𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 ━━━ 𝖏𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖓

33. unanswered

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Jake's POV

I furiously threw the bandana that I was wearing away on the ground as I stopped running laps. Not wanting to do it anymore, I broke another rule of not doing my detention properly and went to the basketball court. The air was cold but I was sweating from head to top. Moreover I felt anger. I felt furious at everyone. I didn't know why but everything felt unfair. Everyone was taken away from me and it felt unfair to me at this point. Or was it just my cursed luck?

Dribbling the ball violently I scored up the hoop a couple times while the it didn't score sometimes. My breathe got heavier as the coldness of the weather started hitting me. "Gosh." I threw the ball away with strong force as it made huge noises dribbling away. Running my hands thriught my hair, I let out a harsh scream in frustration. "Ahhh why me?!" I shouted not loud enough for anyone to notice though.

Standing there idle after a while, I figure out I was no longer alone in the school premises as I heard someone run towards my direction. Looking behind in confusion I met the person's eyes I had least expected to see now.

Aera's POV

Running all the way to the campus was obviously not the best decision I ever made. But telling him my actual feelings might be. Running inside the huge campus, I saw a tired Jake who looked more furious as he threw the ball away and shouted slightly. I was afraid of what he would say to me. Would he be disappointed or would he want to proceed with this relationship we could develop between us? He heard my footsteps and I stopped a small distance away from him.

Panting for breathe I looked at his innocent face making me feel horrible. He looked weak. And lonely and it was all my fault. And I felt overwhelmed knowing I was the reason why he was losing himself. The cold made my eyes watery but I knew even if it wasn't the cold I'd still find my eyes tearing up in front of him. "What are you doing here?" He said out as I ignored his question and slowly walked towards him.

Standing in front of him, I held his hands. I could feel he was hesitating to loosen his hands which were on mine but he did it anyways. Looking at his milk white hands for a while, a tear fell of my blurred eyes as Jake felt the warm liquid on his hand. "Aera.. are you crying?" He said out slowly as I looked down not wanting to show him that I was practically sobbing right now. But obviously I wasn't successful in it. "Ahh.. what happened?" Jake worriedly asked as I looked up at him with my teared up eyes while biting my lips.

"I'm so sorry Jake." I started off as the expression on his face changed slightly. He had no clue of what I was doing. "I'm sorry I hurt you so much and I kept doing it." Sniffling in front of the guy, I felt horrible for making him suffer even if I didn't mean it intentionally. I felt guilty for being the reason why he was out here doing detention or simply showing his frustration. It was all cause of me and my low knowledge of my own feelings.

"It's fine." His cold voice clearly told me it wasn't fine. He wasn't fine. But he wouldn't show it. "No it's not fine. Not only did I hurt you, but I neglected my feelings too." I was ready. I was ready to accept my feelings and to tell him the truth too. I needed to tell him that day, I was too confused with how I felt. "What?"

"I'm so sorry for breaking your heart." The guy who was in confusion looked right at my eyes now as his turned more serious. "Aera I don't understand." Tightening my grip on his hands, I breathed trying to speak properly, even though I failed miserably in trying to do, with all my courage I looked up meeting his brown orbs. "I like you Jake. I like you the most out of everyone. More than Sunghoon. It was you. It was always you. But I was confused and messed things up."

"Aera.." He wasn't expecting this. Neither was I, until a couple hours ago. "No let me finish. I was a dumbass and I didn't understand my feelings. I thought Sunghoon was the one I liked because I liked to spend time with him. But I like to spend time with you too.." taking small breathes between, I bit my lips feeling my cheeks turn a bit red as I continued confessing to him. "... it was so confusing. But Sunghoon made me catch up to the truth. Yeah he did..." I went silent for a moment preparing myself and then looked up at him with my almost dry eyes now.

"I love Sunghoon a lot but Jake.." I stopped looking straight at his eyes, "..I think I love you more."

There you go. I said it. And I was proud of myself for saying it even though I hated myself for not knowing it earlier. "And I wanted to apologize for everything and also tell you how I really feel. Now it's up to you to do what you want. I just needed to tell you that I like you Jake." It was quiet. Jake didn't answer. I felt myself get more anxious as time passes by. But he didn't answer making me start to lose hope. The guy let go off my hands making it get cold once again and started walking away. "It's getting cold. Let's get you home." He just said that and continued walking out.

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Jake's POV

I walked ahead knowing Aera was following me behind slowly. It'd be a lie to say my heart still wasn't acting up every now and then after Choi Aera confessed. I couldn't stop smiling. But obviously I wasn't someone to show it. I didn't know if I wanted to show it. And I'll be honest instead of being kind. She hurt me. Even if it was unknowingly. And I needed to know if she really was sure about liking me or not. So I wasn't going to say anything. People might refer to this as playing hard to get. But it is what it is.

Stopping in front of Aera's house I gestured to go inside as she stared at me not looking away. The girl didn't look away at all rather she had this confused plain look on her face. "Get inside. I'll go now." I said out trying to sound as uninterested as possible. But turning around, I got stopped by her holding my wrist. "Sim Jake you have to tell me."

"Tell you what?" I pretended to be completely unknown to what she might have been asking me. Even though I clearly knew. "If you like me or not." Like I said before, I wouldn't go easy on her. "What do you think?" Aera was frustrated as she looked down still holding my arm and whispered. "I don't know what you think." Hiding my smile in, I saw her pouted face before shrugging and letting go off her hold.

Leaving her unanswered I turned around yet once again as the smile I was hiding once came back as wide as it could.

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ahhh I have so much studying to do nowadays, I'm not able to update properly I'm so sorry 😭