𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲

chapter 24

A/N: Next chapter is finally here after making you all wait for so long. I'M SORRY!!! *CRIES*
I really hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think as always! (I hope I proofread this correctly...)
Also, I'm so tempted to write an eternals x reader story it's not even funny o_O

You look around as you stroll through the woods while the boys record, searching for the supposed ghost they had all been told about. You're walking silently beside Seojun, when Chorong suddenly screams in an attempt to scare all of you. It works, because you yelp and move into Seojun's arms out of fear.

He looks down at you for a few seconds in shock, and your eyes widen when you realise what you're doing.
"Sorry," you mumble, taking a step back to move out of his embrace, but he wraps an arm around you and pulls you towards him to keep you by his side.
"It's fine, there's nothing here. You don't have to be scared," he tells you, trying to reassure you, and your eyes widen slightly at the close proximity.

You continue to follow the others after a few seconds, said boys being too distracted by their little ghost hunt to notice that the two of you have fallen behind, but shortly after catching up to them Seojun stops you once again.

You look up at him in confusion, but he wordlessly crouches down to tie your shoelaces which you hadn't noticed were becoming loose. You just stare at him, confused by his actions, but remain silent.
"Thank you," you tell him softly, and he looks up at you once he's done. His mouth curls upwards slightly before he gets back up.

"Come on, let's go." He moves to take a step again, but you gasp when you realise that the two of you are now alone, the others nowhere to be seen. They must not have realised that the two of you had stopped. He reassures you that you will both be able to find your way back to the tents safely, so after looking around for a few seconds the two of you continue walking.

"By the way," he speaks up after a few seconds of walking silently, and you respond with a hum, "what was Hyeongyu talking about earlier? Do you have a crush?" He tries to appear nonchalant but keeps glancing over at you subtly, genuinely curious about your answer.

"It's just a stupid game," you respond after a few moments of contemplation, laughing nervously.
"But the game said you were lying when you said you didn't have a crush on anyone." You just turn to stare at him for a while, before eventually deciding against telling him. 
"We really should find our way back," you say instead, forcing a smile as you start moving again.

When he finally begins walking with you, you shift the question onto him. You know the answer will probably hurt you, but you're unable to stop yourself from asking regardless.
"What about you? Don't you like Jugyeong?" you ask, trying to sound uninterested but genuinely wanting to know how he would respond.

He stays quiet for a second, because does he? Sure, when he's with her he does feel like he has some feelings towards her, but at the thought of you he becomes conflicted. He clears his throat awkwardly at your question.
"Ahh, seriously where did the others run off to?" he says, trying to change the subject. You just watch sadly as he walks ahead of you. That's what I thought, you think to yourself sadly, moving to follow after him with a sigh.

Eventually the two of you find your way back to the main camping grounds, and Seojun wordlessly walks you to your tent. When you reach the entrance you turn to him, suddenly remembering that you're still wearing his coat. You quickly move to take it off to return it to him, but he places a hand over your arm to halt your movements.
"It's fine, you can keep it," he tells you, and you just look up at him in shock.

"Um, okay. Well, good night then," you respond, smiling at him after a few moments of confusion - you're honestly way too exhausted to argue with him about it, so you just head into your tent after saying your goodbyes to each other. That night, you sleep with an incredibly conflicted mind.

The following morning you all gather in the forest near your camping grounds for a little treasure hunt. You're also wearing Seojun's jacket - you hesitated for a while, but in the end you thought why not? He did tell you to keep it after all, and it's incredibly warm and comfortable. Once everyone begins to disperse to search for items around the area, you look at Jugyeong who's standing beside you.

You notice that she looks a little pale and unwell, so you move forward and place a hand on her forehead. Gasping at the realisation that she's burning up slightly, you grab her arm and pull her towards your homeroom teacher to explain to him that Jugyeong doesn't seem to be very well.

He tells her that she can rest in the coach if she wants, and asks if you don't mind taking her there. You nod immediately, linking your arm with hers and walking with her towards the vehicle. You don't notice somebody else watching the two of you walk away in confusion.

"Jugyeong," you whisper once you arrive at the coach and help her sit down, rubbing her arm soothingly "I'm just going to find some medicine for you. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay? You can just stay here and rest." She smiles and nods tiredly, her eyes already closing as she moves to rest her head against the window. You smile lightly at her actions before leaving and quickly running back to your tent.

You'd brought some medicine with you just in case, so you grab it along with a bottle of water before heading back to the coach where you had left Jugyeong. You're looking down as you walk up the steps, trying to take one of the tablets out of the box in order to give it to her as soon as you reach her, but when you look up you make eye contact with a shocked Seojun.

He's sitting beside her with her head on his shoulder and his jacket over her, and you let out a pained smile at the sight. You swallow thickly before biting your lip as you approach him, Seojun's mouth opened in shock. You wordlessly grab his hand, placing the medicine in his palm and closing his fingers around it.

"Give this to her," you tell him softly, placing the water bottle in his other hand and leaving your hand on top of his for a little longer than necessary. He just stares at you, his mouth opening and closing as if he wants to say something but doesn't know where to begin.

You reach over to grab Jugyeong's hand softly and rub your thumb against the back of her palm, and that's when you notice the little flower bracelet on her wrist. Your heart shatters at the sight, and you close your eyes for a second.
"Get better soon, Jugyeong," you whisper, forcing a smile after a few moments.

You turn around and walk back towards the entrance of the coach, pausing before you leave. "Take care of her," you tell Seojun after turning to face him once more. For some reason he feels like there's a double meaning to your words, but he doesn't get the time to respond because you leave immediately after. You pass Suho as you walk back towards the tents, and he stops you to ask if you know where Jugyeong is.

"She's resting on the coach," you tell him, and he nods gratefully before moving to run past you towards the vehicle.
"But she's with Seojun," you call out. He pauses at that, turning back to face you, and that's when he realises how upset you look. You run away before he can say anything, though, so he just heads to the coach with a sigh.

You go back to your tent and lay down, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. You're angry at yourself for getting so excited about Seojun's behaviour over the past few days, but also for letting this get to you when you already knew Seojun had feelings for Jugyeong - you were reading too much into something that wasn't even there.

"All he did was give you a bracelet and his jacket, that doesn't mean he's in love with you. Stop jumping to conclusions," you mumble to yourself in frustration, sighing at your own stupidity. You decide to take a nap for a while, in the hopes that it would help get your mind off things temporarily.