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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter forty-three ─── ʚĭɞ

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Miyeon had a strange feeling in her legs for the remainder of that photoshoot and a few days after that, but was quickly shaken out of it by several things.

One, that they were coming towards the end of the second to last week before their debut date. Two, her dad kept coming to the entertainment meant building to congratulate her and offer her and the other seven trainees whatever food they wanted. Three, her and Seojun had rehearsals for Heekyung's wedding every other night and four, she had no idea when Suho was planning on coming back but he needed to get there soon.

Because for once in her life, Miyeon really had nobody to talk about things to. Her friends were too involved with each other for her to go them, and Suho never was really that social. Except it would be really quite awkward, because he certainly hadn't fallen out of love with Jugyeong, and the Hwang girl doubted he ever could.

So she couldn't talk to anyone about what Jugyeong had just told her - that it had always seemed so blatantly obvious that Seojun loved her but for some reason they were going on dates. And as a result, Miyeon had taking up going on walks around the nearby neighbourhoods whenever she had a free moment. It seemed to help her organise her thoughts a bit.

And sometimes, these thoughts turned sour. She couldn't help but wonder if she was part of the reason why it had ended up this way. Of course she was - for a year and a half she had pushed Seojun to confess to Jugyeong even when he wasn't ready to do it, and because of that it had lead to him admitting his feelings and the two of them coming up with the agreement to see if those feelings were real or shared.

Really, she just didn't know what to do, and her hands enclosed around the sleeves of her jumper as she walked on, finger tapping the material as she turned another corner, hesitating as she thought she heard her name from afar. air couldn't have been her name - everyone else was back at the dorm and it was rather late in the evening, so other people she knew wouldn't be there.

But when she heard it for a second time, it caused her to come to a full halt and turn around, her gaze initially on a shadow that disappeared into an alleyway, before moving to the location of her name.

"Park Soojin?" Miyeon's jaw dropped as she saw the dark-haired girl follow her around the corner. It must have been her that she saw once - because if she was around here now, it could only really mean that.

"Hi there." Soojin, despite how their last interaction had gone down, linked their arms upon reaching her old friend, tugging her away from the place she had been standing. "There was someone following you." She muttered, and wide-eyed, Miyeon hurried alongside the girl until they were in a busier place.

"Thanks." Miyeon unlinked their arms, taking a step back and brushing herself off. It was a little awkward, but she didn't really know what else to say. "How are you?" Eventually she thought of something and the words spilled out. "How have you been?"

"Better. Much better." Soojin replied as they made their way over to a bench and sat down. "I've been wondering if I would see you for a while... I went away for a bit and thought about my behaviour and I know how wrong it is. There were outside pressure - and I know it's no excuse, but I just want to say how sorry I am for letting them overtake my rational thought."

Miyeon blinked. She hadn't heard from Soojin in so long, and the old her perhaps would not have apologised. But now, she was wearing a sweater for a charity and looked so genuine that she appeared close to crying.

"You don't have to accept it now. And if you don't want to... that's okay - I would just have to ask if you knew of a way for me to talk to Jugyeong and Suho and apologise." Soojin hurried. "And Seojun as well... I put you two through a lot of grief."

"I accept your apology." Miyeon swallowed. "Of course, I'm not the one who really needs it though. Jugyeong works at Move Entertainment - where me and Seojun are trainees. You know she'd agree to meet up, so just consider that. Suho's in America for his dad, whose recovering from heart problems."

"Oh." The girl across from her eyes widened, and she glanced down. "If you talk to him, mention that I'm looking for a chance to apologise." Miyeon nodded, promising she would. "Did you say you were a trainee?" Soojin asked. "For a group or soloist?"

"A group. We're called VIVID, and there's three other members. We're debuting in about a week actually, if you'd want to come I can text you the location - if your number is the same." Miyeon couldn't quite believe she had given in so easily, but she knew that Soojin had had problems with her family for the longest of times. And whilst - like she said - it didn't excuse it, Miyeon had known Soojin to be honest and honourable, and she thought she could trust her on that.

"Really? That would be amazing." Soojin smiled, before quickly confirming her number with the girl and standing up. "Would you like me to walk with you home in case that creep is nearby?"

Miyeon could have burst into tears - that offer seemed to be the final straw in her wondering whether Soojin was being real or not. And that just confirmed she was - and finally, finally, she had another friend to talk to, and another problem to focus on other than her own.

❛ AUTHORS NOTE ━━ i'm so sorry for how long its taken me to update this, i've been super  busy with school and just not really motivated - however that should change because i'm feeling a lot better and more organised about things, so i'm hoping it will.

idk, i just don't think i like where this book went, or if it even needed to be made at all. i do know how things are gonna go from here, but after the first book i just feel like this one is so disconnected from the plot

if anyone is interested, i just want to remind everyone i have another han seojun book and i'm thinking of doing the misunderstood mean girl plot from a while ago as well, but i also have a squid game book about junho! <3