nostalgia, twenty-eight.
❛ what high hopes come to ❜
Watanabe Haruto had just met the girl, but he couldn't help but throw concerned glances her way as they sat in silence. Yebin was staring down at her lap, biting the inside of her cheek. He could see she was blinking back tears, trying to save face.
"Uh..." Haruto trailed off. "You good?"
Yebin nodded, sitting up straighter. "Yeah, totally."
Haruto obviously didn't believe that. "If it helps at all, I had no idea that they had something going on. I just moved here but they looked like close friends, you know? I think they're over anyway."
"No, it's not that." Yebin smiled sadly. "It's my fault for getting my hopes up. What was I thinking? He hates me for the first few weeks, then we accidentally get drunk one night and the next day everything'll come together? I mean, I don't even know why I came here in the first place."
Haruto's lips parted slightly as she continued to ramble.
"This is so embarrassing." Yebin breathed out, wiping the tears that streamed down her face as she took a food box from her bag. She laughed as she cried. "I even made him tteokbokki."
Haruto was at a loss for words as she covered her face in her hands. He raised his arm rather awkwardly, putting it around her and running it up and down her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
Yebin couldn't help but feel pathetic. She wasn't one to cry in front of anyone, especially when it was about a boy for god's sake. But she noticed a lot of things were changing since she'd met Jungwon.
Feeling eyes on her, she looked up to see Haruto pointing to the top of her head. Yebin glanced behind her in confusion, and Haruto stifled a laugh before reaching over to fix the strands of her hair that were looking like a plant sprout.
Yebin smiled sheepishly closing her eyes in frustration. "Sorry, I look like hell."
"Seriously, this is like heaven." Park Jia sighed as she took a sip of her strawberry milk.
Jungwon shook his head with a low laugh. In the ten years that he'd known her, she always did like to exaggerate.
"Yah, look. I'm almost as tall as you," Jia pointed out as they walked side by side through the Sanheoli corridors.
"Sure." Jungwon rolled his eyes, opening the door for her as they entered the building. "Haruto's still taller than both of us, though."
A few more steps and they'd reached the gymnasium, with Jungwon tossing the milk box up in his hand as he called for the boy. "Hey, Haruto, we bought you some-"
Haruto was exactly where they'd left him, only this time, he wasn't alone. A girl sat next to him and he was turned to her, fixing her hair—but Jungwon didn't really care what he was doing. He cared more about the fact that it was Han Yebin he was with.
Their laughter ceased as they noticed the door had been opened, and the four were left awkwardly staring at each other.
"Yebin? What are you doing here?" Jungwon asked.
"Uh-" Yebin began, exchanging quick glances with Haruto, who'd weirdly pulled his hand away from her and averted his eyes to the ceiling. "I came to- you know, watch your tournament."
Jungwon blinked. "You came to watch me?"
"Aw~" Jia cooed, shaking Jungwon's arm. "That's so cute!"
Jungwon was at a loss for words, holding back a smile as he cleared his throat. "Yebin, this is Jia, my childhood friend. She's a junior."
Yebin's jaw nearly dropped at his words, and she didn't realize she'd frozen for a few seconds.
"Oh, h-hi!" Yebin immediately stood up, patting her skirt down before bowing. "Nice to meet you!"
"I'm so glad we're finally meeting. You're so adorable!" Jia giggled. "Wonie talks a lot about you."
Yebin flushed red as the girl continued to compliment her. Jia was so tall, so pretty, and spoke the nicest words. If Yebin ever wanted to be someone else, she'd probably choose Jia.
"Yeah, ok." Jungwon laughed nervously, trying to change the subject. His eyes fell to Haruto, who was pursing his lips and looking down at the floor.
"So I'm guessing you already met Haruto?" Jungwon suddenly asked, and Yebin nodded. He tossed the box of strawberry milk to the boy, who caught it and muttered a quiet 'thank you.'
Jia raised her eyebrows at their exchange, before clasping her hands together. "Alright so- Haruto! Let's go to the canteen, yeah?"
"What? But you just-"
"I heard there's a new snack," Jia explained, causing the boy to furrow his eyebrows. She feigned a laugh, her eyes widening. "We should check it out, and these two can catch up while we're gone."
"Oh," Haruto said slowly, standing up to follow the junior girl. He looked back at Yebin with a smile. "Thanks for signing my cast, Yebin."
"Bye, Ruto!" Yebin waved happily, and Jungwon's eyes flickered over to her at the nickname.
"Did you guys already know each other before this?" Jungwon asked when Jia and Haruto were out of earshot.
Yebin shook her head. "No, why?"
"He doesn't talk much," Jungwon explained, before clearing his throat. "But it seems like you two really hit it off."
"I guess." Yebin shrugged, and there was another pause of uneasy silence.
"Here, this one's for you." Jungwon then held out another drink for Yebin to take, but she tilted her head, knowing it was his.
"I finished mine at the canteen," Jungwon lied, prompting the girl to shyly accept it.
She really seemed to be avoiding his stare, and he started realize why. Narrowing his eyes on her face, it wasn't long before she looked away again.
Jungwon didn't hesitate as he put a hand on her chin, gently tilting it for her to look straight at him. "Why are your eyes all swollen?"
"I- um," Yebin stuttered as he glared at her skeptically. "I haven't recovered from last night."
For once, Yebin had a believable lie. And she could use it as a segue to what she had been meaning to talk about since she got here.
Jungwon's mouth parted slightly at that. "Right," he muttered.
"About last night, though," Yebin quickly said, before her nerves tried to get the best of her. "Don't you wanna talk about-?"
"Oh, we don't have to." Jungwon shook his head. "Just forget about it."
Yebin blinked. "What? But our conversation-"
"That's not important," Jungwon cut her off with a shrug. "We never have to bring it up again."
"Oh," was all Yebin could say, really.
She was caught off-guard. That wasn't the answer she was expecting. Memories of the night before came rushing back to her mind, words so carelessly said.
But she meant every word, and she thought he did too.
Yebin had started the day off with high hopes. Her nerves had led her to the emotional incident that afternoon, and she swore her tears had just fallen out of panic. It was just her overthinking. When Jungwon and Jia walked in and explained, she knew everything was going to be okay. He seemed happy to see her there. But now that she thought about it, she felt crazy for once again, relying on her assumptions.
With the way he shrugged it off like it was nothing, she knew she'd made a mistake. Because maybe his answer wasn't the one she didn't expect. It was just the answer she didn't want.
"I-I better get going," Yebin told Jungwon, who grew confused.
"Right now?" he questioned. "I was going to ask if you wanted to grab some dinner."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Yebin said with a small smile, trying to be polite. Jungwon didn't seem to mind spending time with her alone, but she did. That was going to make losing feelings for him a lot harder.
She unzipped her backpack, taking the food box and handing it over. "I- um, made you tteokbokki."
"Really?" Jungwon perked up. "This is my favorite dish."
"Yeah, mine too." Yebin pursed her lips, before slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "See you around, Jungwon."
"Oh, okay-" Jungwon looked up from the food box, furrowing his eyebrows when she'd already walked away. "Bye-?"
Yang Jungwon stood frozen in the middle of the Sanheoli gym, sheer confusion on his face. Knowing something was weirdly off, he pulled out his phone and called Sunoo.
"Jungwon-ah, what's up?"
"Hey," Jungwon started. "What happened last night?"
"You and Yebin accidentally got drunk," Sunoo said with a laugh.
"I know that." Jungwon scratched his head. "But why was Yebin acting all weird?"
"She's probably just embarrassed."
Jungwon sighed, thinking. "She mentioned something about a conversation. I know we were acting like idiots at the table, but it seemed like it was more than that."
"Ah," Sunoo realized. "Maybe she was talking about the other conversation you guys had, the one outside the restaurant."
"We went outside the restaurant?"
"Yeah, you guys talked there for a while before falling asleep on each other."
Jungwon's end of the line went silent.
"When we took you guys out for fresh air- you know, by the sidewalk? Don't you remember?"
Sunoo continued to explain, and Jungwon stood motionless as he racked his mind— but came to nothing.
"No, I-I don't remember any of that."
a/n. well shit just hit the fan, but i'm back writing again:)