𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 9

A/N: Please bear with me, I promise it will get better... or at least I hope so o_O

You're sitting in the living room with your mother at home while studying that evening, when you suddenly receive a call from Jugyeong. You pick it up and greet her happily.
"Y/N, it is possible to kill someone through a phone? Because if it is, can you do that to me," she says immediately with a monotone voice.

"I'm fine Jugyeong, thanks for asking," you respond with a snort at her dramatic words, "what's wrong?" She tells you about how Suho ended up finding out about her bare face, anxiousness evident in her tone.
"My life is ruined," she whines, and you try not to laugh because you know she's literally panicking over nothing.

"I can understand why you might be worried, but trust me when I say this. He won't tell anyone." Not only does he have no interest in talking to his classmates in general, you know very well that he just isn't the type of person to expose a person's secrets like that. "He may act cold, but he's not a bad person. You'll be fine, I promise." She relaxes slightly at your words, but she's still understandably worried.

When you walk into school the next day you head straight to your desk, but when you see how tense and restless Jugyeong looks you get a little worried. You're about to get up to ask her what's wrong but your teacher enters the classroom at that point, so you have no choice but to wait until the end of the lesson to speak to her.

As soon as your teacher leaves you walk over to her and ask her if something happened, and she explains to you that she has to keep doing errands for Suho so that he doesn't expose her secret. You don't see her much throughout the day because she's too busy running around for him, even getting up a few times during lessons whenever he asks her to do something.

You decide to spend time with Seojun and his friends during lunch that day, all of you standing in one of the school hallways. The boys are all surrounding him with a mirror, Seojun just admiring himself and making sure his hair looks good. You laugh at their antics from where you're leaning against the wall near them, sipping on the carton of strawberry milk that you'd gotten from the vending machine right beside you.

You all look over when someone suddenly bumps into Seojun, and you smile when you realise that it's Jugyeong. Noticing the huge box she's carrying you realise she must be running another errand for Suho, so you sigh before moving over with the intention of helping her.

Your smile drops, however, when you see Seojun pushing her against the wall to stop her from walking away. You just stand there awkwardly, watching them in silence. Chorong notices your sadness, picking up on the way your smile drops before you eventually just look away completely.

When she walks away shortly after, Seojun turns back around and the boys immediately start teasing him in excitement. You throw the carton of milk in the bin nearby and walk past them to follow Jugyeong, quickly mumbling to the boys that you're going to help her carry the boxes she's holding since they looked heavy. You send Chorong a little smile when you make eye contact with him before leaving, not wanting to be there any longer. 

You walk back to class afterwards, trying to ignore the sudden sadness that had washed over you. You don't understand why your heart has become so heavy, not liking the feeling. The rest of the day goes by pretty quickly, and you eventually forget about your earlier sadness as the day progresses.

Seojun goes to the hospital after school that day to visit his mother and spend a little bit of time with her before he goes home, and she asks him how he's doing now that he's back at school - she's really glad that he decided to go back, and is grateful towards you for convincing him to do so.
"It's fine, same old," he responds.

"How's Y/N? She visited me a few times before but she hasn't been here for over a week now, she must be really busy." Seojun looks up at his mother, shocked by the new information.
"She visits you?"
"Every few days," she nods at his question, "she brings me food whenever she visits and always stays to keep me company for a little while too."

"She brings food for Gowoon and I almost every day too," he tells her with a light smile which she mirrors.
"She's such a sweet girl, isn't she?" he nods, "And she's pretty too." Seojun looks up at her in shock.
"W-what are you talking about?" he stutters and she laughs before changing the subject, throwing him a knowing smile when he looks away.

At lunch the following day, you grab your food before joining your friends who are already seated. You sit in the spare seat beside Jugyeong and smile at your friends before you all start chatting casually while eating your food. Your conversation is cut short, however, when you hear a loud noise on the other side of the cafeteria, causing all of you to jump and snap your heads in the direction it came from.

You see Suho's tray on the floor, and when you notice Seojun beside him you figure he must've pushed it out of his hands. Your eyes widen, and everybody in the cafeteria just silently watches in shock as Seojun walks over to the table where you're sitting with your friends. He sits beside Jugyeong (in the empty seat on the other side of her) and you watch nervously, not knowing what he's trying to do.

After a few moments Suho storms up to Seojun and grabs him by the collar of his blazer, violently pulling him and tightening his grip on his blazer when he stands up. You gasp in shock with wide eyes, looking around for a few seconds at the other students in the cafeteria. When you realise that nobody is going to step in, you stand up.

Jugyeong grabs your arm with a mixture of confusion and panic evident in her eyes, not wanting you to potentially get hurt, but you send her a reassuring smile because you know Seojun would never hurt you. You move forward to stand beside the two of them and grab Seojun's sleeve.

"Seojun, calm down," you tell him gently, but he doesn't respond nor look away from Suho. When you tug at his sleeve a second time, he looks down at you before gently moving your hand so you're no longer holding onto him. He takes a step back and, just when you think he's going to walk away, he turns back to Suho and throws a punch that sends him straight to the floor.

You gasp - as does everybody else in the cafeteria - and take a step back in shock, your friends watching worriedly. You grab onto his arm once again, and when you see them moving towards each other again you move to stand directly in front of him instead. You place your hands on his chest and push him back lightly, trying to get his attention away from Suho. Everybody in the cafeteria watches in panic, clearly worried about you getting hurt.

"Seojun, stop it!" you say and wrap your arms around his waist when he tries to take another step towards Suho, "stop it Seojun," you try to calm him down and it works for a second because he looks down at you, but then the anger reappears on his face when Suho speaks up once again. You turn to Suho and push him back gently too, standing between the two of them as you try to keep them away from each other.

The atmosphere is tense, they don't fight against your grip but they don't back off either. You watch as they continue to glare at each other, but the two of them eventually stop when a teacher walks in and shouts at all of you. You let out a sigh of relief, looking back up at Seojun who's watching you with an unreadable expression on his face.