stardom - zb1

two

— early february 2023.
eunji pov ✰

sung hanbin showed up to school after all

eunji's eyes widened and she nearly tripped over herself as she rushed towards him and hugged him. "i missed you," she cried.

hanbin laughed softly and patted her back. he was like an older brother to eunji; she always felt safe with him and could vent to him if she needed to.

eunji stepped back so that ayaka could hug him too and realized that the principal was standing behind hanbin.

several students screeched and pointed when they saw hanbin, and a wave of whispers and excited murmurs from students followed.

"what on earth is happening here?" the principal yelled over the noisy chatter of dozens of students.

"if you have somewhere to be, move!" a teacher scolded. "go! why are we crowding the halls? uh-uh, move! either you go eat your lunch or go study!"

scowling at the teacher, people reluctantly cleared out of the hallway and left.

however, a few girls still lingered, staring at hanbin, eunji, and ayaka. eunji recognized them as choi jiyeon, kato fumiko, and yang julia, some of the girls that she was hoping to get closer to. eunji wondered if them lingering meant that they wanted to get closer to her too. you're being too hopeful, eunji chastised herself. so delusional queen of me ijbol

"hii hanbinnn~" julia smiled sweetly, dragging his name out. giggling, she waved at him.

"hey," hanbin glanced at her.

"move it along, hanbin has places to be." the principal stated curtly, ushering hanbin, eunji, and ayaka away. "please go enjoy your lunch."

julia's smile faded. "but he's my friend!" she grabbed her bag and started to follow them. fumiko followed suit; jiyeon hesitated for a few seconds before doing the same.

"please." the principal said firmly. "hanbin has requested only eunji and ayaka specifically to come with him. no one else."

fumiko frowned. jiyeon raised her eyebrows before whispering something to fumiko. meanwhile, julia sniffed disapprovingly, side eyed eunji, and left.

the principal sighed in relief. "thank goodness. i have neither the patience nor the energy to deal with her today."

"hanbin, don't you have to film for boys planet? why are you here?" ayaka asked.

hanbin smiled. "we actually already filmed up to episode 4. we don't have any more filming to do until the first round of elims, which is in a few weeks."

"buuut..." said a new voice coming from behind eunji, scaring her and making her jump.

it was matthew, who grinned at her. "since the episode just aired yesterday night, most of the guys are back at the dorms, just to avoid some of the chaos."

"matthew!" ayaka exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

"imagine what it would be like if all 93 of us showed up to our respective universities today." hanbin agreed. "we'll all come back soon, though."