"BamBam. Youngjae and Chorong's friend," BamBam held out his hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you,"
"Uh.. I'm Eunji, Chorong's best friend," they shook hands and I could see how Eunji couldn't take her eyes off of him.
"Now that that's over with, let's go because Yoon Nara sees me with you," I grabbed the two boys by their arm and started dragging them away.
Eunji made no move to stop us, still staring at the Thai boy.
"Who's Yoon Nara?" BamBam questioned.
"Chorong's archenemy," Youngjae answered him, a hint of teasing in his voice.
"You have enemies?"
I made a face at him and hit Youngjae on the back of his head.
"Ow!"
"Why are you even coming with us?" I asked, sighing.
"Because someone's looking for him," BamBam explained to me. "We're going to be sitting at separate tables, anyway, so we have privacy,"
When we arrived at the cafe, BamBam sent his older friend away to sit at an empty table as we got one for ourselves. He went to the counter and ordered drinks, coming back to the table and offering me, taking one for himself and giving the other to Youngjae.
"Your friend seems to have taken an interest to me," he said, chuckling to himself.
"Yeah. I suppose she has," I shrugged, thinking about the way Eunji acted. He took a sip of his drink.
"I hope she's not like the others, who fall in love with me without getting to know me,"
"She's not that kind of girl," I told him. "Trust me. She's different,"
He let out a sigh.
"That's what they always say, but they're no different from the others,"
A short silence came between us before he looked back at me, smiling slightly and speaking.
"I suppose you're curious why I asked you to meet up,"
"What is this about, anyway?"
"I'm only telling you this because you make Youngjae happy,"
"I... What?"
"You make him happy. You really do, and I want you to know this since I think you already know what happened to him years ago,"
Yeah, I did. With Baek Ah Yeon...
"She wants him back."
"What exactly does that have to do with me?"
He let out a sigh.
"Please don't pretend to be stupid, Chorong. I know you're not stupid. She's Youngjae's first love. First love can never completely go away. Once he finds out that she wants to get back together with him, we're completely dead. He'll definitely say yes and what if she has to leave again? He'll be crushed. Save from all that hurt, Chorong. I... We know you can do that,"
But they're his best friends. I don't think I can even count to be called his best friend. Friend, yes, but not that... Can't they help him themselves if they want him not to be hurt? Why does it have to be me?
"Why me, BamBam?"
It took him a while to answer. He was thinking, obvious by his expression, and thinking hard at that, too. He took another sip of his Americano and let out a deep breath.
"Youngjae is very.... Choosy... Especially when it comes to his friends. He's scared he'll be betrayed and he rarely talks about people anymore. The only person he brought to that club was Ah Yeon. Before you came along, of course. When Ah Yeon left, he didn't speak much for a long time and was quite short tempered. But now that he met you, now that you guys are friends, he's been really cheerful. The exact opposite of what he was when she left. Who else could possibly save him from all the hurt aside from you?"
I sipped the macchiato he gave me, not knowing what to do. Minutes passed in silence. I sighed and buried my head in my hands for a second.
"I don't know what to do,"
He laughed softly and covered my hand, which was on the table, using his. He took it and squeezed it gently, as a friendly gesture, nothing more.
"Think about it. Think about Youngjae,"
We stayed there for a long time. Long enough that when I went home, it was nearly six in the evening. And today, unnie was home early so she interrogated me on why I came home two hours after I got out from school.
"I went out with a friend. We just talked, that's all,"
She didn't ask me any more questions and I went up to my room, taking out my sketchbook, flipping through the pages and stopping at random intervals.
I heard a tapping on my window a long time later, and I knew he was back. I jumped off my bed and went to the window, grabbing a pad and a marker.
Eunji seems to have fallen for BamBam
That made me laugh. That's what everyone thinks, though I don't blame them. From the way she was acting earlier, people could guess that she liked him at once.
Everyone thinks that
A smile formed on his face as he showed me his paper.
It's not hard to tell
I am definitely going to tease her tomorrow.
Who did you meet anyway?
I was curious. I saw him talking to a girl but I couldn't see her face and I didn't recognize her by seeing the back of her. But when I saw his answer, I immediately regretted asking.
Ah Yeon
He had a straight face as he looked at me. He held up his paper again.
Sorry for being nosy but can you tell me what you and BamBam talked about?
I remembered what BamBam told me, about not telling anyone about what we talked about.
I'm sorry. I can't
I looked at him and he had his head lowered. I took the book that was lying on my desk and opened it to the page where I was, which still in the eighth chapter and I had a long way to go finish the entire book...
Do you want to go up to the roof?
I shook my head.
My sister's there already, and even if she wasn't there, I still wouldn't
He gave me a smile from his window, mouthing a question 'Why?'. I held my hands up and shook my head. I am not going up there again. Just no.
Do you want to go out and eat, then?
I nodded and said I'll be asking permission first before running down the stairs.
"Can I eat out tonight?"
"Okay. Go."
Well... That was easy...
I ran up first to tell him she said yes before putting on shoes and getting my necessities inside a bag before heading down the stairs again and outside onto the sidewalk.
"I've been spending the whole day out today," I said.
"Yeah. The both of us have," he agreed. "Anything specific you want to eat?"
"Jjajjangmyeon?"
He suddenly laughed.
"Good. That's what I was wanting to eat, too,"
We went to the nearest Chinese food place and ordered two bowls.
"My treat tonight," I smiled.
"What? No! I-"
"Don't complain. Remember what you said about me and Yugyeom treating you?"
He didn't speak anymore and just started to mix his noodles with the black bean sauce. We ate for twenty minutes, at the most. I paid the bill and we got up, leaving the restaurant.
"Should we go back now? Or it is still too early? Do you have homework tonight?"
"None," I shook my head. "Do you?"
"I just wing everything if I need to," he suddenly confessed.
"And you're okay with that?"
"No one knows what kind of skit we're going to do so practicing is sort of useless." he explained to me. I nodded slowly.
He suddenly held a strand of my hair in his hands.
"Do you want dye your hair?" he questioned, looking at me.
"No... Not really... Why?"
"I think you'd look good with highlights,"
What is this guy planning? I pushed my hair to the side, away from him.
"Don't you dare try to go and dye my hair,"
"I won't," he laughed. "I promise I won't touch your hair,"
"Thank you,"
We were walking silently when someone just came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders, almost surprising me enough that I would have hit the first person I saw, which was Youngjae.
"God, curse you, Jackson!" he practically shouted. He let out his hyena laugh, smiling brightly.
"Are you two on a date? Did I disturb you two?"
"We weren't on a date. We just went out," I told him, shooting him a glare. "What are you doing, anyway?"
He didn't have to surprise me... He laughed again and said that he just went to the convenience store to buy some snacks since some people told him to buy because they were hungry.
"So basically, they made you their servant?" Youngjae asked, making sure.
"Pretty much," he nodded.
"I pity you,"
Jackson stayed and talked with us for a few minutes more before we went our separate ways, him leaving me and Youngjae to go back to wherever he came from and the two of us going back to our neighborhood.
"Go now," he said, jerking his head towards the door. I nodded, but I still didn't move. He stared at me, biting his lip.
"Good night, Youngjae,"
He smiled slightly, reaching out and wrapping his arms around me. Pulling me closer to him and hugging me. I didn't do anything. I was lost for words.
Seriously.
My mind was blank and I didn't know what to do. He only hugged me for a few seconds, but that was enough to make me speechless.
"Go inside," he repeated. I nodded and bowed to him, going inside my house quickly. As I ran up the stairs to my room, I felt my cheeks heat up and my heart beat faster.
I had never been hugged by a boy and felt like this after. What was happening to me?
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Hi!! How is this chapter?? ^^ Any comments??