“No, I just want to pee!”

Seungwan shook off a very clingy Jongdae as she hurried off to the restroom. She didn’t even bother to ask Hyejin to tag along as usual. This meant that Seungwan was really annoyed at his behaviour.

Hyejin couldn’t blame her; she’d be mad too if she were in Seungwan’s shoes. Jongdae hadn’t left her side since the day he began acting weird. His eyebags were constantly under his eyes, as Hyejin could see that he could never really conceal them properly.

Jongdae was by Seungwan’s side as often as possible, always finding some sort of way to talk to her. It was amusing at first, but it soon turned all too suffocating for her. Hyejin had half a mind to talk to Junmyeon about giving bad flirting advice, if he actually was.

Jongdae looked put-off to say the least, but he knew not to go running after her. He wouldn’t have access to the girl’s bathroom anyway. Junmyeon too was staring at the door where Seungwan had left, in a daze. He looked a bit worried too, but chose not to say anything.

It was actually time for recess and they were about to head to the canteen together, but Jongdae managed to unintentionally annoy Seungwan for the last time. Hyejin wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, as she was too engrossed in a conversation with Junmyeon. It was only when Seungwan finally burst that they were aware of something going on.

Suddenly, Hyejin didn’t feel so hungry anymore. She felt sorry for Jongdae who didn’t have any ill intentions. He probably felt really bad.

“Junmyeon,” she whispered to him, making sure no one could hear them. “You should really stop giving bad advice to him.”

“Advice? What?”

She patted his shoulder. “I’ll go look for Seungwan. You both can go to the canteen first.”

They went their separate ways after nodded and squeezed her hand. Every touch had her feeling warm inside, and it was definitely much better than the racing heartbeats or sweaty palms. She had grown to feel comfortable around him, and less of that excitement. It was like the warm familiarity of long-term couples. It was nice.

Much to her surprise, Seungwan wasn’t at the restroom. There were a few girls there, and she asked them if they had seen her friend. They all had the same answer: no. Hyejin decided to head to a different one, where it was further from their classroom.

“Seungwan?” she called out, but no one answered back. A few girls told her that who she was looking for probably wasn’t there because they were the only ones there.

Huffing, she whipped out her phone to send her a text.

Hyejin: Where are you?!? We’re going to get caught in the long queue!!

She waited for a few moments for Seungwan to read it, but she was surprised to see that the message remained unopened. Seungwan usually had her phone in her pocket with her all the time so it was quite unusual.

In the meantime, she headed to a different toilet which was located at another block. Sending Junmyeon a brief text, she asked people on the way whether they had seen her friend or not. Seungwan had never disappeared like this before; when she was angry, she’d usually rant it all out instead of keeping it to herself.

By the time Hyejin reached the next place, Junmyeon replied to her text.

Junmyeon: are you sure? She isn’t here either. I’ll let you know if she is!

She blew at her fringe anxiously. Where could Seungwan be?

Hyejin spent the entire break searching for Seungwan, double-checking every toilet, the library and labs. A thought popped into her mind about how she might have skipped school, but she brushed it away almost immediately. The first thing was her strict mother, the second was how she excelled in school anyway, and the third was that she had left all her stuff behind. She tried calling her, but she was only greeted by the automated voice which told her that Seungwan’s phone was turned off.

The bell rang, prompting Hyejin to sprint back to her classroom. The teacher was already there, but many students were also filing in at the moment, so she considered herself lucky. As she walked to her seat, panting, Junmyeon stopped her. He handed her a small snack.

“You didn’t eat during the break, right? I texted you a few times but you didn’t reply,” he explained quickly while everyone was still getting ready for class. “Don’t let the teacher catch you.”

“Thanks,” she responded gratefully, taking a discreet bite of her snack. “Did any of you manage to find Seungwan though?”

He sighed. “No. Jongdae’s worried too. We looked around a bit after eating too.”

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