The Love Scandal ♪ Nishimura Riki

23 ♪ i want to get to know you

Chapter twenty-three

Rohee: congratulations!!! i'm so proud of u :(
Rohee: you both did rlly great

Both.

The word watches her, torments her. Jihyun idly stares at the screen, empty thoughts swarming her head. A mild bout of frustration is fired just below her heart, subtle but enraging it gradually. As much as Jihyun acknowledged her own skill, she still knew—however—that she couldn't pilfer all of the credit.

Riki's meritorious. His prowess wears on him like a diamond would a ring. He deserves the praise.

It's not a big deal.

Jihyun exhales deeply as she puts her phone away.

"You did really good out there."

Jihyun swiftly turns her head, acknowledging a familiar girl standing a few feet away from her. The match fire is blown out, and Jihyun's frustration subsides. "You, too."

The leporine girl smiles bashfully and dimples sprout into her full cheeks. "I'm glad. Then I hope to see you in the next competition too."

Jihyun returns the smile slightly. "Of course."

She faintly nods her head and rounds the corner to leave but pulls up short in doing so. "Oh by the way." She presses the tips of her fingers just around her sternum, signaling for her introduction. "My name is Maera."

Maera, the girl with the short layered hair framing her face, with red blotching her lips, three moles scattered across her cheeks. There's asymmetrical beauty in the shape of her eyelids. Leporine features in her small lips and round eyes. She's so...familiar.

Her face is new but the way Jihyun feels when looking at her comes with a familiar feeling. It's a bit like deja vu; where Jihyun knows that she's seen it before. But it's also foreign because Jihyun can't recall where she's seen this aspect which makes this very encounter so repetitive in her life.

Short layered hair framing her face.

Red blotching her lips.

Three moles were placed meticulously across her face to lead one's eyes along the harmony of her features from left to right. One mole, on the cheekbone of her right, high up almost to her eye. The second mole, along the side of her nose, not quite touching it but close to it. Familiar. The third mole, centered in the middle of Maera's cheek.

The buzzing in her ears, raucous and disturbing her thoughts pulls her from thinking about it any further. But Jihyun's so sure that she remembers it. So she inquires, "What's your surname?"

"Oh, I should've said that with my name too. My surname is Lim. Lim Maera."

That's it. Jihyun comes to the conclusion with more horror than anything else. Maera was Lim Gwanhee's daughter. That means that Gyuha is her cousin. Everything comes back around.

"Bae Jihyun," Jihyun quickly mumbles to drop the conversation. Maera grins sweetly and disappears with a small wave of her hand.

A buzzing call shakes her phone in small and rapid intervals. Jihyun raises it to her ear once she answers and voices an instant, "Hello?"

"We're parked outside for when you're ready," her mom's cheery voice chimes, the smile she's wearing is obvious, Jihyun could hear it bleeding into her tone.

"Okay, I'm on my way out then," Jihyun softly concludes. Her mother exhorts her to be quick with it and Jihyun just barely shakes her head at her mom's actions before hanging up first.