admire || yang jungwon

twenty two

it was a break but it certainly didn't feel like one when you had twelve boys who were basically clueless at most things unless you gave them instructions. the girls were currently trying to figure what they needed exactly for the barbeque at night so that they could at least allocate roles for the boys. otherwise, it would turn out to be chaos.

they had split the roles for the dinner, yet the girls could not understand how they made even ordered tasks so chaotic. jian was currently sitting in between heeseung and jake waiting for the ramen to cook while yujin gave up trying to lead them and just went to help sunghoon cook the meat.

meanwhile, jungwon and taehyun were together, preoccupied by the meat they were cooking in the kitchen. the others were using the barbeque and they decided that it would probably be smarter to also use the kitchen. because someone once said that best cooked meat are only flipped once and for some reason they really wanted to try that, they were letting the meat cook on one side on high heat for the moment. they were immersed in a deep conversation about the origins of cats and every few minutes, taehyun would keep pointing out that jungwon looked like a kitten and jungwon would just meow in response, pulling a face that literally could make everyone baby him. then suddenly, amidst the silence that surrounded them when their conversation came to an end, taehyun asked, "jungwon?"

the boy looked up at the older, tilting his head, concerned at the sudden seriousness that enveloped them.

"do you like lee jian?"

at the mention of her name, he couldn't help but to smile.

"so you do like her." taehyun concluded, but to his surprise, jungwon interjected, "no i don't."

again, he refused to admit that he liked her. it would've been a lie to say that his current career had the largest influence on this, but even then, he could not admit it. it was too new, something he had never experienced before and he was scared. he felt a tug at his heart when he said no. but he just could not bring himself to admit that he had indeed fallen for the older girl.

taehyun looked at him surprised, but secretly smiled at the boy having internal dilemmas, before turning back to seriousness. "then can i ask her out?"

jungwon's heart almost dropped.

"huh?"

"i want to ask her out. again. can i do that?"

to be honest, jungwon really didn't like the sound of it, but then again, to him, he had no right to decide whether he liked it or not. "why are you asking me hyung? it's up to you."

taehyun smiled, "i got your approval then."

the younger boy just stared back at the older, before giving him a smile too.

"frICK HYUNG THE MEAT'S BURNING"

taehyun remained calm, laughing while turning the heat off. then jungwon started laughing too.

"did you guys burn something?"

the boys whipped their heads around, noticing that jian was staring at them, confused at why they were just laughing. she smiled before taking some more ramen cause heeseung and jake had decided to eat some of it already.

"come out soon yeah? the ramen's really good. heeseung and jake are really good at making it." and with that she left.

"i'm better." taehyun grumbled, loud enough for jungwon to hear, who tried so hard to stop laughing.

then jungwon turned to taehyun, asking, "hyung, what are you going to do if she rejects you?"

after giving some genuine thought, he answered, "i'll ask her to give me three months."

"three months?"

"yeah, three months to prove myself. by the end of three months, if she still doesn't like me back, i'll stop."

"have you ever ... stopped loving her, hyung?"

taehyun stopped, memories briefly crossing his mind, "i guess i never did."

***

2:00am and she couldn't sleep so instead, she went out to the beach, admiring the stars at this time. the wind was gentle, slightly cold and she regretted not wearing her jacket, but the atmosphere and the scenery was too pretty to miss.

"what are you doing out here at this time?"

she jumped and quickly turned, in time to see taehyun walk towards her. he took of his jacket and placed it over her body before taking a seat next to the girl. her heart fluttered.

"i ... couldn't sleep. what about you?"

"me too."

then silence. the two stared into space, admiring the views, capturing the moment. it was romantic to a certain extent, or as the girl would want to say. when could she ever experience being on a beach at 2 in the morning with a boy like taehyun.

"jian."

she hummed in response.

"do you remember what you said to me before you left the practice room that day?"

she stopped. of course she remembered. those words back then had a huge impact, not only on him but on her too. it was the memories they had hidden away for almost too long; it was a miracle that it hadn't been spoken about before, but now, she couldn't escape it any further.

"yeah ..."

"if we ever meet again and we still feel the same, maybe then, we can try again."

she nodded.

the boy turned to face her.

"jian. i still like you."

her heart raced. she briefly met his eyes. she could feel the genuinity.

"i still like you, lee jian."

silence.

and then he broke it. "do you think, we can try again?"

"... i'm so sorry taehyun."

"... it's jungwon isn't it?"

"no ... i'm just really conflicted with my feelings too."

"three months."

"huh?"

"give me three months and by the end if you don't feel the same, i'll move on."

"taehyun ..."

"if i was selfish i would ask for a year or maybe a few years, but i won't. just three months."

she faced him and smiled, "okay. three months. hopefully i'll have an answer by then."

taehyun smiled back, satisfied that he had three months to stay by her side. then without warning, he ruffled her hair before averting his gaze back to the scenery while her heart raced like there was no tomorrow.

a/n:
- idk where this storys going but yES BUT it's still a jungwon story so yes but i also love kang taehyun. actually who do u guys want lol ????????
- i wasnt actually planning to come back till afTER my fking exams (but thankful that theyre spaced out pretty well) theyre literally the final exams, the onEs that acTUALLY COUNT towards my atar and yet im still not studying fk me. i have my 4u maths exam tmr and i feel so unprepared, maybe cause i spent like 5hrs on youtube instead, but like anyways fk me.
- someone pls tell me to get tf off youtube and social media cause otherwise my atars gonna look very tragic. i already had my english exams and ngl for someone who partially memorised all 3essays the day before, i dont think i did too bad but i also think i did bad and its killing me cause my mind just unconsciously goes back to it