𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟑𝟑

"you're going to be in so much trouble when we get home." doyoung said, pushing jihyun towards the dining room.

"doyoung, don't push me. i'll throw up again." she groaned, falling onto the seat beside mark who was sitting at the table with the others, their heads facing down to avoid the glares from their mentors.

"it is one thing to steal from yuta but another to drink the night before the big party at the capitol AND may i add, you are underage!" taeyong yelled. "do you realise how stupid you are? do you understand the consequences?"

"they can barely look at us because of their headaches." kun scoffed, crossing his arms.

"look, we didn't mean—" mark began to say but was quickly cut off by taeil.

"no. we don't want to hear your excuses. i thought you were the responsible one, mark. you shouldn't have allowed this. you're going to be the next mentor and you need to set examples for others. how could you be so irresponsible?"

"i'm sorry." mark clenched his fists and closed his eyes as each word hit him harshly.

jihyun watched his actions and how he was clearly hurt by what was being said. she hated that they seemed to be blaming him for everything when the others acted on their own. he didn't deserve this.

"i'm disappointed. i thought you'd be better..." taeyong said.

"hold on a second." jihyun stood up from her seat, almost knocking it over. "why are you blaming mark? he is not responsible for anything. mark has always been a great person, an excellent role model and the most reasonable and kindest person i have ever met. so what if for once he slipped up and decided to pick a night of fun with his friends rather than stressing? i think you forget that we are still kids. the same kids that were thrown into the hunger games and came out alive, only having each other as we went through the same trauma. stop treating us like we aren't those same kids!"

for a moment, silence engulfed the room as jihyun glared at the mentors, her hands planted on the table after slamming them down halfway through her yelling. her palms ached and she was getting tired of glaring but she wasn't going to back down. after what renjun had said, she realised she had to get the mentors to understand their stress and annoyance.

"alright. that's enough. all of you." hana's soft voice could be heard as she entered the room, a tray in her hands. "leave the eight alone and, jihyun, relax."

"sorry." the younger mumbled, slumping into her seat. she stared down at the table as hana placed the tray and started placing bowls of hangover soup in front of the eight.

jihyun felt a sudden cold touch on her right hand that made her flinch but she relaxed when she saw that it was mark. soon his hand had entwined with hers and he squeezed it. she glanced at him and he mouthed 'thank you'.

"always." she whispered, squeezing his hand back then turned to hana, pointing to the soup. "is it nice?"

"of course! i made it. try it. try it." she replied, gesturing her to eat quickly.

seeing that jisung and haechan seemed to be enjoying it, she hesitantly picked the spoon and lifted it to her lips. the second the liquid reached her mouth, she was gagging and searching for water. hana and the two that were eating burst out into laughter at this.

"it was so hard pretending to like this." jisung said sticking his tongue out.

"but we did it just to see jihyun's reaction." haechan laughed, high fiving him.

"so worth it."

"you're awful. i hate you." jihyun said, pushing the bowl of soup away. "what is in this that made it so gross?"