rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 29

Jake frowned at Jungwon's lunchtray.

"Seriously. Are you and Jay in a fight or something?"

Jungwon felt his shoulders hike up. He shook his head, and picked up his spork to push around his cafeteria slush. Jake would drop it again, if he just waited long enough for Heeseung to distract him.

"Jungwon...," Sunoo sounded pained. Jungwon looked up from his tray, wondering what he'd done to make Sunoo sound like that.

"Is something wrong?" Sunoo asked, sending Jungwon into a state of surprise.

He shook his head a second time, hoping desperately that it'd work and that they'd leave it alone. He didn't want to talk about Jay, not right at that moment, not in the middle of the cafeteria. Jungwon glanced at Sunghoon, who was staring imploringly at him. Jungwon slumped back in his chair, put out. Sunghoon wanted him to talk about Jay with the rest of the guys.

He couldn't. Sharing it with more people would only make the problem seem more real, seem less like a temporary thing and more like a permanent state.

Ni-ki moved, catching Jungwon's eye. He shifted his arm, reaching for something under the table. From Sunoo's responding movement, it seemed Ni-ki had made to grab onto Sunoo's hand.

"Did that 'bot-- I mean. Did Jay say something to you?" Ni-ki asked, looking from Sunoo to Jungwon. His brows were furrowed, "You can tell us, if he did."

Jungwon bet that, no matter how imaginative the ideas they'd formed about him and Jay, none of them matched up to reality. Jay hadn't hurt him on purpose. It hadn't been anything Jay had done, it was just that Jay wasn't there . Wasn't with Jungwon, not really.

Jungwon glanced again at Sunghoon, wondering if Sunghoon would still come to his aid even though they were on rocky ground. Sunghoon pressed his lips together. He seemed unhappy, but he spoke up.

"But you don't have to say anything, if you don't want to."

The table went silent. Ni-ki frowned at Sunghoon. Jungwon swore he saw electricity crackle in the air as Ni-ki stared Sunghoon down. The guys had probably wanted to present a united front, as they called on Jungwon. But Jungwon had gotten to Sunghoon first.

Jungwon pushed the guilty feeling that clogged his throat down. He'd promised Sunghoon that things wouldn't change between him and his two best friends, but he'd gone and created another division between them. He cleared his throat, to speak.

"It's nothing Jay said. I'm just... not feeling well, at the moment."

He could tell, looking around at all his friends' faces, that not a single one of them bought his excuse. But they were kind enough to pretend to, nodding at him, pasting neutral faces on, hiding their disappointment at his inability to open up. Sunghoon frowned, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Hopefully you get better soon," Jake said, softly. He reached over and squeezed Jungwon's hand.

"Jay too. I miss his cookies," Heeseung interjected, more loudly. Jungwon smiled, despite himself. His friends, at least, would always be there for him. He'd fill them in on everything after Jay, in Jake's words, got better.

Jungwon's smile slipped from his face. He looked back down at his tray of slush.

'If Jay got better...'

— the end of chapter 29 ♡

kind of an early update
for today @.@

even jungwon's friends are
worried for him :(

i will update again after this
reaches 250 votes ^_^