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chapter 36: ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
jihyun ran to the music room, her safe place in school, as tears trickled down her face. she reached the music room, ready to get away from everyone so they don't see her like this, but when she opens the door, she's met with the faces of all her friends—yunho, san, mingi, wooyoung and jongho— all seated on the floor as they chatted while snacking.
they looked at her, immediately concerned when they see her tear-streaked face. she couldn't care less about all of them seeing her vulnerable state anymore. all she needed right now was comfort— and she came to the right place.
she closes the door and collapses on the ground next to san and her tears keep flowing, harder than it was that morning. san immediately embraces her and the boys watched the scene, feeling a tug at their hearts as they witness their always-smiling friend break down in front of them.
they patiently wait for her to calm down and yunho offers her his bottle of water while mingi wipes her tears away with a tissue. "do you want to tell us what's going on, noona?" jongho questions, looking at her with a soft gaze.
she mumbles a soft 'okay' before drinking some water and calming herself down. "are you okay with them all listening?" san whispers to her and she weakly nods.
she clears her throat and starts telling them the whole story including what happened in the music room, giving a little back story of how san has always been her rant listener so he knows pretty much every little concern she has. by the end of the story, she notices some of them getting visibly angry.
"yeosang accused you of such thing? that's so low of him! he really believed mina just like that? wow, i really want to punch him right now." san fumes, breathing heavily as he tries to not get angry.
"he didn't even let you explain! he just brushed you off like that! what kind of boyfriend does that?" mingi raises his voice. jihyun badly wanted to defend her boyfriend but she knew he was at fault.
"just wait until i see him later, i'll give him a piece of my mind." jongho cracks his knuckles, already thinking of ways he could get back at yeosang for lashing out on his girlfriend.
even yunho, who usually doesn't take sides in arguments, was pissed. he didn't think his friend could be that stupid to believe such thing from someone who holds a grudge against his girlfriend.
"a– and he told me not to talk to him unless i had something smart to say." she chokes out, voice cracking. the boys looked at her sadly, never had they seen her like this before.
"i'm sure he can't last that long not talking to you. he's probably gonna be the one to approach you first but don't worry, jiji. you got us! we'll protect you from him." mingi assures her, wanting to cheer her up in some way.
they were all mad at yeosang, especially san. he was the reason why jihyun broke down infront of the other guys when he knew jihyun hated people seeing her cry. yeosang broke her to the extent that she didn't care about the guys seeing her so vulnerable and broken.
the bell rang and they immediately get up, cleaning up the mess they made. jihyun weakly gets up, feeling drained from all the crying she had done that day. jongho hugs her tightly, smiling at her. "cheer up, noona. you don't need yeosang's stupid ass. you have us, remember?" she smiles at him weakly, thankful that she had them all.
"well, i'll see you later after school. my class is two levels up so gotta yeet now, yknow? love you, jihyun noona!" he yells as he runs up the stairs.
throughout the rest of the day, none of the boys or jihyun had talked to yeosang at all. he didn't mind it that much since he was busy trying to think of ways to start a conversation with jihyun once school ends.
end of the day comes by quicker than he thought and as usual, they are the last ones to leave. on normal days, they would talk about all the random things they could while packing their bags but today, a weird tension was hanging in the air. maybe it was just yeosang because the boys seemed to be comfortably talking to each other, of course, ignoring the presence of yeosang in that same room.
after he's done with packing his stuff, he cautiously makes his way towards jihyun only to have mingi immediately blocking his way. "no can't do dude, she doesn't want to talk to you." he crosses his arms, glaring down at him.
"mingi, move. i want to talk to her." he says sternly but mingi doesn't budge. san scoffs out loud. "why would you want to talk to her? last time i checked, you were the one who told her not to talk to you." he raises his eyebrow at yeosang.
"that was just now! i want to apologise to her." he tries to push mingi out of the way but mingi still refuses to move. "you think you can just say sorry and everything will be fine? sorry to break it to you but, it doesn't work like that. you accused her of something so horrible and you didn't even try to let her explain!" san raises his voice.
"she cheated on me! with you, san! how on earth do you expect me to not be angry about this? how would you feel if your girlfriend cheats on you with your bestfriend?" he yells back at san.
"you don't even know the whole story, do you? you're just jumping into conclusions without even trying to understand! how could you trust that witch over your own girlfriend?" san exclaims, anger rising quickly as he glares at yeosang.
"what story do i have to know? you were clearly hitting on jihyun behind my back and you," he points accusingly at iihyun. "you didn't push him away." he says darkly. "san, please. you think i'm stupid? you think i don't know you like my girlfriend? you think you haven't been that obvious, huh? and so you two decided to go off somewhere alone, thinking i wouldn't see you? well news flash, i saw you so there's no point in trying to prove me wrong!"
san was about to jump at him and punch him when wooyoung and yunho held him back. yeosang saw jihyun stare at him with teary eyes but he couldn't think straight at the moment and scoffs. "why are you crying? trying to guilt trip me? why are you both so defensive? just admit it! you're an asshole who steals your friend's girlfriend and you're an unloyal girlfriend!" he directs it at san and jihyun.
jihyun's emotions had been all over the place today and it didn't surprise her when a tear escaped once again that day, followed by many more until mingi had to embrace her to comfort her while he glares at yeosang. yeosang saw that and suddenly it was as if he was snapped out of a trance. he looked at her, regretting everything he had just said.
"no, no baby, i– i didn't mean to say that–" he was about to reach up to her but mingi instinctively slapped his arm away, out of reach from the girl. "i think you've said enough. you should leave now."
and yeosang had never felt worse than he did at that moment. jihyun was crying and it was all because of him. he felt like the biggest idiot. he sighed and quietly made his way out of the classroom, heart heavy knowing that his girlfriend was crying and he can't even do anything about it.
"i'll go talk to him and explain everything. you guys can go home without me." yunho puts on his backpack and leaves the classroom to catch up with yeosang.
