secret - lee juyeon

16

"hyung? you ok?" a voice echoed again.

"huh? yeah, yeah i'm fine, felix. don't worry," juyeon said, trying to cover up his spacing out.

"they must be pretty bad then," seungmin laughed a little, sipping a little from his cup of orange juice.

"huh? what do you mean?" juyeon asked, genuinely confused.

the rest of stray kids were laughing at the boy's cluelessness meanwhile the boyz were silently praying for him.

"i said...what's your deepest, darkest secret?" felix repeated for the 100th time.

juyeon soon realised what was happening here. they were going round the table and revealing deep secrets about themselves. so juyeon just had to make something up - he could never, ever reveal his true secrets.

"oh, i once stole a bike when i was younger," he said, trying to avoid felix's gaze upon him.

"what, really? damn, our juyeon is a bad boy," chan joked, before turning to hyunjin and dabbing his mouth with a napkin go get rid of the food stains on his mouth.

thank god, juyeon dodged a bullet there.

...

"you're WHAT?" hana repeated, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. "you're ENGAGED?"

"yes," jieun said, quietly.

"WHAT??? HOW DID YOU NOT THINK TO TELL ME?!! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND!" hana said, making jieun wonder if she was joking-shouting or really angry.

"WHO'S THE INCREDIBLY LUCKY GUY??" hana said, shaking jieun's shoulders as she spoke.

"well, um...you already know him, actually....but- not like i do, though," she said, timidly. she was beginning to lose her confidence as the conversation continued. hana was a very intelligent woman and she would soon catch on.

her smile dropped immediately. "don't tell me it's..."

jieun nodded, almost guiltily. as hana walked over, she took a few steps back for her own safety. "after what he did to you?" she said.

"it's not like that anymore, though....he's changed, hana. really. he does so much for eunae, and-"

"you know i want nothing more than for you to be happy," she blurted out. jieun nodded as hana pulled her in for a hug. her shoulders loosened from the tight posture she had, relaxing into the hug.

"i know you love him, jieun. i know you do - you will never stop. just...be careful, ok?"