the kids aren't alright. / golden child

04 ✕ missing letters

the next day, donghyun went alone to the wall. he had a free period during the last one, meaning he was dismissed early.

he got out a can of spray paint he hid in his bag, a yellow one, looked around, shook it hard.

why spray yellow paint on an already-yellow wall?

he stood in front of the words GOLDEN CHILD, sprayed over the D in golden, H in child.

he leaned back, a smile across his face. the moment he heard the distance footsteps of, no doubt, the other four, he zipped his bag up and ran.

"got a new pack?" jaehyun asked. jibeom shook his head.

"the last one from yesterday." he pulled it open, saw the puzzled faces. "i know. i'm amazed with myself too."

"hey, hong joochan," jaehyun said in a singsong voice, nudged him in the side. "not gonna?"

joochan popped another lollipop in his mouth, shoving jaehyun away. "speak for yourself."

"c'mon, joochan." jibeom grinned, handed him one already lit up. "you know you wanna."

he looked, there was a smile on his face as he scoffed. he took the lollipop out of his mouth, leaned in, sucked in once and huffed it out on jibeom's face.

"no," he said. "stop doing this to me."

jibeom coughed, shut the pack.

"where's donghyun?" bomin suddenly asked.

jaehyun shrugged. "i was looking for him too." he then asked, "does anyone else come here besides us?"

"i don't think so," jibeom trailed off. "why?"

"because," he pointed at the gold paint, the missing letters D and H, "i'm pretty sure we didn't do that."

"letters are missing," bomin noticed. they all nodded.

"D and H," jibeom added. "ah, as in donghyun?"

"what happened? where did he go?"

"shush, jaehyun. we don't know."

"we need to find out," bomin said, a suggestive smile playing on his lips.

"guess who's ditching school tomorrow." joochan returned the smile, and in that moment, the rest of them understood.

jaehyun gasped. "oh my god. this is gonna be epic."

"he probably just went home," jibeom said all of a sudden, shrugged. "i mean."

"shhh." jaehyun pressed a finger to his lips. "let me skip school."

they all laughed.

—

exams are starting why am i here