revenge romance • zhou xinyu

35 . complicated

you paced around the living room, glancing at your phone while waiting for nien, yeonji, and kaede to show up. you hoped having them over would take your mind off of your complicated situation with xinyu and nakyoung. you couldn't shake off the fact that spending time with nakyoung had somehow conflicted your feelings about xinyu.

the doorbell rang, pulling you out of your thoughts. you opened the door to see your closest friends standing there, all smiling and holding snacks.

"finally, y'all took forever," you said as they entered.

"only because nien got us lost on the way here," kaede said as she took her shoes off at the door.

"you're the one who put the wrong address in," nien retorted.

"can confirm, as the only witness," yeonji chimed in as she walked in last.

"honestly it's y/n's fault for having the same address as people in whole different cities," kaede said as she put the snacks on the table.

"you've been here like a hundred times since i moved in and you still don't know my address?" you asked.

"in my defense," kaede replied, holding up her hands, "i've never been the one driving before."

"sounds like a skill issue," nien muttered under her breath, earning a laugh from yeonji.

they settled in, chatting about random things and events that had happened in the time you all hadn't seen each other, which was only like two days but still, a lot can happen in that amount of time. you were just starting to forget about your earlier problems when your phone lit up with a notification from chaeyeon asking if she could come over. you knew she wanted to talk about what was going on and you didn't want to get yelled at by her, but you couldn't say no to chaeyeon.

"hey, so...chaeyeon wants to come over too," you announced.

nien shrugged, "that's cool"

you had just responded to chaeyeon, telling her she could come over when you remembered you had promised yubin that you'd invite her the next time everyone hung out. even though this wasn't technically a planned hangout, it still felt wrong not to include her. you quickly shot yubin a text, inviting her to come over as well. a few minutes later, she replied saying she was already with some of the others and would swing by with them afterward. figuring you might as well go all in, you decided to invite the rest of the group too. before you knew it, hyerin, jiwoo, dahyun, and kotone were also coming over.

"well, i invited more people," you casually announced to the group as you plopped back onto the couch.

nien raised an eyebrow, "who?"

"chaeyeon's on her way, and yubin is coming too. and since she's with the others, hyerin, jiwoo, dahyun, and kotone are coming over as well."

kaede blinked, staring at you in disbelief. "you always say you don't wanna be the hang-out house, but then you do stuff like this."

you shrugged. "i just like being around my friends. is that a crime?"

yeonji narrowed her eyes playfully. "are you dying or something?"

"no! can't i just admit that i like having my friends over without it being a big deal?" you said defensively.

kaede scoffed, crossing her arms. "not willingly. you never admit stuff like that unless someone pries it out of you."

"that's not true at all," you argued. "i always invite you guys over, and i've definitely said i appreciate it."

"yeah, and every single time we mention that you like having us around or that you love us, you say 'ew,'" nien chimed in.