Kim Hajun

“We need to have the festival schedule finalized by the end of the week, lackey.”

“Yes, Jiwoo Noonim.”

“And what about the booth forms? Have all of them been submitted?”

“Um, I think there are a few clubs that still haven’t done so.”

“You think?”

Hyunwoo tensed up. “N-No, I’m certain! Three! There are three clubs that haven’t done so, noonim!”

Hayun Seonbae chuckled. “Aren’t you being a bit too strict with him, Jiwoo? He’s barely able to eat in front of you.”

Jiwoo Seonbae shrugged. “It can’t be helped. The fall festival is just around the corner, and the student council is responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly. Besides, my lackey here likes having a lot of work to do. Don’t you?”

Hyunwoo dropped his spoon on his tray and nodded with a mouthful of rice. His lips were curled into a smile, yet I could see the nervous sweat on the back of his neck. Poor guy…

On second thought, there was no need for pity. Hyunwoo had been looking forward to this extra time with Jiwoo Seonbae. That smile probably was genuine even if the rest of his face seemed terrified.

“Jisu, you’re awfully quiet today,” Jiwoo Seonbae said.

Jisu Hyung blinked a few times, pulling himself out of whatever deep thought he had been in. Was he thinking about me?

Dully, he replied, “Oh, am I?”

Jisu Hyung and I were sitting the farthest apart, with him, Jiwoo Seonbae, and Hayun Seonbae on one side of the rectangular table while Hyunwoo and I sat on the opposite side. Knowing I couldn’t make any physical contact with him right now made me want to touch him even more. That was why I forced myself not to look in his direction during the entirety of this meal. I wouldn’t be able to handle just getting to see his face.

“Isn’t Jisu always quiet, though?” Hayun Seonbae asked.

“Oh, no,” Jiwoo Seonbae replied, shaking her head. “You’ve never been alone with him. When it’s just the two of us, Jisu is the biggest chatterbox.” She put an arm around him. “Aren’t I right?”

Jisu Hyung made no comment, peeling Jiwoo Seonbae’s arm off him and quietly continuing his lunch.

“Fine, we’ll just keep that between us, then,” Jiwoo Seonbae said before turning to me. “Forget about Jisu. Hajun, why are you so quiet?”

I raised my head from my food. “Oh, me?”

Hayun Seonbae looked at me once, only to quickly return her focus to a grain of rice on her tray to pick at with her chopsticks. Shyly, she said, “You know, Saturday was a ton of fun. We should hang out again sometime… Hajun.”

Jiwoo Seonbae nodded with a grin. Meanwhile, Hyunwoo’s eyes got bigger as he narrowed his brows at me, his leg shaking anxiously under the table. I didn’t want to know what kind of face Jisu Hyung was making.

I gulped. Alright, it was now or never. “Actually, Hayun Seonbae…”

“Hm?”

I didn’t understand why I was getting so anxious. Rejecting a girl should’ve come easily to me by now, considering I had no clue what number time this would be. Perhaps it was because I could sense Jisu Hyung’s eyes on me. His stare was a hundred times more nerve-wracking than the two female seonbaes’ combined.

I gulped once more. “Hayun Seonbae—”

Hyunwoo sprung up from his seat, bowing ninety degrees. “I am so sorry, seonbae! The truth is that I forced Hajun to come on the double date despite knowing he’s already dating someone!”

“……”

The table was dead silent. It was hard to tell which person was the most shocked at the moment. In spite of everything, my main concern lay with Jisu Hyung. I caught sight of how pale he got.

Shit… He must be thinking I spilled our secret to Hyunwoo!

Hayun Seonbae was the first to respond. “Is that true, Hajun?”

I couldn’t look at her. “Um, well, it was hard to refuse my best friend…”

She pushed her chair back and stood up. Although I didn’t see it, from the sound of her sniffling as she rushed off, I had a feeling she was crying.

“Hayun!” Jiwoo Seonbae called. She passed one chilling glare at Hyunwoo and then ran after her friend out of the lunchroom.

Hyunwoo picked up his tray. “Hey, I’m going to go take a walk outside…”

“Hyunwoo—”

He put a heavy hand on my shoulder. “No need to thank me, best friend. I’ll see you in class…”

I made no further attempts to stop him. He clearly needed his time alone. It would take a lot to mend back his relationship with Jiwoo Seonbae—whatever it currently was—after this mess. Of course, that was only if he was willing to, in which case I had no choice but to do whatever I could to help make it happen. I was now indebted to him, after all. With that said, however, before I could worry about anyone else, Jisu Hyung came first.

Having finished his lunch, he stood up with a stack of his, Jiwoo Seonbae, and Hayun Seonbae’s trays. Putting my own lunch tray into the return cart, I followed him out of the cafeteria. We walked silently down the hall. I wasn’t sure what to say to him or even if I was allowed to acknowledge him at all since we were currently in school. Had we been in his bedroom, I would’ve hugged him and begged him to hug me back.

I kept on tailing him, wondering where he was headed. It wasn’t in the direction of his classroom. Then, I realized; he led me to the student council room.

It was empty and conveniently able to be locked from the inside. He entered first, and I sealed the door shut behind me, leaving us in absolute solitude. My feet quickened their pace forward. He turned around, sitting on the edge of the conference table. Our eyes met. His mouth was slightly parted though he said nothing.

Putting my explanation into words would take too long. I didn’t have the patience for that right now. I reached for his face and let my kiss instantaneously pass on my reassurance instead, that this was still something specially and solely between us.

Thankfully, it seemed he understood.

. . .

Han Jisu

Did I really spend all morning feeling upset by the fact that Hajun never told me about Hayun’s crush on him? I felt so stupid for ever having wasted my time on that. All it took was one kiss and my worries vanished in an instant. Sure, they weren’t permanently gone. But at least for now—for this one moment—nothing else mattered in the world besides him.

“Ah, Hajun,” I gasped when he took his lips down to my neck. I peeked at the door behind him. It was safely locked, though the thought of it somehow magically opening on its own still lingered at the back of my mind. “S-Stop—”

Before I could finish the word, he brought his lips back to mine. But he didn’t kiss me urgently like before. This time, he went slower, focusing on every small movement of both his and my mouth. If only we could stay like this all afternoon instead of having classes—

That thought brought me back to reality, and the sound of boys playing soccer outside suddenly felt much louder. Right… It was lunchtime. We were at school.

I pulled my head back with a gasp of air. My heart might’ve been racing even more than usual, given our current location and time. Hajun was panting for breath as well.

“Jisu Hyung…”

The way he sighed my name in a noticeably lower voice had me shivering as if his voice was traveling through every nerve in my body. I cleared my throat, hoping my voice wouldn’t awkwardly crack on me with our faces so close to each other.

“Yeah…?”

“Hyunwoo doesn’t know about us.”

“Huh?” That was probably the last thing I expected him to say right now.

“When he said I was already dating someone, he was lying… Well, he thought he was lying anyway. I didn’t tell anyone about us.”

“Oh…” I chuckled as the realization hit me. He and I had been worrying over two different things here, yet both of those issues got resolved by the same kiss.

“What?” Hajun asked in confusion. “What is it?”

“That wasn’t what I was worried about,” I said.

“Huh?” Now he was the one caught off guard. “Then, what were you worried about?”

“Well…”

“Hm?” Hajun tilted his head, looking at me with his curious, dark eyes.

Maybe I should’ve just pretended this was about Hyunwoo’s statement. I drove myself into a corner. Hajun was sure to not let this go.

“I didn’t know… Hayun had a crush on you.”

His lips curled into a smirk that perfectly matched his mischievous stare. I both loved and hated that face. “Ah-ha, so you were jealous?”

“J-Jealous? No way…”

“Why are you blushing, then?”

My hands reflexively went up to cover my cheeks, which were burning like crazy. “It’s not because of that…”

“What is it because of, hyung?” he asked teasingly.

Okay, at the moment, I hated that face more. “Because we kissed…”

Though I mumbled that under my breath, Hajun heard me crystal clear. He took both my hands and lowered them onto the desk. “Oh, because of this?” He gave me a short peck on my lips. When I didn’t say anything, he went in for a longer kiss.

My body went weak, and I fell back, Hajun following to lie on top of me. We were stacked on the conference table making out like we weren’t currently in the room of the student council.

Hajun pushed himself back to standing. He pulled me up too by the arm and placed my hand over his heart. It was racing just as quickly as mine. I made him like that?

As if he read my mind, he said, “You’re the only person who can make me like this, hyung, so you don’t have to feel jealous at all.”

All I could do was nod, barely being able to breathe over the fact that my hand was firmly on Hajun’s chest.

“Although, seeing you jealous is cute, too.”

“I-I’m not jealous—” My voice cracked on the last word. And I thought I couldn’t feel any more embarrassed right now…