stigma [ yeonbin ]

xxvi

Tea with ginseng, and rest with your partner.

These were the words that Yeonjun had received in a text an hour prior, and he repeated them in his head, memorizing his father's advice like a creed.

Tea with ginseng? He could easily do that. In fact, he was pretty sure that he had some ginseng tea at home.

As for the partner half... Yeonjun didn't exactly want to admit who had popped into his mind immediately to solve that one.

He strolled in the empty school hallway, having made up his mind to skip the rest of his classes. It wasn't as if he'd get anything out of them anyway, as he'd be too distracted by what felt like literally dying.

Yeonjun was actually somewhat glad that Beomgyu had forced him to talk to his father. With that out of the way, at least he could focus on dealing with his pain rather than stressing about hiding it from him.

"Jun...?" a voice behind him startled him.

Yeonjun whipped around, his eyes meeting those of a slightly taller boy who stared at him questioningly.

"Soobin!" the elder spoke in surprise. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Soobin padded over to him, nodding as he arrived.
"Yeah," he said. "I was just going to the bathroom. Why aren't you in class?"

Yeonjun blanked at this, trying to come up with a sensible answer.

"Uh, I was probably gonna go home... my head still hurts," he responded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Oh," Soobin replied, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet. "Sorry. I hope it gets better soon," he wished, before glancing down the hall.

"I still need to go to the bathroom, so..."

"Oh! Yeah," Yeonjun said, stepping out of the way.

Soobin gave him a curt nod before walking past, reaching up to fix his own hair.

"Umm, Bin!" Yeonjun grabbed his wrist, stopping him. On second thought, it would be better to follow his father's advice exactly, right?

"Could I come over today?" he asked quietly, avoiding Soobin's gaze. "I don't really wanna go back to my place, so..."

"Yeah, sure," Soobin answered a little too quickly. "It's still last period though. Can you wait til it ends?"

"Of course," Yeonjun said, although he internally cringed at knowing he'd have to tolerate his migraine for an extra thirty minutes. "I'll just hang out at the entrance for a while."

"Okay then. I'll see you," Soobin gave a tiny wave, with Yeonjun gesturing for him to go.

Yeonjun wandered off to the school's exit as soon as the other was out of sight. In actuality, he didn't even know if the boy would fit his dad's definition of "partner." It's not like he was about to ask, either.

It couldn't hurt to try, though.
He sat down near the doors and pulled out his phone, making a few quick google searches on the matter.