Chapter 23 - Cheat

The following hour had been uncomfortable for me as I had tried not to look at Yuna and Daehyun interacting. I had failed miserably however. I caught myself glancing over them almost every minute. Sometimes Daehyun would look at me, in which we made eye contact, and at those moments we would exchange certain looks that I couldn’t examine on, particularly, his part. Even my conversation with Jea, Chaerin and Yongguk couldn’t help my wandering eyes, though it did distract me a little. It was the first time I actually engaged a conversation with Yongguk and it made me realize why Chaerin was so fond of him. He seemed very friendly and above all he seemed to possess this serene aura. It made it quite easy to relax around him. Also the way he was looking at Chaerin in adoration as she spoke was heartwarming. He had this certain look in his eye as if he was proud of her. It made me both a shipper as it made me envious.

‘’Alright, shall we eat cake? And maybe do a videogame tournament or another game or something?’’ Jongup loudly questioned with a bright smile. All the attention had averted to him and some guys already poked each other in the ribs in excitement, exclaiming things along the lines of I’ll beat your while most of the girls in here - which were a very few - had reluctant expressions on their faces. That included me, as I in videogames.

‘’Cake sounds great! … and videogames too of course,’’ Daehyun spoke as he stood up from the couch and made his way over to Jongup, who was standing only two meters away from me. Daehyun’s remark caused the people to laugh since his passion for cake became very apparent. Yuna stood up only seconds after Daehyun and she followed after him. She stood still when the both of them stood by Jongup’s side.

‘’Shall I help you with serving the cake Jongup?’’ She offered in a sweet voice as she smiled.

‘’That would be great Yuna! The cake is already cut so if you want to help me with passing it around to everyone?’’ Jongup smiled as the both of them made their way towards, what I assumed was, the kitchen. Daehyun seemed reluctant in following them and in the end he decided against it since he ended up standing beside my seat.

‘’Hi Aerin.’’

My heart skipped a weird beat as my name smoothly rolled of his tongue and I started to feel a little hot all of a sudden. I wondered if Daehyun could perhaps see that those two simple words had an effect on me, but I figured he couldn’t. Especially as I responded to him the way I did.

‘’Hi Daehyun,’’ I responded in a flat voice as I didn’t bother to look up to him. I tried to focus on the conversation between Jea and Chaerin, but I had no idea what they were talking about so in the end I must have looked pretty stupid. Especially since Jea and Chaerin were engrossed in each other and not in me. I was actually left out.

‘’So… are you having a good time?’’ Daehyun asked as he took a seat on a random chair that was abandoned. The guy who used to sit there had made his way over to the floor in front of the television screen to play videogames a couple of minutes ago.

‘’I am,’’ I replied curtly as I turned to finally look at him. I was somewhat a little pissed at him and that reflected in the way I was speaking to him. Honestly I felt conflicted. I felt hot yet cold. My behavior couldn’t be explained, but somehow I was pissed at the way he had interacted with Yuna and that’s when I realized that I was really, seriously, jealous of Yuna. Which was quite unreasonable.

‘’Did Jongup like his present?’’ I asked at some point in order to bring up something since it had been quiet on Daehyun’s part. It had been quiet for a quite long time and Daehyun wasn’t usually quiet. It made me uncomfortable.  I tried to sound a bit more normal as I realized that me acting cold towards Daehyun was actually absurd and moreover, made me seem y.

‘’I haven’t given it him yet, but he’ll definitely like it. Or else I’ll stab him with a kunai.’’ His face feigned an intimidating expression and that together with the statement he had made, made me laugh even though I didn’t want to. His expression had been adorable and ridiculous at the same time and I guess that my laugh was somehow contagious as he started to laugh too.

‘’Dae, here,’’ a familiar voice interrupted our laughing moment. It was Yuna and I could have sworn that I saw her brows furrow for a moment. The way the nickname for Daehyun had rolled so naturally off her tongue made me feel weird but I soon shook that feeling off as I watched Yuna handing him a plate with a big piece of cake. A very big piece.

‘’I got you a big piece,’’ she sang as she looked at him with a look of endearment. I shifted my gaze between the two of them not sure what to think about their moment, or rather Yuna’s sweet gesture, as her eyes looked as if she was pleading for some sort of acknowledgement from him.

‘’I can see that,’’ he replied dryly, almost cold. Yuna blinked a couple of times before she seemed to realize that her other hand was holding onto another plate with cake that she was supposed to give to someone. The plate had a seemingly smaller piece than Daehyun’s.

‘’You want a piece too, Aerin?’’ Yuna asked now averting her attention to me.

I answered a yes please before she handed me the plate. She smiled sweetly as she did so and I thanked her before she disappeared into the kitchen again, probably to get other plates with cake. She reappeared only seconds later and she served everyone a plate together with Jongup.

‘’Are you going to play?’’ Daehyun asked all of sudden, making me turn my head towards him instead of gazing at Yuna’s moving figure.

‘’Play what?’’

‘’Videogames,’’ he answered before he took a big bite of his cake. I watched as he did so and after that I looked at his plate. I was amazed that the big piece was almost finished already. When did he do that?

‘’Maybe…’’ I answered reluctant.

‘’Let me guess, you at them,’’ he laughed as he ate the last bite of his cake. I looked at my plate. I had only taken three bites of mine until now.

‘’No, I’m a pro at them,’’ I lied cockily. I watched Daehyun’s expression turn into an amused one. He was about to open his mouth to say something. That was until someone interrupted us. Someone who had a knack of talent in embarrassing me.

‘’Aaah, look at the two of you being in your own world,’’ A voice that I immediately recognized as Chaerin’s teased. Saying that I wanted to punch her was definitely an understatement. Apparently she was done conversing with Jea and because of that she had taken notice of me. I felt myself turn a shade of red and I tried to avoid looking at the both of them as I didn’t want them to notice my embarrassment.

‘’Yeah, Aerin and I are the best of buds,’’ Daehyun responded good-naturedly.

‘’Oh, I can definitely see that,’’ she smirked. I wanted to dig a hole in the ground and disappear. Daehyun, on the other hand, didn’t seem all too fazed with Chaerin’s cheekiness as he playfully went along.

‘’Oh yeah, how is that?’’

‘’Oh well you know, you guys just seem to have such a great chemis—‘’ I started to cough, subtly asking Chaerin to cut her crap out. Unfortunately she didn’t really budge.

She took a bite from her cake in an amused manner as she kept shifting her gaze between Daehyun and me. It made Daehyun laugh at her craziness.

I was glad that Jongup had interrupted the awkward moment as he loudly asked how the cake tasted. Daehyun was the first one to answer as he lay the plate on his lap and put both his thumbs up in the air. An action that made the people laugh once again. Jongup was about to announce something again but he got interrupted by Himchan as he started to sing happy birthday in which everyone soon followed in.

After the song was done Jongup awkwardly bowed, scratching his head sheepishly. Chaerin randomly walked away all of a sudden, heading towards somewhere, probably the restroom, and I was glad she did as I felt I could finally breathe.

‘’Thank you guys… for coming and the presents even though I only got one,’’ Jongup smiled in an adorable matter.

‘’What do you mean? The most awesome present is right here!’’ Himchan exclaimed as he stood up from the couch and approached Jongup with a package in his hand. This seemed to be the cue to give your present as there seemed to be forming some sort of queue behind Himchan. Jongup seemed surprised with this forming queue as he probably hadn’t thought that people would give him something.

‘’I can say that this came from the both us?’’ Daehyun suddenly offered with a smile as he motioned towards the T-shirt he had fished out of his backpack seconds ago.

‘’I actually gave Jongup something already, so thanks but you don’t need to cover me,’’ I responded as I couldn’t help the smile that crept up my face. How come Daehyun had the ability to shift my mood so easily? I had been pissed at him but now I wasn’t. I had acted cold and now I was actually smiling.

‘’I should have known. Good girl,’’ he teased before he stood up and headed in Jongup’s direction with his present. I watched him walk away, my smile still apparent, before I noticed that Yuna had been watching me. In all honesty I had forgot about her, which was quite weird since I had been so fully aware and jealous of the attention she got from Daehyun moments ago. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight as a matter of fact. Now, all those feelings of envy - and jealousy - had suddenly vanished because Daehyun had bothered to come to me, he had bothered to give attention to me. It was as if I was winning over Yuna and somehow that crazy thought made me somewhat happy. Happier than it should. Yuna faintly smiled at me and I did the same before she focused on the girl she had initially spoken with.

‘’You still haven’t told me how that date with Daehyun went,’’ Chaerin suddenly spoke as she stood in front of me again. She was back from wherever she came from. Back to mock me again. I was glad that Daehyun wasn’t sitting here anymore.

‘’Date?!’’ Jea almost exclaimed. She had probably overheard Chaerin since she was skipping towards us. I quickly shushed her with the way my pleading eyes tried to bore into her. She got the hint as her lips formed into a thin line. Chaerin was about to say something before she got cut off by the couple of guys who were yelling because of the videogame.

‘’Ha! I beat Zelo! Himchan come on your next!’’ Some boy exclaimed excitedly, which caused almost all the people in the room to stare at him for a brief couple of seconds.

‘’I hate videogames,’’ Chaerin muttered as she watched the boy who had exclaimed and interrupted her in annoyance, ‘’it makes guys way too excited about the wrong things. We aren’t expected to play them too right?’’

‘’I don’t think so. Let’s play something else instead!’’ Jea remarked which caused both Chaerin and I to frown.

‘’Like what?’’

‘’A game of cards!’’ She beamed as she got a pack out of her bag.

‘’Why are you always bringing cards with you wherever you go?’’ Chaerin asked with a raised brow. Jea simply shrugged which made me chuckle.

The hustle in the room had calmed down as the boys who were playing videogames were more attentive of their surroundings and Jongup was done with packing his presents, probably storing them away as I couldn’t spot the said guy in the room anymore.

‘’Who wants to play Bull!’’ Jea exclaimed, seizing the silence, as she shook the cards in her hand. Most of the boys I didn’t know the names of looked over at her for a brief second before they dismissed her suggestion as they focused back on the videogame tournament. Only those couple of boys - and Zelo and Himchan - seemed to have taken that tournament seriously anyway. Though they had a fair amount of people watching them play, under them a few of the girls I didn’t know.

‘’Bull? You mean Cheat?’’ Yuna asked with a confused look on her face as she curiously skipped towards us.

Jea nodded, ‘’Cheat, Bull, Bluff. Whatever you want to call it.’’

‘’I’m in. Exposing Chaerin,’’ Yongguk smiled as he suddenly stood beside Chaerin and gave her a playful push. In a couple of seconds it was decided that Jea, Yongguk, Chaerin, Daehyun, Yuna, Jongup, a guy named Jihoon and I would play. Honestly I didn’t know how this game was supposed to be played and as all of us sat around the table - I noticed that Jongup was wearing the Naruto shirt I had ordered from him - I felt dumb for not knowing. Luckily that Jihoon guy didn’t know it either and so Jea eagerly explained the set of rules to us.

Apparently all the 55 cards - in which were three Jokers used as wildcards - would be spread as equally amongst the players as possible. The first player is supposed to place a number of face-down cards into the middle of the table. That first person also gets to claim what that (those) card(s) is (are) and therefore opens the round of the game. The next player has to go along with that specific number the opener has mentioned. So if, for example, the first player claims to open with a number 5 card the next player also has to place a number 5 card (or two, three 5 cards depending if he wants that) and the same applies for the next player and the player after that – it applies for all players in that ‘5’ round. Of course there aren’t many 5 cards in the game so obviously when you don’t have that card you have to lie - or use your Joker if you have it and want to use it - and claim another card as a 5 card. If you are convinced that someone is lying about their claim you have to call bull before the next player starts their turn. If it turns out that that person has been lying, that person has to take the whole face-down pile. If it turns out that the person used a valid card and therefore spoke the truth, the one that called bull has to take the whole pile. You win if you have no cards in your hand left.

Honestly I dreaded the game as I had a terrible poker face and was a bad liar. Moreover it sounded quite complicated, though I figured that I would learn the game through playing it.

‘’You guys got it?’’ Jea asked as she divided the cards. Everyone nodded as they received their cards. I reorganized the cards in my hand, not sure what I was actually doing with them.

‘’Oh yeah I forgot to tell, but if you have four cards with the same number, a quartet, you can shove them out of the game. That way you have less cards in your hand. Okay, so I’ll start and then next is Yongguk, then Chaerin and so on, okay?’’ All of us nodded as Jea thought about which card she would use to open.

‘’Two 4’s,’’ she began.

‘’4,’’ Yongguk spoke calmly as it was his turn.

‘’One 4,’’ Chaerin said as she confidently placed her card on top of the pile.

‘’4,’’ Daehyun spoke nonchalantly.

‘’Bull!’’ Yuna called excitedly as she eagerly opened Daehyun’s card, only to be slapped by reality as it turned out that he hadn’t been lying and now Yuna had to take the whole pile, which consisted of five cards.

‘’You guys were all lying!’’ She whined as she examined the cards in her hand.

‘’Okay so… what now?’’ I asked as I wondered who got to open the game now.

‘’Daehyun gets to open, since Yuna accused him of lying while he was telling the truth. Next is Yuna, then Jongup then you and so on.’’ I nodded as Daehyun opened the next round of the game.

‘’Two 9’s,’’ he spoke as he placed two cards on the table.

‘’9,’’ said Yuna as it was her turn.

‘’Bull,’’ Daehyun calmly stated as he was about to open Yuna’s card. Her card turned out to be a 3 so she, indeed, had been lying.

‘’Daeeee!’’ she pouted as she slapped him playfully on his thigh before she took the pile that consisted of only three cards. He only smiled that nice smile of his in response and I swallowed a lump that, unknowingly, had formed in my throat as I was reminded how perfect the two of them looked together. Their interactions just seemed so natural and cute. It was true that Daehyun had seemed a bit cold to her earlier with that cake but it looked like they were a couple that had bickered and were naturally making up again. I focused on my cards, convincing myself that not looking at him, them, would ease my uneasiness, but it unfortunately didn’t.

‘’Whose turn is it now?’’ Jihoon asked.

‘’It is Daehyun’s turn since he caught Yuna lying,’’ Jea spoke as she examined her cards.

‘’Oh Dae you were lying when you opened!’’ Yuna remarked as she struggled with all the cards she was currently holding. She had the most cards of the entire group and therefore she was on the most losing end already. Though I figured that games like this could easily turn around.

‘’One 7,’’ Daehyun claimed.

I immediately examined my cards looking for a seven, but I had none and therefore I was forced to lie if it were to be my turn. Yuna’s hand made a motion towards the card Daehyun had placed and she seemed reluctant in opening it as she didn’t touch the card yet.

‘’Open it, see if I’m lying,’’ Daehyun nonchalantly dared as he looked at his cards. Yuna immediately retreated her hand, probably deciding that it wouldn’t be wise to oppose Daehyun.

‘’7,’’ Yuna spoke. Nobody seemed to doubt her as nobody called bull on her.

‘’7,’’ Jongup smiled as he placed his card on the table. There was something in the way he was smiling that made me doubt his claim, but then I figured that Jongup always smiled. Besides if I were wrong I had to take all the cards on the pile.

‘’7,’’ I tried to speak as casual as possible. It felt as if everyone was seeing through me with the way they were staring, in doubt, though. I briefly glanced over at Daehyun and took notice of his amused narrowed eyes at me. He definitely knew I was lying, but I guess that he was letting me off the hook for now.

‘’7,’’ Jihoon spoke.

‘’7,’’ Jea spoke confidently.

How many cards were on the pile by now?

‘’two 7’s,’’ Yongguk stated calmly. I took notice of Chaerin’s narrowed eyes and her hand was already heading for the pile.

‘’I call bull on you,’’ she playfully sang as she took hold of the two cards on top of the pile.

‘’You touched them. Open them,’’ Yongguk dared with a smirk.

The entire table held its breath since the pile was huge. And as it turned out, Yongguk was speaking the truth and therefore Chaerin had to take the whole pile. Yongguk patted Chaerin’s head tenderly in a way of comfort, she in response groaned before she mumbled something along the lines of I hate you and shoved a quartet of sevens to the side

And so the game went by. Yongguk was the first one to get rid of all the cards in his hand and was, therefore, the winner. We, the remaining players, kept playing as we wanted to determine a loser. Daehyun was the next one to end, mainly because he kept exposing my lies and therefore got to open the game every time. It was as if he was especially keeping an eye on me since I was a terrible liar. He was actually picking on me and the cards in my hand were as much as Chaerin’s, if not more, by now.

Jea was the next one to get rid of her cards, then came Jongup and surprisingly even Jihoon, who had never played this game, was out earlier than most were. It was only Chaerin, Yuna and me left and I was determined to win over them. I knew that that would be hard though since Yongguk was helping Chaerin.

‘’Dae help me!’’ Yuna pouted as she shoved a quartet to the side. Her request made me roll my eyes inwardly and that wasn’t because she would be getting help, but because she would be getting help from, specifically, Daehyun.

‘’That’s not fair for Aerin,’’ Daehyun remarked calmly. Yuna was about to respond, but I interrupted her.

‘’You can help her… if you want,’’ I tried to shrug indifferently.

I felt myself growing rather grumpy and that made me realize something: there was something changing within me. Daehyun was changing me. I was never this easily grumpy as I was now by Yuna’s request. I was never easily offended by mere words as I was with the word Daehyun would occasionally spill. I was never jealous of people - to the point it could get me to dislike someone like I was sort of disliking Yuna right now - but I had become like that. And only when it involved Daehyun in any way. The realization made me confused as I felt like I was slowly turning into someone I couldn’t recognize.

I watched Daehyun, trying to read what he might do. My words were a test. I was testing him. Though I had said that he could help her I still hoped that he wouldn’t. He still did though as Yuna said: ‘’see Dae?’’

He failed the mental test I had given him and that had disappointed me. Yuna made Daehyun stand behind her as she showed him her cards. I felt stupid as I watched how Daehyun whispered some sort of strategy in her ear. Their proximity was quite close and Yuna smiled as she nodded at his instructions. The sight made me want to crawl in my bed with ice-cream. Yongguk and Chaerin were doing about the same as Daehyun and Yuna were and yet that sight didn’t hurt nor irritate me one bit. Right now, I wished there was someone on this party that would’ve acted the same way Daehyun did so that, perhaps, he could’ve been jealous too. So he could feel like I was feeling.

It came to no one’s surprise that Chaerin won over the three of us and Yuna ended a little after her which left me to be the loser. Chaerin stood up and bowed slightly to hug me as a joke.

‘’Aaaaah come here baby, it is okay it was your first game right?’’

‘’Ha-ha very funny,’’ I responded dryly as I awkwardly sat and allowed her to hug me.

‘’You were a worthy opponent,’’ Yuna tried to comfort me too, not knowing that everything that would come out of was having the opposite effect as her intentions had.

I faked a smile as I stood up from the table.

‘’Not going to play another round?’’ Jea asked as she collected all the cards on the table.

‘’No I’m going to the restroom, where is your restroom?’’ I asked Jongup as I mentally sighed. I wasn’t a sore loser, but somehow I looked like one right now. It was just that I didn’t want to witness DaeNa’s moments anymore. I scoffed mentally as I mocked the pairing name in my mind before I followed after Jongup – who had suggested to walk me to the restroom.

‘’Daehyun hyung told me that you helped him with getting this shirt for me,’’ Jongup beamed proudly as he touched his stomach.

‘’I did,’’ I smiled back at him, though the mention of Daehyun’s name made me want to roll my eyes.

‘’That’s really nice of you, thank you so much,’’ he smiled before he walked away so that I could enter the restroom.

As I washed my hands and stared into the mirror of the restroom I thought about everything that was going wrong with me. Honestly I couldn’t stand Yuna anymore. Everything about her made me want to roll my eyes or gag. I didn’t know what their relationship was but it was obvious that, at least, she was crushing on him. She would be so sweet to him, showering him with those smiles that would make anyone envious. She would also make sure to make him engage with her just like she had done just moments ago. It was a smart way of flirting and it sickened me in all honesty. I was so jealous. I had never been this jealous. Every action Yuna pulled with Daehyun was just coated in sweetness. How could he refuse her? She was perfect! I would never have the guts to be so sugary sweet with him and I would never have batted my eyelashes in a sort of aegyo way to make him help me with a game of cards. One of the reasons was because I didn’t dare. I didn’t dare to give Daehyun any signals that I liked him, because I was, one, too proud for that, two, scared that he didn’t like me in any way back and, three, scared that I would get hurt if I were to show him that I had a weak spot for him. After all he could take advantage of that weakness.

I definitely liked Daehyun. There was no point in denying that anymore. There was no point in trying to convince myself otherwise. I liked him and I felt like I was losing him already. Like I was losing something that wasn’t even mine, but rather, I was losing something that had belonged to Yuna all along. They were natural around each other and they actually knew each other well. What did I know about Daehyun except what everyone knew due to his reputation? Why would Daehyun be interested in someone like me when he had such a gorgeous sweet girl by his side as Choi Yuna? The realization of all this made me desperate as I was actually struggling to hold a saddening sniff in. What in the world was wrong with me? I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I was being sensitive with everything that involved him and it was actually hypocrite since I disliked people who were sensitive about everything. Yet I was turning into someone like that myself. I doubted that the conflicted feelings I harbored could be blamed on the monthly cycle. Not this time.

As I glanced at myself one more time I took a deep breath and let my hand reach for the doorknob. As I stood outside I was confronted with the person I wanted to see the least right now.

‘’Oh you were here,’’ Yuna smiled faintly. I figured that she probably wanted to enter the restroom.

‘’Yes I am here,’’ I simply answered as I avoided looking at her.

‘’Are you okay?’’ she asked in that sweet voice I learned to dislike.

‘’Yeah, yeah totally fine.’’ I brought myself to look up at her and faked a smile.

‘’Sure? You look a bit… pale,’’ she laughed good-naturedly.

‘’I, I got a bit of stomach cramps since I got my period,’’ I lied as I wanted to end our conversation.

‘’Oh I know how annoying that is. I got medicine for that? I will get it for you!’’ she insisted as she was already on the move, probably towards the living room so that she could get that goddamn medicine for me. Honestly she was too nice and her being too nice wasn’t helping with me feeling guilty for growing this dumb dislike towards her.

‘’It is fine,’’ I said firmly. My answer made her halt and she nervously smiled as she mouthed an okay before she excused herself and went into the restroom.

I let out a long sigh as I entered the living room again. People were having fun. Either video gaming, chit chatting or playing a game of cards. But I felt miserable. Especially as I watched Daehyun laughing with Chaerin, Yongguk and Jea. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world and in this moment I kind of hated him for that. It was unreasonable - since he didn’t know my feelings - but I hated how he was there enjoying himself while I was struggling with myself, with my feelings for him. It had hit me so suddenly. So suddenly that it seemed unreal, even to me.

Liking Jung Daehyun was saddening since, as if now, I saw no possible future for us.

Call it dramatic but the realization of that probably non-existing future made me want the loveliest thing people would need in comfort.

All I wanted was the comfort of my bed. And ice-cream.

Buckets of ice-cream would’ve been nice.

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