DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.57

jeongin's mouth dropped as seungmin let himself be touched by chan.

the older held his chin gently, a tender smile stretching the corner of his lips and softening his eyes, the dangling handcuff swinging back and forth as if to hypnotize him. what the fuck was going on?

from among the crowd, jeongin heard felix screeching in despair: "that's harrassment! seungmin, be strong!"

seungmin blinked at chan.

jeongin, alerted by felix's distress, glanced at the cop. he was motionless, expressionless, and, most importantly, not holding his gun! what if chan tried something? regardless of what jisung and minho - two airheads - said, jeongin had seen it first hand: chan truly did just what seungmin said he would do that dreadful night. seungmin even brought a police officer, so the allegations must've been true!

but rather than intervening, the man just raised a hand to play with his mustache and scratch at his nose.

jeongin was scandalized.

thankfully, chan didn't attempt any funny business. he let the hand drop lifeless from where it held seungmin's face, as if the handcuffs weighed a ton. they probably did, but chan had tree trunk arms.

then he gave his back to the crowd, hands coming to cross over his chest. everyone in the whole room held their breath, the suspense ate every crumb of jeongin's nerves. chan looked like the villain in a children's movie revealing their ineffable, evil plan. that was the final battle. anything could come out of his mouth.

"two years ago, the school decided to open their journalism club," chan started, like the intro of an over-complicated informative essay: "i, influenced by my parents to take on an extracurricular activity, almost joined, but realized i couldn't write a single sentence for my life, i quit to soccer." he paused and gave him a meaningful look, "but it didn't mean i couldn't pass by room b-20 just to see a certain boy with round glasses."

seungmin touched his own nose bridge, the unconscious motion of someone fixing their glasses, although seungmin didn't wear any.

"he ignored me at the start, of course, he was too smart for a brainless, muscular jock like me," chan sighed. hyunjin, by jeongin's side, gagged. "but then, you needed an english instructor. i knew english, i could teach you. though that time i didn't exactly want to try to win your heart, it just... happened.

"you were just too cute. too adorable." chan sighed deeply, clearly lost in memories. jeongin cocked an eyebrow at the display of emotion. chan spoke as if reminiscing times from a different era, like he was a vampire mourning the loss of a human lover. he kept on, "one day you looked at me with those big, round eyes under those big, round glasses and asked me why it was an apple instead of a apple, and i just..."

suddenly, he stomped on the floor, hard enough to send hyunjin into a nervous full-body shudder of surprise.

he curled his hands into fists on his sides, and proclaimed: "i had to do anything to get you to view me as something other than a walking oxford dictionary. i just had to."

someone from the curious crowd let out a chuckle.

chan was still immersed in his speech, with almost imperceptible shakes of his head, appearing as if he had been the one performing the whole afternoon.

"but all my efforts were ineffective."

with a sharp motion of one of his legs, chan unexpectedly turned, and faced jeongin right on.

the latter sucked a sharp breath.

chan waved a hand at him, "but then, by coincidence, i came to know something: one friend of mine told me one certain boy had a... crush on me. for a really long time!"

jeongin covered his face in shame when he felt, more than saw, the countless pairs of eyes curiously shifting to look at him. he heard hyunjin scoff and mutter under his breath a short, "bullshit."

"that's when i finally realized that, wait, seungmin could only understand how good i was for him when he saw me being good for someone else!" he laughed, like this was all just a stupid, funny joke.

once his laughter was met with a deafening silence that didn't really seem to bother him, chan relaxed his expression, turning back to face seungmin, wearing the smuggiest grin jeongin had ever seen (even on hyunjin!) and drawl out a: "so, from what i can see, it worked like a charm."

jeongin gazed at seungmin expectantly, wondering how he'd react. it seemed plausible, the whole thing. chan, from the start, didn't seem like the murder-type (maybe the touch-with-no-consent type, but that was another story), and jeongin only even began to consider it when seungmin drenched him with biased information.

and now, look at him! seungmin was walking towards chan, eyes fixed on the older, approaching slowly, as in a trance.

jeongin widened his eyes when he reached a hand for chan's face, just like chan did to him moments ago.

that was the redemption (well, more like an actual communication, explanation, justification, alibi, whatever) jeongin had unconsciously waited for. jeongin would sleep peacefuly tonight, knowing that chan was clearly, completely, utterly—

seungmin's hand came down hard on his cheek.

"such a liar!"

jeongin almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden shriek. hyunjin gripped his shoulder as if to shield him from the noise and the violent act.

it was coming from seungmin. all of it. word after word streaming out of his mouth like a river. a very turbulent river. with rocks and flesh-eating fish and blood-thirsty naiads that slapped people's faces when they professed their love to them.

chan looked up at him in shock as he held the right side of his face where he'd been struck.

"you're such a deranged asshole!" he yelled, wild. "what? am i supposed to believe this shit? do i look that stupid to you?"

the crowd also went wild, talking loudly to each other in surprise and drowning any sort of conversation chan and seungmin could have after that, but that might just as well be because seungmin had thrown himself on him, and the teacher-cop had to tackle him to the ground before he could claw chan's face raw.

"i know what you did! get the fuck off me! i know what he did!" seungmin begged as he was restrained and carried away by the cop and a couple of volunteers from the crowd of actors and staff. he just wouldn't stop flailing!

chan looked dazed, holding his cheek and blankly staring right ahead of him.

and, as if the day couldn't get better (worse), jeongin heard seungkwan's booming, megaphone-like voice overpowering the others in the crowd and shouting:

"so! now that we're revealing sneaky little bitches, lee donghyuck is a double-faced fucktard! he's been sabotaging us and even made jung "drama-lead" jaehyun quit! and put that man right there!" he pointed at chan, "he's an accomplice! arrest both of them! do it— hmmph!"

a palm had been smacked over seungkwan's mouth. he looked behind him. jeongin watched as his face washed over with recognition: "i knew you'd come back."

"i'll always be here to make you shut the fuck up," soonyoung said in response.

jeongin's wig came down when he laughed hard at the scene, almost falling off with the subtle movement.

once he repositioned it back on his head and gazed up, hyunjin was looking down at him.

jeongin smiled at him. none of that drama was theirs now.

a/n: i have no business taking so long to post this T.T i've been up and down since july bc i moved to a whole new country with my parents and it's been... not exactly difficult, but very awkward!!
anywayss, next chapter will be the last *SOBS*
BUT! i'll be starting a new book from felix pov (changlix!) so, if you're interested make sure to check it out ^^