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━━━ " 📂 " ..⃗. ༉
𝙍 𝙊 𝙈 𝘼 𝙉 𝘾 𝙄 𝙉 𝙂
! chapter one hundred
& forty ─── ʚĭɞ
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Miyeon's foot tapped against the rubber floor of the airport, squished into the side of Seojun as they sat on the bench and waited in silence. It was so tense, atmosphere crumpling every so often with a feeling of bitterness that couldn't really be explained.
On the bench to the right of the pair sat Jugyeong and Suho, the young couple still trying so hard to be positive even in the short while before it was time for Suho to board his plane.
The man was helping sort out his plane ticket, as well as having driven them over to Suho's house so that he could pack before bringing them to the airport so that he could leave as soon as possible.
Soon was far too accurate, Miyeon would have much preferred some sort of vague answer which gave them more time to let it hit them, let them fully realise that their best friend was going over to American for an unspecified amount of time right after they had made up.
But she knew that was selfish, and that Suho need to get there a soon as possible to be there for his dad.
A hand appeared on her knee and stopped her from tapping any further, an arm snaking around her shoulder and pulling closer to that her head was resting on a shoulder. There was no doubt who it could be, and when Miyeon propped her chin up she met Seojun's eyes.
"Stop worrying." He said, a smile on his lips that didn't follow through elsewhere. "He'll be fine, Suho will be back in no time." But he didn't sound any surer than she was, the both of them trying to lie to themselves to dispell the feeling of dread in the pits of their stomach.
"Suho, it's time to go." The man had returned, plane tickets in his outstretched hand as he interrupted whatever Suho and Jugyeong had been talking about.
A little wobbly on his feet, Suho stood up and clutched the handle of his suitcase, looking over to Seojun and Miyeon. His friends shot up, Jugyeong doing the same, leading the three of them behind Suho as they made their way across the walkway to the escalator.
Suho came to the stop at the bottom, turning back around to the three lined up.
Miyeon was the first to move, thinking that it would be best for Jugyeong to have her last moments with him afterwards - she seemed to be struggling to find the right words.
The Hwang girl had to stand up on her tiptoes to manage to hug Suho properly, chin balanced on his shoulder and arms around his stomach. She felt him shake his head and return the gesture. "Don't be silly." Tears had beaded in the corners of Miyeon's eyes and and were falling. "Make sure you write.. or call or text - I'll even accept an email."
"Please make sure Jugyeong is alright." Suho replied, eyes glistening in the rather bright light above them. "And I'll try to, I promise."
"Thank you." With one more squeeze and a sniff, Miyeon pulled away, forcing herself to smile as she stepped back over to Seojun, who leant down to wipe away her tears.
"Go home. I'll go." Suho said to his girlfriend, a gentle expression on his face. Jugyeong just nodded. "Seojun, Miyeon, please take her home."
"Don't worry." Seojun agreed with a small nod of his head.
Suho managed another small smile as he turned away, only to stopped seconds later by Jugyeong call his name, emotion so clear in her tone and expressed through emotion.
In a quick few footsteps Jugyeong was hugging him, saying something that neither Miyeon nor Seojun could hear, only able to watch as Suho hugged her tighter and tears filled his eyes.
He held her close for just a little while longer, before hurrying to wipe away those that had spilt, smiling sadly over at Seojun and Miyeon as one last goodbye, holding Jugyeong by her arms. "I'll call you when I land." He promised.
They were able to smile until Suho turned away, heading up the escalator with one final look back at the Im girl, a hopeful, comforting smile on his face.
Jugyeong held herself together until he disappeared on the floor above, crouching down with her shoulders shaking. Miyeon was by her side in seconds, moving to her level and throwing an arm around her shoulder, patting her coat comfortingly.
"Oh no." The girl managed through sobs. "What if he passes away?"
"He won't, I know that he won't." Miyeon couldn't promise it, but she had met the Lee man before and she knew that he wasn't one to give up, and especially after reconnecting with his son.
"Poor Suho." Jugyeong bowed her head as more tears were shed, Miyeon rocking them back and forth after pulling the girl a little closer to her, managing to hug her properly.
Resting her temple on Jugyeong's shoulder, the Hwang girl twisting around to look over at Seojun hovering behind them. With her free hand she beckoned him over, gesturing to Jugyeong's other shoulder.
The Han boy came to crouch beside them, hesitating before his made his next move and looked up to Miyeon. Something transpired between them, an awareness over feelings and the change of events.
Even though he had been spending most of his time with Miyeon and trying to pluck up the courage to let Jugyeong know of his feelings so that she could reject him, the feelings for her were still there.
Miyeon couldn't deny that, and neither could Seojun.
The circumstances had changed, Suho had left and it didn't seem like he would be coming home anytime soon. His father would have to recover, and was living in America anyway. It wouldn't be strange for the Lee boy to stay longer.
Swallowing the slight burn in her throat, Miyeon nodded gently, her arm straying away from Jugyeong's side and letting Seojun replace her.
Their eyes met, knowing exactly what the other was thinking.
When Jugyeong had let it all out, her two best friends led her out of the airport, the two girls' arms linked and Jugyeong sniffing with her head rested against Miyeon's shoulder.
It didn't take long for them to get home, a taxi called and driving them back to Jugyeong's neighbourhood. Through comforting words and promises that everything would be just fine, Seojun and Miyeon walked away from the Im household.
Neither were that ready to return home, wandering towards the alleyway in which Seojun had stored his motorbike, but instead of setting of anywhere, Seojun slipped off his jacket and placed it on the ground, sitting down on it and patting the ground before him.
"I know you filmed that video." Seojun broke the silence, the Hwang girl's eyebrows jumping upwards and looking over at him. "Don't worry, I'm not mad."
"Good. I thought it would be.. nice for you." Miyeon replied. "Nice for you to hear from other people - other than me and Suho - just how talented you are. Did it work?"
"Did it work?" Seojun repeated, shaking his head with a smile on his face. He grew serious in seconds, gaze focused on the ground in front of him. "It felt nice to see all the comments complimenting me."
All of a sudden it was awkward, a singular thought echoing in their minds.
So much had changed in a matter of a few days, confessions of feelings, videos going viral and now, just a couple of weeks after everyone had made up, one of the three were leaving.
"You should at least try." Miyeon swallowed the awkwardness, Seojun looking over at her in confusion. "Confess to Jugyeong when you can.. do what you can to try and sort your feelings out."
"I can't.. I shouldn't." His eyes were wide, head tilted towards her. "That's unfair to you."
"And it's unfair to you. You have a chance, you should take it. At least think about it." Miyeon offered a smile. "Do it in your own time now, instead of me trying to rush it. Our lives are just going to get busier when we take Heekyung's offer, and I'll always be around waiting."
"When we take Heekyung's offer?" The Han boy rose an eyebrow.
"We'd be crazy to ignore her." The girl turned around in her seats. "Both of us want to be singers, it makes sense. You should think about that as well."
"I will do, don't worry." He reassured her, climbing up and holding out his hand. "Let's get you home, it's been a busy day."
Miyeon took his hand, letting him pull her upwards and taking the offered helmet. "Please drive carefully. These things are deathtraps." The Han boy could only shake his head at the repeated phrase.
"I'd never do something so reckless that you could end up hurt." Seojun shrugged as he swung a leg over his motorcycle. "I often do as much as I can to stop that from happening."
She didn't trust herself to speak as she settled behind him, knowing that his words were true. He'd never intentionally hurt her, yet something told her that things wouldn't be as easy as it was made out.
They couldn't go forward with their feelings for now. It would be too much, too overwhelming in the midst of the recent events. And when they became trainees again, like they inevitably would, it would just become an afterthought amongst that commitment and businesss.
For now, they were putting their futures in front of their feelings. They could always come back, the feelings wouldn't fade, they just wouldn't be acted upon until they came to a point in their lives when they could deal with that.
They would always be there for each other, as friends or as something more. That was all that mattered, really.
And, as for the ballroom dancers, the ochestra struck up another song.
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━━━ " 📂 " ..⃗. ༉
! end of act two ─── 🏹
⊹ , ˗'ˏ - thank you for reading !! ⊹
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