2017

HANBIN

I arrived at a barbecue restaurant in Gangnam.

YG was hosting a private dinner to celebrate One’s solo debut.

It hadn’t been a week since I ran into him at the dorms.

I haven’t had a chance to ask Jennie about what happened then either.

And it’s been bothering me since.

One hyung and I have been friends for over 2 years now. We usually hang out at the studios with Raesung, sometimes at home. But he had never mentioned Jennie. And I had never seen him act that way before.

“Hanbin! You made it!” One called out as he saw me ascending the staircase. He immediately ran over to give me a hug.

“Congratulations hyung!” I hugged him back.

“Thank you so much! Ya come and sit.” He lead me to a long table at the end of the room.

As I sat down, more people began to arrive. And he stood up to greet them one by one.

Jennie was among them. She arrived with Chaeyoung and Bobby.

One beamed as he saw her. I noticed he hug her longer than the others.

She was smiling in his arms -up until she saw me. She weakly waved at my direction with a faint smile. 

One turned around to see who she was waving at. He raised an eyebrow as he saw.

.

.

.

After the pleasantries with the arriving guests, One held Jennie’s hand as they walked over to where I was seated. 

She seemed uncomfortable.

“Hanbin-ah,” he started as he pulled a chair out for her. “I forgot to apologize to you for the other night. I didn’t even say hi.” he sat right in front of me, Jennie beside him. His tone was serious but he was smiling.

“What happened back then?” I asked.

He seemed surprised by my response, “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. I just thought you guys were fighting.” I let out a fake laugh. “Oh and I didn’t know you were so close to Jennie, hyung” I couldn’t help but sound suspicious, sarcastic even.

He looked confused but provoked at the same time, 

Right then Jennie reached out for his hand on the table and squeezed it - like she was telling him something.

When he noticed what she was doing he smiled at me and finally answered,

“Oh I