Caratland [Seventeen FF]

-41-

Jihoon poV:

I walked a little slower to reach Jeonghan and Seungcheol at the back.
"What's wrong?", I asked them.
"Nothing's wrong, but something's weird", Jeonghan replied, having that suspicious grin plastered on his face.
"Be more specific", I said, raising an eyebrow. Jeonghan switched looks with Seungcheol, who slightly avoided eye contact.
"I'm thinking of dyeing my hair brown since it's already bleached", Jeonghan exclaimed, receiving a shocked expression from Seungcheol.
"Okay", I replied, confused over the drama he put into this sentence.
"That's it? I thought you would show at least some type of reaction", Jeonghan rolled his eyes disappointed.
"Isn't that also a type of reaction?", I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Yeah?", Seungcheol agreed, also furrowing his eyebrows. Jeonghan said nothing, but just winked, which confused both Seungcheol and me. Jeonghan was always down for some unexpected moves.
"Why did you ask for my opinion though?", I asked confused.
"You were the only one to not share his opinion on my hair", Jeonghan shrugged his shoulders.

Jeonghan and Seungcheol kept talking about random things like egg tarts, while I quietly listened to that nonsense. I was just about to walk forward to the others again, when Jeonghan reacted fast.
"What do you think? I think cream buns are tastier than egg tarts", he asked.
"I don't know. It's both nice", I replied, confused of the behaviour of him. Everytime I tried to go back to the others, Jeonghan would ask me a random question or try to include me in their conversations that were as weird and random as a gold fish circulating a round glass. Why would they act so weird?

We finally arrived at the hotel, putting an end to their conversation, which really hit my nerves differently.
"But I still think that horses are weird animals. Just the way they see is strange", Jeonghan concluded, earning agreements from Seungcheol. Someone get me out of here...
We were about to take the elevator as Jeonghan once more stopped me, by tapping my shoulder.
"Yeah, horses are weird and the way they see too, but they're also just another species that developed to their most optimal, trying to make a living on this special planet, so they have the right to be different and weird", I turned around and exploded, quickly sharing my opinion before he could ask. Both looked at me perplexed, blinking a few times.
"I think that was one of the longest and most open-minded sentences of you that I ever witnessed", Seungcheol mumbled. I sighed.
"Whatever. Can we put these conversations finally down?", I asked, almost begging.
"I still have a final question though", Jeonghan grinned.
"What is it?", I asked exhausted.

"Do you like Soonyoung?", he asked, slightly grinning. For a moment I was perplexed, but quickly responded again.
"Yeah, as a friend. Why?", I specified.
"Then why are your cheeks turning red?", Seungcheol added. Why am I blushing?
"Because my body decided to", I quickly gave a rational response, but still confused of myself. Why am I blushing...?
"No, but seriously. Since he's here you changed a lot. Like you made a drastic U-turn", Seungcheol said, crossing his arms.
"Not only that. The way you look at him is different from the way you look at for example Seokmin", Jeonghan added.
"That's because Soonyoung's face is aesthetically more pleasing than Seokmin's obviously", I reasoned, holding my cheeks to hide the blush. Jeonghan and Seungcheol exchanged looks, then looked back at me and grinned.
"In what way? Like 'Seokmin's ugly' or more like 'Oh my Gosh, why is Soonyoung so handsome?'", Jeonghan questioned. For a split of a second I wanted to say 'second', but then realized what I wanted to say. Surprised of myself I hold my mouth instead of my cheeks, revealing my completely red cheeks.
"Saw that reaction? I knew it!", Jeonghan exclaimed, turning to Seungcheol as if I wasn't there.
"Okay, point for you", Seungcheol admitted.
"Tell us more, Jihoon! We're curious now. It's like Minghao suddenly says he loves kids", Jeonghan compared, while leaning forward curiously.
"I-I don't like him that way!", I stuttered, not sounding convincing in any way.
"I hope you know that you can't change our minds, right?", Jeonghan raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.
"I-I'm exhausted. I'll go to sleep", I justified, still stuttering like a little kid holding a presentation, quickly taking the elevator, running away from Jeonghan and Seungcheol.

I quickly passed the hallway to my room, slamming the door shut behind me, slowly sinking down to the floor. That was definitely just some stupid joke of them, that Jeonghan planned. But I must admit Soonyoung is really handsome, or cute... or both. Probably cute, I mean his smile is unbeatable and his eyes, forming into some kind of 10:10AM shape makes it even harder to believe that he could be mean to anyone, which he actually can't. He's so caring in any way, making sure that everyone should have a good time. Especially being considerate since he never goes through the portal, because I don't want to. Always asking how I'm doing even though he knows I don't tell him that much, but still knowing me well enough to not question too much. How is it possible to not like a person like that? As a friend of course. Jeonghan and Seungcheol are just joking, right? They didn't mean it, right? Why am I even debating it in my head, I don't like Soonyoung in that way in the first place.

I decided to go to sleep firstly. That whole day kind of ruined my mood, so sleeping over it would probably soothe things out, right?