straytwice series 1 » y.ji & i.ny

015

Jeongin let out a heavy breath for the ninth time. He've been doing that since he went out from his house and now he's taking a walk at a park, just roaming around the place while in deep thought.

He couldn't get a chance to talk to Chaeryeong again after what happened. She's obviously ignoring him during their class. The good things is, his friends didn't tease him about Chaeryeong anymore because that would make the situation worser.

Seungmin called him to go to his house but he refused. As much as possible, he doesn't want to face Nayeon. He's still embarrassed with what he said. Though, he really wants to see her 'cause he miss her. He miss her face, her laugh, her smile, her scent—

"Oh, God! Stop!" he impulsively slapped his head with his hands as he pause from walking. "Stop thinking about it. You idiot."

He then continued walking.. but still thinking about her. He can't just hide from her forever. Maybe he'll take Chaeryeong's advice. He will tell her that he really didn't mean it that way. Yeah.. that'll do.

His pace slowed down when he saw a familiar figure sitting on the swing with her head down. He continue walking towards the girl's direction but then he stopped in his tracks when the girl lifted her head. Nayeon noona?!

He laughed. "This is too much. I'm already hallucinating."

But when the girl tucked the few strands of her hair behind her ear, he froze as his eyes went wide. It's really her!

His heart starts beating faster in joy to see her but at the same time, in anxiousness. This is not the time. He needs to go. He stepped back and was about to turn around when he caught her wiping something on her face. Is she crying?

Her posture looks like she's not in a good form. He seriously needs to go. But the thought of her crying tightened his chest and it makes him mad.

So, going against his mind, he just found himseld walking gently towards her direction until he reached her. He stopped few inches away from her, making her not noticing that there's already somebody standing on her side.

But when she lift hear head, she was surprised to see Jeongin standing next to her. "H-hey..?" she quickly hide her face and wipe all the tears evident on her face before she faced him again. "What are you doing here?"

Jeongin looked away. "Just.. walking around. How 'bout you?"

But instead of answering, she just shrugged her shoulders. Forgetting about the conversation they had last night, she tapped the seat beside her. "Sit."

Jeongin being the obedient as he is, or maybe he just got hypnotized by her again, or maybe he just also like to be with her, he obeyed her and sat on the other swing next to her. He still feel nervous and ashamed but when he remember her face crying earlier, all his inhibitions disappeared and now he's worried. "Why are you crying?" he spurted out as he bravely look straight at her eyes.

She looked back him, then looked away. She forced a smile. "It's nothing."

"You can tell me." he said, still looking at her.

She looked at him again, this time trying to hold his gaze. Until she finally had a courage as she wet her lips. "Me and Jaebum Oppa had a dinner with our father.." she paused when she felt tears in her eyes. "You must've not know about this but I hate my dad. I still hate him for leaving us like that when we were still young. I'm so close to him when I was a child, really close that it still hurts me whenever I remember that he left us to escape from his debts. We suffered a lot because of him. But thanks to Seungmin's dad he came to our life and lifted us."

She smiled as a tear escaped from her eye followed by another one. "I lied to everyone about my relationship with my dad. I told them that we're good, but we're not. I can't stand being with him. I can't stand even by just looking at his face. I really hate him. But earlier I got a text from Jaebum Oppa, he told me dad is sick. I thought it was not a big deal but when we had a dinner with him..." she paused when she felt she's about to burst into tears. Her vision's getting blurry because of the tears. She felt a warmth hand held hers, and it already makes her feel a little better. "He's on a wheelchair and he looks so weak.. "

She couldn't finish her sentence as she lose it and starts crying. Jeongin quickly went in front of her and hugged her. "Hey, it's fine.." he murmured as he locked her in his arms.

" ..he has chronic leukemia, stage 3.. I can't handle looking at him like that, so I escaped and ran." she managed to say between her sobs. "I feel so bad, Jeongin. Since the day he left, all I did is to hate him and never gave him a chance. I didn't know that he've been dealing with it for a year and yet here I am, still not forgiving him and giving him a cold treatment. I feel so guilty. And now, I don't know how long will he live.. I feel like a bad person."

"Hey, don't say that." he reached for her face. "You might have treated him bad but it's not yet too late. What's more important is what will you do now. You're one of the kindest person I know. You're sweet, caring and a positive person. And you gotta show him that. You need to show him what he's missing. Okay?"

Like a good girl that she is, Nayeon nodded as she wiped her tears all over her face. "I will.." she looked at him. "Thank you.. for being with me here and making me feel better."

He smiled. "I'm glad you feel better now."

"I can't still face him now. So maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Jeongin stood up and looked at his wristwatch. "It's getting late. Do you want to go home?" he looked at her for her response but he caught her looking at him.. or maybe staring at him.

And yes, maybe she's definitely staring at him. They're just looking at each other for like three seconds until he felt uneasy so he looked away.

He cleared his throat. "So---"

He couldn't finish his sentence when Nayeon stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Jeongin.. really."

Jeongin smiled as he felt his heart pounding faster like it wanted to get out from his chest. But just as soon as he was about to put his hand on her back, she pulled away. He looked at her who's looking past through him.

"Jinyoung.. "

And when he looked at his back, he saw a man standing with his hands in his pockets wearing a deadpan look.