across the board, than he.

And Yura could feel his sincerity. 

For the first time, she caught sight of Sunggyu’s genuine smile. A smile not because he’d found her, but because she’d found someone else. A much less lonely prospect than she ever thought it could be, she — flying high on love — stealthily leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek. Thus a third patty went crashing downwards.

Lopsided and deformed. 

It’d gone through a lot, but it’d surely come out tasting just fine.

“Thanks, Sunggyu.”

Yura smiled just for him, one last time, before prancing off, giving a stammering Niel a close-up of her swimsuit as she plopped down onto the grass right next to him. And Niel didn’t have to do a single thing to gain her attention. He simply got it, just like that.

With just a bit of annoying — yet charming — persistence. 

A/N: I wasn't going to post this up until I finished the second half of the pool party, but I thought why not? Why not when it's already stopped at a nice place? Nice and short. Which is something I've been striving for lately: being both concise and effective. Me aside, special thanks to Lynnda for the chapter poster! I've never had someone make one for me before. It's equivalant to the feeling of finding that extra ice cream bar at the back of the freezer. AKA, freakin' fantastic.

If only sweet summer bliss lated longer, ey?

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