❝𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗛 ━━ 𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗪𝗢𝗢

step #4

:: Panic! (at the disco ft. Run by BTS) 

You have never experienced feeling terrified and elated at the same time.

It's kind of nice.

Lying is not, ofcourse. Calling Wonwoo your boyfriend is.

But you panic, when you realise what the consequences could be, "So, uh, if you don't mind...I have to get to my class, now..."

"O-of course!" she says and watches you walk away.

You try not to think about the fact that you hear her voice calling Hoshi's name. You practically sprint down the corridor to the classroom, trying to pretend that you didn't just tell a stranger that you're going out with Wonwoo.

Oh, you definitely just told a stranger that you're going out with Wonwoo.

The momentary 'nice' you had felt in telling the slipped away and you stop outside the classroom and press your back against the wall. You try to steady your breathing to not let anyone know that you've been running.

Act natural, Yumi !

Wonwoo is just on the other side of the wall, and he doesn't know anything about what just happened. In fact, you haven't told him about any of the girls asking about him. It's probably for the best.

Wiping a hand across his forehead, you pull yourself up straight and walk into the classroom.

Wonwoo was listening to music by himself at his desk. He's got a frown on—the frown that means he's not exactly annoyed about anything, but that he's concentrating very hard about something. It's the "tread carefully" frown, so you take a deep breath and tread carefully.

"Hi, Wonwoo!"

Wonwoo raises an eyebrow but doesn't reply. He's probably listening to one of his favourite songs.

"They put up the results on the pinboard," you continue, unperturbed.

Wonwoo pulls a face like he wouldn't want to know what you're about to say, especially the rank list but he still pushes his headphones down and around his neck. "First?" he asks.

"Yeah," you say, proudly, because now that you've seen Wonwoo and regained your happiness for the results, you don't dwell on the matter but continue talking about something else. Anything that comes to your mind. "And this girl I don't know tried to talk to me about you."

"Why would she want to do that?" he asks.

You pause. Well, it's only for the better you tell him the truth, right?

You just sigh and get your books out of your bag. "Wonwoo is so oblivious," you say to yourself.

"I heard that," he says, voice threatening but when you look at him...there's a smile. That smile.

You come to understand the people again, that this is why people were interested in Wonwoo...but that is if they'd ever seen him smile. But they haven't, or at least, you don't see how they ever could have.

You can't bring yourself to tell him the truth. You wouldn't want to be part of those, the ones who could never see him smile.

So you keep your lips sealed and pray that your lie doesn't turn into a rumour.

...

It's not that it's a bad day, because Wonwoo has an objective measure of what does and what doesn't constitute a bad day, and this doesn't come close.

But there's something weird happening. It starts being weird when he realises that he actually can't work out why some girl would have asked you about him, and it gets weirder at the basketball practice.

"Wonwoo!"

He turns around slowly, because, if he acknowledges that you calling his name is pretty much the only thing that will get his attention, it'd be like giving in. Your seatmate, he thinks, is the one, at your heels, looking furious, and you look so embarrassed that you could crawl into a hole and never come out—although, to be fair, you look like that at least three-fifths of the time.

"I will have words with you later," Aria says, trying her very best to look threatening. She walks past Wonwoo in a huff and leaves you standing by his side.

"What was all that about?" Wonwoo asks.

"Ah!" you say as if you are finally registering Wonwoo's presence and rub the back of your head. "About that. She's angry at you, well, because—well, um, she's not really angry at you, actually, I think she's angry at me too, but it's nothing too—"

"Lee Yumi"

You break off and smile because you are actually relieved that Wonwoo has interrupted you as you'd rather not finish that disjointed sentence.

"You talk too much," he says and starts walking towards the basketball court. "Let's go."

"Sorry, Wonwoo!" you say, before he could walk away.

Wonwoo hasn't been keeping a count of how many times you have said those exact words, but hypothetically, if he had been keeping such a count, he would have lost count well into the thousands.

He thinks that maybe the weirdness will stop as soon as he gets onto the court, but if anything, it just gets weirder. His teammates give him and you a dirty look when they enter the area, and flat-out refuses to let you sit and watch the practice— the captain mumbling something about "we need the focus of all team players."

Seungcheol, the captain's brother, tries to apologise for the captain's behaviour by offering you a ride home instead, which Wonwoo respectfully declines on your behalf— surprising you by saying...you both have plans, after all.

When you raise an eyebrow in question, he whispers to you something about the new game console he wants to show you and he would hate to use it alone for the first time and he wanted to walk home together.

But for some reason, what he says to Seungcheol sets Chan and Seungkwan off, and they don't stop laughing for a good five minutes until Seungcheol puts them back in line.

It's weird.

Anyway, you stay and watch the practice match, play a game on your phone while you wait for Wonwoo and when they stop for a break, he pulls you aside. "What's gotten into people...they seem to act weirdly a lot today?" he asks.

"I don't know," you say, in a way that implies that you probably do know, but you're trying to protect Wonwoo's feelings or something stupid like that—which would not be surprising because you've done that before.

Wonwoo shrugs like he doesn't care because he doesn't really care. It's not like the rest of the team acting stupid is something new, anyway. He tries to forget about it for the rest of practice, but it's sort of hard when Hoshi keeps glaring at him, and the captain's still acting like you've caught the plague.

And every now and then, Chan gives Wonwoo a thumbs up, and he doesn't quite know what to make of that.

The whole team leaves at the same time, but Wonwoo and you break off from the group at the usual corner. Everyone else is getting food at the corner store, but Wonwoo's mum always makes nicer food when you come over.

"I never did find out why your friend could be angry at me," he muses, unlocking the front door and sliding off his shoes. "Is it because she used to sit at my place before?"

You don't reply.