far from you | oneus

seven. 05-08-20

"Hey, thanks Seyeon."

"Did anything happen today? Is there anything else you need? I have an hour before I need to be home, I can drop by the store again."

Seyeon sits perched precariously but easily on the windowsill, the tips of her Converse digging into the soft dips in the wood dented from months of constant weathering. The girl swings her legs in to seat herself on the window frame, rolling up the blinds and handing over the grocery-store bag in her hands. 

"The emergency phone is running out of messages, can you drop by the convenience store sometime this week and ask Yonghoon to switch out a new one for me?"

"Got it. But for now, I got you bandages and more antiseptic ointment. Oh, and some snacks and a bottled water from the convenience store just in case."

"Thank you," he says, instinctually beginning to pack the items away into the hidden corners of his room.

He winces as the carrier of the white plastic bag digs into his palms, holding the bag as gingerly as he can to avoid reopening the small wounds. There wasn't any need to worry Seyeon with any more injuries, god knows he feels bad enough having his best friend worry after him constantly. "It's late, have you eaten?" 

"Yup, I had some takeout with the others at 1MILLION. They asked about you, by the way. I told them you fell and sprained your wrist, and Minwoo and a few others pooled some money to get you a wrist guard from the pharmacy, so it's in the bag too."

"Was the money I gave you enough? Sorry about the extra trouble, I know it's been busy lately what with the literature graded presentation when school reopens and all that."

"Yeah, I have extra from babysitting Aera, remember?" Seyeon pulls the sleeves of her hoodie over her fingers to form sweater paws. "Besides, don't be stupid. There's nothing for you to apologise for."

"Wait, before you go, I have something I need to tell you about," he recalls suddenly, pushing his rolling chair back to the other side of the room to retrieve a post-it pad and a pen. "This is worst case scenario only, though. Don't use it unless it's really necessary."

"Mhm, got it. What is it?"

He puts the post-it sheet down in the shaft of moonlight that cuts into his room from the windowpane and writes quickly, his movements careful so as not to grip the pen too hard. 

RAVN @ ravnyj

KEONHEE @ keomhee 

SEOHO @ seoho_ii

LEEDO @ l.e_oo

HWANWOONG @ hw_nw00ng

"These are important, they're who you should look for if anything really happens. They all either study or work in Seoul, but some of them have gone home because it's the holidays. They'll all be back by the time school opens again, though."

Seyeon takes the piece of blue post-it, folding it up to slot in her wallet. "Right, I won't lose this."

The two sit in the light of the waxing moon, comfortable, soft conversation flowing between them as the minutes pass towards nine o'clock. 

"Ten minutes to nine, I have to go home," Seyeon says, getting up easily and landing carefully on the extended roof structure outside his window. "Be safe, Dongju. I'll see you when you can."

"Goodnight, Seyeon."

"Goodnight!"

─

XION
hello~

SEOHO
hey you're online

we got worried when you
didn't come back online

is everything okay?

did you get injured again?

XION
everything's okay!

my mother knocked over some
wineglasses while cleaning out
the kitchen cupboard

other than some small glass
cuts on my hands, im all
good

RAVN
did you take the glass out
before you dressed the
wound?

you can't leave the glass
in there, it'll get infected

LEEDO
i scratched myself after
cracking my screen protector
once

the glass shards make
everything hurt a lot more

shine a torchlight on them
to see the smaller pieces if
they're too small

XION
got it, thank you
everyone

it's late, sleep early!

─

[ VOICE CALL @ravnyj? ]

SEOHO
hey

do you have time to talk
for just a minute

RAVN
yeah i do

what's up???

SEOHO
something just always strikes
me about xion

don't you ever question why
he gets injured all the time

first it was his eye, then he
burned his arm, then he
sprained his wrist and now
he has glass cuts?

RAVN
if you think he's faking
things to seek attention,
i'm going to have to disagree

he isn't the type to do that
at all

i'm certain of that much

SEOHO
OF COURSE that's not what
i mean

i don't believe he's faking
it either

that's the worrying part

a person can be clumsy, but
can a person really just be
that careless??

just give it a thought if you
have some time

i can't help but feel something's
not exactly right here

anyway, i have to go. my grand-
ma will be antsy if i'm talking on
the phone past 10

goodnight!

RAVN
goodnight~

[ CALL ENDED ]

Ravn sets his phone down on the kitchen countertop, mind beginning to spin. It was something he hadn't taken the most notice of, but Seoho was right. That there was something off about Xion. And if what he was saying held even a shred of possibility, they were going to find it out.

─