runaway love / cha eunwoo astro ✔

+fourteen

now i'm trying to let you go

—사랑이, astro.

-

"you're going home already, eunbi?"

eunbi looked over her shoulder to see jacob entering the staff room. she gave him a small smile while grabbing her bag and closed the locker afterwards.

"i'm feeling a little bit sick. maybe because of the rain earlier." she coughed slightly at the end, her throat beginning to feel sore when she spoke.

"really?" jacob went to put his hand on her forehead, "yeah, you're burning up." he frowned in concern.

eunbi shot him an assuring smile, softly pushing his hand away. "i'll be fine, don't worry."

right at the moment, hyunjae and juyeon came into the room. "what's going on?" the two looked confused after seeing jacob's worried face.

"our eunbi is sick!" jacob exclaimed, cutting eunbi off before she could even say anything. the girl sighed in defeat and the next thing she knew, hyunjae and juyeon had already stood next to her, feeling her temperature with their hands on her face.

it was absolutely touching for them to react like this; it shows how much they cared for her but at one point, she felt suffocated with the all the attention she received from the boys.

being the only female among the workers, she was given a special treatment by everyone. sometimes, they treated her as if she was a freaking child who needed to be watched 24/7.

she really had to ask sangyeon to hire more female workers. though it wasn't going to be an easy job to persuade the owner to do that.

sangyeon had stopped hiring females to work with him since a bunch of them whom he had hired before always gave him a headache because of their attitudes. not to mention, the problems they created while working too. all in all, sangyeon had enough of their antics.

that was what juyeon had told her when eunbi asked him about the lack of females in the shop.

eunbi, herself, though, was a special case. she was introduced to sangyeon by her landlord, who happened to be his aunt. sangyeon hired eunbi because of his aunt, putting trust to her words that eunbi wasn't like any other girls he had hired before.

"—take eunbi home."

eunbi was too busy with her thoughts that she missed the ongoing conversation. she only listened to the last part of jacob's words and the next second, hyunjae had took ahold of her hand, dragging her away from the two other guys and out the door.

"what are you doing?" she asked in daze, struggling to follow hyunjae's long steps. hyunjae stopped in his track and eunbi stumbled slightly.

"i'll take you home, okay?" he grabbed eunbi's bag and pulled it over his shoulder before they continued walking out the door.

-

"so, are you going to accept the man's offer to become a trainee at sm?"

hyunjae asked when they were walking along the sidewalks. the sun was almost setting down and the sky was getting dark.

eunbi had her arms wrapped around her body as the weather was still chilly from the rain earlier and hyunjae noticed this, so he pulls her closer, draping his arm around her shoulder to hopefully warm her up.

eunbi smiled thankfully at him before she hummed, contemplating her answer for his question.

"i don't know, maybe not." she averted her gaze towards the busy roads as the unwanted memory crept into her mind.

"why not?" hyunjae sent her a questioning look, "you are talented enough and you are joining one of the BIG3 company." he spoke in a matter of fact.

"i— i am not interested to be an idol." lie. eunbi could hear her conscience told her but she ignored it. she might be hurt from her past experience of being a trainee but it didn't stop her liking towards the glamourous career. deep inside, she had a strong urge to continue pursuing that dream, despite all that happened.

"really?" hyunjae stared at her, his voice was full of doubt. eunbi literally squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze, worried that he could see through her lie.

"alright then." hyunjae shrugged, "it's a loss that you would turn down that golden offer but you know i'll support you no matter what, right?"

eunbi nodded, looking at hyunjae straight into the eyes. "thanks, hyunjae." she genuinely muttered.

hyunjae looked ahead, his lips curving up into a smug smile, his voice turning playful as he sighed, "ahhh what a pity. i was just about to ask you for red velvet's signs if you become a trainee at sm."

and there he goes, the ultimate moment-breaker...

eunbi scoffed, elbowing hyunjae in his side making the guy flinched, chuckling at her pissed expression.

annoyed, eunbi sped up. she could feel a minor headache beginning to surface and she was not in the mood to entertain hyunjae with his teasing.

seeing eunbi walked ahead without waiting for him, hyunjae jogged to catch up with her, laughing as he sang one of red velvet's hit song; red flavour to annoy her further.

the two joked around — more like eunbi threathened to punch the boy out of annoyance and hyunjae running away, laughing and still singing — as they continued their way to eunbi's apartment.

-

rocky and jinjin couldn't believe their eyes. their jaw hung open in disbelief as they watched the pair walked together and disappeared into an alley that lead to an apartment complex.

in case you're wondering how the two rappers could end up here: astro actually had a schedule around this area and they were staying at a nearby hotel when the two guys decided to sneak out of the hotel for a walk but they was definitely not expecting to see lee eunbi again, after months of her disappearance. at least, not here and not with another guy.

"hyung, i'm not seeing things, am i?" rocky asked in a daze as he turned to look at jinjin but the leader looked as blank as him.

"is that really eunbi?" jinjin mumbled, doubting his eyes.

"she looks so happy." rocky muttered, disappointment was visible in his voice. eunwoo was so broken after she left and yet, here she was... with another boy..

"hey." jinjin nudged the younger boy, snapping him out of his reverie, "don't tell eunwoo and the rest about this."

"but why? eunwoo should know that—"

"no! it would do more damage to him if he finds out about this!" jinjin pointed out, "trust me, it's better this way."

rocky sighed, giving in. "fine. but do you really think she is cheating with eunwoo?"

jinjin paused, looking at rocky and shook his head. "i-i don't know." he threw his arm around rocky's shoulder, "let's just go back to the hotel."

-

long chapter without eunwoo cause the boy needs to be punished for his mistake before.

and please snap some senses into me. i'm starting to ship hyunjae × eunbi pair and that is literally a treason.

i'm guilty in charge 🙌

p/s: i'm thinking of doing a review book where i can introduce fanfictions to others by reviewing them. what do you think? 🤔