Chapter 31 - 4D turns to 3D
4D: Book of Friendship3rd Person’s POV
[Sae Young Dormitories…November 12, 20XX]
Anika was the first one up and saw the letter. She grabbed the paper and read what’s written on it. After reading, she immediately wake the maknaes up and have them read what’s on their letters. And they all felt the same after reading what their leader’s message for them.
“Lei, are you okay?” Lei faced Anika and faked a smile.
“I’m fine. It’s not like I can do anything about it even if she told me in advance, right?”
“It’s not just you, it’s on all of us. But we’re worried about you more, you’re her bestfriend.” Lei bitterly chuckled and shook her head.
“Yeah, right.” she muttered sarcastically before disappearing to the bathroom.
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News spread fast about Erika moving out of the dormitories and because of that, a lot of people had been asking the reasons of why their favorite idol had move out of the school’s dormitories. That was a question that even the 4D members doesn’t know the answer to.
“4D? More like 3D. There’s only 3 of us, what’s the point of calling it 4D?”
“Because we’re still a team, Chase. Ked unnie is still our leader, no matter where she is.”
“Oh, really?” Jeril asked in a challenged tone as she smiles sarcastically. “How is she still our leader, when she doesn’t even think how we’ll feel about her departure?”
The door opened and Lei entered, interrupting their discussion. “She has a reason.”
“A reason that even you don’t know of. Come on, accept it. That egoistical idol probably doesn’t even think of us as her friends. What if we were just her temporary thing, huh?”
“Chase…” Anika called in a warning tone.
“She was prideful, Anika. A person full of pride, who doesn’t see other people below her. What if she didn’t see us as family at all? It’s a possiblity, based on her characteristics.”
“Stop judging her, Jeril unnie.” Lei spoke in a hard tone. “She didn’t judge you when you were a spoiled gangster who is only looking for a fight, so please do not judge her.”
Jeril’s features softened as she sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just…mad that she left us. She left you.”
“This isn’t about just the two of us. This is about 4D.”
“Yeah, it’s about 4D. But you two were super close, to the point that you look like lovers.”
“Chase…”
“I’m just saying.” Jeril stated, raising her hands as a sign of surrender, making Anika chuckle.
Anika then turned to Lei. “We’ll see what happens before doing something, is that okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” Anika and Jeril sees Lei’s smile didn’t reached her eyes and they couldn’t help but hug their maknae. “I’m fine, unnies. I’ll be fine.”
But she wasn’t.
The past few days, Jeril and Anika had observed that Lei was getting different each day. She was getting more and more gloomy as time passes by that Erika wasn’t around. The usual cheeful maknae was replaced by a not-giving-a-sht Council President.
She had become cold, quiet and she always wear a poker face on, completely opposite from her usual sun-kissed smile that brightly shines the place. She changed from a warm friend into a cold stranger. Even Jeril and Anika doesn’t know her anymore, and they’re worried.
It took them a week to figured that enough was enough, they don’t want the cold Lei anymore. It was now time to do something.
“Lei, we need to talk.”
“Tough talk, to be precise.”
Lei looked away from her paperworks to looked at her friends, who barged inside the Council office. “Can’t you wait until I get home? We’re busy around here.”
“It cannot wait, L. Come on, go back to the dorm with us. They’ll handle things here.” the nickname ‘L’ made Lei falter. Erika always called her by that nickname unconsciously before.
Which is why it made Lei stood up from her seat. “I’ll be back if you need me.” she said to the other members of the Council. They didn’t answer their President and just watched her drag the two members of 4D out of the office and back to the dorm. “Alright, what is it?”
“Who are you, and what have you done to our maknae?” Lei looked at Jeril unimpressed.
“What she means is, where are you?”
“Standing infront of you.”
“Don’t be a smartass, Lei. That’s not charming right now, it’s irritating to me.”
“If there’s someone here that should be irritated, it’s me. I’m doing perfectly fine but you go and start pulling me out of it again.” Anika let out a sarcastic laugh.
“Perfectly fine? How do you call that perfectly fine? You block everyone out, you became cold and distant, you became someone you’re not. And that’s not perfectly fine with us.”
“I’m doing good on my own, thank you. I do not need you, so back off.”
Anika bit her lips and Jeril knew that was her cue to interrupt. “Alright, I’ll take over.” Anika sends her a grateful smile before walking away. “So, Lei, it’s been a while…”
“It’s just been a week--” that made Lei stop. It really had been a week since they last talked. “I’ve just been really busy with Council work, unnie. I’m sorry.”
“Are you busy with Council works or you’re making yourself busy with Council works?”
Lei chuckled humorlessly. “The latter.”
“I knew it.” Jeril pumped her fist in celebration, making Lei laugh truly. “So, why don’t you just do something if you want her to come back? Instead of making yourself miserable, why not just call her phone and beg her to come home? She’ll be back in a heartbeat.”
Lei’s smile fell. “I can’t contact her phone anymore. She did say that she left it on a bar on her birthday, remember? But when I called her manager, they didn’t answer.”
“Meaning…she’s purposely avoiding you?” Lei nodded. “Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. I tried contacting her using yours and Anika unnie’s phone once but there were the same, no answer.” Jeril nodded before she realized something.
“You stole our phones? How did you even knew the passcodes?”
“Ked unnie knows all of our passwords and she told me all about it before, including hers. She said it’ll come handy sometimes, but I doubt that now.”
“Nope, don’t doubt that.”
“What?”
“You said that she left her phone in a bar, right?” Lei nodded and Jeril looked at her before it finally dawned to her what they’re going to do.
“We’ll go get her phone, see if there’s something to help us realize her situation. Brilliant.”
“Thank you. Now, let’s go tell Anika about our plans.” and just in time, Anika came out of the kitchen while holding three plates on one hand and a plate full of spaghetti in the other.
“What plans?” Anika asked, placing the spaghetti and plates on the table. “What are you two planning? It better be legal, or my hands are tied.”
“Calm down, Anika. It’s just taking our leader’s phone from the bar and stalking a little from it. Nothing illegal at all, we promise.”
“You do know that stalking from her phone is still illegal, right?”
“Hush.” Jeril raised her hand to cut Anika off. “It’s a perfectly reasonable plan, now let’s go.”
Anika sighed and nodded. “Fine, we’ll go. But not without eating first. Instead of out the door, come here and eat lunch instead.” the two maknae nodded their head and went to the table. “How long do you think we’ll need before she comes back?”
“We’ll do everthing we can, as long as she’s here for Christmas.”
“Alright, then.” Jeril nodded as she flashed her charmingly mischievous smile. “Let’s make Ked unnie come back before Christmas, shall we?”
“Cheers to that.” Lei and Anika clicked their glasses to Jeril’s.
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