✓Crotchet || MCND Castle J

Chapter 9 - Car Ride

Jerry's POV

Minji and I are silent in the car as I drove. It wasn't usually like this. She used to blab about everything she saw or the weird things she thought nonstop on our way home but today she's quiet as if she's keeping a secret.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." She answered bluntly.

"You don't look fine to me." I took a look at her briefly and she really seemed defeated. "Come on, say it."

She sighed in response.

I sighed back. If she's not telling anything then I will. "So what about that Seongjun guy?" I asked.

That caught her attention. She turned to me from the window she's so deeply staring at since she entered the car.

When she didn't say anything I said, "You were with him a while ago and you used to talk about him a lot so why aren't you saying anything now?"

"I-I don't know." She just said.

I'm not used to seeing her like this. Seeing her hesitate to say something to me makes me feel like I'm the worst friend in the world.

"Look," I started. "If you won't tell me what's wrong, at least pretend that there's nothing going on. That way I wouldn't feel so bad about not being able to do anything for you."

She turned to me again to start saying something but she stopped herself almost immediately.

"See?" I said. "You want to say something. Just say it."

"I think I like him." She blurted out.

I wasn't surprised but I trailed to answer for a few seconds. "I know."

"You knew?" She asked.

"It's obvious," I answered. "You talk about him a lot, you were doing things you don't use to do and I wouldn't be surprised if you were the one who suggested eating at the fast-food with him a while ago."

"Excuse me, he was the one who suggested eating there," she said, defensively. Now I'm recognizing the usual her. "I..might have been the one to invite him but I wasn't the one who suggested."

I laughed.

"And how would you even know he wouldn't ask me to eat with him?" She asked.

I hesitated. I made a turn on the road before answering. "Because I talked to him about you."

"What?" She said, incredulously. "When?"

"At their agency. When he went out to buy food or something."

I looked at her again. She was thinking. She seemed to have noticed something at that time and she was bringing the information together.

"What did you say?" She asked, the tone of her voice changing to something huffy. "You didn't say anything about my depression, did you?"

"I—"

"Oh my gosh, you did!" Now she's sounding angry. "Why did you tell him that?"

"I just warned him," I said, firmly. "You were acting strange lately and he's exactly the person you shouldn't be friends with early in your college years. He'll be an idol.** He takes more online classes than actual classes. Not to mention the media..."

"Still, that isn't reason enough for you to tell him!"

"And then what?" I asked. "I'll watch you become heartbroken again because he couldn't meet your expectations. Besides, we aren't talking about friendship anymore. You said you like him so this is a different story."

She was silent for a moment. Yeah, let that sink in. But knowing who she is, she wouldn't back down without a fight.

When I stopped the car in front of her apartment, I said, "It will be his choice. At least he knows what he's going into."

She opened the door to leave, "What's the point? It's not like he likes me back."

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A/N: **I started this story during MCND's trainee days. The timeline will be from those days to early debut era 😊