12 missed calls. 36 unread messages. 10 voicemails.

Joohyun stared at her phone. She listened to one voicemail.

“Hi . This is Sooyoung. Pick up the damn phone and no one gets hurt.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not gonna make me do that,” she muttered to herself as she swiped to the next one. It was Yerim’s. “Joohyun unnie, this may be my last message to you. Sooyoung unnie is holding me hostage until you ANSWER THE I—” Joohyun closed her phone and stifled a laugh.

She wasn’t in any laughing mood, but the girls sure do know how to get her attention.

So she called Seungwan.

“Hello?” “It’s Joohyun.” She locked her bedroom door and climbed on her bed, still in her uniform. “Are Sooyoung and Yerim there with you?” “Yeah, we’re at Automatic right now. What’s up with you? Why weren’t you answering our calls?”

Joohyun sighed gloomily. “I don’t know.”

There was a shuffle in the other line, a few mumbling voices, then the sound of a door being closed and lock shut. “Is there something you want to tell us, unnie???” Sooyoung half-screamed into the phone. Joohyun heard a laugh, probably from Yerim, then some unintelligible murmurs, and soon enough Seungwan had the phone again. “Sorry about that.” Seungwan sighed. “She’s tipsy.”

Joohyun looked at her watch. “It’s literally just nine?” There was a huff from the other side. “And? This is Sooyoung you’re speaking of. Hand her a bottle of alcohol any time and she’ll get drunk in five minutes.” Seungwan cleared . “What happened to you? We got so worried.”

“Girl, if you were worried you would’ve driven yourselves into my driveway.” “Only reason we didn’t do that is because we were pretty sure you wouldn’t come down anyway. Turns out you still weren’t home.” “Literally everyone in my house knows you guys. You can enter any time you want.” “Maybe if we were robbing you, Joo. But we still have some respect left in our heads.” “ you.” A melodic laugh came from the other line.

Seungwan cleared once more. “So are you spilling the tea or what?”

Joohyun sighed. She did contemplate not telling anyone about what happened during the tutor session.

She wanted to deal with Seulgi herself.

But Joohyun felt like if she did that, it would be going on a mission while leaving her best soldiers behind.

“Seulgi…” she started, immediately trailing away into a trance, drawing countless circles on her bedsheet.

She heard Seungwan speaking to her. “Joohyun? What happened? Did she do something to you?”

“She said she’s not the type of person worth loving. She told me to stop whatever it is I’m feeling for her.”

There was heavy breathing from the other line, and some murmurs from Sooyoung and Yerim.

“Well… you’re stopping, right?”

Joohyun sensed it all in Seungwan’s voice. Her friend was scared for her, and yet at the same time it sounded like she was hesitating. She felt how Seungwan knew what she was thinking.

“It just makes me want to like her more.” Joohyun her side and stared at a framed photo of herself on her bedside table. “You know I don’t stop until I get what I want.” “Yeah, totally.” “And yet it broke my heart when she said that.”

She quickly sat up on the bed. “Oh, Seungwan. I think I really, really like her. And I feel like it’s unfair and unreal because, what, it’s just been a whole week since I met her.”

Seungwan laughed. “This gotta be either one of the best or worst cases of love at first sight I’ve ever seen.”

Joohyun pursed her lips. She had so many things she wanted to say, but it was as if she had no words enough to explain them.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter