Chapter 40: Early Afternoon
next update onnn saturday or sunday i'm not sure.
or saturday AND sunday. we'll see
arrivederci
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things were slowly going back to normal. minseul thought so too. the week went amazing for her, not just because of soonyoung, but because some of the boys drop by every now and then. she misses every single one of them, especially seungkwan. however, seungkwan hasn't shown up since the argument with jihoon.
"oh, you're up so early, good morning!" she greeted once soonyoung stepped inside the kitchen. mingyu and minseul were just preparing breakfast, while wonwoo and jihoon were still asleep. soonyoung leaned in on the counter and just watched the pair cook.
"minseul, wrong ingredient," mingyu laughed, "and that's not even the right amount!"
"but you said—"
"ah here comes your excuses, you go take care of the rice instead! didn't you say you're good with that?"
minseul sighed in defeat as he switched places with mingyu. "yeah well i can cook 1-minute rice in like, 58 seconds."
"minseul, that's not a cooking skill," mingyu chuckled.
"well whatever!"
the two of them kept bickering while soonyoung was just watching merely for a little bit of entertainment. it was amusing, really. but somehow he couldn't bring himself to enjoy the little things anymore because his mind is always clouded with negativity.
minseul stopped working for a second and turned aroungm seeing soonyoung staring at blank space with a pout on his face. he looked sad, she thought. "soonie, you alright? is something bothering you?" she asked
soonyoung looked at her and his facial expression brightened, "i'm okay, i'm just thinking about..i don't know, unnecessary things?"
"isn't it too early for that?" mingyu asked, "think good thoughts in the morning, hyung. start your morning with something positive and it'll carry on throughout the day."
"wow, i wish," soonyoung replied
"it's true, trust me."
soonyoung nodded. positive thoughts. he needed to think of positive thoughts, but the thing is that there's nothing he could think of.
it should be worrying that someone like him had gotten so pessimistic, when he's the type to always brighten up everything at all times. he was always the sun in the room (except when seokmin is around because nobody can ever outshine him) and he usually kept things lighthearted and funny.
for the past three days, soonyoung had been trying to bring himself back.
his thoughts were interrupted once mingyu and minseul finished up. the two did some kind of special handshake before bursting into laughter and preparing the meals. then, minseul walked over to soonyoung just to pinch his cheek. "don't look so sad in the morning, soon," she told him
"do i look sad? it's just my neutral face."
"no, that one's different from the face you were making just a few seconds ago. i know you, soonyoung."
the boy laughed softly. minseul really knows his face when he's down. the thing is, he doesn't even want to feel down. soonyoung is genuinely doing his best to get back to her and it's just not working yet. especially with the chaotic state of his mind.
"i'm not down."
"oh yes you are!" the girl replied, "mind telling me about it?"
soonyoung pursed his lips. "hmm...i don't know what to tell you though, because i already made it clear that i'm fine," he said with a smile. minseul just shook her head and gave soonyoung a hug when he stretched his arms out, asking for one.
he hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head.
"you're being sweet today," minseul pointed out
"i just feel like it," soonyoung replied, "do you not want me to be this way?"
"well i'm not complaining about it."
minseul pulled away from the hug when she saw wonwoo walk in. she happily greeted the boy and told him to join them have breakfast. minseul was wondering if jihoon was already awake so mingyu checked up on him. unfortunately, the boy didn't want to get up yet so the rest had to eat without him.
"y'all got a text from joshua hyung?" wonwoo asked
"yeah, that shit was funny. since when did he start sending little nuggets of wisdom daily?" mingyu laughed, he almost choked on his food. "i didn't expect to see an albert einstein quote on my screen this morning."
"einstein? i got a robert frost quote," wonwoo replied, then turned to soonyoung, "what did you get?"
soonyoung shrugged, "don't know, i haven't checked my phone."
"don't tell me joshua hyung actually has a different message for every member, this shit's wild," mingyu continued to laugh.
out of nowhere, they were interrupted by minseul's phone ringing on the counter. the girl excused herself to go pick it up, but once she looked at the screen, she realized that the number is unfamiliar. minseul hesitated to answer and she only stared at her screen, contemplating. the moment she tried to accept, the phone stopped ringing.
"did anybody get a new phone?" she asked the boys
"no, i don't think so. jihoon doesn't have his phone right now but he also didn't get a new one," wonwoo answered, "none of the other boys mentioned having a new phone or number."
"you shouldn't worry so much about that, it might be just a wrong caller," soonyoung added and gestured towards minseul to sit back down and eat. soonyoung was right, minseul thought. eventually, she forgot about that call.
jihoon only got out of bed around half past eleven. of course, the others left a serving for him in case he still wanted to eat breakfast. he was eating alone in the dining room when minseul entered to grab something in the fridge.
"oh hey jihoon, are you okay?"
jihoon glanced up at her and nodded. "yeah why?"
"you look really tired. is mr. jung still giving you the special heavy workload?"
"mhm."
"i really don't get that guy," minseul sighed, "he's such a weirdo. you think he's doing the same to other students in our class? i wanted to ask daein about it but she blocked me."
"i think he's doing the same to others. it can't be just me, can it? that would be really stupid."
"still, i wonder why."
"oh you're not alone," jihoon replied, "he actually asked me about something."
"about what?"
jihoon paused for a moment, then shook his head. "no, nevermind. it's really not that important. it's just another project thing that further reduces my life span."
"well if something's not right, tell us."
"i will."
the two had a little more time to talk before minseul finally gave jihoon his precious alone time. she came back to the living room, where soonyoung was watching tv. wonwoo and mingyu had gone out to quickly get groceries.
she sat next to soonyoung and the boy placed his arm around her.
"what are you watching?"
"i don't know what i'm watching," soonyoung chuckled, "this show is so confusing i don't know what's going on."
"change it then?"
"nah it's entertaining. i'm just really confused."
minseul snuggled close to the boy and yawned. it was almost afternoon so she didn't want to fall asleep, but she was enveloped in warmth and it was all too comfortable. soonyoung was even brushing her hair with his fingers. "are you sleepy?" he asked. minseul moved away and rubbed her eyes.
"i'm sleepy, but i don't want to sleep. it's almost afternoon! i have class a little later."
"go for a nap, i'll wake you up."
"will you really?"
soonyoung gave her a light, airy laugh. "of course, i'll just stay here while you sleep. it won't be long anyway. come here," he said with open arms. minseul didn't hesitate to snuggle up to him. in just a few minutes, she drifted to sleep. soonyoung stayed, just like he said, and held her tight while he watched tv.
when wonwoo and mingyu arrived, they seemed to be arguing about something. soonyoung then glanced over his shoulder and gestured them to be quiet. mingyu placed a hand over his mouth and playfully hit wonwoo on his arm while the latter pursed his lips in an attempt to suppress his laughter.
"hey, seungcheol and joshua hyung are coming over," mingyu whispered to soonyoung as he was taking his mask off
"joshua hyung? i thought he didn't want to go out?"
"i don't know, man, maybe seungcheol hyung bribed him to go."
"did they mention the time?"
mingyu looked at wonwoo, who just shrugged. "we don't know," mingyu muttered and followed wonwoo to the kitchen. soonyoung just let out a sigh. seungcheol is probably going to check up on him and jihoon. none of the other boys know that he's back with minseul yet, and just thinking about their reactions scares the shit out of him.
soonyoung just doesn't want to disappoint his friends.
after an hour, he gave up trying to understand the animated show he was watching so he grabbed the remote and turned the tv off. it's time to wake minseul up anyway.
"minseul, wake up," he softly said, "minseul."
he paused when he heard voices from outside. seungcheol and joshua must have arrived, he thought. there were a few knocks on the door and mingyu came sprinting to open it.
"my beautiful hyungs!" he welcomed. seungcheol and joshua just exchanged stares and ignored him as a joke.
"did you hear that?" joshua asked
"hear what? i didn't hear anything," seungcheol replied as he walked past a pouting mingyu.
"hey oldies, masks off!" mingyu told the two, "put some sanitizers too, here, i have one."
seungcheol and joshua hurried back to the boy. "mingyu this is why you're the best!" the older claimed
"eh? after you ignore me like that!?"
seungcheol raised an eyebrow upon seeing soonyoung and minseul on the couch. his eyes traveled to soonyoung's arms holding minseul, then up to the girl's sleeping face. seungcheol immediately rubbed both of his eyes in disbelief. what kind of hand sanitizer did mingyu give me? he asked himself. he thought he was seeing things.
it wasn't long until soonyoung quickly turned to his side, meeting the seungcheol"s gaze.
"hey, hyung."
"h-hi," the older greeted, "is this what i think this—"
"it's exactly what you think."
"but what about...you know, ji-"
soonyoung placed his finger over his lips to shush seungcheol. he couldn't have him mentioning jihoon while minseul is around. luckily, seungcheol got the idea right away. he only truly realized his luck when minseul woke up to her phone ringing.
the girl seemed startled. she reached for her phone and squinted at the screen. "huh? it's the number again. i'm not in the mood to answer though," she muttered, setting her phone on silent mode. "seungcheol! you're here?"
"yeah, hi! i'm with shua as well."
"hello beautiful," joshua greeted with a smile on his face. minseul only laughed, while soonyoung and seungcheol almost died of cringe. seungcheol then excused himself to make his way to the dining area, where jihoon was.
"yo, yo jihoon!"
jihoon almost choked on his drink upon hearing seungcheol's voice. what the hell is this idiot doing here? he asked himself. he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and looked over his shoulder, seeing seungcheol approaching.
"hey what the fuck? did they get back together? and you didn't tell me?" seungcheol asked him as soon as he entered the room. he grabbed a chair and sat in front of the boy.
jihoon was unfazed as ever, he just stared at seungcheol and shrugged. "do i look like i have a phone?"
"oh come on, you have your laptop. now how long has this been going on?"
jihoon stirred the spoon around his empty mug, "maybe three? four days? maybe almost a week. don't ask me about time, i lose track easily."
"is it genuine though?"
"yeah, i guess. soonyoung can't act that well even if his life depended on it. so i doubt he's acting now. he's really trying, hyung."
"unbelievable," seungcheol whispered under his breath, "isn't it too fast?"
"too fast?" jihoon snickered "like soonyoung didn't snatch minseul from joshua hyung in a minute. he's always like that. he even fell in love with her in like, two days"
"well you got a point."
"geminis, you know." jihoon rested his chin on his hand. he already looked completely uninterested in the conversation and seungcheol could tell. however, it's the reason why he came to visit in the first place. he wanted to see how things were.
he didn't expect soonyoung to get back together with minseul though. that boy, really, he mused. he's always trying to please everyone around him.
"there's something i'd like to tell you about though," the younger continued, "mind keeping it a secret? it's embarrassing, really."
"what is it?"
"promise me first."
"oh god," seungcheol rolled his eyes. jihoon's really out here making him say i promise, when he already knew damn well that he's trustworthy. "okay jihoon, i promise i won't tell."
great. jihoon let out a bitter chuckle. he was looking straight into seungcheol's eyes, frowning as he did. "hyung," he mumbled, "i failed my music subject."
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so that's it for today folks
we're really just getting started ngl. hope you don't mind the drama
stay safe and healthy! ✨ see u next update
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