"I don't know what was so interesting about his sister's and girlfriend's conversation, but--"

"W-what?" Jaeson stuttered, interrupting Hana. She didn't mind.

"--he was eavesdropping. What shall his punishment be?"

I blanked. Thalia hummed in confusion. "I don't know... What did he hear?"

"About how Josh was almost Jenny's boyfriend. Wow. Talk about delusional, am I right?" Jaeson seemed to find it funny.

Thalia frowned. "Jason, it's the truth. How do you think I met Josh? They were on a date!"

I giggled. "Homewrecker," I whispered to her, jokingly. She rolled her eyes at me.

Hana also agreed. "Really, they went out tons of times."

I could feel Jongin type out a text to my brother.

"You told Jongin about it, but not me?" Jaeson asked, checking his phone.

"Yes, because he was curious and I had promised him. Also, Josh was the one who told me not to tell you. I don't know, some masculine 'bro code' thing, I guess."

"Wait, again, Jongin who? Why is he involved in this conversation?"

"I don't care if the president tells you not to tell me something, Jinhee, I'm your brother. You tell me anyway."

"Since when does that mean I can't have a private life?"

"Hannah? Who's Jongin?"

"Since your private life involves you dating one of my friends. Who, might I add, broke your heart eventually."

"Hannah, why did he switch to Korean? What did he say?"

"Well I'm sorry I handled myself well after the break up, what do you want me to say? I didn't want anyone to know!"

"Jenny's speaking Korean, too. I don't like this. Hannah, do something!"

"Jaeson, she had a hard enough time telling me about it. How could she go to you?"

"When I said do something, I didn't mean join them!"

"Her heart got broken by my friend and I didn't know anything. I could've protected her! Or got her revenge! I don't know!"

"I didn't want that, oppa, I just wanted it to pass quietly!"

"Guys!" Thalia shouted. "There are people sleeping in this house."

We shut up, my brother and I glaring at each other, Hana and Thalia acting as mediators.

"Okay," the blonde said with a huff. "Let's try this again, but calmer this time."

I started. "I didn't want anyone else to get involved in something that was just between the two of us. Besides, he obviously wasn't serious about me, he never validated our status. We never really dated. We were constantly in that stage of 'some' and he was the one that kept us there."

"See, that's the kind of thing I could've come in handy for. You know, swoop in, chit a little, chat a little, 'So, hey, you and my sister, huh? Totally ship it. Like FedEx, man, FedEx,' and he would ask you out properly."

"I don't want you to pressure someone into dating me," I said, in Korean because I thought of it in that language first.

He replied in the same language. "It wouldn't be pressure. It would be permission. Maybe he was just worried about what I would say?"

"I highly doubt it."

"They're speaking Korean again," Thalia said. "I know Korean, but they speak so fast! I'm not that fluent yet!" Hana was on her phone, typing away, not listening to us.

"Maybe we should ask him, then," my brother said.

"How?"

"I have his number."

"Oppa, it's been four years. Even if he was serious then, I don't think he'll even remember me now."

He shook his head. "I can't rest without knowing if he was just playing with you."

"Fine. You can ask him, but keep me out of it." I pushed him towards our room. "Goodnight," I said.

Once we, the girls, were alone, Thalia turned to me. "Who's Jongin?"

Hana glanced up and snickered.

"Kai. From EXO. The news didn't reach you?" I asked. I was sure telling the cafeteria that I knew him would be a surefire way of letting every soul who entered that school know.

"You said they were just rumours, so I let them go."

"I denied it at first because of the obvious privacy reasons, and then both Kai and Hannah insisted I tell people, so I did. I thought you'd have heard by now."

"Oh. Well I had. Oh well. That's so cool! How did you meet?"

Just because we were friends now, didn't mean I wanted her to know the truth yet. "His family used to be neighbours with my aunt," I said. "You know, summer vacations and whatnot."

"Wow. Everyone in your life just shoots up and gets famous. How lucky it is to be your friend," she mused.

"Yeah." I faked a yawn, but halfway through it turned real. "We should get to sleep."

Thalia nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep in your own bed?"

"I'd rather keep a little distance between me and my brother for now. Especially if he's talking to Josh. You go ahead. Please try doing some damage control. Goodnight."

She reached over and gave me a hug. I squeezed her tighter. Then we let go and she turned around and disappeared down the corridor.

"So, what the hell was that?" Hana asked, fingers flying over her phone as she typed, eyes glancing up sparingly.

"None of your business." I watched as she typed, smiling as she did so, eyes twinkling with joy. "Tell me about Chanyeol," I said.

Hana looked up, afraid. Her jaw dropped. "Why?"

"I just want to know, geez!" Wow. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

She eyed me suspiciously. "You're acting strangely. Hugging Thalia... Fighting with your brother... Even the fact that you told Jongin your first love story... What's up?"

"I am feeling very, very nice today. Forgiving. Benevolent. A little defensive. Hey, if you don't want to take advantage of that, okay. That's cool, too."

"No, no, no, no, no, no. By all means, open your ears. You're about to hear the greatest love story ever told."

I laughed, and she seemed encouraged by that.

"Alright, so here. It all started out when he sent me that video..."

"Yes, I was there."

"Yes, but that's literally the only part you were there for." She winked. "Okay, and then we started texting. Mostly it was him telling me about his private self, and me telling him I was a huge fan every two messages."

"You did not," I gasped.

"I did. I was that girl," she replied.

"Thankfully he was cool about it. It fed his ego, though, that I regret. Now he thinks he should be worshipped, my goodness. Anyways, he asked me about my life and I told him about you and he asked how you and Jongin knew each other, and I told him the cover story about your aunt and his family and he bought it, which was good. And then he kept asking about all of my friends and he only later admitted that he was trying to make sure I didn't have a boyfriend."

"Aww," I said. She looked at me skeptically. "That was a genuine 'Aww', okay? I'm trying, here."

"Thank you. So apparently he'd been interested in me ever since the 'Park Jinhee!' accident with Jongin on stage and he was informally introduced to you and your circle which includes me." She flipped her hair overdramatically. "And he saw my picture and it was love at first sight."

'Not true. I showed him one of your group photos that Jaeson sent me, and he was initially attracted to you, but then I told him that you're really mean and y and selfish. Instant switch, I swear.'

Great. I'm a walking, talking turn-off.

'Also, I might've said that, if anything, I had dibs on you.'

Jongin!

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