forced to be ' zhang hao au

033

"dude i'm so full, but i'm craving boba." rei whines, stomping on the dry leaves on the ground to hear the cracking sound. matthew looked over at her, then to his phone. "should we get it then? there's a shop around the corner, we could go grab some real quick." matthew replied, scrolling on his phone.

hyejin nodded, but she needed to make sure everyone was positive on the idea. she looked over at hanbin, "okay then, lets go. hanbin you like boba right? sung hanbin? hello??" she said loudly, waving her hand in his face waiting for his response. "seriously hanbin, are you okay?" she asks, causing him to snap back to reality. he usually never zones out like this and is always paying attention, this was weird.

"oh yes, i love bubble tea. theres a shop around the corner so let's go get it from there." he innocently smiled. "dude.. i said the same thing." matthew worriedly mumbled as he lightly smacked hanbins back.

they finally arrive at the bubble tea shop, but the line was a little long. it would take around 15 minutes for them to get to the register so rei and matthew decided to go themselves since four people would be too much of a hassle. they waited in line, leaving hanbin and hyejin sitting alone on the bench outside of the shop.

"hyejin." hanbin mumbled under his breath, catching hyejins attention. she quietly looked over at him in concern. "are you doing well mentally? i noticed you've lost so much weight and you look so pale, seriously i'm so worried about you. you were so much more cheerful and loud at the beginning of the school year, now you're just... dull. please take care of yourself, you're driving me crazy. " hanbin blurted in distress. was that why he was zoned out? he was thinking about his friends well being the whole time.

hyejin stared at him as he spoke, feeling her empty heart slowly fill up with emotion. it pained her when she realized how she allowed hanbin to worry about her. she didn't want anyone to worry about her.

"i'm sorry." she stuttered with guilt, not knowing what to say as she quietly stared at the ground. "hyejin-" hanbin muttered with sympathy in his voice as he gently wrapped his arms around hyejin. he held her tight in his embrace until he suddenly heard a sniff. he immediately pulled away, still holding onto her shoulders. "shin hyejin~ don't cry."

"you expect me not to cry after giving me a long speech about how much you care about me?" she sniffed, letting out a soft chuckle. "i'm just so grateful to have people like you and rei in my life to make me feel less lonely. you guys help me be less depressed." she smiled, a single tear drop falling from her eye.

hanbin reached his finger out, softly brushing her cheek to wipe off her tear. he stared at her as he held her face, "whatever you're going through, the three of us will be there with you through all of the process. got it?" he smiled ear to ear, revealing his whisker dimples.

"got it." she hid her red face, gently removing hanbins hands from her cheeks as she notices rei and matthew coming from a distance. she immediately takes a deep breath, letting her face cool as she forces a smile.

"we got you guys the most expensive bobas they had! can you believe they go up to 15,000 won? what a rip off. but it's fine, ricky let me borrow his card." rei cheerfully said, pointing to the box of bubble tea in matthews hands. "hanbin, we got you brown sugar. hyejin, caramel. i got strawberry and rei got matcha." matthew replied, handing everyone their drinks. "oh and the cashier asked me for my number but rei didn't let me give it to her." he quietly added.

"pfft, i wonder why." hyejin mumbled under her breath. rei glared at hyejin, secretly pinching her. "ouch! what the-" she groaned, staring at rei in disbelief. rei put her pointer finger on her friends mouth, "shh."

hyejin was secretly judging her but she brushed it off, now it was time to enjoy some boba. she took sip, the flavor exploding in her mouth. her eyes widened and she stared at the floor with an anger face "dude, this is GOOD." she glanced at hanbin to see his opinion.

he let out a little laugh, "it's that good? let me try." he reached his arm out for hyejins bubble tea. when he took a sip, he stared at her for a couple seconds before taking another one and another. hyejin jumped from her seat in shock, attempting to grab it back from hanbin who kept drinking it, "hey! don't finish it sung hanbin or ill kill you-"

"sorry~ its mine now." he chuckled, raising his arm high up so she couldn't reach it. "would you two quit flirting?" rei sassily yelled, chewing on the tapioca balls. hyejin scoffed, showing off her ring finger that had no ring on it. "excuse you, i'm technically engaged. also you and matthew are sitting so close it almost looks like you're kissing." hyejin said out loud, she started laughing when she noticed reis face glowing bright red. hyejin glanced at hanbin, who was already looking at her. they looked back at the other two and began grinning to themselves.

"i wonder what they were talking about when waiting in line.." hanbin mumbled.

"i wonder....." hyejin replied while aggressively staring at matthew. "you guys, stop acting weird.." matthew freaked out. the way hanbin and hyejin were staring right through his soul was causing him to get self conscious. "since matthews always wanted to learm about japanese culture, maybe rei should teach him japanese, and he can teach her french." hyejin responded.

"you're so right." hanbin responded, holding his laugh at the two flustered individuals. rei was trying to hide her face by drinking her boba, it didn't work..

"isn't that hao over there? he's already out of the hospital?" matthew signals with his finger, pointing at hao who was walking with daiyu. everyones visions suddenly shifted to hyejin. she stared at them in confusion, "what? do you guys think i'm jealous or something?" she scoffed, slurping on her bubble tea. "well not jealous, but don't you feel weird? you guys have one week till the wedding. you must be-" matthew replied, placing his hand on her shoulder, hyejin took a deep breath before cutting him off, brushing his hand off of her shoulder."it's doesn't matter, stop sympathizing with me. i'm fine."

they all worriedly stared at her, she was very clearly bottling it all up and didn't want help. rei sighed, "hyejin, you've always been like this. if you're upset, you can just express it. you don't have to keep it inside." she softly said.

"thank you for worrying about me, but i'm not bottling anything. i'm so happy with my life, i'm not upset with anything. you guys trust me, right?" hyejin coldly replied. the atmosphere suddenly got gloomy, everyone wanted to argue back with hyejin but they just couldn't. "let's go check on hao, shall we? were his friends." hyejin forced a smile, grabbing reis arm and dragging her along with the other guys.