C H O P P Y | kwon minsik

s i x t e e n ; girl talk

DAHYE AND HOODY SAT on the oversized king bed in Dahye's hotel room, their criss-crossed legs tangled underneath the white covers. There were various plastic bags of snacks scattered around them, and the two rappers occupied themselves with their own bags in their hands. The plasma TV was playing the current episode of a rap battle going between two guys, but Dahye found herself more busy thinking than really paying attention to what was going on. The gummy worm she had plucked out of the bag had been in her mouth for the past five minutes, the soft substance barely squished in between her teeth. Her eyes were trained on nowhere in particular, and her vision was blurry from not blinking for too long.

Suddenly the noise of the TV was cut off. Dahye snapped her head up, her vision turning back to normal as she blinked quickly, the candy dropping down on her lap as she rubbed her eyes. Hoody stared at the younger girl with a worried expression on her face, trying to understand what was going on with her friend. Dahye wasn't normally this quiet; she usually had a joke or a sarcastic remark to throw into the dialogue even when nobody spoke, and she always spoke with Hoody whenever they got together for a late-night snack and show marathon. But the black-haired rapper couldn't figure out what was going on with Dahye, much less why she was shutting her out when there was something obviously going on.

"Okay," Hoody finally said, turning to face Dahye. "There's obviously something going on that I don't know about. Care to explain?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dahye mumbled, playing with the fake jewels on her acrylic nails. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Don't pull that bullshit on me, Dae," Hoody said. "I know you're not fine because you're so quiet and you've barely touched your food or watched the show. You're here but not here, you feel?"

Dahye nodded, her eyes still not meeting her friend's. "Then can you please tell me what the fuck is going on?"

"It's nothing, it's- it's dumb actually. I'm just thinking too much about things I shouldn't be thinking about really." She brushed it off, throwing a gummy worm into her mouth to distract herself.

Hoody scoffed, "You can tell that to Kisok and Jay all you want, but you're forgetting that girls sense there's something going on before guys can scratch their asses."

"Jay already knows what this is about."

Hoody's eyes widened. "Damn, I'm the slow one this time. But Dae, please tell me what's going on. I know something's bothering you, and I'm not going to stop asking until I can help you somehow."

Dahye weighed the pros and cons in her mind about telling Hoody the truth: she would get the weight off her chest, but she would also risk letting Hoody tell Jay what she hadn't already told him earlier today at the after party. She couldn't let Jay know that she had texted Sehyoon to confront him and then told her best friend out of all people that she hadn't. Dahye thought about why she was lying to so many people so often these days, it would obviously come back to bite her in the ass one way or another.

"I texted Seyoon today," she finally said. The words left a burning trail behind as they rose up her throat and left between her lips. Dahye felt tears gather at the corners of her eyes as she thought about the messages exchanged between them.

"Fuck, Dae," Hoody breathed out, pushing back her hair with an agitated hand. "Please tell me you're fucking kidding. You're not serious are you? You didn't actually talk to that piece of shit.... right? Please tell me I heard you wrong."

Dahye shook her head sadly. "I wish I could," she dabbed at the small tears that had escaped from her eyes with the corner of her sweatshirt's sleeves. "But I knew I had to stay something after he commented on my post on Instagram and Hyukwoo almost spilled the beans to the fans about what happened between me and him."