before & after ‣ 엔하이픈

019 ; present

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AERI

"I'm sorry." 

"Is that all you have to say?" Aeri spoke before she could even think about what she was saying.

Jake looked as if he was struggling to say what he was meaning to say to Aeri and it was incredibly frustrating because all she wanted was to get this over with, to kill the tension between them and straighten out the issue. She wanted everything to end like a band aid being ripped quickly; she knew the pain would linger but it would be gone before she even realized. 

But before the words could move past the fold of Jake's lips, someone appeared behind her which stole his attention and had him gazing at her back rather than her. When she turned around to see who it could possibly was, her eyes widened upon locking eyes with Sunghoon, who ignored her as he stride forward to come face to face with Jake all while he pushed her to his back. It looked as if he was shielding her from Jake. 

As much as she would love to complain because of his intrusion, she also realized he was her best chance of getting out in this predicament she had found herself in- or rather Jake had pulled her to. 

"Hoon." Jake's voice was tight, visibly surprised by how his friend had inserted himself between the argument. "You don't have any business here."

Sunghoon was irked by the statement as his jaw clenched. "Her business is my business. I'm not going to let you hurt her again, especially inside the school where everyone's watching her."

"What exactly makes her business yours? You guys aren't even friends, you haven't been friends since we were children. You were only neighbors." Jake was starting to get on Sunghoon's nerves and Aeri could visibly see by how his fist clenched. 

Aeri wanted to leave and take Sunghoon with her. She knew this conversation wasn't going to end nice and she didn't want to be a witness of these two close friends fight over her just because she's unable to face her truth wholeheartedly. It was a coward move on her path, that she was aware of, to continuously avoid a face-off but running was better than the confrontation right now that Sunghoon had joined in to ensure that she wouldn't be the receiving end of it. 

"It doesn't matter what makes her business mine or what the nature of our relationship is, what matters is I get her away from you. You can't simply say sorry to her and think that would fix anything or correct everything you've done to her! Since when did you become like this, Jake? Since when did you stop caring for anyone but yourself?" 

While Aeri hid behind Jake, she saw how Sunghoon's statement affected him because the apologetic eyes that were gazing at her before now turned into an angry one as it no longer looked at her but at the guy protecting her.  

"You don't know anything, Sunghoon! You have no idea about my relationship with Aeri. You have no idea about who I am because you left!" Jake had finally raised his voice. "You can't simply waltz back into my and Aeri's life and expect things to be the exact same way when we were kids. Stop acting as if you can make up for all the things you left undone when you left. Things have changed, Sunghoon." 

"Stop it, Jake!" Aeri had to interject this time, stealing both their attention because of her prolonged silence earlier. "Stop it, the two of you." She says, looking both at them before grabbing Sunghoon's hand. "We're leaving, Jake. If you have any other more things to say than sorry, then you can talk to me." 

Even as Aeri pulled Sunghoon and the two marched away from Jake, she heard Jake's voice calling out to her and whenever he did, all it took was one squeeze from their touching hands, and she would be reminded that if she turned her back, it would do more harm than good. That she would be inevitably digging a grave she wasn't willing to crawl out of, and she wasn't going to waste the effort Sunghoon had exerted to get her away from the situation.