8th➳

"Is your leg okay?" asked Joshua.

I took a seat on my chair, ignoring the weird looks my classmates began giving me when Joshua asked me a question. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Did your friend get you home okay? What's his name?" Joshua continued on asking.

"Lee... Woozi," I told him. I massaged my sore leg and tried to exercise it. It won't be good if I ran with a sprained leg. "He's... an old friend of mine."

"Ah, I see." Joshua nodded understandably. "He seems nice. At least I know that I'll have someone to trust you with when I'm not around. You showed me my flaw. I spoke about care when I myself couldn't care more. I will prove to you that I changed by taking care of you."

I laughed dryly and said, "You don't have to, Jisoo. I can take care of myself. You take care of yourself too."

Joshua frowned. "But I have an obligation now."

"You can take it back then."

"A gentleman doesn't simply take back their obligations, you know?" Joshua smiled.

"Right. I forgot you totally accepted the gentleman thing," I mumbled, looking away from him. "Anyway, we have to work on our art task thingy. Whatever that teacher was on about."

"Don't you remember the teachers' name?" he asked me, tilting his head. I could already see him smiling from the corner of my eye. "And yeah. We should hang out more. Get to know each other, like what the teacher was on about." 

I didn't answer.

"Hmm, you really don't pay attention in class often. Where on earth is your mind during classes, huh, Kwon Nari?" Joshua asked me, resting his chin on his palm.

"Shush now, little Joshie. You should be quiet during class," I reasoned, pressing my forefinger against his lips. But the moment I touched his lip, I felt shy and embarrassed. I could tell Joshua felt the same because his cheeks began showing colour. I quickly pulled away my finger away and pretended to be solving question on the book that was in front of me when in reality, I was drifting off to another daydream.

♥

"Hi, Nari-a!" a voice said as a face peered out in front of me.

My blank expression immediately changed into a surprised expression in a matter of second. "Jihoon! What are you doing here?!"

Jihoon slapped a hand onto my mouth and looked around cautiously. There was absolutely no one in this hallway during lunch break. I was just heading to the music room again since it was the only place I could be alone. In a whisper, he told me, "Don't call me Jihoon anymore. You have to call me Woozi from now on."

"Butㅡ"

"Okay?" Woozi asked me, a hint of a smile slowing stretching onto his face. "I'm a new person with a new name, but that doesn't mean the old me is fully gone. People will still remember in their hearts even if their minds can't remember."

I was close to licking his palm. If he doesn't remove his hand in the next second, I will seriously do it.

"Okay, I'm removing my hand now."

Good. I was this close to licking palm. "Jiㅡ Woozi, what are you even doing here? You're not even a student here. You can't just loiter around like you own the place!"

"When did you care so much about rules?" Woozi raised an eyebrow. Damn it, Jihoon still knew everything about me. "You know you always like bending the rules a little."

"Shut up. I hate you now," I complained, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked away.

"You still act like a kid, I see. Who's that guy from last night, anyway? Is he your boyfriend?" Jihoon began teasing me.

"N-no," I answered. I refused to look at him. Joshua isn't my boyfriend but the lip incident was making me feel all warm inside. I guess it was just too sudden the both of us ended up becoming flustered. "Stop coming here or I'll report it to the principal. How do you even come in here without the guard noticing?"

Jihoon shrugged. "I climbed up the wall."

"Right. That's so typical of you, JiJi," I said, making a clacking sound with my tongue.

"We're friends, aren't we, Nari?" Jihoon then asked. With a small smile, he said, "You just called me the old nickname you gave me when we were younger."

Dang it. Why'd I call him JiJi? "It's... it's a habit I picked up from then. Don't judge me."

Jihoon took a step forward and pulled me into an embrace.

"Yah! What do you think you're..."

"I've missed you, Nari. I've told you that a lot of times already but it's not enough for you to finally understand the hole that's been in my heart all these years. That time when I wanted to run away, I almost didn't. Because of you. I didn't want to leave you behind."

"But you did."

Jihoon grunted. He sounded like he really regretted it. "And I did. At first it was fun doing everything by yourself. But then I came to realize that I missed you so much. I told myself I was stupid that I left you behind. I wanted to go back but... I couldn't. I was a coward. I couldn't face you."

I was silent. I thought he left intentionally. I didn't know he actually wanted to come back.

"But now that I'm back. Now that I'm finally able to see your face again, I feel content. But you're giving me the cold shoulder. You told me words I should've heard years ago. I'm the biggest pabo you've ever met and I'm sorry you had me for a friend." Jihoon became weak and rested his head on my shoulder. I could hear quiet sobbing from him. "I'm... I'm sorry. I became someone you don't wish to know."

How could I hate him like this? I returned the hug and made sure I hugged him like I've never hugged him before. Ten years seem long enough to hug him this way. "I missed you too, JiJi."

Jihoon pulled away from the hug, rubbing his nose with his sleeve. "Are... are we still friends?"

"After hearing all that? I'd be lying if I said no," I said, giving him a smile. Extending my hand out, I greeted, "Annyeong. Nan Kwon Nari ibnida."

Jihoon smiled back and firmly gave me a handshake. "Annyeong, nan..." When I expected him to say Jihoon, he instead said, "Lee Woozi ibnida."

I smiled back at him. A friendship I thought was as long gone as my family somehow managed to come back to me. Maybe the empty spaces that were supposed to be empty don't always remain empty. Sometimes, they're left empty for better people to come and occupy.

♥

Joshua and I walked to the convenient store together. Having him as a friend, finally, actually feels... nice. Joshua's sense of humour is like a cat trying to wear huge sunglasses; it's not always funny, but it's still cute.

"Okay, I have one. Why did Adele cross the road?" Joshua asked, his eyes turning into little crescent moons. They looked adorable.

"Who's Adele?" I asked, confused.

"She's a British singer. But never mind that. Just say why," Joshua said, rubbing a tear from his eye. Did he really laugh that hard?

"Okay. Why?" I didn't really understand who she was, but I guess I'll just ask why.

"To say hello from the other side!" Joshua blurted out then in an instant, he burst out laughing hysterically, leaving me blank and dumbfounded. "You know... it's her song? Okay, never mind. I really suck at jokes."

"It's okay, Jisoo. You'll get better soon," I tried to cheer him on. In a mumble, I said, "Or maybe not..."

Joshua pushed the glass door open and a guy who looked like he was in his mid twenties immediately woke up from manning the cashier register. He gave Joshua a slight nod and yawned.

"Hey, Sunggyu hyung. How's it going here?" Joshua asked him, walking to behind the counter.

The one called Sunggyu let out another yawn and stretched his arms out. "Business is slow. Mian, I accidentally fell asleep. It's just that there's nothing else to do here. There aren't that many customers and the song the store is playing is making me feel really sleepy. You should change up the song."

"I'll keep that in mind, hyung," Joshua said, giving him a pat on the back as he threw me my apron. "Nice catch, Nari. You almost dropped it."

I gave him an apprehensive look. "Why'd you throw it? I thought you were a gentleman? Gentleman don't throw it to girls. They hand it to them gently."

"Sometimes I don't always have to be a gentleman," Joshua said with a smile and a light shrug. "I learned that from you, you know? You don't live to please everyone and you live your life carefree without anyone bringing you down. You don't seem like the one to take responsibility for things and leave them be."

I gave him a weak smile and headed to the far end of the aisle in the convenient store to rearrange the messed up items. Joshua thought I was the type who didn't take responsibility for things. But here I was, working my butt off to repay Jaemin's debt for him. I just managed to save up 32, 000 won. Thinking about it again, I was close to tears while rearranging the items on the shelves.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I slowly turned my head to the side and saw Joshua standing closely next to me as he examined my face. "Huh? O-oh, I'm fine. It's... It's the crisp air. It's making my eyes water up."

"Really? Should I turn it down a bit?" As Joshua was about to run over to decrease the air conditioner degrees, I held him back. He turned to face me. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "It's fine. I'm okay with it now. Go back to working now, Joshua. I just saw that Sunggyu guy leave the convenient store."

"Mwo? He did?" Joshua turned around and looked left to right to find the cash register empty. "Aish! Why did I hire him when all he's going to do is sleep and leave?"

I smiled and continued doing my work.

Joshua gave up ten minutes trying to contact Sunggyu. He wouldn't pick up the phone and he wasn't coming back anytime soon. So Joshua sat down in defeat.

I just stood next to the cash register, leaning against it with my crossed arms. There were no customers and the store has been empty for a whole half an hour now. Business was really slow today and I had my predictions I would leave without seeing a customer.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me in here," Joshua suddenly spoke up, which startled me a little because I had totally forgotten Joshua was standing behind the counter the entire time.

I turned around and put a hand over my heart. "Creep! You startled me!"

Joshua's lips pursed into a smile. "I did?"

I turned my body so I could be facing him. "Yeah so don't get funny ideas of scaring me next time. If you do so, Hong Jisoo, I'll make sure I'll visit you in your sleep and haunt you."

Joshua sarcastically replied with a grin, "Ooh~ I'm shaking in my sneakers, Kwon Nari. I'm definitely scared of you right now."

I smirked back at him, lightly slamming a fist on the counter top. "Don't underestimate me, Hong Jisoo. If you see a lady with white, long clothes and long black hair in your room tonight, don't make me say I told you so. Let's see who will get it in the end, Hong Jisoo."

"Pfft," Joshua said, rolling his eyes. "I don't believe in such things."

I took a step back and extended my arm out, pointing at his nose. "Just you'll see, Hong Jisoo. Something will happen tonight. At least a nightmare will do."

"Are you jinxing me?" Joshua asked me, raising another eyebrow as he playfully pushed my arm away.

Then the alarm on my phone went off. I took my phone out and turned it off. Smiling at him, I picked up my backpack. "Well, I gotta go, Jisoo. See you on Monday."

"Wait, Nari," Joshua called, preventing me from leaving the convenient store. He walked out of from behind the counter and stood in front of me. He scratched the back of his head and asked, "Are... you doing anything tomorrow?"

If I look at my schedule for Saturday, I see a free day. I shook my head and answered, "No. Waeyo?"

Joshua cleared his throat. "Do you... do you want to hangout tomorrow? You know, to, um... do our project. Yeah. The arts assignment."

"Yeah, sure," I agreed, nodding. I waved a hand and pushed the door open. "See you tomorrow then, Jisoo. Text me the place and time, okay?"

Joshua's smiled stretched into a wider one as he waved goodbye to me. "Oh, keurae! I'll see you tomorrow then!"

I smiled one last time before heading out of the convenient store and walked home. It was a good thing there were no Dads or perverts on the way.

♥

At home, Hoya and Jaemin weren't rushing to the door to greet me like cute little kids. It was unusually quiet, too, so my mind started to speculated things on what happened.

"Hoya-yah? Jaemin-a?" I called, putting my shoes away carefully as I walked into the living room/kitchen. They were no voices and it started to scare me.

I opened the door to my room but didn't go in. When I saw that they weren't inside, I just walked around the small apartment room in search for them. But they were no where to be found. I gave up afterwards and went back inside my room, where I found a letter on top of my desk.

To noona.

"Mwoya?" I muttered, throwing my bag onto the bed as I picked up the letter to examined it. I opened the letter and read its content:

Noona, don't worry about us anymore. We're going to do well on our own from now on. Thanks for taking care of us.

- Jaemin - Hoya

~Author's Notes~

Annyeong! How are you Kimichies doing? Hehe ;))

I hope you enjoyed this chapter heh

Fly by GOT7 is lifeu gais gosh i'm in love and markeu, why are you getting more handsome by the day? you're illegal AND BAM BAM. BAM BAM WHY? 

"Bam Bam's not big." — Park Jimin, ASC Host

"How you know? How do you know I'm not big?" — Bam Bam 

What did they feed this kid? 

I think I'm in the wrong fanfiction for thi

S.E.L.C.A! (share, enjoy, love, comment always!)

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung