Your secret's safe with me | Haerin x reader

iii.

She didn't think she had ever been so nervous about going to school. The dreaded yet exciting first day of a new year didn't have anything on walking through those doors post determining that the girl you used to hate was quite possibly the person who you'd been speaking to in a secret telling booth and may have a crush on-

Y/n couldn't even say it. It was just so ridiculous.                          

Her first tactic was going to be to avoid her. Yeah. At least until she could get her head together. Except Haerin left her stuff at her house the night before and she had to be the nice person she was and return it.

Walking into class, her eyes immediately fell on Haerin. She was just sitting there at her desk playing on her phone like it was any other day. Hair down. A crease of concentration in her brow. Uniform neatly pressed. A boy next to her leaned over to tell her something that made her laugh. Y/n was so caught up on the sound of it that she tripped on her feet, the momentum of it throwing her right into Haerin's desk.

Laughter cut off and eyes zapped to her. The smile Haerin had faded away and her eyes widened in concern before it was whisked away by a blank expression aside from the specks of red that found a place on her cheeks.

"You, uh-" Y/n looked over to see the boy watching her. Or he probably wasn't. No one was probably paying attention to her aside from Haerin. But her nerves told her otherwise and she clammed up the way she used to always do in the girl's presence. "You forgot this."

She sat her bag down on the desk.

Haerin didn't quite let her attention focus on her, eyes shifting uneasily. "Oh. Thanks."

Oh, thanks? That was it? That was weird. No, that was good. Y/n was let off easy.

"You're welcome."

Walking to her desk, Y/n sat down.

Haerin glanced over her shoulder and their eyes immediately locked. It wasn't Y/n who broke their gaze this time though. It was Haerin, neck snapping around like she was ashamed of being caught.

Y/n was stuck on own nerves to wonder why the all- confident, unshakable Haerin Kang was acting like a shy little school girl with a crush. Oh, wait. She was a shy little school girl with a crush.

Heat took over Y/n's face causing color to fill it up. She dropped her face into folded arms to hide herself away. How could this be? This couldn't be.

Haerin wasn't the girl from the booth. No. No way.

But she'd find out soon enough.

//

It was that time of day. That time of day. The time where Y/n would perk up in anticipation of the latest update from the mystery girl who routinely visited her booth.

Today, however, Y/n's anticipation was giving her stomach ulcer-inducing anxiety.

The hinges on the door creaked and in stepped the next guest. Y/n held her breath, listening to the legs of the chair scratch the floor and the plastic squeak as the person sat down.

She took in a breath. "Welcome to the-"

"I messed up."

Y/n snapped to attention. She was all ears. All focus. All tingles and nerves and beating heart.

"Hello?" they said into the silence. "Are you still there?"

Y/n couldn't breathe.

"Seriously? I'm paying for this service. It's rude to waste my time."

That voice. That sass. That quip. How didn't she recognize it sooner? There was no mistaking. There was no questioning. This was Haerin. Had always been Haerin.