Rank One (Park Sunghoon FF)

28

Juna chewed on the inside of her cheeks, still avoiding his eyes. She had no clue what to say. If she said she didn't like him, he would probably give up on her and move on, therefore, operation failed. But if she said she liked him...

No, I can't.

Then he would feel ever more betrayed when she revealed her plans all along. Juna swallowed hard thinking about it. She hadn't given much thought to what would happen if the operation did work. One thing's for sure: Sunghoon and his friends would despise her for the rest of their lives. And would she even feel happy when she finally got what she wanted?

"I..." Juna started to speak up without knowing what she was going to say. "Sunghoon..."

He hummed, silently urging her on.

"You heard what I said about you to Niki." Juna resorted to her last solution. "That's what I think of you, Sunghoon."

"You said you've grown to like me," he spoke quickly after, almost interrupting her. "What does that mean?"

Juna mentally cursed. What now?

"It's what it sounds like..." She said slowly, not even comprehending the words coming out of her mouth. Did she just confirm that she had feelings for him? "What do you need me to answer?"

Sunghoon raised his eyebrows, his ears turning a shade of crimson. "You...have feelings for me? That's what you're saying?" He sounded hopeful and Juna felt like a horrible person leading him on like this. But it was too late to turn back now. Everything was already a mess...

Juna slowly nodded and before she could say anything, Sunghoon had already pulled her into his arms, his face burying in the crook of her neck as he let out a shaky breath. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed herself to relax in his embrace.

"I like you too, Juna. I like you a lot..." He mumbled into her skin which sent a shiver down her spine.

Juna's goal was to make Sunghoon like her but now that he did, she felt like the villain in her own story. She was acting selfish and cruel and toxic just for a rank and she hated it. But there was no way she'd be able to come clean to him now.

Maybe after the ranks come out, I'll tell him the truth.

No, I'll definitely do it by then.

Sunghoon pulled back slightly to look at her, his eyes almost sparkling as he showed his teeth with a smile. Juna swallowed, her heart dropping to her stomach but she tried to lift the corner of her lips and acted like she was happy.

Sunghoon suddenly turned serious for a second. "So, uh, what are we now...? Do you want to...date or...?" He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. If it weren't for how bad she felt, Juna would've laughed at how cute he looked. Thinking about it now, he probably had never had to go through this before since he rejected everyone who confessed to him. It was his first time, as was hers. If it even counted.

Juna bit down on her bottom lip. Dating would just make breaking off things harder later on. "Well...I think we need more time to get to know each other. I don't want to rush into anything..." There was a lump in her throat that made speaking a hundred times more difficult. "If that's okay with you, Sunghoon."

He looked at her speechless for a second but eventually smiled softly. "Of course, as much time as you need."

-

"Why do you keep smiling?" Jake asked, looking curiously through the rearview mirror at Sunghoon who was tapping his foot to the music and humming joyously.

Since Jake's car was big enough, everyone decided to carpool and would be dropped off one by one. Jay once again sat at the front while Niki, Juna, and Sunghoon sat at the back in that order.

Jay whipped around from the front seat, eyeing Sunghoon. "You don't even like New Jeans! I didn't know you listened to Hype Boy."

"My bias is actually Hanni," Sunghoon answered, a beam on his face. He looked like a kid who just won a stuffed animal at a fair. The happier he looked about the situation, the more Juna was tempted to reveal everything and just get it over with instead of hurting him more. But at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to even talk to him.

"Since when were you into K-pop?!" Jake questioned as hit the brakes suddenly, almost hitting the car in front of him. Everyone in the car jerked forward, causing Jay to lose his temper, and change the subject.

"Do you even know how to drive?!"

"And you're the one talking?"

"Everyone could've seen that the damn lights were red! Even Niki!"

"Hey! Why am I even brought up in this conversation?"

The three bickered back and forth about Jake's driving skills on the way to their first stop, Jay's house. Juna glanced at Sunghoon who didn't seem to be listening to anything going on. He looked lost in his own thoughts, his lips curved upwards still.

I'm so sorry, Sunghoon...

At that moment, he turned to look at her with a grin. Juna attempted to return it but failed miserably. She couldn't even look into his eyes. She was too ashamed to do so. All she could do was come up with something to say.

"Oh right, did Boram tell you anything else?" Juna asked.

Sunghoon immediately furrowed his brows, shaking his head. "No. Why?"

"Nothing. She texted me just now and everything seemed normal, so..."

"She's probably just trying to find out whether or not something happened between us." Sunghoon shrugged. "After this, I know for sure she's not trustworthy."

Juna nodded, hiding the fact that her heart dropped. But Boram was right. She was the one telling the truth, not Juna. But how did she even find out? Juna had never talked much about her personal life, much less her plans to increase her rankings. So how in the world did this information even get to her hands?

Juna's mind eventually concluded to one thing. There was only one possible answer. 

Only one person knew about the stakes in her family, one person who knew about how she would do anything to be the best, and he was also the first person who knew about her former hatred for Sunghoon.

-

"Lee Heeseung."

Ahn Juna

a/n: I'm sorry this chapter took so long! But also, guess who's next in the series...