Unconditional Feelings (Heesun)

19

The friends gathered around the table, chatting with one another while Riki and Sunghoon felt the awkward tension. They would consistently avoid meeting each other's gazes and turn away, ignoring one another. The rest of the group couldn't catch on to what had happened, so nobody seemed to notice.

"Sunghoon hyung, I've heard about the competition coming up soon. You're competing this month right?" Jungwon asked the latter while chewing. Sunghoon felt all eyes on him, so he relaxed his posture and spoke up. "Yeah, I practiced in the morning as well today. I'm going against Youhan." He finally decided to eat to feel at ease, catching glances at Riki who seemed to be busy on his phone.

"Jungwon, why are you eating like that? Chew slowly." Jay whined, grabbing the napkin and wiping Jungwon's mouth. "Look, you got food here and there." Jungwon sat there and stared in silence, he felt butterflies swarming his stomach.

"Oh please! Just stop flirting in front of my food." Jake rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Nobody wants to see that here." He threw his hands up in agitation. "We are NOT flirting first of all, and second, go find yourself a lover because you are in need of one." Jungwon shook his head in annoyance and continued eating. Jake didn't answer the latter, but upon the statement, he glanced at the person sitting beside him.

"Hyung, could you pass me your fork if you're not using it?" Jake asked Heeseung, who shifted his attention from the phone screen to the latter beside him. "Yeah, here." He handed Jake the fork and continued scrolling through the phone.

"Oh yeah! Sunoo, do you have the app Love Alarm? I've heard you and Heeseung are the only ones who don't have it. You should download it." Jake asked the latter, who was quietly eating, sneaking glances at the others. He felt nervous around Heeseung and just felt completely awkward around him, especially after that day. 

His goal was to bandage the wounded cut, but instead, his sharp remarks backfired on him, and now he was left speechless. His wound was deepened.

"Oh yeah...I mean, it's a nice app and all, it's just not really my thing. And besides, I don't think many people actually know me—let alone like me." Sunoo slightly chuckled and flushed. "It's going to take half of my phone's storage left."

"Makes sense, but you know, you never know what actually might happen...someone might actually like you. Right, Riki?" Jungwon smirked, pinching the younger's legs. "W-what? Sorry I wasn't paying attention." Riki stumbled on his words, attempting to sound as if he was occupied with whatever he was doing on his phone. Jake stifled a muffled laugh, his mouth filled with a spoonful of ramen. "Yah, Riki, what are you doing on the phone, you never ignore us like this during lunch—especially not Suno—"

"Hyung, why don't you respectfully shut the fuck up, or you will face hell in front of everyone right now." Riki cocked a snarky grin, his eyes twitching in panic. "Oh! Actually Heeseung Hyu–"

"Fine, fine! Damn it." Jake muttered, cutting Riki's sentence. They silently ate in the comforting stillness, not wanting to engage in a conversation. Heeseung sneaked glances at Sunoo who was also avoiding the older. Every time Heeseung glanced at the younger, he would immediately avert his gaze from the older. Heeseung smirked, finding the younger's pink blooming cheeks cute.

These past few days, Heeseung started to appreciate the younger's presence a little more. His presence had given him the motive for hope—even though he rejected it half the time—but still felt the need to look after the younger. Yes, he hated him. He knew he did, but now, he was unsure.

"Heeseung hyung, are you going to download the app?" Jake asked, fiddling with his fingers. "Uh, probably not. Why?" He glanced at the latter beside him and turned his phone off, giving his full attention.

Sunoo felt weird. 'He had never done that with anyone before. He never pays this much attention to someone–so why him? Wait—what's wrong with me? Why am I thinking like that?' Sunoo was perplexed, feeling shaken up by his internal thoughts. His thoughts were cut off when someone tapped his shoulder. "Sunoo hyung, you should download the app. I'm telling you, you need to." Jungwon mumbled while Heeseung and Jake were still conversing with one another. "Fine, I'll download it," Sunoo playfully rolled his eyes to tease the younger. "But I'll delete it if nothing happens." He added. Pulling his phone out from his blazer pocket, he went to the Play Store to download the app.

When he searched the app name, the app popped up at the top, with the other fake ones under the search results. He clicked on the original app and tapped download. "There." He stretched his arm toward Jungwon to prove it to him. "Happy?"

"Yep! I bet you won't delete it that quickly yet." Jungwon leaned back, casually winking at Sunoo. Jay noticed the wink and glanced toward Sunoo's screen.

"You downloaded the app?" Jay asked after placing his hand on Jungwon's thigh which sent shiver's down Jungwon's spine. His posture stiffened upon the touch and Jay internally smirked when he noticed his straight posture. The others sitting around the table finally directed their attention toward us.

"Yeah, Jungwon told me to do so." Sunoo pulled the phone back and clicked it off. "I'll most likely delete it later this week or somethin'." Jay hummed in response, eyeing Jungwon from his peripheral vision. "Jungwon, we still haven't finished the project for Ms. Kim's class, wanna come over to my house after school?" Jay asked.

Jungwon blinked, staring deeply into the older's eyes. "U-uh, y—yeah, sure. I'll c-come over." He nervously chuckled and the others seemed to have noticed the tension between the two.

'What are they talking about? They were the first ones to be done with the project.' Jake thought, having unusual thoughts about the two. 'Are they perhaps...dating in secret, because the freaking tension between them...'