Chapter 3 || Suspicion

Jaeyun’s eyelids slowly slid down to hood her eyes—its heaviness making the simple act of blinking feel almost beyond the bounds of achievability. Another yawn pulled at the air in her lungs as her eyes lay idly fastened onto the beige colored cobblestone ground in front of her, b with hurried legs of fellow passerby college students—not that she was paying them any attention in the first place though.

She glanced down at her leather, quartz wristwatch to get a peek at the time. An hour left until my next class. A small creak emanated from the wooden boards of the bench she was currently settled in when she had resituated herself for about the fifth time in counting now. It seems like even her impatience was beginning to wear thin thanks to her immense fatigue right now.

She hadn’t slept at all last night; not even for one measly second. How could she anyways—how could anyone even think about resting when plunged into such a predicament so suddenly like this? Jaeyun cringed at the very thought of it.

In the end, Jaeyun had snatched up her school bag and left her dorm room straight away after that whole ‘incident’ and snuck off campus in the dead of night. After an entire 15 minute search, she had managed to find a 24 hour café a few blocks over and had stayed there the entire night; sipping on cups of coffee to keep herself from dozing off. It was that and an undeniable sense of paranoia that was relentlessly gnawing away at her sanity as the minutes ticked away.    

And now several hours later, here she was; back on campus feeling like some type of brain-dead zombie waiting for her next class to start. At the moment she sat in the breezy shade of same white ash tree she had seen the day before on her way to her dorm, seated in an all too uncomfortable oak bench all by herself.

Although she had to admit, the uneasiness clenching at her chest was somewhat put to ease being blanketed in this tall tree’s silhouette—but only a little bit. 

Sitting there stewing in her own hazy thoughts, Jaeyun suddenly remembered the little girl she had seen just yesterday standing beneath this very tree. I wonder if she was a sibling of someone who goes here. She pondered to herself. Wonder why she was all alone though. I was in such a hurry yesterday that I hadn’t even considered walking up to that little girl and asking if she was lost or not. I hope she’s doing okay right now—better than me, anyways…

Feeling a slight chill wake her from her thoughts, Jaeyun pulled her oversized jacket closer around her body. It was lucky for her she was conscious enough to think of bringing a jacket along with her last night since she had been getting sudden spells of shivers all day now.

Gliding her fingertips against the thick cotton of her jacket, a wave of nostalgia suddenly washed over her. The jacket she was wearing right now was Sehun’s old middle school hoodie after all. He had given it to her a few months back while he was cleaning out his closet. Although she was reluctant to take it since it was obviously a jacket for a boy and was an unattractive shade of russet brown, it still somehow found its way inside her suitcase and on her body right now.

She whispered a soft sigh weighing heavy with anguish at the thought of her brother’s absence. Perhaps she still hasn’t completely gotten used to it yet…

Jaeyun suddenly reached a hand up and brushed her fingers through her hair after feeling a sort of itching feeling around her scalp. That was another thing—she had been feeling this strange crawling feeling on her head every once in a while ever since she first planted herself onto the bench. Must be a bug—I am under a huge tree after all.

After another round of weary minutes lazily crawled past her, Jaeyun yawned to herself once again. “I can barely keep my eyes open anymore.” She sighed. Feeling her endurance slowly wilting away by the second, Jaeyun leaned back and allowed her eyes to slowly close shut. But not even half a second later…

“Looks like someone didn’t get any sleep last night.”

Jaeyun’s eyes squeezed together, wincing at the unexpected voice breaking through the settled silence around her like an unwanted clap of thunder, and waking her up from her momentary nap. Opening her eyes and reluctantly gazing up, Jaeyun’s eyes shot wide open at the sight of the person standing before her.

“Jongin!”

The handsome, olive skinned boy grinned in response; an amused glint dancing in his eyes at her instantly recognizing him. “Hey, what’s with that reaction huh? Are you that surprised to see me or what?” He questioned with a tilt of the head, loosely crossing his arms over his own chest.

“Huh? Oh, no. I was just… caught off guard for a moment there.” She replied back, still in the midst of recovering from her sleepy daze.

“Caught off guard? I could have sworn we had that huge conversation before graduation day about how we would be going to the same college together. Guess it must have slipped your mind. No surprise from someone as forgetful as you.” He said, playfully poking her forehead past her fringes. Jaeyun gave him a disagreeable look, earning one of Jongin’s undeniably adorable chuckles in response.

How could she have almost forgotten about Jongin going to the same college as her? They were actual friends now after all. During their last year of high school, the two began to interact with each other more and more. Though they weren’t the best or closest of friends, they were still comfortable enough with one another to be able to casually strike up a conversation here and there, and even occasionally confiding in each other with their problems. Jongin sometimes even came off as a brother figure to Jaeyun—at times, more so than Sehun would.

“What are you up to right now?” Jaeyun finally asked.

“I’m heading to my statistics class right now. And this guy over here volunteered to walk me to my classroom.” He answered, pointing a thumb behind himself. Leaning to the side, Jaeyun saw that lingering behind Jongin was none other than the ever-so-distant Byun Baekhyun. She hadn’t even noticed him there at all. “Say hi to her.” Jongin nodded towards Jaeyun as he nudged at the other boy’s arm. Glancing at Jaeyun for a moment, Baekhyun held up a hand with a weak nod and immediately looked away. Typical greeting from Baekhyun… Jaeyun thought. It seemed like his attention was firmly latched onto something else at the moment—what that could have been might as well have remained an unsolved mystery to Jaeyun.

“What are you doing dozing off on this bench all alone anyways?” Jongin inquired after the noticeably awkward greeting. Jaeyun scratched at her head again.

“Oh… well, I didn’t exactly sleep all too well last night so…” Jaeyun uneasily trailed off, averting her eyes from his. Jongin remained silent for a few seconds, unsure of what to make of her answer.

“Ok, I see.” He finally said. “Well, some people need more time adjusting to their surroundings than others, right?” Jaeyun gave an uncertain nod in agreement. “But you looked like you didn’t even get a wink of sleep at all last night. You’ve got big dark circles under your eyes, plus your face is all pale and everything.”

“I’m fine. There’s no need to worry about me.” She quickly replied, wanting nothing more than to move on from this certain conversation. Jongin arched a doubtful eyebrow at her and leaned in a bit closer to get a better look of her. “For real Jongin, I’m just sleepy that’s all.” Jaeyun firmly stated, once again sliding her fingers through her hair to get rid of the faint itch on her head. Just behind Jongin, Baekhyun’s brows subtly knitted together.

“Jaeyun, we all know you’re a bad liar. Something is definitely up with you.” Jongin bluntly concluded. “Tell me the truth here. Are you sure you’re not sick or something? Have you eaten at all yet?” Jongin preceded a step forward and turned to sit himself down beside Jaeyun on the wooden bench. But before Jongin could even set himself down to take a seat, Baekhyun darted an arm forward and seized Jongin’s arm—stopping him completely.

Jongin instantly twisted his head over and gawked at the shorter male in complete surprise at the very sudden act. Jongin didn’t know what to think or assume, what with the amount of strength Baekhyun had in his fingers enfolded around his arm or the pure seriousness suspended in Baekhyun’s unwavering stare. Realizing his hasty actions, Baekhyun awkwardly withdrew his hand away with a mumbled apology below his breath.

“Uhh, anyways…” Jongin slowly started, taking a step back since Baekhyun apparently was against him sitting down. “If you insist that you’re okay then I won’t bombard you with any more questions then. Oh hey, is that Sehun’s old jacket?” Jaeyun nodded her head. “That’s why it looked so familiar! Man, I remember him wearing that all the time in 8^th grade. I remember we used to laugh and tell him the color reminded us of shi—“ Jongin caught his words in his mouth the moment he took notice of Jaeyun’s unamused expression. “Oh I mean… um… Hey, wow look at the time—my class is about to start!”

Giving Jaeyun one last glance, Jongin dropped an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and managed to startle the boy out of his deep thoughts. “Baekhyun, you finished all your classes for today right? Why don’t you stay here and keep Jaeyun company until her next class?”

“Say what?” Baekhyun dumbly responded as Jaeyun eyed the two boys with just as much confusion.

“Yeah. I’d stay here myself but like I said, I’ve gotta jet to class soon.”

“No, no—it’s totally okay, really. He doesn’t have to stay.” Jaeyun hastily assured. More than anything, she would have appreciated some alone time right now and Baekhyun definitely wasn’t someone she would have enjoyed being alone with.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine!!” Baekhyun loudly emphasized. “I agreed to walk you to your class and that’s all. Besides, I have somewhere I have to be right now!”

“Look…” Jongin leaned in extra close (a little too close for Baekhyun’s taste), and brought his volume down to just below a whisper. “I’m worried about her ok? I know you don’t like her but she’s my friend. She obviously looks like a train wreck right now, so just stick around and see how she’s feeling. Then after you can leave if you want. That’s all I’m asking for.”

“If you hadn’t already noticed, I have a girlfriend!” Baekhyun whispered back. “So being alone with another girl would definitely cause rumors to fly around campus and I can’t have that hanging over my head on the first day here! I’m trying to uphold a good reputation after all. Plus… you know how I don’t like being around her!”

“Quit making excuses. I’ve seen you talk to so many other girls here already and honestly, people wouldn’t give a damn if they saw you two together since you’re already friendly with pretty much anything that has a pulse. Just think, what would Sehun do if he found out you left his precious sister all alone while she wasn’t feeling well?”

“I don’t care!!” Baekhyun sassed back with fully raised eyebrows. Rolling his eyes, Jongin shoved Baekhyun towards Jaeyun.

“Catch you guys later. Get better soon Jaeyun!” Flashing a momentary grin, Jongin turned and swiftly dashed down the path.

“Yah! YAH!!! KIM JONGIN!!!” Baekhyun screeched, scaring the living daylights out of the students who stood nearby. But Jongin was already long gone before Baekhyun was able to finish, leaving him and Jaeyun now immersed in a concrete silence. Wary, Baekhyun turned his gaze towards Jaeyun who was staring back at him with just as much uncertainty. Neither said a single word to each other but it was more than obvious that they both had an identical uneasiness about this whole set up.

“So… are you, ya know, feeling any better from last night?” Baekhyun murmured. “I mean, you did look a little shaken up before we left last night.” I should be asking you the exact same thing… Jaeyun thought.

“… I’m fine.” Jaeyun lied.

“You sure?” He asked, definitely not sounding as concerned as he was trying to put himself out to be. Jaeyun gave a single nod. That blank stare and these uninterested responses… God, she really is Sehun’s sister… “Well, that’s good that you’re okay. So if you happen to run into Jongin again, be sure to tell him I actually did stay and ask you how you were doing, ok? I gotta go now—I promised to meet Bomi at the library before her next class starts.”

“Oh, ok. Thanks?” Jaeyun nodded. Just then, that same random itch jumped up at Jaeyun. Immediately, Jaeyun swatted at the spot on her scalp where she felt it with an irritated huff. Peering up, she saw Baekhyun looking down at her; his stare a tiny bit more consuming than it was a second ago. “Sorry, I think there’s this bug that keeps landing and crawling through my hair.” Jaeyun explained, a bit embarrassed getting caught beoming so frustrated over a little, insignificant bug. Baekhyun, however, remained silent and simply looked away. With that, he began walking off without saying another word. “Oh, hold on a second!” Jaeyun suddenly called out.

Baekhyun stopped and with a sharp sigh, twisted his head to the side to look over his shoulder. “I almost forgot to ask.” Jaeyun started. “Was Bomi with you and Chanyeol all of last night?”

Baekhyun was silent for a moment. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, she was. Sorry, was that an inconvenience to you last night or something?”

More than you’ll ever know, that’s for sure… “Um… n-no, not at all.” She lied once more. What would be the point in telling the truth anyways? And to someone like Baekhyun nonetheless. Baekhyun gave Jaeyun one last nod and carried on his way.

Jaeyun silently watched Baekhyun’s departure, her fingers once again scratching at her scalp. “This stupid bug just won’t leave me alone… I should just go sit somewhere els—“

“Hey.” Jaeyun stopped and snapped her eyes upward at the voice. Not too far off, Jaeyun saw Baekhyun looking over his shoulder at her once again. Wasn’t he leaving?

“That’s not a bug… I think she just likes to touch your hair.”

Jaeyun blinked at him. “…What…?”

Seeing the apparent confusion on Jaeyun’s face, Baekhyun’s body froze up. “Forget it—forget I even said anything.” And in the blink of an eye Baekhyun hurriedly continued on his way, leaving Jaeyun both lost and baffled. But lying just beneath all these feelings was one thing that was all too apparent to Jaeyun: suspicion. 

Ummm why was this chapter so hard to write like I don't even ugh

Yaaaay Kai is back!!! I'll let you guys in on a little secret, I secretly ship JonginXJaeyun ahhhh!!! They're not going to end up together though, just to let y'all know lol But it's ok to secretly like them together from afar like I do.

This chapter wasn't scary but it raises some question huh, HUH?!! Just so you know, that last part isn't talking about Bomi so don't go thinking she's all magical or something!

One last thing, I have a twitter now. I have no idea how to use it tbch but I think that by having one, it'll be a good way to interact with some of my readers that way right?

So if you want, follow me @buunihun ^^