before you / jung jaehyun

thirty seven

"let me guess, you're here for jaehyun?" aeri asked, awkwardly standing because she didnt know what to do. soomin chuckled, "yeah, but dont worry! we're not doing anything like that anym-" she was about to finish her sentence but it made aeri uncomfortable so she stopped it for her.

"- uh can we not talk about that?" she tried to change the topic. then she tried to divert her gaze away from soomin and finally onto the frozen packs of chicken she took so bloody long to find. "aeri are you mad at us?" soomin tried to butt in again. aeri ignored her, she didnt want to talk about it.

"he wanted it too, okay? it's weird if you're mad about it," she just couldnt stop rambling on and on about the same old things. eventually, aeri finally found the correct pack of frozen chicken her mother asked for and quickly put it in the basket. "dude im not mad, please just leave me alone," she turned around, and walked away from her.

aeri was headed to the cashier, but then soomin just kept following her. "if it makes you feel any better, jaehyun hasnt texted me ever since," she kept trying to always talk about jaehyun. aeri finally placed her basket on the counter, and had the person behind the cash register help scanned her items. "soomin please i beg you to stop talking about it, it's making me very uncomfortable," her voice stern, but still putting on a smile to make it look like she wasnt being an asshole.

"is she making you uncomfortable?" another familiar voice crept up behind her. both aeri and soomin turned around to look at who it was. and when aeri saw the figure properly, she felt like killing herself. "what is this? bump into the people that you hate day?" she cursed under her breath quietly. the boy walked up next to aeri, carefully picking up the plastic bags that were filled with her groceries.

"um, okay wait. i need a moment right now because i will literally cry out of stress," aeri exclaimed, taking the receipt from the cashier, bowing at her and then walking over to the side while she threw the receipt into her bag. the two of them followed her. "soomin, please just go meet jaehyun. i really dont care about your sex life with him. im over it," she lied.

and then she looked over at the boy and snatched the bags away from him. "and you, what the fuck are you doing here? i can carry these myself, mark," she snarled at him, then rolled her eyes. soomin just sighed, and before leaving she said, "ill get going now. but i promise you, it's nothing serious. we're just gonna clear the air,"

aeri and mark stood there, seeing soomin walk out of the supermarket. she couldnt believe her eyes. it pissed her off that she had to listen to that girl ramble on and on about jaehyun. it made her uncomfortable and even upon admitting that to her, she still wouldnt stop talking. after she was nowhere in sight, it was finally her turn to walk out.

mark was following her. "before i scream out harassment, please go away," aeri loudly said, so mark could hear her from behind. they were walking three meters apart. he was trailing behind her. she could hear mark chuckle from behind. "no, im here to actually apologize," he spoke, then he ran just to catch up with her and walk next to her.

she looked at him, and scoffed. yeah right. was what she said. "no its true. i mean, i wanted to say that im sorry for treating you like that at the night of the party," he apologized. the truth this time. remember how aeri said she always knew when mark was lying or not? she just had a special talent when it comes to mark lee.

"um okay apology accepted i guess," she mumbled under her breath. with hands in his pocket, he sighed. "i hope you're doing fine, aeri," he blurted out of the blue. aeri stopped in her tracks and turned over to face the boy walking next to her. "what is this all about, mark?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. she just wanted to have a nice dinner back home but people like mark and soomin were stopping her from that.