MISSING, jongsang

07 ; friends

feet kicking at the leaves sprawled out over the ground, a few joining them from the trees above every now and then, yeosang reluctantly neared his school. it was his second day without wooyoung, and maybe it was his selfishness creeping up on him when he found himself growing impatient.

with his own eyes, yeosang had seen the fatal incident that had occurred by the school building, so surely the team of police were aware of it, too; in fact, he had no doubt that they were.

what was taking them so long, then? they're the police — for fucks sake — a department of authority, couldn't they just find the driver who was behind the crash with their number plate, or something? there's no way it's that difficult, yeosang thought.

the boy would've grasped onto the tiny amount of faith he had in the cops, but the sight of the same police cars from yesterday lined up by the school gates ruined those chances. what are they still doing here? they should be out there looking for wooyoung! yeosang frowned, confused. it was almost like they weren't taking the case seriously enough, the thought boiling up his anger as he entered the school doors.

contrary to yesterday, yeosang held his head up high, glaring right back at the many people who dared to take a glance at him. maybe he was being too cold, but he didn't care.

just two days ago he was a nobody at college, and he despised that fellow students perceived him differently because of his loss. once wooyoung came back, everything would return to normal, therefore yeosang decided to avoid any kinds of extra care and attention. it would only lead to nothing, after all.

on the way to his locker, a figure joined yeosang's side.

"hey, jongho," the coloured-haired male greeted, ignoring the fact that merely the strong cologne that had entered his lungs was all it took for him to recognise the younger. instead, yeosang managed to convince himself that being forced to sit directly behind him last night — and no, he didn't admit that he chose to press their bodies together — was the reason he'd memorised his scent.

"morning, sang!" jongho replied, a graceful smile drawn upon his face. when yeosang turned to him, it only widened, followed with his nose scrunching up and the sides of his eyes crinkling up.

yeosang found himself staring for a little longer than necessary. he averted his gaze once realising how odd it was, hoping jongho didn't think anything more of it than a friendly glance. because it wasn't, the pair were friends — barely. the brunette's features were just too captivating for his own good, yeosang figured was the case.

"um—" the elder cleared his throat, mind spiralling chaotically as it found a conversation starter. "did you, uh, have a nice night yesterday?"

ew. yeosang's eyes screwed shut in embarrassment momentarily, regretting the words as soon as they slipped from his tongue. why do i do this to myself?

"yeah, i did, actually," jongho answered, clearly naive to yeosang's inner thoughts. but, then again, how could he have been aware that the male wanted to rip out his own voice box on the spot? "would've been better if you texted me back, though," he added.

"oh, shit, sorry." yeosang nervously chuckled, hand finding the back of his head and scratching it sheepishly.

"so, turns out, you did ignore me?"

yeosang's eyes widened, and he mentally cursed himself for how shallow his apology came off as. jongho's accusation wasn't wrong, but he aimed to explain himself anyway. "not exactly. i just- i'm kinda a terrible replier... i'm not used to having anyone actually want to text me, either, besides wooyoung cussing me out for ditching him in the nether." jongho laughed, the sound being cheerily loud, and yeosang smiled before continuing, "i don't know if that counts, though."