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Chapter 6

"...so there's nothing going on between the two?" Yeji asked, still bothered by the fact that Jisu was now hanging out with Soobin but trying her best not to show it to the other three sitting with her.

"Nothing is going on unnie, I promise you," Ryujin explained, hoping to calm Yeji down and erase the negative thoughts she knew was in Yeji's mind.

"Jisu unnie's refused Soobin so many times already in the last 3 years, honestly I'm surprised he hasn't given up. If Ryujin had rejected me when I asked her out, I would have probably stopped right then and there," Yuna chimed in.

Ryujin gave Yuna a little peck on her cheeks, gently patting Yuna's head before responding with a giant grin, "but I didn't."

"T-then why is she hanging out with him?"

"Unnie, you have to understand, you were gone for three years," Chaeryeong answered, holding Yeji's hand as an attempt to comfort her. "Jisu unnie waited for you for more than a year and you never showed up. She was devastated. You do know that, right?"

"Which is why in her devastation, she turned to Soobin," Yuna continued Chaeryeong's words.

"BUT," Ryujin interrupted, "They are nothing more than friends. Jisu unnie's rejected him every single time. She admitted to us herself that she opened up to Soobin to try to forget about you. And that turned into the friendship they have today, although it's pretty obvious that Soobin's still trying to get Jisu unnie to go out with him, though it doesn't seem to be working, poor him," as Ryujin placed another spoonful of soft-served ice cream they had gotten after finishing their meal into her mouth, followed by feeding Yuna a spoonful as well.

"You can't blame her unnie. Plus, as far as I can tell, Soobin's been nothing but nice to her, so I don't understand why you're so against it," Chaeryeong said softly, taking a sip of her iced coffee.

... It's because I know Soobin better than you guys. 

Yeji wished she could tell them, to explain why she didn't like Jisu hanging out with Soobin, but telling them would put them at risk, and that was the last thing she wanted, to put her bestfriends' in potential danger. 

This would be something she had to take care of herself. 

All Yeji could do was put her head down in agreement.

-----

The drive to Jisu's apartment in Soobin's car was as quiet as can be, only the radio playing soft music and the car's engine noise echoing the almost empty night streets. 

Jisu only stared out the passenger's side window with a thoughtful expression, the afternoon encounter with Yeji constantly replaying in her head, while Soobin had his hands on the wheel, eyes shifting between the road ahead and Jisu who sat to his right.

"Hey ... you're awfully quiet tonight, are you okay? Is something bothering you?" Soobin asked, awkwardly attempting to break the silence that engulfed the car.

Jisu snapped out of her trance-like state.

"Ah! I'm sorry! It's uhh ... it's nothing ... just having a lot of thoughts right now, first week of school and all," Jisu stammered, trying to appear as normal as possible.

Soobin let out a soft chuckle, finding Jisu's reaction to be adorable.

"Did you enjoy the dinner we had?"

"Yeah ...  I did, it was good, thank you, must've taken a while to get reservations huh?"

"No big deal, I'm just glad you enjoyed it," Soobin gave a warm smile to Jisu, before a solemn look took over, a little hesitant to ask the next question he had on his mind.