chapter five: family 

Jae Ah didn’t know why she couldn’t look away from him. She felt almost possessed by how strongly she had to fight her urge to walk towards him, look at him, or talk to him. Her fingers twitched by her side and she grabbed the hem of her shirt to keep them still.

His lips pulled up and she felt her heart skip a beat as he said her name. It sounded like velvet when he called out to her and she caught her breath in surprise at how much she liked the sound of him talking to her.

She felt a hand trail up her bare arm and jumped in surprise, finally turning away from Mark. His smile instantly fell as she looked up at Jinwoo, blinking her eyes in surprise. Jae Ah swallowed as she saw the confused look in Jinwoo’s eyes and she felt a flush of guilt, “O-Oh, yeah.” She turned back to Jin Young, avoiding Mark’s gaze, “I-It’s nice to meet you.”

She heard them start talking again but kept her eyes on the ground right in front of her. Jae Ah could feel Mark’s heated gaze on her and she fought every nerve in her body not to lift her head and stare into his beautiful eyes again. Her eyes shut and she realized how hard she was fighting her instinct at that moment. She didn’t know what was wrong with her and why she was reacting so strongly and it was beginning to scare her.

“Jae Ah,” Someone called her from behind and she looked back in surprise to see Mino staring back at her with a worried gaze, “Are you okay? You look sick.”

“U-Uh, yeah.” Jae Ah feverishly nodded. She her dry lips, knowing that all eyes were on her again. Jae Ah felt very out of character. She was usually the one that loved attention, that bathed in the spotlight, but something felt wrong about everyone’s eyes on her, or everyone’s but Mark’s. “I’m just…” She let out a shaky breath, “I have to go.”

Jae Ah was walking before anyone had time to react. She heard Jinwoo call out to her but refused to turn around. Every thought in her mind was about how she was walking away from Mark and it made her heart sink. She couldn’t turn around to look at Jinwoo without knowing that her eyes would trail to the other boy.

She didn’t stop her speed-walking until she was safely inside her apartment, leaning against the door with a hand against her rapidly beating heart. She fell to the floor, gripping the fabric of her t-shirt and taking deep breaths. “What just happened?” She muttered, leaning her head back to hit the door a few times in an effort to regain her senses.

“What are you doing?” Jae Ah froze and turned to the source of the question with a sheepish smile. Jaehyun was staring at her with disinterest, his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he eyed her.

“Um,” Jae Ah scrambled up, leaving her backpack on the floor against the door, “I was trying to get my brain back.” Jaehyun blinked at her before turning away, not wanting to know anymore why she was suddenly acting so strange. Jae Ah quickly rushed forward and grabbed his arm to stop him from moving and he turned back to her. “You see… something happened today!”

Jaehyun sighed loudly, showing his irritation. He looked back to her and saw how panicked she looked and turned fully to face her, “What happened?” His voice spiked, “Was it Jinwoo hyung?”

“Uh, kinda?” Jae Ah took a step back from him, remembering how much her brother hated her boyfriend. “He’s not a bad guy, Jaehyun.” She scolded before shaking her head. “Anyways, I was walking with Jin Young and then Jinwoo oppa came and kind of punched Jin Young! And then I was telling of Jinwoo oppa but then these other guys showed up with Jin Young and one of them… oh gosh, one of them was like really hot and-”

“What the hell are you even saying?” Jaehyun’s expression went sour. “I don’t want to hear about the ‘cute guys’,” he made his voice higher to mock her, “that you’re meeting, Jae Ah.”

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