"Hyung? Hye?"
Both Jeno and Hyesoo turned their heads toward the sound of their names being called. Hyesoo's eyes opened wide, "Channie?" She questioned. She stared at the boy who had called her name, he had a piece of cotton candy in his hand with his other hand in his pocket, a small camera slung over his shoulder. The boy nodded, "'Tis I, Jung Sungchan," he replied, bowing dramatically.
Hyesoo started squealing and ran up to him, "Oh my gosh! I missed you so much, I never saw you around the Academy!" She exclaimed. Jeno following close behind. A few of his thoughts were filled with worry, considering the almost kiss; but nevertheless, Jeno was happy to see his old friend. "Hey Chan, how are you?" He asked.
Sungchan waved hello at his hyung, "Hey, pretty good. Sorry for not talking to you guys, I've been busy with stuff."
Jeno waved his arms in front of him, shaking the apology off, "Nah, it's ok. What are you doing here though?" Hyesoo looked up at the younger boy as well, also wondering what he was doing here on a Monday night. Sungchan wasn't one to go out on a school night usually, so the sight of him here was a bit odd.
Sungchan shrugged, "New me. I've decided to explore the world a bit more," He answered. The two older friends deadpanned at the younger, resulting in Sungchan sighing. "I needed photos for photography class," He gave in.
Hyesoo rubbed Sungchan's back, "Now, was that so hard to admit?"
Sungchan shook his head, "I guess not."
Hyesoo then linked her hands with both Jeno and Sungchan, "Well, since the three musketeers are back together, why don't we all head over there," She suggested, tilting her head in the direction of the ferris wheel. The two boys agreed, signalling that as they nodded their head. Afterwards, the three of them made their way to the attraction.
As they climbed into the cart, Sungchan turned towards the two older friends. "Are you guys... back together?" He questioned.
Jeno and Hyesoo's eyes both opened wide in response, "What? No, we're not," They began to say at the same time, the two stating signs of disagreement. Sungchan let out a small 'o' as he looked out the window of the cart.
"I can't believe it's been so long since we were all together," Hyesoo exclaimed.
Jeno chuckled at the girl's words, "Crazy, isn't it? We used to be such a close trio." Sungchan nodded. Hyesoo turned towards the two guys, "Remember that time we got kicked out of Doyoung's workplace?" She asked, laughing at the memory. The two others began laughing with her upon the memory.
"How dare you?" Hyesoo questioned in rage. It was the time before Jeno and Hyesoo began dating. The three of them had only met a couple weeks before, but they were already close. Their energies matched together so easily, and their mischief of young, free teenagers gave them the nickname, "The three musketeers." The nickname had originated from Doyoung, due to the incident where the three attempted to help him gain more tips on his first day at work, but rather, it ended in the poor boy almost getting fired as his boss was annoyed at the three's liking to make a bunch of noise in any scenario. The nickname, as quoted by Doyoung, suited them because, "It's just like you! You all love to help! Though it turns into a mess, it is true."
Back to the memory at hand, Jeno and Sungchan looked at a furious Hyesoo at the front of the shop before looking at each other with confused faces. "Is she mad at you or me?" Sungchan asked.
"How am I supposed to know? I'm pretty sure we're in the clear," Jeno responded. Hyesoo stomped her way up to the two of them who were sitting at a table. She slammed her hands on the table and narrowed her eyes at the boys, "Which one of you stole my money?"
The two of them looked at each other and back at Hyesoo before laughing. "Neither of us!" Sungchan answered. Hyesoo didn't believe him, she glared at him, waiting for a clearer answer. "Well, actually we both did. But it isn't with us anymore!" Jeno explained.
Hyesoo, very impatient, grabbed a hold of Jeno's shirt, "Where is it?" Jeno looked down at the girl and laughed, taking his shirt into his own hands and patting the girl's head. "Did you forget? You lost the bet this morning, and your punishment was paying for ice cream today," Jeno said.
Hyesoo's eyes opened wide in false accusation, "Lies! You never said that was the penalty!" She exclaimed.
Jeno's eyes opened, facing Sungchan, "We didn't? I thought we did?" Sungchan shrugged in response, "Oh, well, that's the penalty we made," He shortly said, sitting down afterwards.
Hyesoo whined, "That money was being saved up to buy Shuhua a gift for her birthday!"
Jeno put his ice cream on the table, "Sorry, Hye, but it really isn't that serious. Ice cream wasn't that expensive," He said, pulling out a stamp card from his pocket, "See? We come here so often that they gave us one free now!"
Hyesoo seethed through her teeth before looking at someone making their way towards the table. It was just some part-time worker that wanted to check up on them, but Hyesoo had no other thoughts except for the loss of her money. A bit materialistic, you may say. "Is everything okay? Do you guys need anyth-" The worker asked politely before being interrupted by Hyesoo pouncing on them.
"Please give me back my money!" She exclaimed, almost lunging herself on that poor worker. Luckily, Jeno and Sungchan were quick enough to get a hold of the girl before it was too late. Doyoung, who was helping another customer, saw the commotion and ran between the two. "What the fuck? What's happening?" He questioned in a hurry.
"Give me my money back!" Hyesoo complained before passing out, probably due to the exhaustion she got from her rage.
Doyoung looked at his two dongsaengs, raising an eyebrow at them, "Is she okay?"
Sungchan sighed and shook his head, "I don't know, hyung. Someone clearly didn't get enough sleep the night before."
Hearing the loud noise, Doyoung's manager came rushing in. He glared at the three kids in front of him and then at Doyoung. "It's them again, right?" He asked, Doyoung timidly nodded. His manager turned back towards the three of them, Jeno and Sungchan sheepishly smiling at him with a passed out Hyesoo in their arms. "Please. Get out," He said, exhausted.
"Yeah, fair enough," Jeno said, wrapping Hyesoo's arms around his neck and dragging her out of the ice cream store. Sungchan quickly followed behind with the ice creams in his hands. He turned back around quickly, wanting to ask a question, "Do you think we could get another one of those stamp cards-"
"Out."
"Yeah, okay."
"That was embarrassing of us," Jeno said, still laughing.
"It really was," Hyesoo laughed, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment of what she was like.
"Okay, but remember when we all first met? You guys had already known each other because of your project, but I was so awkward! That was next level embarrassing," Sungchan recalled. The three of them looked at each other before laughing once again.
A couple of days after Jeno and Hyesoo were assigned a history project together, they had quickly become close. The two were at a park, going out together for some fresh air after researching for their project for the past hour or so.
"Okay, but just think about it for a second!" Hyesoo said.
Jeno rolled his eyes at the girl before vigorously shaking his head, "Are you absolutely stupid? There's no way that the cars in the fucking Cars movie killed the human species!" He exclaimed.
"Just think about it! It could be because no where in the movie do you see a human!" Hyesoo responded.
"No, why would you even think of that? It's just a movie," Jeno inquired.
"But what if-" Hyesoo was about to say before getting interrupted by a ball to her head, "Okay, ummm, ow?" She exclaimed in pain.
A boy ran up to the two of them before politely bowing at the two as an apology, "I'm sorry! I was kicking that soccer ball around, and I guess I lost control of it." The two of them looked at the stranger in front of them, recognising him as Jung Sungchan, the kid a year younger than them. He wasn't very loud, but rather a quiet kid who only opened up to a few.
Hyesoo shook her head, a signal that it was fine. She stood up from the bench, making her way towards the younger boy about to raise her hand for him to shake. That is, until the younger stood in a fight stance, "Please don't hurt me! I took one lesson of karate before I quit," He exclaimed, shifting his position, "And I'm very afraid to use the little knowledge! So, just stay back!"
Hyesoo and Jeno both looked at each other as Jeno also stood up. The two older students began laughing, "What? I was just gonna introduce myself. Ryu Hyesoo," Hyesoo introduced herself.
"Lee Jeno," Jeno introduced calmly. Sungchan got into a normal position and rubbed the back of his nape, he sent the older students a sheepish smile. "Well, this is embarrassing. Jung Sungchan," He introduced himself. He gave a small bow almost tripping over himself.
Hyesoo laughed at his cute yet funny behaviour before looking at Jeno, "I like this kid. Let's keep him."
"Oh, don't worry. You were an adorable little sophomore. And noona loved your humour and personality," Hyesoo said, smiling.
"You're still not that much older than m-"
"Shut up."
Sungchan rolled his eyes, "Whatever, and remember when I had to third wheel for the first time? Terrible, never want to do that ever again."
"Why am I here?" Sungchan asked. It was around the time, a week after Jeno and Hyesoo had gotten together, and the couple were craving pancakes. They wanted to go to a breakfast diner, but obviously, being the nice friends that they are, they asked Sungchan to come along. "Because even if we're together, we're still a trio," Hyesoo answered, Jeno nodding with her answer.
Sungchan sighed, "Fine. But if you guys start being all lovey dovey, I will throw up on you as a warning," He threatened.
Let's just say that no, Sungchan didn't throw up on them, but it wasn't a pleasant ride as a third wheel for him. "If you guys are gonna want to cuddle together, why did you put me in the middle?" Sungchan asked, his voice raising bit by bit in frustration.
"Because we didn't want to let you feel left out," Jeno responded with a shrug.
"This feels worse though," Sungchan complained.
Hyesoo looked at Sungchan with pity and put her fork down on her plate, "Sungchan, we're just trying to help you feel normal! We promise, from now on, we'll hang out like we're still friends. The musketeers are back!" She exclaimed.
Sungchan smiled at her, "That sounds better."
The three began eating their meals again until Hyesoo had gotten some egg yolk on her lips. Jeno had looked at her for a brief moment, seeing the mess his girlfriend had made, "Babe, you've got stuff on your lips. Here" He chuckled, taking a napkin to wipe her lips.
Sungchan, who was in the middle of all of this, began to get extremely annoyed and uncomfortable, "Get me out of here!"
"Oh, come on. It wasn't even that bad," Hyesoo said.
"Yes it was!"
"Well, at least you're not third-wheeling now," Jeno mentioned. Sungchan heaved a small sigh and nodded in defeat. "Oh, remember the time we toilet-papered Taeyong hyung's house?" Jeno recalled.
"I'm bored," Jeno heaved.
It was the trio's first autumn together, a time before any romance or strong developments of feelings. The three of them were relaxing in Jeno's bedroom. They had been for the past couple of hours. They had decided to go over to Jeno's to watch the premiere of a drama Hyesoo wanted to watch. However, the girl had mixed up the dates, and it seemed that the drama would be premiering next week. So now, the three highschool students were left with nothing to do, just laying there.
"What if we toilet-papered someone's house? I've always wanted to do that," Hyesoo suggested, getting up from her lying position.
"Who though?" Sungchan questioned.
Jeno got up as well, "Doyoung hyung? I feel like we would get a good reaction out of him. Or what about Taeyong hyung? It'd be fun to see him crack," He proposed.
"Sounds good to me," Sungchan replied, Hyesoo nodded her head in agreement.
And so, the three musketeers stood up, making their way towards Taeyong's small house he currently stayed at by himself. "You got the goods?" Hyesoo whispered to the others as they hid behind a bush in Taeyong's front yard.
"If by goods, you mean toilet paper, then yes," Sungchan replied.
"Okay, autobots roll out," She said, crawling out of her position. The two boys stood up from the bush and looked at Hyesoo in confusion. "Is she good?" Sungchan asked.
Jeno shook his head in disappointment, "I really don't know anymore." He waved his hand, signalling for the two to go in the left direction to not be seen.
The three of them threw an abundant amount of toilet paper all across the house. Since it was dark with only a streetlight to be able to see, it seemed as if they wouldn't have gotten caught. That is, until they remembered what day it was.
"What are you kids doing?"
The three of them turned around to see Taeyong standing in front of them, a little bag of food in his hands. "What day is it?" Jeno whispered.
"September 3rd. Why?" Sungchan responded.
"Didn't Taeyong oppa say on September 3rd he'd be coming back from his campus after staying there for his friend's birthday?" Hyesoo inquired.
"Shit."
Taeyong looked at them in frustration, still calm though, "I leave for the weekend to go to Joy's birthday party, and I come back home to this?" He exclaimed. The three stood there and nodded. "Who's gonna clean all of this?" Taeyong asked them.
"You are," Hyesoo replied, "Run!" The three of them ran all the way back to Jeno's house, not even looking back. Taeyong watched them as they ran off into the distance. "Sorry, hyung!" Taeyong could hear from far away which he assumed was Jeno.
"I still feel a bit bad for him," Hyesoo said in between her laughter.
"Sure, because that's why you're laughing," Jeno remarked, he was also laughing heavily.
The ferris wheel had finally landed down to the ground, and the three of them got off the ride. They gave each other warm smiles as they walked together. Hyesoo linked her arms between Sungchan and Jeno's, looking up at the both of them while walking.
"The three musketeers are back together."
ahh.. where to begin...
i just wanted to say thank you for all my readers and friends ive made along this journey! it's definitely been slightly rough but in the end i'm glad i made it through. thank you so much to all of you who've read my book, voted, and commented, i really appreciate all of you🤍 with the new year, i hope you all are staying safe, and staying happy. like they always say, a new year calls for a new leaf, a fresh start; if you have any problems, or just wanna talk, i'm always here. i appreciate all of you, and happy new year!! i hope for the best for all of you!🤍