𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 ;ʰˢʲ 『English Version』

Chapter XXVII

The shouting of his friends was irritating him even more; he just wanted to go home.

"Han Seojun!"

"I already told you I want to go home!"

"Didn't you want to fix things with Aera?!" That made the young man stop, turning to look at his friends immediately, who smiled before pointing at the park's lake they were at. "You've got five minutes, friend, don't be an idiot."

With that, the boy stood still, not really knowing what to do. However, the shout from his friends made him run in that direction, almost falling face-first onto the ground when he stopped, seeing that familiar black hair watching some small ducks swim in the clean waters of a pond. "Be careful, you're going to ruin the best thing you have."

"My sinag..." he said, approaching her, kneeling beside her while raising his hands, wanting to take hers. The girl sitting on the bench sighed, feeling that chill run through her body when she heard that name. "I... I don't know..."

"Why did you do it?"

"No." The boy immediately shook his head, not wanting to waste time. "I didn't do it. Aera, I've never been to a party, nor karaoke with Jukyeong. I've never gone anywhere alone with her. The only time I was alone with her was when I tried to help her in the storage room, and it went wrong. I... Aera, I swear, I would never do something like that to you, not when I know how you feel about Jukyeong... Not when... Not when I'm so in love with you." The boy gently took her hand, and the girl looked at him instinctively as he began to caress her skin with his fingers.

"The picture..."

"I don't know who the hell the people in that picture are, but I can swear it's not me..." The boy shook his head quickly, his eyes shining with desperation. "I promised you so many things that day by the lake, Aera, and I'm keeping them, every one of them, even the promise to treat you the way you deserve, to give you the relationship you've always wanted these years. I'm trying to keep that promise. I'm... giving my best, and I wouldn't allow myself to throw away everything I worked so hard to have, just for a girl who means nothing to me."

Aera looked into his eyes, trying to find any sign that he was lying, that the same thing would happen that happened with Suho, but she found nothing—not in those narrow eyes. "You and Jukyeong..." she began, her eyes already flooded with thick tears. She really didn't want to end what they had started so recently.

It felt so good.

"No, there's no 'Jukyeong and me.'" The boy interrupted his girlfriend, getting closer to her, almost between her legs. "There's 'Aera and me.' 'Seojun and Aera.' Nothing else." He said with certainty, swallowing hard, cupping her cheeks and caressing them. "Don't let Soojin's jealous outburst ruin this, please."

Aera frowned at that, looking at Seojun in confusion, who stood still, realizing what he had just said. "Soojin?"

Seojun looked at her silently for a second before lowering his gaze, feeling somewhat guilty for what he had just revealed. However, he knew that friendship wasn't going to be good for her, not when it dragged her into a problem that wasn't hers, just because she liked a guy with a girlfriend. "Yes, Soojin."

"What does Soojin have to do with this?"

Seojun sighed, looking at her with some pity. "Aera... She's the one who posted that."

***

"Aera, darling, stop."

"Aera." The calls from Seojun and his friends couldn't stop the girl's steps as she walked angrily in an unknown direction to them. When they saw her storm out of the park and Seojun quickly followed her, their friends, who thought the boy had been an idiot, followed too.