Chapter 19

Wonsik accompanied Hongbin to his school, claiming that he was curious about what kind of school he goes to everyday. He held Hongbin's hand all throughout their way to the school and it felt very awkward and not to mention sweaty because Hongbin felt nervous with everyone looking at them. Hongbin asked why his brother was holding on to his hand and Wonsik answered him bluntly, "I'm on a hunt to find out who the lucky girl is." His answer did not make any sense to Hongbin, but he only groaned, unable to do anything.

Once they reached Hongbin's school and his brother was finished with 'search,' Wonsik bid him goodbye and left, saying, "I'll go find something interesting to do while you're in school," and Hongbin just nodded.

Normally, Hongbin would firstly put his things inside his locker like he usually would then he would go to his position in front of the school. However, even though Hongbin was stripped off of his duties, that did not stop him from going to his usual position because he felt uneasy not being where he should be. Another student had replaced him and even if it were a rather boring job, Hongbin would do it with a lot of effort in comparison to the others that would just always slack off. He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he watched the other student that replaced him texting most of the time.

Hongbin greeted his fellow students, as they would come in one by one or sometimes with their friends. Of course, he would show his dimpled smiles that it would make the girls squeal (especially the ones who want him to address them as his 'noonas'). Hongbin would still call them 'sunbaenims' regardless. Hongbin sighed as he fixed his fringe, hoping that that would keep him preoccupied for at least a few seconds since he was getting bored of waiting for something to happen. Usually, when N would come to his school, there would always be buzzing and murmurs here and there. But now that he was not around, Hongbin realised just how much N had changed his daily routines. It was up to that extent that he felt lost and stuck thinking of what to do if he was not scolding his N-hyung to go to his own school like he was supposed to.

Concluding that N would not be coming around and cause any trouble, Hongbin decided to just head straight to class when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a stranger by the golden gates. He blinked a couple of times and examined the boy from head to toes. He had dirty blond hair that was styled in such a way that his hair was pushed back – But what definitely stood out was his nose. 'A foreigner?' Hongbin thought to himself as he approached him. Hongbin cleared his throat then greeted him in English, "Good morning. How may I help you?"

The other merely gestured with his hand to 'forget' about it and it only made Hongbin even more puzzled. "I'm not a foreigner. I'm pure Korean, but I dyed my hair!" The guy exclaimed then he turned Hongbin. He stared at him for a while before saying, "Wow! You're really handsome! In fact, it seems like a lot of people who goes to this school are very good looking! What do you guys eat that make you so handsome?" He snickered at his own words. "My name is Jaehwan, by the way! But call me Ken! I'm looking for Jung Taekwoon!"

Hongbin shook the boy's hand that was offered to him even though he was still a bit baffled. He merely hid the irritation that he felt upon hearing comments about his appearance again so he smiled like he normally would when he meets someone new, but he asked immediately, "Why are you looking for him?" 

"Oh! You know him? He must be really popular in school then!" Jaehwan exclaimed. "Do you know where I could find him? I need to ask him something important!"

Hongbin raised an eyebrow. "Important? Are you a friend of his? Because he only really has two people who I think he considers as his friends outside our school," Hongbin explained without dropping his smile. "I have not seen you here before, in fact. Are you sure that you haven't mistaken a student from here with someone else –"

"I'm sure that Jung Taekwoon was his name!" Jaehwan had cut him off, "He's always ignoring me but I think that that's just how he is really! I don't blame him and I don't really mind. I just want to hear him sing or at least know why he was interested in composition books." He looked back at Hongbin, "By the way, what's your name? You're really handsome and you look younger than Jung Taekwoon. He must be your sunbae, right?"

Hongbin could only nod. Speaking of Leo, he still had not seen him come in to school. He would normally be on time yet, as of that moment, it was nearly time for classes to begin –

"By the way, does he go to this school too? Jung Taekwoon's boyfriend?" Ken blurted out that it surprised the former.

"B-Boy –?" Hongbin got interrupted when he saw Leo grab the back of Jaehwan's neck, causing the boy to whine as he tried to escape the grasp. Leo flicked Jaehwan's forehead then told him to go away –

"How could I go away?" Jaehwan complained childishly, "I just wanted to talk to you! Oh and your boyfriend too! He seems fun to be with, you know? Especially since you seem like the jealous –" Jaehwan earned another hit. But this time, on his arm. He groaned as he tried to ease the pain by rubbing circles on the area that Leo hit, muttering soft complaints. However, once he looked up from his arm to where Leo and Hongbin were supposed to be, the golden gates began to close right in front of him and the two were already so far away from him. Jaehwan called for Leo's name over and over, but the school's guard only asked him to leave.

"Who was that, hyung? Was he really someone that you know?" Hongbin whispered close to his hyung's ear while he observed the whining Jaehwan by the gates. "I don't really understand why but loud people seemed to get magnetised towards you," He chuckled. "Do you have some sort of magic that draws people –" With just one glare from Leo, he stopped talking and he gulped. "Errr... S-So then... Did you find out about what happened to N-hyung? Did he come home?"

Leo shook his head, allowing a sigh to escape his mouth. Hongbin knew then right after that that the other did not want to talk about it so he decided to just wait because he would eventually get told of it later on. "But is he okay...? Do you know if he's okay...?" This time, he received a shrug and a soft "I don't know."

"Okay," Hongbin replied then he pushed the entrance doors for Leo to go in. "By the way, hyung, my brother is staying at my house for a week. I was wondering if you'd like to meet him since I thought that the two of you would understand each other best when it comes to the... errr... you know what and he said that he'd like to meet you too."

Leo turned to him with a surprised look. However, it just as quickly disappeared. He shook his head again. "I need to take care of Hakyeon."

Lee Jaehwan came from a long way just to audition. It was his dream to become a singer and he definitely did not beg for a karaoke machine for his birthday once he figured out that that was his dream. His mother was too proud of him and his father found it amusing to watch his son sing. But then again, that did not mean that they were approving Jaehwan to throw his life away just like that for a dream – especially for a far-fetched dream like becoming a singer. Jaehwan's mother told him, "I know that you love singing but it would be really difficult for you... There are loads of singers out there and the competition is really intense. Eomma just doesn't want you to be stressed, okay?"

The boy nodded dejectedly – But that was the past anyway.

He had only been in the city for few months, living with his favourite uncle that he begged to have him stay at their house. In fact, Jaehwan went to the city with cousin, his uncle's son. Jaehwan told his parents that he wanted to live in the city even for a while (without actually telling them about the auditions) and with that, they allowed him (or more like his father allowed him, "Let him