judge me once, love me twice | 2yeon

10 | embarrased

Jeongyeon falls onto her bed as Jihyo listens from her phone.

"I'm so embarrassed, Ji! I cried in front of her!" Jeongyeon face palms, and turns over to lie on her belly. "And I was meant to be the one protecting her, not the other way around."

"Jeong, I don't think she was protecting you. More like, she was assuring you that she'll be there. There's a difference, you know."

She doesn't want to hear it.

What if Nayeon's laughing about me to all of her friends? Jeongyeon angrily screams, and Jihyo makes sure to cover her ears as the phone feedbacks.

"I'm sure she hasn't told anyone, Jeong. Stop worrying about Nayeon." There are some keyboard taps from Jihyo's side of the phone. "The person you have to be worrying about most is Mina."

"Just Mina?"

"Mina and Han Yejun."

Jeongyeon sits up. "Why can't we call him by his real name?"

"Do you want to call him by his real name?"

Nope.

"Guessed right." Jihyo says after a silent yes, followed by a chuckle. "Anyways, I figured out how Mina found out that you were there."

Jeongyeon brings the phone closer to her. "Go on."

"Chaeyoung said that Tzuyu was picking up a close friend from the airport, right? Well, as we know now, that close friend turned out to be Mina. Now, Mina has a private instagram which she uses to communicate with people outside her inner circle.

Tzuyu met with Mina a few years ago at a convention, and the two become friends. Tzuyu got so close to Mina that they followed each other on their private accounts.

Using a little bit of my hacking knowledge — because I'm a genius like that — I figured that Tzuyu had posted something that contained you in it, and I was right.

On the fourth day of school, Tzuyu posted a photo of the volleyball team. Your duffel bag which you brought when you left home was in the picture. Mina used that to trace you."

Jeongyeon needs a while to take this all in.

"Using money and her dad's power, she got into this school without having a background check, and got in the next week. I told you Jeong, you need to keep yourself hidden."

"That's kinda hard considering I'm in the social circle of the most popular group in school." Jeongyeon sighs and picks up her schoolbag. "Anyways, I'd better get going to school. Tell me if you find out anything else."

"Will do." Jihyo laughs and cuts the call.

*****

Nayeon tries to wave high to Jeongyeon in the corridor, but she's just keeping her head down. The former doesn't understand what's happened, but she feels hurt that she's ignoring her.

"How are you hurt?" Momo questioned. "I thought you didn't like her?"

Sana looks over at Nayeon but doesn't say anything.

"I mean...I don't not like her, you know?"

Momo responds with a stare. Of course she doesn't know.

Nayeon gets up from the table and brings her books with her. "I'm going to the gym. Jackson promised he'd help me with my receives."

Sana watches as her friend runs off, and looks down at Momo, who's watching her run off too.

"Nayeon's not telling us something." Momo whispers. "She's been hiding something from us for a long time."

"Actually, Mo," Sana catches the attention of the older girl. "There's something that she hasn't told you."

*****

Nayeon walks into the gym, where Jackson is nowhere to be seen. There's the sound of a ball bouncing off the walls, and it catches her ears.

Walking to the source of the sound, she sees Jeongyeon in her full kit, practicing receiving and setting. 

"You're devoted, huh?" Nayeon jokes, walking over to her.

Jeongyeon catches the next toss and nods. "Mmhm."

Nayeon doesn't know how to feel.

The tension is strangling her.

Nayeon holds her breath in, figuring out what she wants to say. "You've been ignoring me all day, Yoo. Why?"

Jeongyeon doesn't respond for a few seconds, and tosses the ball back to the wall.

Finally, she turns to look at Nayeon with the volleyball clutched in her hands. "Just because we had an emotional moment yesterday doesn't mean we're close."

The older girl feels her throat become dry in an instant, and she nods her head, letting out a dry cough.

"You're embarrassed, isn't it?" Nayeon gazes at the girl who is just about to do another round. "Because you want to be seen as tough."

Jeongyeon stops her hand in mid-air and brings the ball back down. She puts her left hand in her pocket and fidgets around for a bit, because she has no idea what to say.

So I was right. Nayeon mentally rolls her eyes.

"You can be yourself around me, you know?"

Jeongyeon can't be herself around Nayeon. She would think of her as a monster.

Furthermore, she doesn't want to cause much trouble in her life. She's now here to protect her, so there's no time for sharing feelings.

But why does her heart feel this way?

"I'd rather stay the way I was." She coldly replies, tossing the ball to Nayeon, who is practically frozen. "I don't need a crying buddy, Im."

"But you need someone to lean on." Nayeon stops her before she leaves, with Jeongyeon's back towards her. "Let me be the one you can depend on."

"Depend?" Jeongyeon scoffs. "Depend on you?" More like you have to depend on me.

Nayeon rushes over to Jeongyeon and back hugs her, resting her chin on the younger girl's shoulder.

Jeongyeon doesn't know what's happening, because why are her feelings a mix? Her emotions are a mess and her stomach feels like it has butterflies fluttering around.

"Nayeon-" Jeongyeon tries to pull away, but the older girl doesn't let her.

"Let's just stay like this for a while." Nayeon softly whispers. "You need this more than I do."

The brown haired girl doesn't move. She stays still for whatever nonsense her mind has made an excuse for.

Nayeon doesn't let go of Jeongyeon, no matter how fast her heart is racing, and no matter how fast her face is heating up.

*****

Sana and Momo rush to the gym where they see Jeongyeon and Nayeon standing there, with Nayeon's arms wrapped around Jeongyeon's waist.

Momo looks at the corridors, making sure no one is there to disturb the moment, because only the Lord knows how much Nayeon needs a break.

"Sana." Momo begins, "Do you think this will end well?"

The younger Japanese girl shakes her head and continues on staring at the two who are within each other's embrace.

She doesn't know, really. "With the way things are becoming, I doubt it will."

Momo sighs and feels pity for Nayeon.

"I hope things will get back to normal soon."

Sana shakes her head. "Normal is subjective."