"You know what's weird?" Felix began and J looked up at him. "Wonwoo talked to me today, he told me that what happened years ago was a mistake and I shouldn't have left school." Felix chuckled a little. "Maybe coming back will be a really good thing." J smiled and looked over at wonwoo who was already staring at them. He snapped out of his trance and looked away. After the fire it was time to go to sleep and everyone went their own ways. J started walking to her cabin when she ran into wonwoo.
"You coming?" He asked and J was taken back.
"I didn't wanna bother you tonight, you should sleep comfortably since we're leaving early tomorrow." She was honest.
Wonwoo just nodded his head and started walking away. Deep down he wanted her to come with him but he didn't wanna seem eager. He regretted it when he went to his cabin and laid down. He felt some sort of emptiness laying there without J. He hated the feeling and got up to go outside. J wasn't having any luck either, and nabz wouldn't shut up so she walked out as well. She saw wonwoo sitting on the bench and went to sit with him.
"Having trouble sleeping without me huh?" She laughed joking. Wonwoo remained silent.
"Looks like you can't sleep without me either." He finally remarked.
"Actually, you're right." J chuckled lightly looking away.
"You can come back if you'd like, I don't mind." Wonwoo muttered the last words and J didn't hear him.
"It's alright, I don't want to make you uncomf-" J didn't get to finish her sentence and wonwoo interrupted her.
"You-you didn't." Was all he said before he got up and J walked behind him.
They laid in bed and wonwoo voluntarily put his arm down so J could lay her head on it. She shifted her body to look at him.
"Thank you." Her voice had gone as soft as it could've.
Instead of saying you're welcome he stared back into her sleepy eyes and said "I don't hate you."
It seemed like J didn't hear him because she started mumbling something before falling asleep. "You're the reason I've been able to fall asleep for more than 2 hours these three nights, I'm really gonna miss it and-" without finishing her sentence she fell asleep and started snoring a little.
Wonwoo laughed at her snoring but couldn't stop thinking about her crying in her sleep the night before and what she had just now said to him. He wanted to get to know her more and was intrigued because there was more to her than what everyone else saw but he had a doubt. He hated people getting close to him. So why was it different when it came to her? He pondered and eventually ended up falling asleep putting his arm around J unconsciously. It was the best he'd ever slept.
The next day it was about 7:50 and J was still not awake. Wonwoo woke up before her and looked at her for a little bit. Her mouth was a little open and her hair was all over her face. He moved little hair strands out of her face but was snapped back to reality when he saw minghao getting up. He quickly covered J's face in the blanket and hoped he wouldn't see. He didn't and continued to the bathroom. J woke up when she felt the blanket on her face.
"I knew this day would come, you're trying to kill me aren't you." She said in a sleepy voice still rubbing her eyes.
Wonwoo laughed pretty loudly but contained himself when he felt J's eyes on him. "Minghaos awake." Was all wonwoo said and J quickly got up almost falling out of the bed and left the cabin.
Everyone woke up at 8 and ate breakfast. J sat with Felix and chan since she'd be leaving him and they joked around. J decided she'd wait until they were on the bus to tell chan what had happened. The three continued to talk and laugh and exchanged phone numbers until it was finally time to board the busses. Felix left and Chan and J caught up with the gang.
"You wanna sit together?" Coups asked without looking at chan.
"I'm supposed to sit with J." Chan responded.
"I don't mind sitting alone, go head bang bang." J stepped in nudging him forward.
They finally got on the bus. Coups and Chan sat together and J sat alone until wonwoo sat down with her. She looked at him with a surprised face.
"We slept in the same bed, why can't we sit on the same seat?" He didn't turn to look at her. J just laughed and nodded.
"Why are Chan and coups sitting together?" He asked looking back at them.
"Mm I don't know actually." J lied, she knew coups felt something for Chan but she didn't wanna out him like that to his member.
"Isn't he scared of him?" He was talking about Chan.
"Nah Chan doesn't get scared easily, he's a tough person but he's got a soft heart." J smiled looking at her best friend.
"And what about you?" Wonwoo now looked at her.
"What about me?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Why aren't you scared of us? Everyone else is." Wonwoo asked.
"Because of what you guys have shown me, you aren't scary, besides I'm a very stubborn person." She laughed.
This is when wonwoo took his chance. "You're from Australia right?"
"Nope. America." J answered casually.
Wonwoo nodded and proceeded to ask more questions. "Where'd you get that?" He looked down at her bracelet.
"Ah this. My older sister gave it to me so I'd always have a little piece of her." J looked down at her bracelet and sighed.
"Why did you come here without your family?" Wonwoo asked seriously.
J laughed at the question. "My dad spent half of his life here, he was the ceo of gram Corp but he then moved to America, hes still a huge shareholder in the company and he visits sometimes but he doesn't live here, he thought I'd love it here and he was right, it'd be amazing if I wasn't living with my-" she stopped when she noticed she was over sharing.
Wonwoo just nodded. "Why- why did you join seventeen?" J hesitated before asking. To her surprise wonwoo didn't get mad or anything.
"My parents weren't the best. They didn't want me to begin with but kept me around for the check. It was my 9th birthday and instead of giving me a Present or telling me they loved me, they beat the shit out of me so I ran away from home, that's when coups and his family took me in." Wonwoo stopped.
"I-I'm sorr-" before she could finish her sentence wonwoo spoke again.
"Don't apologize, I hate when people feel bad for me." He had more questions he wanted to ask J but he let it go. They were both silent for the ride back.
—
"I missed you." Coups finally spoke after sitting down with Chan. Chan didn't know how to respond so he just stared at coups for a while. "You barely hung out with us, and I don't know why but I got jealous. Weird huh?" Coups looked away feeling embarrassed now.
"It doesn't have to be weird. We're sorta friends." Chan didn't look too much into it, he just smiled looking forward.
Coups nodded and proceeded. "I heard you and J talking before we left school on Thursday." He now had Chan's attention. "Does her aunt treat her that badly everyday?"
Chan now knew what coups was talking about. "Pretty much, her aunt and cousin are both terrible to her. She does everything around the house and she hates them."
"Why doesn't she just move out? Or move in with you?" Coups asked.
"She said she didn't wanna feel like a burden living with me and she hates being alone at hotels and stuff, plus she's scared to sleep in the dark unless she has someone next to her. She has a nightlight in her room." Chan smiled a little and coups just nodded and went into a deep thought.
"Do you wanna hang out this weekend?" Coups let out out of nowhere.
"Uh sure." Chan didn't know what it was but a gut feeling was telling him to say yes, so he did.
They were finally back in their school parking lot and everyone got off. J waited for Chan to get off so she could ask what happened with coups.
"Bro, we have so much to talk about." J said as soon as she saw Chan getting off the bus.
"I know I know, let's meet up later?" Chan nodded.
"Sure! Just tell me when." J smiled as Chan got in his car and she started walking home. She'd left her longboard at home and she couldn't wait to finally ride it.
She got home but her aunt wasn't there so she was relieved. She laid down on her bed and texted wonwoo.
Pabo: hey, what you up to?
Wonwoo: why are you texting me?
Pabo: because I can?
Wonwoo: I'm taking a nap. Bye.
Pabo: lucky
Wonwoo was lying. He was laying on his bed but he didn't wanna take a nap. He wanted to keep talking to J and he was beyond happy when she texted him but he knew it wasn't a good thing.
Chan and J had decided to just meet up tomorrow since they didn't have any school. They got an off day to rest after the camp. J was in her room all day and didn't see misha or her aunt. She felt a little sadness in her heart when the night came. Knowing that she might never be able to sleep as well as she did the past few nights, her mind wondered back to wonwoo but it was 3am and she knew he'd be asleep.
She was very wrong. Wonwoo had been laying down in his bed for the past 5 hours now turning and tossing but he just couldn't fall asleep. Is it because J isn't here with me? He thought. He wanted to text her and see if she was having the same problem but he stopped himself. He eventually ended up going to the living room and playing video games until it was about 7am and he made coffee. He'd had nights where he was awake all night for missions but this wasn't the same.
The next day J woke up and went out to the living room only to find her longboard in half on the floor. She went to pick it up but her aunt stepped on her hand. "Do you know how many dishes I've had to wash because you weren't here? Who gave you permission to go to some camp while I was left doing your work?"
She stepped harder on J's hand and J screamed a little. Misha just stood behind her mom smiling down at J. Her aunt finally stepped off her hand and as J tried to get up her aunt grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the wall. J's nose started bleeding but she could never hit her aunt back. After a few slams her aunt continued to punch her in the face and J got out of her grip and headed for the door. She wasn't doing so well so she stumbled to the closest convenience store. She was getting a call but she couldn't look down at the phone in her hand. As soon as she opened the door to the convenience store, she stumbled and fell unconscious. The store clerk quickly came to her side and picked up her phone. It was S coups.
The leader: hey fatty, what have you bee-
The clerk: hello? The owner of this phone just came into my store and fainted. She looks pretty hurt.
The leader: what? Where is she now? Don't do anything until I get there.
The clerk told S coups the location of the store and coups told the gang what was happening. Every single one of them stopped what they were doing and got into a couple of their cars. They went to the store, coups picked up J in his arms and they took her to the hospital. Coups called Chan and he rushed over as well. They were all in the room with her and they couldn't stop staring at her bruises. Her eyes were swollen and her nose had dried blood all over it. Her lip was cut and her lower arms were beginning to form bruises.
It didn't take long before J woke up, she tried to sit up but everything was hurting and she winced. Minghao was the first one to rush to her side unknowingly.
"Take it easy, it's just going to hurt more." He was stern.
"What are you guys doing here?" She looked around.
"Who did this? How did it happen?" Jun barely blinked.
"Uh it doesn't matter." "I'm okay." J was lying right through her teeth.
"Stop lying." Coups wasn't too happy.
Before J could open her mouth a breathless Chan walked into the room. He gasped when he saw J.
"Oh my god mate, what happened. Are you okay??" The worry on his face told all.
"She's not okay and she won't tell us who did this." Woozi spoke up from the back.
"Was it your aunt?" Chan looked at J while clenching her hand in his to which J nodded.
"She broke my longboard channie." J pouted.
"Yah. Is that really what you're worried about right now?" Wonwoo broke in surprising everyone.
"Yes, I loved that-" Joshua interrupted her and spoke in English.
"Don't worry about that right now. Just don't think about it too much, we'll figure it out later." J saw Chan smiling at him when he spoke. "Why'd she do this?"
"Mm when I got back home, I saw my longboard on the floor. When I went to pick it up she stepped on my hand and yelled at me for going to the camp. She said she had to do too much work since I was gone and she slammed me against the wall." J shrugged.
"You're not going back there anymore." Was all s coups said.
"Of course I am." J laughed a little. "It's my hom-"
"No. It's not your home if they do this. Come- come live with us." Coups looked around at his members who were all shocked.
J laughed a little more. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm being serious. We're close enough now and you can't just keep living there and-" coups didn't finish his sentence.
"No." Was all J said.
"Why? We're friends aren't we?" Vernon asked.
"But that doesnt mean I can jus-" j started.
"You're not a burden." Coups looked at J.
"Wh- what?" That was all J ever wanted to hear from someone.
"You won't be a burden." Coups repeated. "We have a pretty big house and you'll be safe there."
"Plus we'd basically just get to hang out all day." Dk spoke up. "You're pretty lucky." He dramatically moved some hair out of his face.
"But I have all my stuff there." J spoke.
"I can get it, and I can also tell them you're moving out." Chan looked up with a warm smile.
"Are you okay with this?" Coups asked his members who all cheered and and nodded aggressively. Everyone expect wonwoo. He was so zoned out even J saw. "Are you okay with this?" Coups looked at J.
"Of course." J nodded. "Can chan come too? Just for a little bit tonight."
Coups was quick to say yes to this. J was discharged a little bit after and they all headed out. Chan J and Jeonghan sat in the back seat while coups drove and minghao was up front. He kept his eyes on J in the Mirror. They stopped by J's house first but coups wouldn't let her go inside so chan and Jeonghan went.
Misha was more than surprised to see Jeonghan show up at her house. They both went in and chan headed straight for J's room. She told him where everything was and what to get. She didn't have much stuff so it wasn't too much to grab. He made sure to grab her pink hello kitty bear and her memory box. Once he had gotten everything he went out to the living room in which J's aunt was now sitting in.
"J's moving out." Chan bowed a bit before walking away.
"Yeah right. She has no where to go." Her aunt spoke.
"Actually she does." Jeonghan stared at her before they both walked out leaving her aunt and misha shocked.