falling for u ➳ joshua hong

f o u r ☕️

haewon

it was lunch time, and i dressed up pretty casually. i fixed my hair and grabbed my phone. i went down to see my mother casually waiting for me on the couch.

"you ready?" she asked, i nodded. we got in the car, and she started to drive.

"by the way, what's the name of your friend's son?" i asked, since i forgot to ask her yesterday.

"oh yeah! it's jisoo, i believe."

WHAT? i almost choked on my own saliva when i heard jisoo's name.

jisoo? ugh, don't tell me it's fate or destiny or something. i don't believe in that crap. it's just in books, not reality. just because two strangers meet each other in an unplanned way it already means that they're meant to be? can't you call it a coincidence first, eh?

i took a deep breath, and my mother looked at me weirdly. "what's wrong?" she doesn't know about the whole 'confession' thing, only hyungwon, sojung, and hyungwon's friends know about it.

"uh, what's their last name?" i asked.

"hong." she replied. "why? do you know him?"

"uh, yeah actually. he's one of my classmates..." i said.

"oh, okay! nice to know that you guys know each other!" my mom said happily.

i regret going here. i immediately took out my phone and texted sojung and hyungwon. let me say, they had the same reaction.

a couple minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant. we got out the car and got inside the restaurant. no sign of jisoo... yet.

we sat down on a table for four, and waited for jisoo and his mom to come.

"oh, hi!" my mother, who was beside me, said, startling me. i turned around and saw jisoo. my palms started to sweat as i we made eye contact. i turned back, facing the table, and started breathing heavily, why? it's like i'm meeting someone i know will murder me.

"uh, i'm going to the bathroom." i said. i stood up from my seat before jisoo and his mother could sit down.

i got in the bathroom and looked at the mirror. it's okay, haewon. it's okay. breathe in, breathe out. he's just hong jisoo. he surely won't remember, right? i'm sure he had so much confessions back in 8th grade that he won't remember mine! just act natural, and lie if you have to.

why am i even talking to myself? i don't know. all right, time to go out.

i went out the bathroom and tried my best to act natural. i sat back on my seat, beside my mother and across jisoo, who was playing with his phone.

"goodafternoon, mrs. hong." i said while bowing.

"hello, haewon! it's nice to actually see you in person!" mrs. hong said. i flashed a small smile and looked at jisoo, and he looked like he doesn't give a crap in this world. "joshua, say hi to haewon."

"hello, haewon. hello, mrs. chae." he said. i waved at him and he waved back, but we seem to share an awkward feeling.

"i heard you were classmates." my mother, who was busy looking at the menu, said. jisoo looked at me with a confused expression in his eyes, but then it softened as he realized who i am.

"yup..." we both said awkwardly, our voices trailing off.

we ordered our food, and luckily, jisoo wasn't close to knowing my past. surprisingly, we actually talked quite a bit. at first it was awkward, but then we started to know eachother. hmm, we're still only acquaintances, though.

the food came and it was so good like always. you know, i kind of forget everyone around me when i eat food.

anyway, i just have one question for my mother; how did mrs. hong and my mom not meet back in middle school or something? or did they? does my mom know about the embarrassing confession? okay, enough. i think i've been watching too much conspiracy theories.

"haewon," jisoo said.

"hmm?" i said, busy slurping some noodles.

"have i- eh, nevermind..." he said. what was that all about?

after a while of talking, eating, and moms catching up with eachother, it was already 2 o'clock PM and we all decided to go home.

"so... how was the lunch?" my mom asked.

"good." i said, not breaking contact with my phone. "the food was the best, as always."

"so... what'd you talk about with joshua?" she asked.

"stuff." i said, too lazy to say a decent answer, not breaking contact with my phone.

"stuff like...?" mom asked, starting the car.

"past, present, future." i said nonchalantly, still focused on my phone. suddenly, my mom grabbed my phone out of my hand.

"hey! what was that for?" i said, pouting and crossing my arms. "please give a decent answer." she said.

"fine. we talked about school stuff...?" i said, more like asked. "why do you need to know anyway?"

"because..." my mom said.

i grabbed my phone back and she started driving. she didn't finish her sentence, but who cares?

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word count: 848 words