𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲 || 𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠.

8

the boy laid in bed, restless. he had been trying to fall asleep for a while now but he couldn't stop thinking about what he did to dahee. poor girl must've been shocked. he didn't know if he could even face her tomorrow.

stupid, stupid, stupid! he hits himself on the head. it hasn't even been a month yet and you've already caught feelings? idiot, now you probably scared her with that stunt you pulled. he scolds himself in his head.

he didn't know what got into him that he acted that way towards her. he already knew he was going to catch feelings but he didn't know he was going to be that confident. who am i kidding? it's not being confident when i'm here overthinking about it.

he decides to just forget it for now so he could get some sleep. he'll just have to see how dahee acts around him tomorrow. maybe he could even confide in seonghwa about this. seonghwa's gonna freak out.

-

"hey, princess. how's it going?" dahee almost rolled her eyes at the familiar voice. flirty hongjoong seemed to have returned and surprisingly dahee was relieved. she thought the hongjoong from last night was weird. she wasn't used to that side of him.

"will you stop with the cheesy pet names? can't you just call me by my name?" the girl continues searching for her stuff in the locker, not facing him. he taps his chin, faking a thinking face. "hmmmmmmm, nope. you know that's not me, sweetheart." he lightly pinches her cheek, forcing her to look at him.

she smacks his hand away, trying to contain the smile fighting to form on her face. "you know what's also not you? being shy. what happened last night, huh kim hongjoong?" at her teasing tone, he knew she definitely hadn't forgotten last night's incident. who am i kidding? of course she'd remember it.

he had confidently walked into school, determined to get the girl to forget about last night. but it wasn't the kiss that he wanted her to forget. he wanted her to forget that she ever witnessed a shy side of him. if dahee were to ever tell seonghwa about it, he would never hear the end of it. seonghwa loves teasing him.

"shy? i don't know what you're talking about," his eyes dart all over the place, looking anywhere but her eyes. then he realises what he's doing makes it more obvious so he stops. he gathers all his courage and turns to face her. he looks straight into her eyes, catching the girl off guard. "y-you know what i'm talking about." she looks away, flustered by the sudden eye contact.

"do i, princess?" he tilts her head upwards to face him again, moving his face closer to hers. her cheeks were tinted pink and he found her extremely adorable. "look who's the shy one now." he teased.

"woah, woah, woah what's going on here?" the familiar deep voice causes hongjoong to step away from her and dahee lets out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"nothing, hwa. dahee here just thinks i'm shy and i was trying to prove her wrong," hongjoong smirks at the flustered girl. seonghwa bursts out laughing at this. "shy? dahee, you've spent the past month with this idiot, i'm pretty sure you know he's anything but shy." he almost laughs at the girl's dejected expression.

"and you, joong, don't scare my dahee like that. look at her, she looks terrified." seonghwa pulls the girl into his chest, stroking her head and pretending to comfort her as if she was crying.

"your?" hongjoong raises his eyebrows at the older. "yeah, she's my child. don't touch her," he playfully glares at his best friend, still hugging dahee. "not your child." dahee speaks against seonghwa's chest as the boy still refuses to let her go, causing her to sound muffled.

"okay little sis. you're like the little sister i never had," he justifies himself, trying to get the girl to agree. hongjoong watches in amusement. he panicked for a bit thinking maybe his best friend had fallen for the same girl he had but thank god seonghwa sees her like his own sister.

"will you please let go of me now?" she mumbles against his chest. he finally does and she sighs in relief. "hey, i may be younger than you by like 8 months but i'm still born in the same year so technically we're the same age," she argues, pouting at the older.

"nope, i'm still older and you can't do anything about it," he teases the girl, pinching her cheeks as she continues to pout. hongjoong unconsciously smiled at this and seonghwa catches it, deciding to change the topic. "and what are you smiling at?"

hongjoong snaps out of it, finally realising that his two friends had stopped bickering and now the attention was on him instead. "oh no, nothing. just uh, just thinking about a funny movie i watched last night."

"oh you two watched a movie after studying?" seonghwa asks, genuinely curious. hongjoong visibly panics at this and dahee only looks up at him in confusion. "i uh– i watched it when i got back from sending you home."

"oh, really? what movie was it?" this time dahee asks and seonghwa nods, also wanting to know what movie was so funny that his friend just laughed about it in the middle of a conversation.

"can we not talk about this? we're gonna be late for class, let's go." he doesn't wait for them to answer him and immediately walks ahead, leaving his two friends behind confused.

"since when does he care about being late to class?" dahee asks seonghwa, narrowing her eyes at hongjoong's back. "i know, right? let's just go before we actually are late for class." the boy slings an arm over her shoulder and drags her with him towards class.

-

"you think you what?" seonghwa chokes on the sausage he was eating. hongjoong offers his bottle of water to his struggling friend. the latter immediately takes a huge chug from it before slapping himself on the chest a few times.

it was lunch and usually the three of them would be together on the rooftop but today dahee had to find something in the library. hongjoong found it to be the perfect chance to tell his friend what's been on his mind lately.

"i think i like dahee." he finally comes clean with his best friend. "i– i don't know, man! i've never really liked someone in a long time and i thought maybe it's just because we've been spending so much time together lately but," he pauses for a bit, seemingly trying to get his thoughts together.

"but i really don't think it's because i'm finally around a girl after a long time. dahee.. she's– she's different. she knows how to take care of me and i– i just want to protect her, you know? she always gets like random cuts on her face and legs because she's always tripping over something at home apparently and that just makes me want to take care of her more. she's a clumsy idiot but that's the best part about her, you know? she seems tough and all but she's actually not. though she doesn't seem to need to be protected from anything but her clumsy self, she needs someone to take care of her and i want to be that someone for her."

seonghwa blinks repeatedly at his friend's sudden speech, his lips curved up into a teasing smile. "i knew you had a thing for her." was all he said and hongjoong frowns at this, expecting much more than just that one simple sentence. but seonghwa doesn't disappoint because he opens his mouth once again to speak.

"well, uh, does she know?" the question seems vague but hongjoong knows exactly what his best friend means. "yeah, i told her everything. i uh– i cried in front of her too.." he trails off, expecting the older to tease him.

"oh she saw you cry? so does that mean you trust her already?" his tone was soft which surprised hongjoong and he looks up at the older, being met with his kind eyes. he smiles at seonghwa, sighing contentedly. "yeah, a lot."

he appreciated that seonghwa didn't tease him about him crying but the older understood that it was because of a sensitive topic. hongjoong was grateful to have found a friend who knew when to be playful about things and when to be mature. he was glad to have two amazing people around him.