an inconvenient encounter ❁ jeong jaehyun

18

«────── 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓 ──────»

sweat were rolling down hyejin's temple, down to her cheeks, to which she quickly wiped away. she could feel her t-shirt sticking to her back from blazing hot it was.

her eyes squint at the boys placing soccer on the field, the girls were cheering for them, some were talking amongst themselves, and some had left to eat the food offered by the school. hyejin could barely spot jaehyun and jungwoo from how far she was sitting on the bleachers.

"do you even see them?" she asks daeun, seated next to her, "i literally cannot see them at all."

"jungwoo is 03, jaehyun is..." daeun trails off, squinting her eyes, "i think he's number 05."

hyejin squints harder, finally spotting the boy running across the field with the number 05 attached to the front and back of his white t-shirt. it wasn't that interesting really, soccer, that is. so she turns to face daeun, nudging her on the shoulder with a teasing smirk on her face.

"so, what's the situation with you and jungwoo?"

daeun rolls her eyes, "i don't know. we're just... talking, is all."

"talking about what?" hyejin deadpan, "he gave you his cap because you were complaining about the sun!" hyejin flicks the black cap laying on the top of daeun's head, "i wish i had a boy who would do that for me. you know? lend me his jacket when i'm cold..." she trails off.

daeun frowns, pulling away, readjusting her cap, "what the hell are you talking about? jaehyun did that for you, though."

"jaehyun?" hyejin's face contort into confusion, "you mean, jeong jaehyun?" daeun nods, "since when, has he done any of those things for me?"

the other girl's face falls, as if asking, 'are you serious?'. "remember during the school trip? you hurt yourself, that boy carried you all the way down a whole ass mountain."

"bu—"

"and he wouldn't stop taking care of you until the very end," daeun points out, "honestly, i think he kinda likes you," she shrugs.

hyejin's eyes widens, baffled by the random assumption. just, in what way would jaehyun ever like her? they go way back. waaayyyyyy back. jaehyun has seen her dig her nose as a kid, which was definitely not a beautiful sight to see. she has seen jaehyun cry over  a small scratch on his knee, to which she laughed at.

if anything, jaehyun should be disgusted of her.

they knew each other too much, and for way too long to even develop feelings.

"no way. he does not," hyejin shakes her head, "we've been friends for ages. we stopped being friends for the longest time, and it was only recently when we started being acquaintances again," hyejin says, "we do not like each other."

"i did not say you two liked each other," daeun rolls her eyes with a heavy sigh, "i said that he likes you. friends can develop feelings, you know?"

"nope," hyejin shakes her head, gaining an exhausted sigh from daeun.

jaehyun having a crush on her? it was a weird idea to think of. a very weird idea. random too. she isn't sure if she would even date jaehyun.

will she, though?

he is handsome, hyejin would give him that, but other than that, there's no other reason to actually date him. no, okay. he's nice. kind of. sometimes. although, the sarcastic remarks has definitely declined tremendously.

okay, maybe, if it was the end of the world, hyejin would date jaehyun. only if it was the end of the world. they were friends only, and furthermore, hyejin isn't even looking for, the one.

"it's weird," hyejin says, shaking her head. "i don't know, it doesn't matter anyway."

"whatever you say, hyejin," shrugs daeun. "oh! here they come!" she points out to jungwoo and jaehyun running over to them.

hyejin stands up from her seat, smiling at the boys.

"did you guys win?" she asks.

"what? you weren't watching us?" jungwoo complains, grabbing a bottled water from daeun and gulping it down.

"i wasn't paying attention," hyejin replies sheepishly.

"we won," jaehyun chirps in, "we won by 2 points. now we just have to win the last game, and our class would be the winner."

"wait— what's the last game?"
...
hyejin had her left leg tied together with jaehyun's right. there were 3 rounds, so total of 6 students in from each class. hyejin and jaehyun were the last one to go, praying that they would win this round.

she looks up at the bleachers, spotting daeun. she immediately glares at the girl, to which daeun smiles guiltily.

they had both volunteered to do the 3-legged race, but daeun had backed out at the very last minute since she wanted to hangout with jungwoo.

"do you know any techniques that could help us?" hyejin looks up at jaehyun, but she was only blinded by the bright sun casting the sky.

"no," jaehyun replies, "but you gotta walk fast, you know? your legs seem pretty short— ow!" jaehyun winces, rubbing the spot that you had lightly punched him. he rolls his eyes, "it's true— okay, okay! jeez."

hyejin glares up at the boy, "i'll walk just fine. my legs are the perfect length, so you should focus on yourself."

"sure," sighs jaehyun, "you're like, what? barely five foot."

"i'm five foot three. i'm average, jeong."

"do you even know what average means?" he scoffs.

"everyone take your positions!" they were cut off by one of the teachers speaking through the speakers.

hyejin and jaehyun fumble to the red tape plastered on the grass.

jaehyun wraps his arm around hyejin's shoulders' in instinct, tugging her towards his side. "put your arms around my waist, so you won't fall," he advices. hyejin doesn't question it, she lifts her arm and wraps it around his waist, a little shocked at how skinny he was.

"this okay?"

hyejin, nor jaehyun, knew what the question meant. was he referring to the rope tied on their ankles? or was it the arms wrapped around each other? or did he just mean generally if hyejin was okay?

nonetheless, hyejin replies, "yeah."

they hear the sound of the empty gun shooting and the both of them rushes out to walk through the grass. even with jaehyun's long legs, hyejin powers through and practically runs as she tries to catch up with the boy.

her hand automatically tightens around his white t-shirt as she scrunches her face in discomfort.

"come on! just a little more!" jaehyun exclaims, pulling hyejin closer to his side as he takes long strides, his eyes glued to the finishing line.

he tugs her closer, walking faster and faster each step. hyejin had her eyes on the ground, following jaehyun's steps, and before she knows it, she feels the ribbon on her stomach and her head shoots up, the sound of people cheering filling her ears.

hyejin gasps, looking up at jaehyun, "we did it!" she exclaims, unable to contain the grin.

jaehyun stares down at her with a dimpled grin, "we did."

before she realises it, her hands lifts up to plant a high five onto jaehyun's palms, to which she realised the difference in size in the matter of hands.

jaehyun thought it was cute— how small her hands were, calling to be held.

before jaehyun could even pull her into a hug, the cheers coming from their friends stopped him. the two of them turned to their classmates.

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