The Moments In-Between - A JeongHyo fanfic

Chapter 56 - Moment of Mutual Heartbreak

"What are you doing here?" Jeongyeon asked nervously.

Jihyo just slightly raised her garbage bag to indicate she came out to throw the trash.

"Oh, oh right, I'll leave you to it then." Jeongyeon replied, stepping aside.

"I've been calling out your name just now, did you... Did you not hear me?" Jihyo asked in the softest voice possible as she moved towards the trash can.

"No, sorry, I just came out of the cab, and the engine was loud and I was saying goodbye to Chungha so..."

"Chungha?" Jihyo was surprised.

"Yeah..." Jeongyeon replied, unsure where this was going.

"Didn't know you two were now hanging out." Jihyo muttered under her breath as she carried out the trash bags into the trash cans.

Is she jealous? No, why would she be? She knows I rejected Chungha before. And she knows we're just friends... And if we weren't friends, Jihyo has no need to be jealous... I'm still just a friend to her...

Jeongyeon then replied to Jihyo's statement:

"Well, we aren't... I invited her tonight because Momo wanted company."

"Momo has been at home for the last couple of hours." Jihyo explained, as if she caught Jeongyeon in a lie.

"I bet she is... But she was with me before Chungha joined me. I also invited other people but they didn't show up"

"Oh.... So..." Jihyo now looked like had realized something.

"So..."

"I thought you two... Never mind... You two had a nice evening?" Jihyo asked, throwing the garbage into the trash cans.

"Uh... Yeah, actually, quite nice." Jeongyeon confirmed nodding her head. She still had Chungha's image from moments ago in her head. Chungha's face and how she looked at Jeongyeon as Jeongyeon left the cab. It felt like time slowed down for a second, but Jeongyeon did not know why. After all, it was only a friendly night out.

Why am I thinking about her? And what did Jihyo want to ask before she said "never mind"?

"I can see that..." Jihyo replied, lowering her gaze. "When I called out your name, you looked as if you were in another world."

"Uhm..." Jeongyeon was again unsure were this was going.

"I'm sorry, was just trying to make light of the situation." Jihyo smiled.

"Which situation? ... Oh, you mean our situation, yeah... Well... Good effort on your part." Jeongyeon noted, smiling at the ground.

"Do you think you want to discuss... "us" now?" Jihyo asked kindly.

Silence. Awkward, at that.

"What do you mean?" Jeongyeon finally asked after a couple of moments.

"Let's go inside first, it's a bit cold out here, don't you think?" Jihyo replied, kindly smiling. Jeongyeon just nodded as the two got inside.

They went to the living room and surprisingly, no one was there.

"Everyone already sleeping?" Jeongyeon asked, not knowing how to start this conversation.

"More or less. I checked before and I think Sana and Chaeyoung were the only ones awake in their room."

"Oh yeah, how is Momo as your new roommate? I haven't even asked you that ever since she moved. She's like your fourth roommate so far, right?" Jeongyeon decided to go with a bit of small talk to calm herself down.