Notorious ⊷ Haechan

64 ⊷ Future

Half of the Dreamies laughed, the other half nodded in agreement. Haechan, however, was left dumbfounded.

"I didn't move out," he pointed out.

"But you've been gone for a while," Jisung commented.

"To stay with Joon," he said. "She was injured."

"So when she is no longer injured, you'll come back home?" Chenle asked curiously, putting him on the spot. Ji-yoon, more amused by the situation than anything, lay her eyes on her boyfriend too, waiting for an answer. The attention of most at the table was suddenly on him.

He frowned, looked from Chenle to Ji-yoon and back to Chenle. "I pay rent," he said eventually. "Leave my room alone."

Kun hummed knowingly. "He's gonna stay here." 

Sensing that Haechan was getting a little irritated, Ji-yoon sighed heavily. She put her arm around the boy.

"Of course he is," she said confidently. "As if I'd ever allow Sunshine to leave."

Jaemin exhaled understandingly. "No surprise he's not coming home. Joon's keeping him hostage." The girl smiled at Jaemin for the quick support.

Right away, Ji-yoon felt Haechan's tense muscles relax a little. He was by no means a shy person. However, considering how long it took him to tell her his feelings privately, she could only guess how difficult it must have been to discuss things openly with everyone there.

He was smart. Brave. But shy with his feelings.

It was cute in Ji-yoon's eyes.

Meanwhile, Jeno totally ignored that situation. He was seated close to Kai and happened to glimpse at him every so often. 

"I wanted to ask," he began, question directed at the boy that soon looked at him, "we know about San and Sungchan but how did you end up getting close to Ji-yoon?" 

Yangyang hummed, recalling that, "She said that she gave him the option to either join her or die. So I guess he must be less weary of life than Joon and agreed to join her."

The girl frowned. "I'm not weary of life."

"That is a lie," Ten commented, "and we all know that." Half the table nodded at that, leaving Ji-yoon baffled. 

"Wow okay."

Kai laughed. He put his cutlery down briefly as he thought back to that night.

"I used to be part of a small gang," he explained. "My boss... he wasn't a good person but I had no one else, so I just stayed with him. Until one night when Ji-yoon happened to see me." 

She slammed Kai's head against the alley's brick wall. It was not hard enough to injure him but hard enough to hurt.

She let go of him and watched him drop to the ground. Pushing himself against the wall, eyes squinted slightly at the pain, he gazed up at the girl.

"Kai, right?" she asked.

He frowned. "How do you know my name?"

"Because you are an idiot," she commented drily. "One for not being careful enough, two for hurting innocent people."

Kai, even though he would have liked to pretend as if he did, had nothing to say to the latter. He wasn't proud of himself, he couldn't justify his actions. Blaming it on his boss was too bad of an excuse to even dare utter it. 

She took his silence as a wordless agreement. "At least you are self-aware."

Getting irritated, Kai pushed himself up. Though he was standing for now, it was hard to keep himself on his feet. The fight he had with the girl before left him feeling weak and slightly dizzy. He had to lean against the wall behind him for support.