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YURIM
I looked down at my phone for what felt like the hundredth time. It's been almost a week since I've heard from Hoseok. At first I worried that something might have happened to him. That maybe Jei came for him but when I called his house. His uncle answered and assured me Hoseok was home recovering just fine. Now I've resorted to only calling the landline since it's the only time I get an answer from Mr. Jung and even Heejae a couple of times.
A folded piece of paper plopped down right on my homemade japchae. I observed it with an irritated brow then glared up at the person who put it there. A girl I didn't know glared back at me. Her arms were folded in a defiant way, her hip dramatically pushed out to one side. It reminded me of the way Minju stood when she was angry at me.
"Who are you?" I asked, irked.
"Nothing but a messenger, apparently," she looked me up and down with disgust. "Just don't think this makes you special."
Without another word, the girl strutted out of my homeroom class. Everyone else watched her storm out then stared at me curiously. I shook my head as I stared after her with unbelief.
"Is she crazy?" I mumbled to myself.
I stared back down at the paper now stained with sauce then opened it up. In small letters it read, meet me in the music room. Next to the message was a heart with a smiley face on it. The note seemed to ease the resentment I just felt from my unfriendly encounter. But who could it be from?
The heart made me suspect it had been from Jin, but I wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking. It would make sense that the girl was so salty about it. After remembering the reaction of the girls in the hall when Seokjin held my hand, it seemed very likely.
I packed up my lunch and went towards the music room.
When I got there, I was surprised that it had been empty. I was sure music students spent extra time practicing their instruments here during breaks.
I walked toward the front of the fan shaped room where a bunch of abandoned instruments sat. Two xylophones, a big drum, and a few piano keyboards, one of which were left on. Everything looked scattered and forgotten. Students were usually responsible enough to organize everything before they left.
Chairs lined the crescent risers on the other half of the room. Classrooms could feel so eerie when no one was around.
I fiddled around on the xylophone and piano a bit before deciding no one was coming. I rolled my eyes and marched back to the door. It finally occurred to me that the ill-mannered girl from before must've been trolling me for the same reason she had an attitude - which was still a mystery to me.
I swung the door open before I was yanked backwards, a hand clasped over my mouth. A split second recollection of Yoongi pulling me into the stairwell flashed in my head but I knew immediately that this person was not Yoongi.
Fire surged through me while struggling to break free but they were too strong. I was brought into a dark room; one of the sound proof practice rooms. I screamed out when they withdrew their hand to open the door, but it didn't matter. No one could hear me.
Once in, my back slammed against the wall. The boy, as I could tell by his strength and height, trapped my arms above my head. I could feel his warm, labored breaths on my cheek. I flinched away at the slightest touch of our foreheads.
"YA!" my voice trembled, "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY? LET ME OUT!"
There was a little square window with thick glass on the door where one could see outside. When he lifted his head, the light that leaked in revealed half of his face. As soon as I saw it, my blood seethed.
"YOU!" I snarled. Taehyung had me trapped just like that day in the bathroom. Only this time there was no attempt to appear sweet, no subtleties.
"Look at you, not recognizing a blessing when he's staring you right the face. You know how many people wish to be where you are right now?" Taehyung bared his teeth, "You don't even deserve it! You don't deserve him! There's nothing special about you!"
"What the hell are you even talking about?" I struggled. "You all really are crazy aren't you?"
"You have no business talking to him," he ignored me, "he's way out of your league. He just wants to make me crazy, that's it! That's the only explanation. But that's okay, I have a plan." I squealed when he came close. What felt like the tip of his nose traced the side of my face from temple to jaw, raising the hair on my neck.
"STOP!" I cried.
"By the time we're done here, I promise you he'll never even look at you again. No one will ever want to associate themselves with filthy leftovers," his voice on my ear sent a sickening chill through my body.
I still hadn't had any idea what he was saying. All I could comprehend was the fact that he was utterly insane! "I SAID STOP!"
Taehyung's knee had just slipped between my thighs when I was suddenly freed. With a gasp I watched as he was dragged out of the room by none other than Yoongi. His eyes hidden beneath his black bangs.
Yoongi threw him like a rag doll. I couldn't see the fall from inside the room, but I did hear a few chairs crash. Still shaking and buzzing from the adrenaline, I stayed where I was as though frozen. Listening to the noise of what sounded like a one sided fight.
"I didn't do anything yet!" I heard Taehyung yell frantically. I flinched as more crashes and moans of pain could be heard.
When I got my bearings, I inched out of the dark room. Dozens of chairs were dispersed and overturned, resembling the breaking barriers in war pictures. At my feet a school jacket lay dispensed. I looked up to find Yoongi standing over Taehyung, his chest heaving under his white button up shirt. It was his. I picked up the jacket to give it to him, but I couldn't. My feet wouldn't move toward him. He noticed me with a quick side swipe of his eyes but avoided looking directly at me.
"Go," he said, "don't worry about him anymore."
Suddenly Taehyung sprang into a run but Yoongi was too quick. The latter grabbed him and threw him into the over turned chairs. The crash made me jump and flee toward the door. I couldn't watch.
I rushed out into the hall then to a nearby courtyard. The fresh air helped clear the tension in my body. After some deep breaths, I noticed an ache in my wrists where Taehyung had his hold on me. Then I remembered that I was holding something.
I turned the navy blue uniform in my hand. A flap rolled over, revealing Yoongi's name tag. I ran my thumb over the letters, my shoulders slumping.
A weird feeling started in my chest. Half hope, half sadness - each on a side of a flipping coin that never lands. I'd been avoiding him like the plague this week. As much as I'd like to blame it on worrying for Hoseok, there were other reasons that I wasn't ready to address. This feeling was one of them.
I shook my head and draped the jacket on my arm, the sharp cornered tag tucked deep inside. Returning it was the least I could do for him standing up for me. Maybe I could just leave it outside the music room and sneak away.
When I turned back I came face to face with who I thought I'd never see again. Goosebumps sprouted up my arms, my body tense.
"Huh, so you're here," the blonde boy said. "Alone at last."
My balance faltered, "Namjoon."
The bully's tall form strolled two steps closer, which I stepped back from. The boy stood out wearing regular street clothes. That and the fact that he was Kim Namjoon, the most feared boy in school who was supposed to be away in Juvie. I clutched the navy jacket, focused on not panicking. This made him chuckle.
"Relax, I didn't come looking for you."
The reassurance did nothing to relax me. Surely he had to be talking about Hoseok or Yoongi, the two who had clashed with him and Jungkook last we saw them.
"They're not here," I replied quickly. "H-how are you here?"
"Yurim-ah!" A third voice echoed along with heavy breaths and feet. Yoongi flew over a stone bench before stopping in between us, sweaty and panting. I stared at him, dumbfounded. Yurim...ah?
"Oh, Yoongi!" Namjoon greeted.
"Taehyung said you were back," he said looking around us as though searching for someone.
Namjoon clicked his tongue, "what's with you two being so suspicious? Don't you trust me? Jungkookie's not here. I guess his mom finally decided she was better off with him gone. I predicted that."
"And why aren't you gone too?" Yoongi spat.
The bully sighed. "That guy got me out again. People started to talk about his delinquent son. He didn't like that."
"And now I guess you're gonna give us a hard time now to celebrate undeserved freedom."
Namjoon scoffed with a resentful smirk, "sounds like fun - but no. The bastard's sending me to America. Where rumors of his son won't reach his company standing. Looks like I'll have to have fun some other way."
"Great, so why are you here?" Yoongi's hasty response made Namjoon laugh.
"Look at you. So chatty today! You even buttoned your shirt all the way!" the blonde pointed as he started circling leisurely around us. "I came to see you actually. I wanted to thank you."
Yoongi huffed.
"It's true! You don't know how long I'd been waiting to see that monster from back then reappear. Remember that day with the Park kid?" I shot a glance at Yoongi. His jaw muscles tensed but his hard glare didn't let up. "I always wondered what it took to get you to that point again. And now I know," his gaze shifted over to me.
I looked away, unable to meet the boy's predator-like eyes.
"I was starting to worry that you hadn't learned anything," Namjoon continued, "that you were trying to be someone you're not. And then you showed up to our little camp fire. It took a while, but you got there. You proved who you were that night. I just wanted to say I'm thankful I was able to see it before getting shipped off."
I shook my head at his words. I wanted to tell him that he was wrong. I wanted to tell him...
"No," said Yoongi.
"Huh?" The bully leaned in. It was as though he'd never been contradicted before.
"You don't know who I am, you never did. Maybe I am a piece o' shit, but you're wrong about that night. That's not who I am." Yoongi's words sparked a fire in me. Fire and perhaps even pride. "And even if it was I could change."
Namjoon laughed, "those aren't even your words! You don't really believe that bullshit."
"It is what it is."
Just then a small group of men in suits came in the middle of Namjoon's twitching lip to take him away. As they walked, his eyes watched us begrudgingly before coughs of laughter shook his body. I shivered thinking the boy's unhinged laugh reminded me of the disturbing Jei. When he was finally gone, I finally let out a shaky breath.
"Uh...you have my jacket."
"Huh? Oh, right," I gave it back to him.
An awkward silence fell as he shrugged it back on. My hands looked for something else to do as they were suddenly without a job. For lack of ideas, I rested them in my pockets.
I noticed he kept himself facing elsewhere.
"So..." I blurted out without much of a plan. "Um...I just wanted to say-"
"Yurim!" Two new pairs of feet came clicking onto the concrete courtyard. Seokjin approached with a worried look. Jimin followed closely behind him, his eyes flickered at Yoongi. "Someone from our class said they spotted Namjoon around so we came looking for you."
"That was sweet of you," I looked gratefully at both of them. "I saw him, yes, but Yoon.." I turned to praise Yoongi and what he'd done for me today but he was gone. I searched around but there was no sign of him. A hole burrowed into my chest like the last time he did something similar. "Well, Namjoon is gone for good anyway."
I told them what Namjoon said about his dad sending him to America and the few things he said about Jungkook. It certainly looked like they wouldn't have to worry about them again. I was scared to hope.
"That's great! Now we can have fun tonight without worries!" Jimin hooked an arm around my neck.
"Tonight? What are you talking about?" I asked. The two boys looked at each other, clueless as to why I didn't know.
"The carnival. Remember?" Seokjin inquired with a concerned look.
That's right. The last time I had heard anything about it was in the food court with Yoongi and Hoseok. Hoseok promised he'd go but he'd stayed home this entire week. Yoongi didn't confirm what his thoughts were but after the way I avoided him and his reluctance to face me today, I think it was safe to say I wouldn't see him there either.
"I guess I forgot," I smiled though drained by the afternoon's disturbing events.
"You're still going, aren't you?" Jimin made puppy dog eyes, "Jin even came up with a whole plan on how he's gonna sneak out just for you."
"But you don't have to go out if you're not feeling up to it," Jin added quickly.
My shoulders felt like lead and not because Jimin was still resting his arm on my shoulders. I really hoped Hoseok would come along. And after what Yoongi just did, I didn't feel so proud of the way I'd been treating him since the night in the Jung's garden. I wondered if he remembered the carnival tonight.
"Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Once I looked at Seokjin, I felt a something wet drop in my cheek. I gasped and quickly wiped it, "y-yeah! I'm fine!"
"Oh? Are you crying?" Jimin asked before being shoo'd away by Jin who took me to the side. "I can comfort her too, you know!" he backed off, slightly offended.
Seokjin shielded my teary eyes from passing students with his body. He held my arms gently with a look of concern. "What's wrong? Was it Namjoon? Did he do something else?" I shook my head.
"No, it's not that," I tried managing an assuring smile. I knew he'd just wait for an explanation but how could I even begin to explain? Not even I fully understood where these tears were coming from. Could it be my shock from earlier wearing off?
No. That wasn't it.
"I-it's Hoseok. I hadn't seen or heard from him this whole week," I decided to say. Jin blinked, perplexed.
"I don't understand. Did you two have a fight? Is he sick?"
"He..." I hesitated. "He was involved in a small accident last week and has been in recovery. I thought he'd contact me at least once to let me know he was okay, but he hasn't."
Jin was silent for a while, his eyes serious. When he finally looked back at me he patted my shoulders with a smile, "I'm sure he's okay. And...we don't have to go to the carnival. But if you don't mind, I'd like a chance to cheer you up. We could do something where there isn't too many people," he suggested delicately.
"No way, you both have been looking forward to this carnival. You should go."
"There's not much point without you," he picked up my hands, his thumbs softly traced my knuckles. "Besides, how can I have fun when you're having a hard time?"
I gawked at him like I always do when he said something amazing. At the same time, my eyes pooled then I threw my arms around his waist and embraced him. I didn't even try to hide the sniffles or the tears. His arms closed around me - an instant remedy. This is what it was supposed to feel like...
"Thank you."
ns 15.158.61.5da2
