Behind the Screen | HAECHAN

Chapter 20

...

Yeona watched as Haechan made his way towards her, dressed in the clothes that she had selected for him.

Despite his smile and bounce as he walked, the second he sat down at the table in the study café beside her, she could tell that something was wrong.

"No snarky comment today?" Yeona asked as Haechan began pulling out his belongings from his bag.

"Consider it your lucky day." Haechan said, eyes on the inside of his bag.

Yeona watched as his smile faded as he turned his laptop on, typing in the passcode. It could easily be played off as Haechan focusing on his work, but Yeona knew better.

He's faking his happiness.

"So." Yeona said, thinking about how she could make Haechan spill what was on his mind. "Heard you stay late at school yesterday."

"You did?" Haechan said, head whipping towards her. "How?"

Yeona tapped her phone and Haechan let out a deep sigh. "Ugh, I have no privacy. This is one of the reasons why I hate social media."

Yeona took this as her chance as she placed her hand on top of Haechan's open notebook, staring at his face. "Why?"

"Why what?" Haechan asked, staring back at her.

"Why do you hate social media so much?"

Yeona watched as Haechan glanced around, making sure that the people around them were occupied. Lucky for her, all of them had headphones on, much too busy to listen into their conversation.

"It's just... I don't know. You can be anyone you want there, and I don't like that. You can pretend to be someone you're not and that bothers me. I want to get to know people for who they really are, not who they want to be." Haechan said, running his fingers through his hair.

"Is that it?" Yeona asked. Haechan shook his head.

"No, it's not. That confessions page also annoys me. It just posts whatever people say without even fact checking. I can say something stupid and not true and everyone will swallow it up like it's official news." Haechan continued. "Isn't that just terrible?"

"I guess." Yeona said, not really knowing what to say. For someone like her, social media was a big part of her life. Without it, she didn't know what she would do.

"Anyways, we should probably get working. Don't want you failing classes now." Haechan joked, his smile appearing on his face again.

Yeona shook her head, unable to believe that Haechan could change the topic so quickly.

"If anything, it would be you failing since you write like a five year old."

...

...

Haechan watched as the girl beside him let out a groan, clearly exhausted from the hours they spent on their project that seemed to get longer every time they worked on it. He didn't blame Yeona one bit, feeling just as exhausted if not more.

Haechan felt guilty, not being able to tell Yeona the real reason why he hated social media.

As if it was a sign that Haechan should have told her the truth, his phone begins shaking like crazy despite him putting it in do not disturb, meaning whoever was calling him was now calling him for the third time.

Haechan's eyes widened as he saw the contact name pop up, immediately hanging up but it was too late. Yeona already saw it.

Eomma.

"You should answer that." Yeona said, eyes returning to her laptop. "Your mom is probably worried."

"I really don't think she cares." Haechan scoffed without even thinking. He only realized what he had said when Yeona's head turned, her eyes looking into his.

"So I'm not the only one with parent problems." Yeona said, a smirk creeping up her face.

Haechan sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

Great, now what am I supposed to say, you idiot!

The sound of a laptop closing make Haechan glance over to see the girl packing up. "Where are you going?"

"Home." Yeona answered. "I'm hungry and you're clearly distracted so there's no point in continuing."

Haechan's stomach growled and a thought came to his head as he reached out to grab Yeona's arm, gently tugging it to she was facing him again.

"I'm hungry too. Why don't we eat before going home?"

"I don't know." Yeona said, looking away but Haechan was getting desperate.

"It'll be a good place, I promise. You might like it better than yesterday's." Haechan told her.

At the mention of yesterday's food, Yeona's eyes lit up and Haechan knew he had won her over.

He held in his smile as Yeona shook her head, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Fine, but if the place sucks, I'm never eating with you again."

...

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They're kinda cute :)