• eyes | jaemin •

+ four +

A/N: and mark lee makes another...impactful appearance in this chapter ;)

THIRD PERSON

the duo silently walked back towards hana's home.

after contemplating for a long while, jaemin plucks up his courage to ask.

who the hell was that guy that made her cry?

"so...uh, who was he?" hands in his pockets, he carefully asks.

"oh," hana fumbles with her jacket. "um, he's...someone i used to like." she blurts.

"oh," jaemin nods.

"if you don't mind me to ask...what happened? why are you so afraid?"

hana casts her eyes to the ground with a troubled smile.

"um, if it's too much for you, you don't have to–"

"no, it's okay...i think it's okay to share it with you."

jaemin nods. "alright. i'm all ears."

"that guy, he's park wooyoung from my previous school in busan. i always had a crush on him...and i confessed to him before i came to seoul. but he rejected me, because..." she pursed her lips into a thin line and gulps.

"b-because he said i was a nerd. you see, i wore really thick glasses in the past. i changed to contacts when i moved to seoul, though." she shoots me a forlorn smile.

he frowns at her words. "that doesn't any make sense...he rejected you because you had those glasses? he must be blind. your eyes–"

jaemin stops himself from going further as he processed what he was about to say.

"my eyes, what?" she comes to a stop, and so does jaemin.

she looks up at him curiously, her eyes meeting his.

jaemin grins. "hm...you know, the second time we met each other? in the convenience stall that day, the kimbap?"

her eyes widened in surprise.

he recognised me? how?

"how could you tell?"

"from your eyes," he chuckles. "has no one ever told you? your eyes are really pretty,"

hana's breath hitched as his warm fingers came into contact with her cheeks.

"those dark brown orbs, void of malice. clear, pure, and unlike any other gazes i've received, your eyes were genuine. they were sincere. so, hana, don't waste your tears on that guy. your eyes are worth way much more." he smiles, wiping a single teardrop that slipped down her cheeks.

with that, her steady heartbeat began to accelerate and she could feel her cheeks turn warm. she wasn't sure how to react.

no one had told her that before. she started doubting his words, but when she stared back at his eyes, it didn't seem like he was joking.

"ah, um, thank you." she manages to splutter, quickly forcing herself to look away.

jaemin pulls away and casually stuffs his hands into his jeans pocket.

he couldn't believe what he just said to the girl beside him, and thankfully, she had looked away just as his face turned slightly crimson red.

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as per usual, hana sat alone during lunch today....or so she thought.

someone looms over her as she was eating her korean mixed rice and she abruptly stops eating.

the person eases himself into the seat opposite of her and places his portion of mixed rice in front of him.

hana looks up slowly at the person who had joined her.

"mark?" she exclaims in surprise as her eyes met with the black haired boy's.

"hey, hana." he smiles, picking up his spoon.

"why are you..."

"oh, nothing much. you seemed like you're a good eating buddy, that's why." he digs into his food.

"hardly seems like that's the reason." she says, sceptical.

"okay, okay. that isn't. i'm here cause i'm utterly curious about you." mark gestures his spoon towards her.

"me?" i furrow my brows.

"yeah, you," he puts down his utensils to study her. "the object of my brother's affections."

"what? your brother?"

"jeez, he still hasn't told you? i'm talking about jaemin. na jaemin." he tells her and her eyes widen in surprise.

"you're kidding. he's your brother?"

then again, jaemin never really seemed to be close with anyone else in school except for mark. she'd seen him around jaemin a lot in school.

"of course he is."

"but your surnames–" she stops dead in her tracks as mark's lips crack into a wry smile.

"it's not what you're thinking. i was adopted into the family." he says quietly.

"oh. i'm sorry, i really shouldn't have said that..." hana flashes an apologetic smile as mark looks up from his food and their eyes meet.

"hm," he huffs, tearing his gaze away from hers.

"i think i get it now."

"get what?"

his lips curved into a knowing smile.

mark pushes himself off his seat and picked up his empty tray of food.

before leaving, though, he says one last thing that left hana very, very, flustered.

"why jaemin likes you."

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A/N: hmM so y'all know hana has a backstory...what about jaemin? : )