(no subject)
She's curled up on the dorm's couch, slippered feet tucked under her as she watches an American show on her laptop when she gets the text.
Cole, I have something important to say to you.
Nicole's interest is immediately piqued, and she presses pause, staring down at her phone. Jinwoon is a breath of fresh air in her hectic life of intense schedules, little sleep and so much pressure that she sometimes thinks her head will explode. (It'll be live and on stage, she imagines, and everyone will be too busy staring at her waistline wondering if she's packed on a few extra pounds to notice her head is gone.)
So, it's no surprise she immediately stops what she's doing to pay attention to him. She can hardly imagine what this "important thing" of Jinwoon's could be. Instead of wracking her brain about it for hours, she dials his number. Thinking too much could get her into trouble.
"Hello?" she hears his warm, familiar voice on the other end and immediately feels a little flushed. Nicole can always hear his smile when he speaks, even when she can't see him. Especially then.
"Hello. What are you doing?"
"Ah, I'm in the car," he tells her, though something in the background doesn't sound right. She can't quite place it though, and dismisses it for the moment.
"You said you have something to say? What is it? Something bad?" she presses on, drumming her fingers on her bare leg with just a hint of anxiousness. There's a pause, which is strange. Jinwoon is usually chattier than she is on the phone, babbling on cheerfully about everything and nothing at all.
"No, no, nothing like that." She lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding, and beams. Something good, then!
"Curious~ Curious~!" she chants playfully, standing up now to pace, slippers sliding across the floor as she rocks up and down on her heels. It's impossible for her to sit still when she's on the phone.
"Nicole." Jinwoon sounds serious for once, and startled, she freezes mid-step, cocking her head to the side as she listens to the tone of his voice. Her heartbeat picks up a little, and she swallows. Nothing bad, but enough for him to say her name like that, and it's more than enough to get her attention.
"...yes?" A nervous giggle.
"What do you think of me?" Nicole can't think of a more loaded question than that, and it knocks her off balance. She's whiteknuckling her phone so hard she's vaguely afraid it's going to crack, still standing frozen in place in the center of the living room, staring at nothing. For once she's grateful all of the other girls are out right now. They'd be hovering around her, asking what was going on and telling her what to say, and her own brain is loud enough as it is.
"I don't want to be friends anymore," he continues before she's even replied, and her mouth drops open. Not friends? No more walks to get sushi, or sneaking out to have tea in tiny hole in the wall shops where reporters and photographers can't find them? No more giggling backstage at all of their outrageous outfits?
"I think I like you." Is this actually the conversation she's been waiting to have with Jung Jinwoon since they met? Nicole is trying to remember how to speak Korean, how to not pass out, how to keep breathing... She hasn't exactly been subtle. Jinwoon is the first person (besides her mother) that she calls when she needs a comforting ear to listen to her troubles, the first person who makes her blush furiously at the slightest compliment, the beaming face she always searches for in a crowd of idols on stage. He's her favorite person to cook for and to fall asleep on the phone with. But she had never really imagined that Jinwoon would ever notice.
"I don't like you like a friend..." long pause. "I just like you."
"I-I-I-I-I? and you?" she's not even sure how she managed to say that much, because her chest feels like it's caving in and blowing up at once. Her heart has plummeted to her toes and her fingers are tingling from gripping the phone so hard.
"Truthfully there's a person who really likes you. Hold on, let me give him the phone." She freezes again, the heartwrenching anxiety replaced with confusion.
"Hello?" she tilts her head, waiting.
"Are you Nicole?" ...that voice. The wheels in her head are almost audible as they turn, and it clicks suddenly.
And she screams. Rattles off a truly bizarre string of gibberish at Haha or Mc Mong or whoever it is on the other line now that is laughing hysterically at her expense. She can hear familiar laughter in the background as well, and she knows a few certain bandmates of her's were definitely in on that joke as well.
It's Jinwoon again, the smile in his voice as obvious as ever. "Nicole, what do you think of me?"
"You're dead! After this, just you wait!" she's shaking her fist at him in the air as she collapses back on the couch behind her, letting out a huge breath, kicking off her slippers and covering her eyes with the palm of her hand. This kind of stress could kill a girl.
"Okay, I'll call you after filming! Sorry..."