DIET MOUNTAIN DEW, pjh.

xi. loopholes

Danbi sat on her bed, eyes finding the ceiling the most interesting thing in the world. It had been a few days since the incident. She had managed to finished the project, submit it and was currently awaiting her grades — though by the face of her professor, he seemed pretty satisfied with it but the doubt was still floating inside her.

She had gone to the doctors with Junkyu, finding out that it might be because of the stress she took and the changing weather outside — she was prescribed anti-allergy medicine and was told to take loads of rest.

The only problem lingering from the incident was one thing, Park Jihoon. She hadn't had a word with him or his friends since the incident. She had even ignored a few of Yena's texts because she just didn't know what to say.

She was angry and irritated but at the same time she was shocked on how he had the nerve to defend himself when she clearly hadn't gotten a message. So she kept rethinking the whole situation, wondering if she missed something along the way.

There was a short knock on her bedroom door. As far as she remembered Junkyu had gone out to the cafe to study. Danbi pushed herself off the bed, trudging over to the door before pulling it open. "Hyewon?" She asked in a confused tone. She was absolutely not expecting to see her here, better yet with cookies in her hands.

"Hey, met Junkyu downstairs so he gave me the keys." Hyewon smiled, letting herself in as Danbi nodded, shutting the door before following her to the bed. "Here's some cookies I got from the bakery down the road." She set the transparent jar's filled with cookies on the bedside table.

"I don't mean this in a rude way but — what brings you here?" Danbi hesitantly asked, dropping onto the bed beside Hyewon. The latter sighed, a discomforting look on her face. "I know you might not like the conversation that comes up ahead but just promise me you'll listen?" Hyewon pleaded, Danbi dig her head into the blankets with a whine.

"Asahi sent you?" Danbi mumbled, "No. Hyunsuk." Hyewon replied in a shameful tone. "That's worse" Danbi whined, digging her head further into the warmth. "Just listen okay!" Hyewon said, pulling Danbi up into a sitting position.

"I've already gotten to know Jihoon's side of the story from Hyunsuk and Your side from Asahi, so I'm not taking sides." Hyewon softly said, "We just think it's better you two talk it out separately than us putting our legs into your problems, but we all know it's not going to happen with both your stubborn asses so we've decided to do the next plausible thing. Realize the guilt that comes with it."

Bad idea from Danbi's side but actually good idea if you look at it from a third person's view. Nothing annoys a person more than guilt.

"First of all, you slapped him — known fact. Second of all, you called him a cheater. Now I know this exactly isn't my place or story to tell but we've all known this since high school except you. Jihoon's dad cheated on his mother with another woman and got her pregnant. He then left a huge load on Jihoon's mom and left with his mistress. He hated the word 'cheater' and 'liar' because he was teased about it a lot in middle school. You saying it to him just bought out old wounds, i know you have no fault cause you didn't know but now that you do — at least a sorry?"

Fuck. Danbi did not know this.

=

"I have better things to do." Jihoon muttered, gathering his things with a sour face before leaving the library — Hyunsuk trailing behind desperately. "What are you really angry about?" Hyunsuk stopped in his tracks, watching Jihoon's figure come to a stop.

"The fact that she claimed you never sent her anything or because-"

"You know my answer, Hyunsuk. I wouldn't have reacted like that for the former."

Jihoon felt wronged by the whole situation obviously. He had clearly sent her a message the exact moment he knew he wasn't going to be attending, how could she claim she didn't get it. To make matters worse, when he went to check back on the conversation with Danbi — the message was deleted for all. So he had no evidence to claim his innocence. On top of that, the slap and the name calling put him off.

He didn't know if he could ever face Danbi again without bursting in anger. He wondered if she was feeling just a slight bit guilty for this.

"There's a loophole somewhere in this situation, Ji. There's no way Danbi would've reacted like that if she got the message and there's no way you wouldn't have sent it."

( note! ) any theories?