Sunshine & Lotus Flowers

Chapter One

"Taehyung!" I called out, breathless after sprinting here, hoping to not be late. The tall brunette turned his head toward me, and I saw a small smirk on his face as he waved his left hand. I stopped next to him, hands on my knees as I bent down, struggling for breath after my run.

"Hey, Sooyun! I see that you—"

I glanced up and pointed a finger at him. "Not another word, Tae," I said as threateningly as I could, hoping he would just drop the subject.

"I was saying, I see that you're later than usual," he snickered, disregarding what I said. "Did you oversleep again? You're lucky I waited for you here. What would you do without me?" he brought the back of his hand to his forehead, feigning exasperation and ruining his act with a giggle.

I rolled my eyes at him, smiling slightly. Taehyung and I were practically inseparable, we've known each other since we were children dashing across the playground. We became friends the first day he defended me from a couple of kids who picked on me in elementary school, as cliché as it is. They always said things to attack my self-image, even now I feel insecure about how I look.

"Hey, have you seen Jimin?" I asked Taehyung, who was focused on his phone but lifted his eyes to look at me.

"Jimin? Actually, I'm talking to him right now," Tae replied, holding up his phone to show me. "He said he's on his way, he had to stay home a little bit late today. Something about Jihyun being sick."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Jihyun? Oh, I hope he's okay," I sighed. Taehyung nodded, eyes going back to his phone.

We walked in silence to the biology building, our thoughts preoccupied. Something felt off today, I feel different. I can't tell what it is, though. Maybe it's all just in my brain. Nothing's gone wrong today, besides my getting up late, but that's happened plenty of times. Am I forgetting something?

As we strolled closer to our destination, a voice called out to us, footsteps rushing to catch up. "Tae! Sooyun! Wait up!"

We turned our heads in sync to see an out of breath Jimin speeding to us. "Hey, Chim," I called out and we paused to wait for him. He stopped in front of us to catch his breath, and I reached up to ruffle his hair with a grin. "How's Jihyun, Tae said you told him that he was sick?"

Jimin immediately straightened, beaming at me. "He's just fine, nothing more than a small cold. It should be gone in a few days, don't worry about it."

"That's good to hear," I sighed in relief at his words, thankful that it wasn't anything serious.

Resuming our walk, Taehyung asked Jimin about whatever game they both began to play this week. They're always caught up in the newest fad, and are now rambling to each other about it. I've learned to let them do their thing, I can't understand whatever goes on in their heads.

Something feels wrong.

Racking my brain, I tried to distinguish what was off. What only seemed like a few seconds of me blanking out in deep thought, was actually minutes. Soon, I heard my name being called, and I blinked to see Taehyung's hands waving in front of my face and Jimin's fingers snapping in my ear.

"Yo, Soooyun, Earth to Sooyun. Anyone in there?" Tae looked concerned as I stared back at him, processing what was happening. Finally realizing what was going on, I pushed away his hands with a chuckle and he backed away, a confused expression on his face.

"Sorry," I giggle at them. "What happened?"

Taehyung stares at me with a blank face. "Uh, we're at the lecture hall. We've been here trying to get your attention for a couple minutes now," he remarked, scratching his head.