The new semester has started and Chan is worried. It's not even related to school he promise you that. No, see the entire summer holiday, none of them have heard from Jihoon, they haven't seen him either and Lee Chan is freaking the fuck out.
They are back at school again, siting at their usual table in the cafeteria. Joshua and Seungcheol are official, have been for two months now and they are still going through that honeymoon phase. Soonyoung has completely drifted away from Seungcheol, opting to sit with Seokmin and Jeonghan. Jihoon... Chan has no news on Jihoon at all. He does not understand how he cannot know what happened to his hyung at all. School started a week ago and they should have seen Jihoon walking around the dormitory halls by now, right?
"So, no one heard from Jihoon?" Wonwoo asks looking around the table. The entire group falls silent at the question and Wonwoo takes that as their answer. Chan looks at Soonyoung who looks pretty sad, don't get Chan wrong, he would be devastated if Vernon went missing without any trace as well, but why is Soonyoung looking at Seungcheol?
"Soonyoung Hyung?" Seokmin asks the older. Soonyoung shakes his head with a sigh. The group fall into hopeless silence again.
"Seungcheol" They all turn to the voice that called their hyung and there stands Kihyun (?). The medicine major smiling slightly at all of them in greeting. "Jihoon sent me to give you this, said he found it in the library before the summer holiday" The whole group looks at Kihyun confused when he hands over the stepping stone necklace. They then turn to Seungcheol who has the exact same necklace on his neck at the moment.
"Huh?" Soonyoung breaks out of his confusion first. Kihyun walks away before they can ask more questions. "Wait, what?"
Chan looks at the necklace and he thinks back to when Jihoon asked Dongmin to lie to the group. Oh. He didn't, he couldn't have. "Jihoon hyung bought a new necklace, like Jeonghan and Joshua suggested" He says and Soonyoung's eyes widen. Seungcheol slowly removes the necklace from his neck and puts it next to the other one. Comparing them now, they are different, but one thing stands out the most, the one Kihyun gave them has Seungcheol and Jihoon's initials carved on it very lightly.
"Why would he do that?" Well that's a stupid question.
"Uhm, hey" Jihoon's voice causes them to snap their heads towards him. Jihoon looks at them with a sheepish smile that fades when he sees the necklaces on the table. Chan notices him purse his lips and exhale before turning to Soonyoung. "You have my phone hyung" Soonyoung just looks at him. He was gone for three whole months and that's all he says?
"Really?" Soonyoung asks and Jihoon sighs. He turns to Joshua and Seungcheol. Seungcheol is not even meeting his gaze and Joshua is looking at Jihoon with a small smile, Chan is not sure what it means and he sure as hell does not want to figure it out.
"Congratulations, heard you guys got together during the summer" Jihoon says shocking the fuck out of his friends. Chan and Soonyoung especially. He looks at the necklaces and sighs "Was it Kihyun hyung or Youngjae hyung?"
"Wait, wait, and wait. You had it all along?" Seungcheol speak up for the first time since Jihoon arrived. Jihoon turns to glare at Seungcheol as well "How could you—"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here hyung." Jihoon cuts Seungcheol off "This necklace, is not important as it is just another piece of jewelry" Chan feels the stab for Seungcheol. He remembers the day they threw those exact words to Jihoon "There is no need to overact"
Ouch.
"Jihoon" Soonyoung calls for his friends "Here" He says handing the phone over to its owner and Jihoon nods grateful. Jihoon then smiles at them "You won't be siting with us anymore, will you?"
