Love-ish~~ | | Hwang Hyunjin

22. The Karaoke Booth

"No." Hyunjin says.

Hyunjin, Ryujin, Zuha, and Jeongin came over to my house.

"Why?" I ask, sitting on a couch. 

"Because this is a terrible idea," Hyunjin argues, stressing himself.

"Okay, there is an alternate. Ryujin said I could seduce Jaejo-"

"Kidnapping was better." Hyunjin deadpans, cutting me off.

"Right." I nod.

"How are we gonna do it?"Jeongin asks.

Ryujin shrugs, "We grab Ribyeol, ask her what we need to know, and let her go. Quick and clean."

Hyunjin raises a brow. "You say that like we actually know what we're doing."

"We don't," Zuha deadpans.

"We kind of do," I chime in, tossing a lollipop into my mouth. "I mean, I've seen a lot of crime dramas."

Hyunjin stares at me. "Kari, watching Vincenzo doesn't make you a crime expert."

I shrug. "Still more experience than you."

Hyunjin sticks his tongue, mimicking me. "So when do we do this?"

"Tomorrow. Right after school."

~

I should've known this was going to be a disaster the second Hyunjin and I stepped into the karaoke bar in our outfits.

"Okay, but why do you look like a discount secret agent?" I gesture at his outfit.

"Because I have style, Kari." He does a dramatic spin, showing off his sleek black turtleneck, which exposes all his muscles.

"You look like someone who got kicked out of a boy band for excessive dramatic posing."

Hyunjin gasps, clutching his chest. "That's so rude—"

"It's so accurate." I snort.

"And you look like one of those pretty mean girls who just came from a funeral." He states, looking at my all-black jumpsuit.

I furrow my brows. "Did you just call me pretty?"

"N-no..." He stutters. "Sad that's the only thing you've heard."

I laugh at that. "Why are you laughing?" He asks.

"It's funny that we're still fighting even though we've decided to be friends," I say, as we walk in the halls of the karaoke bar.

He smiles for a bit and shrugs, "I guess... we need more practice for that. Maybe we need to act more friendly."

We hear the sound of heels clicking. Someone was coming in our direction. I glance forward just to see Ribyeol already coming into the bar.

What if she sees us? We already look quite suspicious. We aren't supposed to kidnap her until she leaves the place. 

Panic kicks in. Hyunjin and I look at each other. "What should we do?" He asks.

"I don't know! Look for cover?" I exclaim, but one can clearly see that I'm panicking. Hyunjin quickly grabs my hand and pulls me into an empty karaoke booth. He closes the the door before Ribyeol could see us.

We don't move.

We don't breathe.

The space is way smaller than I expected. The low lighting casts soft shadows over the room. Hyunjin's fingers are still wrapped around my wrist. I swallow hard, my heart still racing not just from the panic of almost getting caught, but also because...