The Love Scandal ♪ Nishimura Riki

26 ♪ will there ever be a time

Chapter twenty-six

"We have an aquarium right outside of the house. If you want to see fish live in their habitat, go for a swim."

"Yeah, and go feed myself to the sharks? Great idea Jaehyun."

"You're already going to be shark food if you suggest something dumb again, Chaeyoung," Jaehyun chided. He plainly looks at his phone, scrolling through pages and pages of who knows what before he abruptly stops to show his screen. "There's a mall we can go to, why don't we go there instead?"

"Nobody wants to walk in a mall for hours. I say we go to an amusement park or even an arcade."

"Yujin, you can't get any more boring."

"Why don't we just split apart into groups so that we can go where we want to out of the activities provided?" Jihyun calmly suggested.

She sees an exhausted Taeyu suddenly jump out of his seat, appearing relieved. "Exactly!" He chimed. "I was getting tired of listening to the endless rambling guys. Let's just split into groups for the aquarium, the mall, and the arcade, and then we can rekindle later on, maybe around 6 pm?"

"Sounds fine by me. If any of you want to go to the aquarium you can join me and if you want to go to the mall go with...Jaehyun."

"Hey—"

"And if you want to go to the arcade, come with me," Yujin peeped in, interrupting the banter before it started.

"Alright let's go then. I want to go to the mall," said Anhee.

The rest of them start gradually moving forward, joining the temporary head of each activity while others show more clear signs of hesitation before they settle on one option.

"Where are you going, Jihyun?"

Jihyun immediately turns her head, facing Riki confidently despite still debating over the cliche choices in her head. They were good–but typical activities she had somewhat expected to hear, yet she hadn't come to a direct conclusion albeit anticipating it. "Not sure yet, what about you?"

Riki answers honestly, "Wherever you go."

A barely concealed grin appears on Jihyun's lips. She feels a pacing thump behind her chest that she's grown familiar with.

"Are you trying to ingratiate me, Riki, hm? Wasn't there something that piqued your interest?"

He slouches against the linen couch, spreading his arms against the packed cushions. "Yeah," He commented, giving an idle glimpse at the smooth ceiling before looking back at Jihyun with a smug expression. His eyebrows quirked up and Jihyun knew prematurely that he was going to say something stupid. "You did."

Jihyun's face scrunches instantly, a deep chill rattling through her spine at the simple phrase. Riki looks furthermore complacent at her baffled reaction. He rises off the couch, hands slipping into the pockets of his black jacket which was bunched just before his elbow. "I'm thinking the arcade."

"Oh," Came Jihyun's pensive reply. She looks back at the slowly completing groups and decides to get up as well to follow them. "I think I want to go to the aquarium."
"Then I'll go with you."

"No," Jihyun replies. "You said you wanted to go to the arcade so go. We will meet up at 6 anyway, you don't have to sacrifice that."

His face, void of that self-assured expression prior, is serious and genuine. Jihyun almost gets a sense of rapid whiplash with how quickly Riki changes.

He glances up, noticing a focused Junghan just feet away observing their interaction, and defeatedly exhales before looking back at Jihyun. "Okay, I'll go to the arcade then."