The Real You || Jung Sungchan

Chapter 15

Sungchan:

When my rap lesson was finally over, I ran to the locker room because I wanted to get home as soon as possible. I wanted the weekend to pass by quickly because I wanted to hang out with Miyoung but I don't know her phone number. While I was frantically packing my bag and changing my clothes, my friends walked in.

"Sungchan. Why are you going so fast?" Byunghoon asks and they laugh, I smile as I put on my hoodie.

"I have something to do at home." I lie and they nod, going to their lockers. Then Mingyeom came up to me. Mingyeom is two years younger than my friends and I, but he's in the same class as us because he's just that good at dancing and rapping. I admit it too, he's basically idol material. I befriended him because he was really kind and respectful to my friends and I. While they called him a try hard, I thought he was just working hard to debut like all of us.

"Sungchan, can you look over my lyrics?" He asks, handing me his lyrics notebook and I nod, putting it in my backpack.

"I won't be here for my lessons on Monday, so can you just give it to my sister, Miyoung? She looks mean but she's just shy. Just give it to her and leave. You don't have to talk to her. Actually... please don't talk to her." He laughs awkwardly. Sister? Then it hit me. Mingyeom and Miyoung are brother and sister! Miyoung told me she had a younger brother who wants to become an idol... and it's Mingyeom! Wow, their family really is something.

"Uhhh... I don't know anyone named Miyoung so can you possibly give me her phone number so I can text her to meet me somewhere? I don't think we're in the same class." I lie and he nods and pulls out his phone. I can't believe it... he believed me? That was such a bad lie. People are so gullible these days.

He showed me her contact and I took out my phone and copied her number. Once I was done, I said goodbye to him and immediately grabbed all of my stuff and left. I ran to the bus stop and called Miyoung. I don't know if she's home or not right now, but hopefully she's home so that we can talk for a long time. It was only 5pm and I'm pretty sure she doesn't have much to do today and she stayed home. Then again, she probably went to work or something. I didn't hesitate to call her because I wanted to talk to her so bad. It rang once and she declined it. I was upset until I realized that it probably came up as an unknown number because she doesn't know it's me. I decided to text her and call her again, this time she picked up.

"Hey, Miyoung. How are you?" I ask, she doesn't say anything.

"Miyoung? Are you alright?" I ask again and I hear her sniffle and sigh. I felt my heart hurt, she's definitely crying.

"What happened?" I ask and she lets out another long sigh.

"I went to the mall today. I was having an amazing time by myself and this was probably the most fun I've had in a while. But when I left a store, I saw my..." She stops in the middle of her sentence to start crying again.

"I saw them... I saw Seoryeong, I saw Yeonjoo, I saw Chaesol. I saw the three of them together. They look different from what they looked like before, and I almost didn't recognize them. I'm just.. scared." She explained and I nodded, my bus was here, but I ditched it so that she can vent to me as much as she wants.

"I'm here for you, Miyoung. What do you need right now?" I ask, trying to keep her calm.

"I don't know... I really don't. I just feel trapped and I just want to talk to you." She says, I hum and walk through the neighborhood. It was late, but if Miyoung needed help, I wanted to make sure I was there every second to help her.

"Just please stay with me, Sungchan.." Miyoung breathes.

"I'm not going anywhere, Miyoung. I'm here for you." I reassure her and I hear her sniffle once more.

I tried my best to comfort her and reassure her that I was always going to be there. Although she had a hard time trying to believe me, I made sure that I said the right things and stayed calm. I'm the only one in school who knows how she feels about the attention she gets and her scandal. I feel lucky that she trusted me enough to tell me all of this. I let her cry still on the phone with me as I said a bunch of kind and comforting words to make her feel better. After about 45 minutes, she was feeling better. She told me that she finally calmed down.

"Thank you for helping me, Sungchan." She says and I smile.

"I'm glad I could be there for you." I respond and she lets out a long sigh.

"My brother just got home and he's been worried sick about me all day. I have to go but I'll see you at school okay?" She says.

"Yeah, see you at school. Have a good rest of the weekend okay?" I tell her.

"Okay." She says.

"Bye bye." I say and she ends the call.

It was 6pm and I had nothing else to do so I decided that I'd get some snacks from the convenience store. I'm pretty sure that Shotaro is still at his dance lesson so I don't have anyone to talk to at the dorm. Anyways, I go inside the convenience store and buy my favorite snacks just to eat in the dorm and to bring to school on Monday. I then remembered when I saw Miyoung at the convenience store. She couldn't make eye contact with me and she was probably embarrassed. Why should she be embarrassed? I had so many questions about her.

.

Hey! I didn't want to go too in depth into Miyoung's panic attack because it's a sensitive subject for me and I'm sure for a lot of people. Thanks for reading!