arrow twenty-three: in which everyone still needs to talk to everyone

Kim Taeyeon is not supposed to be feeling conflicted or confused or any other emotion except for happiness- she is dating Kim Junsu and he is literally the man of her dreams and he likes her back and that is supposed to be all she cares about right now.

Except now she has suddenly found out that her best friend has been harbouring feelings for her since forever ago and the man of her dreams knew about the aforementioned feelings. And she feels played, somewhat. Like they were having a discussion about her behind her back. Like she’s some play thing that doesn’t need to be involved in their discussions- even if her heart is on the line.

So Taeyeon is understandably not happy when she meets up with Junsu. “Hi,” she greets, tone clipped and unhappy.

“Hello,” he greets back, cautious. “Is something wrong, Taeng?”

The nickname, normally, would have made her happy beyond belief because it came from Junsu’s lips- but her current feelings of unhappiness overpower whatever happiness Junsu normally gives her. “You knew about his feelings but you didn’t tell me?” Taeyeon sounded hurt. She doesn’t know why she’s so upset, but she is. “You knew but you asked me out and now he’s hurting.”

Junsu catches on immediately, already trying to explain. “It wasn’t my thing to tell, Taeng. I was trying to give him a chance!” Junsu has to explain to her, somehow, that it really wasn’t his decision to make. It went against a lot of things to reveal someone else’s crush- and when that someone was Leeteuk hyung- he couldn’t possibly. “I knew you liked me, and of course I liked you too- so I waited for Leeteuk hyung to make a move, but he never did and I just couldn’t wait anymore.”

Taeyeon can’t find it in herself to say anything as a retort- all she feels is a mass of confusion.

“But Taeyeon,” he starts. “Why does it matter so much that you know he likes you?” Junsu doesn’t know if he wants to hear Taeyeon’s answer.

Taeyeon doesn’t even have an answer to give.

-

Junsu frowns before he decides on one thing.

He needs to have a talk with Leeteuk.

-

If Donghae is anything, he is persistent.

And if he wants something, he will honestly try to get it.

And right now, Donghae wants Jessica to call him ‘Hae’- he can’t explain it, but he feels a really strong need to have Jessica say it.

So with his persistence, Lee Donghae tries to make it happen.

-

Donghae, at some point, ends up snatching Jessica’s all-mighty and powerful assistant director clipboard.

He totally saw the slap to the shoulder coming, by the way. “Give it back, buffoon!”

Donghae dramatically winces as he clutches his shoulder, but backs away so that Jessica can’t touch the object he took from her. “Nope! I’m not going to give it back until you call me Hae!” he whines. “But seriously- do you work out or something? How can you inflict so much pain with such a small body?”

Jessica disregards everything that he had said to grit out a rather aggressive, “Lee Donghae, I need that clipboard.” It sounds too intimate, too familiar, for Jessica to be calling him that. “Give it back.”

“What’s the magic word?” he teases.

“Lee Donghae.” Jessica is clearly not amused.

“You’re saying two syllables too many when addressing me, Sica!”

This boy frustrates her to no end. But she really does need that clipboard back- because how else will she be able to bark orders in a precise and systematic fashion? (And she’ll only admit this to herself, but she kind of wants to call him something that intimate, that personal, that familiar.) She makes a show of gritting her teeth once more before she mumbles a little, “Hae!” Jessica is blushing all the way to her ears- she’s sure of it.

Donghae grins, happy with the mumbled compliance. He doesn’t know why, but he’s probably happier than he should be. “I’m sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you.” And still just as teasing.

“Hae,” she mumbles once more, a little louder than the first time. “Are you happy now? Hae!” The more she says it, the more comfortable she is with saying it, and the more she likes it.

“Delighted, Sica,” he grins at her. (He’s blushing a little too.)

In that moment, Jessica sincerely hates how Donghae makes her feel.

Almost as much as she likes it.

--

Junsu calls Leeteuk out to a random cafe, one that he thinks won’t inconvenience either party to drive to.

Of course, he is still sincerely surprised when the older male actually shows up.

Leeteuk doesn’t bother with any pleasantries. As he takes a seat, he asks, “What did you call me here for?” Just seeing Junsu’s good-looking (according to Taeyeon) face irritates him. Leeteuk doesn’t want to be here any longer than he has to be.

It seems like Junsu has similar thoughts, as he wastes no time in getting to the heart of the matter. “You told Taeyeon that she should be with you because you like her, right?”

Leeteuk already wants to leave; if this is an interrogation about his feelings, then Junsu should already know all that he needs to know. “Yes, and? What are you getting at?”

Junsu continues like he can’t feel the venomous dislike radiating off of the older. “You told her that she should be with you because you think so, because you want her to.” This is about his girlfriend and this is serious- he needs to get his point across.

“So? What’s wrong with that?” Leeteuk doesn’t know why he’s still here. He really doesn’t.

“But what about Taeyeon?”

“What do you mean ‘what about Taeyeon’?” Leeteuk snorts. “Taeyeon is everything in this situation.”

“You’re not treating her like she means everything- you’re being selfish just because you like her! You’re forcing your own feelings onto her.” Junsu is seething, has talked himself angry. He can’t stop now, even if he wanted this to be a lot more civil than it is turning out to be. “What about what she thinks, what she wants?”

“You can only talk like that and preach to me because you’re who she wants,” Leeteuk bites out, angry. “Don’t talk to me like you understand.” Leeteuk turns on his heel and walks away, not saying another word.

He can’t find it in himself to do so.

-

Krystal has had enough with this; one of her best friends has been acting strange recently, and quite honestly, she is sick of it. This is the thirty-seventh time she has called Taemin in the past five hours.

She honestly doesn’t expect him to pick up- just like how he hadn’t the other thirty-six times.

The moment she hears a click and she realizes that the call went through, Krystal feels so angry. “Have you been avoiding me?” she demands, not bothering with a greeting. She’s furious. This is Lee Taemin, her best friend. It’s not supposed to take thirty seven ing calls to get in contact with him.

“Hey Soojung,” Taemin responds, sounding tired but nonchalant.

She bites her lip so hard she almost draws blood. Why does he sound so tired? “Don’t ‘hey Soojung’ me- why have you been ignoring my calls?” She’s worried, honestly. “Are you okay?” she finds herself asking, tone imploringly as she tries to figure out what’s wrong with her best friend. “What’s wrong?”

There’s silence for a long stretch of a moment; Krystal even checks her phone to see if Taemin is still on the line. “Yah, Lee Taemin,” she snarls. She wants answers.

“Lets talk, Soojung. In person.”

-

There is something about seeing Donghae smile around Jessica that irks Yoona; something about how he plays around with her, how he teases her, how she reacts to him- she can’t put a name to it, but it’s something.

Yoona supposes she always felt that something, but seeing Donghae take Jessica’s clipboard and hearing her unnie call Donghae “Hae”- she feels pushed over the edge, somehow.

That something makes her scared, makes her feel irrational fear over losing something that is not completely hers. And it sounds silly, Yoona knows this. She doesn’t know why she is acting this way, but the feeling is pushing her to action, to stake a claim while she still can.

And Yoona is a girl of action; she ends up pulling Jessica away from her assistant director activities for a mere moment. They’re in a back room, completely alone with one another. “What is it, Yoona?” Jessica asks, pursing her lips and itching to get back to work.

Yoona wastes no time. “I like Donghae, unnie,” Yoona announces- declares. She needs Jessica to know this, and she can’t even explain why.

Jessica feels a little suffocated at the declaration- it’s like water being thrown into her face or a verbal slap. She almost wants to snap, “well, what do you want me to do about it?”- but this is Yoona she is talking to. Precious and bright and lovely Yoona- and that makes her calm down. This is Yoona, her dongsaeng. Her lovely Yoong, sharing her feelings with her.

Yoona, who is the object of Donghae’s affections.

It’s something hard to swallow, knowing that Donghae’s feelings aren’t so one-sided after all. (And that hers are.)

But as Yoona’s unnie, it is her duty to be supportive in this moment in time.

Even if it’s hard and she feels like slamming her clipboard on the ground- for Yoona, she will be supportive.

And Donghae did, after all, ask her for help about Yoona. With a sigh, she thinks about her job to Donghae- it just got a lot easier.

Jessica decides that this is something she must grin and bear, even if she feels sick to her stomach. With a forced grin and an uneasy heart, she forces out words that she never wants to say again. “Yoong, you like Donghae?” The younger girl gives her a bright grin and a shy nod. “And you want me to do something about it?”

Again, the same bright grin and shy nod.

Jessica bites her lip, with so many thoughts running through her mind. She’s feeling a lot of unpleasant things at the moment, and hates how this is making her feel, but for Yoona- for Yoona, she’ll say what she has to.

“Leave it to unnie,” she promises.

Leave it to unnie to help you with the guy you like- who undoubtedly likes you back.

Leave it to unnie to help the guy she likes be with the girl of his dreams..

Leave it to unnie to break her own heart.

-end.

this fic hasn’t been abandoned- it really hasn’t! (even if it seems like it has ^^;;) i’m looking at about four more chapters + maybe an epilogue for this baby. this is my first fic on AFF and i feel a lot of things for it- and this will be finished. no matter how long it takes.

no real minho/krystal/taemin this chapter. but that’s because they will be a big chunk of next chapter! ^^ (if i ever get around to writing it hahaha...ha. i kid.)

so yeah. i at updating and i’m sorry.

and it’s been eight months since i’ve done this, but i still thank each and every single person who has took the comment to read or comment or subscribe. thanks loves, you’re all awesome.

until next time.