Chapter Seven: 

[ the pointless arguments ]

credits going out to the enchanted graphic shop

 ( present ) 

Saturdays are bliss.

The fact that you can sleep in and be a complete sloth entices me. No work, no worries, just me sinking into my mattress and being snuggled up under a heap of blankets is my idea of cleansing the soul after a hectic week.

As I lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling, a scowl immediately forms on my face when I hear my phone ring in its irritable high-pitched tone.

Peace can never last...

“Yoon Chaeri speaking,” I say, blandly.

I put the phone against my right cheek and keep my head straight to keep it from falling. I’m an expert at this. I should win a trophy for being lazy. After all, it is Saturday. I'm entitled to be lazy, right?

“Hello?” I mutter when the other line doesn't answer.

The person is very lucky I've answered the call because I had, almost, no intention of picking it up. I sit up straight, back leaning against the bed frame. “Can I ask who is calling?”

“It's me, Noona,” A voice finally replies. “I got a new number so-”

I blink, unimpressed before I harass, “Ya! Damn it, Seunghyun! Why call me now? Do you know what time it is? I wanted to sleep-”

He interrupts my complaining, “But-well, you see...Jinri's here. She said something to hyung and-”

“I'll be right there!” I exclaim, cutting off the call.

I dart out of my bed, tossing the first things I can find on and make a dash for the FTISLAND dormitory.

When I get there, the door's agape. I creep inside, trying to make any sound.

I prepare myself to flinch at screaming and shrieking, but oddly enough I don't hear anything. I don't know whether I should be elated or not by this. Jinri had mentioned to me last night that she would tell Jonghoon, so I had mentally prepared myself for this fated today.

And, out of all responses, I had expected anything but silence from her brother. Jonghoon doesn't strike me as the person who would quietly accept this.

Unless they've killed each other?

My eyes widen at the thought.

There are few times I have caught Jonghoon's temper, and even once I had been on the receiving end, which is why I know how crazy he can get. He may have a childish personality and an easygoing attitude, but on the rare occasion that he does gets mad, he's a completely different person. Somebody I don't particularly like...or anybody would like.

Who knows? He might have accidentally punched Jaejin out and...he's on the floor?

I scramble onto the ground and collapse onto my knees when I see Jonghoon lying on the ground. His face is as pale as snow and his lips are slightly parted. I listen over his mouth and I feel his breath against my cheek as his chest rises up and down.

He's alive!

I see bright pink converses enter my vision and I look up to see Hongki who has a crooked smile on his face. He catches my gaze and replies with a shrug, “He’s fainted.”

“Jonghoon's fainted?” I repeat incredulously.

This is ridiculous. I've never seen him faint in my entire life and yet, here he is, lying back first onto the carpeted floor looking as white as a ghost.

“That's right,” Minhwan adds. “Jinri's apparently pregnant.”

“Oh,” I say.

Seunghyun enters the room with an arm around Jinri as he adds her to the circle surrounding Jonghoon's passed-out body.

The youngest band member raves on, “Congratulations! I'm so proud of this girl. Look what she's become! She can even punch out Jonghoon with her words of glory. Imagine what other power she has? Imagine what her spawn is capable of-”

“Don't call my baby spawn,” Jinri irritably slaps Seunghyun away. “And oppa is going to kill me. I know it.”

“But you killed him first,” Minhwan points out, nudging his head at her brother's almost lifeless figure.

“No,” Jinri concludes. “Jonghoon is going to kill me.”

I finally can't help but say, “Have you told him who it is yet?”

That's when all eyes are on me and Jinri looks like she is going to kill me. Let's forget about Jonghoon killing anybody because if looks could be murderous, I'd be a dead woman.

I bite my lip guiltily, looking away. I can't help it. I had thought Jinri had told them all the full story, but apparently not. And since Jaejin's not here, it's no wonder things aren't as chaotic as I had expected them to be.

On timing, Jaejin decides to make his grand appearance and I swear Jinri's jaw literally drops at the sight of her boyfriend.

“Jinri,” Jaejin then glances at me anxiously. “Chaeri? What are you both doing here-”

He then fits the pieces together in his head and shuts up. Although we're trying to hide what's happened from the other boys, they're not completely dumb.

They're looking at the three of us with suspecting eyes. They can tell we're keeping something from them and from the sparkle in Hongki's eyes I know that we won't be able to get out of this one.

“Spill it,” Hongki barks out as both Seunghyun and Minhwan nod in agreement.

“It's nothing,” I grumble, but I know I'm digging myself into my own grave. I kick Jonghoon on the side. “And it's probably best if you didn't know because this lump of idiocy will overreact-”

And Jonghoon happens to stir at this moment, of course.

How stupid I am? Why’d I have to kick him for?

I hesitate as I watch Jonghoon slowly sit up and stare at all with a blank expression on his face. He ignores my stare, since we're still in non-talking terms, and focuses on Jinri.

This is looking bad and I can tell that everyone in the room can sense the negative aura radiating from Jonghoon.

He lividly chokes out, “Who tainted you?”

Minhwan's trying hard to not laugh and even I have to bite my tongue.

“Oh cut the crap, Jonghoon,” Seunghyun tells him. “You're going to be a uncle. Deal with it. It doesn't matter who the father is-”

“Even if it is me,” Jaejin cuts Seunghyun off, in a serious tone.

Jaejin really has granted himself a death wish because now everybody is gazing at him. All the FTISLAND members look shocked. If I hadn't known earlier, I would be in the same shoes as they. If Jaejin's tone hadn't been serious, it would have been a joke.

Unfortunately, for everybody, it isn't a joke. It's as real as it gets.

Jinri's pinching the bridge of her nose, while Jaejin displays a meek smile. Jaejin's probably cracked it because he had been lying to everybody. That was the most rational reason why he had said it so-

“You?” Jonghoon mouths.

Uh-oh.

Jonghoon instantly gets up onto his feet. I curse at not taking my chance to kick him on the back of his knees, but he's too quick.

Before any of us can react, he launches his tall body onto Jaejin, causing Jaejin to stumble back and almost crash against Hongki's alter of nail polish. Hongki does a great save, diving behind Jaejin and simultaneously causing Jaejin to land on the sofa, instead of shattering the glass containers of polish. I'm certain Hongki cares about Jaejin, but I know he cares more about the nail polish that has exhausted his bank account too.

Jonghoon advances towards his prey. Minhwan lamely attempts to redirect him elsewhere, but Jonghoon easily pushes him out of the way.

“Oppa! Stop it!” I can hear Jinri cry in the background.

What did she expect? Revealing to her brother that she is pregnant and the guy that she's been seeing is Jaejin's is bound to unleash a hellish rage from Jonghoon.

Jonghoon straddles Jaejin on the couch, about to deliver a punch to the face. Seunghyun scrambles towards Jonghoon, trying to hold back Jonghoon's punch. He shakes him off.

It's when I try to intervene. I squirm my body in between Jaejin and Jonghoon, gazing up at Jonghoon. His eyes are raging. His lips, usually quirked upwards in his arrogant smirk, are frowning.

“Get out of the way, Chaeri,” He grits out.

I touch his shoulder. If we stay in this position longer, he'll collapse onto me. I can feel Jaejin heaving for air from under me, but I know that if I slip out of the area between him and Jonghoon, I know Jonghoon will continue his violent fit of fury.

“Think about it,” I whisper, finding a way to talk some sense into him. “If you hurt Jaejin, your tours will be cancelled like last time. Do you really think it's worth it? Look what happened with Wonbin-”

Jonghoon bitterly laughs. “You, of all people, have no right to talk about what happened. It was your fault Wonbin left.”

“This has nothing to do with me.”

Jonghoon smiles dangerously at me. “Sometimes you're so thick, Chaeri.”

“Ya,” Hongki tries to break us apart, but Jonghoon takes a swipe at the vocalist who barely misses getting a punch to the face.

This isn't about Jinri and Jaejin anymore. I've been wanting Jonghoon to speak back to me for weeks and now that he's finally talking to me, I don't like it. He's being a jackass and he knows it.

Jaejin takes this moment to throw me off the sofa and, to my surprise, takes Jonghoon by the collar.

“This is about me and your sister. Don't put this on Chaeri.” Jaejin says, cooly. “It's Jinri. Yes, I got her pregnant. No, she isn't having an abortion. I love Jinri. I intend to stay with her and if you don't like it, I don't care. If you're going to fling me away like you did with Wonbin, so be it...but don't you dare try to separate us!”

Whoa!

Even Jonghoon looks taken back as the rest of us are blinking at Jaejin in amazement. Jinri's sniffing and I can't help but give a satisfied smile. Things are bad between me and Jonghoon at the moment, but I can't help but be impressed with Jaejin's sudden outburst of courage.

Of course, that doesn't stop Jonghoon's fist hurling into Jaejin's face...

•••••••••••••••

 ( p a s t) 

You should come out tonight.

The text caused butterflies to stir in my stomach. I had abandoned my study and, for the past half hour, had been meticulously rummaging through my closet for a decent dress to wear.

“This will do!” I mutter to myself, holding it out with a beam on my face.

It's the classiest dress I have and, possibly, the most expensive clothing I own.

I had once gone on a shopping spree with Jinri and we had foolishly tried on a bunch of dresses, just for the sake of it. We had gushed and complimented each other and once walking out of that certain boutiques, we had to deal with the aftermath of empty bank accounts. At that time, it had been a good idea to purchase the money-depleting dress, but I had not worn it ever since.

No occasion had ever called for the dress to be worn, yet tonight I could finally use it!

I sigh as I slip the chosen dress over my head.

From the mirror, I can see a nervous smile forming on my lips. The dress isn’t too flashy, but is elegant enough. The deep scarlet dress contrasts silkily with my fair skin. It stops above my knees, not too short, yet not too long. It's perfect for tonight.

The only aspect of the dress I'm not too fond off is that it's backless, which is why I drape a thin black shawl over my shoulders. I know that Jinri will disapprove of this, but there's no way I'm displaying by back so openly. It's still taking a lot out of me to wear this dress because I’m not one to dress up often.

I've even put on more makeup than I usually do. Rumour has it that there will be celebrities tonight, so I have to at least put an effort to make myself presentable. If I don’t, I know Jinri would make me leave the club, take me to her place and wear one of her showy dresses.

When I get to the club, I spot Jinri attired in a tight golden sleeveless top tucked inside a tiny leather skirt.

Her teeth chatters, “It's freezing! Unnie, I've been waiting for you for almost-”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I repeat. “Let’s get inside then.”

I loop my arm around hers, tugging her along with me as we nearly step into the club.

I can't wait to see the boys. To think that the day has finally come! And, well, I do want to see him.

Two security guards, that I'm sure can pass as boulders, block us from entering the doors into the club. One of them talks authoritatively, “This is a private function. Only people on the guest-list are allowed in.”

Jinri starts to protest, “But-”

“They're with me,” A voice speaks out.

“You?” The guard quirks an eyebrow. “Go inside, girls.”

I glance behind me and before I recognise him, Jinri's greeting him with a hug. Lee Jaejin returns Jinri's hug and as he lets go he catches my eye and gives me a kind smile.

It's different seeing Jaejin in this type of setting. I'm often used to him going crazy on his guitar, like it is meant to be surgically sewn onto him, as the only times I've really hung out with him were during FTISLAND's band rehearsals.

“Welcome back,” I grin, also giving Jaejin a brief hug.

We push our way through the throngs of people. I can't help but glance around and recognise actors, actresses and other idols. However, it's not them I want to see -  I just can’t wait to see my friends again!

Jinri looks like she's about to head for the bar, but Jaejin stops her.

“Your brother has put me in charge of you tonight,” He tells her and I can't help but laugh because it's very Jonghoon like to be over-protective when anything related to his younger sister. Jaejin scolds, “You're underage. You're not meant to be here, Jinri.”

Jinri objects, “But I'm here to see oppa. I haven't seen him for a long time-”

“You were waiting for him at the airport,” Jaejin cuts her off, pointing out.

“It's not fair!” Jinri pouts. “Why don't you babysit somebody else?”

“Then it wouldn't be fun-”

I laugh as Jinri stutters out more words and more excuses to why her presence here is strictly business. For all I know, she's had it in her head that she wants to meet at least one BIGBANG member in her lifetime. I don't know how FTISLAND suddenly made all these connections while they’ve been in Japan this whole time. From what I know of, FTISLAND's apparently more popular in Japan than here.

“Your brother will get pissed off when he sees what you're wearing.” Jaejin shakes his head.

I understand where he's coming from as Jinri's cleavage is quite evident from the tight top she's wearing. And let's not forget how short her skirt is. I'm sure that if she bent over anybody could see her . I hadn't wanted to insult her, so I had kept quiet. Everybody's still entitled to their own fashion, right?

“Hey!” I yell out, feeling my back become exposed. Jaejin has flung my shawl from around my back and is placing it over Jinri's shoulders.

Before I can complain or try and snatch my shawl back, Wonbin steps in front of me with a wide grin. “It's nice to see you again, Chaeri!”

I smile brightly at him. “Same here. I've missed you, Wonbin.”

“Somehow it doesn't feel like it's been too long. We've been texting on a daily basis.”

“That's true,” I agree with him. He had been keeping me updated with the band's progress while they had been overseas. “Thanks.”

From the corner of my eye, I catch Jonghoon. A wave of anxiety pours over me as I look at him slowly approach us with that overly confident gait of his. A smirk teases his lips as he joins us. I try to smile back at Jonghoon, but I can't bring myself to. I've been so excited to meet him again, yet I feel betrayed and upset too. While Wonbin had kept in touch with me, Jonghoon hadn't.

I can't help but say my thoughts out loud. “At least you've been talking to me, Wonbin. Unlike somebody.”

Jonghoon rolls his eyes. “What? No kiss? No hug?”

“Shut up,” I grumble, but a simper escapes me when Jonghoon crashes me against his hard chest, pulling me into a tight hug. I can smell liquor on his breath.

I step back from him. He looks a bit taller. His shoulders are sloped downwards. They're only like this when he's exhausted and, by the dark circles under his eyes, I know he's completely fatigued.

“I'll get you a drink,” Wonbin takes this opportunity to give us some space.

Jonghoon holdings my wrist, leading me to a vacant table. Instead of sitting in front of me, he chooses to sit besides me on the worn-out leather seats.

There's something different. It's been over a year, yet it doesn't feel the same. I feel almost awkward sitting besides him when during high school, he was always at my side. We'd bicker over idiotic things, laugh at jokes or talk about our dreams and aspirations – what we wanted to do with our life.

And here he is.

His band is slowly rising in popularity. He is a breath's way from achieving his dream. Whereas, for me, I still need to wrestle a few more years to get my degree under my belt.

He's not saying anything. It's like he's waiting for me. And, as if to trigger me to speak, I feel his hand up and down the spine of my back. A shiver erupts through my whole body, but I don't want him to notice my reaction.

I maintain my breathing and I finally say, “You stopped contacting me.”

Jonghoon leans back on the seat. A lazy smile painted on his face. “Things like that do tend to happen when you're in different countries.”

“It's not funny,” I frown. “What happened to us?”

“Us?” Jonghoon repeats. “You were busy, I was busy.”

“That's not good enough,” I seethe. I'm offended that he's joking about this like our friendship is the past - like I didn't matter. “Yes, I was busy with university and I know your schedule is crazy, but I texted you. I would have liked you to at least reply once.”

“Why are you getting so worked up?” Jonghoon responded, folding his arms. He's acting all bitter. But since when has Jonghoon been bitter?

“I'm telling you the truth.”

“I'm sure Wonbin would have filled you in with the details anyway.”

“Wonbin is just being polite and at least he bothered to contact me back,” I hiss. My blood is beginning to boil the more I speak with him. “You never told me when you were coming back. Imagine the shock I had when Wonbin told me? Hell, I wouldn't even be here if he hadn't told me to come out tonight.”

“Good for you then. I'm glad you got to see him.”

I wanted to see you, you !

However, the words stay on the edge of my tongue as Jonghoon gets up from his seat. There's fire in his eyes and as he's about to leave, I reach a hand out to grab his arm, which he shakes off.

“Jonghoon!”

He leaves. Half of me wants to go after him, the other half doesn't. I don't understand why he's so peeved about this. If anything, I am the one who should be angry. I had done my part with trying to keep in contact with him over the year, but Jonghoon had never replied to me.

Can one year really change a person?

A girl interrupts my process of thoughts, her face is an inch away from mine as she blinks with her fake eyelashes, taking a seat where Jonghoon had previously been.

“That was Jonghoon, right? Isn't he hot? I heard all he did was party in Japan.”

“Really?” I let out a fake gasp.

“ I know he’s been sleeping around too.”

It doesn't phase me. Jonghoon's reputation had been like this during high school. It didn't bother me in high school, but for a stranger to talk about this was beyond strange and it bothered me.

“I wouldn't mind getting tangled in bed with him.”

I say, “Well, isn't that pleasant?”

“He tried to pick you up, didn't he?”

“Pick me up?” I spit. "No way would he!"

I can't talk to her any longer. I stand up and make my way for the bar. Slicing through the dance floor, I spot Jonghoon dancing with a few girls a bit too intimately for my liking. I shake my head, and with a sour look on my face I order a shot of tequila from the bartender.

Why did I even worry about the ? I take another shot. That girl is grinding on him now. Can't he save it for the bedroom? We're in public, damn it! I swig down another. Has he forgotten that we used to be friends? The third shot makes my whole body tingle.

As I'm about to take another shot, somebody steals it from my grasp. I sneer at the thief, the criminal who has taken my drink. “Wonbin!”

His eyes sparkle. “Take it easy there, Chaeri.”

“What if I don't want to?” Through blurred vision I can't help but leer at Jonghoon dirty dancing with the girl I had spoken to earlier. “Has he always...been this wild of a drunk?

Wonbin sighs, “Let's say...he let loose in Japan.”

“I thought he had grown out of it.” I thought high school had been Jonghoon's phase for partying and going out and sleeping around, but apparently not.

The liquor makes my heart race against my chest. If I speak about Jonghoon any longer, I might end up on the dance floor and try to break them up myself.

I shake my head to myself, trying to be somewhat coherent when I make small talk with Wonbin. “How was Japan?”

Wonbin goes on and on. I'm half-listening, or not even listening at all. I'm biting on my bottom lip from letting tears fall down. I had missed all of the boys, but I had missed Jonghoon the most...and he had let me down.

Is Jonghoon even the same person I used to know? He looks like a shadow of somebody he used to be. He's unfamiliar and cold and I hate that he’s like this...

“FTISLAND IS BACK IN KOREA!”

Startled, my attention drifts to the stage where I see the security guards trying to get Hongki off the stage as he clings onto the microphone for his dear life. Even from where I stand, I can see his whole face is pink. The vocalist most likely had the most liquor amongst all of us put together.

“How do you keep them tamed?” I say.

“It's more like Jaejin and Minhwan's job. I can’t contain those guys at all,” Wonbin chortles. “Talking about Minhwan...”

Across the bar I barely see Minhwan wave at us.

“Let's join the drummer boy. He's a lonely soul.”

I punch Wonbin on the arm. “You guys need to stop being mean to him just because he's the maknae. Be nice.”

“Then it wouldn’t be fun.”

As I'm about to disagree, Wonbin places a hand on my back. As we get up I can't help but take another glance at Jonghoon who is fully making out with the girl now.

Wonbin drags me away from looking at the person that I thought was my best friend. He’s directing me away from further getting hurt. And, you know what, I’m grateful for it.

At least somebody cares about me.

•••••••••••••••

Last Edited: 23.03.16

29.09.14

(a/n)

A longer chapter to make up for the absence! Hope you've enjoyed this chp to whoever is still reading this ~ ;)

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