A pair of eyes carefully watched as Hyangwoo was talked animatedly, when out of nowhere it looked like a thought returned to him, and tugged on Jieun’s arm. She looked over but instead of answering, Hyangwoo started to pull her out of the classroom. L.Joe slipped out behind them unseen, staying behind lockers and settling just around the corner from where they were.

“Hyangwoo, why are you here?” L.Joe heard a soft voice ask, straight to the point. His ears perked up, curiosity prickling as he inched closer to the edge of the wall.

“I’m here.. I-” Hyangwoo’s voice stuttered and he heard a quiet scoff, “I’m just here to check up on you.” he finished quietly, there was a rustling and L.Joe wished he could see what was going on.

“Well, you didn’t need to.” was the cold reply and L.Joe carefully peered around the corner, and to his luck, they were far enough away to not notice him. He was looking at Jieun’s face, set in a hard line, eyes cold. “Why did you come when you’re going to leave anyway, huh?” Jieun continued, looking down and L.Joe swore her eyes were watering.

“Jieun...” Hyangwoo’s shoulders fell.

“You... don’t need to check up on me anymore. It’s not fair, Hyangwoo.” Jieun’s hands were clenched into fists, from what L.Joe could see, anyway. Figuring he didn’t need to see any more, he quietly left for the classroom, wondering what that exchange could have meant. Clearly they were closer than he thought. He mulled over what he had witnessed without much of a clue of what could be going on. L.Joe shook his head, wondering why he was even concerned.

“L.Joe, where did hyung go? Jieun’s missing too...” Chunji came up, Niel following close behind, “And where were you just now, did you see them?” Neil piped in as L.Joe brushed them aside, shrugging and saying something about going to his locker. Chunji raised a brow at him, not quite believing that L.Joe would willingly go to his locker especially when he was pretty sure L.Joe kept nothing inside his. L.Joe was pulled away for something or other before he could ask any more questions.

Niel made his way out into the hall unnoticed. Quickly hiding out of view when Hyangwoo passed by alone that he started to get really curious. He walked out of his “hiding spot” and continued down the hall when he heard footsteps running, getting louder as he looked around for the source. The wind was knocked out of him when Jieun sprinted right into him, he made sure to still catch her as his arms wrapped stiffly around her smaller frame. Niel took a half a step back, hands still on her arms to make sure she was alright as she stayed silent.

“Sorry...” Jieun mumbled quietly, looking down at her feet. Niel leaned down to her height, exploring her face for anything that could help him figure out what she was thinking.

“Jieun,” he started, but she sniffled quietly, causing him to start to panic, “J-jieun, are you okay?” Jieun slowly shook her head and Niel immediately pulled her close and hugged her.

Jieun Stiffened before relaxing, standing limply in Niel’s arms. Resting her head on his chest rather than his shoulder with their height difference. He rubbed her back soothingly, unsure of what to say, not being used to a crying girl. After a few moments, Jieun sniffled and stepped away, looking down at the ground to rub at her eyes roughly.

“Jieun…”

“Sorry, I’m…” Jieun paused, taking a deep breath, “I’m good. Thanks for that. “ Niel’s mouth opened to say something but before he could, she walked past him silently.

L.Joe came down the hall and walked up to Niel, who still looked lost, looking at the spot where Jieun stood just a moment ago.

“Niel, what’s with you?”

“I, er, Jieun noona ran into me crying and then walked away…” Niel replied, head tilting in confusion.  L.Joe took his hands out of his pockets and crossed them over his chest.

“That’s it? Where did she go?” He stopped himself before he snapped, speaking calmly. Niel only shrugged his skinny shoulders and pointed behind him down the opposite hallway. L.Joe nodded slowly and slipped past Niel, leaving him in his confusion in the middle of the hallway.

L.Joe walked down the hall quickly, looking around carefully for anywhere Jieun could have went. He ended up in front of an empty classroom, door slightly opened. L.Joe argued with himself, he slowly reached out to turn the handle and stepped in.

"Shortie, you in here?” He said quietly, “Shortie. Jieun?” Looking around, he spotted her sitting on a desk near the back, facing the window with headphones on. Shaking his head, he ventured closer while waving his hand to see if it’ll get her attention. It didn’t. L.Joe ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, stepping closer and lightly tapped her shoulder. With a surprised yelp and a wide swing of an arm, Jieun ended up half-fallen off the desk with wide eyes and L.Joe rubbing his chest with a grimace.

“You didn’t need to get violent.” He snorted as he helped her up.

“You didn’t have to scare me.” Jieun snapped back defensively, cheeks flushed in surprise.

“I tried to warn you.”

“Oh.” She fell silent, music playing faintly from the headphones hanging around her neck. Joe sighed and leaned against the window, facing Jieun. He crossed his arms expectantly, raising his brow as he waited for Jieun to speak.

It was another slow evening, and Jieun was stuck on the couch staring blankly at the tv. She had woken up from a short nap to see her screen filled with blood, waking up in the middle of a horror movie. Jieun looked frantically around for the remote, having lost it somewhere as she slept. There was a scream from the tv and Jieun dove under the covers, whimpering quietly.

“Hey, Ji—“

“AAAAHK!” Jieun screamed, lashing out around under the blanket, hitting something firm before she felt something heavy lie on top of her.

“Jieun, shhhhhhhhh.” A familiar voice soothed as a hand pet her head. “It’s just me. Shhhh.”

“Hyangwoo?”

“Who else?” She grumbled and poked her head out of her cocoon and frowned at her friend who just laughed at her.

“Lost the remote again?” Hyangwoo grinned as he pinched her cheek. Jieun glared and waited until he was done to try to wriggle out from underneath him.

“For a small person you sure hit pretty hard.” He just continued laughing as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her in place. She continued struggling around, trying to grab for a pillow to smack him with.

Another day at school and Jieun waited until class finished, leaning against her hand while staring out the window. L.Joe was watching her between taking notes from his corner in the back. She scurried out of the classroom quickly, grabbing her things before walking to the empty classroom. L.Joe’s eyes followed Jieun carefully, packing his things before strolling out behind her.

“Noona!” Niel popped out of nowhere and looped his arm through hers, walking her the rest of way towards the dance club’s room. He talked animatedly as usual, his shaggy hair flopping as he walked. She offered a small smile, letting herself be led inside. When L.Joe made it inside Niel had already separated herself from her and was warming up on the floor, bothering Chunji while he was at it.

“Any news? Anyone?” Chunji asked to the class, shoving the pestering Niel away. It was silent for a few moments before a quiet voice piped up.

“There’s a talent show next month.” Jieun looked up from her notebook, putting her pen down and shrugged. “There’s a small prize for whoever wins, too.” Everyone visibly perked up, looking over at Jieun who shrunk back.

“Really? How did you find out about this?” Niel hopped up next to her.

“The one time I paid attention in class, the teacher was talking about it.” She shrugged nonchalantly, closing her notebook and stepping down from her desk. The guys started discussing among themselves and she took the chance to move out of the room. After she found her locker, she leaned back against the wall with a small sigh. Suddenly, she remembered how one of the office ladies had told her where a music room was. Her locker closed with a click, and she made her way to the supposed music room.

Once she made it inside, she smiled at the piano, running her fingers over the keys of the piano slowly. Looking around, she reached a guitar, picking it up carefully and strumming a simple chord. Sitting on the piano bench, she held the guitar in her lap and plucked a quick melody. She repeated the tune, humming quietly as she strummed the chords that went with it. Jieun played a few more minutes, switching to singing a cover of a song instead.

The sounds flowed outside the door, Chunji was walking to the hall to the office to get the papers for the talent show. Walking past, he heard someone playing, as cliché as it sounded. The only difference is that the voice that accompanied it cracked, laughed as they cleared their throat and started again. This time sounding much better as the roughness from their throat went away. Chunji’s curiosity grew, along with a small grin as he slowed, nearing the door. He looked around to see if anyone else was there. With his hand on the door, he slowly turned the handle and opened the door slowly, staying quiet to stay unnoticed.

He carefully closed the door behind him, resisting the urge to clear his throat and stuffed his hands in his pockets instead. Creeping forward, he looked around the piano to see someone he certainly wasn’t expecting to see...

And there you have it. A new chapter.
Who do you ship now? ㅋㅋ
Until next time, lovelies.