Changes - lee donghyuck, haechan

13

Yeejin laid on her bed as she watched her best friend move around the room. Compare to nights before where the girl was smiling and constantly laughing about something on her phone. She now sported a deep frown and decided it was best to clean her room.

"I can easily do it later," Yeejin said as she heard the complaining of her roommate. Aera picked up a sweater off of the floor and turned towards the older girl.

"You've been saying that for the past few weeks," her tone was snappy. Something Yeejin didn't appreciate. Nobody had done anything for her to go around giving unnecessary attitude.

"I don't know who pissed in your cereal but I'm not the one," Yeejin sat up and tilted her head waiting for yet another snappy remark. Aera stared at her briefly. She knew better than to be openly rude.

Throughout the whole weekend, Aera couldn't help but feel angry. She had been blaming all her problems on JooWon who had become more persistent in talking to her. The reality was that her last talk with Haechan caused her to not only be angry at him but herself.

Maybe he had been genuinely concerned for her. She quickly disregarded the crazy idea when she thought back to his words.

"Then go die for all I care" as the words played out in her head she proceeded to aggressively stuff the clothing she found on the floor into her laundry basket. Yeejin was convinced the Canadian girl was in need of immediate therapy.

Haechan hadn't been going to the studio and she avoided going to their practice rooms. It had been quite some time since they had seen each other. One thing the girl could admit was that she missed his annoying voice constantly teasing her. She missed receiving gummies from him. She missed talking to him about things she refused to talk to her brother about. But most of all she missed him.

"HyunTae" Aera turned to stare at her roommate. She held her phone in her hand as she FaceTimed the boy.

"It's been four days and she's still doing the thing," the younger girl didn't know what she was referring to. She had literally done nothing and that was the problem. She would get home straight from SM. Compared to before when she continuously complained about always being at SM, now she found herself running away from the place. But not by choice.

"Why am I being brought into this?" both girls could hear the faint sound of splashing in the background. Aera caught a glance of the screen and saw his wet hair and bare shoulders indicating he was at the swimming pool.

"Remember on Sunday when we went to your competition?" A hum echoed through the room.

"She had been mad before but then she was fine. Out of nowhere, she goes 'I have to see that weirdo tomorrow'" Yeejin attempted to mimic the English words Aera had said.

"I don't even know what that means" Aera tried to cover up the hint of a smile that was bound to escape.

"Me neither! I literally spent 20 minutes telling Siri to translate it,"

"Wait isn't 'weirdo' the name she calls you every time you dip your chicken in soda?"

"Wait, is it?" Yeejin turned towards her roommate.

"It is. She does is in that American girl accent," he referred to her emphasis in the end which sounded like 'ooo',

"I'm sitting right here," Aera shot towards the pair. Yeejin rolled her eyes and laid back down. HyunTae's eyes widened in surprise.

"Aera I didn't say anything bad!" His panicked voice made Aera snort. How could she be mad around those two weirdos.

"She laughed. This is exactly what I mean. One minute it's world war 1 in here and the next it's..it's... I don't even know what it is!" Aera couldn't hold it any longer as she rolled over on the floor laughing. Yeejin stare horrified at the girl on the floor. HyunTae rolled his eyes.

"I have to get back to practice. Have fun," he hung up the phone before they could protest.

The room fell silent. Aera stared at the ceiling dwelling on the empty feeling that suddenly overcame her.

"Aera I'm your best friend right?" Yeejin stared with sad eyes at the other. She could feel her relationship with the girl shifting in a direction that was no good.

"Always" Aera didn't catch the sad tone Yeejin spoke in.

"Then why does it feel different?" The younger girl stood up surprised by the change of mood.

"I know you don't have to tell me everything but ever since JooWon you've stopped talking to me. We barely spend time together. I feel like we're growing apart," Yeejins eyes started to tear up and Aera was quick to sit beside her and hug her.

"Yeejin...look at me," when she looked up Aera first wiped her tears.

"I'm sorry I've been distant, it really wasn't my intentions. I haven't been very honest for a while. Not because I don't trust you but because it's not something I can casually just reveal," Aera could feel this being the moment she's been avoiding for so long.

"You know my brother Mark?" Yeejin nodded confused at the sudden change of topic.

"He's actually Mark Lee," Yeejin furrowed her eyebrows even more.

"What? I already knew his name. Your Aera Lee and Mark Lee," Aera shook her head. She wasn't understanding what she was trying to say.

"He's a member of NCT,"

"Oh," she sat there taking in the new information. Even though Yeejin was a fan of Johnny Suh she wasn't too crazy of a fangirl. She did know Mark Lee to be a big idol in the kpop community.

"So your twin brother is actually Mark Lee from NCT?" Aera nodded waiting, expecting any sort of response.

"I mean that's cool. I see the resemblance now," Yeejin was so nonchalant about the whole thing that Aera couldn't help but question if she had been scared for nothing.

"How the heck is your brother Mark Lee?!" Aera jumped startled by the sudden outburst. For some reason this reaction made her feel more comfortable.

"Umm, I-my mom gave birth-"

"Stupid not literally! It's just bizarre and you've kept it a secret for so long,"

"To be fair it wasn't all my right to tell. I genuinely trust you with anything but I was scared that anyone else would overhear and we could both face consequences,"

"If you trust me so much why don't you tell me about who this staff member is," Aera could only silently stare at the determined look the older girl possessed as she waited for an answer.