𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 | Watanabe Haruto|

𝙴𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗

Lecture Hall 3
Noon 3p.m

Another day at the college came to an end. The crowd slowly dispersed as everyone moved to their houses and dorms exhausted. Rashita had been missing during break which was the only time when she and Janet would meet to relax and chat.

"She certainly came to the college then where did she go missing?", Janet self talked taking her steps towards the LH 1. It was generally her friend to accompany her but walking alone in the corridor hearing only feeble sound was nonetheless pleasing for her.

Running her eyes everywhere, admiring the beauty of the college that she forgot or missed out, she passed by the cafeteria. It was when his presence caught her attention.

Justin, or Jeongwoo, as she saw, leaned on the chair fiddling with the lolipop stick gazing at the ceiling with straight face. Silently she went inside to order the burger she had been missing for a while now.

"Bothered by something?", the soft voice called him breaking his thoughts. A small 'hmm?' escaped from his mouth. Not continuing further, Janet offered the earlier bought burger to him. "A bite maybe?", she proffered the burger with a polite smile. Jeongwoo thought for a second then accepted it.

"Interested in sharing your stress? You seem sad", finding the right moment, Janet initiated the conversation making sure about her reassuring words. Jeongwoo's lips pursed into thin line. "Just observing duality of the humans."

"Observing or bothered by it?", Janet tried to read his expression. The crease on his forehead and the slightly furrowed brows were speaking more than his words. "Maybe both", he shifted his position, supporting his chin by keeping elbows on the table. Momentarily, there surrounded silence and breaking it, his sigh made sound. "It's strange right," he opened up, "how people forget others and move on like nothing ever happened."

Janet hummed in denial, her head moving left to right at once. "People never forget whom they crossed their path with. It's just they have some reasons they can't tell you and there are some situations that compel them to change."

"Every situation is compelling and changing factor if you look that way. And to that said, every change in ourselves is better than earlier. But, it isn't. Which human doesn't like to change? But we are blind when we do for those that seem good for now have worse waiting in future."

"Indeed it is", Janet agreed with his words," but people moving on in their life has many untold reasons too. There is lot more in reality than we imagine."

The sudden silence broke out again. No one uttered a word and it was Jeongwoo again to end this. A painful smile crept on his lips when he mumbled a little louder, "I can't believe someone like him would hurt someone like you." It took Janet by surprise. "Ne?", she asked receiving, 'nothing' as reply.

At Night
7:30 p.m

"I am paying for today", Jihoon toasted the drink with others. All the boys had gathered at the bar to hang out including Junkyu and Haruto, one who was alcohol intolerant and one who was underage. 

"Ruto and I are getting ourselves mocktail what say?", Junkyu nudged Haruto who was leaning on the bar counter busy scrolling his phone. "Anything", he replied uninterested. Junkyu pouted and went to sit on the sofa along other members. 'Should I visit him to know the reason behind the locket?', Haruto thought unconsciously tapping on the screen. 

"Where are you lost? Come, join us", Jihoon dragged Haruto to where his group was. It was more of a mini reunion and they were all high on the party mood. In all that, unknowingly, Haruto got drunk mistaking alcohol as mocktail. 

"Who made him drink alcohol", Hyunsuk facepalmed as Haruto hugged him as if he was a plushie. Everyone denied to it while Junkyu laughed at his condition. "Haruto is two today, one for us and one for her." Evident, he was drunk too. Jihoon slapped his head for spitting nonsense.

"Her who?", Hyunsuk asked. "His kuchiku", Jaehyuk added to which they both, Jaehyuk and Junkyu burst out laughing. Hyunsuk's face turned into disgust. The word was cringeworthy and he found no room to adjust with those. "Get them to their dorms please. They have gone crazy", he sighed speaking to Jihoon.

"Take that boy to your home. If he is caught we all will be done at once", Jihoon replied to Hyunsuk indicating Haruto. Both the elders carried the drunk boys out of the bar and moved towards their respective cars. 

"Alight then I'll take my leave first", Hyunsuk called out to Jihoon when Haruto kicked the door open and ran to him. "Hyung! Saranghaeyo", he hugged him making Jihoon laugh at him. Furthermore, he did the same with Doyoung who had arrived not long after receiving Jihoon's call.

"Stop being a nuisance idiot!", fed up, Hyunsuk dragged Haruto by his collar and pushed him in the backseat.

Later that night Rashita fell asleep on the couch watching 'Pororo The Little Penguin'. Everything around her was mess. To her luck, Jiwon was pulling an all-nighter to complete her project research or Rashita would've been kicked out of the home or yelled upon. Sleep was beautiful, turning into an alternate reality, but she had never been so lucky to ever have anything peaceful in her life.

The bell rang and she threw the cushion away on the ground. Cursing, she opened the door to see tired Hyunsuk and a clingy Haruto stumbling as the result of intoxication. "What's gotten into him?", she stared at them giving a perplexed look. 

"Saranghaeyo hyung", Haruto slurred near his ears. "This is seriously your 10th time Ruto-ya. Stop it now", his elder replied in 'I'm so done with this human' tone. Rashita was only staring at them blankly when Haruto looked at her and smiled. His smile gave her a wrong sign about something that was going to happen.

"Dont. Don't you dare", horrified, she stepped back. Step for step, like a slow-motion Kdrama scene, but not what one would expect it to end as. Her face was forming a look of disgust analysing his smile that was turning into.

"Saranghaeyo"