Askew | ATEEZ SEONGHWA

Chapter Five

One week later

"God, I'm so tired," Mirae whispers, stretching her arms out in front of her.

Half your university was at the library, studying for the tests next week. Your brother and his friends were at the table right beside yours and you could see Seonghwa; he looked so ethereal while he studied.

Mirae nudged you with her elbow, making you turn to look at her. "What?" you ask.

"Stop staring at your ex, Jena," she states with a smirk.

"Like you weren't staring at Wooyoung before," you retort, instantly wiping off that smirk on her face.

"Whatever," she murmurs and turned back to her book, making you chuckle.

After an hour of studying, you and Jungwoo decided to go get some coffee for the four of you.

"Are you okay?" Jungwoo questions while you both walked to the nearest cafeteria on campus.

"I'm fine," you answer. "Why?"

"Are you really fine? 'Cause I saw you looking at Seonghwa multiple times and you looked pretty sad."

You sighed, looking down at your shoes as you walked. "It's only been a week, Jungwoo. I still need some time."

"I saw him looking at you too, Jena."

"Doesn't matter," you mumble. "It's clear that he doesn't give a fuck anyway."

"What makes you think that?"

"He literally slept with Hyerim after we broke up, Jungwoo," you say with a scoff. "And he's been flirting with other girls, right in front of me. Sure, he did that before too, but I thought he'd be a wreck, considering that he nearly cried when I broke up with him."

"Jena . . . we don't know what's happening behind the scenes," Jungwoo states carefully; you could tell that he knew something.

"Why are you defending him?" you ask. "Even Keonhee was defending him."

Jungwoo doesn't reply as you both reached the cafeteria. He held the door open for you to enter first, earning a 'thanks' from you.

You waited at the side, scrolling through your social media while Jungwoo ordered.

You felt someone's gaze on you and you glanced around only to see Hyerim glaring at you. What is her problem? you thought.

"Got it, let's go!" Jungwoo says, holding up the coffee cup holder with four coffees in front of your face. You nod and leave with him.

"That stupid bitch was glaring at me," you told Jungwoo while walking back to the library.

"Who?"

"Hyerim, of course."

Jungwoo chuckles. "I wonder why that annoys you," he teased.

"Sure," you say, rolling your eyes. "You know exactly why."

You both entered the library, quietly walking past the tables that were still filled with students. You accidentally glanced at Seonghwa, quickly looking away when you made eye-contact. You weren't expecting him to look at you at all.

You quietly sat down on your seat, not daring to look up even though you could still sense him staring at you. You weren't able to focus on the words in your textbook in front of you; you decided to join in on Jungwoo and Keonhee's conversation instead while you drank your coffee.

"It really sucks for people who paid thrice the amount to get in here at KQ," Keonhee says, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Exactly," Jungwoo agrees. "The university really gives us insanely hard tests. You literally cannot survive here if you can't study well."

"No wonder our college has the most drop-outs," you state and they both nodded.

After a while, a tired looking Jongho appeared, tugging on your top's sleeve, making you look up at him. "Are you done?" he asks.

"Almost," you answer.

"That's what you said twenty minutes ago," he whines. "Can you please finish the rest at home? I'm really tired."

You sighed and nodded, closing your books. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," you say to your friends before leaving with your brother.

-

End of Chapter Five.