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Jiseol was, in the most relaxed way possible, a mess.
She didn't know that some distance away, her boyfriend was the total opposite. In the large tent by the river, Donghyuck was giggling and kicking his feet in the air with the boys as he was telling them about everything that went down.
Jiseol was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the couch with her head thrown back. Her drinking ban clearly was broken with the empty cans beside her and her face was full of beer droplets, snot and tears. The movie playing on the TV was at a high volume, but it was much easier to ignore than the look of disgust from the guy sitting beside her.
"You look gross," Chenle commented.
"I feel gross," Jiseol grumbled in return.
Chenle rolled his eyes. "I've been here for like, an hour, and you still won't tell me what's wrong. I can't decide whether to be there for you or snap you back to your senses if I don't know the details."
"You know how one of the high school juniors I was close with is Donghyuck's ex-girlfriend?"
It didn't take too much for Chenle to piece the puzzle together. Only with Jiseol's question, he understood the agony that was written all over her face.
Imagine how confusing and strange it could be to date someone after years of being at odds with each other. Then, top it off with being tied together in a crime slash sabotage with that odd relationship being put at stake. Then, it turned out that there was a confession and kiss involved a long time ago. Now, all of that combined with the internal conflict of dating a friend's ex—Chenle could only imagine how much of a dilemma Jiseol was in.
"Wait...I haven't told you about me and Donghyuck," Jiseol pointed out, taken aback by how Chenle seemed like he understood right off the bat without an explanation.
The younger boy froze. "Uhhh—"
"Fuck, he told you? I'm going to kill him. How could he tell my best friend first?" Jiseol groaned.
"He just wanted some ideas for a surprise he has for you. It was all in good intentions and I swear I didn't cry, not even a little. Anyway, please get to the damn point, I have a flight to catch."
"I'm scared, Chenle," Jiseol whispered. "I'm confident in him. I know that I can trust him with my life and I really want to be with him. But when we weren't even friends, we were used against each other. He was in so much pain after the whole Grand Reveal scandal and he was especially in pain because of me. I don't care what happens to me but what...what if someone wants to hurt him again and they use me? Again? I'm going to be much bigger collateral damage this time and I can't bare thinking what that would do to him."
"I don't really get it, Ji, what does this have to do with his ex-girlfriend?"
"She insinuated that I'm not the type to date a friend's ex. But I am. I'm doing exactly that right now and if I was slutshamed for sleeping with one guy, I'm going to be labelled a freaking homewrecker after this. People might talk, which I don't care about anymore, but Donghyuck will. The last time people talked about me, he got suspended from the team and he had to quit Astral. I'm so scared that the dumbass would lose it again if people talk about me."
