FINAL
—
"mel, get out of bed." mark knocked at her door, expecting as if she would happily get up and do as he said. "melanie."
the girl sighed, getting up and putting on some boots to go with her black pajamas. she opened the door, skipping past her older brother with sass.
"good job, you're up. now come on, lets go to the airpo— why are you grabbing your keys? oh, are you driving there yourse— mel what are you doing?" mark asked, as she walked out the door.
she almost made it to her door, until her fast brother caught up to her. "if you don't say goodbye to him, you'll be sorry. and it's not just hendery, xiaojun is leaving too."
mel sighed, still pissed off at everyone. she looked in her car, and grabbed a hot, flat, half empty bottle of pepsi. "give him this as a parting gift. now goodbye."
mark sighed, but accepted it as she drove away.
the girl arrived to her destination rather quickly, getting out of the car to skip into the home she recognized very well. joori's sister let her in, and she walked in to see her friends.
"hey, you good?" joori asked, standing up and giving melanie a hug.
"what? oh yeah, i'm great. so are we helping you pack or what." mel clapped, jumping to some boxes as bella and sungchan looked at each other.
joori didn't bother her anymore about it, but felt as though she needed to talk about it.
mel felt embarrassed more than anything. she yelled at sungchan, only for him to be right. her own friends kept this secret from her. and hendery dated her knowing he was leaving. it was all such bullshit.
"mel, you are violating that box." bella whispered, as the older one looked at her friends to find them staring.
she didnt notice how aggressive she got, and decided to take a break. "i'll be back."
sitting down on an outside seat, melanie put her head in her hands. it's not like she could text hendery, he was blocked on everything.
the door creaked open, and she saw the awkward tall male standing there.
"okay, tell me." she sighed, and he tilted his head. "say i told you so. i feel like absolute shit and if you told me that it'd probably be a cherry on top but i know you want to."
"why do you think i'd ever say that? i'm not that mean, you know. i came here because bella and joori were both too scared to and they said im the toughest to bruise." he explained, and took a seat next to her.
mel grinned, knowing that wasn't true. "i wish i never met him."
"really?" sungchan asked, concerned.
"yeah, a hundred percent. i wish that ten months ago i never answered his dumb snapchat and never offered him a job. i wish your stupid cousin and yangyang never quit that job in the first place. god things would be so fucking good right now." mel groaned, rethinking every possible thing ever. "how could he do that to me? how could he date me, tell me he loves me, have sex with me, and then just leave? i never thought of him as someone who could ever do that."
sungchan hated hendery too, as did joori and bella. they were officially a part of the hate team. but he still didn't want to hate on hendery, because he never really knew with melanie. "hey whats that cheese called? its like booda?"
mel furrowed her eyebrows, ignoring the tear that rolled down her cheek. "gouda?"
"yeah! isnt that the kind of cheese that the people in television shows wear as hats?" he asked, and mel was still completely lost.
"i mean.. i think so?"
"hey, oh my god. you know those tiktoks where they're like showing nature pictures and then talking about how giants once roamed the world, do you believe in that?" sungchan asked her.
"i guess if dinosaurs are real then giants can be— aw, you actually watch tiktoks now? see, i am a good influence on you."
"i guess you are, but i'm still not going to use lowercaps. they look.. wrong. i feel gross when i even try to." sungchan shuddered, cause mel to laugh.
"i don't get you at all. you're the embodiment of edgy teen boy but yet don't fit into any of those categories. it's like you were manufactured in a laboratory."
"yes exactly, by those twin sisters on that show with the dog." sungchan nodded, and mel instantly knew he meant johnny test.
"you're weird." mel rolled her eyes, then remembered they were talking about something else. she was about to bring it up again, almost saying his name.
"you know the grinch? i feel like everyone does. well thats a pretty classic christmas movie, but my mom hated it. with a passion. for christmas she would put on edward scissorhands. and i mean every single christmas. just that movie, on repeat. even after my dad died she kept playing it." sungchan explained, grabbing her attention.
"edward scissorhands? really? i have only watched about thirty minutes of it." she chuckled.
sungchan gasped, "i can quote that movie. inside and out, my mom was so obsessed."
"she sounds really cool. i can't believe you were such a loser than you chose to live here instead of hawaii." mel
teased him, wondering about his absent mother.
"she is cool. i think after my dad's death she stopped being a wife and a mom. i still love her and she still loves me, but i'm no longer her priority anymore. it's all fine, i mean. i got some pretty cool friends, especially one of them who will be dragged to watch edward scissorhands soon."
the girl laughed at his last sentence, as joori and bella walked out. mel looked up at them, bella having tape all over her arm.
"you look sticky." mel pointed, bella shrugging and continuing to play with her tape.
joori sat close to mel, hugging her shoulder, "men are all disappointments, forget them all. you see, the sooner you realize they're all trash, the sooner you prosper in life."
mel laughed, looking over to sungchan. he was the only boy here, but he nodded his head.
"mel, what the hell are you wearing?" bella asked, everyone laughing at her outfit. black sweat pants, black sweaters, and brown ugg boots.
mel stuttered on her words, "it's fashion, you wouldn't get it." the girl chuckled, her phone ringing. jisung was calling her, oddly enough.
"don't answer it, he's with the villians." bella sighed, treating them like the bad guys. "you know, it still blows my mind that mark hated donghyuck and hendery for getting involved with you and all that but still manages to be on hendery's side about that—"
"i thought we weren't talking about that, bella?" sungchan said in a scary voice, causing the youngest to cover her mouth.
the girl pressed decline, smiling as joori brought out some hand puppets she found while packing. "mel, do you remember these?"
"oh my god, yes. we would put on shows for everyone back in elementary school with sooyoung. that's so embarrassing. renjun would bully the hell out of us, what a brat." mel giggled, stroking the yarn on the puppets.
her phone began to ring again, and mel rolled her eyes. she stood up, answering the phone. "jisung?"
"no— please don't hang up just listen. look you don't even have to respond and you can hang up after, but just hear me out. i made a big mistake not telling you, i thought not telling you would just make it easier on me. i didn't even take your feelings into consideration and i'm so sorry, your feelings are everything to me. i get it if you can't forgive me, but i never intentionally tried to hurt you."
it was quiet for a second, then mel hung up. nothing that he could say would make it better. she was so tired of him, and all the drama.
"i think i'm going to join the celibacy club and not date anyone until i am twenty years old." mel turned around, the three people cheering her on. "relationships are stupid and i never wanna be in one again."
"aww, but maybe donghyuck can come comfort you." bella sighed, mel hitting the little girls head.
the rest of the day, melanie spent it packing at joori's house. sungchan made dumb jokes about his homeschooling, bella tried to lighten the mood by talking about how she almost failed the year, and joori cried about moving out.
she technically could have had all summer to enioy before completely moving like mark, but she wanted to spend this extra time with her girlfriend.
but unlike hendery, she actually gave mel a two week notice to when she'll be moving.
after stopping by the hospital to receive her final check from work, the girl noticed xiaojun walking in the dark. she chuckled, driving up next to him. "hey stranger, what happened to china?"
xiaojun shrugged, looking around, "china's always there."
"need a ride?" the girl asked, xiaojun rolling his eyes but getting in. "so if you didn't go—"
"hendery's gone, i'm sorry." xiaojun sighed, mel nodding and turning the radio a bit higher. "well what do you wanna do, i got all night."
xiaojun smiled at her, looking out the window as he turned to her, "oh shit, hendery actually told me to give you this."
mel furrowed her eyebrows, and scoffed as he pulled out a brand new pepsi. her smile disappeared, trying to not focus on what a nerd he was.
"nice."
—
the end