the next day, jun sat on his bed, thinking about whatever the kim ara did to make such a huge impact on wonwoo, mingyu, and everyone there. he knew that she left school in the middle of the year and isn't in the best terms with the group and that they somehow treated her like . 

once. 

when jun first moved to seoul from china, he was barely familiar with korean. he had to live under shadows during his middle school years because of lack of communication. he moved around from place to place with his small knowledge of the language and culture he had, hoping he's saying and doing anything that isn't offensive. 

he had to be careful—extra carful, and because of that he decided not to make friends, he didn't know why he isolated himself from people, but he did. 

for a year is only goal was to understand, to understand the culture, the language, the everything. he wanted to understand what was going on around him. he wanted to be happy with his new off screen life, but the language barrier said otherwise. 

it was when soonyoung approached him, with mina by his side on top of the school's building, that he finally became comfortable with the place. 

"hey, why are you here all alone?" he remembers soonyoung ask him. "yeah? there's an-" the rest of mina's words were unclear, but he knew that they were somehow inviting him to join them in the cafeteria downstairs. jun, not really having a choice, agreed. 

when he walked down, he swore he saw most of their faces somewhere. when he sat down on the table he remembers the kids he'd see play around his streets. he looks around the big table and only recognizing a few by face, and some by name, the rest he was completely oblivious with.

after they introduced themselves to him, he noticed something off when he tried to remember them one by one. he felt like something, or someone was missing, he just don't know what, or if it souls matter. 

he remembered the kids play around on his street again when first arrived in seoul. he recognized some, sharp eyes was wonwoo, foreigner was yuna (she's half british), tree was mingyu, braids was mina (she always had her hair tied into braids), and buns was someone he was unsure of.

before soonyoung and mina talked to him on the roof, he remembers hearing rumors spread like wildfire in the hallways. it was normal in the school, so he never really thought much about it. but hearing the braids kid introduce herself as park mina, he recalls hearing that name in the hallways, along with the words 'kim ara, likes, because, park mina, and think.' there were other words too, but jun just couldn't make them out.

years past, and jun shook it off like it was nothing, thinking it was no big deal. he sometimes would hear stories about when they were younger, when ara was still there. he didn't care much about the name compared to the rest of the 7. 

she was always just a girl they used to know in his eyes, but when two days ago, soonyoung recalled the name by accident, he had flashbacks of middle school and the stories he heard of her. 

he became eager to know the truth of why ara suddenly disappeared. 

so there he was, sat on his bed, and his phone in his hand. he hesitated for a while, before cussing to himself. " it," he says, clicking on jisu's phone number. she picks up at the 3rd ring, and he takes as deep breath. 

"hey, jisu?" jun says through the phone.

"what? i'm kinda in the middle of something."

"you never really told me the story of, you know? kim ara..." jun bites his lip, mentally cussing to himself that its the worst idea to bring up her name in the first place. 

"gosh, you don't have to be so nervous to bring up her name. she's really just a person we used to know." oh. 

"um, alright then, i just wanna know what really happened with ara? i mean, i kinda remember a bit of 6th grade, but my korean , and i didn't know enough to understand anything that was going on."

"oh, so that's why your grades were so low..." 

"oh, shut up and tell me."

"wow, so demanding."

"shut up, jisu. it's just bothering me about how i never really get to know anything. like, first the christmas party, whatever the kai is doing to minghao, this ara thing, and what's happening between you and mina-" 

"for s sake, there's nothing going on between us."

"yeah, i mean, minghao and i are dating, but it's really just nothing you know?" 

"hui, i will-" she paused, and said something along the words of ' get out' through the muffled service of his phone. 

"wait sorry, seokmin is here with yuna and to steal my chips. sorry but i gotta hang up. bye." and the call ends. 

jun sighs. "i got nothing from that conversation," he says to himself then throws his phone across his bed. he runs his hands in his hair and tried again—this time through text.

king of china: jisuuuuuuu
king of china: helloooo
king of china: is it me you're looking forrr...????
king of china: jk jk 
king of china: hEY
king of china: giVE ME ATTENTION PLEASE 
king of china: i need anSWERS 
king of china: PLEASEEEEEE
king of china: idk why I'm so desperate to know about this ara thing,,,
king of china: but i am ok 

jisusss: god you're an annoying little er aren't you?

king of china: yes, yes i am

jisusss: why do u wanna know so badly anyway...???

king of china: u type too fast...can we talk about this irl instead Korean isn't my first language u know 

jisusss: ok so,,,i'll see u at the ice cream shop near my place cause i ain't telling to u without u giving anything to me 

king of china: alright...???

***

"do i really have to pay?" jun complained in front of jisu. they were at the counter of the ice cream shop she wanted them to go to.

it wasn't what he expected. he expected something rustic, and colorful looking with cheep, but nice decorations. instead, he was greeted with dark accents and couches, bright lights, and expensive looking lights and decorations. it wasn't something he couldn't afford, because he could by the place if he wanted, but he felt like it was over exaggerated in some way. 

especially since the menu looked overpriced for such simple things. 150 for a hot chocolate or coffee, 100 for one scoop of ice cream, 200 for a cake slice, and 250 for a box of brownies. again, nothing jun couldn't afford. it was just something too overpriced for what you could find in along street shops for half the price. 

jisu raised her eyebrow at him and said, "you want answers, don't you? important personal crap comes at a price from me, especially if it's got something to do with me too." 

"yeah, but who the pays a hundred dollars for one ice cream?" he told jisu, putting emphasis on the price to make sure that she gets the fact that paying one hundred dollars for an ice cream cup is just ridiculous. 

"true, but at least it's good ice cream." she smiles, and continues, "and that you're paying for it" 

junhui rolls his eyes, and after a silent argument with their eyes, he gave in, sighing, "fine."

once he handed the petite cashier the money, he handed jisu her chocolate ice cream and proceeded to walk towards a vacant table. they sat down and dipped their spoons into the cups and scooped the sweet ice cream into their mouths.

then jun asked once her again, "so? are you gonna tell me about her?"

jisu put her hand up to silence him as she ate a few more scoops of ice scream on her spoon. "okay." she swallowed the food. "you joined our lovely friendship circle when there wasn't much going on, right?"

jun nodded. "kinda, there were a few rumors, but i didn't understand anything."

"anyways, she was a good friend of ours before, well, drama." jisu takes a spoonful of her ice cream, and tried to remember what happened back then. 

"she was the princess of the hallways basically, always using her good looks to get attention." jun nods, confusion painted on his face. 

"behind that though, she's a good person, she's smart, and really good at singing. not to mention her kindness, and she's like, plus, she's richer than you somehow, she's really likable. she just can't stand a life without attention." 

"so, anyway, there was this rumor back when we started middle school. it was about how she's apparently gay and likes-no loves mina." 

"blah, blah, blah, that's it i think," jisu shrugs, her statement making jun glare at her. 

"are you ing kidding me? isn't there more?" he questions, making jisu try and remember more about her past. 

"oh, ara and mina were like, close as . they were like some golden trio or something back then with yuna. then i guess, in the middle of summer, she started to like mina somehow, and the school got news about it real quick." 

"and you know the relationship between korea, and the lgbt community. she was the first person who was gay, or outed already in our school, she was called names like and an attention seeker. we were stupid back then, we didn't know what to do, so we-" jisu took a deep breath before continuing.

"-we left her, and never talked to her again, completely excluding her from any of our conversations and hang outs. we were stupid, we are stupid, and i really hate myself for it. we ing left one of our best friends for the sake of our reputation, and it was stupid. really, really stupid. news got around that ara left school, and that the principal talked to her about how being homoual was a sin. her parents got the word, and sent her to china to live with her grandparents, i think. they were too embarrassed to say that their child was gay. the group started talking less because of that rumor. we kinda, put the blame on ourselves, well, because it really was our fault. we were all guilty and really, really ing depressed. we had so much memories with her, like her 4th grade birthday party, and our little tradition to by ice cream every friday together in the cafeteria. we had so much inside jokes, so much memories. she would always tell us that we're the best people she's ever been friends with, and it was nice to hear that." jisu pauses, and jun swears he can see her eyes water a little. 

", i'm gonna cry." she wipes her eyes dry with her long white sweater and continues. 

"we were just-we hated that we just left ara, without saying goodbye, or sorry. then we tried to get back together, we decided to never bring up the topic of ara again, it-it's just, it was a promise. soonyoung and mina decided to go up to the rooftop one day and talk about god knows what, and they came downstairs with you beside them. we told you to never talk about ara remember? yeah, that's why. we really are stupid aren't we?"

"no offense, i know i'm supposed to be all supportive, but yeah, you guys are stupid." 

ignoring jun's remark, jisu continued eating her ice cream, getting feelings of nostalgia just from telling him the story of why ara suddenly left. 

jun rants to jisu about how it's wrong they put themselves before her, who needed their help so much. she wanted to fight him back because she already knew these and didn't want to be reminded of it. 

she takes a small glance at the window outside an watched as cars passed by, and people walking along. her mind travels to different topics as she continues to ignore jun. 

she's never missed a person this much, she's never really wanted to get memories back from the past. she never wished to reset her actions more than at this time. she's never realized that until hearing herself talk about her. 

she hears her phone buzz from her pocket, and almost immediately she pulls it out. notification from notification came popping up from their group chat. 

[a/n]:
heyyy double update, so im gonna try double updating every monday (its basically the day when a new going seventeen is uploaded cause time zones) cause, well why not?

(and btw i might not be as active bc of school)