another go era pic? of course 😌
• Chapter 61 •
Jeno pulled at Jaemin's arm. The younger of the two pouted as he slowly got dragged away from the table.
"This is torture," he muttered tiredly.
"You are the one that registered for this course knowing it lasts the whole day," Renjun pointed out, showing no mercy for the younger.
However, he was right and so the boy agreed. He sighed deeply. "It felt like a good idea at the time," he explained.
Renjun nodded. "And we live with our choices, kid."
Jaemin squinted his eyes shut and let out a short, breathy, "I hate everything."
"Same," Renjun mumbled without even looking up. Haechan smirked in amusement, Jisung looked up to check on Jaemin.
"We'll wait here for you," he reminded both of them which left the younger of the two smiling brightly.
He put a hand above his heart. "As expected from my Jisungie~" he said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
And Jisung scrunched his nose. "K."
Not particularly surprised by the half-hearted reply, Jeno and Jaemin eventually turned around and left the other three alone, who sat at a table outside the corridor that led into the building and to their classroom.
During the meeting, they had discussed that it wouldn't be unlikely for either Young-hee or Hyun-joo to try and get the two most vulnerable members of Jisung's friend group. So, in order to keep them safe, they organized to have at least one of the other 21 boys looking after them at any time.
Originally, they had planned to spend the day together. However, since Jeno and Jaemin had a class today, Renjun, Haechan and Jisung decided to wait for and babysit them instead. They didn't just want to let their friends wander around the campus all alone.
"They must be exhausted but training all day still seems more exciting than sitting here and doing nothing," Haechan said, referring to Chenle and Cho-a.
Renjun and Jisung agreed wordlessly, with the youngest of them looking at his phone restlessly, checking the time.
"If you want to see her, just go," Renjun told him.
But Jisung quickly shook his head, put his phone down, screen facing the table.
"I told Jaemin I'd wait for him."
"He won't be back for another hour," the oldest noted but he merely got a shrug in return. "Okay but don't whine about it later."
"Why would I?" Jisung said utterly confident, accompanying his words with an amused huff.
"Because you spend a lot of time with her but the one who spends the most time with her is Chenle," he explained. "And I bet you don't like that."
Haechan hummed quickly, agreeing with him. He sat up straight, looked strictly at the youngest. He motioned up and down his body.
"There's a lot of room for jealousy in a tree like you," Haechan pointed out.
"I'm not that tall," Jisung argued.
"That wasn't the point anyway." He tilted his head to the side, raised a brow. "Weren't you even jealous of Renjun before?"
At which Jisung quickly put his hands before his chest defensively.
"That was before I knew that--" he began, then paused. "Wait. She told you?"
Giving each other knowing looks, Renjun and Haechan couldn't hide how entertained they were. Somewhere underneath light-hearted chuckles and the comfortable casualness that the situation brought with it, Haechan hummed.
"She called it endearing but judging by today's state of knowledge, it's kind of embarrassing, isn't it?" he mocked.
The deep breath Jisung took afterwards was meant as a way to get himself to stay calm. As much as he loved his friends, they sometimes managed to be so effortlessly annoying that it was almost impressive.
However, today he let it be.
He ignored both boys and just rested a bit. He watched the sun set until it eventually disappeared behind buildings and trees. Distant rays of light coloured the sky a light shade of blue before it eventually turned dark in all absence of light.
It was pretty.
Time went by slowly, but every second that passed merely helped set the mood for a calm night.
Jisung put his arms on the table and rested his head on it. Eyes closed, he enjoyed the soft wind that sneaked past his legs and the distant sound of cars passing, people talking, insects singing.
And just like this, minutes had passed before Jisung's phone suddenly rang. He picked it up quickly.
[Incoming call]
[♡Nana♡]
He frowned for a second. "When did he change his name again?" he mumbled eventually, before picking up and guiding the phone up to his ear. Head still on his arms, he waited for him to talk.
But he wouldn't.
"What's up?" Jisung asked instead, getting ready for the older one's voice to push through the speakers.
He was getting ready to hear Jaemin talk. He expected his voice.
"Jisung~"
Sitting up straight, eyes wide all of a sudden, he stared ahead blankly. Instead of the voice of the boy he adored so much, he heard a voice he hated so deeply.
"Are you surprised?" Young-hee asked almost excitedly.
Meanwhile, Jisung bit his teeth together to control his anger. With every exhale he pressed his chest down until his lungs were dry of air and with every inhale he filled them until they felt like they were about to burst.
But it all didn't matter because he felt like he couldn't breathe.
"Why do you have his phone?" Jisung merely asked.
The other two boys that had not quite understood what was going on until now were suddenly starting to feel nervous as well. Watching and listening closely, they shared looks.
"What a boring question," she said after pushing out a disappointed sigh. "It's not like I stole their backpacks and found their phones in it."
The mocking tone she carried in her voice made him sick.
"I have Jaemin's phone because he and Jeno are with me," she explained.
"Young-hee, if you--"
"Yeah, I know, I know. Don't worry about that. They are fine," she reassured before pausing and adding, "For now."
Jisung took a deep breath. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Meet me," she said simply. "You can take all of your friends with you, I also brought some. I will give you... an hour? I'll send you the address."
And with that, she hung up, leaving nothing but silence behind as the three friends sat next to each other wordlessly.
He had been through this before. He had gotten a call like this from her back when Cho-a was with her. He had heard her threaten Jeno and Jaemin before.
However, this time it felt scarier. It felt more serious. Because Young-hee was obviously angry. Although he had expected her to do something, now that she actually did it, he was surprisingly anxious.
"Renjun." Jisung said his name sternly. "Check on Jeno and Jaemin. Now."
His urgency left no room to wait, no room to argue. So, disappearing in a split second, Renjun left the other two alone.
It wasn't like he genuinely believed that Renjun would be able to find them - not with how sincere Young-hee sounded. However, he couldn't not check.
Besides, there was something else he needed to do.
Meanwhile, Haechan tried his best to stay calm despite how alarmed the youngest was. He was hesitant to ask.
But he figured he didn't have much of a choice anyway.
"Tell me what's going on," he demanded reluctantly at which Jisung closed his eyes for just a second.
He needed to calm down. Calm down.
He exhaled heavily, looked at Haechan. "Do me a favour, go to that building where Chenle and Cho-a train. Hurry, I don't want Renjun to panic."
But the panic he was talking about was glistening and burning inside the youngest's eyes already. Even knowing his position, even knowing his strength - it felt wrong leaving him alone here, pretending that he was calmly figuring everything out.
Upon his hesitation, Jisung smiled. He knew why he was looking at him like that and he had no excuses to offer. So all he gave him was a lowly spoken,
"Please, Haechan."
The older clenched his jaw. He was unsure of what to do. He was unsure about what was even going on.
"Stay here, I will be right back," he said eventually, before disappearing and leaving the boy alone.
All alone by himself, in the middle of a quiet, dark campus. His heart pumped against his chest, blood burning hot as it rushed through his veins. He couldn't control the grey clouds that covered his brown orbs.
He didn't wait before he called Yuta and Taemin, who called Johnny and Doyoung, who called Taeyong and Kun. So the news spread that everyone needed to get ready because the day they were talking about not so long ago during their meeting had already come.
However, it was just after Jisung ended his call with Taemin, that he received a message and right afterwards Haechan was back with him.
"Did you--" But he stopped talking when Haechan nodded towards the youngest's phone just as Renjun came back to the table as well.
Before he got a chance to look at the text, however, he focused on Renjun who seemed a little out of breath.
"The teacher said they didn't come back to class after their break," he informed them hurriedly. "I looked around a few other classrooms but I didn't find them anywhere."
"What are we going to do?" Haechan asked urgently.
"I called Yuta and Taemin, they will tell the others," Jisung explained briefly. "We will meet everyone there."
With 'there' being a place they had never been to before. All Jisung knew after looking at the message was that it was an abandoned building, on the outskirts of the city.
"What about Cho-a and Chenle? Did you call them?" Renjun quickly asked, coming a little closer as he looked up at the youngest with expecting eyes.
For a second, Jisung froze. He glimpsed at Haechan briefly, then down at his phone.
[3 new messages]
Haechan Hyung
(6:27 p.m.)
they aren't here but there is a note next to their things
it's Cho-a's handwriting
[Haechan Hyung sent a picture]
(read)
Just a little piece of paper that read in neatly written handwriting, 'Chenle is with me. Don't get angry please.'
"Jisung, I have a question," Cho-a said before asking. "If I do something stupid without telling you beforehand, will you get angry at me?"
Jisung took a deep breath, again looking at Haechan briefly who stayed silent and waited patiently for him to talk first.
"Where are they...?" Renjun asked hesitantly. However, his words were quickly swept away by the next breeze that washed over them. It was calm and quiet and surprisingly warm.
But no warmth could prevent Renjun from getting goosebumps at the missing reaction of the other two.
"Are you doing it alone?"
Cho-a quickly shook her head - but then she stopped and nodded. She looked confused before she replied a little simpler, "Partially?"
Clenched jaw, Jisung took a deep breath. He trusted them and he promised not to get angry.
But he couldn't think about it for too long. All he wanted was for all of them to be fine.
"Let's get Jeno and Jaemin back," he decided after some hesitation.
"Jisung. Where are Cho-a and Chenle?" Renjun urged. Jisung didn't want to reply. He didn't have a good answer anyway.
So he allowed himself another second before saying that,
"Let's just hope that they know what they're doing."
• Storm •
But do we really trust Chenle and Cho-a that they know what they are doing?
I guess we'll find out
I pieced the chapter together from a lot of different scenes because I re-wrote a lot. If anything is confusing or doesn't make sense please let me know (maybe I accidentally deleted something)! Thanks~
okay bye guys 💚💚