Chapter 16

When it comes to your friendship with Jongin and Sehun, it’s no secret that you’re closer to the latter.

It might sound odd to some people since people would normally think it’d be easier to befriend Kim Jongin who is known to be easygoing and generous with smiles, while Sehun is quite the opposite. However, you somehow connect faster with the notoriously cold and callous Oh Sehun, odd as it may seem. With Kim Jongin, on the other hand, you need a bit more time to feel comfortable around him.

Nevertheless, although you’re not entirely close to him, you know Jongin enough to be able to tell if something was wrong with him.

“Is Jongin okay?” you asked Sehun with a hushed voice as you glanced over at the said male.

Sehun tore his eyes off his notes and scanned the classroom in search of his friend. “I’m pretty sure he’s okay. Why?”

“He dragged Hye Ra out of the classroom earlier and came back with a weird look on his face,” you told him. “Aren’t you going to ask him if he’s okay?”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” he replied rather disinterestedly, focusing back to the paper in his hand.

“But look at him!” you nudged him, encouraging him to take another look. “He doesn’t look fine,”

Sehun heaved a sigh before glancing back at him. “Alice, he’s okay,” he stressed that last part before turning back to you. “Even if he wasn’t, there’s nothing we can do about it. Jongin isn’t the type who likes to be consoled when he’s upset, he’d rather be left alone.”

You knit your eyebrows in concern at his words. “But…”

You flickered your eyes back to Jongin, the male currently sitting down with his partner and seemingly engrossed in a discussion. To be fair, Jongin does look pretty okay. But you can’t seem to shake off this weird gut feeling that something’s off with him. You weren’t convinced by Sehun’s words, nor by Jongin’s façade, but you decided to keep quiet since you didn’t know what else to say.

After the whole fiasco with Hye Ra, Jongin’s behavior was rather… concerning. Or at least it was for you. Sehun didn’t seem to agree. 

When Jongin came back to the classroom with Hye Ra, he had a somewhat unreadable expression. Hye Ra seemed obviously upset, anger just b in her system. In fact, she immediately bolted to the farthest corner from Jongin as soon as he’s within her view.

Ironically, she couldn’t take her eyes off him during his Biology presentation. Sehun even went as far as to comment that she was boring holes on his head, something you still don’t know if you should laugh at or be nervous about. Her animosity towards the male was just that apparent that even Sehun cared enough to comment about it.

Jongin, on the other hand, didn’t seem to treat like she existed. He swiftly and somewhat naturally removed himself from conversations involving the girl, managing to find excuses to get out of it. He didn’t bother watching her presentation either during class.  And his ignorance seemed to have fueled her anger towards him too.

“I think I need to move my seat,” Sehun mentioned all of a sudden during lunch. “Can I sit beside you?”

“Why?” you asked him.

“That girl kept glaring at Jongin. It’s annoying,” he muttered. He didn’t have to explain who he was implying for you to know it’s Hye Ra. As Jongin’s desk mate, it’s quite inevitable that anybody’s stare at Jongin would also be somewhat directed towards him too due to his seating position.

You merely chuckled awkwardly at Sehun’s grumbling before moving your eyes to a quiet Jongin, the male currently busy with his meal. “Um… Jongin?” you called the said male as you watched him absent-mindedly play with his food.

Jongin looked up from his lunch to lock eyes with you. “Hm?” he hummed.

“Are you… okay?” you asked rather hesitantly, your voice small. “You seemed a bit upset after walking out with Hye Ra earlier today,” you mentioned in a small voice, hoping that it won’t hit a nerve.  

Jongin stilled for a moment before breaking a sweet smile. “Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing.” he waved it off before focusing back to his plate.

Okay, that tone isn’t helping.

There wasn’t much room for an argument with the nice, yet finalizing way he said it. It was as if he was saying ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ right in your face, but in a very polite way.

“Are you sure?” you frowned a bit, unconvinced by his smile since everything else contradicted his comment.

“Alice.” Sehun whispered sternly as he nudged you from under the table.

You jolted a bit as you turned to see Sehun displaying a stiff yet somewhat uneasy expression whilst avoiding eye contact—these were clear signs that you did something wrong. Gulping, you slowly craned your head to see Jongin with the coldest expression you’ve ever seen him wear. Pursing his lips, Jongin placed down his spoon on his tray and got up from his seat.

The guilt came almost instantly like a ton of bricks.

“Jongin, please—don’t, I’m sorry,” you immediately stood up in panic.

“I’m not hungry anymore.” Jongin shook his head, implying that he’s dismissing himself because of his own reason.

“But, I—“ before you could even finish half your sentence, Jongin had bolted away from the table with his tray in his hand.

You watched in silence as Jongin disappeared through the crowd, leaving you speechless and puzzled.

“… He’s gone, Alice,” Sehun broke the silence in a small voice, pulling your hand down in attempt to get you to sit down.

“I have to go after him,” you mumbled, still a bit in a daze. “I can’t leave it like this. I need to apologize to him,” you pulled your hand away as you tried to make a run for it, but Sehun quickly pulled you back.

“It’s useless,” the blond sighed. “I told you, didn’t I? He doesn’t like to be probed. Just leave him alone,”

You quickly turned to Sehun to voice your reason, “I just thought that—!“

“I know, you were just being nice,” he nodded, his calmness almost coaxing you to relax.

Sighing heavily, you buried your face in your hands as you slowly sat back down. “I can’t believe I made him mad like that...”

“He wasn’t mad. He just felt like snapping since you were annoying him so he walked out,” Sehun patted your back in attempt to comfort you, unbeknownst to him that his words highly contrasted his attempt.

You turned your head to stare at the blond with a look on your face. “Wow, Sehun. Thanks, that really made me feel a lot better.” you sarcastically remarked.

“I meant to say that he wasn’t mad at you, so to avoid hurting you he went his way,” the blond clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes as he did so. “Just give him some space. He’ll be back to normal sooner or later.”

“You think so?”

“I know so,” Sehun nodded reassuringly. “Even if he’s mad, you’re not the one he’s mad at. It’s Hye Ra,”

“… Really?” you asked hesitantly, but not short of hope.

“What are you, an idiot?” the blond poked your head with his forefinger with a soft smile on his lips. “He obviously had an argument with the girl when they were outside o