CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

 

After finishing cleaning up his apartment, Jongin receives a message from his friends saying that they’re on their way to see him. It’s not even a question. They just told him that they’re going to see him without any warning even though he didn’t even want to see them.

 

Minutes after, he is sitting in the sofa as all of his friends (excluding Sehun, who he supposes is having a terrible headache just like him) gathered around, judging him. He didn’t even know why they were acting so strange. First, they just announce that they’re going there without even telling him. They didn’t even bring any food, which he thought was rude. Secondly, they act as if he murdered someone.

 

“Okay, can you all stop judging me? I’m having the worst hangover of my life and you're just standing there looking at me as if I did something wrong!”

 

“Sehun told us.”

 

Chanyeol didn’t even say what it was, but Jongin’s eyes were already wide in fear that the thing that Sehun told them is the secret that he’s hiding from them.

 

“T-told you what?”

 

“Oh you know… Something about Soojung.” He sees Tao smirk and that’s when he loses his .

 

“! I knew I shouldn’t have told Oh ing Sehun that I love Soojung-” Midway to his sentence, it was his friends’ turn to get crazy. At first he didn’t understand why they shouted with much glee, but slowly he understands why. “He… he didn’t actually tell you guys, did he?”

 

“I told you guys my plan would work!” Jinri throws her hands in the air happily. 24 hours haven’t passed when she stated that she’s going to make him admit his feelings, and now she actually made him admit it by lying that Sehun told them. “I can’t believe you would hide something so important from us! But what I find harder to believe is that you, Kim Jongin, the heartbreaker of our group, is actually in love with someone and that someone is Jung Soojung, your so called frienemy. This sounds like a drama, wow.”

 

“Yeah, and have you all noticed that he used the word ‘love’ and not just like?” Kris added, still amazed from what he just heard. “Damn, never have I thought of hearing you say ‘love’ and ‘Soojung’ in the same sentence.”

 

“I’m feeling worse now. Thanks a lot, you ers.” Jongin dramatically pinches the bridge of his nose. It is true that his headache was worse now, but he also couldn’t help but to feel embarrassed by his sudden confession.

 

“So when will you tell her, future brother in law?” Luhan asks, sitting beside him. He calms him down by putting a hand on his shoulder, but Jongin pushes his hyung softly. He was too annoyed with everyone right now.

 

“You’re not even his brother! Stop calling me that!” He argues as Luhan just shrugged. “And also, I’m mad at you for not coming to the party last night! You too!” He then points to the startled Junmyeon, who was standing right next to Kris.

 

“Dude, I’ve already told you that I have to study for an exam that I have tomorrow.” He tells him.

 

“That’s bull! How come these s came all the way from China for the party?” He points at Tao and Kris, who both put up a peace sign.

 

“That’s because they’re idiots who just want to have a reason to skip classes.”

 

“Okay, I can believe that because they are idiots… But if you do have an exam tomorrow, how come you’re not studying right now, eh?”

 

“Because they forced me to come! And now I am thankful that they did because I couldn’t have bear to miss your confession, it was epic.” Junmyeon laughs. “We should have recorded that, damn it.”

 

As the whole group agreed and laughed along, Jongin felt his head aching much worse again. He could only grunt and slump back at the sofa. This time, he lets his friends stay over but only because he’s not feeling good enough to kick them all out. Silently, he swears that if one of them tells Soojung about his real feelings, he wouldn’t think twice of murdering their asses.

 

 

For some reason, the ones most excited to see Soojung on Monday morning were Jinri and Chanyeol and Jongin knows exactly why - so they can drop subtle hints about his feelings. He could already imagine that stupid grin Chanyeol would flash or the winks Jinri would give him as soon as he speaks to Soojung.

 

Meanwhile everybody was waiting for Soojung to arrive, Sehun was reminding the couple that even though their whole group already knows about Jongin’s secret, it was him who knew it first therefore he is special. But they were too distracted by Soojung’s arrival to even listen to him.

 

“Good morning, love!” Jinri hurriedly runs towards her to hug her as soon they saw her driver open the car door. For some reason, Soojung was startled by the sudden affection her best friend gave her as if they do not hug everyday. It was like she was spacing out. Even though he was at the back, Jongin was quick to notice this.

 

“I’ll just go to the bathroom real quick.” Soojung excuses herself, smiling weakly at them before leaving.

 

“Alright! Take your time!” Jinri shouts at her. “Actually, no. Come back quickly!”

 

When she’s finally out of his sight, Jongin finally stands next to his friends. He was refusing to do so earlier because he was a little worried that they might do something to embarrass him in front of her. “I reckon that she’s not coming back.”

 

“Eh? How do you know?” Chanyeol asks, confused.

 

“That smile that she just gave you was fake. There might be something bugging her.”

 

“Hey, just because you admitted that you love her doesn’t mean you know her better than I do.” Jinri hushes him. “I think I know when my best friend’s not feeling well. She would tell me. I am her best friend.”

 

But Jongin was right.

 

The school bell rings and Soojung didn’t go back to see her friends.

 

Neither did they see her at lunch, nor when the school ended.

 

 

It was strange how Soojung doesn’t show up at the café when Jackson has sent her a dozen of messages telling her that he has returned to Seoul, but what freaks him out the most is the fact that Oh Sehun was apparently going out with Youngji now. He thought that Mark was just ting on him for abandoning him for a month but Sehun actually showed up there just to be with her.

 

“Did you watch the latest Attack on Titan episode? It was epic!” Sehun exclaims as Youngji nods in excitement. She didn’t actually expect that they would be close that fast, but as soon as he mentioned that he liked anime, they immediately clicked.

 

“I know! I wish next week could come fast!”

 

“Ugh, ing otakus.” Jackson mumbles. He was mopping purposely near their table just to eavesdrop in their conversation.

 

“Shut up, Jackson. You are one of us too.”

 

“No, I am not!”

 

“Yes you are. You watched Naruto before but you can’t anymore because you’re too busy to keep up.”

 

Pouting, Jackson looks away in defeat. “Whatever.” He mumbles.

 

“So why isn’t Soojung with you?” Mark asks Sehun when he sat next to Youngji. He finds it very strange that the person who was the most excited to see Jackson come back is missing on his first day back in the city.

 

“I honestly don’t know. She has been ignoring us for the whole day.” Sehun shrugs. “It’s weird actually.”

 

“Kim Jongin must have done something then.” Mark comments, earning a glare from Sehun.

 

“Uhm, excuse you! Jongin takes good care of Soojung!”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

“What the hell does that supposed to mean?!”

 

Instead of preventing his best friend to fight with their chaebol customer, Jackson just sighs. He was sad that Soojung wasn’t there to welcome him, but he had more things in mind than that. Her other bestfriend was now dating this bratty heir, and Taehyung, who just entered the café with a big smile on his face, had applied to work in the café as well, he was just informed.

 

 

“It’s Thursday, you guys. It’s the fourth day that she missed lunch with us. Are we not going to do anything?” Jongin freaks out. Nobody in his group of friends apart from him seemed to care that much that there’s something wrong with Soojung. “Are you guys ing serious?”

 

Jinri does seem to notice it too as he has already caught her looking several times at the seat they always reserve for her, but just doesn’t want to admit to herself that her best friend is hiding something from her. “Maybe she’s sad because she’s can't go to Coachella this year?”

 

“That’s impossible. Coachella is not happening till April.” Chanyeol, being the music lover that he is, explains to his friends.

 

“Oh God, she’s not anorexic, is she?” Sehun asks, causing both Jongin and Jinri to glare at him and tell him to shut up, which he doesn’t do. “Think about it, she has been not eating lunch for 4 days straight.”

 

“That doesn’t mean that she is, Sehun.”Jinri says angrily, and Sehun just puts his hands in defeat. She didn’t want to even think that her best friend was suffering the said disease.

 

“I heard from Seungyoon that Soojung’s acting the same way to them, which means she is really hiding something from us.” Chanyeol tells them, but only Jinri and Jongin seemed interested as Sehun when back to munching his chicken. “What do we do?”

 

“She may be trying her best to ignore us, but we’re not her only friends.” Jongin states seriously. By what he said, both Jinri and Chanyeol exchange looks, hoping that what they’re thinking isn’t what he means.

 

“Please don’t tell us-”

 

“Let’s go talk to her friends from Ehra High.”

 

There were three responses to what he just said: Chanyeol had his jaw drop, Jinri had to ask him to repeat what he just said and Sehun… He almost died from choking. He should have paid attention to what they were talking about. They were all surprised by how Jongin wanted to handle things.

 

He, the person who hates Ehra High the most in their group, is actually willing to talk to their rivals just to know Soojung’s problem.

 

 

Despite Taeyong’s constant nagging that she shouldn’t be there, Soojung went back to the rooftop for the fourth time that week. He stated that everybody knows that the rooftop was his ‘place’ so nobody really goes there, and if somebody knew that she was there, people will think that he’s ‘friendly’. But the girl was too depressed to listen. She just sat there in front of the railings, drinking a box of orange juice.

 

She didn’t mean to just ignore her friends like that. But seeing them everytime makes her feel guilty about the fact that she’s hiding something from them. This time, she knows that she couldn’t pretend that everything is alright. After all it was her sister’s secret that she’s hiding. It was her sister’s future on the line. And she just couldn’t tell it to them.

 

When he woke up, Taeyong saw Soojung again, much to his annoyance. He called her but the girl was too busy dozing off. She was sitting on the floor just in front of the railings, looking from afar. For her to notice him, Taeyong sat beside her.

 

“I told you not to come back.” He says, a little annoyed that she kept on coming back. “Just because I bought you pizza doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

 

Soojung looks at him for a second, but quickly looks back to the scenery of their school. She sighs before saying, “I know.”

 

Surprised at how she was acting, Taeyong nervously cleared his throat. He didn’t expect her to reply like that. Usually she would joke back, but seeing her like, he felt guilty even though he was pretty sure he didn’t anything to her. “H-hey, you’re not fighting with your friends, right? You’ve been coming here for a lot of times now.”

 

Again, the girl looks at him but his time a lot longer than before, which he thought was kind of creepy. “Why would I tell you? We are not friends, aren’t we?” When the bell rang, she stands up, leaving him still confused by what’s happening.

 

“Who are you and what did you do to Jung Soojung?”

 

 

Sometimes Jackson doesn’t even know how the café could even manage. He doesn’t know what happens neither in the morning nor in the evening, but they rarely get customers when it was their turn in the afternoon after school. Their boss even had this brilliant idea of adding Taehyung to the afternoon crew, when they basically just clean around the café.

 

So when he hears the door open and being the good, energetic employee that he is, he quickly turns to the door to greet the customers. But for some reason, he wasn’t able to see the customers at first because of the bright light coming behind them. It was like angels from heaven were coming down in front of him. But when he slowly blinks and opens his eyes, he realizes that it wasn’t angels entering their café.

 

In fact, it was the exact opposite.

 

The devils are their customers.

 

Thank God that he was prepared and had his feather duster with him. He immediately raises it in front of the frowning Imperium students, ready to fight. Taehyung, who also wanted to greet the customers, brings his mop to use it as his weapon, meanwhile both Mark and Youngji was confused by what’s happening so they follow them in front of the door. When they do, they weren’t surprised on why their friends were acting that way.

 

From left to right, there stood Choi Jinri, Oh Sehun, Kim Jongin and Park Chanyeol in their school’s uniform. The Ehra kids couldn’t hide their surprise seeing them there. Maybe seeing Sehun wasn’t that surprising, knowing that he goes there because of Youngji, but seeing those other three in their cafe, especially Jongin, was something they never imagined. The students from both schools looked at each other with much hatred, except for Youngji who was awkwardly looking around them. Upon seeing Chanyeol, aka the son of the company where they currently work at, both Mark and Chanyeol bows a little when he looked at them.

 

“Err… welcome?” Youngji says, trying to break the icy tension between them. But the group practically ignores her.

 

“They aren’t welcome.” Taehyung spats. He wasn’t even afraid of saying that in front of the much taller Chanyeol.

 

“Don’t worry. We’re not here to do charity work.” Jongin smirks. His comment wasn’t taken well by their rivals so Jinri had to remind him the reason why they were there. “Ugh, can you do it? I don’t want to do it.”

 

“We didn’t come here to cause trouble.” Jinri states. She looked the calmest out of the four but she looked like she was uncomfortable to continue. “We… we, uhm… We want to talk about Soojung.”

 

The Ehra High students exchanged looks. “What about Soojung?”

 

Jinri hated the fact that she had to say it. “Has… has she been talking to you guys? Like about, for example a problem… or something?”

 

“Oohh, what is this? Is Soojung hiding from her dearest friends?” Mark laughs, but then soon realizes that Soojung is also kind of ignoring them as well.

 

“We’re not going to tell you.” Jackson sticks his tongue out, and Taehyung agrees by dancing funnily in front of the heirs, causing them to feel uncomforable.

 

“Uhm, Soojung has never told us anything. Have you forgotten?” Youngji interrupts, scratching her head in confusion. She was pretty sure that Soojung didn’t tell them anything, she hasn’t even come to the café ever since Jackson arrived so she didn’t get it. But then after seeing Jackson mouthing something at her, she realizes that they were just lying.

 

“Of course! I’ve been here for the past few days and Soojung hasn’t even stepped foot here. How could she tell you, eh?” With a smirk, Sehun asks them.

 

“Wait, you went here- you know what, I’m not even going to ask why.” Jongin shook his head and even though he wanted to know why, he didn’t want to waste time there so he’ll just ask later.

 

“If she’s not telling us anything, and if she didn’t tell you guys anything… then with whom-”

 

“Oh, maybe Soojung’s dating someone.”

 

As soon as Mark mentioned dating, Jongin immediately looked at him with much horror. Did he just mention dating and Soojung at the same sentence?

 

“She is not!” He argues.

 

“Well, who knows? She told us that she has moved on from Derek, isn’t that right?” Mark then turns to Youngji who just nodded slowly.

 

“She has been leaving the mansion a lot lately…”

 

“I suggest we kill that that she’s seeing. Who’s with me?” Jongin looks at his friends, but they just looked at him weirdly, surprised at the fact that he believed them so easily by the mention of dating.

 

“Oh wow, how violent.” Jackson mumbles.

 

“Are you really surprised?” Taehyung chuckles.

 

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that!” Jongin says loudly. He can’t seemed to focus about anything else but what Mark said.

 

“I’m really worried about her. I tried calling her but she never picked up.” Jinri says with a sad voice. “If she won’t tell us, then let’s find out what’s wrong ourselves.”

 

“But how when nobody even knows what wrong?” Jackson asks.

 

Before answering, Jinri lets out a small sigh. “The only way that I have on my mind is to follow her.”

 

“So like, stalking her?”

 

“Basically, yes.”

 

Jinri looks up to her friends, waiting for their answer. But both just looked at Jongin to response. Since he is the future husband, his answer was the one they’re expecting the most.

 

“That’s really creepy and she’d probably kill us for doing so… but let’s do it.”

 

When Jongin said 'let's do it', he meant he and his friends, he didn't meant them plus the Ehra students. So when he heard that Sehun brought them along, he didn't know what to feel. He, Jinri and Chanyeol arrived later at the restaurant where supposedly Soojung went to, according to Sehun, and as soon as he saw Sehun with those people, he immediately frowns. Heck, they didn’t even help them nor was even invited by him so why would Sehun even let them join in?

 

“Now, now Jongin. Don’t cause a fight, please?” Jinri pleads. “I mean, you’re the one who suggested on talking to them. I hope you treat them well. This is for Soojung, remember that.”

 

“For Soojung.” He repeats to himself before following his two friends as they walk towards them, who for some reason we’re hiding behind some bushes a little far from the restaurant’s window.

 

“Oh, you’re here!” Sehun says happily.

 

“Why are we hiding?” Chanyeol asks, but crouches as well to hide behind the bushes.

 

“To hide from Soojung, duh!”

 

“Ah, Kim Jongin. I was right.” Jongin looks down at Mark, confused. He was the only person who was still standing up. “Soojung is indeed seeing someone.”

 

“, where?!”

 

As soon as he heard that, he pushes the ones who were in front of him to get a closer look at the window. There he sees Soojung looking like she was about to cry. In front of him sat a man with broad shoulder and brown hair, and even though he could only see his back, the man didn’t seemed like her brother.

 

“T-this must be a misunderstanding! T-there’s no way Soojung would do this to me!” He says dramatically.

 

“Shh, don’t scream idiot! And get your down here!” Jackson had to remind him that they were hiding and avoiding the security guards to see them. He tries to pull down his pants so he could sit down, but Jongin eventually steps backwards slowly and eventually falling into his when he tripped over Taehyung.

 

“Ugh, watch it .” Taehyung hisses.

 

“Watch your words, you punk.”

 

“Jongin.” He hears Jinri call his name to warn him.

 

“What?! He started it!”

 

“Ah, here we go…” Youngji sighs as Jongin and Taehyung argued.

 

Thankfully, they just sat insulting each other like children and weren’t actually fighting. Even though what Taehyung was saying was also offending to Jinri, Chanyeol and Sehun as he insulted not only their school, but their lifestyle, they just bit their tongues to avoid more drama.

 

“Imperium Academy is no better than Real Madrid. You people could only score a lot of goals when it comes to smaller schools, but when it comes to big schools you have no chance.”

 

“Real Madrid is the best team in the world!” Jongin, Jackson and Mark shouted in annoyance when Taehyung tried to insult them, surprising everyone else.

 

“You like Madrid?” The two best friends asked the stunned Jongin.

 

“Ever since birth!”

 

“Uhm, we all know that Barcelona’s the best team in the world.” Taehyung states, making both Chanyeol and Sehun gasp as they also think the same.

 

“We like Barcelona too!”

 

Amazed, the boys looked at each other. It was weird that despite hating each other and the different lifestyles, they could still find a similarity between each other.

 

“Bro.”

 

“Mate.”

 

“Ugh, why are we talking about football again?” Jinri rolls her eyes. She cannot count how many times they have ended talking about football. “You guys always talk about that!”

 

“I know. It’s like there’s no other thing in the world but football.” Youngji agrees, shaking her head. Soon after that, the girls also gasp after realizing what just happened.

 

“Did we just agree on something?”

 

“I think we just did.”

 

 

Soojung wasn’t able to look Donghae in the eyes even when she was talking to him, or when he was talking to her. She can’t still believe that her sister is expecting a child to one of their childhood friends. Donghae hasn’t been very close to her family, even though he was a son of an employee, her parents liked him because he was hardworking. But she doubts that they would like him to the extent of allowing him to be the father of their future grandchild.

 

The atmosphere becomes worse when Jaejoong arrives. She has tried a lot of time to convince her brother to not force Jessica on aborting, but still he remains stubborn. He says that this was for their sister, for their father, for their family. But she still thought that it was bull.

 

“Do not wait until my parents find this out.” Jaejoong says, and even though it was a warning, he said it with a smile, making Soojung a lot scared. “Convince Jessica on aborting, and you’re free to go. After that, I will give you a ticket to South America and you can stay there for as long as you want.”

 

Donghae scoffs. “You’ve really changed, haven’t you?”

 

“We’re talking about my sister. How I am doesn’t matter.”

 

“I won’t do it.” Soojung looks at Donghae brieftly, and then to her brother, whose smile has disappeared. “I love your sister, she loves me as well. If she doesn’t want to, she won’t do it.”

 

“Fine, then.” Jaejoong lets out a fake laugh. He then grabs his phone from his pocket and states, “Don’t even bother coming to your work tomorrow.”

Already know what he meant, the girl holds her brother’s shoulder. “Oppa, please don’t.”

 

Jaejoong just smiles at her sweetly. But it hurt her seeing him like that. “If you excuse me, my dear sister, I have to make a call to his boss for him to get fired.”

 

 

“, I’m freezing. Why are we even hiding outside when we can hide inside?”

 

 “You do know that we have more chance of getting discovered if we hid inside?”

 

“At least they have the heater on.”

 

“You just want to see what’s on inside.”

 

“And eat.”

 

“Yeah, and that too.”

 

“You guys! They’re coming out!”

 

Upon hearing what Taehyung just said, all of them immediately gather back behind the bushes. They finally saw who the guy was, and after finding out that it was Lee Donghae, Jinri and Jongin exchanged looks. He was the first one to come out, followed by the two siblings.

 

As his of goodbye, Donghae bows infront of them causing Soojung to stop, probably in shock because of his formal way of saying goodbye. While Soojung bowed back at him, Jaejoong just went straight inside the car and didn’t even look at him, which Jongin thought was strange. He knows that her brother was always the friendly type, so why did he act as if he wasn’t there?

 

Soojung stops to look at their direction after feeling that someone’s watching her. But before she could catch them, her friends has already hid again. And even though their car had driven off, they stayed behind the bushes, still shocked from what they saw.

 

 

author's note: 

YOU ALL KNOW WHY I UPDATED I DON'T EVEN NEED TO EXPLAIN. CONGRATS TO OUR BABIES ; __ ;

^ that's literally me this morning when sm confirmed their relationship ^

I'm very sorry for this sad, ty chapter. I finished writing this hours before the news and I couldn't change it because I already have my chapters written in my mind, but not in my computer lol. Anyways, I promise to update soon! And I'll try to put cheesy Kaistal even though Soojung's really lonely in the story right now.