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dreamlandxrunaway · 2 years

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☁️ 1 cloudy day at a time ☁️

part 9: things that weren't said

summary: getting stuck in rain on campus that one faithful monday with a mild hangover is either the best or the worst thing to have happened to y/n... she has yet to decide, and so have the people that were involved.

pairing: yang jeongin x fem!reader (skz member x reader)

warnings: swearing (not much), a lot of angst (peppered with some sweet fluff), proofread by someone who's in the middle of exams period (aka not done that well), (the descriptions are probably lacking a bit), check this out before you start if you haven't already

word count: over 8,1k (idk, didn't want to separate it in more parts)

recommendation: listen to a playlist that emulates the feeling of a rainy day; give the song at the end of the part a listen 😁

It was a long morning. Nothing seemed to go right since the second you opened your eyes. Half of your cover was on the floor, you in a wildly different position to the one you went to sleep in. You didn't realize you were sleeping right on the edge of the bed until you weren't anymore. The hard floor being the first thing to wish you a good morning was a promising start to the day... said no one ever. Hopefully that won't leave a nasty bruise...

The digital clock on your nightstand showed it was 8 AM... too early for this... but you still needed to get going before the cafeteria was done serving breakfast. Although you didn't feel like leaving the dorm, a promise was a promise. Couldn’t really just bail on both of them...

You were finishing getting ready when you saw Jisung was calling; you picked up the call.

"Good morning, beautiful", he greeted you cheerfully.

"Good to know one of us has woken up", you mumbled, picking up your keys and getting ready to step out.

"It's a good day", mused Jisung. "I'm waiting for you downstairs, let's go get breakfast together"

"Why do I feel like this isn't negotiable?"

"Because you're right", you could hear his smile getting bigger in his voice.

"I'll be down in a minute." You closed the door behind you, triple checking to make sure you actually locked it, and then finally left.

The girls left early, Wednesday being their busiest day, leaving you to make sure the place is secured. No real threat, but it's good to make sure everything is safe, right? It made you feel better, so who could stop you from doing it? No one, not even the idea of someone eagerly wanting to see you... or you see them.

Jisung was patiently waiting for you outside, getting weird glances from some of the passersby. The first thing he did when he saw you was pull you in a big hug.

"Good morning, Hannie", your voice was muffled against his neck, stifling your laughter. He trapped you in his arms with that hug, not leaving you any wiggle room.

Jisung pulled away just a bit, his arms still around your waist. Looking over your face, his eyes going all over the place, and then he said: "You do look great this morning."

"This morning?" You feigned hurt, your lips tugging downwards before slowly forming a pout. "Do I not look great every day?"

He got flustered fast, not really knowing what to say. He was fumbling over his words, playing with the hem of your new baby blue sweater, trying his darndest to say anything.

He finally relaxed once he heard your giggle, realizing he was caught up in your little game once more. "You need to stop doing that, Y/N!" He patted down on his heart. "I don't know how many of these can this old thing handle."

His actions made you notice his outfit for the day, or well the text on the white shirt beneath the black leather jacket he was wearing. "All eyes on me", the shirt said. If your best friend really wanted all of your attention today, he was really going to be disappointed.

This time around, you took his hand in yours and started pulling him towards the campus cafeteria.

"Come on, we don't want to be late!"

Telling him that Hwang Hyunjin was going to be joining you guys today definitely seemed a lot easier to do while you guys ate. You hoped he'd forgive you for not telling him…

Surprisingly, he wasn't nearly as mad when you told him as you thought he'd be. Then again, why would he be? Were you expecting some other kind of reaction out of him? It's really good that he doesn't mind Hyunjin joining you guys, so why were you so disappointed?

You overheard people talking about today's menu yesterday, they said it was going to be your favorite – turns out that was a lie... or you misheard what day they were talking about. You couldn’t even indulge in your favorite comfort food right now. This day really wasn't going your way.

The worst part? You didn't check the weather app this morning either, and neither did you yesterday so now, once again in the past week, you'll end up getting caught in the rain.

You, of course, had yet to realize that.

Only thing on your mind was Mr. Lee's class that started in 20 minutes. The cursed class people weren't aware was a trap. Year after year, ever since professor Lee Minhyuk took over the class, people started choosing his elective. The stories about him were great, everyone knew how handsome he was, and how simple his exams were. What no one knew, or simply did not believe until they experienced it on their own skin, was how weird and experimental the class got. You were no better, falling for the looks and apparent easy exams scam – now, you were stuck watching and researching the most bizarre horror films you've ever heard of. They weren't bad... not terrible anyways. Some of them were definitely grotesque, and some of them you wished had never been made... Really, being told all you do in this class was watch movies and do one of the following homeworks: analyze the art styles they used in the background paintings and write who's the famous artist that did them, or try to find as many paintings as you can that remind you of the film… at first doesn't sound so bad – if you're professionally studying some form of art, you probably know the big basics. It shouldn't be that hard.... But that's how they catch you… And you, at first, didn’t have many complaints… Not until you had seen how critical he was of your assessment of the art pieces, or of your own renditions of the films done in either digital or oil paintings… because that was also a thing, apparently, alongside the previously mentioned possibilities. Depending on the genre, some often opted out for different types of mediums as well – watercolor being one among the many, and if the story would allow it, some have used crayons in the past as well.

Mr Lee was a devil and you wished you had gotten a better number during the lucky draw in the first class. Apparently, Hyunjin got romance movies, those based on the classical romance novels.

That fortunate son of a –

You ran to class, dreading having to find out what was planned for today's class. The professor hadn't arrived yet by the time you reached the classroom. Your usual seat was taken so you just made do and sat wherever you could... this time being in the very back. You weren't sure this was an ideal sitting place for this class, but it would have to suffice... better than having to stand or sit on the floor… as some students were now being forced to do, arriving even later than you.

You scanned the big crowd of students in front of you, but you couldn't find Hyunjin anywhere... It seemed like he was sleeping in this morning. "I guess I'll just share my notes with him later", you thought, getting your notebook ready, just as the professor was walking in.

Well, better concentrate now!

Hah, that was a nice dream... believing you'd stay awake during Prof Lee's class was just a nice make-believe... turns out both you and Hyunjin would need someone else's notes for this class. You didn't completely fall asleep, no, but you weren't paying attention to a word the professor had said. You heard some talks about monsters here and there, and honestly that's the only thing that had brought you back to your senses. That and his loud and dramatic screams for emphasis... and "how scary the accurate version of vampires was". You still weren't sure what the point of this class was, but here you were... After you packed your bag, you were met with a nice surprise waiting for you outside the door.

"Shall we, m'lady?" Jisung extended his hand out to you, a very perplexed you. All of the color had left your face.

"Please, let's just forget I ever said that one."

"Yeah–", you exhaled, eyes still wide open. "I was happy to see you, y'know, for like a second. And then you decided to open your mouth."

"Don't bully me", he clung on to your arm, pouting, jumping up and down. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Go where?" You shook your head in confusion, yet still following after him.

"We've got a lot of work on our hands", a very smiley Jisung was dragging you towards the library. "We could stop by to get a quick snack," he stopped to look at you. "Spend a bit of time together before–" He mumbled the last part, and the fact that he wasn't facing you anymore as he was saying that, wasn't really helping.

"What was that?"

"You need to work on your assignment, too." Jisung's tone was very formal, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Thank you for agreeing to help."

Something felt off… but, you didn’t get a lot of time to dwell on it. You were about to open your mouth, and question Jisung, but there he was, back to the chirpy energy he had prior to whatever had just happened. The conversation about the intricate wonders of music history class, taught by none other than Professor Yoo Kihyun – highly renowned and awarded professor that is well respected in his field for all of his works – never stopped until you'd reached your destination. Apparently, it was a rather interesting and thought-provoking lesson today, and you've never been more grateful to a person for simply existing, let alone one you've never even met. You were still too sleepy for any of this.

Y/N... it's 11.30, how are you still this tired?

The caffeinated drink you got on your little detour obviously wasn't that much of a help, for you anyways. Jisung's energy was still riding high. And everyone knew what that meant… Well, that (obviously) spelled disaster, didn't it? Or it usually would’ve…

The library wasn't full which surprised you. Expecting to see a lot more people, and being met with a lot more silence wasn't something you'd thought would happen. It was to be expected, the rules and everything dictate that one should be quiet in the library, but come on, this felt like entering a ghost town. But in all honesty, that was probably for the better. Han and you went and looked for some of the books he wanted to draw his inspiration from. Or well, you simply stuck to him like glue, preventing him from using his left arm. His biceps was a comfy walking headrest, nobody could blame you. You could've gone and found you guys a seat, but the library was empty after all, there were plenty of free places. You weren't totally "useless", you ended up carrying some of the books he picked up, as well as his jacket – the faint smell of his cologne present ever so slightly, bringing you additional comfort –, clutching both things against your body. And he thought you were cute, with your half closed sleepy eyes, so he didn't mind...

"What do you think about this book?" He'd ask you ever so often, picking up the most random of books. Simply doing so he'd see your reaction.

"Uh", you'd stutter every time, scrunching your nose, furrowing your eyebrows too. You'd try to think about it, only briefly seeing the color of the book cover before Jisung would put it back on the shelf.

"Yeah, you're right." He'd gleefully shake his head. "That one won't work."

After finally picking up all of the books, you two found a table close to a window that overlooked the campus park. You two settled down, Jisung reluctantly started working on his homework with you laying your head down next to his arm, trying to fight sleep off.

And there – looking out of the big windows –, after a while had already passed, with your little prying eyes you could spot a hurried Hwang Hyunjin, matching with the October leaves that were falling around him. You looked up to the phone next to your head – by now you were just resting on the table, ever so often looking up at the extremely focused look on the brunet's face – and saw the current time. It was 1 hour later than the promised meeting time, not like you really had noticed, as you had fallen asleep – properly this time. Your phone was buzzing with notifications from Hyunjin, most of them were him profusely apologizing for being late. Thinking back to what you saw outside, you could see why he was late... fashionably late. You sent him a quick message stating where you guys were, and now waited for the blond boy to find his way to you.

"So he's finally gonna show up?" Jisung hummed.

"On his way", you yawned, finally awake. You outstretched your arms, doing a bit of an exercise to relax your arms. Sleeping on them for a full hour without moving, and then keeping them in the same position for a few more extra minutes made your left arm a bit numb. With your arms now in front of you, cracking every bone you could and probably shouldn't, behind your hands you could see Hyunjin running with what seems to be a coffee cup in his hands. His eyes on the prize, and that being the free chair in front of you.

The loud banging on the desk made by his bag started the one and only other student in this area – Kim Seungmin. Something told you that was intentional, but you weren't going to comment on that. Hyunjin – in an equally loud motion – pulled out the chair and sat down, sighing very dramatically, throwing his head back, and then he exclaimed: "Yaah! Why'd you have to sit on the second floor?" He curtly moved his head back to look at you. "You should've told me that it was him joining us, too."

"Get over yourself, Hwang," wheezed Jisung, finally sparing him a glance. "You're the one that shouldn't be here in the first place." He looked at a watch on his hand, an invisible one – might I add – tapping on it before continuing. "And you're late, terribly late, too."

"Oh, choose one, will you?" Hyunjin first rolled his eyes, annoyed at Jisung's words, and then brought his hands up in defense. "I overslept, okay!"

Somewhere in the background you could hear a muffled laugh – you didn't dare to make eye contact with the person, knowing very well both of you would burst into laughter. Moreso you would do it boisterously, and you knew just how that would irritate the other person even more. They liked their silence, and now, they weren't going to get any. You wanted to feel sorry for Seungmin, but he was Hyunjin's friend, so he was probably prepared for whatever was to come from this encounter. Or so you hoped he was.

"It's past midday?" Jisung looked at him, puzzled by his words. "You were supposed to meet so long ago. And you also had a class before that!"

"Aw, are you stalking me? You know my schedule so well," mockingly cooed Hyunjin, his eyes looking like a pair of crescent moons. He leaned forward, crossing his arms. "Didn't know you were so interested in me, Han. I'm sorry, but I'm not really into guys. Down to try a lot of things, but you're not really my type."

"Y/N told me you didn't show up to Mr. Lee's class", Jisung shrugged looking at you, and you shrugged right back, which got you a little boo from your new friend.

"Why'd you have to snitch on me, Y/N?" He whined, puffing out his pretty little lips. Oh... You slapped yourself on the lips, feeling ridiculous over your little slip-up... Thankfully you didn't really compliment him out loud. Now, that would've been disastrous.

"Ah, these lips of mine", you tried to salvage your image, probably overdoing it in the process – your actions alone had already made your point across. That is, if they were even needed in the first place. You really might have been making things worse for yourself by giving your intrusive thoughts too much attention. "Can't keep them closed for long enough. Sorry, Jinnie..."

The boy looked taken aback by your words. "It's okay if I call you Jinnie, right?"

Silence...

It felt super awkward. Your Hannie looked equally as surprised, he knew you liked to call people by their nicknames – him particularly enjoying the squirrel and quokka nicknames you've given him over the years, the same ones he'd never admit to loving – but this was moving super fast.

When did you two get so close without him noticing? Surely, it wasn't that long since you two ended up paired for this assignment.

Wait, are those tears?

"YES! Please do!" If someone were to just randomly stumble upon your group right now, they might think he was being proposed to. "But, can I call you Y/Nnie*?" *[whatever overly cutesy nickname fits]

Now, it was your turn to be surprised. "Sure." That was the only thing you could muster, slowly nodding your head.

"GREAT" Hyunjin slammed his hand on the desk, once more garnering you a death stare from Seungmin – not like he really got a chance to stop glaring at you guys, seeing how you haven't stopped screaming for one second. Beneath his hand you could see a folded paper… It was a list of books.

"A senior I know told me these books were of immense help when he was writing the essay." His smile was blinding, and you wished it wasn't weird to wear sunglasses indoors. "Let's go find them and decide who's gonna read which books!"

"Not again", you groaned, pulling yourself out of your chair. But you were feeling so comfy in that super uncomfortable and wooden library chair... definitely not stiff and your legs definitely did not feel like giving up once you stood up.

A minute of complaining later, and you were slowly searching through the shelves looking for the apparently good resources that the senior had told Hwang about. Well, the top student's notes should be a good start, right? Even if they weren't, you weren't really going to protest much. You came upon those yourself when you were researching the topic, however you weren't able to find them in the pdf format and now you were stuck here, in this dusty place.

It didn't take Hyunjin long to find his half of the books and join your side. And on this particular day he felt really talkative, but you were starting to suspect he was like this every day.

"Again, I'm sososososo sorry for being late!"

"You've already apologized a bunch", you were dragging your index finger over the books in front of you, trying not to miss the one you were looking for by accident. "It's already forgiven."

"But–"

"Dude, do you want me to tell you I fell asleep and literally only woke up because your constant messages made my phone buzz so hard one might think it was something else?" You looked at him, for a second before a blush started creeping up on your cheeks, embarrassed by your little outburst.

"Oh."

"Yeah, so don't worry about it, okay?" You muttered, picking up the correct book.

"On the topic of –"

"On the topic of what?" You threw your head in his direction, "we were on a topic about what?"

"On the topic of love", he cleared his voice, definitely choosing not to back down. "I think I was right about what I said."

"And you've said", you dragged out your words a bit, " what exactly now? Refresh my memory, will you?"

"I'm not a threat to your little lover boy, compared to whomever you've planned to spend today in the first place". Just how many times would you have to jerk your head into Hyunjin's direction today?

"My rumored boyfriend isn't Jisung?" The last word came out a lot quieter than you intended it to. "Then who is it?"

"Oh he is," Hyunjin nodded, now walking in front of you, his torso turned to you. "But he's more like the secret affair boyfriend, or your side piece if you want to be crude." That made you silently wish the gossip queen in front of you would trip. Harsh, but the thought did cross your mind like a thunderbolt, gone before you even got to really notice it.

"Then who is my boyfriend?" You air quoted the last words with one hand. "Really, tell me what is the latest story the campus tabloid is spinning."

"There's a lot." He stated the obvious, of course a lot of rumors were going to follow 3Racha... and everyone involved with them. They might have not been world famous just yet, but everyone on the campus knew them.

"So," Hyunjin leaned a bit forward, clasping his hands together... And the books he was holding? He put them down on the nearest empty space on a shelf – hopefully he won't forget to get them after he's done telling the story. "What you're telling me is... you're not dating the production class TA?"

"Channie oppa?" You furrowed your brows. "People think I'm dating him?"

"Like one third of the student body, yes. That is the predominant theory, or well, you’re mostly involved with him – according to the head writer for the “JYP chronicles”!"

"Get your books, I only need one more." You walked away from him, shaking your head at the ridiculous story. Hyunjin ran up to you and continued to explain, as if he was talking about someone else, and not apparently something that was supposed to be the life you were living.

"The second third thinks he has a daughter called Y/N!" And you were stumbling over your feet on that one. "They are kinda divided over her being his legitimate daughter or his adopted one."

"Okay", you exhaled loudly, trying to catch your balance. Thankfully Hyunjin was there to catch you before you fell, otherwise you'd now be making friends with the floor for the second time that day. Or maybe if he weren't there you wouldn't have even been in that situation in the first place. "I think I'll stop you there, before I unleash some evil upon the world by saying words I'm not even sure resemble human language."

"Oh, I know where the last book is", he tried to change the topic, noticing – finally – how the situation had escalated too far. You definitely wouldn't like the last story if that was how you reacted to the first two.

Noticing the stack of books in your hands, Jisung stood up to help you, taking a good portion of them, leaving you with only two. He placed them down gently, while Hyunjin was once again making noise, not caring who he could possibly disturb. Seeing Seungmin's reaction – how he was still here was beyond you – you really were starting to believe what Hyunjin was doing was simply to spite the guy. He'd give you an apologetic nod every time he's done it so far, so who knows, or maybe you were reading the room wrong and he was just an inconsiderate jerk. But he really didn't peg you as such, so you hoped it was the first option.

"Does he look mad?" He whispered. "The guy behind us?"

And all of your questions were answered. You nodded, affirming his suspicions. Hyunjin tried to discreetly fist pump the air, happy with the outcome of his little scheming. He ended up knocking his knee on the desk, making himself yelp out of pain, doubling down to hold onto his leg.

"That's what you get," Jisung smirked.

"You're still here," hissed the boy in pain. "Do you not have any classes or what? Why are you still here?"

"To ruin your fun."

"Wait, I think you have production in like 15 minutes?!" You put your phone down, flashing the screen to him.

"Ah, fuck." Han hurriedly started packing. "You're right, I totally forgot."

And at that same time you got a call from Minho, you excused yourself from the boys – they were too preoccupied with their glaring contest to even notice – and walked away to the closest deserted shelves... Some more people arrived in the last few minutes, but the library was still mostly empty, so you didn’t need to leave the premises, go somewhere else – like the nearest bathroom – to take the phone call.

"Please don't be too loud –"

"Y/N! Y/N! MY PRECIOUS Y/N!" Would he be Lee Minho if he didn't try to burst your eardrums every time you picked up your phone?

"... I'm in a library, please watch your tone." You hushed him.

"BUT I SAW A PRETTY KITTY!" You weren't holding your phone so close to your ears anymore; you moved your hand in front of you. It was ludicrous of you to even think having a normal phone call was a possibility.

"Why do I even try?" You shook your head. "Go on, tell me about it."

"It's a momma cat, I'm trying to find where her babies are." You could imagine Minho's exaggerated hands moving in circles. "She's so fluffy and friendly, too. She's been sitting on my shoes for the last 5 minutes. I can’t move."

"Took you long enough to call." You teased him.

"I was taking pictures, I'll send them to you later." This conversation was the happiest you've heard him in the past week.

"Nice", you giggled. There was a somber pause.

"Why are you so quiet?" The sound of concern deeply lacing his voice. "Usually you don't stop asking me questions about the cats I see."

"Y'know, I'm just remembering how much of a cat nerd you were", you snickered at the thought of Minho and the countless encounters he had with cats when the two of you were out and about. "Haven't really heard you talk about cats in a while."

"What? That sounds crazy!"

"Doesn't mean it's not true", you started browsing the books behind you, looking to find a way to keep your hands busy.

"I guess I was too stressed to even talk about cats", Minho exhaled. He was probably running his hand through his hair. "How's that even possible?"

"Mr Chae took a family leave, making you take care of the kids." You mused. "How's preparation for the competition going?"

"Please, don't remind me!" Minho groaned, you could hear a faint meowing in the background. "This one girl's older sister is giving me nightmares!"

"Oooh, someone's got a crush on you!"

"It was supposed to only be a one night stand", he mumbled, fearing to say the words out loud for everyone to hear. "And now she's found out where I work… and she's been showing up every single class, trying to find ways to talk to me, to get my number..." His rambling trailed on for a few more minutes. "How can someone have such a hard time not taking a hint?"

"You might just be that good in bed", you teased him, the pit of uneasiness growing inside your chest. "Like, come on–"

"Is this what you've felt like when that Choi guy wouldn't leave you alone?"

"Why are you bringing him up?" You whisper-yelled. "Please don't make me think of him. I shudder at the very thought of last year because of him!"

"You know what?" He paused for a second. "How long do you think you'll be studying for in the library?"

"Probably not more than 2 hours?"

You were moving your phone from one hand to the other, thinking the conversation had finally mellowed down – foolish of you to think Minho wouldn't scream again – and now your phone had ended up close to your other ear. "PERFECT!" Really, how'd you even consider that Minho would ever stop being loud?

"Well, my hearing isn't." You grumbled. "What of it?"

"Well, Miss Sassypants, I'm picking you up after I'm done with my class and we are having a night-in! Watching movies, talking about drama, the usual!" His voice went a few octaves higher, until he finally brought it down to say: "There's so much I think I need to catch up on!"

"YOU WERE IN CLASS THIS WHOLE TIME?"

"Great!" He giggled like a little high school girl, avoiding your question. "See ya in less than 2 hours!" And he abruptly hung up, not leaving you any time to scold him.

You slowly made your way back to Hyunjin where the two of you continued to work on the assignment in silence for some time before he decided to speak up.

“Where were you this whole time?” Whimpered a sad puppy called Hyunjin. “I thought you abandoned me here with that asshole!”

“I'm pretty sure he was leaving as I walked away?” You scratched your neck. “It couldn’t have been that terrible, right?”

“That’s what you think!” He wailed, spinning his head in a counterclockwise movement before looking you dead in the eyes. “It was worse than hell!”

“Didn’t know you went on vacation there?” You teased him, enjoying the dramatic scene you were playing out. “Tell me all about it! How long did it take before the big S sent you back?”

He loudly gasped. “Are you calling me a demon right now?”

“Well, you aren’t exactly an angel, are you?”

“I’m better than your boy toy, anyday!” He puffed his chest out. “If you only heard what he told me once you left us alone!”

“Aw, come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.” You crossed your arms and rolled your eyes. “Jisung isn’t that bad.”

“Whatever you wish to believe!” He was now mirroring your position, sitting in the same way as you. “I’m telling you, I do not consent.”

“What?”

“As your new best friend, I do not allow you to date such a foul mouthed boy!” Hyunjin narrowed his eyes, whisper-yelling in your face.

“Damn, son, you are starting to sound more like my father figure than my friend,” you snickered at his obnoxious statement.

“Well, daughter, I’m not allowing you to date that man.” He shook his head. “He’s not good enough for you, and that’s final.”

Somewhere in the background you could hear a loud thud… it was Seungmin faceplanting right into the desk he was sitting at. Ah, so this is what he must go through every day – actively living his life with Hyunjin in close proximity. Surprisingly, he has yet to try and interfere with any of the things that have happened in front of him. And he probably won’t. Drawing from what you knew about him – he’ll probably stay in the background and observe the free circus show. It was free as well as animal cruelty free, so there was no damage being done, except probably to his forehead right now. The thud sounded like it genuinely hurt.

“So we are just assuming I’m dating Jisung?” You questioned Hwang. “For your information, I’m very single right now.”

“From my information, I know you're not.” He vigorously shook his head, and you wondered how it hadn’t snapped off his neck from all of the sharp movements he was doing.

Were you always this violent of a person or has the conversation with him turned you into one? Why were you so on edge and what were you so defensive about? What is it that you didn’t want to talk about? What was the topic you were so afraid he’d bring upt?

“I don’t know what your source of information is, gossip girl, but I can tell you it's not very reliable.” You were chewing on the insides of your cheeks. “So, forget about whatever you think you knew.”

“Well, I know that the “JYP chronicles” are a bunch of bullshit.” He half-heartedly laughed. “It’s Mina writing them after all.”

“As if the name is supposed to ring a bell.” You snorted, continuing this little exchange that’s going on, now interested to find out who was this person who helped spread the rumors about your friend group. And why this person got such visceral hatred from the one and only, Hwang Hyunjin.

“What I’m saying is,” he extended his left hand out, only to bring it back to his side, adjusting himself in his chair.. “My very classified information doesn’t come from some dumb gossip column. I know my shit.”

“I am really having a hard time believing that.”

“Up to you, Y/N.” He smirked a devilish smile, “I know someone who’d suit you a lot better than that… human.” You looked at him weirdly. “I’m trying not to be too mean, “my more empathetic friend” talked my ear off the last time I badmouthed a person someone really cared about.. To the person.. I’m trying, okay? I don’t get it, but I’m trying!”

“Okay, nerd.” You rolled your eyes. “Let’s try and finish as much as we can right now, yeah? No more distractions?”

“Sorry”, he let out a low whisper, moving his hair out of his eyes. “ I just know you two would make a better pair…”

The weather has slowly come into your vision, noticing the havoc that was about to be unleashed. The gloomy vibe finally setting in your own bones, you weren’t excited about leaving the building. The grumbling of the thunder was slowly picking up, getting louder and louder with every crack.

“You okay?” It seems Hyunjin picked up on your feelings. The fear was probably written all over your face, even though you tried to hide it.

“Just surprised, that’s all.” You tried to play it off nonchalantly. It was failing, as you audibly yelped at that right moment – damned weather just had to ruin it. “As, as I said, just caught off guard, that’s all.”

“You want me to help escort you back to your dorms?” Hyunjin was being a sweetheart, with the gentlest look in his eye. “If we huddle close together under my jacket, from one roof covering to another, I’m sure we’d make it slowly, or at least wait it out in the Cafe?”

“Thank you, Jinnie, but I’m hanging out with a friend after this.”

“That friend of yours is picking you up, right?”

You nodded, looking at your flashing phone. “See? Speaking of the devil and here he calls.” You nervously laughed before picking up the call.

“Then go ahead, let me know you’ve safely reached wherever you’re going, yeah?” He awkwardly scratched his chin. Seeing you nod he started packing, ushering you to actually answer the call.

“What’s up Min?” You mouthed a silent “Talk to you later” to Hyunjin and in response he winked before walking away, only to sit right beside a very annoyed looking Seungmin.

“I’m waiting for you in the “Parking B” near the library.” Faint sounds of music could be heard in the background, and it sounded to be coming from his radio.

“You drove to campus?” You tried to quietly talk while walking through the library – now, grateful students weren’t there, allowing you to talk more freely.

“No, dummy.” Minho laughed a hearty laugh. “My class finished a long time ago, so I went back to get the car. You forgot to bring the umbrella again, didn’t you?”

“You know me so well, don’t you, Min?” You sarcastically answered… but it was the truth, you really did forget it at home.

“What’d you do without me?” He hummed. “Come on, slowpoke, do you need me to hold your hand?”

“I’ll be fine, I can see your car.” You were running, the rain miraculously had calmed down just for long enough for you to reach Minho.

“Well would you look at my little drenched cat.” He started patting your hair, getting it out of your face, trying to style it a bit. “We should get going fast, before you catch a cold.”

And as such he did start the car, the two of you heading back to their dorm, and your heart following the mellow tunes of the song playing on the radio. You couldn’t recognize it, but the lyrics were driving you up the wall, steadily, just like the face of the man next to you. He held one hand on the wheel, his gaze fixated on the road in front of him. The smell inside of the car was intoxicating, slowly driving you mad. The road seemed explicitly long on this ride, as if it was never ending. You knew it well, and yet it seemed so foreign. You stealthily tried to steal glances at Minho, your eyes doing double takes every now and again… His clothing on this day might have been simple, but the charming smile and unwavering aura weren’t. They never were. You firmly believed you’d never get tired of admiring him, you really did.

Minho tried making small talk on your way to the apartment, but you on the other hand were too distracted to give him any coherent answers, a few words a sentence. The storm was frightening and terrible, which is what he assumed was the problem; he knew nothing about the truth – he was the problem. Sure, you were scared of the rain, but not as much as you dreaded getting stuck in the little itty bitty space in the car together, it was already suffocating enough.

“Ah, fuck!” Minho hit the side of the steering wheel, turning his head to you. “We should’ve gotten pizza or something while we were out. Not like they were doing delivery in these conditions…”

His little outburst brought you out of your trance, noticing you had reached the destination point. “We could always make something, right?” You brought your hand over his – the tight grip he had over the wheel turned his knuckles white. “It’s not like your fridge is empty?” He gave you a deadpan look. “It’s… it’s empty?”

“The boys were over while I was in class yesterday,” his grip only tightened even more and you started running your thumb in circles over the back of his hand. “I hadn’t had a chance to refill it yet. They even raided the secret pantry!”

“No!” You gasped, blowing your own sorrows over your, now gone, secret stash of snacks out of proportions – intentionally. “Everything?” Minho confirmed that, indeed, 3Racha has devoured all of the food. You in response slumped in your seat. Although you were furious that your favorite junk food was not there anymore, this situation had lightened up the mood in the car, if just for a bit. You’ll get your revenge later; now wasn't the right time for that. However, you and Minho did spend the following 15 minutes discussing the appropriate measures you were going to take… how to execute your counterattack. What they did was a low blow! No one touches your food without your permission! Minho was just going along for the fun ride, really… mostly… He was mourning his hard earned money though as Minho did not buy those things for them. They needed to pay him back.

Hand in hand, under Minho’s jacket, the two of you ran into the apartment building. For a guy who had just teased you about always forgetting your umbrella, he surely shouldn’t have been one to talk. The wind was singing a melodious tune, but it was probably your laughter that was the most outstanding instrument in this song, both of you grinning from ear to ear. Whatever fears and doubts you had disappeared, leaving just the two of you in this world. It was so easy, Minho made falling for him an effortless job, and yet so heart-wrenching.

You two were still laughing while you made your way to the apartment, pushing each other around, surrounded by pure bliss. Really, a little trip that was supposed to take no longer than 2 minutes went on for far too long, each of you playfully teasing each other over your foolishness. As you reached the door, Minho fumbled with the keys, dropping them on the floor – he was laughing too hard, earning a gentle punch in the arm from you. “Dude, I’m freezing over here!” You ran looking for your spare clothes at their places as soon as he unlocked the place.

“I’ll go get the blow-dryer.” Minho was putting his shoes in their place, fixing your messily scattered ones in the process too. Warmth filled his chest, even though the cold rain had his clothes sticking close to him, bringing a chilling feeling to the rest of his body. It was… nice, having you around…

“I’m going to take a shower first!” You poked your head out from Jisung’s room, your spare t-shirt and sweatpants in hand. “Are the spare towels still in the same place?”

“Yes,” confirmed Minho from the kitchen. “I think I found some things we could make ourselves a dinner out of. What do you think?”

“Just try not to burn the place down, yeah?” You said picking up the towel; the meanies put your towel somewhere you’d have a hard time getting it from. “Also, leave the blow dryer on your bed, will you?”

“After I’m done using it.” He chuckled, emerging from the kitchen, meeting you, who was running to the bathroom, for a quick second – slow enough for you to stick your tongue out at him before forcefully closing the door behind you. And soon after, he did as he said – Minho started drying his hair.

A whole hour and maybe some more had passed since that, now your stomachs were full and both of you were out of the rained on clothes and completely dry – Minho insisted on drying your hair, just as he did when you were kids. The evening air was saturated in colors of the past, the night reminding you heavily of your childhoods and autumn days where the two of you would play outside for far too long before Jisung would show up screaming, angry that you two were leaving him behind and playing without him. The three of you would then start chasing each other around in your backyard, laughing, fighting, being innocent and naive kids. And it would last for a while, before one of your parents would come out to scold you, or Jisung’s parents came to pick him up after they noticed he had snuck away – he had done that many a times; his house may have not been on the same street as yours, but it was close enough where he could pull off things like that.

You remembered to send Hyunjin a quick message, well, it was mostly because he was spamming your phone with worried memes, you just had to respond before the man alerted the police of your missing... that seemed like his next course of actions...

The rain had come in waves and every time it came back it would be with stronger showers. The thunder shook you to your core, you could feel it in your bones. Luckily by this time, you and Minho had snuggled up underneath his warm covers, once again, the same way you would when you were kids. Maybe you two were too old for this, but who cared, nothing compares to the warm hug of a loved one. You felt a lot safer than you usually do when the storm hits this hard.

“Y/N?” Minho pulled you closer to his body, absentmindedly running his fingers over your shoulders. You didn’t answer him, so he continued. “So, how did the meet-up go?”

“Really? Now?” Your heart was gradually picking up its pace, getting ready to burst at any second. A deafening boom of the thunder could be heard, making you uneasy and quivering. You pushed yourself closer to Minho’s chest, trying to hide yourself from the world and he started massaging the top of your head out without hesitation, planting a soft kiss, too.

“Love you,” his voice was barely audible. Your gut sunk deep, this was not the time to feel like this and yet… Your emotions were all over the place, you weren’t sure what you were even feeling anymore. And as on cue, as another lightning struck, Minho started singing softly, doing his best to calm your nerves down.

As the two of you shared a sweet embrace in Minho’s bed, on the other side of the student part of the city, 3Racha was working on a song. Or so they were trying to do until Chan called it quits and sent Jisung home. The car ride was a little too quiet coming from this group. All of them lost in their thoughts, Jisung worrying about you and his two hyungs worrying about him. The contrast between what you’ve seen and the boy sitting in their booth, not really paying any attention to what the guys were saying, was stark. The gloomy cloud was following him everywhere, somehow the mood around him being darker than the one outside. Chan knew about half of the things going on in his mind, and he gave Han his promise, he’d stop by to check on you. Little did he know back then that it wouldn’t be necessary at all.

On his way back home, all he could think about was his altercation with Minho yesterday morning, and the look of disappointment his hyung had on his face as he left.

“You aren’t going to agree to that?” Minho whispered, his eyes going over the message on Jisung’s phone and then quickly back to the boy. “Don’t tell me you plan on agreeing to that?!”

“Dude, what the fuck?”

“You want to?” Minho scrunched his nose in disgust, you being in between the two of them probably saved Jisung from a punch or two, or from a few. “No, dude, what the fuck are you thinking about?”

“I didn’t respond to him yet,” Jisung averted his gaze away from his hyung, not looking at either of you, instead he focused on the little crack on the old wall of this dormroom.

“But you are considering it!” Minho hissed, running his hand through his hair. “You are seriously considering it! Does she know about it?”

The silence was deafening.

“Oh my god!” Minho was exasperated, he quickly stood up, fearing that if he didn't leave that instant, he might make an even bigger scene. “Don’t talk to me, you hypocrite! I don’t want to hear a word from you ever again if you really accept his preposition!”

Jisung quietly opened the doors to the apartment, fearing he might disturb Minho and invoke some more of his wrath. And yet, as he was putting his shoes back in their place he noticed yours neatly placed next to Minho’s.

You were here, but he couldn’t hear anything.

Jisung silently approached Minho’s room, holding his breath, his inhales being a lot shallower than before.

Nothing.

It was utter silence.

He carefully opened the door and noticed that the two of you had fallen asleep, the lump in his throat wasn’t going down smoothly, his chest squeezing tight, making it hard to breath.

And so he left, even as saw you trembling in fear in Minho’s arms, all he could do was leave.

Well, there was one thing he could do, he went and grabbed his earphones and played a playlist he had hoped to play for you on a better day. Maybe a day where you were with him instead and the two of you were reminiscing about your past together.

You might have been mostly in a state of daze and not completely out of it, but the song playing brought you right back to reality, to the state in front of you. You didn’t have time to think about where the music came from, all you could think about was your repressed emotions.

Once more, even though you swore you’d never let yourself get to this point, you were here once again. How naive do you have to be to believe that a decade amount of feeling for someone could dissipate in just 3 months? That night might have been the start of something new, but it wasn’t going to be the end of the old. Oh no, it was going to stay for a bit longer, tormenting you for a few more nights than you welcomed them.

You might just be moving on from what you knew was unachievable, that was all. Don’t get it twisted, your heart has yet to make space for someone else. You were looking for things in all the wrong places; missing the text between the lines.

Masterlist

prev < part 9 > next

tag list: @mythicalamphitrite @hyunee1 @hyvn-jaeee @luvshye @seroriis

a/n: exposition... exposition exposition.... a lot of info dump huh?

This part was brought to you by a lot of soda and biscuit filled chocolate... and some insomnia... and Jisung and Minho brainrot

Sorry for the possible Monsta X slander hehe... I love my boys, sorry not sorry

I can finally relax 😌

It was fine writing this, but wtf was all of this... it took so much time... and I really hope I managed to convey half of the things I planned... I sure thing added stuff I wasn't expecting... but that's more story exposition to you heh

If you enjoyed reading this, let me know, feedback is really appreciated! Now... I'll go back to studying!

See ya again some time at the end of this week!

59 notes · View notes

dreamlandxrunaway · 2 years

Text

⛈️ 1 cloudy day at a time ⛈️

part 21: just another day

pairing: yang jeongin x fem!reader (skz member x reader)

warnings: swearing, jisung angst, jeongin angst, bittersweet fluff, swearing, (not exactly proof read)

word count: around 4.6 plus pictures

What time was it? You couldn't tell the days apart. Was it a gloomy Monday morning or was it a lonely Friday night?

Did it really even matter?

Every day this week seemed the same, filled with the same emptiness in your chest.

Had you had a chance to talk to the one person you wanted to see this week the most, you might’ve felt better, but that didn’t happen. No, no matter how many missed calls you left, no matter how many messages had reached his phone…

You couldn’t reach Han Jisung at all.

Monday wasn’t that good, there was no way in hell it was going to be after waking up only to find out your father was trying to control your life once more, awaiting the day he could once again take the puppeteer strings back into his hands. Alas, there was still some time to figure a way out. He was just trying to scare you like he used to do when you were younger, no? Fear was the best control tactic, the one he knew fared well. The one he knew had worked on you every time.

That morning, however, you ran into the handsome stranger from last week. He was eating breakfast on his own. You’ve seen him by himself a lot, and he looked crestfallen every time. His gaze fixated on whatever was in front of him. That’s just the way things appeared on the surface level, he was looking straight through it, he wasn’t taking in anything around him. His eyes were glassy, the dark circles apparent – just how much can a person’s life change in a week for them to look so different? It wasn’t a one days work, obviously, as days had gone by, and every time you had run into him in the last week, he looked worse.

Your own life was slowly falling apart, and yet you still had time to worry for a complete stranger, how nice you were with sharing your time with others – as if you currently had the privilege of having the time for anything else other than your own problems.

Would knowing you two actually knew each other have changed the course of things?

Probably not, right?

You’d still had gotten to class, and you’d still probably gone to Chan and Binnie’s apartment to work on an oil painting in peace – you still hadn’t gotten permission to use any of the university’s free painting studio’s for your own use at that time. You’d probably still have them worried sick over your exhausted from crying frame lying on their sofa. You’d probably still have Changbin gently waking you up, pulling you into a big hug while Chan is brewing you a nice cup of tea. You’d still probably spend the night convincing them to watch the horror movie you had to watch for your assignment, and you’d probably still laugh at Changbin for getting jump scared by the shittiest of scares – ah, this wasn’t going to be easy homework, not at all. And after the movie was done, and after Changbin refused to move from the sofa, refusing to let any of you leave his side, you’d most definitely spend the rest of the Monday night brainstorming what on earth could you do for it, together with Chan, purposely trying to scare Bin even more. The boys would still probably be delighted to hear your mischievous laughter, to see that they had successfully managed to take whatever was bothering you off of your mind for at least that night.

Tuesday morning rolled over, Chan and you had left early in the morning. He made sure you had enough time to take a shower and get a new change of clothing; the last thing you needed was another rumor about the two of you going around, and there were plenty as it was.

You had tried calling Jisung in between classes, but all you got was the operator’s voice message. You tried to catch him by showing up to his classes, waiting for him outside, waiting for them to end. If he was attending them, you had missed him in the crowd. You haven't heard or seen him anywhere, and you’ve at this point exhausted all of your options. For that matter, none of the boys could get in touch with him.

That's what they told you anyways, not like they really got a reason to lie to you, right?

Tuesday you ended in your own dorm room, alone, but not before buying the last ice cream for the year. As you were mindlessly walking around the convenience store, seeing what other purchase might fill the void, you once again walked right past him, and yet this time, you didn’t notice each other. Both of you were just living out your days, trying to pass time.

It was a long night, filled with bone-chilling weeping. Oh, the poor souls that had heard your cries that night. Your roommates had such a hard time soothing you to sleep, especially since they had no idea what was on your mind.

You and Jeongin were in sync this week, you ran into each other every step you took, sometimes you’d miss each other if you just looked the wrong way, but you were in an awfully lot of the same places at the same time. And every time you'd be alone, you'd both wear the same worn out expressions on your faces. In any other circumstances you might've reached out to check up on him, struck up a conversation – but you didn't want to burden him. You thought talking to him would only make him more uncomfortable than he already seemed to be. And you weren't going to burden the kind stranger who had no idea who you were. Well, one of you was a stranger to the other, anyways. You were no stranger to him, he knew what name to put to your face at least.

If only you guys had forsaken the stupid rules of the university forum – you two were probably the only ones to have even followed them in the first place.

Wednesday wasn’t so bad. If nothing else, you at least got to watch Hyunjin lose it during Mr Lee’s lecture. He wasn’t there last week, so obviously he was not prepared for what awaited him this time. It was quite entertaining, the most fun you had this week so far.

You hung out with Hyunjin, worked on some of your assignments that you were behind on, and afterwards you went to see Felix and your girls’ practice. He was great, really really great. You’ve heard a lot about his dancing from Yeji, but seeing it in person… Felix was impressive. The dance studio was filled with awe and joy that afternoon, the bickering of your new friends with your roommates was a nice change of pace.

You had called Jisung once more, thinking maybe, just maybe, he’d answer this time. And the answer was obvious as to what happened…

Why were you so adamantly calling him? Well, wouldn’t you be worried about your best friend dropping from the face of the earth? Of course that was the reason why!

Well..

No…

That wasn’t the reason you called him in the first place.

You wanted to see him. You desperately needed to see him that Monday afternoon.

Minho was going to be away from their apartment, he always stayed late after work hours to practice his own dance routines… which left the two of you ample time to have your own fun. You needed his embrace, after hearing harsh words that brought up so many unpleasant memories, you needed a distraction. He did end up providing you with one, but quite in an opposite way to the one you were hoping for.

Where the hell was he? How long does he plan on avoiding you? Is he even?

Surely nothing happened to him, right?

Thursday showed its face, and so did Minho. He had decided to kidnap you for the day, and spend as much time with you as possible. That is until you ran into Felix who decided to tag along, and in the end you ended up in a dance battle against the younger boy – Minho was going to be the judge… and he judged in your favor, he said you won. Felix tried to argue that Minho was being biased, but he couldn’t out-talk Minho, nobody can. As Minho had to get back to his own classes, you and Felix had lunch together. Being alone with him wasn’t nearly as awkward as you thought it was going to be. Mostly because soon after Hyunjin crushed whatever little one-on-one you two had together. Surprisingly, Seungmin had also joined you after his classes for the day had ended.

On Thursday, you had a little get together party with your newest friends sans one, the one guy you’ve heard so much about and had yet to meet in person.

You were sitting next to Hyunjin, his hands playing with your hair absentmindedly. You and the guys were having a normal conversation, talking about anything and everything, talking about what was going on in “Jeongin’s” life and what could they do to help. You honestly wished you could just tell them they should stop trying to meddle, but that one wasn’t going to cut it. No, no, no matter how you tried to put it, they still went back to talk about what possible ways they could handle the situation. And everything just reminded you of how desperately your online friend told you he wished his friends would stop, and it just reminded you how he told you his friends’ actions were forcing him to stay away from them, as far as he could – which, not being a surprise to you, seemed like to be the case with Jeongin too. But you couldn’t just compare the situations, they were two different groups of people and they were totally not going to react in the same way, so how could you really compare the two and use the examples from what the one side was doing to give the other side some advice! That would be ridiculous… but oh, life likes ironies like that, doesn’t it?

By the end of the night, you couldn’t ignore the concerned look on Seungmin’s face that he tried to conceal every time you’d look his way. He spent most of the night in his room, but you three got too loud so he just joined you in the end. You called him out on it, saying that if he was so worried about Jeongin, he should show it, there was no shame in that.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, YN”, he looked you straight in the eyes.

“Oh puh-lease”, you snorted, Hyunjin and you giving each other a knowing look. “No need to pretend to be a strong-willed cold businessman, you can care about your friends.” Added Hyunjin, swatting away Felix’s hands that were playing with your fingers. That earned him a glare from the two of you, but he didn’t mind it, and just took one of your hands into his own, continuing to do what he tried to stop Felix from doing.

Felix warmed up to you extremely fast, completely accepting you as a permanent part of the friend group, and he was now, too, plotting on how to introduce you and his precious Innie to each other.

He started to slowly understand why Hyunjin went to such an extent to be your group project partner.

Seungmin sighed, nervously playing with his hands. He failed to muster confidence in his next words. “I’m not worried about him.”

“I’ll say it again, Seungmin, but it’s not that big of a deal even if you are. It’s getting late and he’s still not back –”

“YN, you should probably worry more about yourself,” he answered in a direct tone, making you question just how much he knew about the charity event your father’s company was organizing. He probably knew a lot more, and you had simply and completely forgotten that he knew every excruciating detail of that part of your life.

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t think this is a good time or place to talk about it.” He scratched that back of his neck, refusing to meet your eyes.

Seungmin was fighting the urge to tell you everything he knew. He realized that there was a big chance you still knew nothing, so he had to chance it and probe a little more. He was trying to be cautious about the way he phrases his words. He didn’t want to alert you and make a mess out of the situation. But just what could be the best way of confirming his suspicions?

Fuck it, here comes nothing.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Hyunjin and Felix this week.” Fuck, fuck, fuck!!! “The 3Racha guys must be getting really busy, huh?”

You nodded, confused about where this was going. Nothing was weird about you hanging out with someone else, it’s not like you could only hang out with them – if your father was asked, maybe it would be too much, even if it was just them.

“You know what?” Ah, fuck, you were standing up – to Hyunjin’s dismay – what do you plan on doing now? “Can I talk to you more privately, Seungmin?”

You took Seungmin by his hand, not giving him any time to answer. The poor confused boys that were previously sitting by your side were now left to their own devices, exchanging glances with each other, not knowing if they should get involved and try to stop what was happening or not.

The damp air was finding its way into the room, uncomfortably changing the atmosphere surrounding you.

Seungmin was hesitant to follow you, but at that point, he had already rolled the dice, he had nowhere to hide. He knew he had fucked up.

He was aware of that, and yet he still tried to slip away, distracting you with a quick call out to Hyunjin, stopping you in your tracks to look at him. He ran to his room as fast as he could, locking the door behind him. Turns out, he wasn’t as prepared to take on whatever you wanted to talk about, your serious face scared him a lot more than he’d like to admit.

“Seungmin, let’s just talk,” you pounded on the door. It was silence on his end. “SEUNGMIN?”

Hyunjin and Felix were taken aback by their roommate’s actions– by this whole situation really –, they’ve never seen him act this way. All they could do was stay frozen in their place and watch as the situation on hand unfolded in front of them.

Maybe they should’ve closed the window, the wind was chilling the dorm room rapidly.

You tried a few additional times before you gave up, tired of playing other people’s games. So you did what you knew best and pulled out your phone, hoping a few messages might help him make up his mind and give in.

Seungmin burst out of his room, a smug smile adorning your face. Oh, but how quickly did it disappear once he opened his mouth.

What was he saying?

No, you weren’t hearing things right, you couldn’t have been.

What was he implying?

Why was the first thing he asked you if you’ve talked to Jisung recently?

Just what did his following words mean?

You fell into a daze, the world spinning around. Hyunjin was quick in his step, practically jumping right to your side – but he didn't need to do that after all, because you weren’t tumbling down to your knees. No, you couldn’t have been.

The sweat beads were forming on your face, your hands started feeling clammy. You kept opening and closing them, not knowing what to do with them. Your breath got shaky, shallow, the lump in your throat refusing to go down…

You needed to leave.

Now.

You needed to see him right now.

You weren’t paying any attention to the boys’ tries to calm you down, nor their panicked shouts. You weren’t watching where you were going once you left the apartment doors. Where did you plan on going after going down the flight of stairs? They had tried to follow you, but they couldn’t, you were running as if your life depended on it.

The slippery road, the wet pavement and the reflections of light, the smell of wet ground after rain, you had no time to appreciate the beauty of it all.

You’re not sure for how long you were running before you ran into him.

An unsuspecting Jeongin was enjoying the quietness of the night, skipping around as he took in the view around him. There was a certain comfort in solitude, one he made acquaintances with as of recent times.

He stared at the big building in front of him. Mina was still inside, the lights inside the room he recognized as JYP chronicles’ space was still shining bright, especially compared to the rest of the windows. She was still working… He stood there for a while. The overcast clouds were getting darker and darker. He should have probably left before it started pouring, but yet he stayed as the distant and hidden sun went down. And as the sky broke its hold, as it couldn’t hold the weight of the world anymore, Jeongin was still there, wistfully looking out towards the window Mina was supposedly diligently working behind. With a deep breath, he carefully opened the umbrella in his hands and left. The coffee in his hand had gotten a thousand times cold by then.

People were hurriedly walking to the nearest cover, some getting into their cars. Lovers were walking hand-in-hand and friends were fooling around. A young pair ushered what he thought seemed to be a 5-year-old child into their car, the laughter so warm it melted this cold night’s memory right away. The little girl’s gap-teeth smile was beaming, just as it should be. She was playing in the puddle, getting herself and her poor parents wet and muddy while the impatient parents tried to calm her down. It seemed like she was the only one who knew the true joy of this kind of day.

Maybe she did have the right outlook on life… Having a childlike innocence is having a blissful life. No worry is worth as much as to lose your spark.

He was walking down the main street of the student city when, suddenly, he saw a girl sprinting down the adjacent street that paralleled this one. Why did he have to look down the alleyway? As he was just walking around, it wouldn’t hurt to check if she was alright and wasn’t being chased…

“She's probably running because she was late?” He thought to himself.

Yet not that long down the road he saw the girl squatting down, rolled up close to her knees, holding tightly onto them, on to her body as much as she could. An ear-piercing wail left her mouth, continuing into loud sobbing.

How does he approach this situation? He was already there, he couldn’t just let a suffering girl get drenched in the rain. Should –... Should he get involved in a stranger’s problem? But before he could even notice, his legs had already decided for him as he was slowly making his way towards her trembling silhouette. His hand instinctively reached out over her, shielding her from the outpour… and a lot more than he could ever imagine.

He stood, looking around… his eyes restless but his mind was clear. He’ll let her vent all of her bitter tears – maybe he recognized himself in her, sharing her pain. He didn’t know what her problems were and neither did she know about his. Maybe he felt too numb to feel his own pain on his own and needed someone to do it for him.

His gaze fell to the ground, the ripples of the puddles were beautiful, rhythmic, predictable – something his relationship with Mina has been in a while... almost. Jeongin was just deceiving himself that there was something worth salvaging, and in addition, she must’ve thought the same, or so he wanted to believe – why else would she keep getting back together after every storm had passed?

It was always the same, they fought, she’d break up with him, he’d yield to her and ask to get back together, and everything would be fine for a while before they’d start again…

So what was he fighting for?

A week of serenity and love surrounded by endless torment and cold currents?

A violent thunder shook the ground and shocked the both of you, bringing you out of your pity party. You had finally taken notice of the man standing beside you, adding more to your shock. And you yelped in surprise. It was dark and yet his face was perfectly illuminated by the streetlight.

It was him.

Just how long has he been standing here?

You ran into him again, quite literally this time…

You tried getting up but your knees almost gave up beneath you. Thankfully he was there to outstretch his hand out to you and bring you up, with a steady hold preventing you from falling down again.

You were dumbfounded, you didn’t know what to say. Neither did he, but he acted faster than you could process what was going on. He said something, but you couldn’t make out the words. Once he threw his hand over your shoulder, squeezing your arm gently and the two of you closer together, you were even more bewildered, your eyes rapidly going over his features – his serious eyes, his tight-lipped smile…

The two of you moved to hide under an eaves of the nearby bookstore’s rooftop. He moved his arm from your side and closed the umbrella, softly shaking the rain off of it. Neither of you spoke a word. Neither of you wanted to meet the other’s eyes. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. You held your hands over your chest however, finally noticing you had run out in the rain. If you didn’t get a cold after this night, you should consider yourself lucky…

Jeongin cleared his throat. “So, what do you major in?”

“Art.”

“Right..” He nervously laughed, what an obvious question... “I…uh..I am studying pedagogy…”

“Nice.” You gave him a gentle smile, still sniffling a bit, your eyes were definitely puffy and red from the crying.

“Ah.. you should probably call someone to get you back home, or, or I could send you back?” He raised an eyebrow, swiftly going back to looking in front of him and biting his lips.

You took out your phone only to discover it had died. You should’ve charged your phone like Felix advised you… You let out a dry laugh.

“It’s dead.”

“I guess, then I should probably take you back, Y–”

“YN! YN? Where the fuck are you, YN?”

You could recognize that voice everywhere, at any time of the day. It was your Minho, and he sounded damn worried. You must’ve given them quite a scare when you ran out like that.

So you called out to him, and in the process made Jeongin retreat into himself, his shoulders slumping a bit. He took a step back and away from you, gently looking over you. “Seems like you don’t need my help after all.” He looked down, looking at his phone. There he goes again, Hyunjin is spamming the group chat about you once again, in the process making his worry about your safety everyone else’s problem this rainy night too…

Once Minho saw you, he came running, throwing the umbrella on the ground. His hug felt like what home should feel like: safe, warm and loving. Just like something your home never was, and you thought probably never will be.

“Damn, you, YN!” He squeezed your cheeks. “I was so worried for you!! ALL of us are!”

“My phone died, Min.” You pouted. “I’m sor–”

“WERE YOU CRYING? WHO DARE MAKE MY YN CRY?”

“I should probably get going now.” Jeongin bowed, smiling respectfully, “now that you’re here, she’s going to be fine.” And he left without either of you noticing. He could still hear your shouting match at the end of the street. No wonder you and Hyunjin got along so well.

He shook his head disparagingly, he should probably inform them that you’re fine? Not like the two of you would remember to do it otherwise…

And so, Thursday came to an end with you and Minho having a movie night together, eating popcorn and any other craving you had to your own content – who cares that it’s middle of the night!

Jisung wasn’t at home that night either. He hasn’t come back to the apartment since Sunday night.

On Friday, you and Minho slept in, snuggling into each other's embraces. You went out for brunch, where Yeji and Chae joined you. You got such a big earful from them, Yeji specifically. But soon they stopped, they were too worried about you, but they were glad to find you safe and sound. You two really didn’t inform anyone. If it wasn’t for Jeongin… you’d probably be filed missing by now, or at least they, the Hwangs, would’ve tried to.

That Friday you joined Minho at his work studio. The kids were a bit shy at first, but they soon started showing off. Unfortunately the rambunctious trouble he has to deal with every class now became worse because you showed up. That little boy will probably never learn, will he?

And that day you finally got a chance to see in person the persistent girl Minho was talking about… She looked awfully familiar. She left as soon as she saw you standing up from your little favorite corner… her face was unreadable, but something about the way she looked at you didn't feel right. Thankful for your mere presence, Minho took you to eat out and brought you back to your dorm.

Changbin and you spent the weekend together. He refused to leave your side for even a mere second. Whatever you asked, he got you. No matter the price he had to pay, if something made you happy, he wanted to do it... and he did. He was a good big brother... that is until he tried to force you to join him in the gym. You got Hyunjin to save you from him, as Binnie now feared spending time with him, or probably the idea of having to pay for him...

Your friends make you incredibly happy, you're glad to have them in your life.

You've also gotten so many pictures of cats from your online friend, he took some while he was out and about this week, a certain picture bringing a big smile to your face... you could see his dark hair in the sparkling eyes of the pretty kitty... too bad he covered his face with the phone... and you couldn't make out his features at all.

The end of the week came.

No one… no one has heard from Jisung yet.

You’ve never been alone this week, yet this is loneliest you’ve felt in your life.

Damn you, Han Jisung! Who let you be such an important person in my life? How dare you make an usually ordinary day seem so bleak? All because you’re not there?

Who let you take on all of the world on your own? What do you think you are? An omnipotent god?

Masterlist

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tag list: @mythicalamphitrite @hyunee1 @hyvn-jaeee @linodori @seroriis

A/N: the cat is out of the bag...

If you see me posting the next part of this smau before the 4th next month... gently scold me haha... knowing myself? I 100% will tho lol...