sweatshirts in the summertime| l.mh /ft. p.js

chapter 9

Original POV

It's lunch time. I'm sitting at the table with Lia. Mark has this lunch wave too but he sits with his friends on the other side. Lia seems lost in her thoughts. I wonder if she's thinking about Hyuck. "I saw you and Hyuck exchanging looks this morning" I comment nonchalantly. Lia perks up. "What? What are you talking about?" She says baffled at my observation. "You like him." She turns red at my sudden accusation. "You do!" I shout excitedly. "Shhhh! Don't say a word!" Lia says sternly. I throw my hands up in surrender.

"I can help, you know? Hyuck and I have been friends since fifth grade. He actually told me that he thinks you're cool."
"Really?" She looks at me like I'm a superhero.
"Don't worry babe, leave it to me."

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School is over. Mark has to stay and tutor some students. Lia and I would normally walk, but it's raining, so we're waiting for him in the library. We start on our homework but I get distracted when I see a familiar figure walk through the door. It's Jisung.

"Jae, can we talk?" He asks me hesitantly.
"About what?" I ask dryly.
"About what happened. I'm sorry. I haven't been ignoring you on purpose, I promise. I know I've hurt you but please let me make it up to you!" He begs.

"What did you have in mind?" His eyes light up. He's happy that I didn't just reject him. I didn't want to do that, I've just missed him so much. "Really? Um ok, how about you, me, and Hyuck go to the cafe. My treat." I look at Lia. "Ok, but on one condition..." He nods his head eagerly. "Lia gets to come too." She looks up at me. I wink at her and smile. "That's cool with me!" He exclaims before running to find Hyuck.

Jisung returns with Hyuck. Lia goes and tells Mark where we're going. She comes back and we all walk to the front of the building. The raining has stopped but it's still wet outside. The sun is out though. We start walking across the street to the cafe. While we're walking, I fill Jisung in on the Lia-Hyuck situation. We purposely walked in front together so Lia and Hyuck could walk together.

"I think Hyuck likes her." Jisung whispers.
"Yeah, I think so too." I whisper back.
"We need to confirm both sides before we do anything ridiculous." I don't want to make anything awkward for anybody. Jisung nods his head at my statement and we continue to walk down the street.

We make it to the cafe and take a booth in the corner. Lia has never been here so we're all filling her in on what's good. "The cheeseburgers here are so good! That's mine and Anjae's go-to order." Jisung tells her. "I personally enjoy their chicken strips" Hyuck chimes in. Lia decides to try the chicken strips.

While we're waiting on the food, Jisung and I catch up with each other. I tell him about my class project with Lia and ask him about his. He was partnered with Hyuck. It was strange not having those two in my class this year. We don't even have lunch together. But at least I have Lia.

The atmosphere is so different without Chae. It's a lot brighter. No one complaining over small inconveniences. Everybody has a cheery attitude and the air is so light. We're all so comfortable with each other. It feels like we've known Lia as long as we've known each other.

The food arrives and we all dig in. Lia loves the chicken tenders, but she smelled the burgers and she wanted to try it. I gave her half of mine and she looked like she was about to cry. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" We all laugh at her comment and continue to eat our food.

This chapter was kinda bad but bare with me!