In the Belly of a Whale ~ ldh

Chasing Jupiter

"I'm more pleasant company than any other person I can think of. No one else is as eager to listen to me as I am."
~ Rachel Coker, Chasing Jupiter

══════ ∘◦❁◦∘ ══════

A couple of days after summer break began, Jaemin finally convinced me to hang out with him. I asked Byeolha to meet us since Aejin had gone to visit family and Seungin was too busy missing her to do anything else.

"Do you want to see a movie?" Jaemin suggested.

"What's playing?" I asked and Byeolha got her phone out to look it up.

"There's an action, a rom-com and a horror showing right now."

"Horror!" Jaemin and I answered in sync and Byeolha pouted.

"But you know I don't like scary things," she whined.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." He winked and she giggled.

"Okay. The next showing is in an hour and a half. Before that, do you want to help me find my dad a birthday present?"

"What does he like?"

"Dad stuff. I don't know," Byeolha sighed. "He's so hard to shop for.

"It'll be easier if we work together. C'mon!" Jaemin grabbed both of our hands and began walking in a random direction.

"Where are we going?" I struggled to keep up with him.

"Don't worry so much, Jiwoo."

"Nana!"

We looked browsed through a couple of clothing stores, but Byeolha claimed that everything was either too cute or not cute enough. Then, we went into an electronics store where Byeolha took one look at the prices and sighed. Finally, we made our way over to a bookstore. As I followed Jaemin and Byeolha inside, my phone chimed with a message from Hyuck.

해해따가워: I see you

I whirled around, scanning the mall for my potential stalker.

"Jiwoo?" Byeolha called out.

"Just a minute." I couldn't see him anywhere. I wandered away from the bookstore, wondering if perhaps he had seen us over by the electronics store.

나: Where are you?

The message was marked as read. I bit my lip, tapping a finger against the side of my phone. All of a sudden, someone grabbed my shoulder. I spun around.

"Jiwoo." Hyuck grinned at me. I smacked him on the chest.

"What are you doing lurking like that, huh? You're making me nervous." I pouted and he laughed, slinging an arm across my shoulders. He glanced down at my phone and laughed when he saw his contact name.

"해해따가워? I'm so offended." He puffed his cheeks out in mock annoyance.

"Well, what's my name in your phone?" I asked and he held it up for me to see. Underneath a photo of me staring at something off out of shot was the name "귀여우". My cheeks caught fire.

"When did you even take that photo of me?"

"Secret," he smirked. "Are you here with Jaemin and Byeolha?"

"Yeah, we're going to see a movie in," I checked my phone, "fifteen minutes."

"What movie?"

"It's a horror." I grinned when he shuddered.