Seoul Men's Academy
Final Day
TWENTY NINTH CHAPTER
"AND LET'S CONGRATULATE THE CHAMPION OF THE ROUND 3 DANCE COMPETITION," the emcee said excitingly and pointed at the drummer for the drum roll. "The champion are..."
"TAEYANG AND MINZY! Congratulations!" Everyone in the room roared and cheered for Taeyang and Minzy as they went to the stage, very happy, to accept the award with Kim Hyun Joong.
It's finally the third and final day of the music festival in SMA. And it's the final round of the Round 3 Dance competition.
Jiyeon, Kai and Taemin just clapped their hands off, full of bitterness. They are still bitter that they did not even won a single award, well, except for the consolation prize, besides that, there's nothing else. Although, Jiyeon was kinda happy that she finally got a picture with her idol, Hyunjoong, yesterday. And got her albums signed. And Hyunjoong also complimented their performance. He said that if they were more synchronized at the last part, they might have stand a chance.
Kai sighed, full of grief. Jiyeon patted Kai. She knows how Kai badly wants this, and she felt, somewhat, guilty that they lost the synchrony of their dance because of her.
"Well, this is frustrating," Taemin bluntly said, followed by a heavy sigh. Taemin and his partner also did not won a single award. So all three of them are in the same boat—all feeling gloomy.
"I think it's best if we go now," Jiyeon suggested.
"She's right," Taemin agreed. He and Jiyeon stood up. However, Jiyeon noticed Kai does not have any plan on standing up. He has this sad and furious look on his face.
"Kai," Jiyeon tried to call Kai's attention, but failed. She held our her hand to Kai. "C'mon, Kai. I know it's painful to watch, so, let's go now."
"We should've been on that stage right now, accepting those rewards," Kai said.
Jiyeon felt guilty again, and couldn't say a word. She just shrugged it off. And she knows that the top 5 who were qualified for the final round totally deserves it, all of them did great. "C'mon." Jiyeon reached out her hand to Kai and shook it—to catch Kai's attention.
Kai stared at Jiyeon's hand, and he smiled a little. He grabbed Jiyeon's hand, and intertwined it with his hand. Now, you can't trace a single grief sign on Kai's face—all you see was grin.
Jiyeon's guilty feeling fades into a happy one. Seeing Kai happy also made her happy.
Taemin felt a little left out while they were exiting the room. "You two should seriously date. I mean, look at you two."
Jiyeon and Kai looked at Taemin with a smile on their faces. The two looked at each other, and just laughed off what Taemin said. Taemin rolled his eyes from the two's cheesiness, and decided to leave the two behind.
Jiyeon liked the feeling that Kai's holding her hand, and playing it around.
Kai stopped walking, pulling Jiyeon behind. Jiyeon turn around to face Kai. Kai looked at their hands, stroking Jiyeon's hand with his thumb. "Everything feels better when you're around."
Jiyeon can't help it but to smile. If then, she find Kai's cheesy lines cheesy, now, she found those lines romantic. Her cheeks flared into scarlet, and she can feel the heat from her ears.
Kai arranged Jiyeon's hair to her ear, and made an eye contact with her. "Jiyeon, I lov—"
"THERE YOU, TWO, ARE!!!" Suddenly someone interrupted their lovely moment by patting Kai's back heavily. This made Kai grunt in frustration.
"Who on earth—?" He turned around to see who patted his back. "Tsk," he hissed once he saw Sehun with Luhan and Tao. "Uggh, god!" He ruffled his hair in deep frustration.
"Woah, you seemed annoyed," Tao concluded as he wrapped his arm around Kai's shoulder. Then he patted Kai's chest. "Bro, move on that you didn't win the competition."
Kai jerked away from Tao, still annoyed that someone interrupted them and made the matter worse—Tao remind them that they lost the competition. Kai glared at him. "Whut? Have you moved on that you also lost your competition?" Kai gave emphasis. He saw Tao got offended, and this made Kai smirk.
"Woah, woah, woah." Sehun went in between them and stopped them from a potential fight. "That's why we're going to celebrate, right?"
"Celebrate?" Jiyeon asked herself. 'Why to celebrate if none of us won any award?' she thought. She noticed Luhan went near her, with hands on his pockets.
He laughed, which made Jiyeon shocked. "We're going to celebrate because none of us won any award at any competition." Luhan scoffed and looked at Jiyeon with a small smirk on his face.
For no reason, Jiyeon also smiled at Luhan, though, she still felt awkward around him. Luhan's smile became wider, and then he looked at his three friends fighting over senseless things on the other side. Jiyeon couldn't get her eyes off Luhan.
'Why are you so complicated, Luhan? I don't understand you,' she thought with a sigh. She observe the Luhan she was seeing—smiling. She can't see no coldness within him. 'Why can't he be like this all the time?'
"C'mon, lovebirds." Sehun wrapped his arm around Jiyeon's and Kai's neck. "Kris has a surprise for us." And they started walking to the school's parking lot.
Dusk is inevitable, and the four noticed that more students are going to the campus' uncovered court for the music fest's bonfire, and some are going home since it's getting dark. Somewhere late at night, there will be fireworks as the finale of SMA's music festival. The four didn't mind the stampede on the other side, they went to the parking lot. They heard a loud music playing in a great bass nearing them.
They saw several figures surrounded on Kris' car. And the only light that were lighting them was the headlights of Kris' car and a broken light post.
"There they are!" Kris raised a juice bottle in the air once he recognized Kai, Jiyeon, Tao, Sehun and Luhan's faces. "C'mon!" He said coolly, and drank his bottle.
Tao and Sehun ran towards Kris, excited. While Kai grinned at Jiyeon, excited what's going to happen next.
"Faster! C'mon!" Kris yelled.
When they finally reached the group, Jiyeon saw Hyomin and the rest of the girls and boys. Hyomin and Eunjung hugged Jiyeon. The four went to the back of Kris' car.
Kris' popped his compartment, and 4 cases of beer on a juice bottle went to say hello to them.
"That's a lot!" Kai reacted.
"Whut? That's not even enough!!" Kris laughed. "C'mon! Let's celebrate." Kris grabbed four bottles of the fake juice (which are really beers) that he bought angave it to each one of them. "Help yourselves. Cheers!" The five raised their bottles and made a triumphant toast, despite their losts.
All of them felt winners with Kris' treat. They had a mini party at the parking lot despite of the many people who were looking at their way. They didn't care.
Kris took a bottle and went to Qri. "Here you go."
"Thanks," Qri said, while she was dancing to the rhythm of the song that was playing on Kris' car. "C'mon, dance with me." And both of them went dancing. Some of their classmates teased them for being sweet and complicated. Obviously, Qri was not on her right mind this time since she's already blurry from the 2 bottle of beers she drank. She's not really a drinker.
Jiyeon and Kai sat on the hood of Kris' car, laughing for silly reasons. They talk about the music fest—who think who stood out the best in the different competitions, they also talk about their other classmates, and other different things.
Kai is a heavy drinker, and he already drank more than 10 bottles this night.
'He must be really frustrated with the result of his competition,' some of his classmates thought.
On the other hand, Jiyeon only drank 5 bottles, and her sight was already blurry. But she can still think clearly...kind of.
"C'mon Jongin, you've had enough." Kyungsoo removed the bottle on Kai's hand.
"Noooooo," Kai said in a slow-motion voice, and added, "I'm still cleeaaarr. Crystalll."
"I told you, bro. 4 cases ain't enough," Kris laughed at the wasted Kai.
Kai gulped, squinted his eyes, and wobbly stood up to get his bottle from D.O. Jiyeon just chuckleded seeing Kai really dozed off, he almost fell catching Kyungsoo.
"HA.HA.HA. YOU LOST. YOU LOST. YOU LOST!" Tao went to Kai and teased him, taking the advantage that he is drunk.
"Are you nuts?" Suho stopped Tao. "Kai is drunk. Never mess with a drunk person."
"WHAAAAT??" Kai faced Tao, wobbling on his position. "You," Kai pointed at Tao, trying to straighten his arms, but failed to do so, since he's drunk, "Don't you eveeeer," He went near Tao and continued, "As in EVEEER. Steal my girl from me!" He started to say crazy things.
"What are you saying? Hahaha," Tao laughed.
"Haha! I have a secret! Haha! But I won't tell you! Bleh!" Kai sticked his tongue out to Tao. Kai made faces to annoy Tao. "Huhu. Don't go beg me. I won't really tell."
Everyone laughed at Kai's ridiculous actions. He's unstoppable.
"I'm so good at everything! Don't you think?" Kai looked at everyone, he nodded to himself as a 'yes' from everyone. "I'm so good at dancing, academics, rapping and, of course, acting. I'm multi-talented!"
D.O laughed as he went to Kai. "Bro, haha, you need to stop. Let's go to bed." He was concerned about whatever Kai's going to do next—may be bad, may be good.
"Nooo, not yet. I'm not done." Kai slightly pushed Kyungsoo away. "You, guys, have no freaking idea what I am feeling right now. I'm so saaad, and guilty, and sad. I can't contain this feeling anymore."
Chanyeol patted Kai's back. "That's alright, Kai. You're still the best dancer for us."
'I should be the one who's guilty. It was because of me, we lost,' Jiyeon thought, blaming herself.
"Really?" Kai smiled at Chanyeol with heavy eyelids. "Thank you. You know that I love you, right?"
"C'mon, let's get you to bed." Chanyeol put Kai's arm to his neck, so he could carry Kai back to the dormitories. Kyungsoo helped.
"Noo." Kai pouted. He turned his head to look at Jiyeon. "But what about Jiyeon? She's going to be alone."
"Don't worry, Kai," Baekhyun immediately sat beside Jiyeon and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "She's in good hands." Baekhyun winked at Kai.
Kai stopped from walking with Kyungsoo and then glared at Baekhyun and warned him. "Yah, Byun Baekhyun..." Baekhyun got alarmed with Kai's threatening tone, "Don't let her get near Luhan, alright?" He reminded Baekhyun, even though Luhan is nowhere to be seen.
Baekhyun got somewhat happy and somewhat offended that Kai didn't threatened him. He felt like he doesn't stand a chance around Jiyeon. But he just let the feeling pass. The important thing is that he's now alone with Jiyeon.
Kai started walking away, but still looking at Jiyeon. "Forgive me, Jiyeon. I know you will never forgive me, that's why I'm apologizing now. Forgive me."
Jiyeon laughed from Kai's silliness. "I fogive you, Kai. Don't worry, I'll be safe with Baekhyun!" Jiyeon yelled.
Baekhyun noticed the weird smile and look on Jiyeon's face—meaning, she's already in the state of denying that she's drunk, but she's really drunk already.
"Are you drunk?" Baekhyun asked Jiyeon, drinking his beer.
"Nooo," she denied with a slow tone. Baekhyun scoffed that his assumptions were correct.
Jiyeon took a sip of her beer and said, "Hey Baek, let's check out the bonfire."
"Are you sure?" Baekhyun said with second thought on his head because he knows Jiyeon's already drunk.
Jiyeon widened her eyes for Baekhyun, "C'mon Baek, I'm still clear." She stood up straightly to prove to Baekhyun she's still clear.
Baekhyun was not convinced, but he forgave Jiyeon, so they went to the bonfire with bottles on their hands.
Baekhyun adored Jiyeon's attitude so much. He watched Jiyeon as she tries hard to look clear as they went to the uncovered court. 'You don't have to try hard,' he thought.
They finally reached the bonfire place and there were a lot of students, but not that many. There were still large spaces for a student could stay and watch the warm bonfire—perfect for the cold season.
The bonfire woods were big, taller than any boys in Jiyeon's section, which produced large bonfire.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Baekhyun said.
"Nothing's beautiful about fire. They're scary and dangerous—it ruined our academy," she said, remembering the night she witnessed her academy burned into ashes. "The only good I see on fire is its warmth."
Baekhyun did not say a word, and just acknowledge what Jiyeon said.
Jiyeon closed her eyes, she felt something was wrong on her stomach. She rubbed her stomach, then patted her chest after. Her eyes widened when it processed to her mind that she's going to throw up. She ran away to find a spot to vomit.
Baekhyun turned around, and was surprised to see that Jiyeon was gone all of the sudden. The smile on his face faded. 'When will be the perfect time?' he thought, and aggressively threw his bottle to the fire.
Jiyeon couldn't search for a good place properly because of her dizziness. And the bathroom is still far, so she decided to throw up at the tree near her. She hold her hair to prevent it from getting dirty and messy, and then she bended down her body. She forced herself to puke, to remove the horrible feeling on her stomach, but nothing came out. She attempted once again, but nothing came out. So, she just spit on the ground, and wiped her mouth.
She started walking again, until she tripped on the ground. "Ouch," she grunted. Jiyeon tripped to someone's feet. And someone suddenly helped her stand up.
"Are you alright?" he said, helping Jiyeon to stand up.
Jiyeon slowly opened her eyes to see who helped her. "Lu-Luhan?" Jiyeon just stared at Luhan, confused. Drunk or not, everytime Jiyeon sees Luhan does things differently, like now, she's always confused.
Jiyeon finally manage to compose herself, so she cleaned her jacket. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you drunk?" Luhan asked when he noticed that something was wrong with Jiyeon's voice.
"Whut? Drunk? No? I'm still clear. Why do people keep saying I'm already drunk?" She said, many things.
Luhan nodded, pretending he agreed that Jiyeon was not drunk. "I'm waiting for the fireworks."
"Oh, really? Can I join you? Besides, I wanted to sit." Jiyeon did not wait for Luhan's response and she sat on the blanket under the tree.
Luhan looked at Jiyeon, but it seems like he has no choice. He sat beside Jiyeon.
"Hey, I was just curious, where'd you get this blanket?" Jiyeon asked, then laughed from her question.
"Kris' car," Luhan plainly said.
Jiyeon rolled her eyes from Luhan's short answer. "K," she said as she shrugged. She sighed from the silent atmosphere.
"Where's Jei?" Jiyeon initialized their conversation. Because she already felt like that it will be an awkward situation if none of them would start a conversation.
"Why did you ask?" Luhan asked.
Jiyeon crinkled her face with a frown and said, "Why can't you just answer the question?"
Luhan was taken aback with Jiyeon's aggressive response. "She's at home."
"Of course, she is," Jiyeon scoffed. "How did she came to like you, anyway?"
Luhan personally don't like personal questions, but from the looks of Jiyeon, she won't accept a 'no comment' answer. And Luhan also hates people who nags. So he seems obliged to answer her questions. But a part of him didn't mind answering her question. Maybe because he has this image to keep that's why he needs to keep it that way.
"Maybe because we've known each other for a long time?" Luhan said with doubts, not sure what to answer. "Why did you ask?"
Jiyeon shrugged. "Nothing. Just curious." Before Luhan could speak, Jiyeon said. "Now that I think about it. Why are you unsure about your answer?"
Luhan had this cold gaze on his face, but he knew that Jiyeon can't clearly see him because she's dizzy and it's dark around. The only thing that lights them is the fire from the bonfire. "Maybe you don't want to know the answer."
Jiyeon crinkled her face and said, "Of course, I want to know. I'm so intrigued by your relationship." Then, Jiyeon chuckled, like a drunk person.
"Why is that?" Luhan raised an eyebrow, eager to know more.
Jiyeon laughed and slapped Luhan's lap. "Hahaha... you know," Jiyeon couldn't spill the word out. "I don't know. There's something about you that intrigues me so much... Hehe," she chuckled, and slowly blinked at Luhan, like a drunk person.
Luhan felt goosebumps ran through him, he was surprised with what Jiyeon said. He looked at Jiyeon with a doubt on his face. "Really?"
Jiyeon glared at Luhan and then said, "Why do you ask so much? Of course, really."
Luhan leaned back and rested his head on the tree with a smile on his face.
"As a matter of a fact, before I learned that you have a relationship with someone, I thought..." she chuckled, while playing with her finger tips. "I thought you like meor something." She looked away and smiled from embarrassment. She don't know what has gotten to her mind. "But don't mind me, I just assumed that... you know... Well, I just assumed." She shrugged. "And I know this won't be a big deal for you, that's why I told you what I felt then. Hehe."
Luhan looked at Jiyeon with clenched his fists, furrowed eyebrows, and eyes full of pain and sorrow. He sighed, coated with grief. 'Control yourself, Luhan. Control,' he thought. 'Screw it.'
"What if it just became a big deal to me?"
Jiyeon's eyes were becoming heavier. And then Jiyeon scoffed from what Luhan said, until she realized what Luhan said. She looked at Luhan, twice and shocked. She squinted her eyes to Luhan.
Luhan deeply stared into Jiyeon's eyes. "And what if..." he paused for a moment, "...you also intrigued me so much— more than you're so intrigued by me."
She frowned, and her heart sank for whatever reason. Clear or not, she's sure that she was surprised on whatever is happening right now. 'Why is he acting like this? Luhan, stop messing with my feelings.'
Luhan arranged Jiyeon's hair, and look at it so fragily "Jiyeon, you don't know how much I sacrificed for you to be happy." Jiyeon could only see the half of Luhan's face lightened by the light of the fire, and the other half was hidden from the dark shadows of the night. Even though she could only see his other eye, she could see how meaningful, how sincere, how painful what Luhan said.
Jiyeon gulped, she don't know what to respond. She found herself stiff on her position. She couldn't breathe properly, her heart was pounding too fast. She couldn't understand what her feelings were. It's like two sides were fighting inside her mind and heart.
Luhan looked away, he watched the bonfire from afar. "You don't need to say anything. Let me just speak for myself."
"Luhan." Jiyeon inhaled, feeling anxious and everything. "Tell me what I do not know."
Luhan blinked as he turned his head to Jiyeon. He smiled. "It's better for you not to know. Just..." he looked down and stared at his fingertips. "... Stick with Kai. You're much safer with him."
"I am... but, you're so full of surprises. You're so complicated. You're messing with my feelings—"
"Tsk. Just..." Luhan squeezed his eyes with so much pain in his action. "Just don't mind me. I'm drunk right now, so, pretend I never said anything."
Jiyeon got annoyed and frowned at Luhan. She couldn't find the right words. "Wh-What. I-I-I can'—C'mon, Luhan. You're not drunk. I'm not stupid."
"You don't know what you're saying. You're drunk. I'm drunk," Luhan insisted.
Jiyeon got frustrated with Luhan's action and attitude. She slapped Luhan to release some of her frustrations over him. "STOP BEING SUCH A JERK!"
Luhan hold out his cheek from the pain he felt. "This pain is nothing," he said, still not looking at Jiyeon. He was referring to Jiyeon's slap. "Enduring. That is pain. Watching everyone happy and you're just standing there when no one ever knew you're one of the reasons why they were happy." Luhan looked at Jiyeon's eyes deeply. "Then, you know that if you ever butt in— everything would be a mess. And enduring is the only thing you could do. And then, move on with life."
Jiyeon was left speechless from Luhan's reaction. "I-I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to. I'm already familiar with it. Sometimes, you just need to keep your mouth shut." Luhan deliberately knocked his head to the tree a couple of times. "If I could bring back time. Then, I could've fought for my feelings," he mumbled, full of regrets.
Jiyeon was still puzzled and confused on whatever Luhan was talking about.
Luhan looked at Jiyeon, he noticed that Jiyeon looked sleepy with her heavy eyelids and is trying hard to stay awake for him. "Don't worry," he said. He held Jiyeon's head and gently pushed it onto his shoulders. So Jiyeon can lean her head to a more comfortable place—Luhan's shoulder. Jiyeon did not mind the position, she actually liked it because it felt more comfortable. Her eyelids became heavier. "I won't stand in your way," Luhan continued. "For you,because that's how I express my feelings."
Luhan arranged Jiyeon's hair since it was covering her face. After arranging, he saw Jiyeon with eyes closed, sleeping peacefully. She was exhausted from everything althroughout the week, but she ended her week fun by drinking with her classmates.
Exactly, Luhan heard the crowd started to count down. After they hit zero, fireworks display started to invade the night sky. "Wish you could see this."
Luhan scoffed. Rubbed his forehead from frustration, and then, he muttered,"If you only knew what's happening."
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JAE'S NOTE: Seee you next chapter!