off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ seventy nine

At nine in the morning, Narae had received a cryptic text from Lilah, asking her to come visit her at her house. Cryptic, in the sense that it was painfully short and littered with typos, as if she'd typed it with her head buried in her pillow. Which, quite frankly, Narae believed she did. It had immediately been obvious to her that Lilah wanted to talk about something in particular: what had happened the previous day. After she and Gunwook had joined Lilah and Gyuvin back at that café, they'd remained completely silent, six feet away from each other at all times, but the blush on their cheeks didn't fool anyone. Today, it was time for Narae to hear exactly what had happened. In detail.

To be honest, she might have been a little too excited, as she skipped her way to Lilah's house. But who could resist the juicy details? Certainly not her! The two of them had been dancing around each other for so long now, and it was clear Lilah wouldn’t have made the first step. She was intrigued about how Gyuvin had confessed to her, if he'd been as tactless and playful as ever, or if he'd suddenly transformed into a romantic gentleman. She wanted to know if Lilah had been brave enough to admit her feelings out loud. She wanted to know everything! And that was why, as she knocked on the door, Narae was wearing a gigantic grin.

Unfortunately, it was Matthew who opened the door. Seeing him, Narae tried to conceal her excitement, but he furrowed one of his brows.

"Hi," he greeted her hesitantly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did I miss something? Did something good happen? Lilah has been all cheerful too."

The distorted chuckle that came out of Narae's mouth as she entered must not have sounded very convincing. "Oh, you know, nothing much! Summer break! It's fun!"

She didn’t even let him spend the time to comprehend her barely coherent sentences, and zoomed right past him to the stairs. The last thing she wanted was to be questioned by Matthew. Instead, she herself had some questioning to do. Jumping two stairs at a time, Narae soon reached Lilah's bedroom and knocked on her door. Once she was welcomed in, she pushed it open in one swift gesture, unable to wait any longer.

"You have to tell me everything!" she exclaimed as soon as she stepped foot inside.

Lilah, who was sitting on her bed, jumped at her introduction. "Shhh," she said as she put a finger on her lips. "Matthew could hear us."

Narae nodded and closed the door behind her, making sure her brother hadn’t walked upstairs as well. Then, she wasted no time and ran to Lilah's bed. She all but jumped on the mattress, and it bounced under her.

"So! Tell me now."

But of course, Lilah's shyness always got the better of her. She opened her mouth, but quickly closed it, as a veil of red appeared on her cheeks. Though she hid them with her hands, there was no doubt she was embarrassed. Narae wanted the story now, but she waited, giving her friend a minute to collect herself. Just from the crumpled state of her pillow, she could guess she'd buried her head in it, maybe even screamed. The thought made Narae chuckle — was that the type of stuff people did when they were in love?

Finally, Lilah took a deep breath. "He told me he liked me."

"Yeah, kinda figured that one out."

"He was so forward, too. I mean, I guess he always is, but I wasn't expecting him to just say it like that. I was so surprised I went silent for a minute."

That was also unsurprising for Narae. Whenever something was a little too overwhelming for Lilah, she tended to either go mute as a grave, or go on frenzied tangents to mask her awkwardness.

"So, was it a grand declaration? Did he list every single reason he liked you? Did he wax poetic, maybe?"

"Hah, no," Lilah replied, shaking her head. "It wasn't like that, I... I don't think he needed to. He was just honest, straight to the point. He left me more room to talk, rather than making it about himself, you know? And when he saw that I was having trouble replying, he reassured me. It was just very... Gyuvin."