Third person POV

Kai got off the carriage, limp and half dead. The guy in charge of the carriages was probably completely shocked when he slithered out after seeing Jisu and Daehyun getting so intimate. He groaned and slumped into a bench, sinking so low that only his head was propped up on the back rest. I am pathetic, he thought as he shut his eyes, completely exhausted. Pain swirled around his body like an unending cycle. Kai brought his hand to his head and rubbed his temples as he slithered back up into a normal sitting position. Kai forced his weary brown eyes back open, sighed and slumped back into the seat. “What am I doing?” He muttered and hastily took his phone out of his back pocket.

“Jisu!” 

“What do you want?” Jisu moaned from the other end.

“I’m walking you home today.” He said firmly. Damn. I must’ve sounded pretty cool, Kai snickered to himself.

“What? Hell no! Walk by yourself!!”

The harsh refusal was followed by a line of beeping. Kai sighed. “She’s so stubborn!” He groaned ruffling his hair and put the phone back into his jeans. It’s no use trying a second time if it’s Jisu.

Youngjae ran around the campus like a lost greyhound dog looking for Daehyun. “DAEHYUN?!” he called out as he passed by stalls and crowds of people. It had grown dark and the chattering of people was now overpowered by the brightly coloured lights and the forever swelling sing-along-songs. Youngjae looked around him like a lost child. “Daehyun?” he echoed softly, his faith started running low and his feet began to lag behind him. Youngjae stopped walking. People knocked past him, sneering at him for stopping in the middle of the court. He pouted, they were together in the afternoon but then Daehyun suddenly vanished.

Youngjae roamed around, hoping to somehow bump into something that could cheer him up—and soon enough he did. Daehyun walked side by side with Jisu, both fairly flustered and awkward after their swinging Ferris wheel ride. “DAEHYUN!!!” Youngjae beamed, his eyes growing wild in excitement.

Daehyun lifted his head, shock immediately showing in his eyes. “Youngjae?!”

Jisu looked up at Daehyun with a subtly confused face.

Youngjae looked disapprovingly at the couple. “You ditched me!” he whinged.

Daehyun shook his head, waves of brown hair tumbling down towards his face. “No. I lost you in the crowd. I couldn’t find you.”

It didn’t look like Youngjae believed it at first but his sullen expression quickly evaporated and was replaced by a beaming smile. “I forgive you!” he chanted without the need of an apology. “Let’s go then!” Youngjae abruptly took Daehyun by the hood of his jacket and dragged him away.

“W-what are you doing!!!” Daehyun wailed as they were engulfed into a large crowd of people.

Jisu blinked blankly at the sudden turn of events. Without much to do, she slipped her phone out. She had two messages, both from Sohee.

“Yoboseyo? Sohee?” Jisu blocked her free ear from the noise and crept to a wall of a building to avoid the gush of people coming her way.

“Yes?” said Sohee on the other line.

“Ah Sohee! Sorry!! I didn’t hear my phone…”

“That’s fine, that’s fine!!” Sohee laughed

“Who’s that?” a voice in the background asked. It sounded like… a boy?

Jisu scratched her head, did she just interrupt Sohee while she was on a date? “Sorry Sohee!! I’ll call you again later!!” Jisu yelled in regret.

“What? Why? Is there something wrong??”

Jisu softened her voice, as if it was something to hide. “Aren’t you on a date?”

“EH?! NOOO!!!” Sohee must’ve screamed into her phone because it came out extremely loud into Jisu’s ear.

“Oh… Are you with Zelo then?” Right. They’re close friends so it wouldn’t be weird.

“Yeah…” Sohee laughed softly. “Where are you?”

Jisu looked around. “By the Ferris wheel.”

“Okay. Stay there!”

Sohee put the phone back into her pocket. “Who was it?” Zelo repeated.

“A friend,” Sohee smiled brightly.

Zelo smiled back, “That’s good. Are you going to meet with her now?”

Sohee nodded. Zelo let out a soft chuckle, his dimple featuring on his right cheek. “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow!” Sohee turned to leave and was about to run into the direction of the Ferris wheel.

“Aren’t I walking you home?” Zelo gave the girl a puzzled face. “You’re not planning to walk alone at night are you?”

Sohee blinked, equally as puzzled. “I’ll call my brother to pick me up?”

“No.” Zelo looked her in the eye. “Just text me and we’ll meet at the front gates.” He said firmly.

Sohee nodded, there was no use arguing with him when he’s serious, she told herself.

Jisu waved her arms above her head as she stood underneath the vividly coloured Ferris wheel. The colours of the lights radiated as overlays on her crimson hair. “Hello!!” She cheered, running up to Sohee and glomping her to the point where she almost fell over.

Sohee grinned, “Hello,” she imitated in a softer tone. “You look happy?”

Jisu nodded and whisked Sohee’s arm around. “I am!!” she giggled, turning the both of them around in circles.

“A bit too happy?” Sohee joked as she began steering them in an actual direction. The chattering of people had died down making it harder to tell if there were more or less people compared to the afternoon. The two girls walked calmly through crowds of people.

“I rode the Ferris wheel with Daehyun…” Jisu confessed once she had finally calmed down.

Sohee smiled, “Really?” After some thought Sohee frowned, “I thought you liked Kai though…?”

Jisu’s eyes widened and she instinctively shook her head, “Ew, no!” A cheeky grin then began creeping up her face like a spider. Jisu nudged Sohee’s arm, “how was your date with Zelo? Did he give you that?” she said, eyeing the stuffed toy rabbit Sohee was holding. She nodded shyly. “Ooooh!!” Jisu giggled.

“But it wasn’t a date!” Sohee insisted. “Actually…” she tilted her head towards the ground and let out a sigh, “I feel a bit guilty…”

“Hm. Why?”

“I lied to Zelo…” she exhaled.

“Why? About what??” Jisu looked faintly surprised.

“Well… Zelo was texting me but I didn’t reply and then when he asked me if I got the messages I told him ‘no’…”

Jisu laughed at Sohee’s unnecessarily gloomy face. “That’s all?”

“No… and he asked me if I wanted to eat but I told him I had already eaten alone when really I ate lunch with a guy from his club…”

Jisu’s eyes widened and gaped open. This was gossip. “AN AFFAIR?!”

“Eh?! I’m not dating anyone!”

“Who’s the other guy?!” Jisu grinned, “was it Yongguk? He’s pretty cool… it wasn’t Daehyun was it??”

Sohee shook her head. “Moon Jongup.”

Jisu blinked, her face completely blank. “Moon Jongup?”

Sohee nodded.

“Really?”

She nodded again.

“That’s your type?” Jisu stared at her friend in disbelief. “You’ve got horrible taste!” she cackled.

Sohee frowned, “what’s that supposed to mean??

In an instant, the sky was lit up by whizzing sparks of colour and the thick fumes of smoke wafted in the air. The fireworks signalled the end of the festival. After all the ‘ Ooo’s ’ and ‘ Ahh’s ’ the sky was left as a large empty black canvas with only the occasional star to decorate it.

There was a muffled hustle to get out and into the warmth of their houses. Boys waited patiently for their girl at the gates to walk her home. Zelo and Jongup exchanged looks as they waited for Sohee and Jisu. Kai paced around the front for some time but decided it was no use and dragged his feet home.

The path was dim and their usual conversation hadn’t even started yet. It was awkward. Sohee took a peep up at Zelo, his face seemed rather distant, what was he thinking about? She was caught staring by Zelo.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly, his words hung slightly on his lips.

“Nothing…” Sohee replied without much thought. Was it just me or had the gap between us while we walked grown over night? It wasn’t by much, but it was enough for me to notice and once I had, thought Sohee to herself. It felt even more awkward.

“Did you have fun?” Zelo said smiling softly in front of him.

The girl nodded. “Yeah, how about you?”

“It was fine, I guess…”

Their conversation was so shallow, small talking just to try fill in the silence. They could hear the light snoring of day creatures and the faint hooting of owls. Soon enough only there were only the sound of their footsteps and breathing. Clouds of ice cold air loomed above Zelo’s lips every time he exhaled. Sohee slipped her hands further into her sleeves to keep them from freezing.

Finally the flat came into view, two tall figures stood by Sohee’s door, up a flight of stairs. Both were engulfed in the darkness of the shelter. Suddenly a pair of bright white eyes flashed.

“SOHEE?!” Suho leaned his head into the light of a lamp that dangled just above them. He looked frantic, as if he had been left in panic mode for hours. “It’s Sohee!!!” Suho shook the other figure by the shoulder, it shuddered stiffly back to life, its eyes dead serious.

“Lee Sohee, where have you been?!” Minhyuk’s eyes were bloodshot. “We looked everywhere and we couldn’t find you!” The brother’s eyes suddenly hit Zelo. “You’ve been out with Junhong till this late?? No matter what, Junghong is a boy!!” Minhyuk suddenly flashed down the flight of stairs and appeared in front of the two. It almost looked like he had been drinking, his hair was a mess and he was extremely mad. Suho came trotting after.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Minhyuk yelled as he shoved Zelo to the side.

“I told you in the morning that I was going to the festival!” Sohee whinged.

Suho approached the younger girl and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. His skin just glided past hers, his hands were ice cold. “Minhyuk had been looking for you. We called you but you never answered.”

Sohee check her phone. There were over twenty new messages and thirty three missed calls. “I must’ve not heard it over the fireworks…”

Minhyuk scrunched up his face and took a deep breath in. He exhaled, softened his expression and patted his sister’s shoulder. “Fine. Go inside. I’ll drop off Zelo.”

Sohee nodded and obediently went inside with Suho.

Zelo fidgeted with his fingers as he sat in the car. Sohee’s brother looked serious compared to his usual carefree nature. His grip on the wheel was firm. “You can turn on the radio.” He said as he turned the first corner. Zelo turned the knob, changing channel to channel until he found the one Sohee and Minhyuk were always listening to.

“I know how you feel about Sohee, Junghong.” Minhyuk said out of the blue. Zelo turned to him, shocked, since he himself had only found out. “It’s been obvious for years now.” Minhyuk added after seeing Zelo’s stunned expression.

“Really?” Zelo choked.

“Now that you know it yourself, don’t stick too close to her.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to let you hurt my little sister.” Minhyuk stopped a block before Zelo’s house. Zelo got out of the car and shut the door. Minhyuk rolled the window down and leaned over the passenger’s seat. He lifted an eyebrow.

Zelo stared at him for a moment. “Sorry. I can’t do that.” Zelo bowed and crossed the road.

Minhyuk sat alone in the car, watching the boy run home. “Stupid boy.” He muttered and drove back home with the radio off.

sorry this chapter took so long o n o it's only the 2nd week of school and I've already had 2 exams TT TT I still need to finish my art piece for a competition too...

it's almost mother's day!! I bought my mum a little boquet... it's almost my birthday too o u o yayayay

how's the story going for all of you? Is it going the way you want it? do you want any changes ?