"Eunbin!"
The loud voice shuddered Eunbin back to reality. She had been thinking about the whole Somi situation. How was she gonna tell her? She couldn't seem to get her mind off Seungmin—who walked away only a few seconds ago.
Still standing in front of Seungmin's locker, she twirled to see who the voice belonged to.
It was Jisung. She smiled at him, despite her feelings of confusion. "Oh. Hey, Jisung..." She tilted her head, puzzled by the boy's presence. "Is everything okay?"
She hadn't spoken to him. Following the break up of Somi and Hyunjin's relationship, his group of friends and Somi's group of friends—including her, Daehwi, and Park Jisung—quit hanging out. That concluded most of their friendships, excluding Jeno and Hyunjoon. Eunbin remained friends with the two.
"Have you seen Hyun— Wait, was that Seungmin you were just talking to?" He sounded out of breath, like if had been running all over the place. His eyes followed Seungmin, who just turned the corner of the hallway, no longer in their sight.
"Yeah."
"Y'know—pretty sure you already do, but Somi has a thing for Brains over there," He stated, almost teasingly, his index finger point in the direction Seungmin walked off to. "Didn't know you were friends with him."
"Well, now you know," Eunbin replied as she clutched her textbooks closer to her chest, intimidated of the way he spoke to her, as if he knew something.
Jisung raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're just friends?"
Eunbin pursed her lips, beginning to walk away, uninterested in what Jisung wanted to say next.
"By the looks of it, sure doesn't seem like you see him as just a friend," He teased the brunette, who he struggled to keep up with, as he was still catching his breath.
"What do you want, Jisung?" She questioned, getting straight to the point.
"Have you seen Hyunjin around, by any chance?" He questioned.
Eunbin's face scrunched up. "No, how would I know where he is?"
"Well, because y'know— Hyunjin used to date your best friend," He retorted. "Where is she anyway? Maybe she's seen him around. You're clearly of no help," Jisung grumbled, frowning at her.
"I don't know where Hyunjin is and I need to go find Somi, so if you'll excuse me." She held her hand up firmly—signaling him to quit following her—continuing to walk down the now empty hallways.
"Well can you at least do me a favor?" Jisung asked, slightly jogging to catch up with her—his backpack bouncing with every step.
"Would you text me if you see Hyunjin around?"
Eunbin halted abruptly, surprising Jisung. He exhaled in relief as she twirled to face him. He raised his eyebrows in question as he waited for her to speak.
"What's in it for me?" She inquired, placing a hand on her hips as the other held her textbooks.
"It's called a favor for a reason, Kwon."
"Consider it an even trade. How does that sound, Han?" She raised an eyebrow at Jisung, who rolled his eyes.
He threw his head back. "I don't have time for this, Eunbin. I need to find Hyunjin before Coach finds out he's skipping again—well, that's if he even is. Which is another reason why I need to find him ASAP, ever heard that term? It means as soon as possible, meaning I don't have time for this!"
"Alright, good luck looking for him on your own."
Already walking away from the distraught basketball player, Jisung got ahold of her wrist and twirled her around. He caught her by surprise, her jaw gaping open.
"Alright. Let me hear what you have to say, Kwon." Jisung crossed his arms over his chest, his tongue pressing on the inside of his cheek in vexation.
Tilting her head, she gave him a satisfied smile. "I knew you'd give in. I'll help you look for Hyunjin if you promise to keep your mouth shut about Seungmin," Eunbin emphasized the word with hand gestures—her fingers zipped her lips.
"What about Seungmin?" He raised a brow, arms still crossed.
"Don't act stupid."
"Alright, you got me," He sighed in defeat, giving her an amused smirk. "But I wasn't gonna tell anyone anyway," Jisung defended with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Not even your little group of basketball players?"
"When I said anyone, I meant with the exception of my best friends, of course," He replied cockily, as if she was supposed to know.
"See, that's exactly what I meant, you shithead," She retorted, shaking her head at him. "Promise me to keep your mouth shut. I especially don't want you telling Donghyuck."
"Alright, is that all you request of me, princess?" He asked teasingly, giving a half sided smile.
"Follow that single order, my knight in shining armor, and I shall comply to your favor," She replied, playing along. A loud chuckle slipped past his lips, his eyes crinkling in delight at the matter.
"It's pretty simple. Isn't it, Han? Shouldn't be hard for you to do."
"If that's your favor, you must've fucked up pretty badly," He grimaced at her, feeling sympathetic. "Does this have to do with Somi?"
"Questions weren't a part of our deal, Jisung. Now shush, let's go find Hyunjin."
⋰˚☆★⋰˚☆ * ⋰˚☆★
"I cannot believe you deliberately disobeyed your father!"
Hyunjin currently stood in the office of his mother—who worked at the local hospital, for she was a well-known surgeon. His father worked as a basketball coach for one of the best teams in the city. Hyunjin was being scolded, for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to receive a call from the principal for them to inform me that my son skipped school again?!"
"Sorry that I'm an embarrassment to you—"
"No, don't twist my words. We've been over this so many times, Hyunjin. You cannot be going around and doing whatever you feel like! You've already transferred schools once, what more do you want?! Is it so hard for you to behave and quit doing wrongful things?!" His mother was infuriated, she pounded her fists on the desk as she stood behind it.
Hyunjin licked his lips before pressing on the inside of his cheek in incredulity. He couldn't believe that they struggled to understand the situation he was in, despite explaining it to the both of them numerous times. He hung his head, feeling annoyed as his hands rested in the pockets of his pants. He refused to look his parents in the eyes—anger burning within them.
"Son, if you keep this up, there will be severe consequences. You're lucky the coach is giving you another chance. Though, it wasn't easy to convince him." His father tried to keep calm, but the exasperated sigh that left his lips depicted otherwise.
"Give me the keys to your car."
Hyunjin's head shot up at his words. A look of disbelief transformed his face, "You can't be serious, right?"
"Son, hand over the car keys," His father repeated, ignoring him.
Hyunjin turned to look at his mother for support, "Mom, tell him he's being ridiculous." She stood behind her desk, arms across her chest with an emotionless expression. With just a glance, he knew that she had enough.
"No, Hyunjin. You're the one being ridiculous with everything that you've done," His mom argued. "Now give your father the keys."
He was being ridiculous? Was it ridiculous to want a tiny bit of attention and amity from your parents for once?
Hyunjin reluctantly pulled the car keys from his pocket, before placing them into his father's hand.
"Now, I want you to go practice. I don't care where, as long as it's until your mother and I are done working. And don't go wandering around in some dance studio again, boy."
"But you don't get off until almost 6 hours from now—"
"No excuses. Now, go practice," His father demanded, pointing at the door for him to leave.
"How am I supposed to get to and from places without my car?" Hyunjin questioned, despite having many solutions in mind.
"Take the bus. Now go."
Despite the amount of frustration that grew within himself, he obeyed his father's command. He wasn't one to disrespect his parents, no matter how he felt. It's just the way he was taught to be, and always had been.
He glanced at them one last time before reluctantly leaving his mother's office. He heaved a sigh, "I'll see you later."
⋰˚☆★⋰˚☆ * ⋰˚☆★
"Jungsoon, listen to me!"
Jungsoon continued crying, tuning out all sounds and people that surrounded her. Like if she was in her own little world. Dizziness seized her body. She felt faint, as if she would collapse at any given second. Suddenly feeling herself go weak, she felt a loss of control. Everything was happening so slow.
She released the grip on her phone as soon as she read the text, the phone landing on the floor with a loud thud. But that didn't matter to Jungsoon because her mother had left. A day before her 16th birthday.
The next thing she knew, Jungsoon felt her entire body slowly begin to fall. So slow, she felt as if the entire universe was in slow motion. Seungmin rushed to her side and tried his best to catch her before she reached the ground. But by the time he got to her, she collapsed on the floor in Jaemin's room.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, Jungsoon sat up as she needed to grasp for air for every cry that she let out. She gripped onto the carpet with her hand and clutched her chest with the other, realizing she was having difficulty breathing.
"Jungsoon, are you okay? Min, why isn't she answering us?" Eric asked frantically, joining Seungmin on the floor without hesitation after her collapse. His eyes flickered with concern as he focused on her, before he shared a quick glance with the others. They all had the same frightened expressions on their faces.
"Soonie?" Seungmin asked, his eyes darting back and forth in worry as his hand stroked her head. He shook her shoulder lightly to get her to respond.
Jungsoon felt tightness in her throat, as she was short of breath. She shook her head at Seungmin, clutching tighter onto her chest. At this point, she was sweating and Seungmin noticed how much she trembled.
He furrowed his eyebrows, his agonizing eyes observing her. Seungmin's eyes shot back up at Jungsoon in a quick second.
"Soonie, can you breathe?" He questioned, trying his best to keep calm.
Again, Jungsoon shook her head.
His eyes widened in realization as he turned to Felix. "Fuck. Lix, call Minho, I think she's having a panic attack."
Jaemin, who already had his phone in his hands, didn't waste a second in dialing Minho's phone number.
"Jungsoon, breathe in and out, yeah?" Felix asked her with hopeful eyes, his eyebrows arching up as he kneeled in front of her as well.
"What do we do?" Renjun asked frantically, on the verge of tears with the sight in front of him. "Jaemin, hurry up!" He yelled, clearly overwhelmed by the whole situation.
"Injun, yelling isn't gonna help anyone. Let's calm her down together, okay?" Seungmin attempted to pacify him.
Renjun's eyebrows arched up as he slowly nodded his head, joining them in calming Jungsoon. Meanwhile, Jaemin was on call with Minho, and the others tried soothing Jungsoon and getting her to breathe properly.
⋰˚☆★⋰˚☆ * ⋰˚☆★
aaa! hello my luvs <3 i'm back!
feel free to skip over this, i just wanted to take the time to thank u all !!! this story has reached 200k views & it's all thanks to u 😢 my birthday was on the 20th which makes me 18! Time flies!
The amount of support & love i have received is the greatest gift i could've ever asked for & it's all bc of u!!! again, thank u sm i can't express it enough 💗 so in honor of my birthday, seungmin's birthday & 200k reads, i have decided to split the chapter i was working on into 2. this is the first part, i couldn't refrain from posting on such special occasions so this a bit of what i had written <3 hehe anyway hope u all enjoyed! i'll post the following part soon! i will now be changing the 17 in my bio to an 18 🥰 til then~ take care!