You've got me mesmerized

21.

21.

Once they were left alone in the living room, Hyein and Hanni did everything they could to cheer Danielle up. However, the Australian girl wasn't in the mood for jokes at all. 

“What takes them so long to come back ?” Hanni complained after some time.

Now that she knew the whole story, she just wanted Haerin to clarify everything to Danielle since it seemed to her that this was just a big misunderstanding. 

Danielle shrugged, she was pretending to be busy on her phone. “Don't know. Don't care.” 

“This won't do." Hyein said. "I’m going to spy on them.” She got up from the couch, determined to understand what was going on with Haerin's strange attitude.

“Uhm… That's not what I meant. I don't think that's a good idea.” Hanni replied, but it was already too late because Hyein had already left the room. “Shouldn't we stop her ?” She added, turning her attention back to Danielle.

“Let her be. She’s doing it for a great purpose. I’m actually curious about their conversation too.” 

“Thought you didn't care ?” 

Danielle huffed. “...I don't.”

At the same time, Minji was scolding Haerin on the balcony of the apartment. She talked for about ten minutes straight, without letting Haerin get a word in. On the other hand, Haerin's jaw kept dropping lower and lower as her friend was telling her about Danielle's worries and theories.

“She thinks I’m texting Eunchae?” She finally said when Minji stopped talking.

“Because you don't ?” 

“Of course I’m not texting her.” Haerin rolled her eyes.

“Then who ? Why did you lie to Dani ? I would be suspicious too if I was her.” Minji frowned in confusion.

Haerin sighed, looked inside the house for a second and lowered her voice. “It’s her mother. I met her accidentally and she texted me last night. I lied because I know she would freak out if she learned her mom knows about us.” 

“WHAT !?” Minji exclaimed. 

Hyein, who just arrived in the room connected to the balcony, got startled by Minji’s voice as she was trying to hide beneath a desk. Fortunately for her, Haerin was too focused on her conversation to hear her swear after bumping her head against the furniture. Once she calmed down, she carefully tried to listen to them but it was complicated because of how low they were talking.

“Be quiet ! Geez ! do you want the whole neighborhood to know ?” Haerin also yelled in panic.

“Sorry, sorry.” Minji whispered. “But like… what the fuck ? How did she learn about it ?” She added after a few minutes of silence in which she tried to process everything.

“Pointless.” Haerin sighed. “But she wants us to talk so I’m meeting her tomorrow at Itaewon.”

“I know you don't want to but… You should tell Danielle about it. Otherwise she’s going to get the wrong ide-”