Passive Aggressive: BTOB Peniel

Chapter 9

PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE, PART II
Chapter 9: Point of View

Peniel

I have a lot of friends that are girls, no doubt about that. I don't really choose friends based on gender so it's not much of a big deal to me, especially growing up for a while in the US, as much as it's a big deal to my Korean friends.

I didn't even quite like Yuhee when I first met her especially because she plays ballad songs every night when I'm trying to stay awake to stream my game. It's an extra money I make so that I don't have to ask for too much allowance from my parents. But I think I started liking Yuhee from the day she said hi to Pennie instead of me when she was walking with her friends.

It's just that barely anybody really pays attention to Pennie when they see me in the streets. It's also not liking her in a romantic way. I just liked her. You know when you meet someone and you just like how they are and you think you'd have a lot of fun if you were friends? It's that kind of thing.

It surprised me that she made friends so quickly and with Chaewon and Danbi too. They were quite popular in school. Chaewon, at least. I heard she's TikTok popular. I don't have TikTok so I don't know.

Anyway, Yuhee stood out quite a little that day too because both Chaewon and Danbi were wearing crop tops, tight shorts and tight pants but Yuhee seemed a little out of place with her huge gray t-shirt and baggy shorts. I remember that her hair was tied up and the wind had messed it up.

On the first day of school, people were talking about that TikTok and the new girl coming is already friends with Chaewon. People barely really talked about Danbi, except maybe Ilhoon. He always found a way to praise her when everyone else was praising Chaewon.

“This girl is pretty.” Changsub said while they were watching it. I was scrolling through the messages on my Twitch then.

“Which one?” Hyunsik asked, peeking over his phone.

“The one with no makeup. Isn't she pretty?”

“She looks ordinary to me.” Hyunsik said.

“Peniel, isn't she pretty?” Changsub asked, showing me his screen and guess what, he's talking about Yuhee.

“Ah, she lives next door to mine.” I told them.

“Really? Is that why you were talking to her this morning? Introduce me.” Changsub said.

“No.”

“I think Danbi is prettier.” Ilhoon said, now looking at the TikTok on his own phone too. “She dances the best too.”

“Are you crushing on Danbi?” Hyunsik asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“No, just appreciating what I see.”

He's always too quick to deny any allegations about crushes too.

* * *

I think I like Yuhee like that and I feel screwed. Like, this isn't right. I have girl friends too and I'm not feeling romantic things for them. I should be able to do the same with Yuhee but that day we baked a cake for Binna noona, something felt strange. Like, I was running out of breath when we got closer and I could literally feel the beat of my heart even without holding my chest.

I've never been like this before.

* * *

Our homeroom teacher was assigning teammates for the prelims project and Changsub was so elated that he's been partnered with Yuhee that he couldn't stop talking about it during lunch.