❀ arinsays ❀

i am baaaack! you guys have no idea how much i missed writing this story. T^T this chapter might be lacking a lot ‘cause i haven’t written in so long, so i’m sorry for that.

anyways, i’m so glad to be back and i hope you guys still love seventeen! <3  

Seungkwan and Chan both simply assumed that Jaena was going through some female issues—they believed that that was the reason why she was giving them the cold shoulder. She left for school without informing Chan and barely even spared Seungkwan, who sat right beside her in class, a glance. Although it was odd as Jaena wasn’t the type to have mood swings on her period, they really didn’t want to think of the possibility that something else had made her upset.

When seventh period rolled around, it was announced that the teachers had an emergency meeting to attend to, leaving the students at their own devices. Right after the announcement was made through the speakers, Seungkwan grabbed Jaena’s arm, successfully getting her to look at him. He almost regretted it right after, however, when her glare was sharper than a knife. Yet he pushed his fear aside, unable to stand the cold silence between them anymore.

 “What’s up with you? Why are you acting so weird?” Seungkwan didn’t bother keeping his voice at a low volume. Everybody knew of their friendship dynamics; unlike JaeChan who bickered a lot but were inseparable, JaeKwan had actual, steamy fights that would sometimes last up to a whole month of no talking, and each would eventually be resolved with Chan’s help and ending with a hug and some tears (from Seungkwan. Not Jaena.). Even if a catfight was to break out right in front of all their classmates due to his sudden confrontation, Seungkwan didn’t care. He just needed to know.

Jaena felt the same way. She couldn’t bottle it in any longer either, her anger boiling inside her. But before she could lash out on Seungkwan, she had to ask him the question that had been playing on her mind all night.

 “Who told him?” she asked first, watching Seungkwan tense up. “Who the hell told Hansol? Was it you or Chan?”

Seungkwan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He knew this was coming, but he wasn’t quite prepared for it. He sighed, mumbling, “It was me. Chan has nothing to do with this. We were talking and it slipped out by accident. I—”

 “You son of a !” Jaena shot up from her chair, causing the initially noisy classroom to drop to pin-drop silence. She scoffed at Seungkwan in disbelief and ignoring the warnings of their class leader, she left the classroom, storming off to God knew where.

Seungkwan cursed under his breath. He avoided his classmates’ wandering eyes and decided to leave the classroom as well, only that he knew where he was headed. It was a short trip as he was simply dropping by the class next door; he peeped his head through the open door and called out for Hansol, the boy currently buried in his hoodie and had his ears stuffed with buds. Lifting his head upon a gentle shake from his deskmate, his first instinct was to smile at his best friend, but Seungkwan’s serious expression told him not to.

 “What’s wrong?” Hansol questioned once they were both alone in the corridor.

 “What’s wrong? You told her that I told you! You weren’t supposed to do that!” Seungkwan hissed.

Hansol bit his bottom lip. “Man, we’re all bad at keeping secrets.”

 “This isn’t funny. She’s really upset with me and I know, I fight with her a lot but usually our fights are mutual. This time, I know that I’m the one who’s wrong and I’m not used to being wrong, Hansol!” Seungkwan groaned.

 “Hey, it’ll be fine. It won’t be that bad since she doesn’t like me anymore anyways. She’ll be too busy with her boyfriend to care, so, don’t worry.” Hansol replied. His tone was laced with a little saltiness, but Seungkwan was too taken aback by what he had said to notice.

 “Wait. What boyfriend?”

 “When I asked her if she liked me, she told me that she’s currently seeing someone and she doesn’t want to tell anyone... just yet.” Hansol paused when he realised what he was doing. “, we really are bad at keeping secrets.”

Seungkwan didn’t know how to react to this new piece of his information, so he simply kept it and made a mental note to talk to it about Chan later. He squeezed Hansol’s shoulder and softly asked, “How do you feel about it?”

Hansol shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know how to feel. I only realised that I like her right when she moved on from me, so it kinda .”

 “I’m so sorry, dude.”

 “It’s fine. I’ll get over it. Anyway, do you wanna hear something funny? It’ll cheer us both up.”

Jaena leaned back against the wall, sitting on the last step of the staircase, alone and away from the chaotic classrooms. Her mind was an absolute mess. She was disappointed with Seungkwan, to say the least, and she still didn’t know how to face Hansol. She was embarrassed, as not only did she lose any chance of them being together, she might had also just lost him as a friend. Sure, they could pretend things were perfectly alright, but she knew that Hansol would never look at her the same way and she hated that.

 “Hey there, student, you need to be in class.” a husky voice interrupted her train of personal thoughts. She was about to apologise to the intruder who she assumed was a student council, but she turned to see that it was just Kim Mingyu. One of the most popular boys in school (a member of the Year Three Holy Trinity alongside Lee Seokmin and Seo Myungho — all of whom were handsome, tall and had equally attractive personalities), also the captain of the track team and the senior she was closest to.

 “You need to be in class, too, Mingyu sunbaenim.” Jaena teased, speaking formally to him.

Mingyu took the space beside her without needing to be offered. “Whatever, this free time is heaven. So what are you doing out here looking all gloomy when you should be holding a party with your friends?”

 “I’ve got conflict right now with my best friend. Not really in the mood to have a blast.”

 “Ooh, gossip,” Mingyu scooted closer. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

 “My best friend told my crush that I like him. The crush asked me if that was true and my stupid told the crush that I don’t like him anymore. Oh, and bonus, I now have an imaginary boyfriend.” Jaena wasn’t one who easily shared her problems with others, she didn’t know why or how she became so lenient with spilling the beans. At least it was someone she knew she could trust—yet then again, after the whole thing, was there really anyone she could trust?

 “Not your smartest move, Hong.” Mingyu shook his head.

 “Am I supposed to calm down, though? I called the best friend’s mom a but she’s actually so sweet. He’s the , to be honest.”

 “Relax. I think you deserve every right to be angry,” Mingyu casually slung his arm around Jaena. He knew she wasn’t a fan of skinship, yet she didn’t seem to mind this time. “How long are you gonna keep up with having a fake boyfriend? Aren’t they gonna find out sooner or later? Lies don’t last forever, you know.”

 “If they find out, the crush will think I’m even more of a loser. We had such a great bond, you know? We were actually close friends and now everything’s gonna be awkward,” Jaena blew a raspberry in despair. “I guess I’ll just make up a boyfriend I met online or something.”

Mingyu hummed, pondering on a thought. “Well. I can act as your boyfriend.”

Jaena shot him a look. “Real funny. Right after you broke up with Eunha sunbae? People would think I destroyed someone’s marriage.”

 “Look, she broke up with me. If we emerge as a couple, maybe she’ll be jealous and would want me back. We’ll only have to do it for probably two more weeks? Then we can say we broke up, so I can be with Eunha again and things would definitely be back to normal with your crush. How about that?”

The normal Jaena would punch Mingyu and tell him how bad of an idea it was. The normal Jaena would know that nothing good would come out of this idea. The normal Jaena would be aware of the consequences and not make another step further.

But ever since Choi Hansol happened, the normal Jaena ceased to exist.

 “Sure,” she nodded at Mingyu. “Let’s do it.”