➪The Man|| WINRINA

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

“I told Jaemin.”


“huh?”


“and he told me that he already knew.”


“huh??”


“jeno told him first. Damn it.”


“huh???”


“I now like minjeong.”


“what!?” sungchan's chair tipped backward, the furniture falling before landing on the tiled floor with a loud crash. He groaned in pain, getting a weird sense of deja vu as he laid on the floor. “I think I broke my skull.”


Karina look down at the fallen male with a bored look. She knew sungchan wasn't the best choice. Hell, beomgyu was better, but she doubted the members of gucci gang, other than xiaojun and hyunjin, knew about the situation. Jaemin probably lied that minjeong crossed him or something.


Sungchan groaned, slowly standing up and fixed his chair. They were in the local library, an establishment funded by Donghyuck's father, the city mayor. This was the only place she could drag sungchan without him reminiscing what happened between him and shotaro.


He sat back down, hissing. “I don't—”


“I may have fucked up.”


“huh?”


“and now I have to slowly explain my side of the story.”


“huh??”


“are you not saying something else?”


“huh???” sungchan was profoundly confused. One, he has no idea what was happening in Karina’s life because he chose to. Two, he was never part of the original narrative so he had no idea what came before him. And three, what did karina do!?


“what do you expect me to say?” sungchan uttered, he faced the girl. “may I remind you that I was mostly MIA.”


Karina sighed. As much as she wanted to blow up on sungchan for being dumb, she knew that it wasn't his fault. He wasn't close with winter, even if they were in the same team. As far she knew, sungchan was too scare to approach the girl (guy).


“how easy do you think it is to manipulate someone's admission to the academy?” she asked him. She wouldn't say it right away because where was the thrill in that? Plus, if she blatantly say that she did it then sungchan would probably tell jeno, jeno, will tell jaemin, jaemin will tell xiaojun, xiaojun will tell hendery, hendery (by some miracle) will tell it to hyunjin, hyunjin will end up spilling it to ten, and from ten would be kun.


Sungchan's face twisted into confusion. Let him explain, manipulating the admission was a challenge itself since it was a heavily watched over process. Their administration  would hire guards to watch over those in charged to ensure that it would be fair. “impossible. I mean, planning is hard enough. Much more executing it.”


“If there was someone who could do it, who would it be?” karina pressed on. There would be one answer.


“jaemin.”


Karina nodded her head. “right and why did he do it?”


Sungchan's brows furrowed in confusion. Their conversation was getting no where. “huh?”


Karina clicked her tongue in annoyance, clenching her right fist and motioned to hit him if he doesn't start thinking. “jeno. He did it for jeno.”


“now why would my cousin have a hard time entering this school?” sungchan crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back onto his seat. He lazily turned his head to face karina.


“we all know he sucks with math.” karina deadpanned, “so, jaemin decided to manipulate the admission results and succeeded.”


“your point?”


“he taught me how.” karina never thought that Jaemin's ridiculous plan a few years ago would come in handy. She always thought that the plan was pointless considering the fact she had no one to use it to. “and I may have used it and now I'm in trouble.”


“did the school catch you?”


“no.”


“someone saw you?”


“yes.”


“who?”


“jeno,” karina breathed out, “and now jaemin. I swear, those two.” they were partners in crime, joker and harley Quinn. “I thought jaemin didn't know but I guess he does but I didn't know. So I told him yesterday.”


Sungchan was itching to say ‘huh?’. “and why did you explain it to jaemin?”


“I thought he would understand.” karina thought that her best friend would understand why winter had to turn into minjeong. That it was never in her intention to lie to jaemin. She was just protecting herself. She pouted, “but he didn't. He threatened to expose me to minjeong if I don't leave him and jeno alone.”


“and why would you need to leave jaemin and jeno? As much it hurts my pride and heart to say this, isn't jeno with shotaro?” sungchan clarified. It's been two years(?) Since he and shotaro last talked and he's been trying to move on.


“because jaemin promised he wouldn't tell minjeong.” karina said in a small voice, eyes downcasted on her lap. She fiddled with the ends of her sweater. “I don't want minjeong to know.”


“first and foremost, I have no idea what you are talking about because social context is not a thing here.” sungchan deadpanned, bored and confused out of his wits mind. Really, social context no longer existed in this universe. That and a forgetful plothole. “and what does minjeong have to do with this? Are we talking about the same minjeong or am I mixing it up with someone else. We have a teacher who is minjeong as well you know.”


“it's your groupmate.” karina clarified. Singvhan was not the best option for these type of talks. He was clueless (obviously). She didn't even know why she is telling this to sungchan.


She tool a deep breath and loudly exhaled. “why am I even telling this to you?”


“I'd like to ask the same thing.” sungchan muttered, picking up the book that karina opened in front of her. He flipped through it for pictures, although it made his nose scrunch in disgust as he realized karina was reading an anatomy book. “why are you reading this? Don't you want to be a designer?”


“don't get side tracked. Chan,” she called softly toward the younger yet taller male. “do you think jeno hates us?”


“for hurting jaemin? Yeah as fuck he does. But personal feelings? Not that much. ” he pursed his lips, “let's be honest, put of the two of us, jeno doesn't have that much friends in school.”


“and that's because?”


Sungchan debated. He knew his cousin, seeing as he met him the very day his uncle got married to Jeno’s mother and became a Jung. He knew things their childhood friend didn't know.


“well?” karina urged. She knew that look on sungchan. He was debating if he should expose his cousin. And while they didn't have a tight knit relationship, sungchan still respected Jeno’s secrets and the man himself.


Sungchan looked around the room, fearing one of the staffs might hear and report it to jeno. Seeing none, he placed the book down and motioned karina to move closer to him.


He whispered into her ear, “Jeno was the one that...”