cold coffee / ijb

+ eleven

chapter eleven
***

"you're my fan?" jinyoung marveled.

"uh, yes," aera nodded. "i've seen a few of got seven's music videos."

"jaebum, aera, jinyoung!" miss im called from the kitchen. "dinner's ready!"

the three of them shuffled to the kitchen, jaebum sitting across from aera and jinyoung sitting beside her. miss im began to set dishes in the center of the table. when miss im sat, the four of them quickly moved to distribute the food to their plates. jinyoung's chopsticks met aera's in a fight for the black bean noodles. he turned to her with a grin that reached his eyes. she wanted to admire everything about his face in that moment, but the blood rushing to her cheeks caused her to avert her gaze.

jaebum only stared at the two with his narrow eyes, pupils darting in order to process every small detail of what he found himself observing with such disdain.

miss im took a bite of the squid on her plate, signaling the rest of the table's occupants to begin eating.

"jinyoung, how have you been? i haven't seen you since i watched dream high two," miss im noted, still looking down at her plate, trying to get a hold of her rice.

jaebum and jinyoung choked on their food simultaneously. aera's eyes widened and her hand instinctively rested on jinyoung's upper back.

"you watched that, mom?" jaebum sputtered.

miss im nodded her head with a sly grin.

"i particularly enjoyed the dance fight," miss im chuckled and jinyoung coughed violently. "but that was years ago. dream knight is all the rage nowadays."

jaebum eyes widened considerably and jinyoung continued to choke. he reached for his water and chugged it down rapidly.

"what's that?" aera asked cautiously.

"it-"

"mom," jaebum warned pointedly.

miss im raised her hands in surrender, going back to her food.

"but-"

"it's better if you don't know, trust me," jinyoung pressed, placing his hand on aera's thigh innocently before quickly retracting as if he was remembering something important in that very split second.

aera smiled shyly, overwhelmingly embarrassed by her seemingly permanent crimson cheeks.

"hey, baek aera! why are you blushing?" jaebum asked loudly.

aera's head snapped in jaebum's direction, begging him to stop with her expression. their eyes locked, jaebum's screwed into a glare. aera felt jinyoung's fingertips grace her elbow protectively. she wiped her hands with a napkin before standing abruptly, tossing the napkin to her plate.

"excuse me," she said softly, turning on her heel and walking to her and jaebum's shared bedroom.

"what's your problem, jaebum?" she heard jinyoung's voice ring out with a huff. "i'll go check on her."

"please," miss im's calm voice agreed in contrast to the menacing stare she threw at her son, eyes sharp and dripping with temporary malice like two poisonous daggers.

aera waited in her bedroom for jinyoung to enter, listening to his footsteps grow louder. his head peeked around the corner before he was fully inside the room. he sighed, taking her hands in his.

"please don't take it personally, jaebum is usually cold like this," he assured.

aera nodded, she wasn't offended, just embarrassed. but she didn't want jinyoung to think his comforting was for nothing.

jinyoung touched his soft lips to her cheek in a quick peck, causing her eyes to widen and her heartbeat to pick up. although, the older boy's advances felt nothing but brotherly, she was almost positive that her whole entire face was a deep red by now.

"i think i can take it from here," a gruff voice sounded from the doorway in the darkest tone aera had ever heard come from im jaebum's lips.