haechan stepped away from renjun, an amused smirk on his face as he eyed the very angry dirty blonde across from him. she grimaced as his playful eyes trailed over her body and wished her professional white button had a higher collar.

"we were just waiting here for your cousin—not my idea, by the way—when this little, angry elf attacked me in broad daylight!"

hyeri wouldn't put it past renjun to, indeed, start shit in public, but this was lee haechan. she could excuse her best friend.

crossing her arms over her chest, hyeri raised a brow at the boy across from her. "i'm sure he had his reasons," she paused and glanced sidelong at the red-eared male standing awkwardly behind haechan. "hello, jeno."

"hi, hyeri."

haein, out of breath, finally caught up to her cousin, rapid scolds flying from her mouth. "—abandoning me in the middle of the empty parking lot in heels, of all—! oh, hi jeno!"

hyeri turned her head back to face haein with wide eyes. her expression morphed into one of pure shock when she saw how blushy and bashful her cousin looked.

oh no. oh no, no, no!

earlier that day, haein had confessed that she started seeing someone, but refused to give a name. hyeri assumed that it was a woman and her cousin was still a bit shy to come out to her, but she hadn't expected this.

whipping her head toward the trio of men, hyeri noticed how red and shy jeno looked and nearly felt white-hot steam shoot from her ears. we were just waiting here for your cousin. she was going to puke.

when haechan saw her expression, he immediately burst into laughter. "oh, shit! you didn't know!"

"haein?" hyeri asked in a suspiciously sweet voice. "a word?"

there wasn't much privacy in the parking lot, so the girls walked to haein's car a few spots away. haein's cheeks were flushed, and she couldn't meet hyeri's eyes as her shoulders rose to her ears. "i was going to tell you..."

hyeri was so angry she could hardly think straight. with hindsight, she shouldn't have taken it out on haein when it wasn't her cousin she was upset with, but she couldn't help it at the moment.

"him? you remember what he did to me, right? what his best friend did?!" a groan of frustration slipped through her teeth as she desperately rubbed her forehead to release some of the growing ache.

haein grabbed her own forearm to steady herself and stepped away from her cousin. "i get that you're upset, especially considering... but none of that was jeno's fault! if you took the time to hear him out—"

"hear him out?! i was there, haein. i know what happened." stopping herself from saying anything more, or worse, hyeri grabbed her keys from her purse and marched over to the trio still huddled around her car.

her glare was enough to unsettle them all. "renjun," she stated, and the man scurried to the passenger's side of her car after sticking his tongue out very passionately at haechan.

once they were in the car, hyeri locked the doors and would have sped off then and there if lee haechan hadn't tapped on her window. curiosity got the better of her, and when she rolled it down, she realized that jeno was no longer beside him, but cupping haein's face gently between his hands.

guilt stung her chest, but that feeling washed away quickly as haechan leaned his face closer to hers, his arms folded over her open window.

"you know, you can't hate him forever."

she rolled her eyes with a heavy scoff. "i don't hate jeno—"

"you know that's not who i'm talking about."

jaemin. the name wasn't said, but it floated violently between them, sucking all the warmth from the air. his words were like a bucket of ice water getting dropped on her head, and hyeri finally met his eyes. "yes, i can."

haechan's mouth pulled into a small smile. "no, you can't."

hyeri shifted the gear into the drive as she spat, "watch me." she didn't give haechan a chance to step away before slamming her foot down on the gas, chuckling when he jumped back and swore at her for nearly crushing his toes.

—

"you know, you could have run him over," renjun said once they were away from campus. hyeri smirked at his devious tone, happy that at least one person seemed to be on her side.

when they approached a red light, she grabbed a tube of light pink gloss from her cupholder and applied a quick layer to her lips, capping it right as the light turned green. "could have, and should have," she added with a shimmering grin.

renjun let out a laugh and pulled his phone out. "are we thinking drive-thru or delivery? cause there's a wendy's not too far from here and i'm hungry."

hyeri grimaced a bit at the thought of more greasy food, having eaten a breakfast of champs (cold leftover pizza), but her growling stomach got the better of her. "directions, please."

they turned the radio on, a sabrina carpenter song playing as renjun instructed hyeri on where to turn. the line was fairly long, so the friends relaxed in their seats and decided to spend their time bitching, exchanging daily drama, and talking about mr. kim's arms.

after ordering and getting their food, the pair pulled into an open parking spot to continue their conversation as they ate.

"okay, so what happened before i got there? cause it seriously looked like haechan was going to hit you," hyeri asked after eating a few fries dipped in her chocolate frosty.

renjun hurriedly swallowed his soda so he could explain. "oh, bitch. i was peacefully waiting for you to hurry with your club meeting when i noticed these two bozos approaching all menacingly? and at first, i was nice!"

he laughed at the skeptical raise of hyeri's brow but continued. "i was! but then haechan was all 'what are you doing here?'—" hyeri laughed at his butchered haechan impression. "—and i was like 'i'm waiting for my goddess, yoon hyeri.' and then he dared utter some disrespectful boyish shit, so as your lovely best friend, i had to shut him up and defend you!"

"my hero!" hyeri played along with a laugh, ignoring the way that 'disrespectful boyish shit' made her palms tingle uncomfortably. 

he went on to say how he threatened to take a golf club to haechan's kneecaps if he spoke about hyeri that way away, and how haechan retaliated by grabbing his collar and poking his chest to threaten him back, which is where hyeri finally joined in.

despite how the interaction irked her, hyeri chuckled. "you would have taken a punch to the face for me? aww," she cooed, and renjun faked a gag. "i like to think jeno would have jumped in and saved the day, but who knows?"

"haein, probably," hyeri mumbled pettily, and renjun cackled in his seat.

"okay, so i know i should be surprised, but i'm not? like, those two have been sending all sorts of signals since sophomore year."

hyeri humphed and sank into her seat as she sadly spooned some of her melting frosty into her mouth. "ugh, i know. part of me hoped they'd never act on it. is that totally a selfish thing to say?"

renjun didn't have to think. "yeah," and hyeri choked on her ice cream. "but! i get where you're coming from. if my cousin was dating redacted's best friend, i'd be pretty pissed, too."

snickering at the way renjun so fluidly said redacted, hyeri bit another fry and sighed. "and what was all that with haechan saying i can't hate him forever? who does he think he is?"

"maybe he still sees himself as some savior to you, or something." renjun shrugged, and it was hyeri's turn to gag.

when they were freshmen, hyeri and haein got invited to a party where someone roofied half the alcohol bottles. it made the city news, and the culprits got arrested a few months later, but hyeri was one of the many students that drank from the tampered bottles.

she'd been flirting with haechan that night (way before she actually knew who he was), and he brought her home after she passed out on him. thankfully, he had enough sense not to do anything perverted with her, but he did ask to hook up the next day as a reward for saving her.

after that, hyeri did her best to avoid lee haechan. she'd seen him change from the person he was at 18, but he simply wasn't her type anymore.

blinking out of her thoughts, hyeri shook her head wildly and ate another fry. "ew, plus disgusting, plus he is gross and smells like weed 24/7."

renjun's head fell against the seat as he laughed at his friend's blatant response. "true!"

the ding of a notification on her phone pulled hyeri out of her laughing fit, and she immediately felt sick upon seeing the message on her phone.

renjun sat up when he noticed her expression. "what is it?"

wordlessly, hyeri showed him her screen, where a notification from outlook sat bright and awkward against her pretty, aesthetic wallpaper.

————————————————————

Na Jaemin, now
Important Discussion Regarding Club Condoms

•
ik it's still early but thoughts so far???