gossip ;; 2jae [Editing]

Chapter 18

|||||||| - Homesick (ft. Idiot) - ||||||||
• Friday •

A Week Later...

Noon.

"And that's how you make a creme brulee." Sighing, Jinyoung turned off his phone to stare mindlessly at his ceiling. Their whole school had gotten a day off because of a teacher retreat and Jinyoung hadn't been the least bit productive so far. He'd been up for an hour now, or maybe three (who knows), reading oneshots, annoying his friends in their group chats, falling down multiple YouTube recommended rabbit holes. Jinyoung turned his phone back on, clicking an app and scrolling a bit to find a certain contact.

"Youngjae?"

'As I said before, if I had weed on me right now I would have told you. Stop calling!'

"What?"

'Oh shit. Who's this?'

"It's Jinyoung. What the actual fuck, Youngjae?"

'Sorry, ignore that. It's been a rough... morning, okay?'

"..."

'What do you want, Jinyoung?'

"Um - I got paired up with Kunpimook for a project. Have you seen him?"

'Nah, man. Never do on a free day.'

"Did he come to school this week?"

'Yeah. His moods hit, though. Did you check in the library?'

"Every chance I got."

- Youngjae tsked -

'You probably didn't do it properly. You have to look in places like near the very last aisle of the library (that's his favourite spot) and on the carpet they have for little kids. He likes hiding in gigantic sweaters with the hood up so he blends in with the bean bags.'

- Youngjae chuckled -

'One time I even found him in one of the shelves, reading a book of Thai poems.'

- Jinyoung nodded along to everything Youngjae said. This was beginning to seem like Mission Impossible. -

"Can I have his number?"

- Humming, Youngjae relayed it to Jinyoung before saying his farewell and hanging up. -

- - -

BamBam quickly turned the page of the old book his mom had gifted him today ("You call me every other month about Tears of Youth. Well, this is just as bad. Have fun," she'd said before going off to work). He was enthralled.

The story was about a boy who travels to America to experience something new, becoming friends with a girl around his age during his stay. Only to disappear five days into his trip. The girl does everything she can to find him but, when she does, he is on the edge of a cliff. He tells her how unhappy he has been and the jumps. That is the last she sees of him. His body was never found.