Chapter 8

Rumours

“There’s a rumour going around.” Doojoon said seriously as he came up to Junhyung and Hyunseung who were sitting in the classroom.  It was still quite early and the morning school bell hadn't rung yet.

“What rumour?”  He asked as he looked at his phone.

Doojoon raised his eyebrow, before he sat down beside him.  “Ok, don’t get angry but a rumour that you and Hyuna spent the whole night in the equipment shed.”

“So?”

Doojoon didn’t understand how Junhyung could be so chill about this.  He had just arrived at school and heard people whispering things about Junhyung and Hyuna.  Apparently, they didn’t leave the school yesterday and had stayed over for the whole night. 

Although Doojoon was curious as to why the two ended up in that situation, Doojoon was more worried about his friends getting badmouthed.

“Wait, me and Jihyun were in the shed not you and Hyuna,” Hyunseung who overheard Doojoon said, finding the rumour with Junhyung weird. 

What were Junhyung and Hyuna up to?  Hyunseung thought.

But Doojoon didn’t have time to figure that out, and continued explaining to Junhyung, “Implicating that you guys… you know…”

“We didn’t.”  Junhyung answered immediately not one bit affected at what Doojoon was suggesting and he was still looking at his malfunctioning phone.

“How did you guys get out?”  Hyunseung asked curiously.

“A teacher found us in the shed in the morning and scolded us for getting stuck in there.  And then rang our parents…” 

Knowing how Junhyung’s parents were like, they probably didn’t even realise Junhyung didn’t go back home, Doojoon thought.  Both his parents were always busy and never at home, something that Junhyung was always used to. 

“How about Hyuna?”

“Her grandma came over and gave her a new set of clothes,” Junhyung chuckled as he continued, “The first thing she did was literally smacked her there when she saw Hyuna.”

As they were talking, Yoseob came running towards them.  As he took a moment to get his breath back, then he looked urgently at Junhyung.  “Hyuna.  Go find Hyuna.”

“Yoseob calm down.  Tell us what happened. Slowly.”  Doojoon said as he motioned Yoseob to sit down.

“I heard some people say that a group of girls were harassing Hyuna…”

Junhyung immediately stood up as soon as he heard this. 

He looked up to Yoseob with a look of urgency,  “Where is she?” 

“I think they cornered her in one of the girls bathroom.  I've already looked on the ground and first floor, but she doesn't seem to be there.” 

Junhyung passed his phone to Doojoon, “Hold this for me.  I’ll be right back.”  And dashed out of the classroom.

All three were shocked to see Junhyung looking so worried for somebody.  It was the first time in a long time that all of them had seen such a huge reaction from Junhyung. 

After his break up with Gayoon, Junhyung had been quite emotionless and cold about everything and everyone.  Doojoon smiled at the thought that maybe Hyuna could change Junhyung back to his former self. 

Doojoon then looked suspiciously at Hyunseung and said, “Now what’s this about you and Jihyun being stuck in the shed?"

And like Yoseob said, as he passed the girls toilet, he could hear an array of voices shouting at someone, presumably Hyuna.  As he was about to walk into the girls’ toilet, someone stopped him.  It was Jiyoon.

“Why are you going to the girl’s toilet?”  Jiyoon looked strangely at him.  “If it’s about Hyuna, don’t worry, she’s stronger than she looks.” 

“But…”  He tried peeking his head to see if Hyuna was inside.

“I’m more interested in knowing you care so much.  I’ve never seen you in such a panic before,”  Jiyoon said.

“Isn’t Hyuna more important at this point in time?”  He asked, completely avoiding her question.

“Fine, I’ll go in and check on her.  Happy lover boy?”  She smiled jokingly as she disappeared in the girls’ toilets. 

When Jiyoon and Hyuna finally came out, Junhyung looked carefully at her tired face.  True to Jiyoon’s word, Hyuna looked fine, no signs that any one had touched her.  He sighed a breath of relief.  The group of girls followed out of the toilet behind them, looking pissed out and offended, but when they saw Junhyung, they immediately swarmed up to him.

“Junhyung! We heard that Hyuna trapped you in the shed yesterday with her.  Are you ok?  Did she do anything to you?”  They asked all together, looking expectedly at Junhyung.  They knew that Junhyung had a bad record of rejecting girls’ confessions, so they assumed that this would be the same.  After all, it was better for them if no one could have Junhyung.

Junhyung didn’t look at them though, when they kept asking him, he saw how Hyuna rolled her eyes, saying quietly to Jiyoon, “Let’s go, I’m sick of the fake high-pitched chatter.” 

She could have easily asked him to explain to the girls what actually happened, but yet she was letting the misunderstanding get worse, Junhyung thought.  Why is she so stubborn?

It was at the spur of the moment, something he didn’t know he himself would ever think of doing, but he was trying to kill two birds with one stone.  He was also a bit annoyed at Hyuna for trying to handle everything herself.

He walked towards Hyuna who was just about to wander off.  And placed his arm over her shoulder.

“Girls, do you really think that this clumsy girl is capable of tricking me into getting trapped in a shed with her?”  He said confidently, while Hyuna looked at him in shock.   The group of girls looked equally surprised. 

He continued, “Try look at it in a different perspective.  What if I was the one to trap her?”

“What are you trying to pull?”  Hyuna whispered to him irritated at his gesture.  “Stop making us seem so friendly with each other.  Get off.” 

She struggled to remove Junhyung’s hand off her shoulder, but he stuck onto her tightly.

“What do you mean?”  They all