our rainy days || yang jungwon

Chapter 6

Jae-in POV

I woke up from my nap, still groggy. Half-opening my eyes, I saw Jungwon glancing out towards the open corridor and out into the school gardens. The rain had stopped. I was still leaning on him. Oh god. As quick as possible and hopefully without being rude, I jerked away from him.

"Awake already?" Jungwon asked softly. The rain had stopped though, how long had I slept ?

"Already? How long has it been?" I had just slept for around 2 whole hours, according to Jungwon's watch. Panic-stricken, I stumbled up to my feet, nearly bumping my head on the bottom of the stairs we were under.

My body ached from sleeping in that position for so long and my legs gave way from under me, clearly not used to me getting up so suddenly. Watching me practically crumple to the ground, Jungwon laughed slightly, rolling his eyes at my expense and taking his blazer that had fallen to the floor. We eventually got back to class in time for 4th period and had a hell of a time dealing with stares that came with arriving late together.

"Why WERE you so late today and what- why- how were you with Jungwon? Don't tell me you have a thing for him," Sooyoung glared while speaking.

Unfazed, I merely told her that it was none of her business, especially since Sooyoung didn't know about my fear of storms and I didn't want the word to spread around in school, but that only made her face redder with anger.

That was when I lost my best friend of 5 years. Over a boy. I went to school the next day in a terrible mood, ignoring Jungwon, causing his usual smirk to waver and be replaced with concerned eyes and a tightlipped smile.

"Hey... are you okay ? You seem a little off today, it's not because of yesterday right because if it is I'm really sorry for not waking you up, you just looked so peaceful I couldn't bear to wake you up.." He thought I was mad at him? I faced him with a serious look, staring into his eyes.

" It isn't your fault Wonwon, I just had a nasty fight with Sooyoung yesterday."

The nickname was totally gross, I had heard some girls a grade under us using it once and thought he might find it endearing- no actually scratch that it was just hilarious to see him squirm whenever people called him that. Those girls were my age, if they could go up to him and call him nicknames then I don't see why I can't.

Jungwon narrowed his eyes, almost glowering at me while my serious expression completely cracked, giving away the joke. I laughed so hard it hurt. "You should've seen your face ! Now THAT is comedy gold," I told him after settling down from the laughing fit. He didn't appreciate it as much. "My grandad used to call me Wonwon.. he had a stroke a few months ago..." In a much smaller voice he added, "He didn't- He didn't make it."

Before I could gasp aloud, I slapped my hand onto my mouth. Ouch jesus I could've done that softer. "I'm so sorry Jungwon, I didn't know..and if I did I would never use it, you know I wouldn't...are you okay- I mean do you want to talk about it? My grandad passed last year and I wasn't all that close to him but it still hurt so I can't imagine wh-"

Jungwon was laughing. He was laughing like a maniac. I asked him what was wrong. He told me he was just joking and that his grandfather was still alive and well and didn't even call him Wonwon. I was infuriated. I mean I had just confessed my loss and offered my condolences but he was having a laughing fit at everything.

I couldn't deal with this, my grandad wouldn't want me to put up with the disrespect to his name that Jungwon was displaying. Without saying another word, I left the classroom and went to the infirmary, where I told the nurse I had thrown up and needed to be brought back home.

I took medical leave for that day and headed home. I couldn't deal with losing a friend and having another disrespect my late relatives in a span of 30 hours.

When I got home I saw Jake sprawled across the couch, munching on some chips while watching some variety show about wrestling. "Why are you home so early ?" he asked between bites of his snack.

"Why are you not in school ?" I retorted, not in the most sunshine mood for small talk. He looked up from the tv, walking over to me.

"Hey sissy you know you can talk to me right ? I'll always be here for you, it's just I've decided I want to be an idol, like a kpop idol, so I dropped out of school yesterday for auditions and training if I even get in.." I looked up at him, shocked. Jake was a great student and had some of the best scores for physics in his entire grade, he had wanted to be an engineer, why give up on his dream now?

He sat me down and a minute turned into an hour of him explaining his reasons and passions and telling me that I should follow my heart too. Another hour passed, us talking about how we were going to stay in contact if one of those giant companies took him away from dad and I.

My only brother, my only pillar of support left, could be leaving if he passed any of those auditions, but I couldn't be selfish and keep him with me, he had his road ahead and even if I'm not with him along it, I would be happy for him from where I was.

Ard 2018

Jake went to various auditions after that, occasionally mentioning some big names like JYP and SM Entertainment, until one day he told us he had been accepted into a company known as Bighit. I was skeptical still. I had never been a huge fan of kpop and the rarely addressed issues that occasionally surface but are shut down quickly and forgotten don't sit well with me, so I didn't know much of other companies besides the big 3.

Jake was adamant of continuing to audition in the later rounds amongst almost 500 other contestants, determined to be in that company. I later found out he looked up to the senior group there, BTS. I still wasn't 100% convinced that a company with only one well known group would be the best bet for my brother, especially since kpop idols are indebted to their company for at least the first few years, but I supported his decision to continue auditioning nonetheless, sometimes helping him with lyrics and other times with dance.

I've learnt ballet since I was 6, so I have decent technique and musicality, not to mention being in the dance extracurricular for 7 years, so I often helped Jake with the counts and gave him advice on how to emphasise certain moves. He started training individually at home, with half of his room turned into a studio with a mirror and the other half as his bedroom, seperated by a wall divider up to the ceiling.

Usually when I got back from school I would help him out for a bit before I got to my homework. As for Jungwon, I stopped talking to him almost completely, occasionally asking for the homework but eventually a troublemaker at the back of class was caught talking too much and the teacher swapped Jungwon to the back of class, saving our awkward conversations.

It still surprised me how the gentleman that had been there under the stairs had never even apologised about laughing at my late grandfather, changing my view of boys. They were all rude and ignorant with no actual kindness or intelligence and I hated them. I lost contact with him and never really thought much of our days together. He was just another seatmate, I often tried to remind myself, but I never got into a relationship anyway, despite the many boys who hit on me or worse, catcalled me or even those who just asked me out.

AUTHORS NOTE :

hi yall ! i rlly hope this chapter isn't too sloppy because i'm writing at like 11pm but yes spoiler ! this should follow with the whole i-land thing both from jae-in and jungwon's perspective so please look forward to that in the next few chapters ! i don't have a fixed uploading schedule so sometimes i may uploading twice a day or once a week depending on how busy i am but don't worry, i'll try to at least upload once every 2 weeks so yall don't have to wait 2 years for one chapter HAHA okay goodnight luvs <3