less than lovers | ksw

14 | back of my hand

"Morning." Sihyun yawns, stretching as she plops herself on the dining chair. Eric laughs, "Your face has those lines." He points out with his forefinger, making the girl scowl at him as she rubs on the marks.

"It's normal you piece of shit. I don't know what the both of you were doing late night but I couldn't sleep very well since the both of you were screaming like pussies on a rollercoaster so I had to stuff my face into my pillow." She explains, sighing while resting her chin on her palm as Eric merely laughs again. "Where's Sunwoo?"

The American turns to her with a teasing look, "Ah ah ah, looking for loverboy now?" He winks before turning back to fetch the milk from the fridge.

Sihyun frowns in confusion, "Loverboy? You weird motherfu—He's my friend, best friend, if I must emphasize. Unless he's in love with someone or sumn', loverboy would be a—" She ponders, while Eric watches her, "—weird description for him." She says with a nod.

The latter squints his eyes, pushing the bowl of cereal towards the girl who thanks him happily, "I'm not very sure though. Impossible that you don't have any feelings for Sunwoo. Him? Kim Sunwoo? Good-looking and hilarious and yet you don't have any feelings for him at all even when you're around him 25/8?" Eric pipes suspiciously before giggling slyly, "That's weird, don't you think?"

Sihyun sighs, "Not at all. That's the point anyway—I'm around Sunwoo 25/8. Been with him since we were cranky babies trying to suck on pacifiers and boobie milk," Eric scrunches his nose at her choice of words, "He's basically a brother. I know him like the back of my hand and so does he. It'd be weirder if I liked him more than if I didn't."

Licking his lips, Eric nears Sihyun with both elbows on the table and fingers linked with each other, "You know him like the back of your hand?" He utters with a brow raised.

With confidence, Sihyun nods firmly, eyes gleaming, "Yup."

Behind the walls of the kitchen entrance, Sunwoo stood stiffly, eyes blank.

He smiles painfully, whispering softly to himself as he leans his head against the wall, "Do you really, Hyun?"

———

"I was thinking," Sihyun begins slowly.

Eric snorts, "Didn't know you did that." He retorts jokingly and the girl threatens him with her fist, "Piss off blondie." At that, he gasps dramatically, "That's racist!"

Sihyun ignores him blatantly and Sunwoo laughs a little loudly, "Anyways, you were saying?" He pops curiously, glancing over at the girl as she sticks her tongue out at Eric childishly before replying to her best friend, "I was saying that, I think I might try and confess to Jacob, maybe get rejected and move on and focus on more important things? I don't know, like my studies or the club?" She suggests before shrugging.

Sunwoo is left speechless, blinking at her before he lets out a breathless what?.

Grinning sadly, Sihyun sighs, "I just—I mean my crushes don't seem to ever work out anyway and plus it'd be easier to get over him if I just confess to him and get rejected in the face—though that's pretty embarrassing." She laughs.

"It is." Eric says bluntly, continuing even before the girl can respond with a snarky remark, "But how are you so confident this guy you like doesn't like you back?" He deadpans, sparing a glance towards Sunwoo when Sihyun wasn't looking.

Discreetly, he pats the boy's shoulders, hoping to somehow comfort him.

He remembers, what he had told him the night before.

"The guy she likes..." Sunwoo trails off, looking around the room while he laid on his back with his head resting on his right arm, "...seems to like her back."

"Well, it's not really possible for him to like me. From what I've heard, he's pretty popular among girls." Sihyun remembers the senior from before, frowning slightly but shaking it off when Eric rolls his eyes, "That's stupid. You never know what someone might ever feel." He says with a scoff.

Sihyun scoffs back, "Okay, Mr. Know-It-All, what do you suggest?"

Before Eric could respond, Sunwoo cuts the both of them off, "We're here." He says blankly, pointing at the school building.

"Tsk, I need to report to the principal's office so the both of you go ahead." Eric waves towards the two best friends and walks off after a soft 'bye'. Sighing, Sihyun turns to Sunwoo, "Well, let's go." She proceeds to link her arms with his and hop a little in her footsteps which Sunwoo can't help but smile at despite the painful talk during the walk to school.

"Oh Sihyun! Hey!" The girl turns towards the voice and comes to face the boy she had been crushing on for weeks now.

"Jacob...hi." She lets out, somehow breathlessly while her best friend shifts uncomfortably beside her. The Canadian grins sweetly, "There's club activities today, you know that?" He probes softly and Sihyun thinks she might have just dropped at that moment at how lovely his voice sounded.

Man, I'm such a damn simp.

Nodding, the girl smiles weakly, feeling her heart pound against her chest and the butterflies in her stomach as the senior merely smiles back widely, "Cool, so I'll see you at the room yeah?" He pops cutely before waving goodbye.

Sihyun stands at her spot, just watching Jacob walk off as if it was the most interesting thing to do.

"Hyun, Hyun! Sihyun!" The lass snaps out of it, turning over to Sunwoo who stares at her in annoyance—which was unknown to her of course—and hums in confusion with brows furrowed, "Hm?"

Sunwoo sighs, defeated, "He's gone, what are you even staring at?" He tucks his hands into his pockets, mumbling bitterly, "Let's go, I don't want to be late."

He proceeds to walk off without the girl, ignoring the burning jealousy tugging at his heart.

↜ ↝

prob just a filler kind of chap??? anyways i just realised this book is #1 in chanhee🥲

snisbsksbsk and it also reached 2k a few days ago😭 i cant believe it honestly, thank you sooooooo much jsosnsk feels like just yesterday when this book was just published:")

hope you all have a good day ahead<3
—bri