Because We Met (J-Hope)

Six

Ji-ah came back with our shoes and handed our pairs to us. I whispered, "Lu brought Hoseok." Ji-ah looked to where Lu was already on her way to and groaned. "Why? She shouldn't be treated like that," she frowned. I shrugged, "let's just see how he is tonight and let her do her thing I guess." Ji-ah didn't want to but she nodded. Once we got our shoes on we joined Ohjin, Hoseok, and Lu.

"You remember my friends, right?" Lu asked her boyfriend. Hoseok looked at us and nodded while smiling. "Yeah, of course. It's nice to see y'all," he replied. "You too," Ohjin smiled. "We're playing singles since we don't have an even number of people," Hoseok announced. "Every man for himself," Ji-ah said competitively. You could already tell she was determined to beat Hoseok.

For a while we played normally. Lu won the first round, I won the second, and Hoseok won the third. He was in second every time until round three, when he got first. After our third round, it became glow-in-the-dark. Ohjin never won; he wasn't good at it. Hoseok won two more rounds, then Ji-ah won the rest which tied them for first. "Final round! Make a bet and set a prize or punishment for the winner or loser!" Ohjin announced happily. The majority obviously wanted Ji-ah to win. "I vote Hoseok," Lu smiled. "I vote Ji-ah," I said. "I vote to remain unbiased as the commentator," Ohjin joked. "Punishment is a slap to the face as hard as we want," Ji-ah said while staring at Lu and then Hoseok. "Then Hoseok can't slap you," Ohjin noted. "He can if he wins," she rebutted. He shrugged in reply and announced the round start.

I hoped Ji-ah would win. Lu was cheering for Hoseok but he disregarded her half the time. It got pretty close until the last score. We watched and cheered at the winner. "Ji-ah wins!" Ohjin says. Lu hugs Hoseok for comfort. It wasn't a big deal but boy did we just want a nice slap to go on Hoseok's face.  "You win, you get to slap me as hard as you want," Hoseok told her. Lu looked nervous for no reason. Ji-ah raised her arm and struck Hoseok across the face with her hand. His head turned and he chuckled, "you hit d*mn, hard." "Are you okay, babe?" Lu kissed his cheek. We started to get ready to leave. Hoseok excused himself first to go smoke. I followed him a bit after.

He was leaning on the wall, smoking a cigarette and blowing the air out. You couldn't see well but the dim light helped somewhat. "Hey, want some?" he smiled. "No. I came out here to ask what the f*ck you think you're doing," I spat. "What do you mean?" he asked cluelessly. "You cheated and then you slapped her?! Who do you think you are? You're not good enough for Lu," I told him angrily. He put the cigarette out and stepped off the wall. "Look, she can leave me if she wants but she doesn't. I'm not trying to hide that I cheated on her, I figured you wouldn't want her to know that you f*cked her boyfriend. Unless...you do? I can tell her. She'll hate us both," he argued back. I stayed quiet, he was right. "That's what I thought." We both stood outside quietly for a bit before he said, "you never texted me." I scoffed, "you expect me to?" He nodded and shrugged, "I gave you that gift, didn't I?" I rolled my eyes and asked him, "gift? Ecstasy is a gift now? I can return it. I have the receipt." He chuckled, "text me and I'll set up a time to meet you. I don't like letting my drugs go to waste." Just then Lu, Ohjin, and Ji-ah all came outside to leave. Hoseok pushed passed me and wrapped his arm around Lu's shoulder.