no strings attached. jay enhypen

11. starting lie

"time may pass us by, but
you stay stuck on my mind
and that moment we shared that
night, i thought it was right."

a week has passed since the three of them went out to get ramen but since then, they haven't spoken at all. jay and kyorin make subtle hints about their "liking" of each other at school but since their posts, it seemed like everyone had already known what's to come.

kyorin was busy herself, trying to cram more of her studies while her two friends looked at her with utter shock. even they were shocked to see that she had been seriously interested in someone real. the three girls sat around in kyorin's living room, trying to grasp their thoughts to ask the right questions.

nari huffs as she can't focus on her studies as her curiosity continues to only intensify as time goes by.

kyorin flicked her pencil between her fingers as she read through her korean study guide. she had not given a thought to what occurred during their ramen stop but she preferred to not talk about it. chills would go down her spine as she thought about it as she was shocked herself.

nari sat in front of kyorin, both being seated on the floor with the coffee table separating them. her study guide was blank as she wasn't focused on that but her friend. she exchanged glances with yoojin who seemed to be just as confused as well. they've never seen kyorin so focused as it was odd enough for yoojin to not be studying herself. kyorin looks up at her friends catching them staring at her. she knits her eyebrows in confusion, "are you guys okay?"

"us? oh no, we're fine," nari quickly responds. yoojin nods as she slowly picked up her book to continue reading.

"then why are you staring at me?" kyorin says, confusion evident in her tone. yoojin and nari exchanged glances once more before they corrected their posture. nari opens her mouth to answer but the jet black haired girl beats her to it.

"when the fuck did you and jay happen?" she hunches over, putting her elbows to her knees and her chin resting on her palm. the sudden question threw kyorin off as she didn't expect it to be phrased that way.

no one can know, kyorin thought as she cleared her throat before answering, "we aren't together. at least, not yet."

she watches her best friends eyes widen in utter shock. the pencil that nari held in her hand drops at the same rate that her jaw does. yoojin leans back onto the couch in shock for a split second before reforming her posture. she sits back up and used her pen to point toward kyorin, "not yet? what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"it means we're just talking? what's the big deal?" kyorin says, feeling her neck get hot. this was a serious lie that she did not think she'd have to tell her closest friends.

"okay? but why him? you guys don't even know each other! and he broke up with chaerin like two weeks ago?" yoojin uses her fingers to list out what she had just said. she couldn't comprehend how any of that happened so her with her running statistics in her head, she was confused all around.

kyorin nodded at her statements, "we talked at that party and we've been ever since then."

"the one where you pulled me and jinnie out of beer pong from?" nari asks, now holding onto one of the couch pillows. nari's expression was soft with hints of confusion. she was slow so her trying to understand this just as much as yoojin was making her head spin.

the brunette nods while tying her hair up into a high ponytail. she crosses her legs before pressing her lips into a line, "he's a nice guy. i felt bad about how they broke up so i kinda just comforted him, you know?"

more and more lies escape her mouth the more she talked about this. the guilt was eating at her in the deepest parts of her stomach as she feels her heart sinking. her friends were everything to her so lying to them was probably the most painful thing she's had to do in a while. kyorin fiddled with the string to her hoodie as yoojin leans onto the arm of the couch, "you're not a rebound, are you?"

"yeah, if you're a rebound we don't want you talking to him. that's so shitty and i'd beat his ass," nari spoke in a low tone, causing kyorin to giggle.

"why're you laughing? this is serious, rinnie!" nari whines, pushing the pillow off of her lap. the sight makes kyorin and yoojin laugh to themselves, leaving their aloof friend once again even more clueless.

"we love you, but you wouldn't hurt a fly. the fly would hurt you," yoojin says between laughter, clutching onto her stomach. seeing nari try and be serious was just so adorable to them that it brings them joy. kyorin kicks back as she lay on the floor, unable to control her giggling as nari tried explaining herself but she couldn't hear. her laughter was the only thing that remained important and rampant in the house.

"as long as jay makes you happy, i guess it's fine," yoojin admits. she didn't mind it completely, although it did seem fishy how he had managed to find a new person to love after chaerin. maybe he just fell out of love with her and kyorin was the new, she thought. but even then, it smelled all kinds of suspicious to her.

"yeah! if he starts being an asswipe just tell us! yoojin can kick his ass and i'll record," nari says, getting a thumbs-up approval from yoojin. the three of them let out their last few fits of laughter before returning to their studies. as the laughter dies down, kyorin feels her phone buzz in her pocket. she closes her eyes and sighs quietly. she pulls out her phone, embarrassed to see what message it was to be this time.

nari crawls over to peer over kyorin's shoulder, curious to see who it was. she likes kyorin's side, making the brunette flinch away, "is it jay?"

park jongseong
7:34 pm

jongseong
wanna get ice cream
w the guys? they wanna
meet you :]

kyorin
only if nari & yoojin
can tag along

jongseong
i'll pick you guys up
in 20 then

kyorin
👍

a bit of a filler for the next
chapter, so my apologies :)
but at least we have more
of the trio :> they're the
cutest if i do say so myself !
- SEI 🌱