Chapter Text
yena pov !
Yena Hwang has hated Nishimura Riki ever since she started highschool.
Dating back to her first memories of highschool lunch, she's been sitting in the corner of the cafeteria with her best friend Hayoon. It was always the two of them, eating lunch while facing a certain group of boys at the other side of the cafeteria.
Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki.
To the rest of the highschool, the group of third and fourth-years were notorious for their talents and good looks. But while Yena couldn't deny they were somewhat good-looking, to her they were just snobby popular guys who picked on her at lunch. Guys that she hated.
Especially Ni-ki.
For as long as she could remember, Yena has always strived to be the best. She kept her spot at the top of every academic chart.
Until the first year of highschool, when she came across Ni-ki.
At first, she didn't mind the black-haired boy. In fact, she briefly remembered finding him handsome at first impression. But that all changed when he reached the top of the first-year charts, surpassing her. He continued to keep his spot at first for the next three years, leaving Yena at second and serving as her roadblock to success.
And as if that wasn't enough, somewhere along the line, Ni-ki's group started to target her at lunch. It wasn't physical, but they would constantly turn around and laugh at her for no particular reason, while Ni-ki would discreetly smile with a red face that just made Yena all the more agitated.
"You know, for someone who supposedly hates Ni-ki so much, you do stare at his table a lot," Hayoon said, breaking Yena's furious thoughts towards his table, where--to nobody's surpsise--everyone was laughing at her again.
"I do not!" She retaliated, gritting her teeth. "It's not my fault they're constantly laughing at me. I don't even know what I've been doing for the past three years that amuses them so much. God, they're so annoying."
Hayoon sighed, taking a sip from her juice box. "I don't get why you're so mad about it. It's been three years of the same shit over and over again, I'm surprised you still care."
Ignoring Hayoon's good point, Yena focused all her attention on her school lunch, picking at it with her fork while her friend continued to advise her.
"It would be better if you focused on your presentation for next class. You've been worried for it for weeks."
"Don't even remind me." Yena shoved her food to the side and buried her head in her arms on the table, groaning.
"At least Ni-ki is the only one from that group who's in your class, so it's only a fraction of the teasing you would normally get," Hayoon offered.
"Where have you been the last few years?" Yena exclaimed, tossing her hands up frustratedly. "May I remind you he's the one I hate the most because of how stupidly smart he is?"
Hayoon doesn't respond. When Yena looks up at her, she's cleaning up the table with a small smirk.
"Why are you smiling like that? Did I say something?"
"No," but she might as well be lying because her smile just gets bigger. "Sometimes I wish you could hear yourself talk."
"Why?"
"Well, I think it would clear up a lot of your feelings and make it easier on both of us."
She followed Hayoon to the trash can to throw away their food, poking at her to elaborate.
"Clear up my feelings?!" Yena blurted. "There's nothing to clear up! I hate them all, and I hate Ni-ki the most. That's that."
Hayoon shrugged and brushed off the subject. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Before Yena can continue defending herself, her attention swerved to her periphery. The sight of Jay shoving Ni-ki with his side and their whole table erupting into laughter, some of them even turning around to glance at her. For a moment, Ni-ki looked up and their eyes met from across the room. His eyes were unmoving, eyes no longer creased with laughter as he focused on Yena.
She quickly looked away, grumbling about his annoyance and tightening her grip the straps of her bag.
Then Hayoon ushered her out of the cafeteria, choosing not to point out how red Yena's ears were.