Notorious ⊷ Haechan

39 ⊷ Disappointment

And while it wasn't inherently stressful, at the end of a long day where eventually only Kai, Jeno, Jaemin, Shotaro and he were still at the house, Haechan let himself fall onto the sofa in exhaustion. 

Kai looked at him, forced to pass him on his way to the kitchen. He shook his head disapprovingly as he made himself some tea. 

"Just call her." He didn't look at Haechan, yet knew he was listening. "She is having a rough day. I am sure your call would mean a lot." 

Surprised, Haechan looked at Kai. Over the course of the past few hours, he had started to get to know him better. Kai was a nice guy, easy to be around, fun to talk to. 

Honest. 

Something that a lot of her friends had in common, be it Kai, Wooyoung, Sungchan or Shotaro, was that they all valued honesty. 

So when he mentioned her having a rough day Haechan couldn't shrug it off. 

"Really?" He sat up straight, shuffled closer to the edge of the sofa. "Did you talk to her?" 

"I'm not like you," Kai said through a tired chuckle. "I don't wait for her to approach me first. Of course I talked to her." 

Haechan huffed. "You say that like you know me so well." 

"Joon talks a lot about you," he pointed out, reminding him that the nickname wasn't the only thing he knew. "She is very biased though. She only ever mentions your good qualities - well, with one exception." 

Kai stopped after that, leaving Haechan the option to either ask or ignore it. He was curious to see what he would choose. However, if he had to guess, he would have said that Haechan would probably-

"What is it?" Haechan asked. 

While amused, Kai was also unsure. "Do you really want to know?" he asked judgingly. "You can't guess it yourself?"

"Just tell me."

Sighing, the older nodded. "Fine," he said. "Your indecisiveness is exhausting her."

"I am not indecisive."

"Sure. That's why you don't want her to stop flirting with you but also don't want to tell her that you like her too. You gotta pick one dude."

Haechan sighed. "Maybe I don't say anything because I am not sure myself," he retorted.

Kai thought about it before humming, somewhat agreeing.
"I can live with that half-assed excuse."

"It's not--"

"Call her," Kai said as he turned around and left the room to offer Haechan some privacy. 

Once Kai was gone, Haechan reached for his phone. He watched the numbers on the screen as they jumped from 23:59 to 00:00. 

The date changed, the day was over. 

His worry only grew and his hesitation couldn't get rid of the fact that her absence was frustrating. 

Without giving it another thought, Haechan dialled her number. The phone rang. 

And rang. 

Rang for too long, causing Haechan to get a little anxious. What if JYP was involved in this? What if Changbin wasn't on their side after all? What if this was a trick? 

Haechan was about to push himself off the sofa when she finally answered the call.

"Haechan." The sound of her voice took the pressure off his chest. He felt warm inside, happy. He didn't miss the fact that she called him by his name nor that she clearly sounded tired. "Are you okay? Do you need something?"