-Project Friendship: Sunggyu-

Level 4

            Finals week came soon after Yeri visited INFINITE’s dance practice, she has barely been able to keep in contact with all the cramming and study sessions she had been going to. Sunggyu’s messages came regularly at first, simply asking her how she was and they shared some casual conversation when she had the time but as the week went on the messages became less frequent until there was no communication between them at all. With Yeri so busy with her studies she did not notice until after her exams were complete, with the stress and load of work off her shoulders she was finally able to concentrate on other things and she was somewhat shocked to see that she has not received a message from Sunggyu in nearly four days.

            Yeri sighed quietly as she waited for a response, she had sent a message around three hours ago and Sunggyu was usually quick to respond but this was beginning to worry her so then she sent another one then a final one apologising for ignoring his messages and explaining that she had been very busy with school but still not one message back. She was sat with some of her classmates right now, everyone had decided to go out to celebration the last day of their final week and Yeri was originally enthusiastic until she realised that her relationship with her idol friend might have ran into a brick wall.

            Out of all the restaurants they could have chosen they went to an expensive one in the heart of Yongsan which was a little further away from their university, the students all agreed that the wealthier students would buy the first rounds and without even realising ‘wealthy students’ included her Yeri agreed and was having her wallet robbed through the evening. She did her best to smile along with her friends as they toasted their success but as soon as conversation began buzzing around her she zoned out, while everyone else around her laughed and drank Yeri played on her phone; she began typing another message for Sunggyu but the longer she stared at her screen the more it didn’t seem right so she ended up deleting it and starting over, and this went on for about five minutes before someone came to sit beside her.

            “What are you looking at?” Jihyuk asked as he tried to peek over her shoulder, she hid her phone against her chest and stared back at his smiling face. He was in the same critical-thinking class as she was, they had one project together and have hardly spoken since but he seemed pretty drunk so perhaps that’s where the incentive to talk to her came from. “Are you messaging someone? Your boyfriend?”

            “No,” Yeri just wanted to get up and leave, she really was not in the mood to speak with drunken young adults half out of their minds on the alcohol she had to pay for. When she was sure he was distracted she looked at her phone again and was delighted to see that her messages have been read and further more he was typing his reply, Yeri stared at the forming text bubble with great concentration forgetting the fact that Jihyuk was sitting beside her and had also managed to get a good view of her screen.

            The bubble suddenly disappeared and it said that Sunggyu had logged off, Yeri stared at her screen in disbelief and slammed her phone onto the table causing Jihyuk to jump in shock. “Uhh… are you okay?”

            “Fine,” she murmured as she reached for her glass and downed it in one go. There was only so much she could do and she had felt apologetic but now she was just plain annoyed, she was worried for hours when she should have been celebrating and now she was too exhausted to care. After finishing her third cocktail this evening she then glanced around and spotted the mug of beer that was still half full in front of him. “Are you going to drink that?”

            “Uh go ahead,” he passed it to her. Yeri mumbled quick thanks before picking the mug up and taking a huge sip. “… Did you get into a fight with your boyfriend?”

            “He’s not my boyfriend,” she glared at him pointedly when he tried to reach for the mug in her hand and he retracted his hand back.

            “His name is Sunggyu right?” Jihyuk asked a little louder than he should have, getting the attention of some of the people nearby and earned himself another glare from Yeri. “… I saw on your screen, sorry. He has the same name as that popular idol.”

            “Sure,” she sighed uninterestedly as she finished the beer, as she was about to order another drink her phone vibrated and she quickly scanned the message. Feeling the effect of all the alcohol she has had she struggled to read the message, as she was still trying to figure out the first sentence the phone was snatched out of her hand.

            “Sorry I couldn’t reply sooner, I was busy filming. Let’s meet, are you at home right now?” Jihyuk read off the screen quickly and loud enough for everyone on the table to hear. “What’s this? Filming what?”

            “Are you really dating an idol?” another one of her classmates asked from across the table, obviously excited by the turn of events. “Sunggyu as in INFINITE’s Kim Sunggyu, right?”

            “I’m not dating anyone!” Yeri grumbled at the attention she was receiving as she tried to grab her phone back but Jihyuk stood up and held the phone up so that she wouldn’t be able to reach with her height, to her horror he seemed to be messaging back. “Stop it!”

            “I told him to come here so we can all see for ourselves!” Jihyuk laughed as he passed the phone back to her, Yeri scanned the message Jihyuk sent when she got the phone back and right away she had the urge to punch him but decided to focus on doing some damage control (to the best she could while tipsy).

[This is Yeri’s friend.

Your girlfriend’s drunk right now,

come pick her up at Fundoori]

[Ignore that, don’t come!!]

            Yeri glared at Jihyuk before writing the quick message, she then stood up and prepared to leave much to her friends’ protests. Yeri was tired, tipsy and frankly annoyed so she thought she’d best get home to sleep this awful night off, much to her disappointment Jihyuk tried to follow her even though she told him to get lost.

-

            Sunggyu frowned as they left the studio and stopped by the doors to wait for their manager to bring the car around, they have been filming for hours and it was already dark out now. They have been so busy these past few days, from dance practice, working on the album and recording the music video, and to add to that today they had to film a variety even before their comeback. Their schedules were so packed and it was beginning to wear him out before they have even begun promotions.

            The members chatted quietly behind Sunggyu as he waited impatiently, when the manager finally appeared again Sunggyu asked for his phone which he had been holding for Sunggyu during the broadcast. There were a couple of notifications but the first one he noticed were messages from Yeri, the last he heard from her was about four days ago she had mentioned that she was occupied with her schoolwork and her replies came slow and short; with him getting busy with work as well there was very little time for them to talk at all, it was expected but at the same time he didn’t think she would just drop off the radar like that.

            Sunggyu smiled when he opened the chat, there were three messages in total, first just a greeting, the second another greeting and asking if he was alright, the last a lengthy apology for ignoring him. The smile dropped on Sunggyu’s face as he tried to recall a time where she wronged him, he cannot remember a time he felt she did that to him and he was mostly just really confused. He started to type a response but the other members have already left for the car and he was getting left behind slowly. “Hyung, come on!”

            “Right, okay!” he called after them as he quickly deleted the draft and slipped his phone into his pocket, he’ll think of a better response once he was in the car.

            After entering the car and they have began going their way Sunggyu pulled out his phone again and reread the messages she had sent him, it seemed so unlike her to apologise like this and he wondered what made her think he was upset with her. Sunggyu decided that it was better to speak to her in person to sort this out and sent her a message asking where she was. A reply came less than a minute later and his expression went rigid when he read the message from ‘Yeri’s friend’.

            “Hyung, how far away are we from Yongsan-gu?”

            “About ten minutes, why?”

            “Can you drop me off on the way?”

            “… Sunggyu you have a meeting tomorrow-.”

            “Yeah, I know, I’ll be there,” Sunggyu cut him off when another message came again, this time a much shorter one telling him not to come. There was something unsettling about the messages and Sunggyu has made up his mind to go get her, especially if she was drunk… he didn’t even want to begin thinking why her friends thought they were dating.

            “Hyung can I come?” Sungyeol asked as he patted Sunggyu’s shoulder from the seat behind. “You’re going to see Yeri, aren’t you?”

            “Me too, why don’t we all go?” Woohyun piped up from the back.

            “No. This is serious, she’s not feeling well,” Sunggyu waved them off without much thought. “Plus we’d draw too much attention if we all went. I’m just going to pick her up and get her home.”

            The members all looked between each other and the silently agreed that it was probably best of they stayed out of whatever was going on but that didn’t meant that they weren’t curious.

            The manager dropped Sunggyu off in a busy area where the clubs and restaurants were, it took some walking around but Sunggyu had looked up the address earlier and found the restaurant bar rather easily. When he arrived inside he looked around for any signs of Yeri, there were a few large groups but none were where she was. He took his phone out and was prepared to make a phone call when someone from one of the tables stood up to greet him.

            “Whoa, Sunggyu actually came,” he said bringing everyone’s attention to him. “Are you here for Yeri?”

            “Good evening… yes, I am looking for her,” Sunggyu bowed slightly as he glanced down the table but none of the faces were the one he was looking for. There were some questions shooting his way, many were asking if they were dating or what their relationship was. “We’re only friends… where is she?”

            “She left around fifteen minutes ago,” he replied. “… Would you like to sit or something?”

            “Oh no thanks, it’s okay,” he did his best to smile as he look at them all. “… If you don’t mind me asking what are you gathering for?”

            “The last day of finals,” another girl piped up across the table. “Didn’t Yeri tell you?”<