i know i love you | jakehoon

𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙾 --

chapter
— 22 —

The cold feeling of the cup in his hand numbed his little fingers, alternating between holding it with his left and right hand. Every step he took, Jake tried his best to ignore how he could almost hear his own heartbeat with Sunghoon walking beside him. Nervously, he took little sips of the bubble tea in his hand, trying to ignore the whining Ni-ki in the back of them who was trying to steal a sip of Jungwon's.

"I haven't been to the park in forever," Jay claimed, putting one of his hands into his blazer pocket. "Same here," Heeseung agreed. They all took the last turn before the park, some of them getting giddy once it came into sight. School just ended so the park, in general, was empty with only a few people with their dogs walking around. "Somebody push me!" Jungwon exclaimed as he waddled towards the swings excitedly, shoving his drink into Ni-ki's hands. The youngest cheering when he finally got a sip of the drink but quickly making a disgusted face at the taste of the older's bubble tea. "Not as good as I thought it'd be," Sunoo laughed at him, following behind Heeseung who went to set down his drink by the benches.

As Jay went over to push Jungwon on the swings, Jake and Sunghoon walked over to the slides which were obviously way too small for them. When the younger went to slide down, his legs were the length of the slide. With a laugh, he somewhat slid down the slide. "We're too tall for this," Sunghoon said, dusting off his pants. "Well I mean this is meant for kids so," Jake said with a teasing tone, walking towards the slides to sit at the very top as well.

"Come on hyung" Sunoo yelled, signaling towards the oldest who was sitting at the benches with his drink in hand. With that one call, he came bolting over to join them with a laugh. It was obvious that whenever Jake and Sunghoon hung out, the other five were getting equally as close with each other. Though they felt a little left out, they couldn't quite help it. They were the ones who decided to hang out together with just the two of them instead of being with their other friends.

Sunghoon walked over to the opposite side of the playground to the monkey bars that easily were slightly lower than his head. "Yup we're way too tall for this," Sunghoon laughed out, pretending to swing on the bars. With the biggest smile, Jake went to stand beside him to compare the bars with his height. "I still got some space to hang unlike you" The older reached up to grab onto the worn blue bars.

Sunghoon paused to look around as if he was searching for something. Where did I meet him? His eyes scanned over the rest of the park before spotting a familiar spot where he and Jaeyun met that one day after school. Ever since the last encounter in the bathroom, he hadn't seen Jaeyun. There was relief in that statement but it didn't satisfy the many questions he had as to why Jaeyun popped up all of a sudden, it wasn't as if he was struggling and needed help. Plus he had already met Jake so he wasn't expecting to see Jaeyun so soon after.

The younger snapped out of it when Jake held out his drink to him, eyes scanning over the park as well. "What are you looking for?" Jake sat beside him on the ledge where the playground ended, swinging his legs a little bit. Sunghoon took bigger gulps of his bubble tea before chewing at the boba with a little smile. "It's nothing, I used to meet an old friend there" Sunghoon pointed at the tree with a certain smile that Jake couldn't explain, it made him smile as well. His head whipped in the direction of his hand, eyes widening just a little bit. Sunghoon hummed at his reaction, nervously looking away.

He was beginning to get a little confused at the little gestures and reactions he'd get from Jake whenever he mentioned his old friend. Was it possible that Jaeyun was Jake? Was it all a coincidence? It couldn't be, they were much too alike to be called a coincidence.