afterglow ‣ s.jy

011

Many eyes followed the red sports car parking in the mall, finding themselves taking a peek in the windows only to be disappointed by how heavily tinted it was. But those who stood by where it was parked managed to get a glimpse of the driver as Jake exited the car with a phone pressed to his ear. Despite the awareness of the number of gazes directed at him, he slipped away from them and to the entrance all while speaking to Hana on the phone.

And as Jake walked forward to where Hana said she was, he kept himself busy by wandering his eyes around the sea of people, sparking a feeling of sonder in him that passes by quickly like a wisp of wind.

He stopped all of a sudden.

In his continuous search for his cousin, he instead finds another person standing not too far from him, dressed in a pair of jeans matched with a t-shirt. Her straight hair was kept neat like she always did and her arms were crossed while she tapped her foot on the floor repeatedly, as though she was waiting for someone to appear from the crowd.

Siyeon looked like any ordinary person in the mall, but there was something rather alluring about her; something that rendered Jake incapable of looking at anyone but her. She was comparable to an artwork you'd see in a museum whose design you cannot comprehend nor was the meaning behind it, but you find yourself enticed by the lure of its complexity. There were peculiarities to the artwork that steals your breath for a second, and for a moment you're captivated and immersed with a beauty hard to put into words.

You just know they're beautiful without the need for an explanation.

It took a kid bumping into Jake's legs for him to stop staring at Siyeon, who thankfully did not catch him staring at her. Just as when he was about to return walking, a man appeared greeting Siyeon immediately with a warm smile. That alone piqued his interest, provoking him to hide behind a bunch of plants as his gaze remained on her and the mysterious man whom he has never seen in his life.

Who the hell is she with?

"What the hell are you doing, Jake?" Jake turned his head to the side when Hana appeared out of nowhere with a paper bag in her left hand and a bag in the other. He tilts his head to where Siyeon was standing with the anonymous guy which shifts Hana's eyes from her hiding cousin to her schoolmate who stood with a man she's never met. "Oh my goodness. You nosy nosy guy."

He scoffed. "You can't even take your eyes off of them, stop acting all innocent." He said, pointing out that she too was watching them intently.

"Point taken. Move so I can get a better sight of them." She shrugs first before pushing him to the side and glancing back at Siyeon. "Damn that man's good-looking— Ow! I'm a single woman, can I not compliment a guy?!" She holds her head where Jake had softly hit her.

"Ssh! Look they're moving! Come on, act natural." He shoves her away from the bushes and the two promptly acted casual by walking as well but at a much slower speed to maintain the distance between them and the people they're following. "Do you think that's her boyfriend?" He asked her, masking the growing annoyance inside him while he continued to watch Siyeon and her company who were engaged in small talk.

He was too far away to hear whatever the two were speaking about.

"Could be, they don't look alike." She said, briefly glancing at him only to see his jaw clenching in a way she was so familiar with. "Oh my goodness, are you jealous?!"

"What?! No! Where did that come from?" He said in bewilderment.

Rather than taking back what she said, she instead laughed. "Oh my goodness, you are! This is exactly how you look like when Hyejin jokes about marrying a rich old guy!"

"Hana, stop putting words in my mouth." He glared at her, an attempt of his to make her stop.

She scoffs. "I'm not putting words in your mouth, I'm stating the obvious— Look they entered a clothing store!" She stopped midway through her sentence to point something out.

His head snaps to where she was pointing, and immediately he sees the man holding the door for Siyeon before entering the store himself. The store was easily recognizable given the amount of time he's been there with his father to try some suits and tuxedos for parties his mother would always drag them to. That knowledge alone awoken a curiosity within him as he wondered what the two were doing there. Although it was a particularly pleasant place, it was no place for a date.

"Maybe that's her brother." He suggested, remembering the fact that she has an older brother.

Hana's eyes widened in realization. "You're right! See? There's nothing to be jealous about!"

"Can you stop with this jealousy assumption? It's giving me a headache." He tells her as he drew circles on his left temple.

"Do you have feelings for Siyeon?" Even after agreeing to stop with the jealousy assumption, the least he expected was for her to blatantly ask him that question.

Jake was aware that he has been thinking about Siyeon way too often than he pleased. But his thoughts circled her appearance that only now had he deemed as attractive. It never went beyond the depths of actually enjoying her company or liking her personality and demeanor. A part of him still disliked her, and that part was his constant reminder that whatever feelings he harbored for her were not romantic as Hana assumed it was.

It was better to say that he was attracted to her.

"I'm just... attracted to her, I supposed." Unsureness edged Jake's voice. He contemplated whether that was the best word choice or that telling Hana was the right decision.

"Aren't you a bit curious as to why you just find her attractive now?" Hana questions him. "You did spend the beginning of the school year calling her annoying, but attractive or pretty never came up."

He looked at her with seriousness. "Of course I'm curious." She sighed. Interlocking his arm with her, she pulled him away from where they were standing. "H-Hey! Where are we going!?"

"We're going badminton as planned to get your mind off Siyeon." She huffs, pulling him harder when he tried to get his arm out of her hold. "And we'll have a good talk about your feelings over iced tea."

"There's nothing to talk about!" He frowns, allowing himself to be pulled by her. "By the way, the parking is that way."

"Your car is already fixed?" Her incredulity came to an end immediately as he shook his head to clear the misunderstanding. "Then what car did you bring?"

"Mom's car," Jake smirked, earning a grin from his cousin, who immediately tugged on his arm harder in excitement. "I'm going to kick you out though if you speak about Siyeon in the car."

"Well, that's reassuring because we're going to talk about Hyejin instead." Hana's insolent smile was followed by a groan from Jake. "I may not be an expert in relationships but I do have common sense."

And throughout the whole day, Jake was bombarded with questions and assumptions that brought him nowhere closer to answering his curiosity or getting Siyeon out of his mind.

All he knew was that he was attracted to her, and his biggest fear now was this supposed attraction developing into anything that could jeopardize everything in his life.

Once the fine line between hatred and love was crossed, he knew nothing will be the same anymore.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE :

why is this chapter so long.... btw i just wanted to write cute moments between jake and hana because i love writing them