Within These Shadows || Park Chanyeol/Do Kyungsoo || Book 1

46

ASM: Can we meet? I have something to talk to you about.

PCY: Yeah, sure. Where do you want to meet?

ASM: How about the backyard?

PCY: Okay. I'll be there in ten.

Mae sat on one of the benches in the university backyard, waiting for Chanyeol. The rain had long stopped and there were puddles everywhere; she hated puddles. But they didn't matter now; Jay did. The last time Jay had cried that bad was five years ago, when she had broken up with Lim Ju Hwan, and he had left for England. Since then, she never saw her cry like that and seeing her today, simply broke her heart.

There was a time when Mae had considered Jay and Kyungsoo being together, but neither Jay showed any interest in it, nor Kyungsoo. Hence, she had discarded that idea from her head. And when Lim Ju Hwan showed up, and she saw that he still had feelings for Jay, a part of her hoped that he and her best friend would get back together. But hearing about everything from Jay in the evening, made her feel terrible; she had not been paying attention to Jay's life and now her best friend was hurting.

Jay had cried herself to sleep, and Mae took that opportunity to meet and talk to Chanyeol about everything. Surely, he'd know about Kyungsoo's feelings for Jay, if he had any; but from what his last words sounded like, she was sure he had a thing for Jay. She wondered why Chanyeol never said anything to her about it; maybe he had a good reason for it. But whatever the reason was, they needed to talk about it now. She couldn't watch Jay hurt like that anymore.

"Mae?" Chanyeol called from the entrance of the backyard. Mae turned around to find the tall boy waving at her from afar, but his usual jolly face held no sign of joy today.

He knows, Mae thought. She waved back at him, a very small smile forming on her lips.

Chanyeol took long strides towards where Mae sat and it took him less than five seconds to reach her; perks of having long legs.

"Hey," he sat down beside her.

"Hi," she replied.

"So, you wanted to talk about something?"

"Yeah. I'm sure you already know what it is." Mae looked down and focused on her hands. Jay would have fiddled with her own fingers at such moments of nervousness. Yeah, Mae was a bit nervous; talking about both hers and her boyfriend's best friend was a sensitive topic for both of them.

Chanyeol nodded his head. He noticed Mae's lowered head and her gaze on her fingers; she was nervous. He gently placed his hand in one of hers and wrapped his fingers around hers.

"Mae, there's nothing to be nervous about. We're both grown-ups and mature people. Surely, we wouldn't fight about our best friends like teenagers. Right?" Chanyeol chuckled, followed by Mae. He always knew how to make her feel at ease.

"Yeah," she looked up at him. "So, why didn't you tell me? About DO's feelings for Jay."

"I wanted to, but the other night, you said that Aiden hyung and Jay used to be lovers, and I saw how much you admired them together. So, I didn't know if I should tell you about it because Aiden hyung is your cousin and this is DO's secret. I thought that if you should know, DO should be the one to tell you."

"Hmm," Mae nodded, Chanyeol was right. Another thing she loved about him; his honesty and the will to always do the right thing. "So, about what happened today...how's Kyungsoo doing?"

"He's trying to bear with it."

"Jay cried real bad."

"Jay cried?" Chanyeol looked at Mae apologetically. "I'm so sorry about it, Mae."