"Yah Na Jaein!" The mentioned girl ran away from the furious boy with a smirk on her face, "Come back here, you brat!"
Jaein momentarily stuck her tongue out at Jaemin as the two ran around the camping grounds. For this year, the senior camping trip is located near the beach. Everyone has been granted free time for the next hour and so they have decided to go down the beach. Jeno and Hyejin shrug at the familiar scene, both now immune to their childlike behaviour. They both took a seat at a nearby log, watching the two cousins throw sand at each other.
"How have you been going?" Jeno asks the girl.
"I've been really happy these days." Hyejin smiles radiantly at the thought of her friends. Yes, friends. Hyejin has finally gathered the courage to call the three of them, her friends, "Graduation is coming up and I'm nervous about that."
"Life is going to be different from now on. We're going to have to be more independent." Jeno adds on to her statement, "Jaein and I are applying for Neo University. And Jaemin..." Jeno stops and ponders about his next words. He was worried that Jaemin hadn't told her anything yet. He didn't want Hyejin to know about the news from him.
"Jeno. Could you help me with something?" Jeno nods to her question, "Jaemin said that he wants to go to England but that he won't go if he has to leave me. Please," Hyejin looks at Jeno full of hope, "help me to convince him to go, no matter what."
"Hyejin..."
"It's been on my mind for a long time. I told him to wait just a little more. But then what happens if in the end I just disappoint him? What happens if it just doesn't work out for us? What happens if things are just not meant to be?" Hyejin tears up at the sad thoughts. Of course she didn't want any of it to be true. She wants Jaemin; she wants to be with me, date him, stay by his side, but her anxiety didn't let her think straight.
"You need to try first, Hyejin. Love isn't easy, you know that right? Jaein and I have fought many times. There was one time where it was really bad. We weren't speaking to each other for a week." Jeno grimaces at the thought, "At that time, I seriously thought I lost her. But the fact that we're still together now, just shows how we were both willing to take the risk."
"Jaemin's future shouldn't be stopped for someone like me." Hyejin shakes her head in disbelief, "No. I won't allow that."
"You're a part of his future, Hyejin. I can't stop Jaemin from doing the things that he wants to do. I can only tell him my opinions but I will not stop him. As his friend, it's my duty to support him along the way. As long as they're not illegal things of course." Jeno and Hyejin chuckles at the quick addition of Jeno's sentence, "You need to know that Jaemin," Jeno points to the boy who right now had his mouth wide open at Jaein, incredulous at his now wet state, "he yearns for your presence. When it's just me and him, you're all that's in his head. He's whipped for you, Hyejin."
Hyejin follows Jeno's point, staring at Jaemin with love and adoration, "How will I tell him, Jeno?" Hyejin's tears continued to wash down her face, the stream shined underneath the sunlight, "How will I tell him that my heart belongs to him? I'm such a coward. He's done nothing but good to me and here I am as a pathetic, cowardly and weak girl who can't even follow her own heart. I don't deserve him, Jeno."
"Everyone deserves love, Hyejin. Everyone deserves to feel loved."
The year group finally gathered in the dining hall for their last meal of the day. Jaemin and Jaein throw glares at each other due to their little fight earlier in the day.
"I'm tanned now because of you." Jaein complains.
"I told you to put on some more sun cream. Don't blame it on me, you brat." Jaemin rolls his eyes annoyingly.
"You guys act more like siblings than cousins." Jeno comments.
"It's bad enough being related to this brat and now you think we're even closer in the family tree?" Jaein pretended to throw up, "Ew no."
"Don't worry. The feeling is mutual."
Jaein puts out a pouty face to Hyejin who is sitting across from her, "Yah Hyejin! Could you tell your boyfriend to shut up?!" but her tone totally contrasted her facial expression.
Jaemin stood up and blushed at the title, "H-Hey!"
"Break it up, you two." Hyejin pulls Jaemin back down by tugging on his sleeve, "Let's just be at peace for a while okay?" Hyejin faces Jaemin with a small smile, "Hm?"
The little act is enough to make Jaemin's heartbeat 127km/hour. He turns away from Hyejin, too consumed with the title that Jaein called him, "Y-Yeah."
From a faraway but nearby table, Aerin clenches the utensils on her grip feeling jealous creep up. It got worse when Jaemin wraps his arms around Hyejin's shoulders and looks at the girl with much adoration. The teachers allowed the students to leave the dining room when they were done, setting up some students for clean up duty. Aerin rolls her eyes when her name is mentioned but soon smirks malevolently when Hyejin's name is mentioned.
The enormous hall was full of silence when all the students went their own way. Aerin broke the silence by initiating the conversation, "What's the deal between you and Jaemin?"
"H-Huh?" Hyejin wasn't ready for a conversation with Kim Aerin. She stops wiping the table to face the stern looking girl, "Nothing is going on between us."
"So you guys are not dating?"
That word made Hyejin sour, feeling her self-esteem crumble once again, "N-No, we're not."
"Good." Aerin sashayed away from the downcasted girl. Aerin says a final goodbye, a rather cold one, before pushing the double door open to leave the hall. Aerin's eyes gleamed with the presence outside the door, "Jaemin!"
"O-Oh, hi Aerin." Jaemin awkwardly smiles back, "Is Hyejin still inside the room?"
Aerin's eyes turned dark with the mention of the girl's name coming out of her crush's mouth, "Do you seriously like her?"
"Yes." Jaemin answers with no hesitation, his facial expression serious with no hint of playfulness, "I like her, Aerin."
"Why her?! I've been by your side since primary school! All the boys praise me, all the girls want to be me! Why not me, Jaemin?!"
"Aerin." Jaemin starts off, his voice as serious as it can be, "You assumed that all the boys would fall for you. But you assumed wrong because Jeno and I never once glanced at you."
"What is it that she has that I don't?"
"The fact that she's Park Hyejin and you're not." Jaemin didn't spare another glance at the girl who had been badly affected with his words, zooming past her to enter the dining hall.