“Sorry, sorry!” Junhyo whispered, “I think I kicked a bucket. I couldn't see anything.”

Hana closed her eyes, praying that either the mother didn't notice, or the son helped.

“Ah!”

Mrs Han jumped when Hyuk shouted and heard a clash. She turned and the scene in front of her eyes made her jaw drop.

The trio heaved a sigh of relief when they heard Hyuk helping. Hye Jin grabbed Junhyo’s shoulders from the back and whispered to him, half mad and half relieved, “Be careful for God's sake!”

“Geez, I apologised!”

The principal scurried towards her son and picked the metal jug and cups up and placed them onto the tray, then back onto the table.

She hissed, “What are you doing?”

He apologised, “It was on accident. I was stretching, the-”

“If the nurses found out you dropped it all, it would be so embarrassing. Your status, son. Status. You’re lucky this jug has a cover and a small lock attached to it. If the water spills- Oh, how embarrassing.”

Hyuk rolled his eyes, it was on purpose, mom, and yeah, whatever with this status thing. I love you but it’s getting really annoying.

The toilet door was not fully closed and Hana peeped through the hole, curious and anxious.

When will she leave?

Hyuk just pulled the blanket over him and talked to his mother, irritated, “Mom, I’m tired and I wish to sleep right now. May you leave now?”

She couldn’t say no, considering it was late and she had unfinished business from work.

“Okay then, sleep well. I’ll visit you tomorrow, okay? I’m going now.”

With that, she picked her bag up and left.

Finally.

“Guys, come out.”

Hana slid the door open and ran out, fanning herself. The other two came out too, sweat all over their bodies. Hye Jin stared at Junhyo then playfully smacked him in the shoulder, “We almost died.”

Hyuk just glared at them, “Don’t ever do that again, okay? You never know when or what time my mom would be coming and it won't be good if she finds out.”

The three of them looked down, ashamed with guilt, but they looked up when they heard Hyuk thank them.

Hye Jin spoke, “Why the thanks?”

Hyuk’s ears reddened, “W-well… F-for caring. For wanting to keep me company and feeling bad even though my stay in the hospital is not your doing. Even though it’s not your fault. T-thanks, guys.”

By the time he finished speaking, he was red as a tomato. Hye Jin was about to make fun of him, when an announcement came on, interrupting her, requesting all visitors to leave as visiting hours were over.

The three decided to leave the still nicely packed food into the fridge that the hospital provided in his room, with Junhyo announcing, “Sanghyuk is a richass punk.” and the girls laughing. They told him that if his parents found the food, he could tell them that it was brought by the trio from that morning as they never checked the fridge when they visited that day.

With that, they took the plastic bags of messily thrown, half-eaten food and bid him farewell, allowing him to rest.

---------------

The next day, the three were called into the principal office. They walked together, ignoring the looks given by the other students.

When they came face to face with the middle-aged lady, they stood with their hands behind their backs and kept silent.

“So?”

Mrs Han tapped her desk rather impatiently, as if expecting the three to say something.

Then she finally spoke again, “What happened, exactly? I want to know every single detail about that day. About how he fainted and suffered.”

---------------

“What? How… How did you guys not know that he was feeling tired and stuff? You’ve been with him throughout the whole project, yet you’ve all not notice anything? What an unreasonable act. Didn’t your parents teach you to care for others? Isn’t my beloved son your friend? And you act like nothing happened!”

Hye Jin was guilty, but a thought came into her mind, and it only made her mad. Her hands were now hung lazily by her side and she laughed sarcastically.

“Unreasonable? Principal Han, you’re really funny. You talk about our parents? We act like nothing happened? You-”

Junhyo pulled her left arm and shook his head, signaling her to stop when she looked at him, but of course, Hye Jin told him to let go and shook his hand off.

This time, she slammed her hands on the principal's desk, and glared at her.

“You said all that, but what about yourself, as his so-called mother? We may not know because he’s usually energetic and he still was that day, but what about you? You call yourself his mother and said that he was your beloved son, so you should know him better than we do. You’re usually together from morning till school ends, and where do you stay? With him. Yet, you don’t realise? And it’s our fault, not yours?”

Upon hearing that, the woman’s eye twitched. She told Junhyo and Hana to get out, and leave Hye Jin and herself alone. Hana gave Hye Jin a worried look, but Hye Jin reassured the two that everything would be fine, so the duo walked out and waited.

Once she was sure they closed the sound-proof door, she turned and glared at Hye Jin.

“If you continue clinging to Sanghyuk like that, you’ll regret it. It won’t do you any good.”

Hye Jin scoffed, “What would y-”

The principal smiled and interrupted her, “I’ll suspend you. Don’t forget, I’m the principal. Your place in the school is in my hands. I’ve heard that you worked really hard to come here; you wouldn’t want to put your hard work to waste, right?”

Hye Jin felt herself tense. She’d totally forgotten about it. The woman in front of her had the power to kick her out of the school. She’d tried so hard, with all her might, to come to this school, how could she just lose it like that? But at the same time, she didn’t see the need to leave Hyuk, why should she, just because of one accident?

So she sighed in defeat and asked, “Why? Why is it so important to keep Hyuk and I apart? Is being friends with him a crime?”

“Sanghyuk doesn’t need a friend like you. It’ll only hurt him like how it did yesterday,” the principal answered simply.

I guess she just doesn’t want Hyuk to find out the truth behind his adoption and the orphanage.

So she decided to make a deal with Mrs Han.

“Then, I’ll offer a deal. I’ll keep my mouth shut, but you’ll let us be friends.”

What Hye Jin didn’t know, was that under the mask of a mother not wanting her adopted son to find out the truth, was a woman that caused a boy to be an orphan, and she was taking care of him, so neither Hye Jin or Hyuk himself would find out.

She was reluctant at first, but then pondered and nodded.

“Fine. If you keep your mouth shut.”

Hye Jin smiled, “Then, I apologise for earlier. Goodbye.”

She closed the door behind her and looked at the duo who looked back worriedly. She knew what they were itching to ask.

She smiled, “Nothing much happened. She just said she knows she had played a part in Hyuk fainting too, but told us not to do it again and to be more careful in the future.”

They sighed in relief and looked convinced.

“Let’s go for lunch now!” the duo said simultaneously and laughed.

Then Hye Jin grinned and put her hands behind them and playfully pushed them.

“Come on, I’m hungry. Let’s go now!”

---------------

[A/N: L; yo guys :’) just so you know chapter ten will be out on christmas :’)

it’s probably gonna be quite long xD merry christmas in advance! ♡ and thank you all for reading ♡ ily all ♥

K : Okay so firstly this chapter will be uploaded by L cause I'm oversea and do not have my computer with me even tho I'm sure L will be using her phone 😂 but  whatever. I'm sorry this chapter is uploaded so late it's because I said I'll upload it but //coughs as u can see I never did it.I'll be back in sg by Friday which is tomorrow lmao but this chapter was meant to go up like 1-2 weeks ago.So L is going to upload it this time 😂🌚 Not a big deal but still 🌚😂 Chapter 10 will be up on Christmas ( sg time Christmas @ least so when we upload it,its might be still Christmas eve for you people living opposite of the globe ) I hope u guys will like chapter 10 since its a pretty long after 😂 considering all these while the chapters are around 1000+ words but chapter 10 is about 2000+ words longer 🌚 Thanks for reading 😄 Love y'all !! ]

^ sorry for the long a/n - K

follow us on ig if u want :

L - @junhohohong

^ if u were a long reader yes she did change her username 🌚😏

K - @kpoo.p