happy birthday, yiyeon <3

as a gift, enjoy this chapter, if ya know what I mean ;>

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Chapter 38

"Are you two playing hide and seek?" Renjun raised a brow at Yiyeon, who sat beside him.

"What do you mean?" Yiyeon asked as she took a sip from her drink.

The guy rolled his eyes, "You guys are really stupid." He said in his mother tongue, which made the girl beside her furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "I could clearly tell that you guys are trying to avoid each other. What's wrong? I thought that you want him back?" He asked.

Yiyeon sighed, "I want to talk to him, really... it's just that... every time I try and approach them, my knees would shiver, and I would always end up going the other way." She said and then faced Renjun. "Oh my gosh, is this still normal?"

"No," Renjun said, his voice void of emotions. "I can't believe that both of you are stupid. Heck, you're even ranked high in terms of academics. Jeno, on the other hand..."

"Let's not talk about it," the two of them said in chorus, which made them laugh.

"Yah, why are you like this towards your best friend?!" Yiyeon laughed.

"And you, why are you like this towards your boyfriend—" Yiyeon quickly covered Renjun's mouth using her palm. "What the hell?"

She placed an index finger in front of her lips. "Ex-boyfriend, Renjun-ah."

The Chinese rolled his eyes and groaned, "Oh my gosh, just make up already!" He said as he laid down on the couch and kicked Yiyeon playfully so that she would get out of the couch. "Get out of here. Don't even think about talking to me if you haven't talked to him." He said and covered his eyes using the throw pillow on the couch.

Yiyeon could only scoff and sit on the other couch.

The rest of Yangyang's visitors were downstairs, having the time of their lives. Especially Jaemin, Mark, and... Donghyuck, was it?

"Hyunjin-ah!" Yiyeon heard Yangyang yell.

"He's finally here," Yiyeon sighed as she texted her brother, informing him that they were both at Yangyang's party. They would probably spend the night at their house and leave early the next day.

She realized that her cup was already empty. Sighing, she stood up and went downstairs, heading towards the fruit punch.

"Since everyone's here, shall we go to the backyard? The pool's ready!" Yangyang screamed in joy, and the boys hurriedly kept the cards they were playing and quickly changed into their swimming outfits.

They headed towards the pool area. The place was indeed prepared for Yangyang's birthday. There was a mini-bar that served non-alcoholic drinks on the other side. They also serve alcoholic drinks for the adults. There were also some barbeque grillers on the side. The pool area somehow looked like a mini-resort. Not that Yiyeon would complain, though.

"Yah, are you just gonna stand there?" Yiyeon looked around to see Shotaro holding his change of clothes. "Are you not gonna join them?"

She shook her head, "I don't want to swim." Yiyeon replied honestly.

The boy nodded and headed outside, "See you around then, Yiyeon!"

***

The sun was down, and Yangyang's guests were all gathered around the pool area. Some firecrackers were lit up, and the boys were making noises.

Most of them had their cameras on, watching how the basketball team members wiped icing on the birthday boy's cheeks. Their coach was laughing at them while watching them from afar.

"Happy birthday, Yangyang!" They all shouted as he blew the candles.

"Reminder that none of you boys are allowed to drink too much because it will affect tomorrow's training," their coach warned. "Also, underage students aren't allowed to drink!"

Jisung playfully raised his red cup, and before the coach could retort, he immediately laughed. "Sir, it's a joke! It's Coke!"

They had no classes tomorrow as well, as there will be scheduled power maintenance in their school. It was as if everything fell to make way for Yangyang's party.

"Shall we play a game?" Yangyang challenged. "Come on. We need to have fun! It won't be fun if we don't do a little exposing, right?" He grinned.

Yiyeon rolled her eyes and started to retreat, "Nope. I'm sleeping on the couch. Thank you for the food, and good night."

Before Yangyang could retort, the girl was already out of their sight. "Okay, fine. Do it your way, Yiyeon," he scoffed. "The game will be two truths and a lie!" He exclaimed.

The rest of them sat on the grass and formed a circle.

"Anyways, I'll be drawing your names out of a random generating website. I'll pick two names: the first one will be the one asking, and the second one would be telling the two truths and one lie," Yangyang explained.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jeongmin muttered under her breath, but it was loud enough for Yangyang to hear.

The birthday boy stuck his tongue out as he got his phone on the table. He listed the names of his friends and clicked the draw button. "Okay, first pair!" He clapped his hands.

"More like the first victim," Jaemin snorted.

"Yah!" He rolled his eyes and waited for the names to appear. "For this person, he would be the one telling me the truths and lie." He said. "Jisung!" Yangyang cheered and showed them his phone, which had Jisung's name on it.

"Me?" The younger pointed at himself. "Oh, uhm..." He rubbed his nape and thought of something. "First, I suck at math. Second, I'm short. Lastly, I accidentally broke Donghyuck-hyung's game console."

Yangyang wasn't even given a chance to identify the lie when Donghyuck immediately stood up and charged towards the younger. "You what?!" He exclaimed as he tickled Jisung.

The game went on, and there was a lot of embarrassment that had happened.

As a child, Hyunjin used to sleepwalk, and he accidentally peed on their refrigerator. A couple of months back, Sungchan faked his scorecard to his parents so that they would let him play soccer. When Chenle was 2 years old, he was nearly hit by a cab, but luckily, there was a dog that went the other way.

Daewon also revealed that he nearly peed his pants because of nervousness during his first game back in primary school.

"Okay, since Daewon was the last one... he'll be asking..." Yangyang waited for another name to appear on his screen. "Yejin."

The girl looked up and noticed anticipating eyes on her.

Yangyang bit his tongue. He knew that they were currently not on speaking terms, and this was not the best time to make their relationship worse.

"So," Daewon coughed awkwardly as he shuffled on his seat. "Two truths and a lie..."

Yejin sighed as she clenched her fist inside her pocket. "I have a person I like. I talked to them about lots of things..."

"And what did he tell you?" Daewon asked.

Yangyang was about to butt in since asking questions back was not a part of the rules.

Yejin looked at him in the eye. "Why would I tell you? You're not the guy I like."

Daewon's eyes widened as he looked at Yejin, who stood up and started to walk away. "Yejin, i-it's not—"

Yangyang stood up and held Daewon back, "Yiyeon's inside. They'll probably talk. Give her space," he said, emphasizing the last word.

The others looked lost, but Yangyang kept his mouth shut.

"Let's continue!"

***

"Done playing?" Yiyeon asked the girl who entered from the back door. She placed her phone down when she noticed that Yejin looked gloomy. "Everything alright?" She asked and patted the space beside her.

Yejin sat beside her and covered her face using her hands, "He's stupid, what the hell!" She groaned. She stood up and grabbed her sling bag. "I'll tell it to you some other time. I'm going home."

"Huh? Wait, Yejin—" Sighing, Yiyeon sat back down and continued reading some news articles on her phone.

Although wearing her headphones, she could still hear the loud noises coming from the others outside. It was almost 10 pm, yet their energy levels still won't run out.

Sighing, she locked her phone and removed her headphones. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

***

Yiyeon didn't know how long she had been sleeping when she heard loud thuds coming from the kitchen. She looked at the time and noticed that it was 2:11 in the morning, yet she noticed that the lights that lead to the pool area were still on.

"Walk properly!" She heard Hyunjin tell someone. "I can't believe that you had been secretly drinking since earlier! Coach told us not to drink because we have practice tomorrow."

The voices sounded clearer, and they were scolding someone.

Yiyeon rubbed her eyes and noticed the shadows of the people walking towards her.

"Hyunjin? What happened?" She asked and hurriedly stood up so that they could make Jeno sit down.

Jaemin sighed, "Ever since we started playing two truths and a lie, he's been drinking secretly." He crossed his arms and watched Chenle and Mark throw Jeno on the couch. "That idiot, I swear..."

"What about you guys? Aren't you going to sleep?" Yiyeon asked.

"A bit later, maybe... we're still cleaning up," Mark replied.

"I know it's too much, but... can you... look after Jeno first?" Jaemin asked. "The others are knocked out at the backyard, and we're still cleaning..." 

Taking a deep breath, Yiyeon slowly nodded.

"Thanks, Yiyeon-ah!"

She watched them as they ran back.

Yiyeon turned some of the lights on and fixed the way Jeno was sprawled on the couch. She dragged his feet upwards so that all of his body would lie on the couch comfortably. Once she thought that everything was alright, she dimmed the lights so that both of them could sleep.

She sat on the other couch and leaned her head back, and closed her eyes, wanting to fall asleep. 

"J-Jaemin-ah... I told you to bring me to Yiyeon!"

Those words were enough to make her fully awake.

"I... haven't told her everything yet..."

She sat on the floor, just beside the couch where Jeno was lying down.

She hesitantly held his hand and rubbed circles on it, "I'm here, Jeno..." She closed her eyes shut, not wanting to remember the painful memories. Both of them have been through much, and as much as she wanted everything to go back the way it is, it wasn't that easy.

Jeno slowly opened his eyes, "Yiyeon...?"

The girl nodded and placed one of her hands on his cheek. "I'm here..."

"Yiyeon-ah—" He was about to sit up, but the girl shook her head.

"Lie down. I'm not going anywhere," she hushed. 

Silence enveloped them for quite some time, and Yiyeon thought that he had fallen asleep.

"Yiyeon-ah... I have something to tell you."

Yiyeon looked up and noticed that Jeno was looking at their hands. She was still holding his, and she didn't know why she hasn't let go.

"Everything was a misunderstanding..." Jeno said. "That night, when we broke up, and you arrived at the bar we were in... I... didn't know what would happen back then."

"What do you mean that Jeno's in a bar?! They're having a team-building event in Daegu, though?" Yiyeon told her former co-teammate, Kaori.

"Yiyeon, remember when I told you that my brother works as a bartender in a bar in Gangnam? Apparently, he saw Jeno with some of his teammates in the bar! He even sent a photo. Do you want me to send it?"

Yiyeon's hands were shaking. She didn't want to believe what she heard from her friend. But it was Kaori, and she knew that Kaori would not lie to her.

A couple of moments later, her phone dinged, and it was a message from Kaori—a photo of a girl who was dancing with Jeno, to be exact. If Yiyeon were honest, she would not mind it, but the girl's clothes were too revealing for her liking.

Standing up, she called her cousin, "Hwang Hyunjin! Drive me to this address!"

"We arrived in Daegu for the team-building... we even had a huge campfire during our last day... when you saw some of us at the bar... we just returned from the trip," Jeno explained. 

He turned his attention towards the ceiling and sighed, "Someone from one of the opposing teams asked us to come with them. They were close acquaintances, and the coach also said that it was okay... but then we were all set up."

Yiyeon looked at Jeno when she noticed that his voice was trembling.

"If... If I had known that i-it would happen... then I should have listened to you, Yiyeon-ah..." he sniffed. "I... I would never leave you for someone else..."

The girl sat on the edge of the couch and wiped his tears. Her hand lingered on his cheeks while he was talking.

"When you saw us kissing... I was out of my consciousness, and when I snapped back to reality... y-you were already there..." Jeno continued. "I called for your name... but you started to walk away..."

"I didn't know that you would walk out of my life, too..." Jeno didn't care if he looked disgusting in front of her. He just wanted to get the weight off his chest. "Yiyeon, I'm so sorry for everything... for being the reason for every tear that came out of your eyes..." He said and cupped her face. "For being the reason why you're hurting..."

"Since we started dating... you always cried because of me... and... I-I'm sorry, love..." Jeno sobbed.

Yiyeon broke down when Jeno addressed her like how he used to.

He sat up and engulfed her in a hug, "I'm truly sorry..."

She broke from the hug and wiped her tears away. Then, she nodded and smiled at Jeno, "I'm sorry, too..."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't give you a chance to explain. All I did was run away from you..." she said and looked down. "But the truth is... I-I was also scared to hear that you wouldn't want me anymore, Jeno-yah... I was scared... I'm a coward. I'm sorry."

He held her chin up and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

"I won't expect anything to change between us suddenly, but... are you willing to give me another chance?" He asked.

She nodded, "Let's start over again... you and I."

- tbc.

happy birthday, yiyeon <3

also, happy birthday to dongpyo my baby!!