My Secret Lover

Chapter 26

Pov. Sim Jake*

In front of the university on the main square, I waited with my ice hockey clique for the bells to ring for class. Autumn was getting colder, and we had to think about finding another meeting place soon instead of outside in the cold.

Or else we would soon freeze to a miserable death.

Thoughtfully, I pulled my cell phone out of my jacket and looked at on the screen. Inwardly, I expected to see a message from Sunghoon, but my display showed no notification.

Except for this one from Subway Surf... I should probably play again...

Concerned, I put the phone back and stood by the group, completely lost in my thoughts.

I haven't talked to Hoon since the incident yesterday. I wonder if he was angry that we almost got caught. Did he think I dragged him there on purpose so Jungwon would see us? But I didn't know he worked there. He must have been pissed at me... No... I was probably just too paranoid and worried unnecessarily.

"Hey guys!", Jungwon and Jay, the rest of our clique greeted us before joining Sunoo and Riki at the ping pong table.

Oh God, I was reluctant to meet Jungwon today. Yesterday, when Sunghoon rushed out of the restaurant, Won ran into him out of the blue before making his way over to me and greeting me in a stunned manner. However, we couldn't exchange more words because he had something to do. After that, I went home immediately. Hopefully, he won't talk to me about it today.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I picked up my phone again and opened some random apps.
"What are you doing?" inquired Heeseung, looking over my shoulder. "Me?", I nervously asked.

Dude. Chill.

"Is something wrong?" he responded by questioning me. "No, it's just a little cold outside, don't you think?" I said.

Geez, I should take it down a notch. How obvious do I want to be?
Answer: Yes.

"Jungwon! Is it true that you've had a girlfriend since recently?", Riki asked while sipping his banana milk. Embarrassed, Won grinned and proudly said, "For a week already!"
"Heol!" came from Sunoo, who sucked in his breath in surprise. Pleased that Jungwon was now busy talking, I looked at him and dropped my phone into my pants pocket. However, my eyes quickly fell on Jay, who looked away unconcerned, as if he didn't give a damn about the whole thing his best friend was saying.

Or maybe, as his best friend, he had had to listen to the corny story of how Won had met his girlfriend a thousand times it was getting on his nerves by now.

"Speaking of dating and all that stuff. Jake, you were at Ocean World yesterday. You must have seen my girlfriend, right? She had her shift as well!"

Oh, so that's where he met his girlfriend. Damn, I'm screwed. Lying wasn't an option now, since he had obviously seen me and we had also talked.

"Yes," I said briefly. "What, why were you there? Did you have a date?", Heeseung probed me. There was a hint of disappointment in his voice, as he probably expected me to tell him if I was going out with any girls. "No, I was there alone."
"Not true. You were sitting at a table with a guy," Jungwon said, rubbing his chin. "You were on a date with a guy?" he quipped in response, counting one plus one together. "Huh? No Jake is not gay," Heeseung interjected.

I am bi to be exact but that was irrelevant now.

"What's your problem? He can date whoever he wants," Sunoo protested. "Not, I don't think he's one of them," Jungwon added. "What, one of them? Are you homophobic or something?", Jay questioned his best friend's statement.
My pulse quickened; I could hear it pounding in my ears. "I'm not a homophobe! I'm just saying... Would be kind of weird..." muttered the second youngest. "Word of honor!" he says in response, laughing and clapping his hands like it's funny. "Dude!" hissed Jay, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"Guys, I'm not gay and that guy was my older brother. No need to start pointless rumors," I defended myself and visibly annoyed but nervous at the same time.

Inside I was completely freaking out, scared, and hoping they'd buy my story.

"Likewise, I saw you holding hands with Lily just a little while ago. The Korean-Australian from the spin-the-bottle party," Riki said out of the blue.

Seriously? Why did Riki lie? Am I supposed to find this hilarious or not? Did he know something?

"So at Spin the Bottle, when she asked you if you were in love, you looked at Lily! You've been hiding something from me again, you lying dog! Since when is there something going on between you and Lily?", Heeseung hissed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, because I had hidden something from him again. In his opinion, he assumes that as a best friend he should know such information before anyone else. "Nothing is going on!"
"Aren't you in that debate club with her and the Aussie gang? Because you're all so great at English. It can happen that people get close to each other, no need to be ashamed Jakey. Who was all there again? Roseanne, Christopher, Felix, Leo, Lily, Danielle, ...", Riki enumerated but was interrupted by me. "That has nothing to do with this!"
"Speaking of Danielle, can you ask her if she's still with that swimmer?"
"No!", I said.
"Back to Lily and you, what's going on?" asked Hee indignantly.

He tried not to let his frustration show, but it wouldn't be Heeseung if it wasn't obvious to him.

Suddenly Jay stood up. "I have to get books from the locker, see you later." With these words, he left. "What's wrong with him now? Is Jay pissed at me now? Did I say something wrong?" pecked Jungwon, looking after the elder. "I don't know. Maybe it's the cigarettes again or something. Typical Angry Bird, he's always got something," Heeseung said with a shrug, now seeming angry at me. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Namra and Sunghoon suddenly came toward us.

Despite all the events that happened between Sunghoon and Namra they still seem to get along very well.

"YA, Hee! Are you crazy? I wanted to take the car to the university, but you just stole my keys! I couldn't have breakfast because of you," Namra hissed at her younger brother. "Is that my problem?" growled Hee, rolling his eyes. "You must think you're the funniest one in the university, but the only funny thing about you is your face," Namra bitched, walking over to her friends. "Damn, how I hated my sister...! Too bad you don't get to choose your own family," Heeseung muttered, but I now gave my full attention to Sunghoon, who must have wanted to go walk into the university with Sunoo, Riki, and Jungwon. He looked at me briefly, grinned slightly, and then turned away from me again.

So he didn't seem to be annoyed by me. Somehow the thought hurt that we behaved during the day like fugitive acquaintances or even strangers. Right now I wanted to talk to him, but with Hee's presence, it was difficult. As soon as dusk falls, we love each other openly, are physically close, and spend a lot of time together. Well, but that's also the sense behind a "Secret Lover"...

"Let's go," Hee said, stinking angry, and hurried ahead, me right behind him.