𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 17

WARNING: Panic attack, please do not proceed if you're uncomfortable!

Jugyeong goes to the sauna with her sister the following day, and decides to spend some time in the heat room while Huigyeong gets some food. When she feels like she's spent enough time there she moves towards the door, but her eyes widen at the sight of Seojun and Chorong entering. She panics and rolls to the ground, laying on her side with her back towards them, so they won't see her face.

She waits for a while to see if she can find a way to leave without them recognising her, but her interest is piqued when she hears their conversation.
"Aren't you meeting your girlfriend today?" Chorong asks.
"Girlfriend? What are you talking about?"

"I'll do everything you say~" he mocks, imitating what Seojun always says to Jugyeong.
"Will you stop? It's nothing like that."
"Why don't you ask her out though? She's really pretty, don't you think?"
"Looks aren't everything you know!"

Seojun continues to deny Chorong's suggestions, but the words disappear at his next question.
"What about Y/N?" Jugyeong perks up at this question, but she remains still to make sure that she can hear every word. "If 'looks aren't everything' like you're saying, then Y/N ticks all the boxes in the personality aspect too. She's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met."

Seojun remains silent.
"You can't deny that there's something going on between the two of you."
"It's not like that," he replies after a few seconds, his voice soft. Jugyeong smiles when she hears his quiet response. He's clearly caught off guard by Chorong's question.

At the same time, you're out shopping. You're walking around town, wanting to get some fresh air since the weather is really nice that day, and you stop at a cosmetics store. You look around to see if any makeup catches your eye - although you don't wear makeup very often, you still like to wear lip tints and highlighter sometimes - and end up finding a pretty lip tint.

After buying a few things, you decide to get some food since you're beginning to get a little hungry. You approach the door to the restaurant, but you pause when you see a few familiar faces. Upon closer inspection you realise that it's the same group of boys who were cornering Seojun the day you met him.

You panic and begin to walk away, but you notice that Jugyeong is also inside the restaurant, surrounded by a group of girls. You hear one of them speak, and your body freezes when you realise who they are.
"The kids at school are saying you left because I bullied you." When Jugyeong tries to leave, the girl grabs her wrist to prevent her from getting away.

You swallow down your fear and try your best to help, having noticed that the other boys are no longer in sight. You walk up to her, taking her wrist and roughly shoving it away so she's no longer holding onto Jugyeong.
"I think you should leave now," you say, moving to stand in front of Jugyeong so she can't try to grab her again. "You don't want to cause a scene, do you?" You glare at her.

"Who do you think you are?" She asks, irritated by the fact that you're interfering. You just look at her and scoff, not responding to her question. The situation terrifies you and reminds you a lot of your own bullies, and you can feel your bravery slipping away the longer you stand there, but you try your best to stay strong for the sake of saving your friend.

You grab Jugyeong's arm and pull her out of the store, but she suddenly stops and feels around in her pockets with a worried expression.
"My wallet! I dropped it," she turns to you in panic, "my school ID is in there." Your eyes widen and you run back, telling her to wait there and that you would get it for her, but when you arrive you see that Suho is already holding it while confronting the girls.

You sigh in relief, smiling gently when you see him sprinting out to find Jugyeong, before running away in the opposite direction. You feel yourself starting to panic, and you don't know if it will stop this time. You can just feel the panic building with each passing second, the courage from a few minutes ago vanishing completely. You stumble a little as you enter a nearby alleyway and move to lean against the wall, hunching over and trying to catch your breath.

You suddenly feel someone's hand on your back, and you look up to see Seojun with Chorong standing behind him. Both of them have worried expressions on their faces.
"Y/N? What's going on?" he asks, and you try to get some words out despite your difficulty breathing.

"Seo-Seojun, I can't b-breathe," you barely manage to choke out. You feel yourself sliding down the wall to the ground, losing the strength in your legs to keep yourself up. He quickly reaches to catch you, and you grab onto his forearms out of instinct. He helps you to the ground gently and looks up at Chorong in shock, before turning back to help you through your panic attack. He wracks his brain for a way that he can help you calm down, not knowing what to do.

"Y/N, just try to follow my breathing okay?" he tells you, but you continue to gasp for air. He grabs your hand and pulls it to rest against his chest, hoping that his heartbeat will help you calm down. You feel his heartbeat under your palm, and the feeling of his chest rising and falling as he breathes helps you relax, so you finally try your best to match your breathing with his.

After what feels like an eternity you finally manage to get your breathing to return to normal, and you move forward to rest your head against Seojun's shoulder.
"Thank you," you whisper, still panting lightly.
"It's okay, I said that I would help you through this from now on and I intend to keep that promise," he responds and wraps his arms around you, one of his hands gripping your waist to keep you upright.

You smile lightly, letting out a sigh of relief against his hoodie. The material under your cheek feels soft and warm, and you relish in the comfort it brings as you finally feel yourself starting to become more aware of your surroundings. He breaks away from the hug after a few minutes and you clutch onto his forearms tightly, not wanting to let go just yet.

You notice Chorong behind him at that point, so you throw him a tired smile before finally standing up with Seojun's help. Chorong had just been silently standing behind Seojun as he watched the two of you, not wanting to overwhelm you further by speaking.

He watches the way Seojun pushes your hair out of your face lightly, and takes note of how worried he is. He smiles when he sees how much Seojun cares for you, he really does hope the two of you will end up together - you're both perfect for each other, and he's never seen Seojun care for a girl this much before.

Seojun doesn't want to leave you alone after what just happened, so he offers for you to join them and get something to eat. He thinks it would be good to help get your energy back - he can only imagine how exhausted you must be after your panic attack.

You walk around for a bit, suddenly bumping into the same group of boys you'd seen as you entered the restaurant previously.
"Oh look, it's Han Seojun," you hear a female voice, and you panic when you look up to see the girls who were picking on Jugyeong earlier. You instinctively reach up to grip Seojun's sleeve, an action that doesn't go unnoticed by them.

"Aww, where's all that courage from earlier gone?" They laugh at you, and Seojun is quick to push you behind him.
"Oh? I remember you," one of them says, recognising you from the time you had saved Seojun from getting beaten up by them.

Chorong throws his empty bottle at them, irritation rising in his body at their attitude, which only serves to make them angry. The boy at the front is about to throw a punch but Seojun reacts quickly, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him backwards. They eventually leave when they realise that people are starting to stare and crowd around, and Seojun quickly turns to you.

He wraps his arm around your shoulder and pulls you to walk in the opposite direction, Chorong walking alongside you. You dare to glance back for a moment, only to see them throwing glares at you. When you get far enough that they're no longer in sight Seojun finally stops and turns to you, grabbing your shoulders and glancing at you in worry.

"I'm okay," you breathe, "I promise, I'm okay this time because you were there." You move your hand to rest it over his that was on your shoulder, squeezing it lightly to reassure him, and he sighs in relief. You look over his shoulder and smile at Chorong gratefully, and he responds with a reassuring one of his own.

Seojun walks you home after that, and when you reach your door you turn to him.
"I'm okay Seojun, seriously." You can tell he's still worried about you, so you try your best to reassure him. He seems unconvinced, but forces a smile nonetheless.

"If you need anything just let me know, okay?"
"I will," you smile, "now go home!" you say with a little chuckle, pushing him lightly towards the stairs so he can go to his own apartment. "Tell Gowoon I said hi." He smiles lightly and nods before finally turning to walk away.