Behind The Scenes ༻ Park Jisung

༻ 48

he's the time taken up but theres never enough

༻

"You guys really didn't have to..." Aruna scrunched her nose in apology, feeling sorry for staying so late because how distracted she was by the cats. They ended up making dinner for her because it was already ten in the night.

Jeno nonchalantly shrugged off her apology, offering a warm smile. "It's fine. We don't eat enough home cooked meals anyways, so this just gives us a good excuse to be healthy."

"Oh...okay then," Aruna responded, pressing her lips together as she took the only available seat, coincidentally positioned across from her boyfriend.

Glancing at him, she tilted her head, attempting to suppress the growing smile by biting on her lip. Jisung's gaze briefly fell on her mouth as she grazed her teeth over her lip, prompting a raised eyebrow in question.

Aruna could read the worry in his eyes, concern evident about whether she was comfortable eating with the boys.

Releasing the subtle tension her teeth held against her lips, she finally let the smile bloom, and he responded with a small grin of his own.

"Oh- you like broccoli, right?" Jaemin nudged Aruna, pointing to the plate that Haechan brought from the kitchen. "I told him to make it for you."
"Yeah, I do," she nodded, feeling grateful for his consideration of her taste.

It was odd to have dinner with such a large group of people. Even though it was only six, as Renjun had moved out already, Aruna was sort of surprised by the noise. But it wasn't bad, she really liked it.

It was like a home.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Chenle asked, rising from his seat to head towards the fridge.
Glancing up from her discussion with Jaemin, Aruna responded with a nod. "Do you guys have watermelon juice? It's okay if you don't..."

"Watermelon juice?" Mark shouted a little too loudly that everyone in the room winced, Jeno slapping him on the leg. "Sorry...but no one else drinks it except me dude. This is so cool."
"Oh yeah, I like the refreshing taste," she shyly smiled, thanking Chenle when he handed her the bottle.

That seemed to spark up a conversation with Mark because he was suddenly quizzing her on her different tastes, not allowing her to even get a sip of her drink.

Aruna found herself becoming slightly overwhelmed. Despite her efforts to maintain a genuine smile, the sensory overload caused by multiple people talking at once began to wear on her.

As tried her best to respond to Mark's rapid-fire questions, the sheer volume of voices and the many discussions started to make her feel a bit disoriented. Nevertheless, Aruna persisted, not wanting to dampen the lively atmosphere.

She could feel the lights ahead of her starting to become so bright it was blinding, the sound of others hurting her head. Just as Mark almost went to another rampage, Jisung lightly kicked her leg, head whipping to his direction.

"Uhm... I think you're talking too much, Mark," Jisung gently interjected, his words carrying a touch of awkwardness, accompanied by an apologetic grin directed at Mark.

"You're right, man. My throat hurts," Mark conceded with a sigh, taking a sip from his watermelon drink redirecting his attention to Jeno to continue their conversation.

Aruna expressed her gratitude to Jisung with a reciprocated kick when his feet lightly caged around hers.

She tried to spread her legs wider to make his stumble, but his grip on the floor was so firm that she had to hold onto the side of her seat tightly, putting her all into it while narrowing her eyes at Jisung from across the table.