eighteen | jjk | book 1 [✓]

35

kim chanmi
the smell of a liar

       the soft chatter of people filled the cafe. the smell of coffee beans filled the air, making the room smell nice. a soft sigh left minjoo's mouth after sipping her coffee. i played around with the chocolate cake in front of me, cutting it into small pieces and moving it around.

       a loud noise as something came in contact with the wooden table. my ears perked up, minjoo straightening her back. she flicked her hair back, the move she always did when she had something to say, "what's with you not eating, are you still distraught because of mr what's his face?"

       "yoongi?"

       "yeah, that guy," minjoo looked displeased. she tugged on her grey shirt, the words seventeen written over it. her rings glimmered under the cute lights hanging from the ceiling.

i shrugged, "i don't know," i placed the fork down softly, "it's just—i'm worried, it's like the whole min family disappeared from seoul."

       minjoo rolled her eyes, watching me while quickly texting someone without looking, "maybe he's busy?"

       "with what? producing new music? he's always been busy with that," i paused, angrily stabbing at the cake while minjoo watched in horror, "he seemed perfectly fine with balancing that and our love life."

       i closed my mouth shut, pursing my lips together. minjoo leaned over, smoothing out my eyebrows with her fingers. she looked down at her fingers as she sat back down, "i might have accidentally wiped off some of the makeup."

i shook my head, letting out a groan. a lady nearby our table frowned from my groan. her eyes were intense while her nose was buried under her books. i snorted, giving a half weird and creepy smile. minjoo looked amused as i looked at her again, her coffee in her hands.

"what if something is happening in their family right now," minjoo sighed, obviously not happy over the fact that the conversation was still going, "hyerin and yoongi have been both absent at school for a while, the teachers won't say anything about it."

minjoo perched her elbows on top of the table, leaning in. i looked at her with curiosity as the indie music filled in the silence, "hoseok was seen at the carnival with a girl, dasom and jinyoung saw him, she didn't get to see the girl though."

she paused, "maybe that was hyerin, see she's perfectly fine, it's not like she's dying or anything."

minjoo stayed frozen, my eyes were wide from her words. a sudden thought flashed in my head, "we visited hyerin at the hospital last time, she said that she was hospitalized because of stress, what if it really wasn't stress?"

i smacked my head lightly with my hand, wanting to laugh at how idiotic we were for not thinking that. minjoo stayed still for a while, trying to process the theory in her head.

"no, hyerin never mentioned anything about having any diseases or conditions when we were in elementary school."

a small flashback recalled in my head. remembering the time when i got into a fight with yoongi after dropping off yongsun at the airport. we went into a room and talked about important things. i tried to think harder but nothing would come to mind.

"something's bothering me, yoongi told me something about her but i can't remember what he said," i placed my head onto my hands, shaking my leg under the table.

a sudden smack at my leg dropped my train of thought, "stop shaking, i can feel it."

"that's not even possible, i'm sitting across from you."

minjoo gave me a 'dumbass' look, taking another sip of her coffee, "i can feel the kinetic energy."

back at it again. i rolled my eyes, letting her know that i wasn't going to deal with her dumb shit that never makes sense. i looked out the window, taking in the sight of the trees slowly becoming green again after the harsh winter finally ended.

a small ding ringed, signaling that a new customer came into the cafe. a boy with blue hair walked into the cafe with his face covered by a white mask. minjoo turned around, looking back to see what i was looking at, "if i dyed my hair like that to school, you think mr.byun would kill me?"

i nodded my head, minjoo looked disappointed. she turned back around, braiding her hair and then unbraiding it again. the boy grabbed the coffee once it was finished, pulling down his mask and placing it in his pocket.

i paused, feeling like i couldn't breathe. i could swear that the sound of my heart was pounding so loud that i could hear it. my eyes were wide, minjoo caught my expression immediately looking at the boy again and leaned over, "holy— isn't that yoongi?"

"yeah that's yoongi, he dyed his hair again."

yoongi walked out of the cafe hastily, taking a gulp of his coffee. he pulled down his white sleeves under his blue hawaiian shirt. he stopped at the stoplight, placing his free hand in the pocket of his black ripped jeans.

"i—i have to go, i have to talk to him," i stuttered, standing up from the table as i continued to look at him. i grabbed my guitar case, placing it behind my back. i didn't even care when my knee slammed into the table. my mind was boggled in questions for yoongi. what happened? why are you ignoring me?

i pushed open the door of the cafe, running towards him. cars stopped at the intersection, the pedestrian light finally signaling to walk. yoongi threw his empty cup in the trash as he started to walk down the pathway.

i ran after him, my textbooks for singing and guitar clashing together behind my back, "yoongi! min yoongi," i stopped, watching as he walked away from me. my heart felt like it just dropped. why was he doing this? did i do something wrong?

i brought my sleeve up, wiping away the tears fiercely coming down my face. the pedestrian light blinking fast. the light going from walk to stop and from red to green. cars honked, people screaming swear words, and some drove past me.

       "what the hell are you doing?" a monotone voice called out. i looked down, my wrist was taken into a hand that were covered by their white sleeve. yoongi.

       as soon as we reached the sidewalk, he looked down at me. he had a conflicted look to his face. after taking a deep breath in and letting it out, he finally opened his mouth, "i don't want to see you."

       "what do you mean?"

       "this is me breaking up with you, it's a new year and you're single," yoongi muttered.

       "yoongi please," i chased after him. once i got into closer range, i grabbed his arm and pulled him back so he was facing me.

        he let out a loud yell, "let go! just go away!"

he hastily took his arm out of my grasp. i stayed still, tears prickling my eyes. he looked at me for one last time, a harsh expression clouding his once caring eyes. he angrily turned around, walking away and leaving me in a broken state.