HYUN [ JJK ]

47

"I almost kissed her."

Jeongguk exclaimed, had to scream a bit since the bass coming from the speakers made it hard for Hoseok to hear him loud and clear. Hoseok who was busy checking his moves turned around, walking towards the sound system before switching it off.

Still catching his breath, Hoseok sat down on the floor, fanning his face with his hat before he swallowed the lump formed at the back of his throat. "You- you what?!" Far from what Jeongguk had expected, the other guy let out an incredulous laugh, the sound echoing through the practise room.

Jeongguk almost stayed up the whole night wondering what the hell had gotten into him that he suddenly felt nervous around Jaehwa. At first, he wanted to think of it as a part of the hormones' doing—where it would be back to normal again in the next few days—but no, he was proved wrong this morning. Jeongguk had never felt so wanting to curse himself for offering Jaehwa a ride, and ironically, today's ride was a literal hell for him. They used to talk about Hyun and unimportant stuff along their way to the university, but today, no one seemed to have the guts to start a conversation, all that left to occupy the air was the radio playing songs that Jeongguk couldn't even sing to.

They parted way like Jeongguk was the driver, while Jaehwa was the passenger for her to open the door and get out of the car without even looking at him, let alone muttering a small thanks. Weird but to be frank, Jeongguk was glad that he was treated like an Uber driver, glad that he didn't have to fake a smile, glad that he didn't have to force himself to talk about stupid things when he couldn't even speak without stuttering like a fool.

At last, he decided to tell Hoseok about the whole thing—about what he felt the moment she came to his apartment, about how he was stunned to see her smiling genuinely. Jeongguk had enough of his emotions toying him, tired of being engulfed by something that he had never experienced before. At some point, he felt like he had gone crazy for him to miss Hyun with all his heart, but when Jaehwa appeared, he couldn't refrain himself from staring, couldn't help but to admire every inch of her when he practically had seen her for hundred times before this.

"I don't know. It's... weird." Jeongguk trailed off, proceeding to lie on the wooden floor afterwards. His eyes roamed around the white ceiling, mind arranging the words before he could continue. "I have seen her for so many times but last night... it was different."

Hoseok laughed and nudged Jeongguk's elbow, causing him to hiss in annoyance. "What do you mean by different?" The orange haired guy teased, giggling like a maniac as he waited for Jeongguk's response.

"She looked pretty last night. We drank raspberry juice and damn it..." Jeongguk sat up, rubbing his heated face and whined like a small kid. "Her lips were dead red that I swear to God, I fucking lost my mind. If she's my girlfriend, I would kiss her to death."

Hoseok arched an eyebrow. "Oh, did someone fall in love?"

Jeongguk sighed, tilting his head as his lips pouted out of habit. "Do you think I like her? But we have known each other for two months. If I like her then I should've felt that way since the beginning."

Hoseok patted Jeongguk's back, his chest was still heaving rapidly but he forced himself to blurt his thoughts. "Jeon Jeongguk, do you think life is every stupid cliché drama ever where the characters fall in love after two episodes? I don't know much about relationship but don't we fall for someone only after we knew her better? It takes time to develop a feeling for someone, Jeongguk. Maybe both of you were busy focusing on Hyun all these while for you guys to notice that you have started to develop feelings for each other along the way."

Jeongguk groaned and threw his head back, giving a thought on what Hoseok said. "It's weird." Not that he wanted to deny his feelings but everything literally came to him at once, to the point he couldn't understand himself anymore. "Maybe we're just overthinking, Hoseok. I mean, my emotions have been all over the place since the past month, and now something new is trying to get in the way."

"Cut it off. Okay know, let's sum it up; do you like her?"

"Well..." Jeongguk rubbed his nape. "I don't know but I like to have her around. She makes me less lonely and-"

"Good. Now all you need to have is the courage to confess to her. Forget the bet we made before and fucking grow your balls to confront her and tell what you feel for her." Hoseok assured, the statement sounded more like a demand for him to exclaim, emphasising every bit of what Jeongguk was supposed to do. "It's not a one-sided love, buddy."

"Sorry?"

Hoseok raised his eyebrows, a smirk formed on his face as he recalled the memory from the police station. "It's easy to start a relationship from a friendship. One side has to take a step forward and with that, anything could happen. Look, I tried, alright? I tried to be as nonchalant as I could but man, my chest almost exploded when I saw my best friend on the verge of getting a girlfriend." Cooing hard, Hoseok leaned in and pinched Jeongguk's cheeks, not bothering how Jeongguk groaned across him. "I'm happy for you, Jeongguk. Very happy to see that you found someone that can change you into a man, so let me tell you one thing. I saw you two holding hands at the police station. You were carrying Hyun with one hand, and the other one was holding Jaehwa's." Hoseok looked up and clasped his hands. "What an eyesore but I have to admit, you guys look cute together."

Jeongguk looked at Hoseok incredulously, didn't notice how his hand was already raised in the air to smack the back of Hoseok's head. "Okay, that's enough." Lying on his back again, Jeongguk then rested his arm against his forehead, swallowing his saliva and shut his eyes close. The sound of the air conditioner filled the entire practise room, apart from Hoseok's breathing which now had became stable again.

He bit his lower lip, totally had no idea what to do apart from letting it linger around his mind. Jeongguk decided that it was better to give himself space rather than absentmindedly coming to her and confess, not until he was truly sure about his feelings.

A vibration against the floor caused Hoseok to flinch before he reached for Jeongguk's phone.

"Your phone."

"Who is it?" Jeongguk asked, uninterested. He was about to doze off when Hoseok said that it was an unknown number. "Probably the officer. Pick it up for me."

With that, Hoseok touched the green button and pressed the phone against his ear, wiping his face dry with the small towel around his neck as he went silent for a while. Jeongguk craned his neck towards Hoseok, only to see his friend frowning hard as if he was trying to comprehend something from the other end of the line.

Hoseok didn't even say anything before he pulled the phone away from his ear. Confused, Jeongguk inched closer to Hoseok, the frown on his face deepened when the latter suddenly handed the phone to him.

"Guk..." Hoseok stuttered, thus making Jeongguk's heart skip a beat upon the sudden reaction. "It's... it's Jimin. He wants to talk to you."

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a/n:
this wasn't supposed to be published today but since y'all have been "jIMIN WHERE ARE YOU PLEASE COME OUT" so there you go