The same day, Chanyeol ran around the city with his friends. They took buses to remote places and ate dinner at a small café where the air was filled with the aromas coming from behind the counter. His friends talked about their recent days like who they saw and what girls they thought were hot and sometimes mentioned other kids they saw from other schools. But mostly the conversations will full of laughter, happiness, love… things Chanyeol just needed every once in a while. There were these days that he needed so bad. School was annoying, his parents were annoying, and responsibilities were too. Chanyeol was just seventeen and he wanted to stay that way forever.

“Why didn’t Jongin come with you today?” Chanyeol’s friends interrupted his thoughts roaming in his brain. Chanyeol immediately sat up straight and cleared his throat, preparing for an excuse that he’s probably used three times before.

“He was busy, actually.” Chanyeol replied and was a bit surprised to say it so himself. He almost forgot about that. Jongin was busy after school; not like it was rare because Jongin usually did things after school but he didn’t have to lie today and that alone was a little rare.

“That Jongin, always trying to get away from us.” Baekhyun muttered before slurping on noodles.

“Oh, c’mon guys, he’s not avoiding you guys!” Chanyeol tried to console the others but once he said that they all looked at him in disbelief like, ‘who would really believe that’? Chanyeol lowered his eyes to his plate and went back to eating.

“So what was he up to today, Yeol?” Jongdae asked.

“I don’t know.” Chanyeol answered.

Jongdae’s face scrunched in slight annoyance, “really now Chan--”.

“Yes, really!” Chanyeol cut off his friend to which Jongdae replied by tossing his chopsticks on the wooden table between them. However, Chanyeol wasn’t dealing with this today. “I don’t know where he went, okay? My best guess is the hospital on west side, near downtown. He had an accident yesterday.”

In the time between Jongdae brought attention to himself and when Chanyeol raised his voice too loudly, Baekhyun and Sehun already caught on and told others around to go back to whatever they were doing and to mind their own business. Jongdae huffed out his frustration and completely blocked Chanyeol away from his conversation.

No longer caring about this get together, Chanyeol said goodbye to Baekhyun and Sehun but didn’t care to address Jongdae after that. After today, actually, Chanyeol would choose to no longer stick around with Jongdae. There was more to these two friends. Like how they weren’t really friends, they never were. They called themselves friends but didn’t mean it to the term. Because when Chanyeol thought about Jongdae and when Jongdae thought about Chanyeol, it wasn’t friendship. It was jealousy.

Jongdae was raised to believe he would never have to be in the shadow of another person. Jongdae was selfish, careless, and boastful. He didn’t care about much others than himself. Chanyeol didn’t like people like that and as they grew up together there was always an awkward tension between the two but for some reason no one else ever seemed to notice it but just them.

Chanyeol just never thought he would ever give up on challenging that guy but today he just didn’t care to be a hassle to Jongdae anymore.

As Chanyeol made his way home by bus after bus, he thought about these things and they just made him upset. He couldn’t help that he was so likeable. Nothing was his fault, Jongdae was just a spoiled kid. And Chanyeol’s had enough of it.

Leaning his head on a window on the bus, Chanyeol scrolled through his phone and looked at pictures from days, weeks, and months ago. Most were with Sehun, Baekhyun, and Jongdae. His grip tightened around the mobile device as he remembered where every picture was taken and when. Then, different pictures showed up between the ones he focused on mostly. Pictures of Jongin and him together. Just the two of them.

Instantly, Chanyeol started regretting leaving Jongin behind today. He didn’t even give it a second thought once throughout the day. His teeth gritted together slightly before sending Jongin a text asking if he was alright.

By the time Chanyeol returned home, the sun had set and the streetlights above Chanyeol’s head. He walked in his house and saw his parents sitting in the living room together, watching a show. They greeted him and Chanyeol said hi back before walking to his room. He sat on his bed and waited for anything from Jongin. Well, maybe tonight was just a homework night, Chanyeol thought. After that he didn’t think about it again so he got ready for bed and shut off the lights.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“My doctor said I’m getting worse.”

Chanyeol placed his soda can on the table. He fell silent as Jongin nonchalantly continued to eat his food. “Really?”

Jongin nodded as a response and chewed his lunch slowly. As always, his pack of pills organized for each day sat beside his school tray. “I’m happy that the process is starting but… I’m just…” Jongin paused, not wanting to admit his feelings. He looked at Chanyeol and there must’ve been something in his look that made Chanyeol just get it. His friend hurriedly patted him on the back and told him things would be alright.

“I’m sure everyone is scared, just like you, when they first hear news like this.” Chanyeol tried to soothe his best friend. Jongin nodded again.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Don’t let it get to you so much, Jongin. You can get through this! You have your family and friends.” Chanyeol reminded him and for a second Jongin was happy to know people would certainly support him but his smile quickly disappeared.

“Ah, friends, right…”

The table was deserted. The people that sat with Chanyeol and Jongin weren’t there today. Chanyeol had a feeling that he knew what was going on. Jongin focused on all the empty seats around him but his friend immediately broke his gaze away from the blank spaces.

“You don’t need them, Jongin, we don’t need’em. We’ve got each other.” For a second, Jongin looked at Chanyeol wondering if it was the same guy talking. Chanyeol, the one to crack a joke or two at around this moment. Something was off about him today but Jongin wasn’t about to go stick his nose into something that wasn’t his business.

Nonetheless, Jongin smiled at his friend’s attempt at seeming deep, “shut up, weirdo.”

“What? That’s all I get? A shut up?” Chanyeol tried acting pissed off. It made Jongin laugh and it was the first time he had laughed in a while. Now that he started thinking about it, Jongin noticed himself become sadder these days. That wouldn’t affect his heart.

Would it?

After school was soccer practice for Chanyeol. Of course, Jongin decided to stick around afterwards to walk home with him. He waited on the bench he always sat at and watched the sun set lower by the hour. It was getting late when practice for Chanyeol ended and along with the rest of his team, he ran off to the changing rooms. Jongin usually waited for him to return but Chanyeol asked him to come with him today. So he did.

“I just need to get a few extra things to bring home tonight. I’m gonna need you to help me.” Chanyeol explained to the other. Jongin replied with an ‘alright’ and they walked together after everyone else. Already, some guys were already leaving the small building to head home. When Jongin walked into the room, he looked down the few aisles of lockers and almost had to pinch his nose from the gross smell of sweat. Luckily, Chanyeol’s lockers were near the showers where steam poured out so the smell faded with the scent of soap.

As Chanyeol gathered things from his locker he just shoved everything into a bag and handed it to Jongin.

“I’ll be right back, there’s some more stuff. You can just wait here.” Then Chanyeol walked off to another room around the corner and for a while, Jongin stood there, thinking it wouldn’t take him long. But when a few minutes passed Jongin figured he could look around the rest of the locker room. So he did. He noticed the locker section was almost completely empty, spare a few guys. He didn’t think anything else of it and returned to his original spot where he was waiting for Chanyeol again.

And for the next few minutes, he stood there awkwardly. Chanyeol still hadn’t returned. Jongin played with the bag strap and looked at anything that was hanging from the lockers. He did anything to just make the time pass. What was taking Chanyeol so long?

Now that he thought about, the showers were still running. Did they turn off by themselves or was someone else still in there?Jongin started walking across the hall to the separate room to see if anyone was actually in there. But he stopped himself, thinking that this could be the creepiest thing he could ever do.

So he didn’t.

Instead, Jongin leaned on the entry frame of the locker room and casually peered down the hallway he assumed Chanyeol ran off to. It was quit for a little bit, disregarding the light noise coming from the running water, but once the water was abruptly shut off, Jongin noticed. His head turned slightly and he peered into the room that was right across him, with the steam rolling across the wet floors, with the white tile wrapping itself all the way throughout the room. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but Jongin was just curious in the moment.

As soon as Jongin saw Kyungsoo walk into plain sight, his eyes widened and he threw himself behind the wall he was previously leaning on. Jongin really didn’t expect to see him. Not Kyungsoo. Jongin ran his hand down his face dramatically before looking over his shoulder to look back at the guy that he always finds himself watching.

Kyungsoo had a towel wrapped around his slim waist and had another towel in his hand. He started drying off his black mop of hair and tossed it around to his liking. For some reason, Jongin felt a weird tightening in his chest. It was something he had felt before, and it never meant anything good, but it was weird to him because… why now?

Suddenly, the air got stuck in his throat. Jongin couldn’t help but cough. He patted his chest and tried to suppress the need to let it out but he didn’t want Kyungsoo thinking he was watching him… even though, that’s exactly what he was just doing. Jongin stayed put, hopefully out of sight of Kyungsoo, and leaned his head back to wait for Chanyeol all while his throat scratched and itched at him.

Then, out of nowhere, a hand landed on Jongin’s shoulder. His head whipped to the side quickly and saw Chanyeol waiting to ask a question. Maybe Chanyeol saw the slight fear in Jongin’s eyes. Maybe it was something else.

“You alright?” Chanyeol asked but Jongin just coughed. He coughed and coughed. His hand clenched to his shirt as he released the breath he had been holding in. Chanyeol panicked a little and put his bags down to wave some air into Jongin’s face. This couldn’t be happening again, he thought.

Jongin’s heart was racing and his throat was burning as his back collapsed onto the lockers behind him. Eventually, Kyungsoo noticed something wasn’t right as he saw Chanyeol in the room across from him. He walked over to peer in.

“Is everything o--, oh, .” Kyungsoo stepped in to see Jongin throwing himself at the lockers practically.

“I think we need to call 911..!” Chanyeol said, trying to stay calm when he noticed Kyungsoo. But Jongin managed to speak up finally.

“No, I’m fine.” He gasped out. He tried so hard to just look at the ceiling and to calm his heart down that was beating so hard in his chest. He could hear the beats pulse throughout his ears and tried his hardest to sync his breathing with the rate.

“Jongin, you need an ambulance.” Chanyeol said to his friend, holding onto his shoulders.

“Don’t call 911.” Jongin repeated himself.

“At least sit down.” Neither of them noticed Kyungsoo had left the room to return with a chair. Jongin sat down for a few minutes since he was losing feeling in his legs. For a while, Jongin sat there and got his heartbeat down to somewhat normal. He felt exhausted, he wanted to sleep. Jongin was just tired of this week.

“Are you alright now?” Chanyeol asked Jongin.

“I’m better now. Thanks.” He said to both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo weakly smiled at Jongin as he walked over to the next row of lockers to finally change into clothes.

“It wasn’t as bad as the other day.” Jongin reassured Chanyeol when he noticed he was still looking at him worriedly. “I’ll be okay.”

The taller sighed, “Right.”

After a while, the three gathered all they needed and headed out of the building. Kyungsoo said goodbye to the two as he walked the opposite direction of them. Chanyeol and Jongin went their way.

“Jongin, what even happened?” Chanyeol asked after a bit of walking.

He was silent for a bit but spoke up eventually, “you just scared me.” Jongin tried to laugh naturally.

Chanyeol’s gaze floated to his friend; he watched as Jongin’s smile seemed a little… fake. He had pieced it together in his head that Jongin just wasn’t giving him what he wanted to hear. And he wanted to know why, but today just wasn’t the day. It wasn’t the day to ask any more questions. It was Friday, finally, it was the weekend. It was time to relax and to sleep and to run around just do with teenage boys do.

“I’ll make sure not to scare you anymore then.” Chanyeol gave a quick wink to Jongin.

Jongin cracked a smile, a real smile this time, Chanyeol noticed. “You’re a great friend.” He said. And it was the truth, even Chanyeol knew this. Even though he ran off with others some days, Jongin was always the first person he would run back to. “You’re always here for me.”

“Of course, Jongin,” Chanyeol pulled his best friend into him a bit as they continued to walk down the sidewalk. With his other hand he motioned toward something else. “You know I’d give you my own heart to you if I could.” Chanyeol acted like he ripped out the organ from his chest.

Jongin rolled his eyes with a crooked smile, “of course, Yeol.”