Habits {Jikook}

CHAPTER 51

💿 YOUNG LUV - STAYC

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Between repetitive thumps and heavy breathing, a loud whistle rang through the air. Jeongguk hunched over and supported himself, hands on his knees.

"Alright. Let's take a break. Meanwhile, I'm gonna call some of you over,"
their coach said and if it wasn't for his exhaustion, he would have hurried to his water bottle. He stood there for half a minute until he walked over to two of his his teammates and friends, Jiwoong and Jaehyun. They were standing next to the bleachers, drinking out of their water bottles.

"He's being extra hard on us today,"
Jeongguk complained and wiped his sweat from his forehead with the hem of his jersey. He observed the way their coach was taking notes on his notepad, keeping a basketball between his shoe sole and the gym floor.

"Right?"
Jiwoong agreed, sympathizing with his friend. He had been in this team for some time now and their coach, Lee, usually only gets this way when there's an upcoming game. Jaehyun shrugged his shoulders and observed Lee, before saying,
"Maybe he's just having a bad day"

"He's not the only one. Nowadays I'm so stressed out with my studies and basketball practice that there's no time to rest"

"Same. I can barely see my girlfriend. We can only spend time at night"

"But isn't it the only thing that keeps you going? Feeling the comfort from your partner after a hard day?"

"Are you single? You talk like you have experienced this,"
Jaehyun asked him. Jiwoong seemed to be curious as well now that Jaehyun had mentioned it. At first, Jeongguk hesitated for a second but then he responded vaguely,
"I'm seeing someone"

"Oh, I didn't know. Actually, a friend of mine has a crush om you so at least she's not getting her hopes up now"

At the same time, Jiwoong looked at him with a puzzled gaze. They've been friends for a long time and Jeongguk had never mentioned someone specific.
"Who is it?"

That was when Jeongguk panicked for a second but before any of them could notice, Coach Lee called him over and some other teammates of his.

"Hwang, you need to improve your speed. It's not gonna work out like that. Same goes for you, Kim"

Both of them nodded, hands behind their back as if they were soldiers. Coach was quite scary so Jeongguk understood what they might have felt.
"Jeon, Yoon,"
he immediately straightened up when he heard his name. Keeho next to him also seemed to be kind of nervous.

"You're on the team"

"Huh, what-"

"You heard me right. Now, get back to practice"

Before Jeongguk was able to completely comprehend what just had happened, Coach clapped into his hands and shouted,
"Get into your positions! We're gonna improve your one on one game now"

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The next day Jiwoong approached Jimin in their dorm while the blonde was cooking some store bought Jjangmyeon on the stove.

"There's this rumor that Jeongguk is seeing someone,"
he mentioned, sipping his tea. Jiwoong was leaning against the kitchen counter as he saw the way Jimin's body froze for a second before he continued to stir the ramyeon as if nothing had happened.

"And why exactly are you telling me that?"
he asked kind of pettily, never looking up from the cooking pot.

However, Jimin was panicking on the inside because what if on campus, people had somehow found out about Jeongguk and him?

"I don't know, thought you might know more,"
Jiwoong responded and held his hands up as if he was defending himself.
He didn't tell Jimin that Jeongguk had told him personally on purpose because he really wanted to see how the other reacts.

When they had first met, they had touched on the subject of Jimin and Jeongguk's relationship but Jimin never really confirmed it. However, whenever the two of them talked about Jeongguk, Jimin made these remarks that obviously hinted that there was something more between them that the public eye seemed to know.
He even remembered that one time when he almost mentioned this in front of their friends and Jimin shut him up quickly. He then figured it must have been a secret.

"Aren't you friends? Ask him yourself,"
Jimin responded pettily, a frown forming on his face. He was never like that to Jiwoong. This new information really must've had an impact on him.

"Fuck," Jimin hissed abruptly and hectically yanked his hand away from the cooking pot.

"Hey hey, slow down,"
Jiwoong spoke calmingly and approached him as soon as he understood what had happened.

Being distracted and an emotional wreck, Jimin had accidently dropped the spoon he was stirring the noodles with. A whole lot of water had splashed on his hand and wrist. Naturally, his first instinct was to cover it with his other hand.

"Alright, come on,"
Jiwoong gently led him to the sink and turned on the water, switched it to cold, so that Jimin could hold his hand under the stream.
He really didn't mean for this to happen, his actual plan was to make Jimin confront his feelings for Jeongguk, not to endanger him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so rude just now,"
Jimin apologized quietly. He had now turned off the tap and blankly stared at his hands. A towel was placed on them and he looked up to see Jiwoong's smile,
"It's alright, don't worry"

He quickly dried his hands off and put it on the counter before saying,
"Thank you Jiwoong, really. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and put some ointment on it"

"You sure you're gonna be alright?"
Jiwoong asked worriedly. Jimin just nodded.

"Alright, I'm heading out for a walk but you can text me if you need me"

Jimin thanked him once again and turned off the stove so nothing would burn while he was away. They bid their goodbye and Jimin lost no time, walking to their bathroom.

When he entered the room, he immediately locked the door and stepped closer to the sink. As he observed himself through the mirror, he realized how awful he must look to everyone else.

"You're not well"

I'm even talking to myself now, huh.

"You can't do this anymore"

Just the thought of Jeongguk with someone else made him feel sick to his stomach.
The thought of everyone talking about Jeongguk seeing someone and it not being him.
It was even worse for him than Jeongguk and him possibly being exposed, he realized now.

I'm in too deep. If I don't back out now it is going to hurt even more than it does right now.

One tear after another rolled down his cheek as he held onto the counter for his dear life.

There's a thin line between love and hate, after all.

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Hey loves,
I'm back with a new chapter and I can already say that there's only a few left until this story is finished.
I want to thank you once again for the massive support I've gotten in the past few weeks and I'm more excited than ever for my fanfiction to be explored and shared <3
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
Purple you <3