Dust || Yoon Jeonghan

Heartless

"ms. song has your opinion changed?"

no. you are still as despicable as ever.

"about what mr. oh?"

he snickered before answering. "about having a new group on the show instead of seventeen?"

soojin coughed as the sudden inquiry baffled her. i was sitting between mr. oh and hoshi on the same table as seventeen. he was expecting us to laugh and take it as a joke but no one gave him the reaction he wanted.

"what? isn't it funny how wrong you were?"

it took all of my energy to fake a polite smile. "it's not surprising. of course you were right in the end"

he grinned proudly at my answer but the amused smiles on the members faces made it obvious that they could see through my flattery.

"noona will we have barbeque on the last night?" dk asked and i could tell by the look on mingyu and seungcheol's face that they were surprised by him suddenly taking the initiative of interacting with me.

"we can prepare it if you want"

"noona you are the best" chan commented and i smiled stiffly. chan and hoshi are the only ones who didn't avoid me since the beginning and i was grateful for that.

"if you are done with the compliments" seungcheol said sarcastically glancing at chan, "let's do a toast."

i got up to leave but mr. oh grabbed my wrist. "join us for the toast arin. it might be your last with me"

i was taken aback by the sudden declaration and so were the others within earshot which included jeonghan and seungkwan. 

"are you retiring soon?"

a couple of stifled laughs escaped throughout the table and mr. oh's face flushed in embarrassment. he's going to hate me even more now. 

who doesn't?

"good reply" hoshi whispered next to me as i settled again for a toast.

"i am going to be unemployed soon" i whispered back. he clicked his tongue playfully and got hold of my hand squeezing it slightly to encourage me. immediately, i felt stares boring into our interlocked hands. i looked up and was met with jeonghan's eyes. he looked away as soon as i caught him but the frustration on his face was evident.

cool. 

he called me a cheater so he should see what it actually looks like. 

i leaned closer to hoshi, decreasing the distance between our faces to mere inches, shoulders touching as i whispered into his ear. "does jeonghan know what he did yesterday?"

even though the question wasn't anything sensational, jeonghan could only see the proximity.

hoshi smiled as i parted, unknowingly playing into my silly act. then, he imitated my position leaning into my ear to answer. 

"he was really ashamed but it seemed he was more mad at himself for not remembering it." 

so jeonghan isn't entirely over me yet.

is it a good thing or a bad thing?

"he did get a nice scolding though" 

he chuckled and i couldn't resist a small smile myself. it was gladdening that at least someone was still the same as before.

hoshi was about to say something else when jeonghan dropped his metal chopsticks with a thud. all eyes turned to him and he just rolled his eyes before shifting his attention to his phone.