𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 ♧ SeungJin

XXXVII

"I am your number one fan."
Stephen King: Misery

♤♡◇♧

When I made my way through the school cafétéria I had to weave myself through people, stepping over disregarded food and coats, as if this place was a dumping ground for random things you didn't feel like carrying anymore. Highschoolers are absolutely disgusting.

"Hyunjin!" I heard my friends calling my name from our table just as I spotted them. Felix and Jisung were leaned in whispering things to eachother and giggling like pre teen girls, Changbin was fighting with Minho, Jeongin was stuffing bread buns in his mouth whole and surprisingly not choking, while Chan waved me over, but none of them were to expect what I was planning.

Somewhere behind me Seungmin was trailing my footsteps, following me to the table. During one of our morning classes he had promised me he would come to our lunch table today and make an apology to my friends, something that he clearly hadn't really wanted to do. He seemed very nervous the whole time we talked about it, like he was scared someone might lunge at him.

I get the feeling that he has issues sucking up his pride.

As we got close enough the the table we escaped the crowd, but no one but Chan noticed I was getting there, or that Seungmin was right behind me. "Eh, Hyunjin?" Chan asked, eyeballing the boy hiding in my shadow, "Are you aware that Seungmin in stalking you right now."

I smiled to my friend, "Yes I am." I clapped my hands, attracting the attention of all of my friends. Their heads turned to me, but then all eyes landed on Seungmin who seemed to cower under the attention. "Listen closely dear children," I announced, "For Seungmin has something very important to say."

I stepped back and guided Seungmin up in front of me. He held onto the bicep of his right arm tightly as he spoke, "Uhm." His eyes trained to the ground, "I'm sorry."

Minho flattened his lips, "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Jesus," I groaned, "Let him finish will you?"

The table went quiet again and everyone listened intently for Seungmin's timid voice. "I'm sorry for treating all of you so poorly. I was using you all as a way to make myself feel like I had power and that I was safe from.. everyone. I sacrificed your safety for my own and that was a shit thing to do." He cleared his throat, "I wanted to say I was sorry and that all of this never should have happened. I'm a real dickhead and I know you probably won't forgive me, but I figured I should say at least this."

"I forgive you." Jeongin immediately said, still stuffing his mouth full of every food he could find.

"Jeongin!" Jisung scolded, "You can't just say that, he's barely even done anything,"

Jeingin shrugged, "But I do. What more do you want from the guy?"

Seungmin cleared his throat for the second time, "I'm just really sorry.. and I hope.. we can be friends or something." The last part came out very quiet, like he was afraid to get beaten up for it.

"Friends—?" Minho asked, "I think it takes more than that to become friends."

Seungmin nodded, "Yeah.. I get that."

He turned on his heel to walk away but flew back when I grabbed onto his shoulders and yanked him to where he was standing before, "Not so fast hun'," I smiled, "I'd like you to eat lunch with us. Get to know eachother."

I knew everyone at that table was staring at me, not believing what I was attempting to do right now, but Seungmin nodded silently sitting down on the seat farthest to the edge right next to where I would normally sit.

I sat down next to him and dropped my backpack, "You guys see this? He's not that scary, just insecure." I motioned to Seungmin who was about to protest but let it go when he realized everyone was looking at him.

Felix and Jisung stared at Seungmin carefully before speaking, "What are your thoughts on Mi-Young?" Jisung asked, arms folded over his chest.

Seungmin nodded his head up and down, "I like her. She asks me to read books for her a lot."

"And do you?" Now Felix.

"Yeah.. when I can."

The two of them were looking at the boy like police detectives interrogating a suspect. "And, in terms of you and Hyunjin; top or bottom?" Minho asked, because I had already told him I wasn't going to answer.

"Uhm.." Seungmin looked around and I rolled my eyes at Minho, "Is that important?"

"So bottom." Minho drew conclusions.. correct conclusions.

Seungmin took a sharp breath, "Okay listen," he breathed out, "I don't know what this is, or what you're trying to do here, Hyunjin, but I can't to do this. I'm sorry for the shit I've caused but I feel like I'm being treated as some type of pet that vomited on the rug, you feel me? If you forgive me that's great but I'm not willing to put up with this in order to fix things." He stood up and walked away quickly before I could really say much.

I shrugged, pretending not to care, but I felt guilt creep up through my lungs. I had gotten carried away, forgetting that Seungmin might not be okay with all of this. I ran my tongue over my top teeth, "Well, I guess that's that."

I could see Chan looking at my from the corner of my vision. He looked disappointed in me and I understood why. The rest of my friends either looked amused or unaffected.

"Poor guy." Felix shrugged, "I guess he shouldn't have been such a dick to us before, y'know?"

Jisung nodded along, agreeing. He leaned over and whispered something in Felix's ear, who in turn looked over at me. Felix and Jisung both stared at me a long moment before the older of the two slapped his hand over his mouth, "You think so?" He asked.

What were these two on about.