Chapter Four; Dereliction (21/08/2013)

Dereliction: deliberate or conscious neglect.

'Why? Are you interested in her?' Baekhyun finally spoke, looking up at Lay. 'No, it's just that—' 'No, don't have to explain, I'm not interested.' Baekhyun then interrupted, his attention back to the phone.

'Seohyun? Don't tell me it's her. Is she my Seohyun? The pretty little girl back then. No. It can't be. They are like from different worlds, she can't possibly turn into this meanie, she acts like a witch.' Lay thought to himself.

'Hyung, do you still realize you say your thoughts out loud?' Kai asked, Lay gulped as his face turned red like a cherry. 'Your Seohyun? Meanie? Witch? Really? Really Yixing?' Kris shook his head, looking at the younger one. 'Oh shut up you.'

They pondered on it for a while, 'Your thinking if that Seohyun is that Seohyun you always talked about to ask? The.. Um. Unicorn tissue girl thing?' Kyungsoo asked, scratching his head. 'Yeah, I was just wondering. My Seohyun had a brother too, but I forgot what was his name.. I just knew that Hyung was very handsome.' Lay ended his sentence, sticking his tongue out playfully.

'You should go ask you know. Maybe, just maybe.. She's that childhood friend of yours.' Chanyeol suggested.

Chen choked on his food suddenly. 'Yah, Jongdae, what's wrong with you?' Luhan asked as he rubbed Chen's back. 'She's coming, over there.' Chen pointed to a direction as he coughed again.

Could he be the Yixing I was looking for? His right dimple.. His smile.. His voice.. I recongized them all the second I remembered about Yixing. Yixing my childhood best friend, my childhood buddy, my... crush.

I miss him so much. To the limit that I can't even use any words to describe the pain. The pain of missing someone you treasure so much.

How many years has it been already? It's been so long and I haven't seen him for so long.

I'll ask. Just asking won't hurt. I miss him a lot. He looks so much like him... Yixing.

Whatever it takes, I'll find him.

Seohyun took a deep breath and walked back again to their table.

'Lay-sshi? Can I talk to you for a moment? Please? It's really important.' Seohyun asked, her voice already cracking.

Right then and there, he smiled, his right dimple appearing once again. 'Sure, anything you want.' Grinning, he got up and walked towards Seohyun.

She guided him to an empty classroom just beside and facing the cafeteria. 'So.. What was it that you wanted to talk about?' Lay asked, smiling once again.

'It's just that.. I find you really familiar. I don't know why but you look so much like my childhood friend. I- Sigh. It's okay. You won't know what I'm talking about so it's fi—' 'So it's really you?' Lay asked, Seohyun looked into his eyes.

That pair of charming eyes, she noticed, belonged to Yixing. The one and only Yixing. Her Yixing.

'Yixing?' Seohyun's eyes were already b with tears, 'Yes, it's me you pabo! I'm the boy with the unicorn tissues who cleaned up your boo boos everytime you fell down!' Yixing ended up crying like her, hugging her and protecting her in his arms.

The bother reunited best friends, cried in joy. 'I missed you,' Seohyun squeaked. 'Stop crying, you pabo.' Yixing let out a chuckled as he brushed Seohyun's tears away with his thumb. 'It never gets old. You calling me a pabo.' He chuckled once again, pulling out another packet of tissues.

'It's unicorns too. Just with different colrs and patterns.' He giggled, wiping her tears away.

~~~~

'Awww.. How sweet.' Tao commented, sipping his Cola. 'I know, so they really are best friends huh? That's great.' Kyungsoo smiled.

On the other hand.. Kai wasn't all that happy.

He didn't know why but he felt a wave a uneasiness sweep over him. He just wanted to push away his hyung from Seohyun. A weight settled on Kai's heart and something gripped him and cut him off his oxygen. He coughed and his vision suddenly got blurry. 'Jongin-ah, why are you so tense?' Chanyeol asked, slapping Kai's back.

'Get your hands off of me. Now. Before I break them.' He hissed coldly before snatching his notes away. Standing in front of the dustbin, he crumpled the pieces of foolscap paper and tore them, tossing them into the bin almost immediately.

He glared at his friends, 'Sickening.' He hissed once more before turning away and walking off without even looking back.

'What's wrong with him, hyung? I'm scared...' Chanyeol asked before tugging Kris' sleeve, 'Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?' Luhan said as he sensed something wrong.

Silence.

'Jongin is in love.'

Jongin was still devastated at the fact that he was being considered a seat-mate and a normal friend to Seohyun no matter how hard he tried to get close to her. Kai's countless attempts all failed.

Seohyun would always stick to Lay no matter what, this was what made Jongin furious.

Why can't noona just even take a single look at me? Is Yixing hyung that good? I think I'm nothing compared to him...

'I think we have to do something about Jongin.' Kyungsoo finally spoke up when the 11 of them gathered in the living room. 'Do what? What's wrong with him these few days? He's acting weird.' Lay added, plopping down on the couch. Almost everyone glared at him.

'What?' He asked innocently. 'Hey guys, I think he doesn't know.. So let's not blame him.' Joonmyun mumbled. 'Me? What's wrong?..' He asked, not knowing the current situation he's in.

Kai.

After that day, he only stayed cheerful when Seohyun was around. He kept a distance away from his close friends, the 11 of them. During break, he would just starve himself and hide in a faraway corner of the library, studying. Coming back home only in the evening, he locked himself after bathing every single time.

Significantly, he lost weight. Not just some, a lot.

The locks clicked, the door opened. Kai's frail figure appeared along the doorways. He glanced at them before trudging back to his room, slamming the door close.

'He's getting paler, what should we do?! Oh my..' Kyungsoo was on the verge of tears, seeing his close friend being like that.

'Yixing. This is something important and serious.' Suho muttered.

'You and Seohyun.. Kai.. Jongin has fallen in love with Seohyun. He likes her. He's being like this because he's jealous because of you two's skinship..' Kyungsoo explained to Lay.

'But I really don't see what's in that girl that Jongin likes.' Baekhyun blurted.

Just then, Kai walked out of his room, wiping his hair dry. Their hearts ached, seeing Kai's frail figure. 'Jongin..' Kyungsoo's heart sank, seeing his best friend so skinny and weak. Kai then strolled out again, all of a sudden, he felt dizzy and held onto the wall for support.

'Jongin!' Kyungsoo screeched when Kai fell unconscious onto the floor.

  'What?!' Seohyun gasped as she stood rooted to the ground, not believing what she heard. 'Hello? Seohyun-sshi? Are you still there?' The voice rang through her head. 'Seobaby, what? Why? What happened?' Taeyeon asked.

'Hey! That should be my line!' Daehyun hollered through the house. The eight girls were sleeping over at their house for the weekend, when Seohyun suddenly received the call.

'What happened?' Daehyun asked, walking out.

'Oh my god.. No no, this can't be happening.' Seohyun spoke into the phone. 'It's not your fault. Please just come over and take a look at him, will you? Please?' Sehun asked her, panicking.

Seohyun bit her lip, 'I'll be there right away. Give me the address,' She spoke as she grabbed a notepad and scribbled down the address. 'Ok, thanks, bye.'

She hung up and rushed up to her bedroom, changing into a simple white sweater and black skinny jeans. Grabbing her handbag, she rushed out.

'Who's in the hospital?' Sunny's voice rang through the whole house. 'Hospital?' Daehyun asked. 'OH.. That. I have to go. It's really urgent.' Seohyun replied as she slipped into her converse. 'Not until you tell me who is there.' Daehyun commanded.

'Kai. My seat-mate. My friend. The person I've ignored. The person I've hurt deeply.' Seohyun said on the verge of tears before barging out.

Seohyun literally ran to the hospital, mumbling "I'm sorry" the whole way.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ignoring you, whenever you talked to me.. I just gave a simple reply. But showed you the significant difference when I talked to Yixing. I sorry for giving you a cold shoulder. I should've known. No matter how hard I want to keep a straight face on, I should've at least talked to you.

You gave me a memorable first impression. A kind, sweet and caring young man. I could have fallen for you almost immediately but then I met Yixing. I so sorry."

Seohyun was panting the whole way, 'I made it, Kai-ah, I'm here.' She stopped to take a breath before running in. 'Um, excuse me, may I know where is Kim Jongin's room?' 'Oh, it's on the forth storey, the second room to the left. 04-56.' The nurse pointed out, smiling.

'Thank you so much.' Seohyun quickly muttered a thanks before dashing towards the staircase.

'Wow, this is the first time I've ever ran so fast.' Seohyun said before taking a deep breath.

Locating the ward, she heard people crying. Her heart sank.

She knocked and pushed open the door. Familiar faces appeared, she recongised Kyungsoo, Sehun, Chanyeol, Yixing.

'Kai...'