Not Alone || Jung Jaehyun

Chapter 7 | "the right choice"

"Have you guys seen Hyemi?" Jeno asked the next day as he sat down at their table for lunch. "I didn't see her at home yesterday."

Kyunghee and Jichang just shrugged.

"Well she didn't come to our practice so she obviously chose a different team." Kyunghee said while rolling her eyes.

"Yeah and I heard her come home late last night and she left early this morning." Jichang said with a shrug. "Not my problem."

Taeyong and Lucas set their stuff down across from them, looking expectantly at Jeno to be filled in.

"Taeyong, have you heard from Hyemi? None of us have seen her since lunch yesterday. She came home late last night and left before we woke up."

"I don't know, sorry Jeno, but I'm sure she's fine. I also told her that if she needed extra time to decide, we'd let her join us late so maybe she was just clearing her head. Hopefully she'll be joining our team today." Taeyong said, sharing a nervous look with Jeno.

"Somehow I don't think that's going to happen." All eyes turned to Lucas when he said that.

"Why?"

He didn't answer, instead, he just pointed at the entrance to the cafeteria where Jaehyun and his crew were walking in. All the older members turned and went straight to their usual table

At the back of their group, walking right next to Jaemin, was Hyemi. Wearing the signature black All Stars varsity jacket.

She made eye contact with Jeno, giving him a shy wave and dipping her head towards her brother. The two of them smiled back, sad that she wouldn't be joining them but proud of her either way.

"You made the right choice." Jaemin whispered in her ear, seeing her looking at them, "our team is gonna kill it this year."

"Yeah..." Hyemi trailed off as her eyes landed on Kyunghee and Jichang.

Both of them were glaring at her, something she'd never experienced from her two friends before. They scoffed as they saw her jacket, rolling their eyes before turning back around and conversing with Iseul.

"It doesn't seem like they'll be missing me much either." Hyemi muttered bitterly, seeing how her two friends had already moved on.

"To hell with them. Let them be jealous. You're an All Star now, baby." Jaemin said, throwing an arm around her shoulder and causing her to laugh as he led her to the table with the older members.

She sat down between Yuta and Jaemin, talking happily with Sana and Momo when she heard someone whispering her name.

"Pssst! Hyemi! Over here!"

She looked over her shoulder to see Xiaojun and the other motioning her towards them from the next table over.

"Excuse me for a minute."

She quickly stood up and made her way over to their table where they immediately engulfed her in a hug.

"I knew you'd make the right choice!" Yeji exclaimed, squeezing her tighter. "You're an All Star now! That's so exciting!"

"We're so happy for you, Hyemi! Seriously, you deserve it."

"Aww thanks guys, and sorry I wasn't in the morning classes. The team shares apartments so they had me move in with the girls today."

"No problem, I took notes for you!" Yeji said with a smile, pulling out a notebook and passing it to Hyemi.

"You're literally the best, I owe you one."