CHAPTERTHREE

Jongin tried everything. He tried asking the teachers about Kyungsoo and his whereabouts. He spotted Mr Kwon, Kyungsoo's form teacher along the linkway, and went up to him.

"Mr Kwon, uh may I know whether Kyungsoo is okay?", Jongin asked in a polite voice, "He doesn't seem to be in school recently." Mr Kwon looked at him with the same questionable expression as Baekhyun. 

"Kyungsoo...?" Mr Kwon replied. "Yes sir, Do Kyungsoo." Jongin replied, "He is in your form class, 4A2."

"I'm not sure if I have such a student in my class," Mr Kwon's reply shook Jongin for the second time of the day, "In fact there is no student like that in 4A2."

What? Jongin was hoping all of these was a joke. So far two people in this school did not remember Kyungsoo. And of them was his form teacher for god's sake!

Jongin later went to check the lockers after school. He remembered as long as a student was studying in this school, they would have an access to their personal locker. And one good thing was that their names would be on their lockers, so he would be able to find it quite easily, because afterall, Jongin and Kyungsoo were technically strangers. 

Jongin was pretty excited about the locker trip that he was looking at the clock every ten seconds to see if school was ending soon. He was literally shaking by the last minute that even his seatmate was staring weirdly at him. Maybe Jongin was indeed a crazy delusional weirdo as Baekhyun had described. But he would not give a care, because its Kyungsoo and he was okay with it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the last bell finally rang and Jongin sprinted out of the classroom and to the lockers. Whether he was being just like a maniac was a question thrown out of his window. But when he reached the lockers, it was filled with people. Throngs and throngs of people flooded the lockers. It was understandable since it was right after school, but Jongin's paitience was wearing out by the minute. He almost had half, scratch that 90% mind to just shove people out of the way just to find Kyungsoo's locker. But since he was still rather polite about it, he waited for the crowd to disappear.

And that took almost an hour. Jongin just sat on the stairway for an hour, waiting for time to past. In the meantime, he took out a card and started to write a note to Kyungsoo, just in case when Kyungsoo comes back from wherever he went to. 

So Kyungsoo, where have you been? I haven't seen you in school for ages, about three weeks already? Please come back, everyone here misses you. I hope I don't come across as creepy since you don't really know me very well. But my name is Jongin, Kim Jongin to be exact. I hope we can be good friends when you come back from wherever you are. 

- Kim Jongin

Holding the mini card in his hand, Jongin set on his journey to find Kyungsoo's locker.

He first tried the first row. No luck.

Then the second row. No luck too.

Then the third and fourth rows. Nope.

Then the fifth and sixth rows. Nah.

Then the seventh row. Oh there's a Do. But that was Do Kangwoo.

Then eighth and ninth rows and lastly the tenth row.

There was nothing. 

No sign of Do Kyungsoo anywhere.

Unable to accept defeat, he went into the general office of the school, hoping that the school still had records of Do Kyungsoo somewhere. Maybe he transferred to somewhere else? He thought that he needed a closure to the madness he was experiencing for the past few weeks. He stepped into the room, feeling the cooler air that slightly calmed the fire in his head. The polite receptionist offered a bright smile before asking, "Hi, what can I do for you?" 

Jongin steadied himself and brushed his hair with his fingers in order to not look like a sloth, before asking, "Uh, hi. I'm asking if Do Kyungsoo have transferred out from this school because I haven't seen him anywhere in weeks." He felt like an automated machine, asking the same question for the third time in this day. The receptionist smiled at him again and replied while going to her computer, "Wait a minute, I will check it out for you."

"Do Kyungsoo right?"

"Yes Miss. It's Do Kyungsoo, from class 4A2."

While the receptionist worked on her computer to find a boy remotely named Do Kyungsoo, Jongin stood by the counter, staring at his feet. He was trying to keep his heart from beating so fast, that it was making him hard to breathe. He moved back and forth on the balls of his feet, seemingly rocking himself into serenity, and hoping that the receptionist could find Kyungsoo back.

"Kim Jongin?" A voice shook him out of his trance. 

"Yes Miss, is he still in school?" Jongin asked, hoping his voice was not laced with desperation, but he figured it clearly was.

"Jongin, I'm afraid there's no such student named Do Kyungsoo here. This name was not registered in this system," she paused and looked at her computer, as if checking one last time, "ever."

When the receptionist looked up at Jongin's face again, she saw a mix of emotions, and as if he was about to cry. She was concerned and asked again, "Are you sure you got the right name? Because there's a student called Do Kangwoo here. Are you sure you're not looking for him?" She spoke quickly, wanting to comfort the young student.

Jongin gently shook his head and excused himself out of the office, after muttering a small thank you to the receptionist. The receptionist could only give a small smile in return. 

Jongin stumbled out of the office and leaned his head against the wall, a hidden corner where people could not see him.

Where exactly is Do Kyungsoo? Jongin ruffled his hair roughly, feeling the desperation kicking into his system. 

Was he the only one that could remember Kyungsoo?

♦⇔♦

(Food)note: oh my god. this is the longest chapter yet. and 2 updates in 2 days. do you love me now? and oh i forgot to mention that the 'he/him' in chapter 1 and 3/4 of chapter 2 is KIM JONGIN WOOOOOOOOO and yeah i hope you like this update! don't forget to comment, upvote and subscribe for more~ oh btw i have a twitter account, please be my friend there. its @itsrelaxion (HYOLO WHOOP WHOOP) and i give updates and sneak peeks of next chapters first thing there so PLEASE follow me HUE HUE. okay im going to go /going to grab some dinner now/