??? ??? ???? ━━━ ????

| | • • • • • | |

Aera's POV

I laid down on my bed for hours just staring at the dark ceiling with my eyes wide open. The thing that happened a while ago confused me completely and I didn't know what to do. Sunghoon liked me. And he said Jake did too. Just why? Why both of them? I wasn't yet sure if the other guy liked me too as well or not but I could feel myself be at the very edge right now.

Getting up, I decided to walk outside for a while. I kept on overthinking and it was exhausting me right now. "Ahh Aera." A voice said out as I turned around to see Sunoo walk towards me. "Hey Sunoo." I spoke out calmly as he smiled at me. "Why are you here?" I asked the guy as he breathed heavily. "Nothing. Just felt overwhelmed knowing someone confessed to me earlier." He was talking about the game of dares where someone told him about her feelings.

I stayed quiet not saying anything. "You know Aera, I have a low self confidence. And it had made me start believing that nobody will like me." I looked at the guy who stared at the stars with a smile. "When that girl said she liked me, I unknowingly liked the fact that she liked me but couldn't believe that she actually does like me." The guy was thinking so deep that it gave me second thoughts. Did I also feel this way?

"And I just can't sleep because of that." He nodded his head finding out the reason behind his sleepless nights. "Oh sorry I spoke too much." Sunoo realized he was the only one talking for so long. "No no it's fine." I shook my heads as we again looked at the stars. His words got me thinking. Did I like the fact that Sunghoon might like me or was I just not able to accept the truth. Or was I worried about Jake liking me as well.

But did I like any of them as more than friends?

-

Sunghoon's POV

I sat beside Jake as Aera entered the bus with her backpack on. The girl didn't make any eye contact with me or with Jake and sat beside Jay. Was it the right choice? To tell Aera I had feelings for her. And so did Jake? I still didn't know. It was almost like she was now ignoring me. "Aera could you pass me the bottle?" Jake called out to the girl who looked back.

We both had a slight eye contact for about one second before she broke it giving the water bottle to Jake. I could tell that she was thinking but I didn't know what she was thinking about and it made me curious.

The bus stopped as we all got down and stretched after the long exhausting trip. "Alright students. Get going." The teacher announced as everyone started going to the ways of their home. "Do y'all wanna go grab food?" Jay suggested as I looked at Aera for her answer. "No I'll go home." She said out grabbing her luggage before walking out as I sighed. "I will pass too." I said out bidding goodbyes to them.

Jake's POV

I noticed how unusual both Aera and Sunghoon were behaving. Did something happen? Heeseung pushed me to walk quickly as I came back from my thoughts, shrugging it away. It's probably nothing.

Aera's POV

Another stormy night. It was raining so much nowadays. I stared outside at the rain while doing my homework. Playing with my fingers I thought of how I could get rid of my confusion. Do I just ask Jake if he likes me or not? Or do I ask Sunghoon if whatever he said was true or not? Or gosh. It's not that I hate it, but I don't like it too. The confusion it's creating, it's killing me.

"Aera please go get eggs from the convenience store." My mom shouted from downstairs as I noticed the rain slowing down.

I walked to my house, holding the bag of eggs as well as the umbrella. "Aera?" A voice stopped me as I looked behind to see Jay with some other friends. He ran up to me with an excited look. "Dang didn't think would meet you here." He said out as I kept quiet walking. "I was at the arcade close to that direction." He was almost talking to himself as I was in my own thoughts. "Stop." He said making me freeze as I looked at him.

"Spill. What are you hiding?" The boy raised his eyebrows in a suspicious manner as I bit my lips looking down.

"So you're saying Sunghoon said he likes you and Jake also likes you?" Jay walked back and forth in front of me as I sat on the bench in the playground while nodding simply. "Woah." The guy was shocked for a second but got back to normal. "Isn't it obvious though?" He said out as I shook my head making him sigh. "Dumbass." Jay whispered making me pout. "So what exactly is confusing you right now?"

"I don't know if Jake actually likes me or not. And yeah I don't know if Sunghoon was saying the truth or not." Slowly saying out, I felt him think for a while before clapping his hands once and coming towards me. "Just ask Jake if he likes you or not." He said it out so easily making me glare at him. "Come on. You won't be able to find it out otherwise." But he did have a point.

-

Jake's POV

I walked at the playground drinking my milk at lunch break as I noticed Choi Aera simply sitting on the stairs all alone. What's wrong with her? The girl had been acting out, ever since she came back from the trip. And it was starting to worry me now. I slurped my milk and walked towards her. "Hey cute girl?"

Aera didn't answer. Rather she looked up at me and then back at her hands. I took a sit beside her poking her once. "What's wrong Aera? You've been so weird lately. Did something happen?" The girl didn't answer for a long time, rather just stared at me for a while confusing me even more. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I got uneasy by her sudden stares as I couldn't help but ask what she is even doing.

"Jake." Choi Aera finally said something. "Yeah?" I smiled getting a reply from her as I looked at front and kept drinking my milk while the girl just stared at my side profile. I know my side profile is godly but-

"Do you like me more than a friend?" My smile vanished hearing her as I looked at her with a blank expression. I couldn't say anything. Why would she ask me that all of a sudden? Aera didn't remove her eyes off of me for a while but after getting no reply from me for almost a minute, she sighed and got up to walk out of the playground. But I held her hand causing her to stop on her steps.

"Yes I do. I like you. A lot." There you go, I said it. I didn't want to hide my feelings towards her. Not atleast from her. The girl didn't even move and just froze after hearing me. I let go off her hand looking down nervously as her back shadowed over me. Aera wasn't saying anything and I knew I was feeling embarrassed at this point. "Haha." I just laughed the awkwardness out and stood up. Without waiting to hear her out, I immediately hurried and left the place leaving her still in shock.

| | • • • • • | |