SOOBIN | 10 Things I Hate About You ✓

sixteen

"so milady, where would you like to go today?" soobin asked aera as they walked out of school together.

"anywhere is honestly fine. usually jeno, jaemin and i head to the café but you and i already went there yesterday," aera said as she kicked the rocks in her way.

"then shall i take you to my favourite place?" soobin asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"i don't trust you choi soobin," aera laughed out dryly earning a pout from the taller boy.

"oh come on, you'll love it. i promise you," soobin convinced earning a playful eye roll from aera.

soobin smiled as he took her small hands in his and ran towards the bus that was about to leave them.

"soobin, do you even know where this bus even goes?" aera asked wide-eyed as they sat in the fairly empty bus.

"i don't," soobin admitted sheepishly and smiled.

"soobin!" aera exclaimed out and hit the boy's shoulder.

"alright, alright! pick a number from one to ten," soobin asked as he giggled in between words.

"are you serious right now?"

"yes,"

aera glared at soobin as he continued looking innocently at her.

"ten,"

"then we'll stop at the tenth bus stop and explore the place!" soobin said and smiled, his dimples popping out making aera's glare soften.

"whatever choi," aera muttered as her eyes widened when she saw their hands entangled with each other.

"oh sorry," she quickly pulled her hand away but soobin simply reached out for it again.

aera looked at the boy who leaned his head against the window casually; her hand encased in his. she smiled to herself when she turned her head the other way.

she didn't know how she felt towards soobin but she felt comfortable around him. it's only been a week since she last bumped into him yet he gave her a chance.

soobin, on the other hand, was desperately trying to stabilise his racing heart beat. he felt some sort of way towards aera but decided to remember how he felt towards her on their first encounter.

the last he needed was for him to actually fall in love with her.

he suddenly felt a light thump on his shoulder and looked over to see aera softly snoring away. the purple-haired boy smiled to himself and squeezed her hand lightly.

then again, was falling in love with her so wrong?

-

"mark lee,"

"jeno lee," mark responded bluntly.

"na jaemin," jaemin said in between the two boys who both shot him a look of confusion.

"okay, didn't know it was wrong time to lighten up the mood," jaemin huffed out in annoyance.

"did you make some stupid bet on aera and soobin?" jeno asked, returning back to main gist of the conversation.

"how do you know?" mark asked, his eyes narrowed.

"he overheard," jaemin said in a matter-of-factly.

"i know you got hurt really bad mark. trust me, i love you like my own brother but you told me yourself that we should forgive and forget," jeno tried reasoning out.

"no jeno, forgiving and forgetting is tough shit to do. don't you guys remember what she did to me? it broke me," mark gritted out and clenched his fists tightly.

"mark, we know. okay? we know and she already got what she deserved—"

"no jaemin! she didn't get what she deserved. she didn't even apologise to me and played victim in front of EVERYONE. she took you guys away from me, she took my heart and stomped all over it," mark exasperated as the two boys remained quiet.

"you guys should know better," mark mumbled to himself and unclenched his fists, the palm of his hand bleeding slightly due to his fingernails digging into his skin.

with that, mark left the two boys who only sighed out in frustration.

"i love but hate aera. she told us she apologised to mark!" jaemin said as he made weird gestures to vent out his feelings.

"clearly, she didn't!" jeno rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

"we knew she was cheating on mark but we didn't stop her either. when mark found out, things became even worse!" jaemin exclaimed as he whipped out his phone.

the two boys let out frustrated groans as they trudged their feet out of the school premises.

mark, at that same moment, felt his tears threatening to spill out as he looked at the faint scars on his wrists.

every time he looked down, he's just reminded of that day. the day he got physically and emotionally hurt.

he hated how the scars spelt out the word he hated the most. the word he got called countless times when he was bullied in middle school.

pig.

and it was all aera's fault.