(Two days later)

—Ryeowook’s POV—

I woke up to the sound of ‘Moves Like Jagger’ playing. Groaning, I flipped over to feel around my bedside table in a futile attempt to find my phone. It wasn’t there, but instead on my study table, charging. I sighed and stretched, walking over to grab my phone.

“Yeoboseyo?” I answered while yawning.

“Ryeong oppa, it’s Sooyoung. Are you free after school today?” Sooyoung asked.

I blinked a few times, my brain still not fully functioning.

“Soo, why are you calling me at… 4.30am?” I questioned.

“Omo, I’m sorry oppa! I forgot that you wouldn’t be awake. So are you free? I want to eat tofu pork cutlet with you,” Sooyoung said. What the hell?

What are my plans for today? Ah, yes. I’m going to Sungie’s house to play with his kids and cook eel for him. I sighed into the speaker.

“Sorry, Soo. I can’t go with you today. I’m hanging out with Sungie,” I told her.

I swear I heard her inhale sharply, but I didn’t say anything about it.

“Fine. I’ll see you another time,” Sooyoung replied and hung up. She sounded really pissed off. Is there anything wrong with hanging out with my boyfriend? Please, Sooyoung. Your dad threatened to kill my parents. I wasn’t about to let that happen. Of course we had to break up.

I yawned again. There isn’t much time to sleep. Damn.

I walked out to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast. After I did, I went to wash up and change into my uniform. Then I woke appa, umma and hyung up for breakfast at 5.30am.

I sat down at the dining table and rested my chin on my hands, feeling kind of bored. Appa, umma and hyung are all taking their own sweet time, and umma would have to put her makeup on before she comes out. It’s a standard routine.

Finally, the rest of my family came out at around 5.50am and we began eating.

“Umma, why didn’t you wake up to prepare breakfast today?” I asked while chewing on a piece of cheese omelette. Umma swallowed her food before answering me.

“I forgot to turn my alarm back on,” umma said sheepishly and chuckled. “At least you woke up early and prepared breakfast. Why did you wake up so early?” umma asked in return.

“A friend called, asking me out to lunch. I told her that I’m hanging out at Sungie’s house after school,” I replied and picked up a piece of bulgogi.

“Who was she?” Youngwoon hyung asked suspiciously. I sighed at his overprotectiveness.

“Hyung, she was a friend from high school, alright? Just eat or we’ll be late. Sungie isn’t going to school today,” I informed him. Hyung raised a brow questioningly.

“Why not?”

“He got food poisoning on Saturday when we went on our date. He was discharged yesterday but he still isn’t well enough to go to school. That’s why I’m heading over after school; to check on him and accompany him,” I told him. “I’m done.”

“Ryeowook, just… make sure that he’s worth it,” appa told me. I smiled lightly at him.

“The last time I said that to someone, something bad happened. I don’t need that now,” I said and got up to put my cutlery in the sink. Then I went back to my room to pack my bag. Today was the day that my teacher would grade our eel dish. I grouped with Woohyun.

Sungie was going to meet me in school after I finished my lessons, so he still has to make his way to school despite feeling unwell. I don’t even understand why anybody would poison someone as sweet and caring as Sungie.

I threw a few tablecloths into my bag, as well as my apron, before zipping it up. Then I looked at the clock to check the time. It’s 6.36am already? Well we should leave soon to meet Jongjin.

“Hyung!” I shouted, carrying my bag out and plopping down onto the sofa. Youngwoon hyung came to meet me in the living room. Appa and umma did the dishes since I cooked breakfast. Youngwoon hyung was just packing. Lazy .

“Let’s go,” I said and walked out of the house. “Bye appa! Bye umma!”

While Youngwoon hyung followed behind, I went over to Sungie’s house and pressed his doorbell. I waited patiently for a few moments before Jongjin opened the door and greeted us before leaving the house. Sungie came out too, pecking me on the forehead and wishing me a good day ahead.

“It won’t be fun without you,” I pouted. Sungie ruffled my hair playfully and hugged me.

“You’ll see me after break, I promise. Now go to school and don’t be late or Teukie will start nagging again,” Sungie reminded me and kissed me again before waving me off. I sighed and waved back, hurrying to the lift where Youngwoon hyung and Jongjin were waiting.

“I know you miss my hyung, but he’s not dead or anything you know,” Jongjin told me as the lift doors closed. I scratched the back of my head and nodded.

“Arasso,” I replied and we went to wait for the bus together.

-------------------------------------

“No way!”

“Are you serious?”

“Is it true?”

“Thank god!”

All of us around the table were cheering as Sungmin hyung had just announced that Kyuhyun woke up, albeit for a few minutes only. Nevertheless, it makes me feel a lot better knowing that Kyuhyun was fine.

It still isn’t time for assembly yet, but Teukie umma decided to force us all to go up to the auditorium right after we end our mini celebration. Of course we listened to him, but it doesn’t mean that we liked it.

Once assembly ended, we went to our respective classes. My current lesson was higher music, in which I had Mrs. Im as a teacher too. Why did the school even put her in charge of the Year 1 music classes?!

While she was busy marking the class’ attendance, I was sitting in the back with Woohyun and Sunggyu, busy gossiping about how horrible Mrs. Im was and how lucky we are to be able to skip her lessons on normal days.

“Kim Ryeowook, Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun, please stop talking and listen to my instructions,” Mrs. Im ordered. I rolled my eyes and turned to look at her.

“Now, as I was saying, all of you have to compose a song and it has to be submitted by the end of this month. You have another two weeks. You can either do a duet with one of your classmates, or do a solo song. If you do not wish to compose, please choose a solo song and modify it. I expect all of you to hand you work in on time. This project will be 5% of your overall grade for this year; do it well,” she instructed.

The class groaned in synchronisation. How do we even compose a song in two weeks?! I need Sungmin hyung and Teukie umma’s composition skills. Maybe Henry can help out as well.

“What do you guys intend to do?” I asked Sunggyu and Woohyun.

“We each have a solo that we wrote some time ago and we used it in high school. I suppose that we can use it for this, so we don’t have to do any work anymore!” Sunggyu exclaimed a little too loudly.

“Kim Sunggyu, keep quiet!” Mrs. Im snapped.

I sighed. “I want to use the song that I sang during campfire night, but do you think I can?” I asked.

“There weren’t teachers present during the camp, so I think you can,” Woohyun told me.

If I use ‘One Fine Spring Day’, that would be amazing! I wouldn’t have to think of any song then!

“Can anybody inform Cho Kyuhyun about this project?” Mrs. Im asked.

I raised my hand.

“Ok. You shall be in charge of informing him of this project then, Kim Ryeowook,” Mrs. Im announced. Really, woman? You don’t say. Of course that’s what I’m in charge of! Sheesh. Age must really be catching up to her.

For the rest of the lesson, Mrs. Im blabbered on about the expectations for the project and the rubrics that they would use to grade us for this. I don’t even understand how somebody can use up two hours to talk about something like that.

At long last, the bell rang and the class ran off to the cafeteria.

-------------------------------------

“Sungmin hyung, aren’t you eating?” I asked. Sungmin hyung shook his head.

“How about you?” he asked. I shook my head as well.

“Sungie isn’t here. I feel kind of awkward eating without him,” I replied. Sungmin hyung sighed.

“Kyu woke up, but it was only for a brief two or three minutes. The only thing I did within that time was to… kiss him and hug him,” Sungmin hyung admitted and blushed.

“Hyung, you’re obviously head over heels in love with him. I hope that after all he did, he realises how he feels about you,” I said and smiled.

“I hope so too.”

The others returned to the table with their food one by one. For some reason, Henry seemed to want to avoid Zhoumi hyung. Siwon was trying his hardest not to look at Kibum while Kibum just looked plain sad. EunHae were unexpectedly excited today, god knows why. As for the others, they look pretty normal.

“Ryeowook, Min, why aren’t you eating?” Teukie umma asked worriedly.

“We’re just feeling lonely,” I replied. Sungmin hyung nodded in agreement.

“But Ryeowook, you’re already so small! Here, take my sandwich. Hyukkie, give Min yours,” Donghae hyung insisted, pushing his sandwich to me. I sighed and took it, accepting his gesture. I wouldn’t want Eunhyuk hyung to be mad at me.

Eunhyuk hyung gave Sungmin hyung his sandwich as well, and the latter took it. The two of us munched on the sandwiches and finished it quickly, wallowing in self-pity as soon as we finished the sandwiches.

“Sungmin, didn’t you say that Kyuhyun was already awake? He’ll be fine,” Heechul hyung assured. I bit back a gasp. Heechul hyung has a soft side to him too! Aww. His soft side is so sweet.

“As for you, Ryeowook, Yesung is just sick. He won’t die or anything,” Shindong hyung said.

I shook my head furiously.

“Somebody was trying to kill him. Otherwise, why is it that only his pear juice was poisoned? I’ve asked with the restaurant and nobody else has been poisoned! People make pear juice in batches, not cup by cup. Obviously, somebody’s trying to harm him,” I told them.

“Even so, what can you do? And besides, isn’t he coming after this?” Hankyung hyung asked.

“Yeah, but I still miss him…” I sighed. I looked at the time, then at the others.

“Guys, you do know that you have five minutes of break left, right?” I reminded them.

“WHAT?!” Teukie umma screeched. “I can’t be late! Ryeowook, we’ll leave this remaining food here. Share it with Yesung or eat it, but don’t waste it. If you don’t want it, keep it for us so that we can eat it after school. See you later!” Teukie umma exclaimed and dragged Youngwoon hyung away.

“Same for us, Ryeowook. Eat it, please? You’re already thin enough as it is. We don’t need Yesung hyung thinking that we’ve been mistreating you. We’ll see you after school,” Zhoumi hyung said and dragged the ’86 liners off.

“Well, this is awkward. We’ll be gone too,” Kibum said and left. Siwon and Henry were about to leave as well, but I stopped them.

“You two really have to stop being so cold. Can’t you tell that Kibum likes you, Siwon? And Henry, Zhoumi hyung obviously has a thing for you. Accept them. I never thought that I was gay until I couldn’t stop thinking about Sungie hyung, even after five years,” I advised.

“It scares me when Mimi gege is always on my mind,” Henry admitted. Mimi gege? Isn’t that Chinese?

“It’s against Christianity to be homoual or biual,” Siwon said.

“Henry, get used to it cause it won’t stop. Siwon, this thing about religion pisses me off sometimes.  Which is more important? Religion or love?” I asked incredulously. “Don’t answer that. Just sort things out. Being gay isn’t all that bad. As for your dad, screw him. This is your life, not his.”

Siwon sighed. “I’ll try.”

“Now go to class or you’ll really be late. See you guys after school!” I exclaimed and waved to them as they ran to their next class. I hope that I didn’t cause them to be late for lesson.

“Wookie!”

That voice.

“You made it.”

“Are you kidding?”

Sungie was staring at me as if I were mad.

“No, I’m not. They asked me to eat this with you. I can’t expect them to eat it after two hours. Come on. Please, hyung?” I pleaded. Sungie sighed.

“You know that I’m still not completely recovered, right? I can’t overeat, but I’ll eat what I can,” Sungie said, giving in eventually. I squealed and hugged him, kissing him multiple times.

We began eating the leftover food from the others while discussing my day.

“I have a song composition project, but we’re allowed to modify songs as well. Can I use ‘One Fine Spring Day’ since most of the teachers haven’t heard it?” I asked. Sungie thought about it and nodded.

“As long as the teachers haven’t heard it before, it’s fine,” he decided.

“Oh, guess what? I forgot to tell you that my higher music teacher’s Mrs. Im too,” I groaned. “She spent two hours going through the assessment rubrics and how they expect us to do the project, as well as how we should submit it.”

“I’ve always disliked that . She is so boring,” Sungie said. “I remember when she was my teacher two years ago. I felt like dying every time I stepped into her class.”

“Yeah. She was screaming at Sunggyu to keep quiet. Crazy ,” I shook my head disapprovingly.

“She’s like that. You probably won’t get her as a teacher again next year, which is good for you,” Sungie reminded me. I beamed.

“Really? Awesome!”

“Yeah. Moving on to another topic; shouldn’t you be in cooking class?” Sungie asked. I widened my eyes in shock. Oh .

“! Damn it! I forgot! Aish! Sungie, can you handle this food on your own? I’ll be back as soon as possible,” I told him and grabbed my bag, ready to run off.

“Wookie, it’s already been a half hour. Whatever you’re doing for class today, they should already have started. There’s no point,” Sungie said. I felt tears stinging my eyes.

“But Woohyun… I have to make this up to him,” I said, sniffling slightly.

“Then I’m sure you can still go. I’ll wait for you,” Sungie said while smiling. I nodded and wiped my tears away, sprinting to the school’s cooking room. By the time I arrived there, forty minutes of lesson had passed and I was panting.

I knocked on the door lightly while catching my breath.

“Ryeowook-sshi, you’re finally here. We’ve already begun cooking, but there’s about one hour left for you to make up for it. Woohyun has done some of the food prep. Hurry up and join him. Don’t be late again, alright?” Ms. Park Jimin asked. I bowed and nodded, thanking her as I ran over to Woohyun.

“I thought you weren’t coming!” Woohyun hissed.

“I got caught up in a conversation with Yesung hyung. I completely forgot! I’m really sorry,” I apologised time and time again.

“If you’re so sorry, hurry up and get your apron and help me,” Woohyun instructed. I nodded and pulled my apron out of my bag, washing my hands and helping Woohyun.

In the end, we finished the fried eel pretty well and were given a pretty high grade. However, my grade went down as I was late and didn’t do the food prep at the start.

“At least you came in the end, hyung. I thought that I’d have to do this alone,” Woohyun said.

“It’s my fault since I was so distracted by Yesung hyung’s absence,” I admitted. “I really am sorry.”

Woohyun shook his head.

“The only thing I’m curious about is why you were so distracted by Yesung hyung’s absence,” Woohyun raised a brow.

I haven’t told any of my classmates about my relationship with Sungie. Of course Jongjin knows about it, but he doesn’t go around telling people about us.

“We got together on the last day of orientation, when we broke camp,” I told him.

“Really? Congratulations! It makes perfect sense then,” Woohyun said. “We didn’t do badly though, so I don’t really mind. I’ll only mind if you compromise my grades. Since you didn’t, you’re forgiven,” Woohyun smiled.

“Thanks. You do know that we’re dismissed, right? Wouldn’t Sunggyu be looking for you?” I questioned. Woohyun gasped and nodded.

“You’re right! Gyu said that he wanted to go out with me later! Bye Ryeowook hyung! I’ll see you tomorrow and don’t forget again, ne? Bye!” Woohyun waved and ran out of the cooking room. I chuckled and shook my head at his childishness, taking my apron off and dumping it in my bag as well before I headed to the cafeteria.

“Sungie! I am so sorry that I just ditched you just now! The others didn’t even remind me that I have to go to class!” I exclaimed exasperatedly and glared at the others. “They even told me to eat the food with you!”

“Wookie, it’s your lesson, not ours. You should have told us,” Youngwoon hyung chided.

“Well what could I have done? I missed my boyfriend and the only thing on my mind was what I’d do with him in the two hours that we had!” I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.

“You made it to class didn’t you? Come on, I thought you were going over to Yesung’s,” Hankyung hyung reminded me. I sighed.

“Fine. I’ll try to remember next time. It’s a good thing that I have Ms. Park Jimin as a cooking teacher instead of that y Mrs. Im Jieun. I’ll see you guys tomorrow then,” I told them.

“Yesung hyung, get well soon! Ryeowook’s a mess without you,” Donghae hyung said while waving to us. I felt my face turn red and I turned to walk away. Sungie bid goodbye to the rest of the gang and caught up to me, grabbing my hand.

“Yah, slow down. I’m still kind of sick,” Sungie reminded me.

“Fine,” I replied and slowed down.

After almost an hour, we finally made it back to our block.

“Kkoming-ah! Kkoming, where are you?” Sungie called out, dropping his bag on the couch. I sat down, looking around the empty house. Jongjin was over at a friend’s place, doing a project.

“Wookie, I can’t find Kkoming,” Sungie re-emerged from his room, looking at me with panicked eyes. I stared at him, thinking that he was just joking and that he’d surprise me with Kkoming. He wasn’t.

“Where can she be? Maybe your parents brought her out?” I hypothesised. Sungie shook his head.

“Appa and umma both have work today. Jongjin hasn’t come home yet since he’s at a friend’s house. Nobody else has our house keys! Where can she be?” Sungie asked, pacing around the room while biting his lip.

“What if…” I trailed off as I heard a phone ringing. It was Sungie’s.

“Yeoboseyo?” Sungie answered, putting the call on speaker and leaving his phone on the table.

“Is this Kim Jongwoon?”

“Ne. Who is this?” Sungie asked.

“If you want your dog back, meet me with your boyfriend.”

What? Who would kidnap a dog to do something as ridiculous as this?

“What?”

“You heard me. Meet me with Kim Ryeowook. He should know where to go, right, Ryeong oppa?”

I gasped. Sooyoung? No way. Why would she do this?

“Y-yeah. Sungie, end the call. Now,” I demanded. Sungie nodded and ended the call immediately.

“Who was that?” he asked. “And what does she want with you?”

“It was Sooyoung. I… I can’t tell you, Sungie,” I said, feeling ashamed at myself. Why should I have to keep this from him? I just don’t want Sungie to have a bad impression of me and think that I’m disgusting. I’m such a selfish person.

“Where does she want to meet, then?” Sungie asked.

“I know the address. Let’s go get a cab,” I told him. Sungie nodded and grabbed his wallet, phone and keys. We left the house and hurried downstairs to hail a cab.

------------------------------------

“Ryeong oppa, you made it!”

I glared at Sooyoung and shook my head.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Well, here’s your filthy mutt,” Sooyoung said, gesturing to a carrier on the floor. Sungie gasped and opened the carrier, carrying Kkoming out and holding her close to him. He looked at Sooyoung.

“What do you want, ?” he spat.

“I just wanted to hang out with my oppa. Ryeong oppa, let’s eat!” she exclaimed. I wanted to decline, but the look on her face made it seem as if she’d do something worse if I didn’t accept her invitation.

“Ne,” I replied shakily, sitting down opposite of her and picking up a piece of tofu pork cutlet. My hand wouldn’t stop trembling no matter what I did, and I nearly dropped the piece of meat.

“You’re not needed here anymore, Kim Jongwoon. Please leave before I get security here,” she warned. Sungie scoffed.

“What security?” he asked incredulously. I frowned at Sungie and shook my head, trying to get him to go back without me. It was kind of hard since Sungie simply refused to leave without me.

“I’ll see you later. Go home NOW,” I insisted.

Sungie stared at me and I was mentally screaming for him to go away, that Sooyoung isn’t safe. At last, Sungie sighed and nodded.

“I expect you to be back by 5pm. See you,” Sungie said and left hastily. He didn’t look back cause he knew that he wouldn’t be able to leave me here if he did.

“Now, oppa. How have you been?” Sooyoung asked.

I glared at Sooyoung.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you remember why we broke up?” I asked.

Initially, I thought that the gang just hated Sooyoung and her group. But now, I see what Sooyoung’s become. I just don’t understand why.

“Yeah, cause of my appa. Don’t worry, cause he won’t touch you now. I’ve finally decided to do what he does, so he approves of anything. Oppa, can’t we just get back together? I’ve missed you,” Sooyoung told me.

“Soo, my parents’ lives were at stake last time. I don’t want any more people to be hurt because of our relationship. I’m leaving,” I said and stood up, thanking her for the meal before I ran off to get a cab. As soon as I got in, the cab sped off.

—Nobody’s POV—

Sooyoung stood, staring at the empty seat in front of her. She clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and she exhaled slowly.

“Kim Ryeowook, you will pay for this. Nobody rejects me. Just you wait. You haven’t seen me at my worst. And the best part is that you won’t even know what hit you.”

Beside her, her butler shuddered. He knew that Sooyoung wasn’t kidding around. Previously, she had ordered him to hire someone to add rat poison into Jongwoon’s drink. She also hacked the ticketing system and got herself movie tickets beside the couple. When Ryeowook abandoned her to look for Jongwoon, she’d made up her mind.

Kim Ryeowook and Kim Jongwoon were going down.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chappie! :)

I'll try to update once more before going on a hiatus to study for my exams but I'll be back after four weeks! ><

I know that this chapter was pretty weird but you can tell that Sooyoung's getting more involved in this story right? ^^

Look forward to the next chappie arasso? I'll see you guys again on the next update! Annyeong! :D