A few days had passed. Gayeon's parents were already home and her college vacation were over. Bogum had come to visit with Jaehyun as her mother requested. It wouldn't be easy since the child wasn't comfortable with everyone at the house, especially Gayeon's mother, as she would be the "nanny" for a few days. Without giving much news, Jaehyun's father only confirmed that he would return home in a month. For a few moments, Gayeon had vague thoughts that her relationship with Jaehyun was coming to an end. During this past week, both he and Yuta were acting strange. Gradually Jaehyun seemed to move farther away, Yuta on the other hand, getting closer. For some reason, her heart felt sore. The idea of being like back in the days of junior high with Jaehyun was horrible.
Gayeon was walking around the square looking for any store that was hiring when she came across Winwin and Johnny, both laughing in a coffee shop. With not much effort, she called their attention and smiled waving. In a gesture with their hands, Johnny and Sicheng invited her to join them. Taking advantage of the place, she offered herself to the job that was available in the cafeteria for waitresses. Soon after, she approached the table the two was and sat next to them.
"Walking alone? "Johnny handed the menu "You can order whatever you like, my treat."
"Really?!" she smiled asking for a small milkshake "Wah, it's so hot, thank you Johnny, I really needed something refreshing."
"That's nothing" he laughed.
"Gwiyomi, are you looking for a job?" Winwin called her attention to him.
"It's a long story, but I'll tell you."
In the simplest and most understandable way possible, Gayeon explained the whole situation that involved her with Bogum and Jaehyun. Both the boys were not very surprised, since more than a half of the history they knew.
"Your mother must be very kind to accept!" Johnny smiled taking a spoonful of his caramel and vanilla sundae to his lips.
"If it was mine, she was going to say no and end of the story" after a sip in his pineapple juice, Winwin made Johnny laugh.
"Yeah... I'm surprised she accepted it, too. That's why I need a job. But looking on the bright side, if I work, I can be more independent."
"Oh, how mature she is, right Winwin? If you go on like this, I'm going to fall in love" with a gasp the younger one denied Johnny's words staring at him indignantly.
"Don't even think about it" Sicheng turned his attention to Gayeon who was drinking her milkshake calmly "Gwiyomi likes someone else" this time she was the one who almost died choking.
"Ooooooh!" Johnny looked curious as he smiled as if he knew who Winwin was referring to.
"No! I don't like anyone that way..." she started confident, but her voice was diminishing slowly.
"Of course not" Winwin ironically chuckled.
"Now I remembered something funny" Johnny tapped lightly on the table.
"What?" Gayeon asked trying to make them forget about her love life.
"When Jaehyun was younger, he had a giant platonic crush in a girl from school. He made a face like you just did when we said we knew" Winwin confirmed the story "But like I said, it was platonic, because all the girls liked Yuta and because they were friends, Jaehyun gave up. Poor kid."
"Now it seems like he's doing the same thing" Winwin sighed, leaning back against the padded bench they were on.
"What would you do in that situation Winwin?" the older one at the table smiled.
"I wouldn't give in, of course" she was shocked by his response "I don't like to feel regret, so I'd rather be rejected than never say how I feel."
"It looks like the baby is growing! "Johnny wanted to tease him, but in the end both laughed together.
"I agree with Winwin. I regretted to never confess to my first love" Gayeon ended up opening herself to those two.
"So you should confess soon" Winwin laughed with a frustrated face "He's stupid, you'll have to it say first."
"I don't know... Looks like he's feeling threatened... Hm" Johnny pondered.
"Let's see how this will end" Johnny made Sicheng fall into thoughts too.
"Wait, wait! I already said that I'm not in love. Why do you think I am?"
"If you could watch yourself, my God, it's so obvious" Winwin stole her milkshake and finished drinking it "Don't tell me you didn't notice?" with her silence, both of the boys sitting there stared at each other "It's more serious than I thought."
"That way we can't do anything if she doesn't even know. One that is naive, the other an idiot and the last one is a narcissist. God enlightens these people!"
Ignoring the fact that they left her completely confused, Johnny and Winwin entertained Gayeon that afternoon. And again, Jaehyun was away. She wanted to spend some of the day with him, but she felt a little uncomfortable and her parents were watching, even though she hadn't done anything suspicious. Lately Yuta has been sending many messages, Jaehyun had noticed and wasn't wanting to accept that he was jealous. All this was bothering Gayeon, because everything indicated that jealousy was indeed the reason for Jaehyun's strange behavior.
Gayeon
< Jaehyun, are you there? (17:54)
< Is everything okay? (18:20)
She didn't receive an answer. Already irritated with it, Gayeon decided to leave it as it was and ignore the empty sensation in her chest. Tomorrow would be a new day and soon things would get better, she hoped. After taking a shower and have dinner, she went to her room and threw herself on the bed. Hugging a pillow, she caught herself wondering what the girl Jaehyun had fallen in love with at that time was like. It must have been hard to ignore his feelings and give up because of a friend, but... And what about Yuta? Did he like the girl too? Without realizing, she had already fallen asleep deeply nor imagining what tomorrow would bring.
The morning was the same as the others, Gayeon had breakfast with her parents and prepared to go out again to find a job. Fortunately, before she got on the bus, and went to a place farther from the square, she got a call. The cafeteria where she met up with Winwin and Johnny the other day selected her for a job interview. Luckily Gayeon was very close to the place and managed to schedule it for that same day. She was excited and forgot all her worries for a moment. She feels that she did well and gave her best answering all the questions that were asked. It did not take long and she received the news that she had been waiting for a week ago.
"I got a job!"
Gayeon ran to Jaehyun's house on impulse, for having gone there several times, she used the spare key under the flowerpot near the door. As she entered and made her way to the living room, she figured out someone else was there too.
"Jaehyun I got a...!" the moment she was about to spread the news, her voice was muffled by Yuta's and Jaehyun's.
Both of them seemed upset and talking loud to each other, which probably kept them from listening to her.
"How long are you going to do this?! I don't want you to give me everything! I want to deserve them; who do you think you are?!" this was the first time Gayeon had ever seen Yuta really angry.
"You would do the same for me!" yet Jaehyun was not happy either.
"No, I would never do that. I hate people feeling sorry for me, so why would I make you feel that?! We are men, then we'll take care of this like men. Don't you have pride?"
"What's the matter with you?! If you like her, then stay with her, from the beginning she liked you!"
"Don't blame me. You're a coward, you've always hidden what you felt and now you're doing the same thing!"
"If you think I like her now, just because I liked her when we were kids, you're really mistaken. She's my neighbor, that's all!"
"Is that what you think? Great, so I'm going to take Gayeon from you, and when that happens, I hope you keep your word and don't come any closer to her again!"
That words broke her heart, she was static not knowing what to do, and luckily, they hadn't seen her. She didn't want to stay another minute in there, she just got out of that house as fast as possible and locked herself in her room" So Jaehyun's first love was me?" "she muttered. That made her feel bad to didn't realize that back then and make him suffer. On her bed, she put the legs together and hugged them, resting her forehead on knees.
"He doesn't like me like back then. That was supposed to be a relief, wasn't it? Now he's not hurt because of me anymore, right? He's fine and will be happy with someone else... So why am I crying? I should be happy, but it hurts, it hurts a lot. When did I confuse love with sympathy? It's inevitable, now I'm sure about everything they told me and what I felt. I'm in love with Jung Jaehyun and he rejected me. I broke my promise to myself..."
Her parents went out to the supermarket while she spent a long time in her room lying on the bed. Her eyes must already be red and swollen. Unwillingly, she stood up toward the bathroom to wash her face. Upon returning to bed, she noticed that her cell phone, previously forgotten, had notifications of a chat. It would be best to avoid contact with Jaehyun at the moment, he couldn't know that she overheard their conversation.
Jaehyun
Did you come here earlier? (16:09) >
Gayeon
< No (17:00)
Jaehyun
I'm sorry I was a little absent. But answering your question now, I'm fine, and you? (17:01) >
Gayeon
< It's okay. I'm fine too (17:01)
Jaehyun is calling . . .
At the moment Gayeon didn't know if she would be able to pick up that call without her emotions being revealed to him. She took a breath and cleared her throat, praying that no sobs would come out.
"Jaehyun... Hi!" she shrank close to the wall.
"I was not sure if you were okay, so... I called."
"I'm fine! I told you, you don't have to worry about that..."
"Are you having the flu? Your voice sounds a bit..."
"Hm? Oh, no, it's just that I screamed a lot, it's that! I screamed too much!"
"Screamed? But why?"
"I... I got a job! Yes, in the cafeteria! I was happy."
"Really?! That's great, you kept your promise with your mother."
"Yeah..."
"Can you come here now? I mean, Bogum misses you."
"I would love to, but I need to do something..."
"What?"
"Something important, so I have to go now, next time I pay a visit. See you later!" before he could give an answer, she quickly disconnected the call and managed to breathe in relief.
How would she look at him now? Gayeon needed a little time to accept the whole situation. She just wanted the day to end as soon as possible and that tomorrow all those feelings would go away. In a second her phone rang again.
Yuta is calling . . .
"Yuta? Hi..." she tried to show strength in her words.
"Gwiyomi..." his voice was low and somewhat melancholy "I had a bad day... Can you keep me company?"
"Has anything happened?" even though Gayeon was sure of the answer, he couldn't know that she knew everything.
"I had an argument with Jaehyun" he sighed "It would not be right to talk about that over the phone... I need to tell you something important. I mean, really important."
"But..."
"Please... Just a few minutes will do."
"Alright... Where do you want to meet...?"
"I'm at a cafeteria near the square, you know? Next to the convenience store, right near where you live."
"I'll be there in twenty minutes..."
"I'll be waiting for you."
She needed to do something about her face, but nothing that a little makeup didn't solve. However, her eyes were really swollen. She tried to take more time then she used to get dressed just so her face would come back to normal, if only for a little while. Gayeon was delayed in five minutes, but soon she arrived and started looking for Yuta. With a brief nod he caught her attention. She went to his table and sat down in front of him.
"I'm sorry for the delay... Did you waited too long?" she smiled as honestly as she could.
"Don't worry, it was worth waiting for every second" he smiled "Are you ok? It seems that your eyes are a little distant."
"It's nothing, I'm just a little out" Gayeon shook her head and kept smiling "I got a job; I was thinking about this."
"Woah, this is great! I'm happy for you!"
"Thank you" she ended up getting a little more relaxed with his words "But we didn't come here to talk about me, did we?
"It's fine by me."
"We came to talk about you! Now tell me what happened."
"To tell you the truth, I think it was my fault... Oh, I just wanted him to stop and see what he's doing with his life. Jaehyun is very faithful to his friends" Yuta looked right into her eyes, and she could see how much he cared about the well-being of his friend "He is the best friend I could ever had. But that ends up being bad too, he easy gives in on things he wants if one of his friends wants too. I tried to provoke him to give impulse, but he didn't change, the only thing he did was give in, again..." other sigh escaped his lips "I got annoyed with that and I ended up screaming at him. I should apologize later, but I'm doing this to help."
"Maybe if he found something that he couldn't give in..."
"I knew you would understand my point of view!" suddenly Yuta was excited and with a malicious grin on his face "Let's date!"
"What?!" her eyes widened and she felt the presence of someone watching them from the outside "What this has to do with helping...?" almost in an instant Yuta was right next to her face.
Gayeon held her breath knowing that if she didn't, their noses would touch.
"Y-Yuta...!"
"Shh... Just for a few more seconds" he glanced over at the large glass that separated them from the outside.
Gayeon noticed a shadow moving and with that Yuta smiled satisfied.
"Good work, princess" with a wink, he deposited a kiss on her cheek.
Within seconds she felt a warm hand pull her by the arm as Yuta was pushed back. A little confused, she saw herself being dragged out by none other than Jaehyun. "What is going on?" — she not even got the chance to say it out loud. She turned around to find a smiling Yuta waving and whispering:
"Fighting."
"Jaehyun, what's the problem?!" his hand, before on her arm, slipped to her hand.
Clumsily he used force to stop her from running away. Realizing she would not receive an answer, Gayeon just followed him. She couldn't see his expression, much less know what was going on in his mind. Now with slower steps, they come to an alley. They didn't walk much, but she noticed that for Jaehyun that was a safe distance. He then finally let go of her hand still not staring at her.
"Jaehyun, please talk to me and tell me what's going on."
"I thought he'd sent me a message to apologize, but no...!" Jaehyun laughed wryly "He wanted me to see you two..." a mixture of anger and frustration melted in his voice "And you...?! That was the important thing you mentioned...? I get it now... What the fuck am I doing?"
"Jaehyun, what do you mean? I'm not understanding anything!" she pulled his arm as an order for him to turn around.
"Say you don't want to" he kept on his back.
"Want what?
"Yuta! Say you don't want to date him!" at last he turned, yet with a worried countenance.
"You... But who said I'm going to date him?"
"I just saw you two...! You want it, don't you?"
"What you saw? Tell me exactly what are you thinking!"
"Answer the question...! Please..."
"I..." she couldn't lie to him, even if she tried "I don't want to date him..." with her words, Jaehyun crouched, sighing in relief.
"Damn..." hiding his face from sight he got up "Let's go back home..."
Without understanding what he was trying to do there, Gayeon followed him automatically. Being beside him made her anxious and confused. Her heart ached, but she stood strong. Out of curiosity, she hurried to walk beside him and tried to look his face in disguise, but he faced the opposite direction. And that was how, in silence, Jaehyun walked with her back home. They split their paths with a short farewell. Jaehyun kept silent all the way, and it won't be Gayeon who would dare comment on anything since it was difficult to face him. Gayeon thought about sending a message to Yuta, since he had asked a serious question before Jaehyun dragged her out. Was he really serious about dating?
Gayeon
< Yuta, I don't know what's happening and I'm confused by this whole situation (19:56)
Yuta
He didn't say anything? Yep, he knows what he does (19:56) >
Now what I said, about we dating (19:57) >
Please ignore it!! It was a joke! Forgive me for making fun of something like that. But I know who you like. At no moment I wanted to play with your feelings (19:58) >
Gayeon
< It seems that only I didn't know then (19:58)
< It's okay, I'm not mad with you (19:58)
Yuta
Thank you for forgiving me... (19:58) >
Gayeon was confused, but because Yuta and Jaehyun were giving her a hard time. Already in her bedroom, she opened her drawer to reveal Jaehyun's drawing. Analyzing it calmly, she leaned over the desk and let her imagination lead her wherever it wanted to go.
"If what Jaehyun had done was not out of jealousy, what was the real reason? If I confessed to him, would all my torment end?"
She was already getting angry with that situation. Without noticing her mother calling for dinner, over the drawing Gayeon talked to her subconscious.