Rank One (Park Sunghoon FF)

24

In the following days, after Juna and Sunghoon hid from Heeseung in the library, Juna always felt someone staring at her from afar, but every time she looked around, no one was there. She shivered every time it happened.

Aside from that, she kept looking for opportunities to ask Boram why she was calling Heeseung and what the context of the phone call was but every time she wanted to ask, another topic came up and brushed the other out of her mind. Friday slowly arrived and Juna still hadn't gotten anything done that week. She hadn't talked to Heeseung nor had she confronted Boram.

That morning, she went to the EN-Princes' practice per usual. Upon stepping off the bus, a strong hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the school gates.

"Sunghoon." She smiled up at him.

For the past few days, he would wait for her every morning to walk her to the front of the school. Juna appreciated his actions but whenever she would think back on it, she felt guilty. It was like a constant battle between her heart and her mind - one begging her to stop the operation and one telling her to go on until she got what she wanted.

Sunghoon looked down at her warmly and brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes, making her face flush, but she quickly turned away.

"Come on, they're probably waiting," Sunghoon chuckled and tugged on her sleeve. She let herself get dragged off by him, her mind still lingered on the feeling of his fingers brushing against her forehead. Her heart was beating unnaturally fast but she simply chose to ignore it for the time being.

It can't get any more complicated than this.

"Juna!" Sunoo waved at her as he was the first one to spot the pair as they approached the school doors. Juna smiled and gave a small wave back. Her eyes wandered around and she spotted Heeseung practically hiding behind Jay and Niki, his eyes glued to the basketball he was holding. What was he even looking at? The lines on the ball? Juna bit her lip, knowing that he was avoiding her.

"You're not even going to greet me now?" Sunghoon demanded as they stopped in front of the group of boys who, in turn, waved to the two of them.

Sunoo rolled his eyes jokingly, "You never respond anyway."

Sunghoon's face scrunched up. "What do you mean? When do I not respond?"

"You only nod," Jake pointed out. Everyone bobbed their heads, agreeing.

Sunghoon raised his hand when everyone attacked him with an exasperated look. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Maybe talk?" Jay suggested with a slight smirk. "But hey, why do you two always come together? Do you live close or what?"

Juna looked at Sunghoon to see if he was going to answer, but he was looking back at her as well. She looked away and discreetly glanced at Heeseung to see if he had reacted but now he was talking to Boram. He had a serious expression on his face and she looked like she was whisper-yelling something at him.

Wait...

"Oh, Boram! Did you arrive just now?" Juna spoke up, causing everyone to turn their heads toward Boram and Heeseung. 

Backing away from the boy, Boram flashed a sweet smile - a thing that she had only been doing recently and it seemed to mirror Juna's actions. "Yeah. Hey." Juna noticed how Heeseung looked down at the ground and slightly moved away.

"Everyone's here?" Jungwon rose on his tiptoes and did a quick head count. "Niki, stop moving. I already counted you." The younger boy laughed at his own little prank. Juna couldn't help but smile at his antics. Most of the time, he was always so serious and stressed out about trainee things that he rarely joked around.

"Looks like someone's in a good mood today," Juna commented.

"Yeah, I did really well on my evaluations. They decided to give me a week of break," Niki boasted. "I was thinking I come to school for two days and skip the rest of the week."

Sunghoon groaned. "What? Why? I'm not doing your homework, just you know."

Niki pouted. "But I don't even understand them! Come on, hyung, help me out just once. I can't be a high school drop-out."

"I've been helping you out for what, two years?"

Niki rolled his eyes and turned to the girl next to his hyung. "Juna-noona. Help me, please. I heard you're really smart."

Juna quickly shook her head, waving her hands in front of her. "No, I'm not that smart and definitely not reliable." But in reality, she just needed to focus on her own studies since she couldn't afford another distraction or obstacle in her life.

Sunghoon gently poked at Juna's forehead. "What are you talking about? You're only a rank below me."

Juna suddenly felt angered by the statement even though she knew it was true and it was the reason why she was suffering. But it was just different, hearing the words come from Park Sunghoon himself. She frowned and bit the inside of her cheek, uncomfortable by the atmosphere.

Suddenly, someone cleared his throat. "If you really know her then you wouldn't have said that." Heeseung kicked himself off the wall and slowly approached Sunghoon. Despite talking about her, he didn't bother to spare Juna a glance.

Sunghoon froze for a moment before he scoffed. "What's your problem, Hee?"

"You. Maybe you should watch what comes out of your mouth."

Juna's eyes widened. She really didn't know him anymore. Over the past weeks, he'd shown her sides of him that she had never seen before. Was it because of his feelings for her? That he was so sensitive about everything related to it?

"Heeseung," Juna tentatively spoke. 

The boy ignored her and kept talking. "Do you even know how she feels about always being behind you? You don't know anything, Sunghoon."

"What?" Sunghoon's head snapped in Juna's direction, his eyebrows bunched together. "Juna?"

"Heeseung!" Juna raised her voice at her former best friend who finally decided to look at her.

"She hated you..." Heeseung's voice came out as a whisper but it was loud enough so that everyone in the group heard every word. Silence filled the air as they all tried to process the new information. Sunghoon remained rooted on the spot, his mouth opening for a split second before closing again, at a loss for words. "He doesn't deserve your time, Juna," Heeseung told her, his eyes softening when they made eye contact. 

Juna blankly stared at the boy who was once her whole childhood. How could he say all this?

Heeseung, this isn't who you are...

Regardless, she chose to defend what she thought was right. "And you think you do? Well then you're wrong, Heeseung. Our friendship meant nothing the moment you threw away those flowers. Now you have no right to interfere in my life."

"Don't act like you don't want me back in your life, Juna," Heeseung said, trying to sound sure of himself but his voice only came out forced. "And I do, too, so let's stop avoiding each other." Juna hesitated to answer. He wasn't wrong.

Sunghoon finally broke. He swiped a hand through his hair and laughed bitterly. "Yeah, good luck, you two. Sorry for coming in between such a beautiful friendship." He attempted to mask the hurt in his voice with a mocking tone.

"Sunghoon-"

He didn't let her finish. "I hope you're happy now, Juna." 

Jake tried to stop Sunghoon from walking away from the messy scene but he simply flung his friend's hand off and walked away from the group.

In the midst of everything, Juna didn't fail to notice how a corner of Boram's lips twisted upwards.

-

"I didn't think it would work that well."

Jang Boram