Craving (JJ x James)

18.

'He did what!?' Sangwon interjected with his cell phone at his ear as he walked home from school. 'Justin I told you! Now look what's happened! You're gonna make it real awkward between me and my best friend right now – what!? What do you mean I shouldn't do anything!? He may be my best friend but you're family, you come first, you're way more important than he'll ever be! – No!'

'Sangwon!' Hikaru ran towards him on the sidewalk. 'What's going on?'

'I'll call you back Justin.' Sangwon hang up and sighed. 'Hey Hikaru.'

'You know I could hear you all the way from there,' she pointed at a distance behind. 'Is everything okay?'

'Not really.' he answered. 'Apparently James called Justin a faggot in front of anyone at school and told him he'll never like him, totally embarrassed him in front of the entire cafeteria. And I feel really terrible about it. James is my best friend and stuff but...'

'James is just disgusting.' Hikaru cut him. 'Why would he do that? Sometimes I really dislike him.'

'I know, I know. You've said that before.' Sangwon sighed.

'And it's a lot worse now.' She looked down and kicked a rock.

'But he's your boyfriend.' he looked at her curiously, slowly stopping in his tracks.

'Yes but maybe I made a stupid choice. If I could go back, I would have probably dated a guy like you instead.'

Sangwon felt heat in his cheeks. 'Th – thanks.'

𓆩♡𓆪

Meanwhile, Justin hadn't been able to attend classes that afternoon. He had spent the entire time in the janitor's closet, weeping silently in an old chair and waited for knockoff time.

Justin slightly opened the door and almost went back in when he heard familiar girls' voices outside.

'Wait so what you're saying is Justin probably has a crush on James and has been stalking him? That sounds weird but yeah, I guess James is too handsome.' the girl said to her friend.

'Yeah he's hot but Justin doesn't seem like the type to do that.'

'Justin felt uncomfortable and waited for the girls to move away from the hallway. He was having one of the worst days of his life at school.

Once they had left, he finally went out of the janitor's closet and walked quickly to make his way out of the school hallways and get home as soon as possible. He was probably going to cry in his room.

'Justin!' Yorch's voice said behind him.

Just didn't want to talk to him, he pretended he couldn't hear him and continued to walk. He knew Yorch was a kind person who only wanted to help as the school president, but Justin just did not want any conversation about James or anything, he just wanted to disappear.

'Justin!' Yorch repeated and caught up. He grabbed Justin's shoulder and turned him around.

'Oh Yorch,' Justin forced a smile. 'I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. It's so loud in the hallway.'

He nodded. 'It's fine. You're walking home right? Let's go,'

He didn't want to walk with him. Yorch was one of those nice people who probably talked to him because he knew he was lonely. He didn't like that. But at the same time, he couldn't say no.

'Okay,' he nodded and allowed Yorch walk next to him.

Once the two were away from other students, Yorch started to speak.

'So what's going on Justin?' he asked him. 'You like that guy? You've been here for a long time but you haven't liked any guy here.'

'I guess I do like him.' he mumbled, not wanting to express his feelings.

'Wha...really?' he asked in surprise. 'I know he's handsome but the guy is a total jerk. I don't think he's your type.'

He nodded. 'I wouldn't like someone simply because of the way they look Yorch, I'm not that shallow.' he looked down and found himself talking more. 'I know you wouldn't believe me but that guy helped me a lot when I felt like the world was against me. He was once my comfort from everything, that's why I started to like him.'

'Him!?' Yorch couldn't believe it. 'He called you a...' he didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to disappoint Justin further. But he believed that Justin didn't like James simply because of the way he looked. If he liked people because of their appearance, he would probably have a crush on Sunghoon and Jungwon too who were quite popular for their appearance.

He felt like crying again. 'Yeah, him. It's a long story.' he wasn't going to tell him about October_rooster.

'Well...okay.' Yorch nodded. 'I don't know what he did for you but...people change you know. Good people can turn into monsters overnight, and if he was once good to you, just appreciate what he did for you in that moment. You don't have to expect them to keep being good to you, neither do you have to believe they're good people because of something they did at that time.'

The words broke Justin's heart for the 100th time.

'From what I've seen, he's not a good person.' Yorch placed a hand on Justin's shoulder. 'Let him go, please. For your own good.'

This wouldn't be the first time someone warned him about James, maybe he had to listen. He always felt like he knew October_rooster better, but maybe James wasn't the persona, it was October_rooster. Maybe in reality, his actual nature was evil despite how sincere he had sounded on Instagram.

'I think you're right Yorch.' he took a deep breath, he was going to let this October_rooster fantasy go. 

Craving.