Quiet | Seungjin

17

"Hi!"

Seungmin looked up from the old cafeteria table he was seated at to see Hyunjin's friends standing in front of him. He sent a quick glance towards Shuhua next to him, not quite sure who they were talking to.

"I'm Jisung if you don't remember," one of the boys said as he sat down across from Seungmin.

"Felix!" The other chirped before mimicking his friend, "don't tell him I said this—but you're all Hyunjin talks about these days, so we wanted to come meet this amazing friend."

Seungmin smiled at Felix's warm voice, trying not to dwell too hard on what he said about Hyunjin. Admittedly, it made his heart beat just a little faster hearing that the elder talked to his other friends about him and he wasn't entirely sure why.

Shuhua leaned towards the boy and whispered, "I can scare them off if you want?"

The boy quickly shook his head and linked their pinkies gently under the table. "Seungmin," he spoke quietly, although he was well aware they knew his name.

Smiles flickered across the boys face as they heard Seungmin's soft voice. "Do you know Minho? Lee Minho? He graduated last year," Jisung rambled. When he saw the boy shake his head, Jisung quickly pulled his phone out and clicked around before showing Seungmin's a picture of him and this Minho. "There he is—he's my boyfriend, isn't he cute?"

"I'm sure Seungmin does not care who you're dating, Jisung," Felix scolded as he smacked the back of Jisung's head.

"Oh you two are so cute together," Shuhua gushed, ignoring Felix's words.

"I know," Jisung beamed, "We just started dating a couple weeks ago."

"Uhm...hi," Hyunjin spoke as he walked up behind his friends, pushing Jisung over so he could sit across from Seungmin, "I hope they aren't bothering you—I went to the bathroom and they were just gone when I came back.

A small smile formed on Seungmin's lips at the sight of the elder before he whispered, "they're nice."

"They're nice for now," Hyunjin clarified.

"We're always nice," defended Felix, "well we will be to Seungmin at least."

Leaning over Felix to join the conversation, Jisung voiced, "You don't mind me and Felix sitting here, do you? We just sit over there by ourselves—we should just merge tables."

Seungmin glanced over at Shuhua who only shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it," she spoke, her words trailing off as she spotted Soojin across the cafeteria. "I should go say hi..." muttered the girl as she let go of Seungmin's hand under the table, not bothering to spare any of them a single glance as she got up as fast as humanly possible and skipped across the room.

"So..."Jisung started awkwardly, pushing his way back towards the group, "do you have an hobbies, Seungmin?"

Therapy, is what the boy would've said if he was being honest, but other than that he didn't really do much. After taking a moment to think about it he shrugged and pointed to Hyunjin.

"Me? I'm your hobby—hanging out with me?" Hyunjin stuttered as an excited grin spread across his face.

Seungmin nodded and sent the boy a small smile in return. The two fell silent, not a single word exchanged between them while they simply looked at each other.

"I feel like you guys are talking telepathically or something..." Felix muttered as he looked between the boys, wondering if he was just simply not picking up on something.

"Can I ask you a question, Seungmin?" Jisung interrupted, pushing the younger out of the way once again. When he saw Seungmin nod, he continued, "So...can you like not talk? Like is it something medical?"

Seungmin watched as Hyunjin rolled his eyes, promptly shooting his friend a dirty look. He laughed at the elder's reaction and placed his own hand gently in Hyunjin's as if to say don't worry about your nosy friend.

"Not medical," he spoke just loud enough for the group to hear him. Felix and Jisung seemed to lean in towards the boy, waiting for his next words, yet they never came.

"Then why don't you just...talk?"

"Jisung," Hyunjin hissed at last. He quickly turned back to Seungmin, his hand still delicately holding the younger's as he muttered, "You don't have to answer him."

Seungmin nodded, not having planned to answer the boy anyway. He didn't blame Jisung for his curiosity, yet he never knew how to answer people who asked him why he didn't talk and expected him to answer verbally. It was actually quite ironic how so many people expected his throat would suddenly open up and words would pour out at the question.

"Sorry..." Jisung offered sheepishly, "I'm just curious...I don't mean it in a you're a weirdo type of way because I don't think that."

"She said she liked my jeans~"Shuhua sang as she walked back up to the table, slipped into the spot next to Seungmin once again, "I think that means she'll be in love with me soon enough."

Glancing over his shoulder, Felix looked in the direction the girl had ran off and asked, "Who?"

"That's a secret."

Seungmin gestured for Hyunjin to come towards him, whispering something in his ear once he did then pointing to Felix.

"Oh so you like Soojin?" Felix asked after Hyunjin whispered the same thing to him.

"Seungmin!"

A wide smile rested on the boy's lips as he shrugged, not too worried that she would actually be mad about it. Just as he suspected, Shuhua sighed and looked back at Soojin. "She's just so pretty," she mumbled.

"I'm really good friends with her," Felix spoke, "we do dance covers together sometimes—she's a really good dancer."

"Oh...she just keeps getting more and more perfect..." she whined, letting her head fall softly on Seungmin's shoulder. The boy patted her head a few times in an attempt to console her.

Felix laughed at the dramatics he was all too familiar with after being friends with Hyunjin for so long. "I could talk to her for you...nothing too obvious of course?" He offered.

Suddenly cured from her short lived heart break, she quickly nodded, "Would you do that for me?"

———
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