Some people are worth melting for.
Jinyoung wondered how he ended up in that situation, watching a Disney movie of some iceman melting and saying nonsense quotes because of a pizza.
It was one of the early winter days when he had tons of work with Jisoo, the stranger who he had been spending at least twelve hours a day with.
They had been stuck in the same scene for days. the dim lights tangled with the green leaves glued on the white ceiling, books, some spread notes, opened calculators with their laptops on top of the white desk.
He wanted to bang his head against the desk from the amount of information he was trying to grasp. His stomach growled, giving him a sign to stop, or else his brain would short-circuit.
"I'm hungry. Tell me we are almost done." He shut his laptop down, watching how Jisoo's figure hid behind her laptop. "The presentation, but Let's order something before I work on it"
He fished out his phone out of his pocket, his thumb swiped up to unlock it. Two messages popped up on the top of his screen.
The squad- Youngjae: Whoever is free, come to the kitchen. Jaebum hyung is cooking tons of pizzas.
Jaebum: Kitchen. Pizza, no buts Nyoung.
The invitation was on time, and he wasn't a sinner to reject food. "They are having a pizza feast, let's join them." He stood up, slipping the phone back into his pocket. He watched Jisoo beam at him at the mention of pizza, slamming her laptop shut before putting it in her laptop bag.
"I love Jaebum. I'm starving." Jisoo said, letting him carry her laptop bag. "His Italian pizza is the best," Jinyoung added with a proud smile, stopping in front of the opened door.
"Let me get you a jacket, won't you catch cold?" He asked the girl in a light white sweatshirt with a yellow smile face on it.
"No come on, Jinyoung." She waved with her white casted arm, closing the door once he stepped out the room.
"Lead the way."
Jisoo turned to him, a bit surprised as they walked side by side. "Haven't you gone before?"
"Besides the rooftop and my room, I haven't gone anywhere."
"It's a cool place to share a meal with the others there, you should join more often."
"And leave the parties. No, thank you."
Jisoo rolled her eyes with a light scoff. "Unbelievable."
It was unbelievable, but he was thankful that Jisoo was too busy to connect the dots and catch him not going anywhere but her room, study cafe, and college. Ever since the day they had the truce, Jinyoung followed Jaebum's words of fixing things before staying away, but taking care of Jisoo was taking more days and effort than he expected.
It wasn't because she was demanding or tiring. They had this mutual respect, taking care of each other while keeping up with their projects. It was too much work and if he drank, it would have been tough to follow up where he left within hours, sober.
"You two are inseparable lately." Lisa put an arm around Jisoo.
"Our nerds are here~" Youngjae cooed, waving at them. Jinyoung ignored him, making his way to his bestie.
"This is a lot, Jaebum~ah" He squeezed his friend's shoulder lightly, as Jaebum placed the pepperoni pizza next to the rest of his collection.
Jaebum leaned to whisper in his ear. "It's a better distraction from the new medicine's side effects."
It was enough to have his heart drop as his head snapped to face his best buddy. "Along with the lithium one? Isn't it a bit too much?" He said in a low tone.
Jaebum glanced around to make sure no one was close to them. "Yoongi said it's temporary so no worries, I'm fine."
Jinyoung bit his lips, trying to suppress his disagreement with whatever Dr. Yoongi prescribed to his friend. He looked into his friend's eyes to see nothing but assurance, but he couldn't push his worries, especially when their schedules prevented them from meeting often, added to that Jaebum's episodes weren't frequent but brutal.
It's strange how they had a similar past but viewed things differently like the squad thing. Jaebum saw hope and happiness surrounded by the new peers despite being against it before, meanwhile, Jinyoung couldn't sense anything but disasters coming their way because friends would be close someday enough to be nosy and reveal the secrets they were desperately hiding.
"Jinyoung, I'm fine. Let's enjoy the pizza and movie night" his best friend brought him back to reality.
"Movie night?"
"Yes. We are all here so Rose suggested eating the pizzas while watching something together."
"No way. I'm going to party instead." He said, looking for the girl wearing the smiley face sweater. "You are going nowhere Jinyoung-ie." His friend smiled devilishly before dragging him by his ear to the playroom.
The playroom didn't have a neon funky vibe as he imagined. The warm dim lights barely illuminated the cozy area that had a pool table, tennis, and air hockey ones. Behind them, there were large beige pillows on the floor in front of the large white wall the projector light was on.
"Have a seat until I get back." Jaebum patted his back before leaving him in the center of the room. His eyes scanned the surroundings. Jisoo and Mark were standing in the corner while Lisa was on her phone near the door. Youngjae appeared with drinks in one hand and a cover that he placed on the ground on the other as Jaebum followed with a layered stand full of his pizzas.
"Should we grab some chips and crackers too? popcorn?" Mark asked loudly, leaving Jisoo alone. Their eyes locked as he approached her with a teasing smile.
"Is Jisoo finally procrastinating?"
"Never. It's mostly copy-and-paste work; I already have the templates. Is Jinyoung finally leaving parties for a lame movie night?" She teased back, tucking her wavy hair behind her ear.
"I tried to escape, but Jaebum's commands are a must."
"An honor prize for Jaebum for saving you."
"He is annoying, but I love him." He said with a content sigh as they sat down leaning against the wall. The dark-haired boy waited till she was seated comfortably, placing a pillow on her lap. "When will you take off your cast?" He asked while getting the laptop out of the bag.
She looked at her cast that still had his blood stains dried, covered with names written over it. "I took off the ankle supporter a week ago, so It's been three weeks, right?"
"I can't wait to be free." He said, watching the laptop screen booting up.
Jisoo's lips curved down into a pout. "You are free to go, I won't tell Jaebum."
Before he could reply, A familiar voice interrupted him. "Jinyoung, Is that you?"
His face turned pale seeing his childhood friend who never expected to see. His friend had his hair a bit disheveled, his bright smile was no longer there, replaced by a troubled dark face like his mixed with surprise.
"Do you know each other?" Yugyeom asked in a surprised annoyed tone.
"Gyeom, I told you to speak nicer to him." Another new figure in a wheelchair spoke up.
"Sehyuk, He took your place on the team," Yugyeom whined as Jinyoung and his childhood friend awkwardly exchanged looks.
"I will be back in a minute." He whispered to Jisoo, standing up. "Hey, I will kidnap your friend." He forced a smile on the stranger called Sehyuk. He grabbed Kihyun's arm, dragging him to the furthest corner of the room.
Jinyoung didn't expect a tight hug from the boy, almost stumbling back from the force. "Thank God, you are okay," Kihyun mumbled. "I searched for you, asked your brother but you just disappeared. I thought I would punch you when I see you but fuck, I missed you."
The pal's words made him wince as his chest tightened hearing about his brother. "I had to disappear after what happened." Jinyoung's voice was low, eyes on the ground as Kihyun broke the hug.
"Why? You did nothing wrong."
'I killed them.'
He wanted to scream the words were stuck in his throat. "Let's not talk about it." He didn't mean to his at the kind boy, but one more word and he would break down in front of everyone.
"Fine, at least you are alive. I'm happy to see you again." Kihyun smiled at him, patting his shoulder. Jinyoung gave him an apologetic smile. "Could you hide our meeting from my brother and everyone? I don't want to cause trouble for you."
The boy frowned, confused for a moment before nodding. "Our families are a mess we never belonged to."
"Why? Is there something wrong back home, How's your older brother?"
The boy tensed, looking down. "Things are complicated back home, and we aren't okay. I'm staying with my friend over there."
"Kihyun, you are my only childhood friend, and you know how much you mean to me. I'm here if you need help, my room, money, clothes, everything is yours. You now know where to find me, I will fight with you." Their eyes were getting teary like they were watching a flashback of their memories together, how they were each other rock and how they supported each other dreams, It hurt how they used to play with their brothers, but all they carried at the moment was a burden. They shared another tight hug with Jinyoung almost lifting Kihyun.
"You are bulked up and heavy now," He teased, leaning against the wall with Kihyun grinning next to him.
"I throw punches too, want to try a punch or two?"
Jinyoung put his hand up in surrender, faking a cry. "Please spare me, Kihyunie"
"Stop, Jinyoung-ah. People are staring." He slapped his shoulder, both laughing. "So Yugyeom and your new best friend Sehyuk. What happened to him?"
"Long story to tell, But Gyeom hates my guts, Sehyuk forced me here. What about the pretty girl you were all giggly with, your girlfriend?"
'What girlfriend?' He wanted to laugh.
"Kihyunie, you will see my punch or two. I and Jisoo are rivals."
"Nice. Enemies to lovers, my favorite trope." Kihyun chuckled at his friend's glare.
"Let's get back before I knock you down." Jinyoung punched his friend's biceps lightly as they went back to the group. He slid down next to Jisoo, waving to his friend who was pushing the wheelchair.
"You didn't need to get back, he looked surprised seeing you," Jisoo said, focused on adjusting the font of the words on the screen.
"He is an old friend, yes. But of course, I won't leave you." It was a simple answer, yet it made her turn to him with a hint of surprise across her pretty face.
"I would have done the same too." It took a while to reply, but when she did, it was with a genuine smile that his lips mirrored instantly.
"I know."
"Park Jinyoung, you won't sit next to her, move." They looked up to see Mark's annoyed face.
"I thought we are past this Tuan."
"I still don't trust you. What If we watched a romantic movie, I disagree." The silver-haired roommate argued.
"Won't this be the perfect chance for you if you sit next to Rose?" Jinyoung argued back with a teasing smirk, laughing along with Jisoo at how the latter turned red.
"You can't win this. We are just working, Go and sit next to your crush, Markie." Jisoo snickered, High-fiving Jinyoung.
Mark scoffed in disbelief. "I can't believe that you are ganging up on me. I shouldn't have asked you for a favor Park Jinyoung, you stole my one and only Jisoo."
"Rosie!! Mark is looking for a spot." Jisoo called the blonde, sticking her tongue out to her glaring bestie.
"Oh, yes. I have one for your new roommate and the other for him." Rose replied, avoiding Mark's stare with a blush on her cheeks.
'Idiots in love.'
Hello🌻 A new chapter and a cameo appearance for my friend FeralClaws 's characters Sehyun and Kihyun of her absolute top-notch ongoing story "Bully Me" because I love them so much😭🧡🧡
This chapter was full of surprises but the next part has even more with a new character appearance that will steal your hearts. 🤫🤍🤍
Also, A new cover was made for the story so I will brag about my friend's designs that are done with FeralClaws love😭🧡🧡.