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━━━ " 📂  " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter forty-four ─── ʚĭɞ

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"Look at you!" The excited exclamation left Sooa's lips before Miyeon could even thank the worker pointing out the group of old school friends. The girl was on her feet, rushing past chairs to throw her arms around her.

Miyoung laughed a she squeezed Sooa back, pulled away and coming to sit down around the long table. "You look really happy. You all look really happy and healthy and just.. I missed you all." The Hwang girl grinned, already pulling her coat off of her shoulders. "Sorry I'm late, by the way."

"It's alright." Across from her, Chorong had his arm around Hyemin, who had a much brighter, more confident smile on her face than she had at any point during her time at Saebom High. "But you're missing someone.. well.. three people."

"No - only two!" A slightly out of breath Jugyeong had rushed through the doors, looking as thought she had run the entire way there. "Sorry.. I was right behind you. Couldn't catch up on time." She smiled over at Miyeon, who returned the gesture.

As she looked away, the smile faltered. Miyeon hadn't seen Jugyeong all that much since Seojun informed her of the surprise he felt when they agreed to go out on three days. She wasn't sure how to feel real - she just knew not to blame Jugyeong for agreeing to it; how was she supposed to know about it.

"I heard you didn't have any time for us anyone." Sooa seemed to have seen Jugyeong a lot more than she saw Miyeon, because she only greeted her with a brief hug before the three sat down. "Heard you were close with your other group mates now."

"Shove off." Miyeon joked, shaking her head. "You know I love you guys. But I have to be close with the girls. I'll be debuting with them in a week."

"I was surprised you even managed to get away." Sooa's eyebrows rose into her fringe. Everyone, thankfully, had returned to their previous conversations and Miyeon felt as thought there wasn't too much pressure coming from invading the personal setting.

"They packed everything into a few weeks so now that we're actually close to our debut not much is going on." Miyeon shrugged. The schedule, although daunting at first, had actually provided them with an adequate gap between all the busy actives to allow them a calmer practise scenario before everything kicked off. "I have practise tomorrow though so I can't be hungover."

"I see." Sooa nodded slowly. "Seojun didn't come with either of you." She commented, returning to her usual bubblyness and changing the topic with ease. "Neither did Hyunwoo."

"Well they're debuting in a month." Jugyeong spoke up. "Wouldn't they be busy with practises as well?"

"Mhm." Miyeon confirmed, slightly preoccupied by a text coming through from Chanmi asking about a meeting to do with setting up the social media accounts. Their debut photographs were set to be released in a couple days time, which meant everything was quickly becoming serious.

"You and Seojun have been going out.. right?" Sooa asked quietly, eyes flickering over to Miyeon. It seemed that she hadn't forgotten what the Hwang girl had told her all those years ago.

"We went out once.. and a half." Even Jugyeong looked confused by that. "The second date.. we just felt like we were hanging out as friends. Besides, I think I mistook his confession."

Miyeon sat up a little. "Really?" She asked. "But how?"

"Oh I don't know." Jugyeong pushed, shaking her head and hiding her embarrassment through taking another sip of Soju. "Now that I think about it, it seemed like he was just getting it off his chest so he could move on. Like his liking for me was just a feeling that came back every now and again, and he didn't realise it actually meant something."

"Like with me and Taehoon." Sooa grumbled. That had been another thing that sent shockwaves through the group after finding out that Seojun and Jugyeong were trying something together; the couple that seemed destined for marriage had broken up. "Sometimes I think I still love him."

"You do still love him. Whether it's as a friend or as a girlfriend, it's up to you to decide." Miyeon swallowed some of the chips kept in bowls in the centre of the table. "Jugyeong.. I don't want to overstep.. but is it possible that you were missing Suho? He's supposed to be coming back soon and around now is the anniversary of when you started to think of each other romantically. Or at least that's what he told me first so I don't really have the ability to put together an actual timeline."

"I..." Jugyeong shrugged. "Maybe. Either way, I don't think Seojun loves me. I think he liked the idea of being with me when we left high school, and he's just been too busy to realise that he's been holding onto something that isn't there. On both our sides."

"God, this is depressing!" Sooa exclaimed. "Doesn't anyone else have anything to talk about?"

"I saw Soojin." Miyeon admitted. The feeling of knowing what Jugyeong had just told them about her and Seojun felt too good to keep her other news to herself.

Jugyeong's head snapped towards her. "What?" She asked, paling.

"I saw her in the street one being. A couple weeks later and she saw me getting followed home. We got a drink, talked... she's changed." Miyeon said slowly. "I don't want to force you to do anything, but it felt good to know that she has escaped that dark cloud. I've got her number, if either of you want it."

Sooa swallowed. "I will. Text it on our group chat. I've got a few things I want to say to her." Her jaw set, looking unusually determined.

"I'll think about it." Jugyeong decided and Miyeon nodded,  hearing the door open and close and seeing Hyunwoo and Seojun come in.

"Finally!" Chorong exclaimed, Seojun shaking his head at the reaction. His eyes travelled over the group, landing on the group of three girls crowded around one end.

His eyes met Miyeon's, hand raised in a slight wave. She smiled gently, returning the action.

He moved to go and sit down. Sooa was barely containing her squeal, feet tapping silently over the floor, trying to not show any emotion entirely when Seojun came to a stop beside them, leaning down and looking at the girl, who only shrugged.

His head turned towards Jugyeong, nodding somewhat respectfully before leaning forward to speak to Miyeon, and Miyeon alone.

"Jugyeong and I called off the dates. Decided we were better off as friends." He mumbled, the Hwang girl sitting completely still. "Of course, I think of it as one of my bigger mistakes."

And with that, he stood up again to go and sit besides Hyunwoo, leaving Miyeon somewhat content with the ripple of goosebumps travelling up her neck.

❛ AUTHORS NOTE ━━ i don't know if anyone remembers about my second seojun book of an entirely knew plot, but i lost inspiration for it pretty quickly, however i came up with another plot that fufills my love for writing true beauty at school, so look out for that when i publish it!