Chapter 26: Beautiful

[DongWoo POV]

I ran downstairs and saw MinSeok pulling out stacks and stacks of games while the other guys cheered with starry eyes. MyungSoo was sitting off to the side, quietly watching from a distance.

"What's up, Soo?" I sat beside him.

He smiled warmly but then went back to his stonelike expression.

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing..."

"Aren't you going to go play with MinSeok? He's your friend, right?"

"He is, but... I just want to watch tonight."

I frowned. Why was MyungSoo so down again? He was doing so much better... until that night SungGyu was in the hospital.

"Are you worried about SungGyu hyung?"

He nodded lightly, but I could tell there was more to his worries than just that. He looked like he was in deep thought.

"C'mon, talk to me, Soo..."

He just shook his head and continued to watch the others set up the game station.

"DongWoo hyung, can you go get the extra game console from our room?" WooHyun shouted.

"Yes!" I went up the stairs and opened the door.

SungYeol and SungJong froze in their conversation.

"Sorry, I'm just getting the consoles..." I rustled through the closet and grabbed one.

"Oh, take MyungSoo's phone, too," SungYeol handed it to me, "It's been vibrating a bit..."

I closed the door behind me and was about to head back downstairs when I saw that MyungSoo had 10 missed calls... from DaIn...? Suddenly, the phone was vibrating again. A phone call from DaIn. It seemed urgent considering she called 10 times already... I slowly put the phone to my ear.

"M-M-MyungSoo? You're alive, thank goodness! Could you please talk to me? Why did you ignore all my calls? And what about tutoring? You haven't come to any for the past few days... I'm worried...."

I held my breath.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk now... I don't know what I did wrong, but... I hope we can clear some things up... I don't know why you keep running away from me... MyungSoo, are you there..?"

"I-I'm sorry. This is DongWoo... But I can relay any message you want to tell to him."

"O-Oh... Actually, I told SungGyu earlier but MyungSoo has been acting strange around me, but I don't know what I did wrong."

"Don't worry, DaIn. You did nothing wrong. MyungSoo's just... having a hard time at the moment."

"A...A hard time? What happened?" Her voice began to fill with more worry.

"I can't really tell you now, DaIn, but just trust MyungSoo, okay? I'm really sorry. He doesn't mean to hurt you. We're a bit of a chaos here, too- you know... with SungGyu still recovering."

"Yes... I really hope everything is alright. Let me know if you need any help, okay? And, um... Please try to talk to MyungSoo for me. I would really like to meet him and clear any misunderstanding."

"Of course! Goodnight."

"Goodnight..."

I stood silently after the phone call. DaIn really cared about MyungSoo, but... MyungSoo has been ignoring her...? Why...?

---

"I'm home~!" Ms. Lee sang as she walked in. She had a ton of grocery bags in her hand. I quickly grabbed some.

"Let me help," I said.

She smiled warmly, "Thank you, DongWoo. Where are the others?"

"They fell asleep waiting for you," I chuckled, "How's SungGyu hyung?"

"Ah, I was with him all day, trying go entertain him since he was bored of being in bed all day. He slept like a baby before I left the hospital. He's getting better, I believe! He's too embarassed to ask me to do anything, though. He kept insisting that I didn't need to walk him to the restroom, but he took one step and almost fell over!" She laughed, "I think you might need to come and help him shower tomorrow. He keeps getting embarassed as if I've never raised a son before! ...Ah, but why are you still awake?"

"I just had a bit on my mind, you know. No big deal, though!" I smiled widely.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

As always, Ms. Lee saw through all my smiles.

"... Actually, it's about MyungSoo. Is he getting better?"

"Well, Dr. Yoon said yes, but... MyungSoo came to me a couple of nights ago crying, and I wondered if something happened, because MyungSoo is back to square one again..."

"I noticed that, too. That's why I'm worried. He was doing better, but... DaIn said he stopped showing up to their tutoring sessions."

Ms. Lee froze, "H-He did?"

"Yeah, and DaIn was really upset because he hurt her. She's worried. And I'm worried, too."

Ms. Lee sighed, "Ah, I just don't know what to do..."

"I'll talk to MyungSoo, and let you know."

"Thank you, DongWoo..." She smiled lightly, "Ah... How is Hoya doing with his new team?"

"Good! I heard his performing team will be the opening act for the fashion show. Hoya is