When We're Together [양정완]

43.

Was it too obvious? Chae Aera questioned herself as she stared at her phone, her eyes darting from her new profile photo to a small green circle beside the account named _yangarden, indicating that the user was active.

She sighed and buried her face into a fluffy pillow on her bed. We're real relationships this stressful or was it just her overthinking? Somehow, her overthinking led her into a deep sleep and Aera woke up the next morning only an hour before noon.

Remembering what she had been thinking about the night before, she quickly grabbed her phone from the table beside her. The girl's heart rate sped as she saw a notification from instagram messages from user _yangarden. She frantically pulled up the app and opened the conversation only to be met with a shared post.

The post showed a picture of worm with the caption, "Would you still like me if I was a worm?"

Below the shared post was a message, "This seems like something you would say."

Aera didn't know if she should laugh or bang her head into the wall for thinking it would be something serious coming from the boy's instagram; but either way, she quickly typed out her reply.

Yang Jungwon (_yangarden)

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"That was a fast reply"

"Yours wasn't"

"That's not fair, you sent that to me at 3 am"

"Still slower than me though"

"Tsk."

—-

A few days later, Chae Aera found herself sitting with her chin in her hands and her eyelids shut. She was in her homeroom class during break with nothing to study or do.

Her eyelids were heavy and her mouth opened in a wide yawn. Just then she heard a familiar voice from the doorway.

"Yes! I really love the color; I totally recommend it!" Park Haneul pranced through the open door and up to Aera and her friends' desks, somehow managing to not trip despite not having looked away from her live-streaming phone a single time.

Aera glanced up at the older female with a tired and confused eyebrow raise. The latter's only response was, "Can I show you on my live right now?"

The younger blinked a few times as she considered it. Honestly she had sort of forgotten Haneul was a content creator. To her, she was just that pretty, upperclassman friend.

Haneul tilted her head at Baram and Yoona who quickly fixed their hair and smiled for her live before starting to join the former in reading comments.

Aera glanced around and wondered how the few other students in the class could just sit there without moving a muscle. Eventually, she relented and ran a hand through her hair before having the camera turned towards her. She smiled and waved as Haneul spoke again, "These are my second-year friends. Aren't they cute?"

Aera chuckled at the older girl's remark and squinted her eyes to read the quickly-scrolling comments.

engene_11: what blush are you wearing????

sooha.hater00: where is Yuhan?

ban_heesoo: woah.. she's so pretty TT

moa4ever: Why is everybody Park Haneul knows so beautiful? 😭😭

freezeisforever: what is her insta?

i_love_enha: PARK HANEUL SO CUTE ❤️

shes_fromhawa11: she looks like an idol??!

Aera couldn't help but crack a little smile while reading the comments. Haneul spotted her reaction from the corner of her eye and giggled. She tilted her head towards the screen and mouthed, "Wanna introduce yourself?"

Chae Aera contemplated for a moment, then figured there was no harm. "Hi, everybody! I'm Chae Aer-" her words were suddenly cut short by another voice calling her name.

"Aera? Are you in here?"

The female turned to the doorway to find a tall, cat-eyed boy scanning the room for what she assumed was her. "Jungwon?"

The boy's dimpled smile appeared immediately after seeing the girl. He walked towards her swiftly, somehow not noticing the streaming phone in Haneul's hand.

The male sat beside Aera in her deskmate's empty seat, and seeing a straw strand of her hair, instinctively brushed it aside. But just as his lips parted as he was about to speak, his eyes caught sight of Haneul's phone screen, which was still aimed for Aera, and now him too.

Upon seeing the two's interation, the viewers immediatly began commenting again.

fearnot_kura: wow- I'm so single.

missing.izone247: WHO IS HE??

handsome.choibeomgyu: don't tell me he's taken omg

ttoki_once: oh my gat he's so pretty what

no.more.user.ideas: what did she say her name was?

koya_andtata: what are their instas?

Aera followed the boy's line of sight to the screen and her eyes instinctively darted to the comments. As her eyes scanned them, for some reason she felt her teeth gritting. Why did she feel so annoyed suddenly?

She turned behind her to look at the male's reaction, but he only seemed to be enjoying the complements. So was that what he liked?

The female suddenly scowled at her own thoughts. Who cares what Yang Jungwon likes? Right?

She looked back towards the screen and a weird nervous feeling arose in her chest. Suddenly she found herself standing with her hand around the male's wrist, and the next thing she knew, she had pulled him all the way out to the hallway.

"Hey, hey, Aera? Ra? Are you okay? You look upset," the male was wide-eyed with concern and confusion at the same time as he stumbled after the leading female. Her only response was a quick sigh. An idea popped into the male's head, "No way..."

a/n: sorry for infrequently updates.. school is hard TT