[ D O R M I T O R Y ]
26 : B e f o r e

3RD PERSON’s POV
|| D-5 BEFORE THE BALL ||
¬ The same day Kyungwon got stabbed

Yuju kept tapping her foot. She’s thinking real hard right now, and to be honest, she just wants this to end. She doesn’t even care much about the Yulhee fiasco or anything at all, she just wants this to end. Her frown can probably reach the mantle of the earth and she’s really getting mad. She’s close to calling Seokmin’s older brother and just tell him Yulhee’s location to get things over with. If there’s one thing that she hates, it’s seeing her friends hurting. And with Kyungwon injured, it just made her blood boil in anger.

Currently, they’re waiting for Kyungwon to gain consciousness while Mingyu and Seokmin are trying to contact Jihyo and Bambam respectively. Jihyo and Jaehyun still hasn’t come back from wherever they went to and Seokmin needs to call Bambam to change the theme since they can’t have an iron throne in front of Kyungwon at the ball. Chaeyeon’s quietly waiting for Kyungwon to gain consciousness and Minghao went out to meet Kyungwon’s parents.

Mingyu entered the room first and Yuju’s face perked up when she heard the door open. “Any word from Jihyo and Jaehyun?”

Mingyu nodded. “They’re on their way here, they went to her family’s stylist that’s why she couldn’t pick up.”

Yuju nodded in acknowledgement. “How did they react?”

“They didn’t take it nicely, obviously.”

Soon, Seokmin also entered the room with Lisa, Rose and Gyujin. “Bambam told me he’ll change the theme.”

The others felt relieved while the newly-arrived members took respective seats around Kyungwon. Mingyu, on the other hand, was just standing there. Taking glances at the unconscious Kyungwon before Chaeyeon casually took his hand. “Gyu…”

Mingyu squeezed her hand before letting it go and taking Kyungwon’s slender fingers into his. Chaeyeon just watched this happen with a sad smile.

“Guys!” Sewoon entered the room and he was shocked with the atmosphere in the room. “Wow, did something happen?” He took the seat next to Chaeyeon. “Heard you asked for Jung Chanwoo’s services.”

Chaeyeon nodded. “And we found out that Eunjin’s the Blue Rose spy.”

“Oh.” Sewoon crossed his legs and nodded. “What are we going to do?”

“We wait for Romeo and Juliet.” Yuju informed him, referring to Jihyo and Jaehyun. The others eyed her meticulously. “What?” She asked.

“Did you just refer to Jaehyun and Jihyo as star-crossed lovers?” Lisa asked. “Last time I checked, you asked them not to fall for each other.”

“And I did.” Yuju crossed her arms. “I just like referring to people into literary characters, Hermoine.”

Lisa smirked. “Although I’d want Jaehyun to eat what he said about being a CLYDE anti and I hope he falls for Jihyo.”

Chaeyeon smiled softly and chuckled at Lisa’s remark. “Now that would be a fun drama to watch.”

“Wow, I’m actually liking the evil Chaeyeon.” Yuju gave her best friend a high five and they both smiled smugly. Seokmin couldn’t help but smile at Yuju and Chaeyeon’s reconciled friendship.

Just then, the door went wide upon the arrival of the ‘new’ Romeo and Juliet. “Kyungwon!” Jihyo came in, holding with both of her hands as she headed next to the hospital bed, ultimately pushing Mingyu out. She began crying while the rest of them heard a sigh from Jaehyun, who’s holding two helmets and bags.

Yuju raised a brow at him. “You look so tired. Did you run out of testosterone on your way here?”

Jaehyun glared at his ex-now-turned-ally. “Get a grip, Yuna.” He ranted, finally collapsing on the seat next to Gyujin. “Hey, CLYDE kids, has she never ridden a bike before?”

Minghao raised a brow. “What bike? As in bike that’s like a mountain bike or the bike that’s like a motorbike?”

“The latter.”

Minghao nodded. “Yeah, you know, celebrities only know cars.”

“Oh, right, I forgot. Asian Kardashian.”

“Bingo.”

Jihyo, who heard everything, glared at Minghao. “Keep it down, Minghao.” The others chuckled at her remark.

“But guys, Jaehyun only complains about the bike when he gets flustered about it.” Gyujin began to smile slyly, which caught the eyes of Rose, Chaeyeon and Yuju who were just talking about Romeo and Juliet. “What, did Jihyo touch your abs or something?”

Everyone’s eyes widened when they saw Jaehyun look away and Jihyo blush mad red out of embarrassment. “D-D-Did you?”

Chaeyeon chuckled upon hearing Jaehyun stutter and Rose began holding her laughter. Lisa began massaging her temples and Gyujin hid his face under his pillow. ~This~ is the future Thunder Fang leader, ya’ll.

“Can you guys keep quiet?” They were all startled when they heard Kyungwon’s voice – now awake because of them who kept embarrassing one another. “I got stabbed and I’m trying to rest, here.” The moment Mingyu heard her voice, he pushed Jihyo out of the way and held Kyungwon’s back as she tried to sit up.  She smiled at him and asked, “What did my mom say?”

“She got mad, of course.” Mingyu began. “But she was relieved that you were sent to the hospital immediately.”

Seokmin nodded. “They said if you were a minute late, the damage would’ve been worse.”

“But are you okay now?” Jihyo asked.

Kyungwon nodded. “A little, but I don’t think I’d want to see knives any time soon.”

“The first time I got stabbed, I couldn’t cook for an entire month so it’s understandable, Kyungwon.” Lisa explained. “But what happened?”

Kyungwon bit her lower lip as the others began standing up and coming closer to her. Mingyu held her hand, hoping that she’ll gain confidence from it. He gave her a soft nod and she smiled slightly. “Eunjin had goons. She broke the store’s glass window and her goons are the ones who attacked me.” She sighed before looking up to meet Yuju’s eyes. “But they’re not after us, the CLYDE.” She glanced and stared at Jaehyun intently.

Jaehyun narrowed his eyes. “What’s with that stare?”

“Jaehyun, they’re after you.”

Then there was silence.

“Me?” Jaehyun asked. “Why me?”

“I don’t know why, but when she broke the glass and before one of her goons stabbed me, she told me to tell you that Terius says hi.”

The word ‘Terius’ seems to have caught all of the Thunder Fang’s attention, ultimately getting Seokmin and Yuju’s attention, too. “Care to explain?” Seokmin asked.

“Wait,” Rose began. “If Terius is involved in this, then this is not just a Yulhee issue.” She looked up to meet Jaehyun’s eyes. “This is also an issue involving revenge.”

“Okay, hold on.” Jihyo stopped them from talking. “What are you saying? I- I don’t understand a thing.”

Sewoon spoke up. “Terius is the new leader of the Blue Rose.” The CLYDE-Thunder Fang member crossed his arm. “And Jaehyun broke his bones once in a duel a few years ago.”

“It’s not my fault he played dirty.” Jaehyun scoffed.

“But that’s not all.” Gyujin added. “Jaehyun also stole his girl, his pride and everything else that came with it.” He smirked. “Including free buffet passes.”

Jaehyun reasoned, “Free buffet is still free buffet.”

“Oh, Jesus, who raised you up like that? Adolf Hitler?” Yuju massaged her temples. “So let me get this straight. Eunjin is working under Terius who’s mad at Jaehyun for stealing buffet passes and Terius is under Lee Minhyuk who’s still pissed over a year-old issue.”

Almost as if it was choir, they all nodded. “What do we do next?” Minghao asked while Yuju began to think.

“I think it’s time we stop protecting Yulhee.” Lisa remarked, which caught everyone’s attention. “One of our own got injured. We’re lucky it’s just one member, what if next time, more than one gets injured? What about that?”

“But –“ Before Mingyu was able to say anything, Yuju cut him off.

“Lisa’s right.” Yuju agreed. “I can’t have any more of us getting hurt.”

“But what are we going to do, love?” Seokmin asked her.

Yuju closed her eyes before finally speaking. “We talk to our parents.”

**

Mingyu entered their house and found his parents watching TV with his younger sisters, Hyunjin and Doyeon. Mingyu first raised a brow as he saw the two high-schoolers who are supposed to be at boarding school until summer break. “Hyunjin? Doyeon?”

The two younger girls’ heads perked up when they heard their older brother’s voice. “Oh, it’s Mingyu.” Hyujin began.

Their mom immediately scolded her. “Hyunjin, show some respect!” She later smiled at Mingyu. “Hi, dear.” He came closer and pecked his mom on the cheek and he gave his dad a hug. “How’s Kyungwon?”

“Recovering, thankfully.”

“Thank God, Aubrey must be worried sick.” Mingyu’s mother, Sophie, can only sigh out of worry. “What about you, dear?”

“I’m fine.” He soon looked at his sisters. “Can you two go up for a sec? I need to talk to Mom and Dad.”

Hyunjin was about to complain but Doyeon nodded and dragged the youngest out of the living room. Louis, Mingyu’s dad, raised a brow at him. “Did you fail a class, Mingyu?” He tried to joke but Mingyu was too serious to be baffled.

“Dad, we’re going to tell Minhyuk about Professor Stein.” Mingyu heaved a heavy sigh. “We can’t afford any more damages, and I hope you’ll understand that we’ll tell Minhyuk about it after the ball.”

“갑자기?” Louis asked why so suddenly. “Why?”

“We want to enjoy the ball without burdens, too.” He tried to smile. “To us, we aren’t going to the ball to enjoy, we’re going to the ball to be guards. And we don’t want that.” He reasoned. “I....” He tried to stop himself but he just couldn’t. “I was dating Thunder Fang’s heiress before I found out that you were going to run for congress. I sacrificed he