✓ nostalgia | jungwon

chapter 19.

nostalgia, nineteen.
❛ a carousel in itself ❜

[ tw: mentions of vomiting ]

There's a certain awkwardness when two people know each other too well to be strangers, but too little to be friends.

     "Sorry," both Yebin and Jungwon said, giving each other strained smiles as they accidentally bumped shoulders. They were walking around the school grounds, just looking at the festival attractions from afar. Yebin would speak up every now and then, briefly telling him about an area or asking if a picture she took looked okay.

     Something caught the girl's eye, and she tugged at Jungwon's jacket to stop him from walking. "Wait."

     Positioning her camera, Yebin brought the colorfully lighted ferris wheel into frame. It was a beautiful shot, but it looked a little empty.

     "Hey, Jungwon?" Yebin called, eye still on the camera's viewfinder. "Could you get in the shot?"

     "What?" Jungwon furrowed his eyebrows, confusedly walking in front of the camera as she directed him where to go.

     "Smile!" Yebin said, but the one he gave was awkward and unconvincing.

     She frowned, before her eyes lit up. "Do you want to hear a joke? Will that make you laugh?"

     Jungwon raised his eyebrows, and Yebin smiled excitedly.

     "Okay, um- what do you call a fake noodle?" Yebin asked.

     Jungwon remained stoic. "What?"

     "An-" Yebin stopped to giggle at her own joke. "An impasta."

     Jungwon blinked as Yebin threw her head back, falling into a fit of laughter.

     "Oh my god," Jungwon murmured, eyeing the girl who couldn't even see his unamused expression as she laughed away.

     He turned away, pursing his lips as he resisted the urge to smile. He couldn't, and ended up trying to covering his laughter with coughs. "That was so bad."