#14Ways2

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #11: Movie Marathon

<< the tenth attempt

wc: 2.5k

warning/s: male masturbation

When Jaehyun came back from your apartment, he locked himself in his bathroom and stared at his reflection. His ears are still red from what he had witnessed, he almost felt bad for dragging out his stay.

He thought you weren’t home. He remembered overhearing you saying you would go out with Yebin to check out a new cafe or something, so he left his flower shop job early that day to surprise you with flowers and the cupcakes you liked. He felt bad for using the emergency keys your mom entrusted him with to do this, but it would only be for this one time.

The lights were closed and if you were home, you would have had music playing to fill in the silence. He puts the flowers and cupcakes down on the coffee table to grab an unused vase and filled it up with water, trying to recall what the ladies at the flower shop told him to do to make sure the gardenias won’t wilt. As he sets them down, he thinks he hears something coming from the hallway. 

Jaehyun quietly makes his way over, not thinking much of it. Maybe you left the window open and the wind knocked something over. The door is ajar, too, so he puts a hand on the pane to push it until he hears:

“Oh my god.”

He freezes, recognizing your voice. For a split second, he thought you were in pain from the way you whimpered, but then you moaned over and over again. He’s not stupid, he knows what you were doing and it’s taking everything in him not to sneak a peek like a horny teenage boy (that he technically is) but he steps away instead until he’s back in the living room.

He stares at the flowers — that ironically symbolizes innocence, too — a little embarrassed for catching you in a very private and personal… moment. He’s heading for the front door, trying not to dwell on it. He’s shamefully jacked off to the thought of you, t— 

Jaehyun pauses with his hand on the door. Were you thinking of him?

He scolds himself; he shouldn’t care about who you were thinking of at this moment. But still he stubbornly turns around and clears his throat.

“[Y/N]?” He hates himself already for disrupting you, “Are you home?”

And then you come stumbling out of your room, flustered and panting with a light sheen of sweat all over your skin. You looked like you were glowing and it sent reactions to his dick. When he took your hand, he tries to convince himself you weren’t using the same hand to pleasure yourself before he interrupted. On the way to the living room to show you the reason why he was in your home in the first place, he hears a buzzing sound — thinking a bee came in, but it didn’t sound like one. In fact, he can definitely pinpoint when and where he heard something similar. As the buzzing continued while he explained why he was there and your expressions were forced, it dawned on him; you had a vibrator in you.

It was a miracle a boner didn’t pop out of him *immediately* and he pretends to be oblivious to it all. He hadn’t intended to hug you, but it was out of character for him not to do so after you just told him you had a “nightmare.” When your hands grasped onto his shirt and your body lightly shook in his hold, he knew you were cumming so he held you against him until you recovered.

He wanted to tease you so badly, but he bit his tongue and left after pretending Mingyu’s text was from his parents. If you only knew he wanted to get out just as much as you wanted to take care of the growing problem in his own pants. 

So now he’s in his bathroom, sticking his hand down his pants and wincing at how hard he was. He holds up his shirt to his chest and pushed his bottoms down enough until his cock is free, bobbing up and down.

Jaehyun backs up until he’s pressed up against the wall, a fist around his length and squeezing lightly. His eyes are shut as he remembers your expression; eyes blown out, and shy, bottom lip swollen and red, your cheeks flustered and glistening with sweat. Your dress was haphazardly fixed, leaving a very generous amount of cleavage he could have ogled a little longer. When he was about to leave, he saw your essence dripping between your legs and he wondered how you tasted. It was a crude thought to think about his best friend, but he could add it to the list of other obscene things he’s thought of doing with you (and it guilts him everyday.)

He could hear your moans again, how delicate they were. He’s always found porn annoying because of the exaggerated moaning that he had to turn it halfway down and put some music on when he did watch them. He wants to hear you moan again; hell, he wants to watch you. But he knows it’ll be a long time before that could happen — it probably never will.

“Fuck.” He hisses, arm straining as he chases his high. Letting go of his shirt, he brings his hand under to gently knead his balls with his palm. He could imagine your soft hands on him, working them over his length. The brief image of you on your knees in front of him with your mouth agape is what finishes him. He comes with a choked groan, shooting his load onto the floor. 

Jaehyun catches sight of his reflection in the mirror, disappointed in himself yet again. He’s not the pure, golden boy everyone — including you — cuts him out to be. Maybe people can expect him to jack off to porn, but no one would ever think he’d get off to the thought of you.

Despite the whole heated fiasco the two of you dealt with individually the day prior, you and Jaehyun still sat by each other in your living room like nothing had happened and continued on with the movie marathon you planned. After you cooked dinner for the both of you, you let him choose the movie and he picks the first one recommended in the landing.

Neither of you have seen it, but have heard about it. With your respective movie snacks and drinks laid out on the table, you and Jaehyun sat on the couch with too many pillows and a blanket each. As the movie plays, like always, you both made commentary about it; disagreeing with the character’s views on opposite sex friendships.

“He should take a look at us.” You huff, tossing a few pieces of popcorn into your mouth.

“17 years and counting.” He adds with a little laugh.

When the scene turned a little steamy, you both involuntarily leaned away from each other and focused on eating your snacks. You’re feeling your cheeks heat up at the reminder of yesterday’s events, pulling your legs up to your chest and pretending to be cold from the air conditioning. 

Jaehyun is quiet until the movie finishes, even when you started sniffing at the little clips of old real life couples sharing their love stories. If there’s one thing you’re both certain of wanting, it’s growing old together. He wants to pull you into a hug, but he hesitates and watches you skip the credits.

You chose Descendants of all movie choices and when he makes a face at you, you playfully threaten him, “Shut up, I like the songs. We’re watching all three.”

“Fine. But we’re watching all three HSM movies after.”

You don’t have a problem with that, you liked their soundtrack, too. After agreeing to his conditions, you leaned back down and ripped open a new party pack of chips. Jaehyun sticks his hand in after you, humming when the taste of honey butter hits his tongue.

You space out for a minute, genuinely enjoying this moment with him. Movie marathons were a monthly occurrence for the two of you until SATs happened and your friends wanted to hang out more because it might not happen as frequently after everyone graduates.

“Why are you staring?”

It hadn’t occurred to you that you were, but there’s no point in denying it. “Because we haven’t done these in a long time… we haven’t done a lot of things we used to do before senior year and honestly, I don’t think we’ll be able to do them when we’re in college.”

Jaehyun purses his lips, “Well, I can take up Child Education with you.”

“What? Why?” The movie is just background noise at this point, “That was just a suggestion.”

“But I love kids, you know I do. And I get why you want to be a teacher because I want to be around kids, too, and help them learn and grow. I don’t know what other options I have aside from going pro.”

In the back of your mind, you don’t think it sounds so bad if you two both took Child Education and had the same schedule. But you start thinking about Jangmi or other potential, future girlfriends he could have. You would have to deal with them and although you’re hoping you wouldn’t care at that point, you’re a little reluctant to push him. “What’s Jangmi’s plans for college?”

He looks surprised that you asked. Jangmi had specifically told him not to talk about her or even mention her name or any other girl’s name when he was with you, but you had asked and it would be rude to ignore it. “Uh, Zoology, I think?”

“Oh!” You perked up, “Taeyong is taking up Veterinary Medicine.”

His face slightly falls, “Really?”

“Mhm. He loves animals so much, like, think of us with kids, but with him it’s animals. He told me he’d take me to the animal sanctuary he wants to work in next week.”

“Next week?”

“Yeah, for that… auctioned off date. I can’t wait, actually, he keeps talking about it.”

Jaehyun nods, looking back at the ignored movie. “Well, if it’s great, then you should take me there.”

“We should all go!”

That’s not what he meant, and he had every intention of correcting you, but then “If Only” starts and you gasp, “Wait, I need to sing along.”

His somber mood is uplifted immediately, laughing as you exaggerated your actions as you sang along with Mal. From then, you both watch animatedly, singing along whether or not you know the lyrics. After the Descendants franchise and you’re on the last movie of HSM, Jaehyun couldn’t help himself and said after singing along, “We have a garden like that in school.”

You glance at him, “We do?”

“Yeah, Jangmi—” He pauses, “Uhm, when we had those Japanese exchange students, as a bonding activity, they had the students plant and arrange flowers. Jangmi hangs out there sometimes; it’s nice and cool. She accidentally skipped a class once because she fell asleep there.”

You always, always had the butterflies in your stomach after watching the scene for “Can I have this dance?” but it felt like you got punched right in the gut as he tells you this.

“I can take you there during our break.”

“What? But that’s Jangmi’s place.”

Jaehyun frowns, “She doesn’t own it. She actually told me that we can hang out there with her some time. Come on, it’ll be a nice change.”

“Alright.” You relent, taking an extra pillow and hugging it to your chest.

While you still feel uneasy about invading Jangmi’s special place in the school, Jaehyun is excited. He remembered Jangmi dragging him there after school and suggested he’d confess there; it was quiet, secluded, filled with flowers, and overall, romantic.

You put on a horror movie next, thinking you can handle it, but the jumpscares had you grabbing onto Jaehyun that made him tease you for choosing it in the first place. Eventually, you had settled yourself onto him, cheek pressed over his chest while his arm came over you for extra warmth. It had initially bothered you, thinking this seemed too intimate, but it’s past midnight and you’ve wasted all your energy from screaming at the horror movie.

The last movie you remembered watching was Love, Rosie. It felt a little odd for him to choose it, but you were nearly drifting off to sleep to even contest his movie choice. As it goes on, you found yourself almost in Rosie’s shoes: pining for her best friend while he was with someone else.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, dreaded this film when searched up movies about friends to lovers; this one was the embodiment of his fears. Sure they ended up together, but if they had cleared it up in the beginning then they would have been together from the start. The last thing he wanted was for anybody else to come in between you and him because he’s already having a hard time from both yours and his actions interfering with his attempts at confessing. He must have been imagining it, but he hears you sniffing again, probably crying at the scene playing, and he instinctively rubs your arm. 

“Just wait until tomorrow, [Y/N].” He thinks, leaning closer until his chin is grazing the top of your head. 

You woke up startled when you hear a bang, almost panicking if you hadn’t opened your eyes to an action scene playing on the television. You must have fallen asleep. Glancing up, you see Jaehyun’s head tilted away from you with his mouth just barely parted as he softly snored.

You would have moved away or woken him up, but when else would you be able to be like this with him? The clock on the wall tells you that you have 5 hours left before you should start preparing for school, so you encircle your arms around Jaehyun’s waist and nuzzled his chest.

“Jaehyun?” You whispered, softly and barely audible. He continues to snore and you hum, “Jaehyun…”

His heartbeat is nice and slow, like a lullaby coaxing you back to sleep. As it thumbs against your ear, you let out a sigh.

“I love you.”

He doesn’t move and his breathing remains the same, so you continue.

“More than just a friend… but if you’re in love with someone else, it’s okay. As long as we stay best friends, it’s okay.” Your bottom lip quivers and your eyes start to sting, so you shut them as tightly as you can, “I just don’t want to lose you.”

Before you know it, your silent tears are soaking his shirt. You can always say you had a bad dream from the horror movie you watched, you’ve been using that as an excuse lately, because it is — losing Jaehyun would be an absolute nightmare.

the twelfth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

epilogue.

<< the fourteenth attempt

You don’t know if it was perfect timing that your parents came home together when you got back from the retreat and that Jaehyun’s parents suddenly invited your family to have dinner with them one evening, but Jaehyun thought it was the best time to tell them about the new status of your relationship.

Halfway through the meal, your father had promptly asked Jaehyun if he has met someone he was interested in. You’re incredibly nervous for some reason, unable to continue eating and just started pushing the food around your plate. He was seated beside you, so you could clearly see him flinching at the question.

“Uh,” Jaehyun awkwardly laughs, glancing at his parents, “I have… I even told her during the retreat.”

Both your mothers let out dramatic gasps and turned their heads towards you. Your mom reaches out to hold your hand, “Did you say yes?”

“Why are you assuming it’s me?” You were genuinely curious, unintentionally putting Jaehyun in a tight spot when his mother glares at him.

“You’re not allowed to date until after college!” She reminds, but her stern expression softens when she glances at you, “But if it’s [Y/N], I will make an exception.”

“It is her!” Jaehyun scoffs, almost a little offended they’d think he’d be with anybody else but you.

“Oh!” Your mothers rejoiced, “Finally!”

Your dad laughs, raising his glass towards Jaehyun’s father, “What about it, Jung? I told you they’d get together before college.”

His dad rolls his eyes, jokingly glaring at Jaehyun, “You can add a hundred bucks to that loan you made from me.”

“You made a bet with her dad?” Jaehyun chokes on his food and you quickly pat his back.

“Dad!” You scolded your father who dismissively waves his hand. “You don’t know how long we’ve all been waiting for this day.”

Your parents started recalling all sorts of conversations they had when you two were absent, saying how they hoped you two would eventually fall for each other. His mother said she told him he wasn’t allowed to date for that very reason.

As they continue to laugh amongst themselves, forgetting the topic of discussion was still at the table, you leaned over to Jaehyun and whispered, “We should have told them separately.”

“We should have.” He grimaces at you for a second before chuckling, “At least there’s no opposition?”

Jaehyun’s dad clears his throat to bring the attention back to him, “Now, I think it’s time to change the rules. You can’t hang out in your rooms with closed — specifically locked doors together, okay? Keep them nice and open so we can have some peace of mind that there won’t be grandchildren soon.”

“Dad!” Jaehyun reprimands, ears already red.

“Ay~ at least wait a few years!” Your dad adds and you move forward to cover your face with both your hands.

After dinner, both your parents opted to have wine while you and Jaehyun went out to buy ice cream. Walking towards the convenience store, he held your hand with fingers laced together. You lightly swung it between your bodies, feeling as if you were the one that had been drinking. Thinking about it, you and Jaehyun still got ice cream after joint dinners before like it was an unofficial tradition. It still felt the same, just two friends walking to the nearest convenience store for dessert. 

But you take that back when he suddenly jerks you towards him until your body is flushed against his and you’re staring up at his mischievous gaze with wide, surprised eyes. “Uhm… yes?”

“I just wanted a kiss since our parents will be paying extra attention to us back at home if we disappear into our rooms.” He admits with a light chuckle in his tone. 

You push yourself up and granted his wish, melting way too quickly in his hold. So, no, it wasn’t going to be the same old best friends anymore. You don’t think any other best friends kissed each other like this on the streets to avoid their approving parents’ jeers. Things will definitely change, but you’re not so scared of it anymore. In fact, you think it’s even better.

a/n: oh mY GOD ITS FINALLY DONE this has been delayed foR MONTHS LSKADJKSADJLA THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME AND THIS STORY AND THE DUMB ASSES I MADE Y/N AND JAEHYUN TO BE HUHUHU I HOPE IT WAS ALL WORTH IT AT THE END!! i luv u all uwu

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #10: Surprise them with gifts

<< the ninth attempt

wc: 1.9k

warning/s: female masturbation

When you found out that your mom extended her stay abroad because your dad was docked there for a few days, you were a little grateful because Jaehyun’s dad was out for work, too, and his mom was visiting family in the province. Jaehyun was out working at his part time jobs so you were essentially alone. After making sure no one was next door, you go into your bedroom and pull out the box Yebin gave you last year. 

It’s been months since you last used this; you didn’t have much privacy since you don’t really keep to yourself and it always raises suspicion when your door is locked. You dust the box off and opened it, revealing the contents inside: the 6-inch silver bullet vibrator and a smaller box that’s still wrapped.

“Cheers to self-love.” scrawled over the wrapping in Yebin’s handwriting. 

You pick it up and tear right down her little message, throwing the paper aside and inspecting Yebin’s recent gift. It was a love egg that had 10 speeds and patterns, and was controlled by an app you had to install on your phone. 

This is the only time you can try it out. You’ve only done this twice. It helped you get through the hormonal stage of your PMS.

You take it out of its’ box and went to the bathroom to clean it. Once it was clean, you put it down on a towel to dry while you stripped your panties off. Honestly, you liked going commando at home. You would wear a sundress or a large, loose shirt (sometimes you’d wear shorts under them) and forego any undergarments. You picked up the small bottle of lube you bought online, along with journaling items to hopefully hide it in case someone sees the receipt, grabbed the vibrator after patting it down, and returned to your bed.

After installing the app on your phone, you sat in the middle, with your back resting against the headboard, and pulled the skirt of your dress up to your waist. Parting your legs, you sigh when the air touches your pussy and you involuntarily clench at nothing.

When you masturbated before, you just focused on feeling good. There was no imagining of a man handling you, just you making yourself feel good. However when you tentatively touched your clit with the tips of your fingers, your mind flies to how Jaehyun’s hands felt; how the pad of his fingers are calloused but his palms were soft. 

You mewled at the thought, although you knew it was wrong to think of Jaehyun — your best friend — like that. You’re starting to get wet, your slick covering your fingertips as you card them through your labia. At this point, you don’t think you’ll need the lube. You want to stop thinking about Jaehyun, but every time you chant it in your head, your mind disobeys and you remember all the times he’s been shirtless around you. 

“Oh god.” You cried out, plunging two fingers inside of you. You push down the shirred bodice of your dress down and cupped your breast, giving it a hard squeeze.

“Fuck it.” You whined, letting your inhibitions go and your imagination run wild. It’s not like Jaehyun would know you were thinking about him; specifically his fingers, plunging in and out of you, making that squelching sound, or how it would feel to touch his abs. You moaned, your hands practically moving on their own and speeding up.

You hated how your brain just suddenly reminded you about that light dusting of hair he had that trailed down beneath his cute little outie belly button, making the room seem too hot despite the air conditioning blasting above you. 

Honestly speaking, you and Yebin have had this conversation with Jungwoo. Yebin was brash and Jungwoo was blithe; you don’t know how the conversation turned south — literally — and Jungwoo had described each of the guy’s dicks very vividly from what he could remember when they had to shower in the locker rooms after gym.

It should have been concerning to you as to why Jungwoo was looking in the first place — more so, stared long enough to remember each one so clearly. Now your brain is letting those memories resurface, letting you visualize your best friend’s cock. You bite down on your lip, just thinking about how much he could stretch you more than your fingers or vibrator can.

You pull your fingers out of you and grab the love egg, turning it on and syncing it to the app on your phone. You take the vibrator that’s not bigger than your palm and pushed it through your entrance, jaw dropping at how easily it slipped in, until it was completely swallowed up by your pussy and left the little thin strap dangling out. You wait a few seconds to adjust to it before grabbing your phone and starting up the app. You press the power button and it starts out with light buzz, almost tickling your walls. There’s a plethora of options of patterns, intensity, and combinations, but your eyes zoomed in on the icon that read ‘Randomized.’

When you pressed it, it asked how long and gave 5 options, ranging from 5 minutes to an option that read manual. You opted for that, dropping the phone on the mattress when the vibrations grew a tad stronger. “Oh my god.”

You push yourself down the bed so you could lie down properly, latching your hands around your breasts and tweaking your nipples. Your mind is clouded with lust, the little speck of reserve you had left about jacking off to Jaehyun was out the window. You’re a moaning mess, trying to contain the lewd noises by biting back down on your lip. Planting down your feet against the sheets, you push your hips up as if you’re trying to meet someone’s thrusts. 

“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.” You can feel yourself about to cum, releasing one of your boobs to rub your clit.

“[Y/N]? Are you home?”

You’ve never moved so fast in your life; eyes snapping wide open and hands prying themselves off your body. You push your dress back up your chest while trying to grab your phone to turn the vibrator off but you can hear his footsteps coming closer and you accidentally pushed it off the bed instead while fixing your sleeves. Fortunately, the vibrations went down to soft buzz; and you toss the lube under the bed before running to the ajar door.

“Jaehyun!” You exclaimed, squeezing your body between the door and its frame. 

“[Y/N]? I thought you were out with Yebin. Are you okay?”

The love bullet starts to pulsates and you force out a grin, “Y-yeah, I was taking a nap and I, uh, had a nightmare.”

He nods slowly, looking like he understood as to why you were so flustered and sweating.

“What are you doing in my house?” You cleared your throat, trying to maintain your composure.

“Oh. I was planning to surprise you. I used the emergency keys your mom gave me.”

Your mom what— “Well, I’m very... surprised.”

Jaehyun grins, “No, wait. Come with me.”

He grabs your hand and all you can think about is how he’s holding the hand that had two of your fingers that were deep inside of you just moments ago while you jacked off to the thought of him. You wanted to tell him to wait for a second so you could go back into your room and turn the damn thing off, but the words leave you when he takes you to the living room.

There’s a vase of flowers you were very sure wasn’t there before and a small box of cupcakes from your favorite bakery. “You liked the gardenias so I got you some and I passed by the bakery after work and thought I’d get some as well.”

You inhaled sharply, the love egg suddenly spiking into a very harsh vibration. “Ohh, Jae.” That sounded so close to being inappropriate, “You didn’t have to—”

Your body flinches at the pattern change, making your grip around his hand tighten.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

You vehemently nodded your head, “Uh huh, I just— the nightmare was pretty intense.” like the throbbing of your very core as your climax approaches.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here.” Jaehyun pulls you into a hug and you don’t know whether it’s a good thing because your knees almost gave in so you used him as support. You hated, however, that you inhaled his scent; and it wasn’t the scent he smelled like when he got out of the shower, or his deodorant working when he’s sweating. It was that distinct scent he naturally had and it’s invading your nostrils and fueling your hormones. When his hands soothed your back and he kisses the top of your head, like he always does when he comforts you, that was when you lost it; gripping onto the back of his shirt for dear life as your orgasm hits.

You still do your best to keep your composure, keeping your breath steady unlike your heart beat that was running wild. The love egg is still buzzing and you need to take it out now; you already came in Jaehyun’s arms without him knowing and you can’t guarantee he’ll still be in the dark about it if another hits you. Pulling away, you sighed as nonchalantly as you can, hoping he doesn’t look down to see the evidence of your climax dripping down your legs.

“Thanks.”

Jaehyun pats your head, “You’re a little warm and red, [Y/N]. Maybe you’re coming down with something.”

“Uhm, yeah, maybe I am. I should… get some more rest.”

“Do you want me to tuck you?”

Your mind is so clouded and still high from climax that you swore you heard him say ‘fuck’, but you gasp from the love egg picking up pace again and swat Jaehyun’s arm, “I’m not ten! I’ll be fine. I-I would have loved to share the cupcakes with you a-and thank you for the flowers.”

He shrugs his shoulders, “Don’t mention it. I just—”

His phone beeps and when he checks it out, he lets out a groan. “Jay’s made a mess in the living room again.”

“Should I be regretting giving him to you?” You shift your weight between your legs, which helped with your shaky stance, but not the impending second wave of your climax. 

“No! Don’t ever. I love him.” Jaehyun laughs, “I’ll go now, see you later. Oh, and I think there’s a bee in here somewhere. I swear I can hear it.”

“I’ll take care of it, ha ha ha... ha.” You stood in place, waving your hand at him as he leaves your apartment. As soon as he closes the door behind him, you drop to your knees and pulled the love egg out. “Oh, god.”

It continues to vibrate on the floor, minutely spinning as it does. Guilt, shame, and relief washes over you all at the same time when you reprocessed what had just happened. You fucking masturbated to your best friend and he held you, without knowing what was going on, when you came undone from his touch and scent. You feel gross, grabbing the egg and standing back up to head back into your room to turn it off. You discard it on the bed and grab the other vibrator, shamelessly deciding to finish off the second orgasm in the shower.

a/n: the surprise gift here was actually the orgasm :--) loljk 

the eleventh attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #12: Recreate a movie scene

<< the eleventh attempt

wc: 1.9k

The annual senior retreat is on Sunday and while Joohyun is making sure everything is going smoothly behind the planning and preparations with the student council, the twins have taken it upon themselves to plan what to bring and who will bring them by gathering everyone (minus Joohyun and Taeyong) at a cafe on a Wednesday afternoon after class.

“Yebin is in charge of the drinks, but to be fair, we need two other people to buy other drinks.” Minkyung brings out her phone to list everything down on her notes app.

“I can buy cola and,” You squint at Yebin, who bats her lashes at you, “Chasers.”

She looks pleased with your suggestion, doing a little shimmy with her shoulders. “Jungwoo said he has tequila he can try and sneak in.”

Jungwoo nods, “I’ll bring that and some snacks, too.”

You sipped on your chocolate frappe, listening to your friends volunteer on their contributions. Jaehyun says he’ll bring chips or maybe try and bake something with his mom that gets everyone riled up.

The day after the movie marathon, you felt paranoid that Jaehyun heard your little confession that when he asked you to come with him to the greenhouse, you lied and said Joohyun needed help. You told her about it and she was annoyed at first, accusing you of running away from your feelings but relents, confirming to Jaehyun that she needed you and all you did was bum in the council room with her.

Even yesterday, Jaehyun tried to bring you there, but you insisted you weren’t feeling it and wanted to eat lunch at the cafeteria with everyone else. He didn’t try asking you today and you thought he’d be hurt or annoyed, but he doesn’t seem bothered by it.

“[Y/N],” You look at Minkyung and she pouts, “I said, can you ask Taeyong what he can bring?”

“Oh, okay.” You open your phone, “What else do we need?”

As you type out a text to Taeyong, you don’t see Jaehyun slumping back on his seat and Mingyu nudging his shoulder. Jungwoo puts his head on your shoulder and peers at your phone, “Ooh! You’re going on a date with Taeyong on Saturday?”

“Yeah, the one he won.” You try to shrug Jungwoo off of you but he whines, clinging onto your arm. 

“Ooh, he says he can bring sweets.” Jungwoo reads off the new message notification that popped on your phone and you push him away, annoyed. “Bring jellies!”

“We leave early in the morning on Sunday.” Mingyu says, “Let’s sleepover at someone’s house on Saturday night and just go to the airport all together.”

Jaehyun snorts, “Just ask me and [Y/N] already.”

Minkyung smiles, clasping her hands together, “Thank you so much for offering!”

“We weren’t offering.” You and Jaehyun said in unison, sharing a defeated glance at each other.

“So girls at [Y/N] and guys at Jaehyun’s.” She ignores the both of you and turns to Miyoung and Sora, asking if they knew where you lived.

You move your attention to Jaehyun and watched him push around the crumbs of the chocolate cake he had. He looked a little bored… almost peeved? He hasn’t minded the guys inviting themselves over for a sleepover before; his parents were more lax with him inviting people over when he moved up to high school. He catches you looking, gaze almost pointed and piercing right through her, but she gives him a small smile and his expression softens to return it.

On Friday, as you made your way to the cafeteria, you overhear the passing maintenance staff talking about how the flowers have started blooming in the greenhouse and you’re curious to see them now. You dart towards the back of school, promising just to take a peek and feeling a little guilty that Jaehyun had been asking you to come with him but you kept denying him.

You’re going to assume the greenhouse is the little building by the soccer field hidden by the looming oak trees. You trec over there, cautiously peering inside to make sure Jangmi or anybody else  was in there When the coast looks clear, you push the glass door open and gasped at the sight. There’s shrubs of varying heights and budding flowers in every color, a seedling table with benches, and even a persimmon tree. You don’t want to stay for too long, taking another appreciative glance around before stepping back.

Someone was behind you, though. You bumped into them and practically shrieked in their face until you realized it was only Jaehyun. “Oh my god! Why are you sneaking up behind me?”

Jaehyun laughs, eyes crinkling, “Why are you sneaking around in the greenhouse? I asked you thrice to come with me here and you refused.”

“Well,” You shrugged, “I didn’t feel like it until now.”

“Then let’s go inside.”

“Oh, we should probably meet with others—”

He has a firm grip on your shoulders, spinning you around and guiding you inside, “Five minutes, [Y/N]. It’s not like they’re going to file for missing persons..”

It’s a little warmer in the middle of the greenhouse, but it was nice; there was still a soft breeze going around that picked up the subtle floral scent of the area.

“No wonder could Jangmi fall asleep in here.” You quietly comment, letting your eyes soak up every corner. “Imagine if it was on the rooftop… I’d sing my heart out to any song.”

On cue, music starts playing and you spin on your heels to find Jaehyun seated at the bench with his phone out, playing ‘Can I have this dance?’ He cheekily grins up at you and urges you to sing when you missed the first lyrics.

“Keep your eyes locked on mine,” You sing along with a roll of your eyes, “And let the music be your guide,”

“Won’t you promise me,” His voice will never fail to make you feel something whenever he sings. You’d never be caught dead doing this in public, but you two were alone; you might as well indulge yourself.

“Now won’t you promise me,” You pluck the phone out of his hands and set it on the table, taking his hands into yours, “That you’ll never forget.”

He smiles at you, widely, and stands up, “To keep dancing,” 

“Wherever we go next.”

You owed him a proper dance from prom and this is it, with a hand in his and another on his shoulder. This was so much better than dancing to some slow songs; even better that you’re both singing along.

There’s pure mirth in your voices, almost laughing out the lyrics when he spins you around. When he pulls you back to him, you hold your breath at how close he was.

“Take my hand, I'll take the lead,” He sings, twirling you once more, “And every turn will be safe with me.”

Something in his eye changes; his gleeful expression morphing into something you could describe as melancholic, “Don't be afraid... afraid to fall, you know I'll catch you through it all.”

You lean your head on his chest for a moment, “Even a thousand miles can’t keep us apart.”

“‘Cause my heart is wherever you are.” He squints at you, cheekily as you pull away to sing with him.

All of a sudden, he picks you up by your waist and spins you around, making you shriek in panic. He bursts into laughter, putting you down on top of the bench and stepping up to join you. It wriggles a bit at the sudden addition of your weight, your hold on each other instinctively gripping harder. When you were both balanced out, he still tries to lead you into dancing a carefully paced waltz, stepping forward and backward together in the sliver of wood of the bench.

He jumps back down to the ground, scooping you behind your knees and supports your back as he carries you down from the bench with a dramatic twirl. 

“At least it won’t rain in here.” You quip, pertaining to the scene in the movie when it starts pouring all of a sudden.

“But there are sprinklers on timers, I think.” He hums, nevertheless continues dancing with you to the rest of the song. Neither of you were singing anymore, smiling to yourselves at the thought of how funny it would be if the sprinklers were to turn on all of a sudden. 

You adjust your hand over his shoulder and before you were aware of it, you trailed it up his neck to his nape, until it reached the soft, little hairs on the back of his head.

The wall you built up between the platonic and romantic areas of your relationship had reduced itself to a line; blurring so quickly when your eyes meet and you’ve let your guard down. 

His lips are soft and warm, perfectly slotting your bottom lip against them. You don’t know how long your lips are pressed together until you feel his hand cup your jaw and you’re reminded of what you’re doing and who you’re with.

You pull away with a gasp, eyes wide and face burning. His expression mirrors yours, but his brows are knitted together. 

“[Y/N].” He cautiously says in a low voice and you step away from him, shaking your head.

“I… I don’t know why I…” You catch his eyes flitting behind you and you glance back. Your heart drops when you see Jangmi stopping in her tracks with tears streaming down her face. You look back at Jaehyun, “I’m sorry. I-I shouldn’t have—”

“Wait, [Y/N].” You rush away from him before he could grab you, trying to avoid Jangmi as well but she stops you.

“[Y/N],” She sniffs, holding your arm. As she quickly wipes her cheeks with the back of her hands, you see Jaehyun coming after you and you break free from her hold to run away.

They’re calling after you but your legs don’t stop until you reach the entrance of the school building. Before going in, you glanced back at them to gauge how far they are to know where you can hide from them, but you falter a step; seeing Jaehyun’s hand on Jangmi’s shoulder as he shakes his head.

The same bottom lip that was between his lips moments ago is now trapped under your teeth in hopes to stop them from quivering. Everything felt like it was burning; your face red with shame, eyes stinging as they begged to shed tears, your throat wanting to let out a scream.

As you walk aimlessly along the empty hallways, you hear your name and the voice doesn’t belong to either of the people you want to see right now.

Taeyong has a worried look on his face when you face him; he had a water bottle in hand and a lollipop in his mouth.

“I don’t want to be here.”

He blinks at you, probably noting the signs that you were about to break down, and nods his head. He holds out his hand, “Okay.”

the thirteenth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #14: Tell it to them straight pt.2

<< the thirteenth attempt

wc: 3.8k

You don’t know how you made it all the way to Jeju without directly interacting with Jaehyun. The girls were sympathetic when you lied about having a fight with Jaehyun to explain why you left school early. They kept you busy, making sure you steered clear of Jaehyun until you were ready to talk to him.

On the first day of activities, you were thankful that Joohyun switched you out of your original group at the last minute after finding out you and Jaehyun had fought. But even though you were on opposite teams, you would catch him looking at you. When your teams were going against each other, he’d let you win — which was a complete surprise to you. He’s always been known to be competitive and quite aggressive about it. It was something his team rejoiced, but ended up disappointed when he lost against your team. He was teammates with Yebin, which he was probably irked by already because they didn’t get along well from the get-go, and every time he “messed” up, she would be breathing down his neck.

You’re convinced they’re only putting up with each other because of you.

During meal breaks, your friend group still sat together; but you sat on opposite ends with him on the same side so neither of you could see each other. You’ve never been so thankful that your friend group had grown so much that there was never silence at the table. Jangmi kept you company, finding out that you two shared the same love for photography. 

“Did you bring a camera? We should do a photowalk on the free day!” She suggests, catching Minkyung’s attention.

“Photowalk? Do you need a model?” She jokes, “Oh! We should go to the beach!”

Miyoung gasps, “I heard from the others that there’s a carnival! We should go there, too!”

The next day, the final games the council prepared take place. Your team had lost by the second game and by then, it seemed to spark back the same ruthless competitive Jaehyun that won them first place.

Their victory and the end of the games were celebrated through a massive bonfire later in the evening. Some students had spiked the refreshments just for a little kick as people drank, and the council prepared a multitude of snacks for everyone to share. You and Jangmi helped distribute the roasting sticks for the marshmallows.

Taeyong came over, already had his selection of snacks on a paper plate. You pretended to grab something from the table behind you, forcing her to hand him a skewer. When he leaves and you return back beside her, she hisses through a forced smile while still handing out the sticks to other students, “Really, [Y/N]?”

You simpered at her, “I couldn’t help it.”

Jangmi sneers, “Well, an eye for an eye.”

She hands you all the roasting sticks she had all of a sudden and announces she’ll get the remaining box of skewers. You were confused for a second until someone asks for a stick and you turn to face Jaehyun. 

“Uh,” You droned out, balancing the skewers onto one arm while handing one to him. “Here.”

“Thanks.” He stands there, awkwardly fiddling with the stick you had handed to him. “[Y/N], I—”

“Hey, Jaehyun.” Jangmi pops back up beside you, much to your appreciation. “Glad you’re here. I, uh, need your… help.”

“With what?” 

She gestures towards the back area, “Can you help me carry the box of roasting sticks?”

He looks between the two of you before relenting to her request, giving her the stick you handed before walking to where she directed.

“Thank you.” You whispered once Jaehyun was out of earshot.

“Hey, I’ll hand out the rest of these. Go ask Joohyun if they need help with anything else or go hang with Minkyung and the others; I’ll be with you guys in a minute.”

Jangmi takes the roasting sticks from you and just as you start walking away, she stops you, “[Y/N], not to let the hopeless romantic in me get the better of me, but… you should try and talk things through with him tonight or tomorrow morning. We’ll be out having fun all day, it would be a shame if you two were still awkward by then. I only diverted him just now because you’re clearly still not ready.”

“I… okay.” Behind her, Jaehyun is making his way back with the box he was told to retrieve and you quickly go away to find your friends.

As you left, Jaehyun stalks up behind Jangmi and puts the box down, “What are you doing?”

She gasps, almost dropping the skewers. She pointedly glares up at him, “You said you’d give her time to think things through. She’s clearly not ready yet.”

“So you and the other girls are just going to keep shielding me away from her? I can see what you guys are doing. I’m not blind.”

“Oh, so you finally noticed that but not when she was obviously in love with you for weeks before you found out?”

Jaehyun makes an indignant sound, “Why are you attacking me? Where is this coming from?”

“Because now I know how she feels; I’ve been — still — in her shoes; still hopelessly in love and you know,” She growls, “that I empathize with that.”

While the bonfire party was in full swing with one group loudly singing random songs, somehow the rest of the senior populace have segregated themselves by gender. You’re feeling a little lightheaded, but oddly elated — probably from the spiked cola.

“What did they put in the drinks?” You asked Yebin, a self-proclaimed alcohol connoisseur.

“Rum in the cola, soju in the cider… I think tequila in the juices.” She slurs, “God, we still have more to drink back in the room.”

Minkyung whines, “Save that for tomorrow! It’ll be a great way to unwind after the free day.”

The boys on the other side of the bonfire all exclaim as if someone made the best comeback at a retort. Jangmi rolls her eyes, “They’re always so rowdy.”

Miyoung raises her glass to that, “It’s annoying!”

“I wonder what they’re going on about.” Yebin mumbles into her cup.

The boys grew noisier and almost frantic; from the cacophony of voices, you were able to discern common words they were screaming.

“Jaehyun, stop!”

You don’t know you went from sitting at one of picnic blankets laid out to pushing away the people crowding the scene in a blink of an eye, but whatever you uncovered freezes you on the spot until Jangmi’s concerned voice rings beside you.

“Taeyong!”

You snap out of it when Jaehyun’s fist connects with Taeyong and sends him stumbling backwards. Jangmi moves faster than you, running up to Jaehyun and pushing him away. “What the hell?!”

She immediately turns around to tend to Taeyong. Jaehyun huffs, but once his eyes move to you; he looks guilty and remorseful for what he’s done.

He walks away, parting the people that crowded behind him, and before you could lose sight of him, you pursue after him.

“Jaehyun!” You scold, trying to catch up to him as he takes long strides across the park. 

“Not now, [Y/N].”

“What was that back there? What is wrong with you?”

“Do you really want to know?” He spins on his heels, taking one step forward towards you.

You almost bump into him, skidding to a stop. He looked so frustrated, nostrils flaring and breathing shallow. “Jae, what’s wrong?”

“[Y/N].” Jaehyun closes his eyes and breathes in deeply, before staring into your eyes. “Do you remember how I promised I would tell you when I’m in love?”

You feel your heart drop, your throat feels raw for some reason. “Y-Yeah… w-why? How… is that related to Taeyong?”

He looked… scared, almost nervous. “Well, there’s this girl and she’s…”

But Jangmi said he didn’t like her that way; not unless he didn’t at first and he ended up falling for her. You don’t want to look at him; you always thought you’d be prepared for this moment, but you can already hear your heart shattering.

“She’s beautiful,” Jaehyun sighs, the corner of his lips quirking as his gaze softened, “She’s kind and amazing. She’s funny; always so snarky - but in a good way, no one in school even dislikes her.”

You don’t know what to say to him; afraid you’d let out a sob if you open your mouth so you let him continue. Jangmi had told him about Taeyong; how he rejected her and how she still pines for him. That day back in the greenhouse, she must have explained why she was crying.

“She’s incredibly bright and talented.” He licks his lips and for the first time ever, you see tears welling up in his eyes, “I… I love everything about her; her eyes, her lips, the way she smiles, all her little habits, and even her flaws.”

It’s starting to hurt now: how he’s lost all his nervousness and is getting excited and more confident about telling you, how he’s using the word ‘love’ so easily. With every reason he states, the tighter your chest feels and you could feel your resolve in keeping a straight face waning. 

“She’s… she means the world to me.”

“D-does she make you happy?” Your voice fails you as the question comes out in shaky, muted whispers.

Jaehyun smiles, “She does.”

Your eyes start to prick and your vision started to blur, forcing you to look down at your feet. You really don’t know what to say and you really don’t want to ask him even though you already knew the answer, but you remind yourself that you’re his best friend and him telling you all this means a lot to him. “So who is it?”

You’re holding your breath in; maybe the impact of his confession would cushion it. Internally, you’re promising that you won’t hold any grudges against Jangmi. You already know her side of the story.

“She’s…” His voice trails off and he doesn’t continue until you peer up at him to question his silence. When your eyes lock, you realize he’s crying with tears gliding down his reddened cheeks. There’s a smile on his face, bringing out the infamous dimples, “My best friend.”

Your hand flies to cover your mouth as you gasp, staring at him with a bewildered expression. 

“I’ve been trying to tell you since your birthday but it either comes out wrong, you misinterpret it, or I get interrupted, and I’m so frustrated! I tried giving you hints after hints, but none of them worked. I just…” He gulps, “I’m in love with you, [Y/N].”

“I… Are you…” You can feel yourself crying now, “You must be joking.”

“I’m not.”

“B-but… Jangmi.”

“I told you; we’re only friends, [Y/N]. She’s in love with someone else. She’s not even my type.” He sucks his lips in and lets out a little chuckle, “She’s not you.”

You could hear your own heartbeat in your ears, “Since when?”

He reaches up to wipe your tears with his thumbs with visible hesitation. When he rests his palms on your cheeks, you could feel his fingers tremble. “I’ve been in love with you before I even knew what love was.”

You cover his hands with your own, replaying everything he said in your head. You think this is all a dream; you’re probably at home and asleep. When you wake up, everything will be back to normal - although a part of you wish that if this was a dream, you wouldn’t want to wake up at all.

“Please say something.” Jaehyun murmurs.

“I… I’ve been denying the fact that I’m in love with you. I,” You pause to stop yourself from sobbing, “I didn’t want to risk it - our friendship… You mean everything to me, Jaehyun. I was so scared that I’d lose you if you didn’t feel the same way a-and even if you promised that it didn’t affect our relationship… you know, nothing’s going to be the same after.”

An anguished cry leaves you as the nightmares came back to you; all the painful possibilities you thought about late at night digging up the ache you worked so hard to cover up. He wraps his arms around you, pulling you tight against his warm body like he always does but you have to admit that even this felt different now.

“I was scared, too.” He admits, “But I’m more scared about losing you to someone else.”

You pull away, “Is that why you punched Taeyong?”

Jaehyun exhales, heavily, “Some of the guys were talking about the girls and someone made a comment about Jangmi that Taeyong didn’t like. I just found it weird how he suddenly cared about her when all he did was hurt her… and I said that to him. And he said that’s what I did to you… and I snapped, I guess.”

He’s stopped crying already, but his eyes were still glistening. “Did I… ever hurt you like that?”

“The only reason why it hurt was because I misunderstood everything… I really believed that you liked Jangmi and before she told me last Friday that she liked Taeyong, I thought you two were already dating behind everyone’s backs.”

“What? No, I only hung out with her to help her brother or to… talk about you.” He feebly admits, “Wait, last Friday…?”

You nodded, “She came over to explain everything. I guess it helped that before that, Taeyong already told me that it was his fault she was crying.”

Jaehyun snarls at that, “What’s his problem?”

“He likes her, too, but because of their past, he thinks he doesn’t deserve her. I hope they can work things out.”

“I hope so, too.” He licks his lips, “I should go apologize to him.”

When he steps back, you realize that there was practically no space in between you as you conversed and now you shivered at the evening wind. He starts to lead you back to the vicinity of the bonfire, but you grab his hand and pulled him back.

“Wait,” You whispered; he faces you again and you tug him closer to you. Hopefully you’d get used to being so close to him like this, but somehow the butterflies in your stomach didn’t feel so bad anymore. “I love you, too.”

It takes a second for him to respond, breaking into a contagious wide grin. He draws you by your waist and before his lips touched yours, he teasingly warns you, “You better not pull away all of a sudden.”

“I won’t.” You sling your arms over his shoulders, “I promise.”

This kiss was a lot better than the first one; it was nicely paced and chaste. For a good minute, you kept your fingers running through his hair as you kissed while his tenderly massaged the small of your back. Both of you pulled away, a shy smile on your faces, before going back to the bonfire while holding hands. 

Everything seems to have cooled down back the bonfire, some students were already heading back to their rooms. Jangmi and Taeyong were nowhere to be seen. The first people to approach you was Joohyun and a very stressed out Doyoung.

“The teachers want to talk to y—” Doyoung starts, but Joohyun grabs his arm and gasps.

She’s staring at your hands and then looked between the two of you, “Are you… oh my god!!”

“Holy shit!” Yebin screams from the other side of the bonfire, tipsy but not drunk enough to miss you and Jaehyun holding hands. “Are you two finally fucking together?”

Her outburst definitely attracted the attention of everyone left, which was probably still more than half of the senior population. Everyone erupts into applause and cheers, congratulating the two of you. You can feel your face heat up and you almost want to retract your hand, instead you held him tighter.

“I swear, I’m only friends with her because of you.” Jaehyun mutters under his breath and you hit his shoulder. His ears looks like it could bleed from how red they were, even under the glow of the orange fire.

Congratulations were cut short when one of the teachers appeared to scold Jaehyun, asking him to come with him to the teacher’s quarters for an explanation regarding the whole scuffle with Taeyong.

You slipped out of the bonfire as well, wanting to check up on Taeyong, also hoping to avoid everyone else. The clinic of the retreat house was towards the back end of the building so you ventured towards the back entrance instead of the front. Turning the corner of the building, you gasped and practically tumbled over at what you witnessed.

Taeyong and Jangmi both pull away from each other, faces beet red at your sudden presence.

“I… sorry?” You feel yourself blush as well, trying to hide your amusement behind your hand as you raise it up to your lips.

“I guess I deserve it for what happened last Friday.” Jangmi dismisses your apology.

“Are you gonna run away? I can distract him for you.” You joked and Jangmi laughs, but Taeyong pouts and holds her by her shoulders.

“I don’t think so.”

Jangmi leans into him, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m good.”

You grin at them, a little too widely that your cheeks almost hurt. You’re genuinely glad that they were able to talk as well.

“Wait,” Jangmi pushes herself away from Taeyong and rushes towards you, “Where’s Jaehyun? What happened?”

You bit on your bottom lip and half heartedly shrugging your shoulders  “We talked.”

She frowns at you, “You don’t look happy. Why? How did he fuck up this time?”

“No, it’s not that I’m not happy.” You correct her, “It’s just that, I guess, my best friend is now… my boyfriend.”

Jangmi’s face splits into a wide beam before she throws her arms around you, “Oh my god! [Y/N]!”

“I feel so stupid for being so scared.”

“I hate to say I told you so.” Taeyong pipes up from behind Jangmi and she scoffs.

She looks back at him, “You’ve been telling her? I’ve been telling Jaehyun!”

“You have horrible advisers.” He steps a little closer and you see the bruise Jaehyun left on his face, just a little to the side beneath his eye.

“Does that hurt? He wanted to apologize but Mr. Ahn took him to their room to talk to him in private.”

He touches his bruise, but doesn’t react to it. “It doesn’t hurt that much. I should go over to them and have this settled.”

After he leaves, you suggest to head back to the room and get ready for bed since you had a busy schedule for the free day tomorrow. The rest of the girls were already passed out on their beds with Sora claiming yours when she and Jangmi were supposed to share the queen-sized bed.

“Let’s just share the bed,” Jangmi offers, “And you can tell me what happened! What did he say?”

“Okay, and then you’d tell me how I ended up finding you and Taeyong kissing.”

She stifles her laughter, not wanting to wake up the others.

You spent almost hours talking; from what went down between you and your now-boyfriends, to plans for tomorrow, and even as far as talking about college. You don’t even know who fell asleep first or what you last talked about, but you woke up to all 8 alarms of everyone’s phones ringing at 8AM.

After an hour of getting ready, making sure you’ve packed the camera Jaehyun got you for your birthday, you and the girls met the guys downstairs for breakfast before setting out for the beach. It was a 15 minute walk, but no one complained. You and Jangmi took photos of everyone and the scenery. 

Jaehyun holds you back as the group crossed the bridge and you think something’s wrong, but he just stares at you, fondly.

“Is something wrong?”

“I just wanted to tell you,” He licks his lips, “I love you.”

You can't stop yourself from grinning, but you roll your eyes before snapping a photo of him and quickly spinning around to catch up with the others, laughing when he whines for you to say it back.

Time flew quickly when you arrive at the beach; all of you wished you could stay forever, but at least it’s treasured in your memories — even better that you and Jangmi took plenty of  photos and videos. 

Before heading back to the retreat to pack up for the flight back home tomorrow morning, everyone sits on the sand even after they’ve washed off the salty sea water off their bodies to watch the sunset. As the waves continued to thrash against the shore and the sky painted everything in shades of yellow and orange, no one talks to savor the moment. This could be the only time everyone could be together like this; spending the last days of high school before separating for college. 

Doyoung and Joohyun regretfully tell everyone that they had to go because of their curfew. Yebin reminds them to sneak into the girls’ room for the rest of the drinks, although she wishes they had it here instead. As everyone dusted themselves and started trudging back to the route you have taken, you took one last glance at the setting sun.

You were reluctant to go on this trip, especially since it started out with you avoiding Jaehyun.

“[Y/N]? Let’s go.” He calls out to you, ambling towards him. 

His eyes looked even warmer in the rays of the sunset, gazing into yours that made your knees weak.

Now you’re glad you still came; you’re thankful for Jangmi for coming over last Friday because it was her words that put your mind at ease, and even though he got hurt, you’re thankful for Taeyong because if he hadn’t pushed Jaehyun, who knows when you and Jaehyun would actually talk about what happened.

You step closer to Jaehyun and pull him into a kiss, which he doesn’t mind of course, pulling away when your friends started loudly teasing the two of you and you find Jangmi unabashedly pointing her camera towards you.

“Come on, lovebirds! You can still do that back home!” Yebin screeches, making everyone — including the two of you — laugh.

this is the fmv trailer i made for 14ways2 uwu

epilogue >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #3: Walk down memory lane

wc: 1.45k

<< the second attempt

Jaehyun woke up early one morning and stared at his ceiling, moving his sleeping pup to his chest and petting his head. “I still haven’t confessed, Jay. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me to.”

Jay the Junior yawns at him, but remains asleep.

“Should I try today? We don’t have school so we can hang out.”

He lets his gaze wander around until it falls to the picture frames on his wall and a smile finds its way to his lips. It would have been so much easier to say how he feels about her back when they were younger. He was able to proclaim wanting to marry her when they were 5; why is a simple ‘I love you’ so hard now? If he just knew how you really felt about him, he would have said something earlier.

Jaehyun shoots up into a sitting position, jostling the pup awake and yelping at him for the rude awakening. He hushes him, kissing his snout as an apology. “I have an idea, Jay.”

Instead of just trying over and over again to confess, why not just build it up into one grand confession?

You had slept in a little bit, waking up around 11 because your stomach was just crying for food at this point. Your mother had left last night for a conference so you had to feed yourself for today. Routinely, you check your phone first before getting up; checking the notifications and messages. You reply to Jaehyun’s inquiry about you being awake already that was sent hours ago with an, “I am now. Feed me :(” 

It was a joke but Jaehyun had replied seconds later with a thumbs up and tells you to come over. You had no qualms about it; stretching your limbs for a moment before freshening a bit.

You’re in Jaehyun’s apartment in no less than 10 minutes, cooing Jay the Junior in your arms as you sat yourself on the couch while Jaehyun heated up their breakfast.

“Mom’s grocery shopping for lunch and dinner, you should stay over.”

“I’m capable of cooking for my own! But if your mom insists, then I wouldn’t turn the offer down.” You laugh, setting Jay the Junior down and eyeing the photo album on the coffee table. “Why is this out here?”

Jaehyun peers over to see what you were asking about and almost blanches when he realized he had left out the album when he was trying to scan them earlier. “Oh, uhm, I was cleaning out the shelves and I found that.”

You open it up and immediately smile. You and Jaehyun were together so much that his mom had taken an album’s worth of photos from your childhood. Both before and after he went away for America. “Oh my god, you were so cute before!”

He takes full offense to this, “Before?”

“Your cheeks were so puffy back then.” You pouted at him, “And you were chubby! Oh! I loved to hug you so much before.”

“You can still hug me now.” He gripes, walking over to bring you a bowl of bibimbap.

“It’s not the same.” You accept the meal and place it on your lap, diligently mixing it up with the spoon he stuck in. “You’re mostly muscle now.”

Jaehyun gets the album from the table and looks down at his photo with a contemplative expression, “Yeah, well that’s what playing for varsity basketball does to your body.”

He flips through the pages, laughing at the backstory of each one. “Do you remember this day? We wanted to eat the brownies my mom just made so we snuck one of the pans to my room and ate it in my closet.”

You peer over to see where his finger was pointed and saw a picture of the two of you, probably around 4 years old, with a spoon each in both of your hands and faces smeared with chocolate. Your faces looking into the camera in surprise after being caught. “Your mom didn’t find out until the photos were developed later on! How did she even miss a pan of brownies missing?”

“Ah,” Jaehyun laughs, “Dad told her he took it.”

“He did?” You paused from eating to gasp. Your eyes drifted onto the next photo and you snorted, “Wait! This one, though! You fell down halfway climbing up the tree that my kite got stuck on and cried so much!”

He scoffs at you, “I cried because of you!”

“Hey! I didn’t tell you to climb up a tree for me.”

“If I didn’t do anything, you would have started crying.”

You jut your lower lip out into a pout, mixing the contents of your bowl some more. “Whatever. You used to cry just as much as I did before. Oh! Like when you left for America! It’s like you grew a heart of steel over there. You never cry anymore.”

“I don’t have a reason to. Why would you want to see me cry now? I don’t even like it when you cry.”

“It’s not that I want to see you cry!” You defended, “I would hate it just as much as you do, but if you need a shoulder to cry on. I’m right here. You can cry to me if you need to.”

Jaehyun stares at you, eyes soft and happy — the kind of expression that makes your heart beat faster. “I know. You’re the only one I’ll ever cry to if everything’s too much already.”

You divert your attention back to the album, not wanting to keep the eye contact any longer. “I wish we could stay like kids forever. No responsibilities, no worries. Just playing around and enjoying life. It seemed so easier and simpler back then.”

“Right?” He chuckles, flipping to another page and smiling at the nostalgia the photos brought. “You know, when I was in America, every new thing I learned, discovered, and did… I always said “Ah, [Y/N] would like this or dislike that.” for the first few months I was there. And then I just stopped… until my parents told me we’d be coming back years after.”

You ate the last bit of your meal and placed the bowl on the table before looking back up at him.

“I felt guilty, you know.” He offers you a half-hearted smile, “Because for a few years, I forgot about you.”

His eyebrows scrunched up a bit as he bites down on his lip. You could tell how bad he feels about it.

“Jae, it’s fine. We were kids and thousands of miles apart. It’s understandable.”

“What if we never came back, though? I would have probably forgotten completely about you because I had no reminder of you while you walked by the front door every day and would remember the boy you grew up with. We couldn’t send letters because it was expensive.”

You put a hand on his knee, “It doesn’t matter now because you and your family did come back. And I remember vividly how we reacted when we saw each other for the first time when we met again. There’s photographic evidence hung up in my room.”

The corners of his lips finally curl upwards and his eyes squint as his smile grows.

“Did you know that was the happiest day of my life?”

“Why?”

The butterflies you thought you had tamed for weeks now are taking flight once more. You quietly gulp, hoping your voice doesn’t quiver, “I got my best friend back.”

Jaehyun’s expression falters. He lets out a slow exhale, “I-”

There’s the sound of keys jingling and the front door unlocking before it opens with a squeak, making you and Jaehyun move your attention towards it. At the sound of crinkling plastic, Jaehyun stands up and opens the door wider, “Mom, let me get that for you.”

His mom lets him do so, smiling at him briefly before glancing at you, “Oh! [Y/N]! Is your mom out of town again?”

You nod and take the bowl from the table, rising from your seat to wash it at the sink. “She is. I woke up late so I asked Jaehyun to feed me.”

“Then stay for lunch and dinner! You know you’re more than welcome to eat with us, [Y/N].” 

Jaehyun sets the groceries down on the table and looks at you as you make your way past him. You scrunch your nose at him, “If you insist, auntie, then how can I say no to you?”

As his mom reassures you its fine, Jaehyun rolls his eyes at you but snicker along with you; leaving his mom unaware of the little interaction.

the fourth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #9: Cook something for them

<< the eighth attempt

wc: 1.5k

The mini vacation to Busan had made everything between you and Jaehyun almost right again. It was a reset button and whatever tension and awkwardness that happened weeks prior had magically disappeared. You’ve come into terms with your feelings for Jaehyun, but you’ve also decided not to act on them. If you had to choose between being his best friend or his lover, you’d rather be his best friend. Like what his dad had said, you were soulmates and regardless of it being romantic or not, you’re okay with that.

Jaehyun has the same opinion, except he’s resorted himself into being a little more selfish. You two can stay friends, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle it if you start falling for someone else. It’s not like him to be like this, but until you two were both ready and willing to take things to the next level, he’s going to make sure you’ll stay in love with him.

He woke up early to prepare a lunchbox for you and himself. You both had pre-paid lunch at the cafeteria that was paid for with your tuition, but it wouldn’t hurt to skip one day’s worth of lunch.

He made sweet and spicy fried chicken, rolled omelette, and kimbap, and reheated last night’s dumplings and even packed the sweet pumpkin pancakes his grandmother sent him. 

His dad came out of their room, ready to go to work and exclaims at him, “Oh! Son, you shouldn’t have.”

Jaehyun blanches, staring at his dad, “Oh, uhm…”

“Ah, so it’s for [Y/N].” His dad laughs, going over to him and pinching his ears when they turned red, “Our ears can’t lie, son.”

“I can still pack you lunch, dad—” He starts to offer, but his dad shakes his head.

“No, it’s fine. I was only teasing you.” His dad prepares a cup of coffee for himself and his mom. “So, [Y/N].”

Jaehyun sighs, closing the lids of each lunchbox and setting them on the dining table so he won’t forget them later. “...what about her?”

His dad chuckles, “I had an inkling you two would end up falling for each other. Have you told her yet?”

He shakes his head, sitting beside his dad, “I’ve tried — a lot of times and it either backfires or I get interrupted. I don’t think the universe wants us to be together in that way.”

“Now, don’t think of it that way, Jaehyun. It’s just not the right time for you to tell her.”

“But what if someone else comes along? I don’t think she wants to be anything more with me.”

His dad takes a long sip of his coffee before setting it back down with a hum, “You don’t know that. Both of you are scared; these emotions are new and intense, I get it. But it’s not something you can just let it pass or let it be. You do something about it.”

Jaehyun nods, twiddling his thumbs. “I’m just scared that whatever happens, everything’s going to change between us.”

“Son, everything has already changed when you realized how you felt about her. What you and [Y/N] were 10 years ago won’t be the same now, you’re meant to change, to mature together. Do you understand me?”

“I guess? I just… don’t know what to do anymore.” He clicks his tongue, “But at the same time, I don’t want to give up on it.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, Jaehyun, but if it’s really love, you can’t just will it away. Love is about taking chances; all or nothing. Trust me, son, because you wouldn’t be in this world if I didn’t take my chance.”

“What are you two talking about so early in the morning?” His mom joins them with a little yawn in her voice.

His dad winks at him and he smiles, greeting his mom a good morning.

“Why did you make us lunch?” You asked again for a third time, sounding impatient but in retrospect, just excited to eat something he made.

Jaehyun puts down 4 different tupperwares, two with rice meals, one with dumplings, and the last one was pancakes. “I, uh, woke up early and thought I’d make myself lunch for a change and wanted to make you one as well.”

“Thank you.” You cheer when he hands you your lunch and utensils. “Let’s eat!”

It’s been a long time since you two had lunch alone — probably a year or two. It’s also been years since you two had eaten at the rooftop. It’s technically not allowed but Jaehyun always manages to sweet talk you two out of trouble when the janitor’s find them. Today was perfect, too, because it was cloudy enough to hide the harsh noon sun, but not too cold to freeze your bodies in the spring breeze.

“Let’s eat.” He quietly repeats after you and waits for you to take a bite, smiling when you an appreciative moan when the food hits your tongue. “Is it good?”

“Shut up.” You laugh, “Stop fishing for compliments, you know I love your cooking.”

“I can cook for you forever if you buy the ingredients.”

You snorted at him, taking another bite before responding. “Don’t spoil me, Jae. I’d have to improve my own skills for my future family.”

The words were out of you before you even thought it through.

“Your future family.” He repeats, slowly and a little teasing. “You don’t have to worry about anything, [Y/N]. You’re a good cook, too, you know.”

“Thanks, but I’m nowhere near as amazing as you.”

“Then you can cook for us next time—” He freezes when your hand comes up to his face and your thumb grazes the corner of his lip, cleaning off the sauce smudge. He simply stares when you wipe it onto your rice and proceed to scoop that portion out to eat it.

“Okay, but I have to go grocery shopping first.”

Jaehyun is zoning out, trying to calm his heart. You had done that before, but it’s different now. His dad was right. Nothing is going to be the same anymore.

“Jaehyun.” Your voice jolts him a bit, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah— I was thinking about having a movie night or something. You can cook dinner and we’ll just watch netflix and…” His words trail off, realizing the possible innuendo.

“—and chill?” You scrunch your nose at him and burst out into laughter, hoping he won’t see your cheeks blushing at the double meaning of the phrase he meant to say. Eventually, he joins you and the topic quickly switches to agreeing which movies to watch.

The rest of the lunch period was spent talking after you finished both of your food and munched on the last pieces of the sweet potato pancakes. He packs the tupperwares back into the canvas tote bag he brought them in once you finished.

“We should schedule more of these,” You lick your fingers clean, “Just us two during lunch. Our friend group is big and there’s way too many topics going about the table to focus on anything.”

“Okay. I’d love that, we’d have to make sure they don’t catch us though because they’ll be tagging along.” He stands up and dusts his pants off, and you followed after him.

“Oh, definitely. This is our little secret.” You giggle and look up at him, and before you could stop yourself, you found yourself asking, “Can I have a hug?”

Jaehyun looks at you like you were crazy, brows just slightly furrowed. You were about to take it back, suddenly embarrassed for asking, but then he’s pulling you into his arms and letting out a lighthearted chuckle, “You know you don’t have to ask for things like that, [Y/N]. You have unlimited hugs.”

You bask in his warmth despite the noon sun, pressing your cheek to his chest and breathing in his scent. “Like my unlimited supply of cheek pinches?”

He groans a little at that, “Uh, yes.”

You pull away from him and cheekily simper as you pinch both his cheeks, “I’ll make good use of these privileges, don’t worry.”

“I can tell.” He says in a flat tone, and you roll your eyes.

“Whatever, you love me.”

Jaehyun doesn’t say anything, blinking at you for a few seconds until he nods, “I do.”

Your heart leaps and does somersaults inside your chest, and even though you knew it was meant in a platonic way, you’ll accept — like you always had. However, you don’t think you can say those words anymore to him. So you beam up at him and pulled him into another hug, thinking he doesn’t notice it, but before you pull away, you just barely miss the disappointed frown on his face.

the tenth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #13: Give them space

<< the twelfth attempt

wc: 3k

“I’ve never skipped school before.” You confessed as Taeyong led you out the school’s main building by the hand. The school was pretty lenient about students coming in and out as they please as long they swiped their ID’s for security purposes at the entry/exit points.

He lets go of your hand and turns to you, “You don’t want to leave?”

“I… I mean,” You already had your bags with you, taking your ID out, “Where would we go?”

He’s pensive for a second, “I have a place in mind.”

Taeyong doesn’t hold your hand when he leads the way and you’re grateful for that, he must have guessed the root of your problems already. He ignores your questions about where you two were heading off to, hopping onto the bus, and asks about the upcoming Jeju trip after finding a seat. He’s careful about mentioning Jaehyun, skirting around any topic that could possibly bring him into the conversation.

After half an hour, you get off and walk a few minutes until you reached an animal shelter.

“A shelter?”

Taeyong nods, “They’re all rescues; the shop is always looking for volunteers to help around. When I’m sad, I come here to be surrounded by puppies or kittens that just wants to love a human.”

He leads you inside and he greets the man behind the register, bowing slightly and you follow after him.

“Taeyong-ah! Isn’t it a little too early for school to be out?”

“Ah… it is, but it’s sort of an emergency.” He gestures to you, “My friend is sad and I know a few little friends who can help.”

You offer a polite smile to the man when his attention is brought over to you and he exclaims, “Oh! You must be the girl Taeyong talks about! Jangmi—”

“No!” Taeyong cuts in, cheeks blushing and using both hands to dismiss him, “This is [Y/N], she’s just a friend.”

“My apologies! Hello, [Y/N]. I’m Dongju, the shelter’s general manager. The puppies have been bored with each other the last few days, I’m sure they’ll enjoy your company. Taeyong, don’t give them treats! They broke into their snack bin this morning so luckily for you, they’re all freshly bathed.”

The phone rings and Dongju gestures for them to head on back while he answers the call. You follow Taeyong to the back door that leads to an open space with multiple play areas for the animals. There were puppies chasing each other that stopped when Taeyong opened up the fence to let you in and started running towards him.

Your heart melted at them, dropping to your knees when some of them paid attention to you instead and jumped onto your lap to lick your face. “Oh my god! They’re so cute!”

He sat beside you, trying to entertain three pups at once. “That’s Pretty, she’s been here the longest.”

The small dog was white with a light dusting of tea colored fur on her ears that spread out to the top of her head. She was soft, too, forcing your hand to pet her by nudging her head under your palm. “Hello, Pretty.”

She sits on your lap and just looks up at you, panting with her tongue out while her tail wagged vigorously.

Taeyong introduces to the pups he remembers, telling their back stories and things they liked and hated, funny anecdotes he knows of them. Both of you played with them — throwing sticks, discs, and balls for them to fetch, handing them chew toys — until they were tired and napped around your seated bodies.

With a mixed Jindo pup named Geumgang on your lap drifted off, you curiously asked, “So you talk about Jangmi with the people here?”

He looks away from, probably hiding the color rising to his cheeks, “They’ve been trying to match me up with their sisters or nieces when I first started volunteering here. I only used her as an excuse so the matchmaking won’t push through, but… in the end, I couldn’t stop talking about her.”

Silence befalls both of you, letting the sound of nature and distant car engines take over. A few pups snored and whimpered in their sleeps when you spoke up again, “Aren’t you going to ask me what’s wrong?”

“Do you want me to?” Taeyong cards his fingers through the long fur of the pup beside him, “If it was enough to convince you to ditch school for the first time with a panic attack about to happen, then I’d rather wait until you’re ready to talk about it.”

“I kissed Jaehyun.” You blurted out, waking up Geumgang, who moved off your lap to continue his slumber.

He smirks at you, “Nice.”

“No, not nice!”

“Oh, okay… not nice.” He wipes the grin off his face and clears his throat, “Uh, what happened?”

You pull your knees up and hugged them to your chest, “I mean, the kiss was nice, but… I pulled away in panic a-and when I turned around Jangmi was there and she was crying and—”

“Jangmi was crying?”

You nod, burying your face in the crevice between your knees, “God! I told you! They don’t have to tell me. I know they’re dating! You should have seen their faces— Jaehyun’s after I kissed him and Jangmi’s when she caught us. He must have been weirded out with me… he didn’t even chase after me.”

Taeyong is quiet as you simmered in your emotions, replaying the entire situation in your head despite yourself. After awhile he shakes his head, “No, [Y/N], I think Jangmi was crying because of me.”

“You,” You sniffed, “What did you do?”

He lets out a heavy sigh, “I might have snapped at her. I just… panic when she’s too close or being too friendly. It’s either I think I don’t deserve her or my paranoia from middle school is still lingering.”

You watched him fold his legs like you did and leaned his chin on one of his knees, “She came up to me after our class and asked me to join you guys for lunch so it wouldn’t be awkward on Sunday — and I would have agreed if she hadn’t said Yebin sent her. She terrifies me — Yebin, I mean. She has the same vibes as the guy who liked Jangmi back in middle school.”

“What did you say to her?”

“To stop trying to force me into her friend group.” He mumbles, “Stop acting so buddy-buddy with me… I might have asked something along the lines of why they didn’t send you instead.”

“Oh, Taeyong.” You lightly scolded, “I think you’ve gone too far.”

He exhales harshly, clicking his tongue, “Well, that’s my mess to deal with. Now you know that she was crying because of me, not because she caught you and Jaehyun. Where did she see you guys?”

“The greenhouse.”

“The greenhouse,” Taeyong repeats, “The one she likes to sneak off to.”

You drop your head in embarrassment at the realization of what he was trying to say. Jangmi was crying and they were at the one place in school she can run off to for some peace of mind.”Okay, she wasn’t crying because of us, but… how about Jaehyun’s reaction? His face was just… surprised… not in the good way and when he said my name… he sounded so concerned like… an older brother talking to his younger sibling.”

He snorts at you, prompting you to punch his shoulder. “I’m sorry! Listen, I promise you that the last thing he’ll see you as is a sibling.”

“How do you know?”

“No,” He laughs, “How do you not know?”

“Whatever! I know what I saw and I felt it.” You check your phone for the time, seeing one text from Jaehyun. 

“We need to talk about what happened, but only when you’re ready.”

The thing is, you might never be ready to talk about it. You’re hoping it could blow over and both of you would just forget it ever happened. “I should get home before Jaehyun arrives.”

There was an hour of school left when you get home and it gave you a sense of relief to know Jaehyun wasn’t home yet. As you trekked up to your floor, you faltered a step when you catch someone waiting outside your door. If weren’t for her ponytail, you would have ran away thinking it was Jaehyun.

You approached Jangmi as she leaned on the front door, spaced out as she stared at the ground until you meekly greeted her and she jerked upright.

“[Y/N].” She pauses, “I’m probably one of the last people you want to talk to right now, but if I didn’t say anything I don’t think I’d be able to sleep tonight.”

“Okay. Let’s go in?”

After unlocking the front door and letting her in, you ask her if she wanted anything to drink or eat and she only wanted water. You usher her to sit on the couch before grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen, setting it on the coffee table with a coaster when you returned.

“I’m sorry.” She starts as soon as you sat down, “I didn’t mean to walk into… you and Jaehyun. I didn’t think you two were going to be there that day.”

“N-no, it’s okay… you gave me a reason to leave.” You remember Taeyong’s words from a while ago, “Are you okay now?”

Her lashes flutter as she comes up with a response and the glint in her eyes tell you that she’s not. You might not have known her as long as Joohyun and the others, but you don’t think you’ve seen her so… upset before.

“Am I unlikeable? You probably hate me.”

You immediately shake your head to rebuff her accusation, “No! Not at all— I think you’re the hardest person to hate in school. Why would you ever think that?”

Jangmi falls back into the seat and twiddles the hem of her skirt between her fingers. “I used to be jealous of you, you know.”

“Me?” Did you hear her wrong?

She nods, pressing her lips into a thin line. “You’ve been hanging out with Taeyong these days… He’s not exactly the most social person so it comes off as a surprise to me. The only reasons I can come up with as to why he suddenly changed is because either likes you—”

“He doesn’t! I swear, we’ve talked about it—”

“Then it’s to keep me away.” She cuts you off and you’re taken aback by her statement. She chuckles, mostly to herself, “I’m sure he’s either told you himself or you asked about our past in middle school; how I confessed to him and he rejected me.”

Jangmi’s voice cracks at the last words; her jaw tense for a moment until she releases an exasperated breath and lets her face fall into her open palms.

Instinctively, you put your hand on her shoulder to comfort her but you don’t know what to say.

“You must think I’m so pathetic for still being hung up from a stupid crush I had from middle school.” She softly cries, “But I really tried to forget about him; I tried to date other guys and he even transferred to a different school! But it got worse when he left and I was so miserable, [Y/N]! Yeah, he rejected me, but at least I still get to see him at school. Even though we live across each other, we barely cross paths because he’s either cooped out playing computer games or out at the PC rooms — playing computer games.”

“I even transferred into your school to follow him and I don’t know if it’s mean of me to say that I was relieved to find out he still hasn’t dated anyone… until that stupid auction happened and he got a date with you.” She glances at you with eyes teary and wary, “So I was jealous of you… but what’s my right to be? Taeyong was never mine to begin with. He can like whoever he wants, even if it’s not me.”

“I’m so sorry, Jangmi. But I really don’t like Taeyong that way… and please believe me when I tell you that he doesn’t either.” You bite down on your lip, not wanting to confess for Taeyong.

She manages to give you a small smile, “I believe you… only because I know you like Jaehyun.”

“What— how’d you—”

“Back when you sang on stage with him, I had an inkling and then when I got closer to you two, how you two interacted just confirmed it.” Jangmi finally takes a sip of the water you brought her. “I guess it helps that I’m in the same position as you; in love and all. It’s like looking in a mirror.”

You make eye contact with her and she shrugs, “But you still have a chance.”

“With Jaehyun?” You asked, incredulously, “No, I… He doesn’t… He likes you.”

This makes Jangmi laugh; heartily enough that even you would have joined her if you weren’t talking about Jaehyun’s feelings. “No, he doesn’t. Trust me, that day we met up for the date I got; we made our intentions very clear. We don’t like each other that way.”

You should have been relieved by what she’s telling you, but it still doesn’t explain Jaehyun’s reaction after you kissed him. “Why did you… bet 800 on him for a date, by the way?”

“There was a girl that I butt heads with before the event started and she had her eyes set on Jaehyun.” Jangmi recoils at the memory, “It wasn’t my best moment to be so petty and stoop down so low like that… but at least I can assure you that Jaehyun is all yours, right?”

“I… I don’t know. What happened in the greenhouse… I just want to forget about it.”

“You don’t want to be anything more with him?”

You let your posture slump over, defeated by the conflict of your heart and mind. “O-of course, I do, but when I pulled away from him, he just looked… alarmed?”

“This isn’t a romance novel or romcom movie, [Y/N]. Almost anyone who is kissed out of the blue by the person they least expect would be surprised — especially if you pulled away so abruptly.” She says with a slight tease in her tone before turning solemn, “I just wish I hadn’t interrupted you two. You didn’t even give him a chance to talk. You were out there so quickly.”

“I panicked.” You admitted, “I was just so convinced that you two were secretly dating and with all the kissing and you catching us while crying… my mind just came up with the entire scenario and stuck with it.”

“So you’ll talk to him about it?”

“Eventually. I just need time and space to… recollect my thoughts about everything.”

Jangmi stares at you, blinking repeatedly as if you sprouted a new head.

“What?”

“Nothing… It’s just… He said the same thing.” She shrugs, “I wanted to run after you but he stopped me because he knew you needed time to think about it.”

For a few minutes, you both sat in silence; processing everything you’ve talked about. Not wanting to end the conversation with a somber mood, you asked if she had skipped classes to wait for her and she tells you that she did after finding out from other students they saw you leaving with Taeyong. 

She receives a text and she shows it to you.

“She hasn’t replied. I told you. I’ll have to wait until she’s ready to talk about it.”

“You should really tell him how you feel.” She quietly comments, closing her phone.

It’s not like you had a choice at this point. You initiated the kiss; you can’t pass that off as a ”caught in the moment” type of thing and still claim to having platonic feelings for him. “I’m just scared of the consequences. What if he rejects me like Taeyong?”

“I confessed to Taeyong because I had nothing to lose. You and Jaehyun have years of friendship between the two of you; you can’t just lose all of that for a confession. He’ll always love you — and I know because he told me himself. He’d always try to choose you over anything.”

At the little phrase he keeps telling you, you knew she wasn’t saying things to cheer you up. “He told you that?”

“He makes me wish I had a best friend like him.”

Next door, you hear Jay barking and you’re sure that Jaehyun was home now. A quick glance at the wall clock tells you that you and Jangmi had been conversing for an hour.

“I should probably go.” Jangmi starts, picking up her bag and putting it on. You stand up with her and she holds your hand, “Thanks for listening to me. I came here to explain myself, but I think I ended up overstaying.”

“No!” You dismissed, holding her other hand, “I’m glad you came over. You answered a lot of questions I don’t even know how to ask in the first… I’m sorry about the whole Taeyong misunderstanding.���

“And I’m sorry about the Jaehyun misunderstanding.”

You pull her into a hug, which she graciously accepts. As you pull away, you hum, “Uhm… in case that Jaehyun gets… impatient with me, can you distract him? Especially if I’m still not ready.”

“Of course.” She coyly smiles at you and playfully winks, “But if I personally think that it’s been way too long for you to quote-unquote think about things, then I won’t stand in his way.”

the fourteenth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #5: Give them flowers

<< the fourth attempt

wc: 1.1k

It was a slow Saturday. The kind of day that dragged on for too long. Your mom was sent abroad for an out-of-the-country business trip, leaving you alone for the next week. You didn’t mind of course, you were used to it. Usually, you’d bum around in Jaehyun’s room but you’ve been avoiding him, almost out of habit, because you’re convinced he’s going to tell you that he and Jangmi were dating. He wasn’t home right now. He was working at one of his part time jobs to pay off his dad for the camera he got you.

You moved to your desk and opened the drawer that kept the camera safe. You didn’t want to stay at home, so you decided to pack your camera, a few writing instruments, and your new word vomit journal into a tote bag and left for the park where you and Jaehyun played as kids.

There was an empty picnic bench where you settled in and brought out your camera, fixing the settings while looking around for something to photograph. You fondly watched the children running around at the playground, squealing as they avoided being tagged by each other. You test out how far your camera can zoom, snapping a pic of a little girl hiding behind a little boy as another, probably the ‘it’, approached them. It looked — felt — all too familiar to see the little boy hold onto her hand tightly before they run away with shrill laughter leaving their wide grins. 

You pan the camera elsewhere and take photos of random things: the sky, the trees, even the little grasshopper that made it onto the picnic table. As you get ready to take another photo, a white blob appears through the viewfinder and you pull away to inspect the obstruction. You gasp a little, eyes widening as Jaehyun sheepishly smiles down at you. Your eyes fell onto the lone white flower in his hand. “Hey.”

He gestures for you to take the flower and you reluctantly accept it. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I was bored, so I thought I’d come out here and take photos or journal. Are you done with your part-time?”

Jaehyun sits down beside you, “Yeah. They let me out early because there’s a huge order for a wedding tomorrow and I don’t have any experience or knowledge about floral arrangements to be of any help. Boss gave me that one because it broke off too short to use.”

You stare at the flower he gave you and put it to your nose; it didn’t have a strong scent but you preferred those. “What is it?”

“Gardenia, I think?” 

“It’s pretty.”

“Yeah? I thought you could press it between one of your journals. They said it wilts fairly fast.” Jaehyun watches you take another whiff, humming as you inhale its scent, before taking your journal out and doing what he had suggested. “If I knew you’d like it so much, I could have gotten you a proper bouquet.”

You laugh at him, hoping your cheeks were red from the sun rather than his comment. “You don’t have to give me anything for a long time. The camera has you covered for a few years.”

He lets out a short chuckle of his own before it quickly dies down. After a while, he quietly asks, “Have you been avoiding me again?”

You snap your head towards him, “What? No. Why would you think that?”

Of course, he would notice it. You’re always making bullshit excuses to go home late or early or even meet up with other friends like Taeyong to avoid him.

“It feels like I haven’t been with you for awhile. Where have you been running off to?” He squints at you, “Don’t tell me the drama club managed to get you to do something, too.”

“Oh no, they couldn’t even if they tried.” You giggled, “Uhm, I don’t know. I guess I’ve been hanging out with Taeyong more lately.”

There’s a shift in the air that made it heavy, as opposed to how warm and breezy it was seconds prior. You pull at the neckline of your shirt as if it could help with feeling of suffocation.

“Really? He should start hanging out with everyone else so it wouldn’t be awkward during the trip.” Jaehyun talks in a strained voice; his jaw looking a little tense.

“I told him to! But he’ll be playing a game on his phone and telling me to wait until the lunch period is almost over…” You look forward and pursed your lips, “We also set a date for that… date he bought during Valentine’s.”

You’re too busy fiddling with your camera’s settings that you don’t notice Jaehyun glaring at his hands and clenching them into fists.

“Tomorrow?”

“No, in two weeks. He has plans for tomorrow and next weekend, he’ll be visiting his grandparents in the province.” You explained as you look for a new subject to photograph.

Jaehyun doesn’t respond, making you sneak a peek at him and notice he’s on his phone, rapidly texting away. You hate how your eyes zoomed into the contact name; reading Oh Jangmi immediately and seeing one of her messages after that says ‘Just tell her already!’

You put your camera down and turned it off, stuffing it into your bag. You want to go home. You’re in this open area with all this fresh air, but your chest is tight and you feel like you couldn’t breathe. What is Jangmi telling Jaehyun to tell you? Why does it seem so urgent?

“I’m gonna go home.” You quickly announced and Jaehyun stands up after locking his phone.

“Okay, let’s go.”

You open your mouth to stop him, but what were you going to say? You literally lived right next to each other. Instead of denying him and escaping the discrete tension between the two of you, you merely nodded.

The walk was silent and it wasn’t the usual comfortable silence you were both used to. When you got home, he still waits for you to get inside your apartment. “Do you want to eat dinner with us later?”

“No, I have meat marinating in the fridge I should really cook soon. Maybe some other time.” It wasn’t a lie; your mom prepared it for you before she left.

“Okay.” He sucks his lips in and steps back, “Later.”

“Thanks for the flower.” You blurted out, cringing a bit at how you sounded.

Jaehyun stares into your eyes, impassively. “Do you know what they mean?”

“No… do you?”

He shrugs his shoulders and doesn’t say anything more.

“I’ll search it up later. See you.”

“See you.” He repeats and you close the door.

As you toe off your shoes and walk into the kitchen, you’re completely unaware that Jaehyun still stood outside your door. His expressionless face now sporting a dejected and hopeless look; he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Actually,” He murmurs to himself. His boss was a friendly old lady, she was fond of him like he was her own grandson and liked to teach him what each flower meant so he could help customers choose what to give someone. When a gardenia fell from the bouquet he was helping transfer into the refrigerator, he picked up to discard it until she told him what it symbolized. “It means secret love.”

the sixth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #7: Write them a love letter

<< the sixth attempt

wc: 1.6k

Jaehyun is annoyed with you; you just know it. He’s a lot more curt with his responses; he’s always lost in thought or uninterested. He’s probably taken the hint that you don’t want to him to tell you about him and Jangmi. It hurt that you two were drifting apart, but he would understand if you could be selfish just this once because you cared more about your own feelings than his.

He’d been trying so hard, though, you have to give him props. The flower — the gardenia — he gave you symbolized secret love; he and Jangmi were dating in secret. The love songs on the playlist he said he made for you sounded more like something for her because why else would he pester you about checking the songs out. You’d never thought you’d see the day that Jaehyun would be in love, but you didn’t think it would cause you pain because it wasn’t you he was in love with.

“Taeyong, you’re friends with Jangmi, right?” You spent the rest of your lunch period with the aloof boy, sitting outside on a school bench while he crammed his math homework.

He stops writing to peer up at you through his lashes, “We’re neighbors.”

“That’s not my question.” You whined, “I’m asking if you two are friends; meaning you guys hang out and all that.”

“Not really… not anymore, at least.” He shrugs, continuing to answer the problem he’d been trying to figure out.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Taeyong doesn’t respond immediately, “I guess you can say we sort of had a past?”

“You guys dated?”

He shakes his head, “No.” He pauses, “Back in middle school, there was a guy who liked Jangmi and he was very vocal about it. I don’t know if they ever dated, but he hated me.”

“Why?”

“Because Jangmi liked me.” He shrugs, “Allegedly.”

You coo at him, “Oooooh, and?”

Taeyong puts his pencil down and frowns at the unanswered equation in front of him, “I rejected her.”

This makes you gasp a little too loudly, making it sound like you were scandalized by the information. “Taeyong!”

“I got threatened and bullied every day because of it. When she confessed to me one day, I thought she was lying. Why would she like the loner otaku kid and not the aspiring pro basketball player? I thought it was a scam; that she was playing me. We’ll go on a date and then she’ll dump me in front of everyone.”

You chew on your bottom lip, “T-that doesn’t sound like Jangmi at all.”

Taeyong sighs, bringing his hands to his face and hiding in them. “I know. She’s a fucking angel. She’s friends with everyone, she’s funny and smart, she’s beautiful—”

“It sounds like you liked her, too.”

He makes an indignant noise, looking away from you to hide the blush on his cheeks, “Well, it doesn’t matter because I hurt her and now every time I look into her eyes, all I see is sadness because I assumed the worst from her. Don’t you ever notice how she just stops smiling or laughing when I’m around? She won’t even look me in the eyes if we ever talked.”

You cross your arms over the table and rest your head down, “Have you tried apologizing to her?”

“I’m too ashamed to even be in the same room as her.”

“But you still like her?”

Taeyong snaps his head back towards you, “I don’t want to. I don’t deserve a second chance from her.”

“What if she still likes you?”

“And what if I want to like you instead?”

You sit up straight and stare at him, “What?”

He groans, “I don’t want to like her anymore, but then I’d feel bad for using you as a rebound…”

You don’t know what to say to him. He seemed like he was pretty much in the same position as you. In love with someone you don’t deserve. “I guess, but… she’s with Jaehyun.”

“You think they’re together? Has he told you?” Taeyong looked unimpressed when you shake your head, “You can’t assume things like that — you’ll end up like me; regretful of not doing things because I jumped to conclusions.”

“But it’s obvious!” You defended yourself, “They’ve been hanging out more and talking a lot.”

“I just told you that Jangmi is friends with everyone. Listen, until they confirm it themselves, you can’t beat yourself up and say Jaehyun’s in love with her or that they’re dating — although I don’t blame him.” You pout at his last words and he laughs, “I’m sorry. But okay, how about this… they’re not dating, I’ll apologize to Jangmi and tell her how I really feel about her. Deal?”

“I really regret telling you about Jaehyun, you know.” You glare at him. When you started hanging out with him and he asked the reason behind it, you just word vomited all over him like what you do with you journals. Nonetheless, you’re grateful that he was patient with you, listening to you rant nonstop. Sighing in defeat, you shrug your shoulders. “Deal.”

You had class with Jaehyun after lunch. He already saved you a seat at the back, waving at you and removing his bag from the table. You still sat beside him and as you fixed your things for that class, you see him lean over in your peripheral vision.

“Where were you?”

You glance at him, “Uhm, Taeyong. Why?”

He blinks at you for a few seconds, “I, uh, wanted to see your notes. I think I missed some last time. Can I copy yours?”

You take the composition notebook that matched his own and handed it to him, “How could you miss taking notes? You’re always focused in class.”

“Uh— daydreaming…?”

“About what?”

Jaehyun’s eyes widened ever so slightly and there was the unmistakable rosy hue blossoming on both his cheeks and ears, “N-nothing.”

You were ready to call out his bluff, but then the teacher comes in and asks for help to bring today’s learning materials into the room.

“[Y/N] would love to help you.” Jaehyun announces and you gawk at him in disbelief for volunteering you.

“Thank you, [Y/N]. Come on now.” Your teacher beckons to you with a small gesture with her hand and you had no choice but to stand and follow her out of the room, but not before scowling at Jaehyun, who cheekily smiles at you.

Once you were gone, he opens up your notebook and starts writing out his confession on the first blank page he could find.

“[Y/N]. Before you get mad at me for writing on your notes, I want to tell you that there is someone I like. It’s you. - J”

He had written the last few words in a hurry because suddenly you were back, setting the stack of reading materials on the teacher’s desk. His penmanship looked like chicken scratch; he hopes you could still decipher it, but if you can’t, then he’ll just have to read it out to you.

He closes the notebook and hands it back to you before you sat down, “Thanks.”

“No prob.” You were about to open your notebook and Jaehyun held his breath, until the girl that sat beside you asked to see your notes, too. You don’t even open the notebook and handed it to her, sitting down and grabbing your tumbler to drink out of it.

Jaehyun watches in horror as your classmate, Yoojung, opens the notebook up exactly where he wrote his confession and starts blushing when she lets out an exaggerated gasp.

“Wa! [Y/N]-ah!! There’s a confession in here!”

Of course, everyone hears this and starts teasing you.

You were confused, trying to get your notebook back to see.

“Who’s T, huh, [Y/N]?” Yoojung asks in a singsong voice.

“T?!” You look back at Jaehyun after he exclaims alongside you. He looks just as perplexed as you.

“[Y/N]. Before you get mad at me for writing on your notes,” Yoojung stands up and everyone is turned to her, listening intently, “I want to tell you that there is someone I like. It’s you.”

The entire class playfully goads you, laughing at how red you were.

“It’s signed ‘T’! Who is it?” Yoojung nudges your shoulder, before letting another gasp, “Is it Taeyong?!”

“We’re just friends!”

“Everyone starts out as friends!” A guy from the back shouts and everyone chimes in with their agreement.

The teacher returns, settling the class down. You snatch your notebook back from Yoojung and read the little note left on the page and you frown, it must be a joke. He just told you he liked Jangmi and even if he did start liking you, he said he would feel bad about it for using you as a rebound.

You tear the page out and fold it a couple of times before sliding it into your pocket. You’ll have to ask him later about it.

Before you tore the page out, Jaehyun sees that he did, in fact, sign it as ‘T’ instead of ‘J’ — the bent tail of his initial was barely there. As their teacher starts off the class, he couldn’t help but lightly smack his forehead with a closed fist at his blunder.

What’s even worse, he inadvertently started a rumor that would spread like wildfire once class is done and probably heightened Taeyong’s chances with you.

the eighth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #8: Go on vacation with them

<< the seventh attempt

wc: 1.1k

“Jaehyun, your aunt just called.” Jaehyun’s mom approaches him while he’s squatting on the floor, scooping out Jay’s kibble from its container into his little food bowl for dinner. “She had a room reserved in a resort in Busan for a little vacation for her and your cousins, but there’s a business emergency she has to attend to, so she’s offering it to us. Would you like to go?”

“For the weekend?” Jaehyun contemplates on it, “I guess it’ll be fun. I can leave Jay with [Y/N].”

“Actually, I wanted to invite her along. The resort allows pets, too, I think he’d like a little more space to run around, so make sure you pack his leash and harness.” She leans down and pats the pup as he continues to chow down. “Go invite [Y/N] when you’re done and bring the cookies I made, I’m sure she’ll want something sweet to eat after dinner.”

He reluctantly agrees, waiting for his mom to leave before inwardly groaning. Ever since his love note backfired, it had been a lot more awkward between the two of you. After school, you told him to go ahead and he guessed you were going to confront Taeyong, not giving him a chance to explain that it was actually from him. Days later, you stopped talking about it and just outright refused to even acknowledge it. The rumor spread, but as soon as it started, Taeyong shut it down and it was forgotten just like that.

Come Saturday noon, and after a 5 hour drive from Seoul, you sat with the Jung’s for brunch before heading up to the room.

The meal was filled with random stories from when you and Jaehyun were younger, or stories from when they took trips in America, they even shared their love story and it warms your heart.

“I hope you two will find someone you’ll love for the rest of your lives.” His dad comments and for some reason, the two of you share a peek at each other. “Maybe not now or soon; but eventually. Heck, I’m pretty sure you two are soulmates.”

You feel your face heat up at his statement, letting out an awkward laugh as you continue to scoff down the waffles you ordered.

“Is there a difference between the love of your life and your soulmate?” Jaehyun quietly asks while chewing his food.

“One is a choice and the other is not.” His dad winks at him. “You two have been together since you were born. Soulmates don’t have to be in a romantic sense; they’re two people who completely understand each other and have this natural affinity with one another. You two are lucky you’ve found each other so early in life — some people don’t even get the chance to meet theirs.”

After brunch, you head up to the room and settled in. His parents’ get the master suite while you and Jaehyun shared a room that had two twin beds. You’re trying not to get nervous; you might have gone on trips before, but you still had your own room. And although, back then the two of you ended up sharing a bed, you don’t think you can handle doing that again now.

You were getting your beach clothes ready when Jaehyun clears his throat and calls your name.

“Do you agree with what dad said a while ago at lunch?”

You purse your lips, “I guess it’s the only explanation why we’re…. Like this.”

A lopsided grin brings the dimple out of his cheek, “Like this?”

“This,” You gestured to the space between your figures, “We’re… comfortable with each other. We know and understand each other more than others do — even ourselves.”

“What if we’re not soulmates?”

You cock your head to the side and frown at him, “Then… we’re not.”

The mood in the room shifts and you internally panic because you know what you said had upset him. 

“But,” You quickly say and he glances back at you, “We’re still best friends. That’s not gonna change. If we’re not soulmates, it’s fine with me. I like whatever this is, anyways.”

Jaehyun finally smiles, “I guess you’re right.”

Your heart hurts for some reason. You’ve spent weeks trying to forget your feelings for Jaehyun, but moments like these — where you’re stripping off the layers of your relationship to see it bare and naked — just kept bringing them back. Being reminded of how your relationship has started and built up through the years just convinces you even more to protect your friendship — even if it meant sacrificing your romantic feelings for him.

To lighten the mood, you exaggerated a sigh, “Are we done being sappy? You know what happens when someone makes the mood sappy, right?”

His face falls, “No, let’s not—”

You jump over your bed as fast as you could and tackle him against the mattress before he could escape, your fingers are pinching his cheeks and you’re cooing him like he was a baby. “Someone needs to be reminded that I love him~”

“[Y/N], get off! Please stop!” His laughter chops his pleas up, hands going around your wrists but do nothing to actually pry them off his face.

Neither of you have heard each other laugh this hard and loud the past couple of weeks, and it was more than nice to have them blending into each other and bouncing off the walls.

Jaehyun could have confessed then and there. It seemed like a perfect time to do so; even Jangmi told him to because there’s no way anyone could interrupt them. But he hasn’t seen you smile like that because of him in what feels like forever so he decided against it. He wants to spend this time with you as your best friend; that’s what you wanted and he’s okay with that. 

You finally pull yourself away from Jaehyun, plopping your bottom down on your bed and watched him catch his breath as he sat up. You really hate yourself for doing that.

Because fuck.

You’re still in love with him.

the ninth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #6: Make them a playlist

<< the fifth attempt

wc: 957

Jaehyun misses another shot and he loudly groans in frustration.

Jangmi worriedly watches on the side of the public basketball court while her brother, Jaemin, looks back at her. “What’s with him?”

She frowns at him and shrugs, “Girl problems.”

At another missed shot, Jaehyun almost growled and Jangmi sees her brother step back away from him. “Hey, how about you go buy us some snacks.”

Jaemin agrees, waiting for her to give him money before fleeing the scene. Once he’s gone, Jangmi sighs and approaches Jaehyun.

“Stop scaring my brother.” She scolds, “He wanted to practice with you, not be the butt end of your frustration.”

Jaehyun huffs, breathing heavily before passing her the ball. “I’m sorry. I’m just… mad.”

“At [Y/N]?”

“No! Well, I don’t want to be mad at her… I think I’m mostly annoyed at her and Taeyong.”

Jangmi freezes, holding the ball against her torso and wrapping her arms around it. She looks down at the ground and hums, “Oh.”

He notices her reaction and crosses his arm, “You and Taeyong are friends, right?”

“I guess…” She grumbles, “More or less.”

“What do you mean? I thought you lived across each other and went to the same middle school?”

Jangmi nods to confirm his question, a frown still splayed on her lips and eyes still avoiding his. “But we’re not like you and [Y/N]. We were just neighbors. We were both too shy to play with each other when we were younger and he was so introverted back in middle school...”

Jaehyun catches the faintest tinge of red on her cheeks, “Jangmi… do you like Taeyong?”

She bursts into laughter, “Ha! Taeyong? N-No, I don’t…”

When their eyes meet, he could tell she was lying and gave her a knowing simper but she shakes her head.

“I don’t want to like him… not anymore.”

Her voice was soft and sad, bringing her attention to the ball in her arms that she suddenly passes back to Jaehyun, catching him off guard. It was her turn to puff in annoyance, the brows she carefully filled in this morning were meeting in the middle of her forehead. Dejectedly, she tells him, “If [Y/N] is your first love, then Taeyong is mine.”

“Does he know?”

She casts her gaze down and nods, “Back in middle school, I told him that I liked him and he rejected me. I was devastated, but I pretended to be okay and we settled on being friends.” 

Jaehyun felt uneasy all of a sudden; what if you rejected him? Sure, you were in love with him, too, but there’s always that chance that you’ll be determined to not act on your feelings. “Do you still like him?”

“I do… but obviously, he likes someone else.” She stares at him, “Listen, I’m not helping you confess to [Y/N] just because I want Taeyong for myself. I genuinely want both of you to end up together.”

“What if she’s already falling for Taeyong?”

“I don’t blame her.” Jangmi sighs, clearing her throat after he scowls at her. “I mean, that’s why you have to confess!”

Jaehyun throws his hands up in the air, “You don’t think I’m trying?”

“I think you’re overthinking ways on how you should confess. Do something a bit simpler, like… what’s something you two always do together?”

“Cook? Eat? Listen to music—”

Jangmi claps her hands, “There! Make her a mixtape—a playlist! Spell out your confession using songs. It’ll be cute.”

Jaehyun has never spent hours on making a playlist—even for himself. He tried to make sure the songs made sense with his confessions, but he ended up just spelling out what he wants to tell you. It takes him another hour trying to will himself to send it to you.

Jay barks up at him and he scoops the pup up so he could join him on the bed, “Perfect timing, bud.”

He types, “Hey, I have a new playlist.”

He doesn’t wait for you to respond and sends the link.

“You over anything?” You responded, and it honestly made him cringe when he used that as the playlist title.

“It’s for you.” His heart was beating so wildly in his chest.

[Y/N]: “Oh my god.” 

[Y/N]: “Why.”

[Y/N]: “What did you do???”

[Y/N]: “What do you want????”

[Jae]: What? Nothing!!

[Jae]: I’m not allowed to make my best friend a playlist?

[Y/N]: curiouser and curiouser

[Y/N]: lmao i’ll listen to it while i journal.

[Jae]: Wait!!

[Jae]: Look at the songs carefully

[Jae]: [Y/N]???

Jaehyun scoots closer to the wall and presses his ear against it; he can hear you playing the music already on your speakers. You’re probably invested in jotting down on your journal already to realize he’s sent you more texts. He hopes you’ll read the playlist’s songs and maybe tomorrow he can properly confess.

But when the next day came and he asked you about it, you said that it sounded like a weird mix of songs — that it wasn’t his usual songs but you liked some of the songs. He’s so confused, a little confounded that you didn’t get the real message. 

“Wait, I liked this song the most.” You show him your phone and then he realizes you had the playlist ordered alphabetically, jumbling up the message he curated. You put your earphones on and walk ahead of him, leaving him to watch you in almost comical despair.

He quickly recovers though, when you turned around and asked why he wasn’t moving. It only takes a few strides for him to catch up and the two of you walked to school with a newfound awkwardness stirring in the air.

the seventh attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #4: Do something unexpected

<<the third attempt

wc: 1,844

Jaehyun had been going home late even though he didn’t have training and was even missing during lunch. It wasn’t too suspicious because even the rest of the basketball team were gone too. You sat with Miyoung, Jangmi, Sora, Yebin, Minkyung, Sicheng, Jungwoo, Seokmin, and Joohyun during lunch in the cafeteria, filling in the silence with small talk about the upcoming Jeju trip.

“Let’s be roommates! Max capacity per room is 8.” Joohyun begged the girls, “I can guarantee we’ll have the best room.”

“Are we allowed to bring soju?” Yebin casually asks, making Minkyung kick her under the table.

“In front of our VP? Really, Yeb?” 

“Of course we’re not allowed to. It’s a school function and we’re underaged.” Joohyun giggles, leaning forward to whisper, “But that’s not gonna stop us, right?”

Yebin claps her hands, “You see, I knew there was a reason why I voted for you.”

Jungwoo glances at Sicheng and Seokmin with a pout, “What about us?”

“Aw!” Minkyung slings an arm around him, “You know we’d let you stay with us in a heartbeat if it was allowed, Woo.”

“With Jaehyun and Mingyu, you guys can have 3 more friends with you.” You suggested, catching sight of Taeyong across the cafeteria, “Ask Taeyong, maybe he doesn’t have roommates yet.”

“We’re not close with him, though.” Seokmin mopes, “Jangmi, you’re friends with him, right? Can you ask him for us?”

Jangmi flinches, a slice of cucumber slips out of the sandwich she was going to bite out of. “Uh, yeah, sure. I can ask now…”

She glances back to where Taeyong was, now with bread and strawberry milk in his hands. He looked like he would be passing by their table, but Jangmi still stands up with obvious hesitation and approaches him.

“Oh…” Seokmin says, “Are they not friends? They talked a lot during your party and went home together afterwards.”

You nod to confirm, “They live across each other.” 

They all try to watch as inconspicuous as possible when Jangmi stops short in front of Taeyong and he looks at her, a little surprised. He moves his gaze towards them, probably because she explained the situation, and everyone diverts their attention except Jungwoo, who sits up straighter than he already does and waved excitedly at him. Taeyong laughs for a bit but frowns down at Jangmi.

“That doesn’t look good.” Jungwoo puts his hand down.

You look back over to them after hearing Jungwoo and Taeyong glances at her, Jangmi looking back as well, before shrugging his shoulders and saying something to Jangmi. He walks away after, leaving Jangmi to stand there for a moment before she returns to them.

“He says ‘okay.’” She clears her throat, picking up her sandwich to continue eating.

“Yay!” Jungwoo cheers, “It looked like he didn’t want to for a second there.”

She takes a bite and nods, “He was actually not planning to go.”

Joohyun gasps, putting a hand on her chest, “This is our senior year retreat!”

“That’s what I told him and I eventually convinced him to go.” Jangmi catches your eyes, sending a small, almost melancholic smile over to you. “He’s a little reluctant, though. He thinks he’ll be too awkward since he’s not that close to any of you.”

“I’ll take care of him!” Jungwoo volunteers, “Any friend of my friend is my friend, too!”

They collectively laugh at his optimism, but no one disagrees with him. Jungwoo is a social butterfly and loves making new friends.

“So you guys are six in the room—” You noted, “Hey, where’s your brother, by the way?”

Minkyung smirks, “Are you really asking where Mingyu is? Or you’re curious about Jaehyun’s whereabouts?”

You roll your eyes, “Do you know where they are or not?”

“They got roped into promoting the drama club’s annual show. It’s an adaptation of High School Musical. It’s supposed to be top secret, but Mingyu talks too much — even at home.”

“They’re going to promote the show?” You repeat, “You mean, like, as the basketball team? Dancing and whatnot? As if Jaehyun would agree to that.”

“He agreed to singing during the Valentine’s Day event.” Miyoung points out, “Oh, but I guess it’s because you were with him, huh?”

You blush, vehemently shaking your head, “What do you mean? He dragged me into that!”

Joohyun reaches over and holds your hand, “And you did amazing.”

Your mind flies back to when you stood on stage with Jaehyun for the longest 4 minutes of your life. Remembering how he looked at you made your stomach do flips and before you feel your cheeks heat up, you stand up and grab your empty tumbler. “Never again.”

“No way, we’ll be asking for an encore during the trip!” Joohyun calls out and you glare back with an expression of disgust.

You walk over to the cafeteria’s water dispenser on the opposite side of where your table was, waiting for your turn while a few people in front of you filled their glasses. Murmurs erupted behind you and you look over to see the basketball team in their uniforms, each holding a basketball and trying to look as casual as possible. You immediately spot Jaehyun, head casted downwards and avoiding eye contact with anyone as he walks to your direction with Mingyu tailing behind you.

He looks up and freezes when he sees you, “Why are you here? Our table is at the other side!”

You hold back your laughter, “I’m getting water. So you guys really got roped into this, huh?”

“Can you go back there now?”

“No! I’m thirsty. Is this where you’re positioned?”

Mingyu scowls at you, “We asked to be put here to avoid you, my sister, and the rest.”

“Oh, then I’m definitely staying here to watch.” You teased, laughing at their blushing faces. “Jaehyun, your ears are going to start bleeding at this rate.”

His hand covers one of his ears, feeling the warmth of the area. “[Y/N], please.”

Before you could even respond, there was a long whistle from somewhere and the look of dread comes over Jaehyun and Mingyu before they step back from you and (presumably) to their blocking. You cross your arms and bite down on your lip to stop yourself from laughing when Jaehyun spares you another pleading look.

Music starts playing from the PA system and the basketball team starts to dribble their respective ball in sync with the beat of the song. As the lyrics of ‘Get’cha Head in the Game’ begin, your face falls into a look of awe when Jaehyun’s nervous expression morphs into one of complete concentration.

It’s something you really love about him — you inwardly reel back — something you *admire about him. You hate how they were wearing the sleeveless uniforms, exposing their toned arms as they handled the ball; veins bulging out as they flex.

You breathed in deeply, turning around to fill your tumbler with to distract yourself and get a grip on your bearings. As everyone cheers them on, you silently watch after taking a sip of your drink. You can’t help but think how talented Jaehyun was. Not only is he good at singing, but he can definitely dance, too. He could easily land a job as an idol; which makes you firmly believe that you’re not good enough to be with him romantically.

The performance ends and everyone erupts into applause. Someone from the drama club stands up on a table and announces their show, thanking the involvement of the basketball team for the little preview.

Jaehyun is panting heavily and sweating profusely when you approached him, offering your tumbler to him.

“I’ve known you my whole life, but I’ve never seen you dance like that.” You lightheartedly poke fun of him, “You can be an idol.”

He breathlessly chuckles at you, shaking his head after taking a big gulp of water. “No, thanks.”

“He can’t date if he becomes a trainee.” Mingyu butts in, nudging his shoulder against Jaehyun’s and winking at him before moving away to avoid Jaehyun’s retaliation. All the while your eyes land on Jangmi as she looks over. 

Jaehyun refills your tumbler for you, “What did you think? We learned that in a week.”

“Well, you’ve been going home late and skipping out on lunch so I think it paid off. I wasn’t joking about you being an idol.”

“And I really don’t want to be one.” He hands you your tumbler.

“Because you can’t date?”

He snorts, “Among other things. They’re too strict.”

You’re about to take another swig from your water when you realized Jaehyun had drank out of it. You two had never really cared; used to sharing drinks and food. Now that you’re thinking about how many times you’ve indirectly kissed, the times he’s kissed your head, and even the times you’ve teasingly kissed his cheeks; you’re left to wonder if you’ll ever get to know how his lips feel against yours. “If auntie allowed you to date… would you have been dating someone already?”

Jaehyun stares at you, expressionless for a brief moment before a slow smile makes its way to his face. “Hopefully.”

“Hopefully? You could date anyone you want, Jae.”

“Anyone?” He repeats. “What if I wanted to date y—” 

The first bell signaling that lunch period is about to end in 15 minutes rings jolts both of you. He looked a little annoyed, huffing to himself. “I have to change my clothes.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later, then.”

He forces a smile and nods, kicking the floor beneath him before turning around dejectedly and walking away.

Something felt off and you don’t know why or what it is exactly, but something is getting on Jaehyun’s nerves lately. You watch him pass by the table where Jangmi calls out to him, but he shakes his head and they both frown. Jealousy bubbles in the pit of your stomach at the thought in the back of your head: they’re already dating. Although you knew Jaehyun would have told you already, maybe he thinks you’d snitch on him so he put it off first. Maybe he’s been trying to tell you for the past few weeks, but he keeps getting interrupted. 

Your chest felt heavy; thinking about it now, you don’t think you can handle it at all. As you walk back to the table to clean up your mess, you peek at Jangmi, who offers you a smile. You do your best to return it. 

She excuses herself first, picking up her tray and tells them she’ll see them around. When she leaves after segregating her trash and discarding the tray on the counter, you can’t help but imagine she’s going to meet up with Jaehyun first before going to class. Heck, you think Jaehyun is going to walk her to class after he changes back to his clothes. The idea hurts you and it just gives you enough determination to avoid Jaehyun telling you about it if that were the case.

the fifth attempt >>

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Attempt #2: Spontaneous grab

wc: 938

<< the first attempt

It had been a few days after the party and thankfully, after the whole failed attempt at trying to confess, it wasn’t awkward at all between the two of you. You still walked to school and went home together, ate lunch with your friends, and spent free period in each other’s company.

Jaehyun had basketball practice today and after your last period, you spent a few hours in the library before heading to the gym when they were just about to be done with training. You were a little surprised when Jaehyun was already seated on the benches, drying his hair off with a towel while the rest of his teammates were still on the court.

“Jaehyun? Is practice done?” You walk up behind him and he looks back at you, sheepishly.

He stands up and grabs the strap of his bag, “Well, only for me. I hurt my ankle.”

“What? Are you okay? What happened?” You hold out your hands at him just in case he needed support, but he waves you off.

“I just landed wrong when I took a shot. It’s not sprained or anything serious, I’ll be good tomorrow. Don’t worry.”

You frown at him, “Are you sure? Do you need help with walking?”

“Not at all, but I think it would be better if we walk a little bit slower today.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go?”

Because of his little injury, the two of you decided to catch the bus and slowly made your way to the waiting shed. It’s quieter than usual between you and Jaehyun, but it’s not entirely uncomfortable.

“Is it annoying you that we’re walking so slow?” Jaehyun sympathizes, “We’re usually racing through the streets by now.”

“Not at all! It’s nice to take a leisure stroll once in awhile. I mean, it’s a Friday and we don’t really have homework to do.”

You’re walking side by side, but a little closer than usual just in case he needed help. You already noticed him limping a bit. You would offer him to help him but the shed was just a crosswalk away and you just know he’ll turn you down because ‘it’s just there.’

“[Y/N], I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”

“Hm?” You look up at him and you notice him how nervous he looked. You’ve seen that look before; plenty of times. Usually during his games where he’s about to make a free throw and he absolutely needs to make it.

You stop at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green for pedestrians. He’s chewing at his bottom lip and the prolonged silence is making you anxious at whatever he was about to tell you. In your peripheral vision, the pedestrian light turns green and you proceed to take a step forward to start crossing.

“I really li-” Jaehyun opens his mouth and glancing at you, but in a split second, he pulls you towards him and you hear a car screeching. Your nose is filled with the scent of his body wash and the light spritz of his deodorant; it’s making you dizzy along with the sudden movements and the proximity between your bodies. His hand is still on your back as he worriedly asks how you are.

You gasp, clutching onto his arms as fear and realization hits you at the same time.

“Fuck, what an asshole.” Jaehyun spits out, glaring at the direction of where the car went. He looks back at you, “Are you okay?”

“I am.” You gulped, “Thanks…”

He must have noticed you were blushing from how the two of you were holding each other because he was turning red, too, but hasn’t made an effort to move. Instead, he clears his throat and breathes deeply. “I-I was saying…”

“Hey!” An older man’s voice calls out and you pull away from each other, “Are you two okay? Were you able to catch the car’s license?”

Jaehyun shakes his head, “N-no, I wasn’t.”

While what appears to be a security guard tells him how he saw the whole thing, you try to get a hold of your bearings. You wanted to slap yourself; your mind was just screaming to pull him in for a kiss because he literally just saved your ass from being a hit-and-run victim. There are better ways to thank him for saving your life.

The guard helps Jaehyun with his duffel bag when he learns that Jaehyun had a minor injury, carrying the bag over to the shed where the bus arrives a few seconds later. You both thank him and wave him off before boarding the bus.

Seated, Jaehyun offers you a weary smile but you respond with tears springing to your eyes. You wrap your arms around his and bury your face on his shoulder, “Thank you.”

He squeezed your knee and tells you it was okay, patting your hair afterwards. “Karma will do its’ job.”

You stay in your position, trying to regulate your breathing as inconspicuous as you can to not draw attention to you.

Jaehyun could only offer his arm for your cling onto and pat your knee every now and then. It was obvious how shaken up you were that he knew he just lost another chance to confess. Had his condition be better, he would try to run after the car - even just to catch a glimpse of their license plate. He had never felt such pure fear and anger course through one after the other after witnessing what had happened. He’s just thankful that your unscathed - physically, at least. But now it doesn’t feel right to confess anytime soon

a/n: this isn’t like a comeback, updates will still be very slow. each chapter will be extremely short (compared to previous ones), too, for the time being. let me know what you guys think (and expect)

>>the third attempt

[maknaesdancersrappers]

14 Ways to Say You Love Them Too

— sequel to 14 Ways to Know You’re in Love

🎶 series playlist 🎶

navigation

prologue

Tell it to them straight

Spontaneous grab

Walk down memory lane

Do something unexpected (back up link)

Give them flowers

Make them a playlist

Write them a love letter

Go on vacation with them

Cook something for them

Surprise them with gifts [M]

Movie marathon [M]

Recreate a movie scene

Give them space

Tell it to them straight pt. 2

epilogue

[maknaesdancersrappers]

Prologue

<< 14 Ways to Know You’re in Love

wc: 790

“Can you stop freaking out for one second?” Mingyu snides, huffing from blowing a balloon up.

Jaehyun had been pacing back and forth in your living room, licking his lips while fiddling with his fingers. He had planned a surprise birthday party for you while your mom distracted you by taking you out to go shopping. It’s been two days since he found out about your journal and how you felt about him; he spent a day thinking about it and the next trying to figure out what to do with the information.

While everyone - the twins, Jungwoo, Yebin, Sicheng, Seokmin, and even Jangmi - helped set up for the surprise party, he decided to tell them about discovering your feelings towards him. He was annoyed (and a little embarrassed) at their response; how everyone knew already and how it was obvious he felt the same.

“Everyone knows, Jung,” Yebin rolls her eyes, “Jangmi knows and she’s a new student.”

Jangmi shrugs, offering a sympathetic smile. “I told you, too, but you still denied up until you read it off her journal.”

Minkyung gasps, “Jaehyun! You went through her journal?!”

“I-” He tries to say it was out in the open, but that wasn’t the case. He literally took it out from your drawer; from beneath stacks of your other journals, “Anyways, I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s absolutely gold to hear that from you.” Yebin snorts, “Mr. Perfect, Mr. Valentine’s, the town’s heartthrob: clueless on how to confess.”

Jaehyun scowls at her, crossing his arms, “I’ve never confessed before and my entire relationship with [Y/N] is on the line here.”

Seokmin chuckles, “You’re overreacting.”

“She’s trying to move on and here I am, trying to stop her by telling her I feel the same.” He groans, “Are you guys going to help me or not?”

They all share an empathetic glance with one another as their friend continues to stress out about you. Eventually, Jangmi is silently chosen through pointed stares and shrugging to break the silence, “Okay, Jaehyun, so you want to confess; then confess! You already know she feels the same way.”

“So, I just tell it to her straight?”

Minkyung accidentally pops a balloon she was trying to blow up and Mingyu sneers at her, inevitably starting a little bickering between them. Jungwoo and Sicheng tries to calm both of them down, but Yebin and Seokmin are fueling the feud by playfully taking sides. At this point, Jaehyun couldn’t care less if they start war as long as they behave themselves when you arrive.

“Do you want to make things hard for you than it already is like some grand gesture? Seriously, Jaehyun, just tell it to her while she still probably has feelings for you.”

An hour goes by and everything is all set up by the time your mom sends Jaehyun a text that they’re about to head up the apartment so he has everyone get ready and shut the lights. He’s near the door, holding up a cake he asked his mom to help him bake after Mingyu lights up the candles on it for him. He could hear the footsteps as soon as everyone hushes down; he hears your mom fumble with her keys and quiet talking - but he hears the faint voice of someone else… a boy’s?

Before he could guess who it was, the door opens and everyone screams out a greeting, Jaehyun falters by a second when his eyes recognize - not you, not your mom - but… Taeyong?

“Oh my god!” You exclaimed, hands flying to cup your mouth, “What?”

Jaehyun regains his composure and holds out the cake in his hands, “Happy birthday!”

You’re laughing at how Yebin chants for you to make a wish and blow the candle while Seokmin and Jungwoo sing you a birthday song offkey, but you calm yourself down when you look up at Jaehyun, the candles flickering in his eyes as he patiently waits for you.

“Did you plan this?” You quietly ask while everyone finally harmonized to sing you a proper birthday song.

“Well, it’s a team effort.” He whispers.

“Thank you.” You wait for everyone to finish singing with Jaehyun joining them for the last line. He’s grinning at you like a kid, dimples on full display as you make a wish in your head. Before you blow the candle, you peek up at him and he meets your gaze. There was no denying at that brief moment your eyes connect that both of you were in love with each other; with pupils dilated and small smiles on your faces.

If only you knew he felt the same, maybe you wouldn’t have wished for you to move on from him.

the first attempt >>