Spending time with the Byun family certainly took it's toll on Jongdae in two ways. Not that he was overally skinny before, but the two days alone of home-cooked food had helped Jongdae become fuller and looked to have more colour - bringing out a sort of attractiveness to him. The second way was his attitude. It wasn't unusual for Jongdae to become confident when he was around the Baekhyun and his Grandmother, but he'd never spent more than a night there and with him staying there for two days and nights the teen had exceeded confidence that not even Baekhyun had seen. Of course, the confidence was wavered when his mother came to visit, claiming she was taking him home, but Baekhyun's Grandmother firmly told her that Jongdae would stay there for as long as he wanted. 

~

There was a soft knock at the door, just loud enough to hear as if the person didn't want to be seen when they were. Ms.Byun wasn't a stranger to having visitors at random hours of the day - she had an open door policy, she was the neighbourhood's grandmother and a lot of people were really good friends with her. The eternal smile on her face wavered slightly when Jongdae's mother stood at the door, "Ah, Hayeon."

Jongdae's mother look flustered and ran her hand through her hair, "I'm here to collect Jongdae. He's needed back at home."

Ms.Byun raised an eyebrow, "Really? I thought he ran away."

"All teenagers run away Saerom, you of all people should know that."

Saerom smiled sweetly, "I do, but you don't. Do you? Hyoyeon didn't run-"

"She was busy with dance classes and Mandarin, she had no time and you know that."

"Well what about Kibum? Surely he had the time."

"I don't know how you can talk about my children that way, have you no respect?"

Saerom laughed, "Respect? You come to my home and demand the son who ran away on his own accord back, all whilst not respecting me! Didn't your parents teach you how to respect your elders? Did Ryeowook not drill that into the pretty little brain of yours?"

Hayeon clearly looked shooken and she tried to regain some compusure, sighing, "You have no right to keep him here - he's not your son."

"To be honest, by the way you and your husband are dealing with things, he won't be yours for much longer either," Saerom chimed, ready to close the door, "Jongdae will stay here for as long as he sees fit - as long as I see fit."

The oak door was slammed on Hayeon's face who, after a quick second, shouted, "What would you know? Your son-"

A muffled voice came from the other side, "Died of an overdose, tell me something I don't know Ryu Hayeon."

~

Overhearing that one conversation really shook Jongdae up. It just reminded him that he had to attend school on Monday (much to Ms.Byun's protests who claimed 'missing one day wouldn't hurt things too badly,') and ultimately face Jongin. The only good thing about it was that he had his date with Joonmyeon in which he was determined to make a success. In the midst of all the darkness, Jongdae learnt that only he could create his happiness and nobody else.

Monday morning rolled around quicker than expected and Jongdae found himself in his scratchy uniform in the back of Ms.Byun's car, sandwiched between Chanyeol and Baekhyun. As much as he loved Baekhyun, enduring a 20 minute car journey where the couple were trying to communicate and holding their hands right in front of him did get pretentious and there'd been countless times where Jongdae separated them and caused the two of them to pout whilst looking outside of the car windows. Thankfully, for Jongdae, the car journey mostly involved the couple texting each other - something Jongdae could live with.

Being related to the most popular kid in school had it's pros and cons. The pros being you could meet some people high up in the social ladder who weren't complete idiots. The cons being gossip about you spread around like wildfire. Jongdae learnt about that the hard way. When Jongin started to gossip, not even Kris could intervene and do anything about it. That's why Jongdae expected no less when he walked through the doors and a lot of people stared at him and whispered things among each other.

"He ran away I heard, to Baekhyun's place."

"He probably couldn't handle being second best."

"Second best? Try fourth best, he has two older siblings."

Of course, the snide comments were succeeded by laughter that rang out through the halls. Instinctively, Baekhyun and Chanyeol stuck close to Jongdae and made sure he was okay as they walked to their first lesson. They even made it so Jongdae sat in between them as Jongin sat at the opposite side.

The lesson went smoothly at first, but when the teacher left the room, gossip sparked again and Jongin sat in the middle of it, a smug grin on his face. Jongdae had learned to ignore it and to ignore his brother. Even Chanyeol didn't have any reaction as he respected Jongdae's tolerance. Baekhyun, on the other hand, stood up and glared at Jongin with the most intense glare anyone had probably ever seen, "Is this funny to you Jongin?"

Jongin sat there, a small chuckle escaped his lips as his smile remained, "Depends on what you're talking about. If you're talking about what's happening to the one who ran away, then yeah it's sort of funny, but if we're talking about how you look like a chipmunk compared to that beast boyfriend of yours - that's hysterical."

Baekhyun's cheeks flushed and bright red and would've charged at Jongin if it wasn't for Jongdae holding him back, shouting things along the lines of 'Give it up Baek.' or 'He's not worth it.'

At the back of the room, Joonmyeon sat and observed the scene, Being President of the Student Body had it's perks and he was thinking of letting Jongdae experience them as well.

I'm back /)u(\

Sorry for the hiatus but here we are with some mother fights and school fights

The joys of this fanfic xD

Comments, Suscribers and Upvotes make me happy /)^u^(\