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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙊 𝙈 𝘼 𝙉 𝘾 𝙄 𝙉 𝙂

! chapter sixty-six ─── ʚĭɞ

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Not long later and the girls were crowded around a table, meat sizzling on a barbecue as they forgot about the Newspaper game, just deciding to focus on having fun, relaxing and eating well.

"Hey Sihyun." The group looked up to see Hyunkyu stood, holding two bits of meat and placing them down in front of Sihyun. "It smelled pretty bad earlier, right?" He pointed up to his hair. "I just washed my hair. Enjoy."

"At least you have a conscience." One of the other girls called after him as he turned away.

"Hey, Hyunkyu!" Sihyun called when his back had turned and taken a few steps back towards his seat. He paused, turning back. "It wasn't that terrible."

"Don't lie!" Sooa leaned over and gently hit the girl, Miyeon laughing on the other side of her. "It was gross!" She continued, Sihyun protesting that it wasn't too bad.

"What is that smell?" This time, it was Mr Han stood between the girls' table and the one that Hyunkyu was sat at. They laughed quietly, thanking their teacher as he gave them some mushrooms. "Let me know if you need some more."

"Enjoy!" The group called after him after he left, turning back to one another and beginning eating once again. Chatting amongst themselves, Miyeon found herself feeling more comfortable by the minute, checking if everything was cooked properly and everything was okay.

It wasn't too hard for her to get to sleep tonight. She had grown used to falling asleep in places that weren't her own bed over the years, and falling asleep in the tent was no different from that.

In fact, it wasn't hard to get so sleep considering when her, Soojin, Jugyeong, Sooa and Sihyun had stayed up until, and she fell asleep within minutes of laying down and the lights turning off, looking forward to the next day, seeing as it was so late in the night,

The morning came quickly, and after washing up as best as she could, Miyeon changed into a somewhat similar outfit to the day before, the same style loose jeans but in black, along with a white shirt and covered by an oversized blue button up

"Ahn Hyunkyu! Have you ever pooped your pants before?" It wasn't a question that Miyeon had expected to hear that morning, but as the group of friends sat in a circle, all of them holding plastic mallets and a lie detector machine in front of them, anything would go.

Miyeon didn't know exactly how they had managed to get that group together. It consisted of the usual people in the study group, plus Hyunkyu and Sihyun. That was the normal part. There was one other that made it strange - Han Seojun.

"Are you kidding me?" Hyunkyu exclaimed in response, hand on the machine. "Of course not." The noise from the machine indicated it was a lie, and they all leaned across, hitting the Ahn boy with the plastic mallets.

"Kim Sihyun." Hyunkyu moved the lie detector. "Do you think of yourself as a princess."

"No way!" Sihyun announced, pressing her hand abasing the machine, which shocked her and indicated a low, yet another round of them hitting someone with their toy mallets. "Lee Suho, have you kissed before!"

The Lee boy looked rather taken aback by the question, and Miyeon couldn't help but glance across at Jugyeong, whose smile had faltered.

Hyunkyu counted down from three, and with no answer from Suho, he ended up getting hit. "You should've answered before your time was up. I bet he's never played this game before." Hyunkyu shook his head.

Suho slid the machine across the Seojun. "Love or friendship?" He asked, tone harsh.

Seojun didn't hesitate as he moved the machine closer to him, placing his hand over it. Staring right as Suho, he answered; "Love." He was confident, and chuckled as the machine told them he was telling the truth. Miyeon's eyebrows raised at the verdict.

"Must he be that cheesy?" Sooa had a look of disgust on her face as she looked over at him. "Get him." And even though he was telling the truth, Seojun was hit with the plastic mallets.

The machine went over to Soojin, and pointing the end of his mallet at her, Seojun asked her his question. "Am I handsome?"

Looking disgusted, Soojin replied with a simple "Yes." But was shocked and laughs could be heard as the machine buzzed; she was lying. The usual procedure for a liar took place, and the machine was placed in front of Sooa.

"Yoo Taehoon or eighteen?" Soojin asked quickly, Taehoon leaning in and waiting for her reply.

"Of course, it's my darling." Sooa replied, the couple cheering when it came back with the truth, the cringiness flooding through those watching and they hit them anyway.

Sooa placed the machine in front of Jugyeong. "Is there someone you like?" The girl in the pink sweater asked.

"Yes." Jugyeong had put her hand on the machine quickly, and with utter confidence, announcing her answer. Her confidence faded as her hand got shocked, and gaze drifted over to Suho.

"You lied!" Sounds of protest came from the group, reaching over and hitting Jugyeong with their toy hammers.

Miyeon looked surprised as the Im girl slid the machine over to her, looking rather displeased with her reply.

"Have you ever rejected someone?" Jugyeong asked, and Miyeon faltered. Of course she had, she had rejected several boys.

And one of them was Seyeon.

It was harsh question, not intentionally so but a jab at the various boys who had come up to her in the corridors when she was with her friends.

"We can always skip questions." Seojun's eyebrow jerked upwards as he looked across at Miyeon, meeting Suho's eyes, both of them faced with the same sort of feeling.

They knew she had rejected him. Known that he had liked her, gently hinted at the possibility she might not feel the same. And one day, Seyeon returned to the practise room with a frown and a silver chained balled up in his fist.

He had never held it against her, but Miyeon had felt guilty, especially when, not even a month later, he would commit suicide.

"No. I'll answer it." Miyeon's voice had a shake to it, and everyone else was staring at her. She placed her hand on the machine. "Yes." She answered, stiffening when she heard it ping; she had been telling the truth. 

"Don't stop playing on my account. I didn't mean to pull the mood down." Miyeon quickly broke the silence that had fallen, arranging a clearly fake smile on her face as she diligently ignored the stares of the Han boy.

She took the machine, sliding it over in front of Taehoon. "Have you ever wanted to break up with Sooa?" She asked, watching as Sooa smiled and Taehoon threw his mallet behind him with confident ease.

Placing his hand on the machine, Taehoon looked over at Sooa as he gave his answer of "No.", his girlfriend returning his gaze with a smile and finger-hearts.

The smile disappeared as the machine buzzed. It was a lie.  Taehoon hurriedly tried to remove his hand, trying to direct the attention to the next person.

"Again." Sooa said. "Have you ever wanted to break up with me?" She asked.

"No, no way." Taehoon replied, jaw set. And once again, the machine pinged. "See, it's the truth."

"Again." Sooa insisted, pushing his hand against the machine. "Have you ever wanted to break up with me?"

"No!" Taehoon shouted. "Never!" The machine buzzed, shocks coursing through Taehoon's hand.

"The device says you're lying." Sooa looked more upset as each moment passed, Taehoon still trying to deny it.

"I see." Sooa stood up. "So you wanted to break up with me?" She asked, looking down at her boyfriend, stamping her foot down on his hand. "It's over!" She shouted, running off.

The girls instantly stood up, running after their friend, Miyeon following them, trying to shake off the guilt that had come with her remembering.

It had just been wrong. And whilst Miyeon loved Seyeon, it wasn't in the way he loved her. She couldn't lead him on and accept his gift, she had to let him down.

And even with his death, it had happened, and Miyeon couldn't change that.