DRAMA CLUB | hyunin ✔

.21

all three of them rejected his mom's snacks, but she just took it as they were way too hungry for cookies and needed something heavier on the stomach.

and that's how they ended up in jeongin's dining room, having sausage and mashed potatoes while trying to ignore the fresh bruises on both boys' faces.

"eat the peas, jeonginnie, you need vegetables!" his mom announced to the room.

face flaring red, jeongin blindly stabbed at the peas with his fork, uncaring about how they fled from him, only the sound of the fork colliding with the plate filling the awkward silence.

jeongin's mother cleared her throat.

"so, hyunjin, how's the project going? do you guys need some help?"

hyunjin opened his mouth to respond, but chan was already talking. "i'm the help." he said, arrogantly. then he seemed to remember he was talking to an adult and added, "ma'am."

it didn't seem to make things smoother for him, since jeongin's mom tilted her head to the side, a frown but still sporting a friendly smile, she asked, "and who are you?"

chan gulped down the grape juice his mom used to trick jeongin into thinking it was wine. "i'm bang chan, ma'am. your son's senior."

"oh! it's so nice jeonginnie here has more friends!" she cheerfully turned to jeongin, "i mean, i love felix, but he seems to be straying further away from god these days..."

he almost spit the single pea he managed to stab with his fork, "what? how do you know? have you been spying on me?"

"of course not, honey. felix talks to me every day!" she smirked. jeongin was terrified. "he keeps me up with everything, you see. and that boy changbin is definitely making him more and more--"

jeongin gaped at her, "that's enough, mom! oh my god!"

he looked around the table. chan was ignoring it all, while hyunjin looked startling pale, contrasting with his eyeliner and black clothes, as if it were his mom who was embarrassing him at the dinner table in front of everyone.

"he... h-he tells you everything?" hyunjin stammered.

jeongin's mom slowly took a sip of her glass of grape juice. maybe hers was really wine. then she darted hyunjin a smirk.

"of course, darling." she put her elbows on top of the table, fingers lightly touching. she looked like she knew the secrets of the universe, "everything."

jeongin frowned at hyunjin as he gulped dryly. if he was an animated character, he'd be pulling at his collar.

---

jeongin yet again didn't get much sleep that night. his mom revealed her true colors and jeongin couldn't shake off the thought of her mom going through his phone: his messages, his search history, his... pictures! oh, my god, what if his mom saw that cursed image of jeongin on that skin-tight dress? he would die!

as if the day couldn't get any worse, as soon as he was about to fall asleep, seungkwan sent him a message at 4 a.m. telling the crew to meet after school. gosh. they didn't even have practice today, but here he was sleepwalking through the halls, leaving his books on his locker so he didn't have any dead weight (besides himself) to drag around.

suddenly, his locker door snapped shut. "ah!"

"hey," it was chan.

jeongin sighed. now wasn't a good time.

"what?" he said, sounding a little too impatient.

chan took a moment to reply, looking a bit taken aback.

"w-well... i'm just here to ask if... we're still going to do... this?"

"this what?"

"me helping you with the project." chan hesitated. "it seems like hyunjin's got the hang of it. you guys seem to not need me anymore."

jeongin opened his locker again, putting his books there, relieving his aching arms from the weight. "yeah, whatever."

silence. he turned to chan, "see you at the auditorium."

and at the auditorium they met.

hyunjin seemed as tired as jeongin, though he wasn't his dark alter ego anymore. being emo really is just a phase, jeongin realized. but was surprised hyunjin was still considerably good-looking even without the dark makeup.

seungkwan started babbling about how everything was falling apart and they were rolling out of time and that if it all wasn't perfect until next week, they were about to expect an armageddon. same stuff.

"so, to help us saving the world, each of the main cast may have an assistant of their choice," he informed, "they may help you with the costumes and lines. they'll be able to whisper you lines at the play if you happen to forget them. but i sure hope you don't!"

and then they were free to go, jeongin's ears still ringing from seungkwan's screams.

he unlocked his phone and went straight to his message app.

me:
felix, have you been contacting my mom?