that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 26

"So you're telling me that you actually worked together for an hour and you both came out of the library without a single tear being shed?"

Felix looks like he's in a state of bliss as he walks between us. His brown eyes are wide, the corners of his mouth tugged up into a smile, one that shows that he's actually struggling to believe it. I don't blame him. He knows me and he knows it's hard for me to keep my dirty mouth shut around boys. 

The fact that Hyunjin came out unharmed is, indeed, surprising. Even more, when you know he's been bothering me with impossible and frustrating math problems for a painful 50 minutes long. And I didn't snap at him, not even once. I really outdid myself today.

"I was worried sick," Felix admits and I huff.

"I knew she was a nice girl," Hyunjin states with a smug grin. I know he's referring to that dramatic event at the zoo, where he told me the exact same thing and I lashed out at him because of that one simple sentence.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Hwang," I mutter, wiping some dust off my glasses before gently placing them back on my nose.

"Hyunjin," he corrects me. "We had a deal."

"Hyunjin," I repeat, still a bit uneasy. His name still sounds so foreign, hearing it in my own voice. But... I can't say I don't like the sound of it.

Hyunjin. Hyunjin. It's actually a cool name.

All of a sudden, I feel the urge to say it aloud once more and I quickly swallow, weirded out by myself. But it's okay to like someone's name, right? Confused by my own thoughts, I shake my head and try to focus on the outside world again.

Luckily, the two boys didn't notice my little disconnection and we walk into the busy cafeteria, filled to the brim with students as usual. Our usual spot in the cafeteria is taken by a group of girls that just casually decided to sit there since Hyunjin joined us. As if we'd really sit there with them.

Well, always dare to dream, they say.

"Great," Felix sighs, eying our old spot with a bored expression. "The cons of befriending a hot boy, suddenly everyone wants to hang out you."

Hyunjin nearly chokes on his saliva and I cough loudly.

"Hot?" Hyunjin repeats, his face pale and brown eyes widened. "W-What?"

"Felix," I groan, flicking the boy's forehead. "Your gay side is showing again, you're scaring Hyunjin."

It's only now that Felix realizes what he just said and he quickly covers his mouth with his hand, his eyes widened as awareness hits him like a truck. He just called his best friend hot right in front of him, and that's weird when it comes from a straight boy. 

"I uh, didn't mean it like that," Felix quickly states, his face flushed red with embarrassment.

"I reassure you, he's really straight," I ensure Hyunjin while lightly patting Felix' back. "He just has a habit to put things in a weird way. What he's trying to say is, this is what happens when you befriend a boy that all girls around find hot." I nod enthusiastically and Felix relaxes a little bit.

"All girls?" Hyunjin lightly cocks his head to the side as he gives me an innocent look.

"Most of them," I quickly correct myself, looking away in an attempt to ignore the small grin that plays on Hyunjin's lips. Of course, he's aware of the fact that girls are falling for him in herds and I'm here to show them that not all of them are that easy to trick.

"Most of them, indeed," Hyunjin agrees, but something dangerous has slipped into his voice when he speaks those words and I shiver, before shrugging it off like nothing ever happened and turning to my best friend, who is a safe zone when Hyunjin's acting up like this.

"I want to eat," I whine, but I don't get any response. The orange-haired boy is probably still shocked by his earlier remark. I mean, it's kind of awkward and traumatizing to call your best friend hot, isn't it?

"Thanks for making things awkward when I was about to eat," I complain, ignoring the guttural sounds coming from my stomach. It sounds like I haven't eaten for hours, which isn't true. I just get hungry really fast.

Hyunjin sticks his hand inside his pocket and takes out a little bear inside a plastic wrapping. He hands it to me with a friendly smile. "I'm sorry for distracting Felix with my looks, here's a panda bear marshmallow to make it up to you."

I hesitantly take the piece of candy from him before he turns around and starts to shake Felix back and forth to bring him back to reality. I watch the two of them for a moment before I turn my attention back to the tiny bear in my hands. My stomach growls loudly but I can't get it over my heart to eat the cute marshmallow, even though that's exactly what it's made for. So I quickly shove it into my bag. It's not like a single marshmallow could solve my hunger, anyway.

"Fixed him," Hyunjin states after a while, tugging at Felix' arm. "He should be okay now."

Felix doesn't look amused at all and his pout is enough to make me laugh. I lightly grab his arm and pull him further into the cafeteria, with Hyunjin trailing behind us. We beeline past our usual table and the girls give us a look of betrayal - to the boys at least, they couldn't care less about me.

We go straight to one of the only available seats left, a smal table in the back that's actually made for two people. I push Felix in one of the chairs before I sit down and watch how Hyunjin grabs a chair from elsewhere -he just has to smile at them and they happily hand him the chair.

And then we're sitting there, the three of us finally enjoying our lunch. And it's only now that I realize somthing. The three of us eating lunch in peace without any conflict. The absence of any negative feelings surprises me, almost scares me. But at the same time, I feel at ease as I watch the two boys in front of me goofing around.

Hyunjin really is becoming one of us.

And I think I'm starting to accept him.