young & alive | BEHIND THE SCENES!

hyuka chapter

the bell rang, meaning that lunch was over and that classes were starting in 5 minutes.

"i'll come over tonight? we can watch movies and cry," eunji smiled and she took her friend's hand."

"and bring mint ice cream?"

the girls walked down the hallway to their respective classes letting go of each other. "of course i'll bring mint ice cream."

...

the bell rang and the students flooded into the hallways, running to their cars and rushing to get out of the building.

eunji, however was not heading straight home today and left to go to the park, finding herself sitting on a bench around the pond.

she had a lot of questions going through her mind. first, jungwon and his kiss, how could she forget? and now her two best friends breaking up?

seeing how upset hyejin was, she figured not to bring up the dance to hueningkai. maybe he just wanted to clear his mind? talking about his ex while it was still a fresh wound would probably the last thing he wanted to do.

"eunji!"

the boy wore a nervous grin and walked up to the bench, taking a seat next to his friend.

"hi," the girl smiled back. "so you got a surprise for me?"

"right!" hueningkai took off his backpack from behind and unzipped it, pulling out a homemade bracelet. "so, this is for you."

she took the bracelet from his hand and in beads, it spelled out 'e-u-n-j-i' with a little heart bead next to it.

frozen at the sight, eunji's mind started connecting the dots, reaching a conclusion she didn't want to believe.

"w-what's all this for?"

the boy took a deep breath before confessing.

"eunji, i really hope this doesn't ruin our friendship, but you light up every room you walk into and i love being around you, more than you know," he looked at her. "i really like you, more than a friend."

and there it was.

feeling like she got the wind knocked out of her at all once, the girl didn't know how to react.

unsettled by the silence, the flustered boy panicked. "but if you don't feel the same, that's totally okay! i hope we can still be best friends," he quickly added.

"this is a joke right?" eunji desperately asked, waiting for the boy to say 'gotcha!'

"this isn't a joke," the boy chuckled. "i'm serious. i realized i like you the day of the dance and i feel so stupid for not realizing sooner."

"but what about hyejin? you just broke up with her like what, two days ago? she's our best friend!"

"i know," he explained. "i did it so both of us could be happy. i didn't want to lead her on."

the older boy looked at the bracelet in the girl's hand and intertwined their fingers. "so here i am, confessing to the girl i really like."

if her mind was completing in track and field, eunji's brain would win every race with lightning speed.

a wave of guilt washed over the girl as she pulled her hand back. "of course we can still be best friends but kai, you know i can't-,"

"i know you don't like me back and that's okay! i just thought i should get it out there," he confided. "you know, just in case i had a chance."

staring at the floor, hearing both of her best friends upset because of her was not a realization she wanted to face.

"i'm sorry hueningkai, i really am."

"of course you are, you're too kind for your own good," the boy chuckled.

"stop complimenting me!" eunji cracked a smile, lightly hitting the laughing boy. "i'm gonna feel bad!"

"i can't help it! but i just want to know ... is there someone you're thinking of?"

eunji hesitated for a second, as if she was avoiding figuring out this question herself. and yeah, she was. but making up her mind, she nodded.

"jay?"

she shook her head.

"sunghoon? you- you do know you literally set him up with hana right? so if you like him, then i will never let you live this dow-,"

"what? no, no, i don't like sunghoon!" she frantically cut him off, giggling at the boy's assumption.

"okay then jake?"

the girl liked the boy for a month or so when they first met, but now it was a long pushed back memory. she shook her head.

"what about girls? i know you're bi, maybe i've been saying the names of the wrong team-,"

eunji couldn't help but let out a laugh at the curious boy. "it's a boy, hyuka."

"sunoo? you like heeseung hyung?"

the girl's eyes went wide. "what?!"

"what?" hueningkai defended himself. "i listed like everyone we talk to! if not them, then who else?"

and now eunji debated between two things. either she could pray that that name doesn't comes out of his mouth, or having to deal with the mental gymnastics she'll face if he does say it.

as if hueningkai read her mind, he cut off her thoughts.

"surely you don't like jungwon right?"