𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 23

A/N: Sorry it took so long guys, I've been going through a little bit of a mental block over the past few weeks. I honestly just kept doubting my writing and wasn't sure if it was any good for a while, but after reading through all the comments and support I've received I got straight back to writing for everyone. You all seem to genuinely love my story and enjoy the content I've been putting up for you, so it's been very helpful and strengthening.
By the way, thank you so much for all the lovely messages and the birthday wishes, I really love and appreciate you all - it's because of this that I still have the motivation to return and to keep writing :D

"Kim Sihyun, do you think of yourself as a princess?" Hyeongyu asks. You all enjoy some of your free time the following day by playing some games together in little groups, this one being a lie detector test.

"No," she says, but screams when it ends up being a lie, and you all laugh and hit her with your plastic hammers. You're sitting between Jugyeong and Hyeongyu, - directly opposite Seojun - all of you sitting on the floor in a little circle. 

"Love or friendship?" Suho suddenly asks Seojun, and you nervously wait for his answer.
"Love," he responds without any hesitation and you just look down sadly, unconsciously reaching for your wrist to play with the charm on your bracelet. You don't really know what you were expecting, but his answer still upsets you. A few more questions are thrown around, before you suddenly get asked one.

"Y/N," you look up at Shihyun when she calls your name, and she pushes the machine towards you, "do you have a crush on someone?" your eyes widen and you glance at Seojun briefly, but you quickly regain your composure and respond with a no.

The machine buzzes to tell you that you're lying, and you yelp at the electric shock that shoots up your hand before giggling when your friends all reach over to hit you with their toy hammers.
"Oooo so she does have a crush on someone," your friends tease you, but you just remain silent.

"Is it the person who gave you that bracelet?" Your eyes widen in panic at Hyeongyu's question. Playing with the bracelet was a habit you'd developed almost instantly, the bracelet unknowingly bringing you a lot of comfort and helping you relax.

Hyeongyu had picked up on this, since arriving at the trip the previous day, and had often seen you playing with it. When he noticed how quiet you'd become during the game he looked over to see you playing with it once again, so he could only assume that it must be an important piece of jewellery to you.

"What?" you ask softly, and your friends all go silent as they look at Hyeongyu in curiosity.
"I mean, you've been playing with it all day, so I just assumed..." he says and points at your hand as if to prove his point. When you look down and realise you're unconsciously playing with the bracelet again you quickly pull your sleeve over it to stop yourself.

"Y-yah, you can't ask two questions at once," you stutter in panic, feeling your cheeks heat up in embarrassment, but this only causes them to become even more suspicious.
"Oooo who is it?" they ask you teasingly when they see how much you're starting to blush.

Eventually their attention shifts after you remain quiet, realising they won't get an answer out of you, and you let out a tiny sigh of relief. You take a quick glance at Seojun and gasp when you see that he's looking at you, a mixture of confusion and shock in his expression. You quickly break the eye contact and turn to Jugyeong when she starts to ask the next question.

"Have you ever wanted to break up with Sua?" Jugyeong asks Taehoon.
"No," he says confidently, but it ends up being a lie. Sua gets upset and runs away in tears, so the girls get up to run after her. You take one last glance at Seojun before following her too. He just watches you leave, wondering what the question from earlier was about.

After finally managing to get Sua to calm down a little, you and Jugyeong take a walk around the camping ground while Soojin offers to stay with her.
"Are you okay? I know it must've been really overwhelming for you to have everybody asking you about your crush," she speaks up suddenly, feeling worried about you because of how uncomfortable you looked earlier.

"It's alright," you say gently.
"The bracelet really is pretty though." You smile softly but don't respond. "He got it for you, didn't he?" You lift your hand up to look at the bracelet for a few moments, before turning to her and nodding slowly.

You tell her about the day he had given it to you and the little moment you shared with him, if you would even call it that. She smiles while she listens to you speak, she really does believe the two of you are adorable together.
"You guys would be really cute together."

"It doesn't matter," you say, throwing her a pained smile, "he doesn't like me in the same way that I like him." You can tell she's about to disagree with you, so you speak up again. "It's getting late, I should probably call my mum," you say quickly and walk away, not hearing the next few words that she utters.
"But he does..."

You walk away, quickly finding a quiet area to call your mother and see how she's doing. Throughout the day you had to really hold yourself back from constantly texting her out of worry. You've never left her alone for this long before, which is why you were so hesitant to go on the trip in the first place.

However, after Gowoon's reassurance that she would check up on your mother often to see how she's doing, - along with your mother's convincing - you finally agreed. You really appreciate Gowoon's help, as well as her mother's, but you couldn't help but still feel worried during the day.

She reassures you that she's fine and that both Gowoon and Seojun's mother have been checking up on her and spending time with her, so you don't need to worry - she seems to be doing fine.

You feel reassured to know that she's being taken care of, and after talking to her for a little while longer you end the call and make your way back to the tents. Since your friends had gone to their tents early you just walk over to Seojun when you locate him, not wanting to go back just yet. You're wearing an oversized hoodie by this point, and Seojun thinks you look adorable.

"Earlier, when we were playing that game..." he starts after you walk around together for a little while, and your eyes widen when you realise what he's trying to ask.
"Oh look, Chorong and the others look like they're doing something!" you cut him off before he can finish his question and run over to the boys, Seojun following behind you.

"What are you guys doing?" you ask when you see that they're all holding cameras, looking like they're about to go somewhere. They tell you that they're going to look for a ghost, and that you and Seojun should both join them, but you get nervous at the idea. Seojun notices, trying to play it off by telling them that he can't be bothered, but when they call him a coward and practically force him to join them he eventually caves in.

"And you," Chorong says, pointing a finger at you, "you're going too." The boys all cheer and run off in the direction of the forest, clearly leaving you with no choice in the matter. Seojun throws you an apologetic look and you respond with a reassuring smile.

You shiver a little, starting to feel a little cold from being outside for so long in just your hoodie, rubbing your arms in an attempt to warm yourself up. Seojun notices this and is quick to take off his jacket, wordlessly putting it over your shoulders. You look up at him in confusion.

"You looked cold." You smile at him gratefully and put your arms through the sleeves properly, before starting to walk in the direction that the boys had gone. Seojun thinks you look adorable in his jacket, but he doesn't say anything, just catching up to you to find the others.