Hyewon// Don't Delete The Kisses

Chapter Eighteen

*Jungeun's POV*
It was a chilly evening when I and Jiwoo were just walking around, as we didn't have anything to do. I had texted Jinsol a while ago but hadn't gotten a reply from her yet, which was unusual, since she always replies either immediately or in a few minutes. But, I didn't think much of it because she might've been asleep or just busy. As we were walking, Jiwoo was surprisingly quiet. Almost disturbingly quiet, actually.

"Hey, Kim Jiwoo, are you alive over there? You're so quiet it's scary"- I asked and looked at her.

"Oh? Yeah, I'm alive, I just have a bunch of things on my mind"- she replied without looking at me.

A bunch of things on her mind, huh? I had a feeling that I knew what those "things" were.

"A bunch of things? More like Ha Sooyoung on your mind, Jiwoo. Don't even try to deny this, I can see it in your eyes. I've known you long enough to know what you're thinking about"- this actually made her turn her head and look me straight into my eyes. She took a deep breath and then said:

"I've been thinking a lot about... me and her. Especially after the party because she, you know, kept drunk-flirting with me for the whole evening. Honestly, she might have hurt me a while ago but I really miss her and know that she regrets everything. Besides, I'm still very much into her. I don't know what she's thinking, though".

"Well, knowing Sooyoung, she probably thinks that you'll never want to be anything more than friends again. You know how she is, she always expects the absolute worst. But, what I know for sure is that she's still into you. Head over heels, actually"- this made us both chuckle.

"Well, I still haven't made any decisions, but I can't say that I don't want you to be right about the head over heels part"- she said this and then we went quiet again, just enjoying one another's company. We were approaching a park when I suddenly saw a familiar figure sitting on a swing. I could tell that the person wasn't feeling well even by their posture.

"Hey, Jiwoo, do you see that? There's someone in the park and they don't look like they're feeling too good".

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I see what you're talking about now. Actually, I feel like I've seen this person before. We should go up to them".

"Yeah, I think so too. Come on"- I said this and went in the direction of the park. The closer I got to the swing, the more familiar the person became and my heart started beating faster and faster. At last, I realized who it was.
It was Hyejoo. Completely alone, with her head buried in the palms of her hands, visibly shaking and... crying?
I slowed down in an attempt to not startle her. I looked at Jiwoo, who had also realized who the mysterious person was by now. When I got close enough, I spoke up:

"Hey, Hyejoo? Is that you?"- as she heard me pronounce her name, she flinched a little bit. She didn't reply for a few seconds, but then I heard her say:

"Jungeun?"

"Yeah, it's me"- I said as I had approached her and was standing beside her. I walked around and crouched right in front of her, but wasn't able to see her face as she was covering it.

"Hyejoo, what happened? Why are you out here alone?"- I asked, but got no response. Jiwoo had caught up too and she was standing beside me.

"Hyejoo"- she suddenly said- "did something happen between you and Chaewon?"- and this was it. Just the mention of her name was enough for the black-haired girl to break down. I got closer to her and put my hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down:

"Okay, Hyejoo, I need you to take a few deep breaths and calm down a little bit"- I said but was quickly met with an irritated response:

"Calm down? Deep breaths? How the fuck do you expect me to do that after what happened? I lost her because of my own cowardice, I hurt her and got myself hurt in the process so don't expect me to just take a few deep breaths and relax!"- at this point, she was practically yelling at me and had removed her hands from her face, revealing her puffy and tearful eyes. At this moment, Jiwoo came up to her and took her hands in hers, gently pressing them together, and then said: