Chapter 6

Hongki ate lunch with the usual gang of friends. He was especially irritated today. Jonghun was missing from the table.

They hadn't talked since their kiss.

After Jonghun had run away that day, Hongki had continued on back to his friends, knowing he'd have to make up some cover story to hide the real thing. He now had an obvious red mark on his lips indicating where Jonghun had bit him and where it had started bleeding. How was he supposed to hide that? 'He slapped my lips?' Yeah right. He ran a hand through his hair.

He'd come up with something. He always seemed to.

He walked into the cafeteria. The guys' eyes quickly darted up at the sight of Hongki. They exploded in conversation.

"Where's Jonghun?"

"What happened?"

"Who is it?"

"I knew it, it's Kwon Yuri!"

"Shut up, it's obviously Ga In."

"YAH," Hongki yelled. "calm down. Jonghun was upset about his relationship with..." The boys stared anxiously. "...Seohyun."

"HA!" One guy called out, pointing at a boy who'd disagreed with him. The losing boy held his hands up in defeat, saying "whatever". They continued on with their rowdy ways.

Hongki sat back down and plastered a fake smile, clearly hiding the emotion in his heart. So many feelings flooded him; regret, tension, sadness, anger, the bitter taste of rejection. He couldn't put it into words all the things he was feeling. His only thought was how glad he was that nobody noticed his lip.

Today he was exhausted. He'd spent all the night before thinking about Jonghun. Every time he the raw bump on his lip, his mind flashbacked to the memory of the kiss. A shiver ran through his body whenever he thought about it. 

But at the same time, he regretted it deeply. It had been a rough, forceful kiss filled with the pungent taste of blood. He could barely remember what their first kiss was like because of it. It had been so sweet. Why hadn't he discovered his feelings sooner? Thinking about how different their lives would be if he'd accepted Jonghun was unbearable.

He shook his head and stuffed a golf-ball-sized bite of kimchi into his mouth. It was unbelievably spicy and salty, but he wanted it that way.

"Yah, Hongki. What happened to your lip?" one of the guys mentioned.

Another joined in. "Yeah, it looks like a bite mark. Did you bite yourself?" 

"It's nothing."

"Really?" 

"Yeah, drop it."

"Aaaish, Hongki's irritable today," said the first boy.

"It can't be..." the second started, "you're having girl problems too?"

Where do they get their messed up logic? Hongki thought in irritation. He continued eating, pretending to pay no attention to the gossip-obsessed boys.

"Aigoo, that explains the lip mark! She did it, didn't she?"

"What exactly were you doing last night, Hongki?"

"Uwaaah, you player!"

Hongki stood up, almost knocking over the chair, and slammed his hands on the table. "I said drop it, didn't I?" He lifted his arms off the table and left for the cafeteria door. "I'm going to the bathroom."

The two boys fell silent for a couple seconds.

"Ay... must've been bad."

"It's Kwon Yuri. I know it for sure this time."

Hongki stomped into the bathroom. A first-year was washing his hands, but he quickly left when he saw Hongki. When he was mad, it radiated off of him. Everyone could tell when he was angry, and when he was, it was best to not get in his way at all costs.

He hated this side of him, but he couldn't control it. He just had to wait for it to subside.

He washed his face with cold water, shuddering and waking up from the unexpected iciness of it.

He dried his face, already feeling his rage cooling. But nothing could change his memories of yesterday. The regret he had only came back stronger.

In a sudden impulse, he thought about calling Jonghun. He whipped out his phone.

Maybe he'd accept a sincere apology. He'd say how rash he was and how terrible he felt for his actions. 

Jonghun would be reluctant but accept the apology, and they could be friends again. Friends. He had Jonghun’s number typed, ready to hit send.

But… this wasn’t like the times he forgot to pick him up somewhere, or breaking something of his. It wasn’t that easy to just apologize and have everything be okay again. He didn’t even know if he’d ever be forgiven. Would they ever even be friends again? He snapped the phone shut.

Hongki slumped against the wall and just cried. The last time he’d cried this hard was when his pet dog Jolie had died, but that had been ages ago.

He didn’t want to lose Jonghun. He wanted to apologize. But at the same time, he was furious at him. He almost felt like getting revenge.

He didn’t know what to do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the lunch bell rang, Seunghyun hurried to the music room. He’d gotten a text from Jonghun saying to meet him there, obviously to hear about Hongki.

His heart was beating at a million miles an hour.

He paused at the door to the room. It seemed like he was pausing in front of this door every day. He took the usual deep breath and pushed the door open.

Jonghun looked up from his guitar. He always seemed to have it.

A smile spread across his face as he put down his guitar. “Ah, Seunghyun.”

He felt like he hadn’t seen his face in ages. Since yesterday they hadn’t once seen each other in the halls or in class.

 “H-hi.” Seunghyun blushed. Really smooth, he thought. “Um yeah, so… what happened with Hongki? Did you clear it up?” He joined Jonghun on the bench he was sitting on.

“Mm… yeah.” Jonghun his lip. He seemed nervous about something. “I mean, it wasn’t a big deal. But when Hongki gets mad, he…” he his lips again.

Seunghyun had tuned Jonghun completely out. His mind was focused on those lips.

Lips. Lips. Jonghun’s Lips.

The way he his lips was so… attractive. The light from the window made them glisten. He just wanted to kiss them…

“Seunghyun. What are you looking at?” Jonghun said uncomfortably, hiding his bottom lip with his upper one. Seunghyun blushed furiously at what he’d been doing.

Jonghun sighed. “What I said was when Hongki gets angry, he gets scary and rash. He does things he normally wouldn’t do. But eventually he cools down.” He proceeded to his lips for the umpteenth time.

Seunghyun noticed it that time. The dark red bump on his lip. How come he hadn’t seen it before?

“Hyung, what happened to your lip…?”

Jonghun impulsively touched the cut. “What? What are you talking about?” he replied defensively.

“Ay.. What did you do? Did you bump into something?”

“It’s nothing,” he cut in. “It must be the weather. It’s getting warmer out.”

Seunghyun stared at him in doubt. He was covering something up. But he wasn’t going to push him to tell him what happened; he didn’t want Hongki getting even more furious at him for knowing another thing he didn’t. “Fine.”

Jonghun smiled with sympathy. “Really. It’s nothing.”

Seunghyun peeked up through his wavy brown hair. “I told you before, but you can tell me anything, really. I’m good at keeping secrets. If you need someone to talk to, talk to me. I’m here for you. Okay?”

They held each other’s gaze. They could hear each other breathing. They were so close. Both of them began to blush.

Jonghun smiled. Seunghyun was cute when he blushed. He seemed so pure. His impulse took over.

“But… I don’t know…” he murmured, his head inched closer to Seunghyun’s.

His eyes widened. His heart rate quickened.

“…how you would take it… if I…” Their noses touched.

Seunghyun closed his eyes. His stomach was exploding with butterflies.

And then…

Jonghun stopped.

Seunghyun opened his eyes. He was gone.

Just like that, out the door.

Seunghyun sat, wide-eyed,  as still as a rock. His vision was a blur. His body felt hot all over.

He’d almost kissed Jonghun.

Almost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gyeheheheheee, finally some Jongseung action right?? x)
Sorry this is so late, I got grounded from the computer for a MONTH. You wanna know why? Because I was watching FT Island videos on youtube when I should've been doing my homework.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm really half Asian. -_______- lol
So yeah.. I'm not supposed to be on here. Shhhh. ;) haha
I at least have time at school to write, thank god. xD

So yeah, hope you liked this chapter :3 I bet you're thinking "WHAAAT THE F@CK!? Y U NO KISS HIIIIM!?" Next chapter reveals it, but I'm sure it's obvious. I've actually got chapter 7 going as we speak so I'll get that done ASAP. ;D
Sorry if this series is so poorly made.. o_o I wish I'd have put more thought into the beginning, there's so many things I want to change now... :c Oh well. lol I still promised myself to finish this so I will. :D

Comment and subscribe, etc etc you know. :)