"oh, really now? you don't know shit about them anymore, how do you expect to find them when you everything you have are some damn photos?"
"jisung, I don't care if some photos is everything I have, that's not gonna stop me from anything... I have to at least try," she says determined. jisung becomes surprised from seeing the sudden change in her behavior, everything in her body language, speech and piercing stare screaming of boldness. "besides, it hasn't even been two years since I left, have you really forgotten that when I want something, I'm having it my way?"
speechless, jisung can only look up at her, eyes wide and lips parted. he tries taking in her spoken words, for a second wondering if she had always had a confidence so strong. however, soon he actually lets out a chuckle and shakes his head, his tongue swiping over his bottom lip; an action in was looks like disbelief.
"seriously, you're unbelievable."
"surprise, surprise," jaeyeon says, "will you help me?"
she's met by his sceptical look and it's easy to tell how jisung clearly doesn't feel up for the plan. thus, she tries again, "come on, you just saw and remember how close we were... are you sure you really don't want that back?"
jisung lets out a shaky breath, "of course I do but that's impossible... I don't even know myself what they're doing right now."
"you won't know unless you give it a shot, will you?"
it becomes silent for a moment as jisung falls into deep thoughts. none of them are really sure how long time has passed when he eventually shows her a look of surrender. a satisfied and wide smile shows itself on jaeyeon's face and that's really all it takes for the heaviness in the air to disappear.
"do I even have a choice?" he asks as she reaches a hand out to him, pulling him up. standing in front of each other, they're only inches away, both now grinning at each other.
"as my best friend, no, not really."
jisung lets out an another airy laugh and drags a hand through his hand. "I can't believe I'm actually going along with this."
"that's what you get for ever getting involved with me," jaeyeon claps his shoulder before turning to get to the kitchen again, "shit, the noodles have gone cold..."
emptying and washing the bowls, she puts them on the counter and makes a mental note to hand them back to jisung.
"jisung? what are you doing?" jaeyeon asks after noticing he was still in the living room. the first thing she's met by upon entering the room, is a widely smiling jisung, the camera in his hand, a photo in the other.
"it still works!" he happily chimes, "look!"
furrowing her eyebrows, jaeyeon takes the picture while wondering what it was that made him so cheerful. seeing the photo, she can't help but smile.
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biting down against her bottom lip, she silently asks, "can I keep it?"
"I took it because I want you to keep it," jisung scoffs before grinning, "if we're gonna do this, we might as well start taking new pictures."
jaeyeon smiles even wider at this, "and you were so against it like two minutes ago." crouching down, she gathers the photos they had looked at and carefully places them among the remaining ones in the box. the newly-taken one goes on top of it all.
"by the way, do you know what this is?"
curious, jisung looks down at jaeyeon, only to see her holding onto the silver necklace that had been in the box. he furrows his eyebrows, not recognizing it, "no, not really..."
jaeyeon stares at it, wondering exactly what it was with the necklace that once had made her place it in the supposedly important metal box.
"anyway, you should go home now, it's getting la- shit, it's almost one in the morning..."
her statement is almost an reminder to jisung as he just now realizes how tired he actually is, a yawn coming from him. "yeah, we should go to sleep..."
when they later stand in her hallway, jaeyeon snickers, "thanks for, uh, the bowls."
"no problem," he answers. however, the silence following right behind seems off as he just stands still on his spot.
"is something wrong?"
puzzled, jaeyeon watches him as he places the bowls down on the floor instead of answering, wondering what he was up to; her question is answered when he pulls her in for a tight hold. even when he doesn't say anything, the sudden vulnerability around him is hard to not notice.
"hey... what's wrong?"
she hears the deep breath he takes, followed by an unexpected sniffle. quickly, one of her hands go up to comfortingly stroke the back of his head.
"sorry, I just- really missed you."
moving away from him, jaeyeon smiles up at him, "well, I'm here now, aren't I?" she says in a soft chuckle, "really, what were the odds to meet again?"
jisung lets out a heavy sigh and he rolls his eyes, "do you know how hard it was to see my best friend everyday but having to pretend I didn't know her?"
"is that why you always looked so uncomfortable around me?" jaeyeon snorts, earning his nod. "you can stop that now."
just as jisung is about to speak, he stops himself when jaeyeon, much to his surprise, stands up on her toes to place a feather-light peck against his forehead. nothing more than a mere brush of her lips yet none of them are really sure where the boldness comes from.
"good night, jisung," looking back up at him again, the smile similar to the one of a kid on christmas stains her lips, "and thank you."
