Jeonghan struggled to keep his eyes open. How much longer was this stand-in vocal coach going to drag out the class? He was hungry and tired.

Joshua seemed exhausted as well, but he still managed to give him a reassuring smile once he noticed Jeonghan looking at him. Jihoon didn’t seem tired as he strained his voice once more to hit the high note, but then again, Jihoon was good at hiding his tiredness.

Some of the other classmates looked tired as well.

 

“Oh, would you look at the time!” The substitute looked at his watch. “I’m sorry for keeping you all here so long! You’re all free to go. Get some dinner while you can and don’t forget to drink enough water. It’s important that you take good care of yourselves.” He looked apologetically at everyone as they packed their stuff and left the classroom.

 

Hoisting his bag over his shoulder, Jeonghan followed Joshua and Jihoon out the classroom and to the cafeteria. It was surprisingly quiet as they neared the big hall that was the cafeteria.

Walking in, it became clear that the large room was mostly empty. Probably because dinner time was almost over. The staff was already preparing to clear out the buffet, patiently waiting for the last students to grab their dinner.

 

They got in line, Joshua telling a funny story about his friend back in America, whom he visited during the break. Jeonghan kept silent, listening as he loaded food onto his plate.

Todays menu consisted of an entree of seaweed soup and a main course of fresh fish, sweet potato and vegetables in the form of a salad from the salad bar.

The desert was a grass jelly pudding topped with a palm sugar and coconut cream. The black pudding wobbled with every step he took, as they looked for their friends.

 

Joshua eventually found them, leading Jeonghan and Jihoon to a table in the far right corner where Jihye seemed to be having a heated discussion with Taekwoon, stopping their whispering as soon as they came near.

They kept silent as they sat down, giving Joshua the chance to say grace before the three of them dug in. Taekwoon and Jihye had half empty trays in front of them, but did not seem to be planning on finishing their food.

 

“Y’know, for an elite boarding school you'd expect more luxurious food.”

 

Jeonghan looked up to see who the voice belonged to, slowly chewing on a piece of fish.

The owner of the voice, a guy he got to know as Soonyoung, dropped down next to him. Wonwoo and Mingyu sat down next to Soonyoung. Seokmin and Seungcheol now occupied the seats in front of him, on the left to Jihye and Taekwoon. Junhui and Minghao had taken the seats on their right.

 

Jeonghan couldn’t help but study Junhui’s face. Even bruised it was oddly mesmerizing. It was only when he realized an envelope was being waved up and down in front of him that he broke out of his trance. Quickly he looked around to see if anyone noticed.

It appeared they didn't, too busy with whatever their loud conversations were about.

Taking the envelope dangling in front of his face, he saw Junhui giving him a knowing smile.

 

. He noticed.

 

Trying to avoid more attention he looked at the envelope in his hands. “Yah, Jihye, what's this?”

 

“It’s your invite to the dinner party. I wanted to give it to you personally, to make sure it didn't get lost in the mail. I wanted to give it to you sooner but i kinda forgot.”

 

Jeonghan nodded, knowing she was lying. Mail addressed to him would often mysteriously go missing and he suspected his dad and stepmother were behind it, but there is nothing he could do about it. So Jihye would always deliver his mail personally.

 

“Ah, thanks.”

 

She smiled and turned to look around the table. “You and your parents all got the invitation as well, right?“

 

Everyone except Junhui and Minghao nodded.

 

“Oh yeah Jun, Ming,”

Minghao visibly cringed at the nickname.

“Hao... “ Jihye quickly added.

“I have your invitations here…” She mumbled, handing them envelopes. “And if you would just write your adresses down here, we can send your families invites as well. Just make sure to tell them the invites are on the way, so they at least know they are invited. My parents would be honored to have your families attending.”

 

Jeonghan stared down at his own envelope. It felt heavy in his hands. Rich people were socialites and they wanted to connect with other rich people as much as possible, so there was a big possibility his own parents were invited as well.

But since it seemed a lot of these people, and also a couple of his friends, got invitations too, he'd probably survive.

 

“Wanna go Jihye? We still have that thing to discuss?” Taekwoon gathered his tray, waiting for her to join him. She nodded, taking back the paper the chinese boys had written their addresses on.

 

“Are you going to finish that?” Mingyu suddenly asked, pointing at the grass jelly pudding on Taekwoons tray.

 

He shook his head. “Take it.”

 

Mingyu leaned over and carefully took the wobbly jelly. Taekwoon and Jihye just started to walk away when Mingyu yelled after them. “You're not throwing yours out, right Jihye? Because I would be very happy to eat it!”

 

“Sorry! Promised Hansol could have mine!” The boy in question just walked up to her, taking the plate with pudding off her tray.

 

“Thanks for the pudding!” He smiled at her before dropping down next to Seokmin, in the spot Taekwoon was sitting before.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” she cut him off. “Have you seen my lil brother?”

 

Hansol looked up, a drop of cream stuck next to the corner of his mouth. “He was right behind me?”

 

She put the tray back down. “Then I'm leaving his food here. He'll come for it eventually. I'm not his maid!”

 

Everyone just laughed as she walked away. Jeonghan laughed as well, watching her walk away again, wondering what she had to discuss with Taekwoon when a boy with a bright smile and fluffy brown hair dropped down in the seat in front of him. “Ah. Food!”

 

“Eat it slowly this time Seungkwan. We don't want you choking like last time.” Hansol reminded him. Seungkwan nodded as he dug into the fish and sweet potatoes Jihye had left for him. She’d only eaten the soup and half of the salad, but Seungkwan didn’t seem interested in the sparse amount of greens.

 

“You've been spacing out a lot today, Jeonghan. Are you okay?” Joshua put his hand on Jeonghan’s arm, giving him a worried look. Jeonghan looked back at Joshua. His face was closer than expected and his heart skipped a beat in shock.

 

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired.” He mumbled, pushing his tray away from him. It was still half full, but he couldn't be bothered, having lost his appetite. He’d already struggled eating the fish and the salad. “Hey Wonwoo. Want the rest of my meal? I already ate the fish anyway.”

 

Wonwoo looked up from the pudding he was sharing with Mingyu. Jeonghan overheard them talking about dinner during detention, discovering that Wonwoo didn't eat seafood.

Wonwoo nodded and graciously accepted the tray full of food, happily sharing it with everyone. Jeonghan got up and gathered his bag before walking away.

 

“Yah, Jeonghan! Wait up!” Joshua and Jihoon scrambled as they grabbed their things as well, quickly bidding everybody goodbye before chasing after Jeonghan. They caught up with him fairly quickly as he slowly strolled out of the building, heading towards the dorms appointed to the male high schoolers.

 

“What’s wrong?” Joshua asked as Jeonghan quickened his pace, now that they’d caught up with him.

 

“It’s nothing. I’m just really tired.”

 

“You do look really tired. Are you feeling okay?” Jihoon opened the door to the dorms, entering the common room behind them. The room was very loud, students lazing about, others making homework. Somewhere off to the right, there was an impromptu dance battle going on.

 

“I’m fine.” Jeonghan answered as they made their way through the crowded room, heading for the elevators.

 

“You don’t look fine.”

 

They rode the elevator in silence, all the way to the top floor.

 

“Look guys, I really appreciate your concern, but I am fine. I’m just tired, so I’m going to rest for a bit, then make homework and go to bed early.”

 

Joshua and Jihoon exchanged a quick glance before smiling weakly. “If you say so…”

 

They watched Jeonghan unlock the door to his room, waving them goodbye with a tired smile, before the door closed between them. Walking towards Joshua’s room, they both looked back one more time before going in.

 

Something was wrong, they both sensed it. He’d been acting different all day, waving it off like it was nothing, like he always did. Sweet Jeonghan, hiding everything behind a gentle smile.  The only ones that seemed to know what was going on in his life, better yet, inside his head, were his sister and Jihye.

They tried confronting them, but it was no use.

Jihye just put on the same gentle smile as Jeonghan would, avoiding the topic.

When they confronted his sister, she also just smiled gently, patting their heads. Even if it was meant to be calming, all it did was make them feel like they were little kids again. When inquiring further, the smile seemed a little strained, as she told them it wasn’t her place to tell them these things and that they should ask him themselves.

Upon hearing that he didn’t want to, she told them to be patient and wait till he was ready to tell them himself and that it was disrespectful to go around Jeonghan’s back to try to get answers to questions he wasn’t ready to answer himself.

They felt guilty, knowing she was right, and stopped prying after that.

 

Now, years later, Jeonghan still hid behind a gentle smile, still mysteriously hiding his deepest self from his friends.

Joshua had known him since kindergarten, where he, Jeonghan, Yejin and Jihye were inseparable all the way till second grade. That’s when Joshua’s parents decided to move to America. When he came back, it was the first year of middle school, and the group of friends was no longer inseparable.

Jeonghan was in class 1-1, only hanging with Jihye. Yejin was in class 1-2, hanging with Chanhee and Taekwoon, and occasionally with Jihye and/or Joshua. Joshua was in class 1-4, where he met Jihoon, and the two of them instantly became friends.

 

In the second grade of middle school, they all ended up in class 2-2 together, and it didn’t take long before they formed 1 group of friends. Joshua learned here that Jeonghan’s mother had passed away in an accident, and that he had changed a lot.

He used to be a bright and cheerful kid, but now he was calm and reserved. He smiled a lot whenever they were around, but Joshua caught his smile fading away at times when he thought they weren’t looking.

 

Jihye transferred schools in the third year, to attend the prestigious boarding school her family had founded. It was a boarding school that offered education from 1st grade all the way till high school.

There was even a preparatory college, offering courses to prepare for university. Students that went to the prep college almost always got into the best universities and got good jobs.

It was the first year the school offered primary and middle school, as it first focused on high school and prep college, so naturally Jihye would attend the school founded by her family.

 

With Jihye at another school, the friends had hoped that Jeonghan would open up more, but instead he closed himself off even more. They would have fun and Jeonghan would genuinely enjoy it, but whenever conversations got too deep, he would keep to himself.

They knew secrets about each other that would never see the light, but he still kept a lot of secrets from them.

 

Start of high school, the rest of them transferred to Hallyu academy as well. Being the children of wealthy parents, it was a logical step to send their kids to the most prestigious academy around. Upon request, they all were placed in the same class again and their friendship bloomed now that they were at the same boarding school. Jeonghan seemed happier than he’d been in a long time and the rest of them enjoyed the boarding school more than their normal school life as well.

The only downside was that they weren’t allowed to leave school grounds, but that didn’t stop certain students from sneaking off and back onto school grounds to get the stuff they needed, so that the rest wouldn't get in trouble.

 

During their second year of high school, the group became a little less tight-knit, due to making others friends in their now-mandatory extra curricular activities.

Chanhee and Taekwoon joined one of the many performance courses; Jihoon, Joshua and Jeonghan joined another one. Yejin and Jihye joined one that focused a little more on hiphop, meeting Namjoon and his friends.

 

Completely against their expectations, Jihye started hanging out with Namjoon a lot more than she did with them. In fact, she only just hung out with them when they were not in public.

It shocked people to not see her and Jeonghan together anymore, because they thought they were meant to be soulmates, even though the two of them didn't seem to have any romantic interest in each other.

The friends were just shocked because as far as everyone knew, they were best friends.

 

Since she was supposed to be so close to Jeonghan, having known him the longest because they’d been friends ever since they were babies, Joshua confronted her about the sudden change in behavior.

How could she do this to them? How could she do this to Jeonghan after all they’d been through? She just smiled sadly, saying it was for his own good, refusing to say anything else on the topic.

But she did spend a little more time with them after that.

 

And now they were in their third year, still in the same class, still hanging out. They even got detention to make sure Jeonghan would be okay since he never got detention before.

Chanhee, Yejin, Joshua, and Jihoon deliberately skipped PE. Jeonghan wouldn't know they did this for him, because he was excused from taking PE classes due to health issues. He instead spent the time with a personal trainer.

Jihye and Namjoon actually made sure to get caught sneaking back onto school grounds.

Taekwoon had just simply strolled into detention with the rest of them.

 

Jihoon pouted at the memory of being in detention together.

 

“What's wrong?” Joshua asked, looking up from the book he was reading. It was the book they had to read for English. It was his second language and they still made him take the course. But Joshua didn't mind. It was nice reading and writing in english for a change.

 

“Jeonghan didn't even thank us!”

 

Joshua laughed. “That's what got you pouting?”

 

Jihoon frowned. “I was pouting?”

 

He pursed his lips in annoyance. The pouting was something he'd rather not do because it always resulted in people pinching his cheeks and telling him he was cute. He was not a kid anymore!

 

“Yeah you were.” Joshua yawned as he reached for a piece of paper,  placing it on the page he was reading before closing the book. Jihoon mimicked the action with his own book, knowing Joshua would kick him out soon. But he didn't wait for Joshua to actually tell him to get out. He had some other thing planned for now. Something he'd been preparing for all break long. And it still didn't seem enough.

 

“You're going?”

 

Jihoon nodded, trying to hide how nervous he was feeling. Joshua seemed oblivious as he stood up to place the book on the pile of books that had gathered on his desk. “See ya tomorrow!”

 

Joshua yawned again, waving him out as Jihoon closed the door, leaning against it to gather his breath. Pushing himself off of it, he took the few steps it took to go from Joshua’s room to his destination.

 

Gathering up his courage, he lifted his hand to knock on the door. After a while, the door opened, revealing a sleepy face.

 

“Oh hey, Jihoon. What brings you here this time of night?”

 

“Can we talk?”

---

 

A/N Hi there! Sorry not sorry for leaving you with a cliffhanger. Like omigosh! A shy Jihoon? What is he planning? Who is he talking to? Is this why he has been acting so silent and passive? Is he going to go back to his sarcastic and slightly mean self after this?

 

Yes, Jihoon hasn't acted like that in the story so far, but we all know that he looks like a cinnamon bun, but could actually kill you.

I was going to be a very mean author and update with the shortest chapter to follow up on this. I know, evil right?

 

In the end, I guess you guys have my proofreader to thank for this. She convinced me it was better to merge the two together, so instead of 2 cliffhangers, you now have just one to worry about.

[ hurray for the proofreader! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ]

 

Anyways, enjoy what is now the rest of chapter 3!

 

---

 

“Can we talk?”

 

“Yeah, sure. Come on in?”

 

Jihoon shuffled inside the room, closing the door behind him.

 

“What’s up?”

 

Jihoon refused to sit down when offered a seat on the bed, feeling too nervous to sit down. The person opposite of him sat down on the bed, looking slightly confused.

 

“Is it something serious?”

 

Jihoon shook his head, internally still gathering courage. It was silent in the room as expectant eyes looked up at him. He played with his sleeves, suddenly not knowing how to handle himself.

 

“Uh, Jihoon? I know you said you wanted to talk but you've been kinda quiet and…”

 

“Go out with me.” Jihoon suddenly blurts out the words he'd been trying to get out, albeit not in this way. He had this whole speech prepared.

 

“What?”

 

“Yoon Jeonghan, will you go out with me?”

 

---

Lee Jihoon → Woozi
Hong Jisoo → Joshua
Choi Seungcheol → S.Coups
Lee Seokmin → DK
Kwon Soonyoung → Hoshi
Wen Junhui → Jun
Xu Minghao → The8
Chwe Hansol → Vernon
Jung Taekwoon → (VIXX) Leo
Kim Namjoon → (BTS) Rapmonster
Choi Yejin → OC
Lee Chanhee → OC
Boo Jihye → OC