Rival | Kim Seungmin

Confused

Yeeun pov

"You and Seungmin have been hanging out a lot recently. I assume you've decided to stop competing with him?" Jiyeon asked as she sucked on her ice cream popsicle.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket as I let out a sigh. "I don't know...I've been doing everything to the best of my ability just to beat him for years. It feels strange to suddenly stop it all," I frowned as I kicked around the pieces of gravel underneath my feet.

We were currently sitting on one of the benches in the school garden during study hall. There wasn't much to study since we just finished exams yesterday, and our teachers briefly touched on the key points for the upcoming unit.

"Yeeun, let's ditch the studying and spend the rest of the year having fun. We're never gonna be high school students again you know. You can worry about studying when you get to university, but for now, just make memories with the people around you. There's no fun in looking back and the only memories you have are sleepless nights full of studying," Jiyeon spoke.

She's right. Maybe I've been too hard on myself. I'm only a high school student, there's no need to be trying so hard right now. I looked up at the sky, taking in the beautiful blue hue. I smiled slightly as I took in the breeze with my eyes closed. As I was enjoying the small sounds of nature, a shuttering sound made my eyes flutter open in confusion. I turned my head in the direction of the sound to see Seungmin and Felix walking toward us.

"What are you two doing here?" Jiyeon asked as Felix shuffled to her side.

"We were just curious about where you guys wandered off to," he answered before asking Jiyeon for a bite of her ice cream.

Seungmin took a seat next to me and I glanced at him before turning my attention back to the front. "Do you guys wanna go on a little trip? Hyunjin's family owns a vacation house and we're all going during the break. You guys wanna come?" Felix asked.

"I—I don't know," I answered as I thought about the finals that would be coming around once we came back from break.

"You can bring Wonhyuk too," Seungmin said as he nudged me.

I looked at him with a brow raised. "You know, you bring him up every chance you get. I'm starting to feel like you only talk to me so you can get to him."

He waved his hands in front of him to deny it. "No, no, definitely not! I just feel like you're more comfortable when he's around that's why," he replied as he rubbed his nape awkwardly.

"Count us in Lix, we'll go," Jiyeon accepted his offer which caught me off guard. I looked at her in surprise and she winked at me while throwing me a little thumbs up. I knew she was scheming some mischievous plans considering how she threw a wink at me.

***

I walked into the house and swiftly took off my shoes before heading upstairs to my room. I opened the door and put my backpack down, ignoring the human that was lying comfortably beneath my sheets. I sat at my desk and began going through my workbooks.

"Well someone must've had a rough day at school," Wonhyuk spoke as he turned to look at me. He had his elbow propped up, resting his head in the palm of his hand.

"No, I just don't know what to do anymore," I replied as I flipped through the pages with a sigh.

He took the blanket off his body as he sat up. "What do you mean?"

I pursed my lips as I pondered about how to explain all my thoughts to him. "Long story short, since Seungmin and I are friends now there's not really a need for me to keep competing against him. But the thing is, it's so hard for me since I've been doing it for years. I don't know what to do anymore. I always just studied all the time, but now I'm confused. Also, they invited us to go to Hyunjin's family's vacation home during break. Jiyeon already said we'd go, do you want to come?" I rambled on and on until I managed to let out everything I'd been keeping in for the day.

He suddenly pulled me in for a hug which took me by surprise. "Yeeun, we can finally go out and have fun together like normal people," he said as he pretended to wipe away his fake tears. He took this chance to pull me out of my seat and drag me downstairs. "Come on, let's go have fun! I'm sure you've missed out on so much," he rushed me to put on my shoes before grabbing the house keys and pulling me out of the house.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I followed him to the bus stop.

He turned to me with such enthusiasm. "You've never been to an arcade, right? Let's go play there and take photobooth pics," he motioned for me to get on the bus as it halted at our stop and opened the doors.

When we arrived at the place, Wonhyuk told me to wait while he went to exchange the money. I was studying my surroundings since I never experienced being in a place like this. "Yeeun?" I turned my head as I heard someone call my name.

"It is you," Seungmin smiled as he approached me with a wave.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him as he stopped in front of me.

"I lost a bet to Felix so I had to treat him out to games and dinner tonight," he sighed with a frown. I giggled at his expression before catching myself. I cleared my throat and fixed my composure before he asked me the same question back. "Anyways, how about you? What are you doing here?"

I hummed in thought. "I decided to just relax for the rest of the year. Wonhyuk brought me here since I've never been." His eyes widened at the mention that it was my first time coming to an arcade.

He pursed his lips as he looked around before grabbing my hand with a smile. "Come, let's do something," he took me to a photo booth, pulling me inside before shutting the curtain. He swiped through the multiple options until he came across one to his liking.

"Alright, the screen is going to countdown from 3 four times. Just look into this camera right here and pose, okay?" He said to me before pressing the start button. I wasn't sure what to do so I just copied his poses throughout the session. "Should we make a heart?" He asked as he curved his arm over his head. I was hesitant at first, but he rushed me since the timer was reaching zero. I quickly completed his heart just as the timer went off.

He smiled in satisfaction. "We finished! Let's go see how they came out," he said as he motioned for me to open the curtain and leave. I stepped out and saw Wonhyuk looking through our photos.

"So this is where you disappeared to," he smirked before taking one of the copies and slipping it into his pocket.

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A/N: for those of you who celebrate Christmas, merry early Christmas everyone🎄 I hope you're all staying warm and safe wherever you may be 🥰
I'd like to thank you all for reading this ff...it's been going on for over a year but I promise to finish it off soon as nicely as possible. Sending all the love and wishes ☺️💕ps. STARS AND RAINDROPS IS SO GOOD HELLO !!!