Lovesick // TOMORROW X TOGETHER [TaeBin / SooKai]

Chapter 17 - I'm a spy with a mission

It was quiet at the table they were sitting at. Although it would never be quiet in a cafeteria, it was rather quiet between Taehyun and Soobin. Nothing much to think of as they also had to eat their food. They couldn't talk the whole lunch break without taking a breath in between.

It wouldn't have been worrisome without the fact that they hadn't talked a lot the whole day long. Normally, Soobin was so talkative that Taehyun sometimes couldn't even catch up with some of the details of the stories he was telling. Taehyun then had to stop him from talking by pushing a water bottle against his chest to get him to drink it as the whole talking usually made his mouth dry. Or he simply pressed his lips against Soobin's so he would stop with his babbling.

Taehyun didn't mind Soobin talking so much. No, he liked it. He liked listening to him talking about random, trivial stuff even though one would think that he wouldn't be interested in trivial conversations. It was one of the things he liked about Soobin. He was able to talk for hours without minding Taehyun's quietness throughout. Though Taehyun of course participated in the conversations as well. Just not as much because Soobin's thoughts were pretty long.

But today, Soobin was quiet. More quiet than Taehyun and that worried him. On their way to school, Soobin didn't start with a conversation about some video game he played until midnight. He also didn't start talking about his cat and how much Taehyun resembled his cat. He was just facing forward, lost in thought. Taehyun tried to see through him by looking at his face and he only saw uneasiness in Soobin's eyes. Taehyun didn't know what it meant.

After Soobin still didn't talk much except for the short answers towards Taehyun's questions he gave him, Taehyun grew more worried about the taller one. He thought about what could have led Soobin to be so silent today. Was it because of Taehyun's last minute cancellation of their date? No, Soobin wouldn't hold such a grudge against him for something so simple.

Was it because of Yeonjun? Even after the encounter with Yeonjun, Soobin behaved perplexed about his sudden or rather not so sudden outbreak. He seemed seriously affected by Yeonjun's anger towards him, even though it wasn't much different from how Yeonjun usually treated him. Taehyun told him to ignore what he was saying, but maybe Soobin couldn't let go of Yeonjun's harsh words so easily. Maybe he should talk with him about it.

"Soobin?"

"Yeonjun isn't there." Taehyun furrowed his brows in confusion and looked over to the place where Yeonjun was usually sitting. Soobin was right, Yeonjun wasn't sitting where he used to be sitting.

"Don't think about it. A guy like Yeonjun sometimes misses out on school."

"I know, but since school began again he didn't miss any school days."

"Maybe he has had enough? You told me that he was regularly missing school before."

"But now he was regularly coming to school. That was strange too."

"He just fell back into his old behavior, what's the deal?" Taehyun looked at Soobin with a confused look. Why did he still care about Yeonjun's well being?

"I should go look for him." Soobin announced and stood up in the next second.

As he was about to walk away, Taehyun turned around to him and grabbed his wrist to prevent him from leaving.

"He clearly stated that you should leave him alone. Why do you still care about him?"

Soobin tilted his head in Taehyun's direction, but hesitated to look him in the eyes for a split moment. He then locked eyes with him. His gaze was soft, but Taehyun could see the irritation behind it.

"I just want to help, that's all."

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