ex boyfriend | lee heeseung

Chapter 16

The first day of your last semester had flown by. You'd quickly found your rhythm again, settling back into the content that you'd been going through. You talked to your classmates about how excited you were to finally see the finish line. After almost four years of being around these people, you knew you were going to miss them. But it was only the start of the semester, so you didn't want to cloud your mind with sad thoughts. 

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Unlike you, Jake's mind was plagued with thoughts. Thoughts that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of. They stuck, like a stain on white clothing. It was like with every passing second, his mind just etched the words into his further and further. 

The whole day, instead of focusing on his work, Jake was busy thinking about his feelings. His mind replayed his best friend, Sunghoon's words. 

You like her, don't you?

But Jake was sure. He knew. He didn't like you. He couldn't like you. There was no way. But maybe, just maybe, he was jealous. Jealous of all the attention that Heeseung was getting. Jealous that there was another man taking up all your spare time. But it didn't feel like it was just jealousy. He didn't care if Sunghoon or Jungwon were around you. And he didn't even bat an eye when it was Sunoo. So why Heeseung? What was so different about him? Jake's mind kept racing, not being able to find an answer to his first question before another question popped up, and the cycle just kept repeating. His brain was a mess. He couldn't concentrate, which explained why he hadn't even noticed Sunghoon walking over to him even though he was looking directly into Sunghoon's face. 

"Bro, you alright?" Sunghoon asked, bringing Jake back to his senses. 

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine. You?" Jake asked, not even processing what his mouth was spewing out at his best friend. 

"Okayyyy, so something's definitely wrong, but I'm not gonna ask. Are we waiting for y/n?" Sunghoon asked as he opened the door to the passenger seat of Jake's car. 

"Uh, yeah, I think so. She said she'd find me after her class ended," Jake said, observing his best friend who was now placing his backpack into the front seat of the car. "Did I say I'd pick you up today?"

"Bro, what is going on? Do you have dementia or something? You literally told me this morning when you were leaving that we could go home together. I swear you're going through something right now, this is not like you," Sunghoon said, the growing concern evident in his voice.  He closed the door and leaned against the car next to Jake. 

"Oh, right, I, uh...I just forgot that's all. It's the first day back, my brain isn't working yet," Jake said, still staring off into the distance. 

Sunghoon looked at his best friend. Jake's face was tensed, like there was something bothering him. And Sunghoon knew exactly what it was. But he wasn't going to say it. He wanted Jake to be the one to admit it. Sunghoon wanted to see Jake realise it all. He'd already planted the seed, now he just had to give it everything else it needed to grow. And he was sure that he'd be able to get Jake to admit his feelings. 

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You walked out of the university campus, with a new international student, who was doing a semester abroad. You knew that Jake was going to be waiting in the car park for you, with Sunghoon. But they'd wait for you, so you decided to talk to the new student to make her feel welcome. When you got near the car park, you bid farewell to the new girl, letting her know that she could contact you if she ever needed anything.