The Hidden Treasure

~28~

Hyejin felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out to see a video call coming from Megan. She reluctantly answered, hoping her fake happy voice would convince her friend everything was just peachy.

"Megan! How have you been?" She blinked as she saw the girl on the other side of the screen. "Changed it again, I see?" She laughed as Megan stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"Yeah, what of it? Got tired of purple."

"But green? Why green?"

"Felt like it! Think Tae will like it?" She fluffed her hair a bit making Hyejin laugh.

"Sure, why not?"

"Exactly! So what's new with you?" Megan was eating what appeared to be breakfast and it reminded Hyejin that she hadn't had dinner yet. Her neglected stomach growled slightly.

"I'm on my way to get something to eat," she hedged.

"Oh yeah? I'm having breakfast. Getting ready to leave for work. How are things going?"

Hyejin hoped her friend's connection was bad or something. Megan had a way of weaseling information out of her friend. She had an uncanny way of sensing when things were wrong.

"Your delayed response tells me something is not right. Spill it," she said around a mouthful of toast.

"Megan, can we just not-"

"Nope. Spill it."

Hyejin sighed and stepped into a small ramen shop. She plugged in her earbuds so at least everyone wouldn't hear both sides of the conversation. She ordered her dinner, not really feeling like eating it now. She sat down and waited for her meal. Her best friend was staring at her, waiting for her to begin speaking and unloading all of her troubles.

Hyejin thought of a way to get around the subject for a little bit. "So I met Jin and J-Hope today!" She tried to smile brightly and convincingly.

"Really?! That's awesome! How? Did Namjoon bring them to the shop? Is Jin really as handsome as he is in the videos?"

"Oh yeah! They both are! Sooooo handsome." Hyejin was inwardly cringing at her own behavior.

"Yep, something is wrong. Your over reacting. You do that when things are like this. Did you really see Jin today?"

"Yeah."

"What? Did he say something to upset you? Something about Namjoon? Yoongi?"

Hyejin sighed, quickly tiring of trying to avoid the elephant in the room. "Yeah. He basically told me that if Namjoon and Yoongi keep this up that their group will be torn apart and it would be my fault. He told me to basically not encourage their behaviors. He seems to think they both like me. But I accidentally ran into Namjoon in the park a little while ago and I decided to talk to him about it. He assured me we are just friends and I feel much better."

"You believed that," said Megan flatly, rolling her eyes.

Hyejin got slightly offended. "Yes, Megan, I do believe it! Think about it. Why would the likes of them be interested in me? What do I have to offer? Seriously. This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm tired of talking about it. Ah, my food is coming. I'll talk to you later, okay?" She smiled sweetly and waved at the phone.

"Hyejin! Wa-"

Hyejin cut off the call, muting her phone. Ten minutes later her food appeared on the table before her, but now she really didn't feel like eating any of it.