bully | JAEYONG

10 | GETTING BETTER

after jaehyun had said everything he was feeling to taeyong that day, slowly but surely, the relationship between the two had been getting better. of course, what jaehyun said to the red haired boy couldn't be forgotten by the other, but the taller apologizing for it did help taeyong rest assured. furthermore, knowing that the brown haired boy had a crush on him did make things awkward at times, but taeyong and jaehyun were able to make it short lived, for they knew that things only became awkward if you made them awkward.

it had only been about a week and both jaehyun's and taeyong's friends were starting to see drastic improvement in the relationship between the two boys who were once at edge with each other. they now began talking with each other in the hallways more and even got along better when the whole group hung out after school some days. johnny and ten had also apologized to taeyong for going along with jaehyun and bullying him, to which taeyong still hasn't forgiven them completely, but he has forgiven them enough to let a small stem of friendship bloom.

as for jaehyun's forgiveness, according to taeyong and his friends, the red haired boy will wait a little bit longer to determine if he's able to forgive jaehyun one hundred percent. currently, taeyong has forgiven jaehyun enough to let conversations pass between them and let a small friendship begin, but the brown haired boy awaits the day that he will be forgiven completely.

jaehyun was able to gain most of his weight and strength back, but is still a bit sleep deprived. he had stopped going to boom cafe at five in the morning and instead started meeting taeyong at the front of his dorm building at seven to go to the cafe together. it had only been two days since this started, but the two showed no signs of letting it stop, since they found this to be a good time to get to know each other more.

baekhyun was already familiar with jaehyun due to seeing the boy for two hours this past month, and finding out that the brown haired boy may be coming to the cafe regularly that isn't at some unholy hour helped the cashier conclude that taeyong finally fixed whatever was going on between them. to celebrate, baekhyun gave jaehyun and taeyong free egg mcguffins the first day of this week that they walked into the cafe together.

needless to say, everything was starting to get better between the two. the friend groups slowly began to get back together, although sicheng and yuta were still a problem for all twenty one people in the group, but at least jaehyun was no longer bullying taeyong. this definitely helped both friend groups and the two boys to get along.

all of this happening in the span of about a week and a half may seem unbelievable, but the ties were already close enough that all taeyong and jaehyun had to do was mend it together. now, they could say that their friend group is as strong as ever, even though the three bullies haven't been forgiven completely yet.

"it's almost halloween," dejun said to his friends as they were all gathered around the picnic table at the park they went to for their reunion. the first years were completing some of their homework they had, majority of it being from geometry and biology. the second years were studying for their chemistry test they had the next day, and the third years were finishing up their homework and getting a head start on studying for their SATs. the foreigners were also studying for their korean conversational test they had in a couple days.

dejun decided to pause his korean homework and bring up the topic about the upcoming holiday in late october, dragging everyone's attention towards him. "what are you guys planning to dress up as when we go trick or treating together?"

"jeno, jaemin, and i were planning to dress up as the three musketeers," renjun stated, the other two koreans nodding their heads in agreement.

"jungwoo and i are dressing up as rose and jack from 'titanic,'" lucas mentioned.

"marker hyung and i are going as each other," donghyuck said, causing the others to laugh at the honey boy's way of saying 'mark'. the said boy just pouted.

"did you just call me marker?" mark asked the younger with his arms crossed and lower lip slightly out in a pout. donghyuck just savagely nodded his head and laughed, causing mark to frown.

"i'm going as a witch," yuta said, catching some of sicheng's attention.

"shouldn't you be a wizard then?" taeyong asked, but the purple haired boy shook his head.

"a witch," yuta confirmed. taeyong gave the japanese boy an 'ok' sign with his hand before turning back to the others.

"what about you, sicheng? what are you going as?" kun asked, catching the attention of the boy who was staring off into space. the said boy shook his head before asking kun to repeat what he asked.

"oh... i don't think i'm going to go trick or treating this year," sicheng said, making everyone except yuta gasp.

"but... it was a tradition for us every year since middle school!" yangyang exclaimed in chinese to his chinese friend. those who understood agreed with yangyang while the others were confused as to what the young boy had said. but, after receiving a translation from renjun, the others also agreed with the chinese boy, all except yuta, who remained silent throughout the small bicker between his friends and sicheng.

"i just... don't feel like going this year..." sicheng's voice died down as he glanced at yuta for a split second before looking away, hoping that it went unnoticed by his friends. the light brown haired boy packed up his stuff silently with his friends still watching him, got up from his seat, and said bye to everyone as he walked away from the picnic table in the park.

"did you see that?" doyoung asked guanheng after the two sat back down. guanheng nodded his head, knowing exactly what his korean friend was referring to. the two boys looked across the table to their friend kun, who also saw what they saw. exchanging glances towards each other, the three made a silent agreement that went unnoticed by the other seventeen people around them.

taeyong was too focused on his homework for one of his classes that he didn't even catch the glance exchanged between his best friends and kun. but, he could care less because the red haired boy was more focused on completing his homework quickly and accurately so he can study for his SATs that are coming up in may.

"oh yeah, yuta. are you going on the third year trip?" jaehyun asked. "you still haven't told us if your going or not."

"third year trip?" taeyong asked, full of curiosity at the unheard event. the other third years looked at each other before experiencing an epiphany.

"oh yeah. you're new this year. i kinda forgot," doyoung said, rubbing the nape of his neck. with all the drama that went on this past couple months, everyone had forgotten that taeyong was a new student in sm high this year.

"the optional third year trip is an annual trip for the third years. the school finds a place to take the students for three days and two nights. the location is usually revealed the week before exams, so this year's location hasn't been revealed yet, but the third years usually all say that its a lot of fun and they recommend you go. sign up ends on november 4th, so if your going, you need to decide fast," doyoung quickly explained to his friend about the annual trip.

"oh..." taeyong said as he listened to doyoung's explanation about the trip. after hearing about it, the red headed boy had a sudden interest to go and asked where he could sign up.

as doyoung showed taeyong how to sign up, yuta told jaehyun that he wouldn't be attending the trip, which caused confusion in the brown haired boy because the current third years in their friend group have been awaiting this trip for years, not expecting someone to suddenly cancel last minute.

however, before jaehyun got the chance to ask why, yuta had already packed up his stuff and followed after the chinese boy that left earlier, leaving behind his other nineteen friends at the picnic table in the park.