Chapter 16

“Honey, this is Jimin sunbeanim one of my seniors” he looked down at her knowingly shifting his hold from  the handrails to her waist which made Joohyun jerk. He brought his lips to her temple as if kissing it but whispered “Play along…” semi pinching her side

Joohyun smiled nervously as her body reacts to Yonghwas touch that rattled her brain.

“Hi” she took a deep breath and let go of the railings behind her and hugged him by his waist as well resting her head on his chest

“I’m Joohyun Yonghwas girlfriend nice to meet you Jiminssi” and both their hearts drummed louder.

They alighted the bus near Joohyuns school smiling at Jimin without letting go of each other,  when they saw that the bus rounded the corner they immediately let go, Joohyun held her books tightly as she smack Yonghwa with it

“what was that about?!” she shouted at the middle of the street

“Ouch!! YAH!!!!!!She’s one of those scary sunbaes that won’t leave you alone”

“Why don’t you just tell her you have a girlfriend!” 

He smirked at her “I just did!”

Her nostril flared as she began to hit Yonghwa again

“AW! Enough J! I’m sorry I get it!” trying to dodge the hit but failed everytime

“You try that to me again I will kill you!”

“You were there and I needed rescue won’t that be considered as a friend helping a friend?”

“A friend helping a friend doesn’t require holding her and hugging like that! In public”

“Joohyun we’re best friends! I probably saw your s grow from our sophomore year!”

“Yonghwa!” she screamed as she covered her chest with her books

“What?!”

“What are you talking about! I swear I’ll cancel on you for this week!”

“Of all people J you’re planning to hide something from me? I know every inch of you I know how you feel inside and out!”

She smirked “That’s where you’re wrong Jung Yonghwa! You don’t know how I feel!”

“Ah but I do!” he showed her a knowing smile then cupped her face with his hands, she swatted it away

“Don’t touch me and don’t come near me! I’m still getting goosebumps from earlier!”

Yonghwa laughed his heart out at Joohyun who was fuming

“Come on J we did more than that! When you’re asleep do you know what I do to you?!”

Joohyuns eyes widened “Shut up shut up!!” as she continued hitting him

“And don’t forget we did more than that summer before Junior year, remember when Lizzy walked in on us?”

“Friendships over goodbye!” she turned her heels to walk away from him. He ran after her and put his arms around her shoulders “Come on J sorry I was just kidding lighten up it’s so early to be putting that kind of face!”

She shove him away “If you have a best friend who’s an *sshole like mine you will also be wearing this face!”

“Joohyun sorry okay? But we never really talked about that kiss”

She put her hands on her ears and hummed a song to drown his words. For her, though they somewhat talked about it but for him if he remember not talking about it then they never talked about it, not  before definitely not talking about it now. She can see that he was looking at her amused she stop on her tracks and looked back at him

“Don’t you have any classes? You are going to be late, I can take it from here”

“Are you still mad?”

“No go away!”

“J I’m serious sorry okay!” he took hold both of her hands

“I said okay already I’ll pick you up later! And Yonghwa we did talk about that kiss” she showed him a force smile remember the feeling she had that very moment when his lips touch hers, her young heart full of hope. The minute he said it was just spur of the moment and to forget about it is also the minute she knows she can’t. Young love is precious but also liberating, it can make or break you but for her she chose neither. As much as she hates to admit it, she kept whatever she feels for him in her heart, every now and then opening to check if it’s still there or if it has already set her free.

She waves him off again and he smiled showing his snaggletooth and bursting cheeks, in a split second he did drop a real kiss on her temple “You’re really cute to be a best friend! I’ll see you later”

They spent that week together for real, hanging out in his house, her house or somewhere. Kyuhyun didn’t understand this and as much as she denied it to Yonghwa, she and Kyuhyun had a big fight over it. She didn’t try to make peace with him since she knows she didn’t do anything wrong but deep inside she knows, the end does not justify the means. Her intentions are good but her conscience isn’t clear, she knew for herself the reason why she made all things possible for Yonghwa, and Kyuhyun was the one suffering. They made up after 2 weeks of not talking but it was not easy afterwards.

Kyuhyun blames Yonghwa for everything that’s wrong with her. One time, they were having an early dinner and Hyoyeon texted to remind her of Sungmins vacation, she was just replying when Kyu suddenly stood up paid the bill and left her at the restaurant. He thought it was Yonghwa again who has nothing better to do than bug her.  She tried to understand him because she knows she is at fault. She let Kyu see that side of her with Yonghwa but it’s a side that she can never and will never be able to hide; her with Yonghwa is something she herself can never avoid.

Their first