CHAPTER 17

“What happened?!”

My mother rushed to my side, placing a hand on my forehead before moving to place it at the side of my face and down my neck. I must’ve looked really worn out and pale, enough to scare her into thinking that I had been hurt during the earlier event. I missed the sight of Jongin exhaling in relief and the shared looks he had with his friends as I quickly held her wrist and gently pried her hand away from my face before assuring her that I was okay. She eyes me suspiciously before glancing at Kyungsoo who stepped forward.

“His stomach must’ve still felt weak after earlier, yet the idiot forced himself to eat.” Kyungsoo tattled to her, making me roll my eyes. My mom turned back to me with a disapproving look. “Why’d you do that for?” she asked.

“I’m fine, mom.” I assured her. “Did you went to check out our place? How was it? Where’s Kris?” I asked, and it was my mother’s turn to roll her eyes at me. “I did, but there’s hardly anything to see there. Kris is back at the office, handling the urgent matters I had to put aside. Now the question is, how are you? Kris told me you got there before the police did, meaning that you saw...”

‘You saw the body’ was what she wanted to say, and at the recollection of ahjumma’s lifeless body at the bottom of the staircase with her own blood pooling around her made me nauseous again.

“I’ll be fine,” I told her. “Did you call her family? When will we get to bury her?”

“They need to do an autopsy on her first, sweetie. Hopefully they’ll find something that would help us find out who did this to her.” My mother let out a sigh, hands idly rearranging the blanket covering me before giving me a smile. “Now let me worry about this okay? If you can, please push this aside and just focus on your exams. I won’t force you if you think you can’t do it, but I think you’ll need the distraction, don’t you think so?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be in my room then,” she said and turned to all of our friends. “Make sure he gets enough rest, people. You’re welcome to stay if you wish.” My mother gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room, but I caught her wandering gaze on Luhan’s face for a bit before she disappeared, but I didn’t linger on that thought and turned to my friends. They were glancing at each other though before they caught my gaze.

“What?” I asked. I quickly understood the look in Minseok’s gaze though and cut them off before anyone could reply. “You guys don’t have to stay the night. I’m fine, really.”

“I’m staying though,” Jongin suddenly said, and I turned to him only to find him staring at me. There’s something in his gaze that I couldn’t read, and I found myself unable to argue with him. “Well, since Jongin will be here, we should leave.” Chanyeol said as he crossed his arms. “Call us if there’s anything, though.”

Jongin nodded, but he didn’t look away from me at all. Everyone wished me a good night before slowly leaving the room, but Kyungsoo remained by my bedside, making me turn to him in confusion. But he had his eyes on Jongin, gaze unwavering, and my boyfriend turned to him after another short second. I frowned as I watched them stare at each other, the silence suddenly tense around us. Before I could do anything about it, Kyungsoo broke the silence with a sharp tone.

“Take care of him.”

Jongin didn’t miss a beat. “I will.”

I was surprised by the sudden hostility, and I watched helplessly as Kyungsoo turned to leave the room, not before giving me a last glance. He didn’t say a word, not even a smile, as he closed the door behind him and never had I ever been so confused as I was at the moment. I turned to Jongin, wanting to know what was up, but the guy had his head turned to the door as well, a frown drawn on his face.

“Jongin?” I called and he whipped his head back at me with a conflicted look in his eyes. “Is everything okay?” He blinked then casted me a smile to assure me. “Everything’s fine, babe. He’s just worried about you I guess.”

“Oh… you don’t have to s