Jay needed to get to the dorms. He had thought that maybe if he ignored how urgent Jungwon was to leave then his worry would go, too. False. The minutes passing by poured weight to his apprehension and he decided to leave.
"Woah. Jay where are you going?" Jake had asked him when he noticed Jay jogging down the stairs of the building.
Not now. The way he and the others were gathered on the stairs kept him from descending any further. "I need to go back to the dorms," He answered quickly.
"What about Jungwon? You drove him so why isn't he with you?" Sunoo question as he leaned over. He peaked behind Jay's back to make sure of it.
Jay sucked his teeth. His grip on the small bag tightened and he shook his head. He couldn't do this. Something felt wrong and he needed to go back to the dorms as soon as possible. "He left a while ago. He used a taxi--just...I need to go back to the dorms okay?"
"What happened?" Sunghoon asked. This time looking just as confused. He was the one that left the two together anyway. A part of him made him feel like he had something to do with it. Sunoo tapped his shoulder. He looked his way, but Sunoo only shook his head.
"Just go Jay. It may be important so just get there as soon as possible if you think something is up. Thanks for the hangout, okay?" Sunoo said.
Jay nodded. Thump. He was uncomfortably conscious of his heartbeat. Why does it feel like something's going wrong? Everything was going so well so why was this happening? At times like this, he wanted nothing more than to have his premonition proved wrong. It didn't matter how. "Alright. I'll get going then," he said.
Despite the confusion or their concern, his friends stepped out of the way. They would probably ask Sunoo about it later or leave it. Whatever they would do, it didn't matter to Jay. Truly it was the least of his worries.
Who did Jungwon talk to? Jay felt like he was losing himself getting concerned so easily. What did they talk to him about? He internally battled against his own thoughts. Why did he rush back to the dorms so fast? He could be overthinking it like how he sometimes did things, but he knew for sure this wasn't a case of that. Something was going wrong.
Jay made his way down the stairs as quickly as possible. Though, he was sure not to trip over himself. The temperature was getting noticeably colder and maybe that aided his apprehension as well. It was night, the sky growing dark and the chill more prominent, everything to make him worry.
And Jay was now alone in the building. The reverberating sound of his footsteps against the building floors enough to sink his heart. He would make a fool of himself if all this was, was just a result of his excessive thinking.
Jay looked over to an empty passenger seat when he got back into his car. It only made it worse. He was used to driving by himself, it was his car after all; all he really did was drive himself from place to place and sometimes his friends too. But now it was odd because Jungwon wasn't in it.
Jungwon wasn't in the passenger seat. He wasn't looking out the window while probably commenting on random things or just staying silent. It was just Jay returning by himself when before he was with him.
Jay had to find an answer somehow, and there was only one way to. So he put an end to his thinking and relied on his impulse. Invigorating it was when his hand touched the cold steering wheel. The silence was now acquainted with the thrum in his chest.
Jay had to get back to the dorms.
Jay ran up to the door with his hands fumbling for the keys in his pockets. He felt like he was running out of time already. Perhaps he was, and right when he raised the key the door opened.
A man dressed formally in an all black tuxedo and a woman properly clad in a pearl adorned dressed. The scowl on the woman's face was exchanged for a warm smile the moment she saw Jay standing there.
Jay hadn't even had time to react, but he was sure that now he had found the problem.
"Ah, sorry to be in your way. You must be our son's roommate. I am Mrs. Yang, and this is Mr. Yang. It is nice to meet you." She extended her hand for a handshake that Jay rigidly responded to.
"You came all the way for a visit?" Jay asked her.
"Oh, come on. South Korea is a small country so it is not hard to travel." She smiled. From the radiant pearls on her neck he could tell that traveling was simply nothing for her. When she looked that well off, it would be hard to say money was a trouble. "And plus. It was just an urgent talk, but it is cleared out of the way now."
She stepped to the side and looked back at the dorm interior. "I must say, the dormitories are very well here. It must be nice to be living in this area, right?" She brushed her hair behind her shoulder, and Jay caught a glimpse of the ring around her thin finger. The woman glanced back at him. Her eyes were expecting of a response.
"Uh yeah. It is nice. Were you in a rush to leave?" He inquired.
"Oh. No, of course not. Our main thing is out of the way so we are not in a rush anymore...So you are Jay then." The man put on a grin and fixed his glasses.
Out of reverence Jay took a bow. He had to stay on their good side. "Yes, I am."
"What a handsome man you are," the woman joyfully chimed. "I am hoping that the girl students are good too. It would be nice to finally see my son come home with a good person."
Condescending.
Jay awkwardly chuckled. He barely nodded.
"You say too much," Mr. Yang spoke as his hand reached for hers. He faced Jay and gave him another slight smile. "It was nice talking to you then. Do well in your classes and keep your grades up, Park. It will be nice to see you get a good job in the future if our son keeps in touch."
"Of course," Jay quickly responded. He was dancing on needles just trying to speak to them.
Their kind mask was just a veneer, Jay could tell that.
They ended the exchange with a bow and Mr. Yang left first.
Jay stood in tense silence. He caught notice of how Mrs. Yang kept her eyes on her husband until he grew further and further out of reach. There went his heartbeat again. This didn't feel right.
It was a vile transition from her smile to her frown. When her husband was gone, the atmosphere around her was entirely different. She stepped into the hallway to close the door behind her.
Jay pressed his arms against his sides. The tightness grew in his throat. What now?
She slowly stepped closer to him. "Do not get too close to my son, understood? I do not want him getting influenced by any of these...acts going around," she warned him, her voice dropped by a semitone.
Acts. If Jay was clueless he wouldn't have known what she meant by that, but he did.
Jay clenched his hands. "Right. I will not," he mumbled back.
She stepped back. The tension had diminished, but not completely. She smiled at him; crinkles near her eyes and deceiving dimples in her soft beige cheeks. At least Jay knew where Jungwon got it from. "Thank you. Well, have a great rest of your night then. We will be going overseas for some time so as much as you can, please keep our son out of trouble. Bye bye," she chimed.
Jay didn't have the focus to respond before she left. The sound of her heels against the polished hall walls were left echoing in his mind.
What an interaction.
Jay had realized that she didn't lock the door when he turned the knob and it clicked. He pushed open the door immediately, and when he entered the dorm he hastily removed his shoes at the entrance. "Jungwon-ah," he called out.
Jay could see Jungwon's door from the entrance since it wasn't far. Jungwon's door was closed completely. He couldn't see any light peeking from the gap underneath the door. That shouldn't bother Jay, but it did.
Jay softly knocked on Jungwon's door. "Jungwon-ah," he said again, but he received no answer. "Jungwon...are you awake?"
"Open the door," Jungwon mumbled back.
Jay heaved a small breath to brace himself before he rested his hand on the doorknob. He opened the door and looked inside.
Jungwon was sitting on his bed with his knees hiked up and his arms loosely wrapped around them. Though, it was more of his fragile expression that made Jay frown.
"Why did you come back so early? You said it ended at nine," Jungwon quietly murmured as he spoke into the fabric over his arm. The atmosphere in his room was entirely different; sullen and dark. It made Jay's heart wrench. "You did not have to come see me. I'm fine."
"No you're not," Jay said. He stepped closer into the younger boy's room but kept his respectful distance away from Jungwon. He held a look of sympathy as it built within him. There were no more questions in his head, just wants.
Like the want to help.
"How would you know that? We aren't even close, Jay," Jungwon mumbled. A part of it pained Jay to hear, but Jay knew that he was speaking that way to shelter his emotions.
"You're speaking in contractions now," Jay told him. He noticed Jungwon features get flashed over by frustration and he prepared himself for whatever Jungwon was going to say.
"Are you acting like my parents now? Do I have to speak properly around you too, after you told me not to?" Jungwon fired.
Jay exhaled loudly. "That's not the point I'm trying to make," he said. Flicking on Jungwon's room light, he stepped closer to Jungwon's bed. Jungwon looked back at him with narrowed eyes and it was interesting, the amount of feigned animosity in them. "You only ever talk in contractions when you're like this...most of the time."
"Why does it bother you? Nothing should bother you. This is my issue and my issue only."
"What did they say?" Jay asked him.
Jungwon watched as his own hands fiddled with the blanket underneath him. "Private matters. Nothing big," he lied, but Jay knew that.
"Let me—"
"Jay just leave," Jungwon emotionally snapped. His hands shook as he squeezed at the duvet. He shook his head continuously. "I can't do this, just please leave my room. That's all. Not now...I can't."
The path from his thoughts to his words had stopped. Jay couldn't say anything.
Jungwon glanced up at Jay, an upset frown on his lips and a powerless look in his eyes. Jay had to leave, he couldn't overstep.
If Jungwon wanted him to leave then he had no other choice but just hope that they could talk about it eventually. "Okay."
And his okay would prove to be a grave mistake.