"Like who?"
Changmin sighs in relieve, recognizing the owner of the voice as Juyeon's, but his face drops as he sees that both Kevin and Nari are with him.
"Oh uhm..." Changmin looks at Chanhee for help, but all the boy does is smirk at him. "I..."
"Let's not pressure the boy," Kevin says, glancing at Nari.
The three sit down and the group start conversating about their lives.
•
It's been about half an hour since the group have say down and started bonding. Nari has barely been joining conversations, and has mostly just been listening to her friends or spacing out.
It's not that she didn't want to be there with them, she just couldn't get herself to enjoy her time with her friends.
Kevin noticed the girl's unusual behavior. He assumed that it was because of what happened earlier.
"Don't think about it too much," Kevin whispers to Nari. She gives him a confused look.
"I know you know what I know."
Nari furrows her eyebrows, "What?"
"He didn't specify who he likes," Kevin says. "And besides, there's plenty of fish in the sea." He winks at the girl.
Changmin looks at the two figures talking amongst themselves. He noticed Nari being unusually quiet. He's been noticing this the past few times they've hung out.
He wanted to ask her about it and possibly make her feel better, but it seems like Kevin beat him to it.
He keeps his gaze at the two until Chanhee shoves him.
"Stop looking at them like that," Chanhee mumbles to the boy, after Juyeon stood up to go to the bathroom. "They might think you wanna kill them."
Changmin quickly averts his gaze. "Why'd you switch spots with Juyeon?" Chanhee suddenly asks. "I thought you would love to sit in front Nari."
Changmin clears his throat. "Shh, your voice is too loud," he glances at Kevin and Nari sitting next to each other. "And Juyeon sat there when we came back from getting their drinks."
"Ooh," Chanhee says, slowly nodding his head.
"Guys, who's the better chef, me or Nari?" Kevin asks. Juyeon comes back and takes his seat, looking at Kevin.
"I personally like my cooking better," Juyeon says. Kevin looks at Juyeon.
"Okay, but I asked about mine and Nari's cooking," Kevin playfully sasses.
The other three chuckle at Kevin's remark, while Juyeon glares at the boy. He leans back in his chair. "I like Nari's cooking better." Juyeon smiles at Nari.
"Why thank you," Nari flicks her hand towards him. Kevin lets out an offended scoff.
"Yeah, I agree," Changmin says. He gives Juyeon a suspicious look before smiling at Nari.
"Okay, I smell favoritism here," Kevin exclaims, taking a sip of his drink while drying his nonexistent tears.
・・・
"Nari," Kevin knocks on her door. "We bought food for dinner, you need to eat. You've been in your room all day."
Nari sighs, Kevin was right. She has been in her room all day preparing for exams the following week, and she only went out when she needed to use the bathroom or to get a snack.
"I'll be out," Nari replies. "I just need to finish this real quick."
Kevin softly sighs before uttering a quiet "okay".
"Is she coming?" Juyeon asks Kevin as he enters the main room.
"She said she'll finish something first."
Juyeon forms an "o" with his mouth. The two boys have been worrying for their roommate these days. She's been locked up in her room, barely even eating proper meals.
The two boys know that getting high marks is important to her, but her health should be too.
"Hi, helloo," Nari says, smiling at her roommates.
"Hey," Juyeon says, putting a plate of food in front of her seat. "We got our favorite."
"And I used MY money for this," Kevin adds. "So don't say I don't buy you food." Nari lets out a small laugh.
•
Nari sits down on her bedroom floor against the wall after the dinner with her roommates. She's been caging herself in her room for the past days studying. But if she's gonna be honest, she spent more time spacing out and procrastinating than studying and doing work.
She lets out a frustrated groan, running her hands through her hair.
"What is wrong with you, Nari?" She quietly says to herself.
Everything。
Nari slightly shakes her head, tightly closing her eyes. Trying to block out that small voice that has been appearing in her head. "No.."
She slowly stands up, walking to her desk and taking a seat. She takes a look at the picture from her childhood, then looks at the time on her laptop. 8:58 pm.
・・・
Nari walks along the empty sidewalk. Heading towards the park near the convenient store she just went to.
She sits down on the swings, and opens her hot drink. She stares at the faint smoke coming out of the bottle.
"Hi."
Nari flinches, almost spilling her drink.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Juyeon says, taking a seat on the swing next to her. "I didn't mean to scare you."
She smiles at the latter. "It's fine."
"What are you doing out so late?" he asks. "It's almost 1 am."
Nari shrugs. "I don't know." She looks at Juyeon. "How about you? What are you doing out this late?"
"I had to get my mind off things..."
"Oh..." Nari starts. "Wanna uhm talk about it..?"
Juyeon slightly laughs. "No, it's fine," he says. "How about you?" He looks at Nari. "Do you have anything you want to talk about...?"
・・・
"Where did you and Juyeon run off to last night?" Kevin asks Nari as they walk to class. "Night before the first exam too..." Kevin quietly adds.
Nari groans, "Don't remind me of the exam. I don't know if i'll even get half of it right."
"Don't worry about getting things wrong," Kevin says. "You've been in your room or the library studying and doing assignments for the past two weeks."
The girl presses her lips together, "Well you aren't wrong..." Kevin smirks at the girl.
"So about Ju-"
"Nari!"
