blurred lines [ hayi + jeongguk ]
jeongguk nodded slowly, now taking his time observing what else had changed since the last time he had seen her. besides her obvious weight loss, he didn’t think anything had changed at all. her eating habits hadn’t changed, that was for sure. he withheld the snide comment he was about to make about her voracious eating in public, only because he felt he couldn’t anymore. any other lunch day, jeongguk would have been able to tease her endlessly about how much she ate or how much weight she had gained, but now, he had to be more careful.
with all the attention zeroed on them now, jeongguk felt like he couldn’t even say the things he wanted to say to hayi anymore. it was like they were trapped in a bubble filled with awkward and palpable tension wherein neither of them could really joke around anymore. the sad part was that they could be anywhere else and jeongguk still would have felt the rift between them from spending so many weeks apart with nothing but occasional texts to stay in contact.
"me?" he blinked, trying not to pay too much attention to how uninterested hayi sounded about anything and everything that involved him. her unnaturally passive behavior (although he knew she wasn’t an eccentric person) sort of put him on edge, causing him to almost miss her second question. "i don’t know," he admitted while he stirred his lukewarm miso soup slowly. "i’m just really tired."
he glanced up when his friend mentioned his “crazy fans” that were obviously eying him from a few tables over, their attempts at remaining undercover not being very discreet at all. jeongguk shook his head slowly and set down the spoon that had kept him distracted all this time.
it was then that he remembered what he could talk about since it wasn’t very often that he could converse with hayi normally. it was an odd thing to say considering they were best friends, but it certainly had been a while since they last talked in person. “oh, i don’t know if junhong told you yet, but he wanted us to meet up. all three of us, so… whenever all three of us are free, we can go have dinner or something,” he said. “how’s he doing, anyway?”
There was a certain air of palpable tension that surrounded the two, and for the life of her, Hayi could not figure out the reason why. Could it be because they were estranged from each other far too long? It has hardly been a month -- which by their standards was a large cut-down in itself -- it was as if they haven't seen each other in years. Ever the patient person, the only definite exception to her personality was sitting right in front of her, and because he wasn't saying anything -- really, nothing of substance -- she would have to sit in silence until she could respond to something.
Which thankfully is ...now--
"You look tired." She blurted out, not enjoying the way her voice jumped slightly in concern without her meaning to do so. Lee Hayi wasn't supposed to be nice to Jeon Jeongguk, they spent far too much time with each other to be bothered with casual niceties. "Haven't you been sleeping? At least get more than three hours in a day and try not to stay up all night all the time-"
The bronze haired girl had to stop herself at that point, she didn't like how her friend flickered his eyes to her face in mild disbelief, she didn't like how the slight quirk of his lips sent her fumbling for her spoon just to find something to do. But with his next question Hayi had to set down her spoon just as quickly, brows furrowed in slight annoyance.
"Oh..." She said slowly, eyes fluttering down to blink at her half-eaten food, appetite slightly deterred by the swooping feeling in her stomach. The thought of the sunbae that had always occupied her heart had her stomach in knots, but the fact remains that she did not like her best friend mentioning him every two seconds, not when they haven't seen each other this long. "Well couldn't he ask me that himself? We see each other every other day in the company. I-- hardly see you that much."
Having nothing else to say, Hayi stole a piece of meat from his bowl and began to chew absentmindedly, pointedly ignoring the little titter of gasps and whispers from Jeongguk's table of fangirls. Really, will their next attack be on her ridiculous appetite? If so, then there is nothing to deny. Flicking her hair out of her eyes, she pointed her metal chopsticks to his nose. "So- any pretty trainee noonas you have your eye on? I mean... one that you haven't preyed on already." Now she feels a little bit more like herself.
