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JAY ──────────── ' EQ > IQ '
— AS we know, Saya Han loved parties. And apparently, Jay Park loved throwing them.
So, when she had shown up unannounced (which was typical, but felt like semi-important information) at the Park dorm in utter hysteria, that was the first topic Jay had turned to in an effort to calm her down.
It didn't work.
Sunghoon was the one who had let Saya in. She hadn't even knocked, but her cries were so prolific that the two boys heard them through the door. Sunghoon had only ever heard those sobs once before, but they were ingrained in his memory, and he instantly ran to bring her inside.
Once he had guided her to the couch, he threw her into Jay before bolting out of the door.
Jay, who had never been with Saya while she broke down into a trillion pieces, had no idea what to do. His emotional intelligence had never been tested like such before, and all he could was think back to a WikiHow article he read in high school when he was trying to comfort Heeseung after a messy breakup.
Jay hugged her and ran his hand down her hair, but kept all of his attention on the door, waiting for Sunghoon to return.
If Saya was trying to say something, he didn't know. With her forehead resting on his shoulder, all Jay could make out were desperate coughs and hiccups in between violent sobs. As much as Jay didn't want to imagine what (or who) had done this to her, he couldn't ignore the fact that he already knew.
After a long while of mental deliberation, Jay released his hold on Saya and pushed her shoulders back. Her body was limp as he held her arms to keep her sitting up right. With one hand, he pushed away the hair that had been glued to her face. "Saya, I need you to breath."
She shook her head, gasping through her tears.
"Saya," Jay sternly spoke, shaking her shoulders lightly to get her to listen, "You have to breath. You're gonna pass out at this rate."
That seemed to get through to her. For reinforcement, Jay ran his hands up and down her arms, trying his best to bring her back down to earth.
Her crying slowly but surely became less frenzied and Jay was finally able to see her eyes. She was still hiccuping but at least now if she wanted to speak, Jay wouldn't have to decipher some new language.
"You're okay," Jay said as Saya wiped her eyes. "Want to talk about what happened? Or wait until later?"
"Later," Saya hiccuped.
On cue, Sunghoon burst back into the dorm. Jay wanted to jump over the couch and beat his ass for leaving him, but he opted to just glare at the boy as he came to join the two on the sofa.
He had a plastic bag in his hand now, probably from the convenience store down the street. It wasn't exactly close enough to walk there and back in the time Sunghoon had, but the heavy breaths that filled the air the second he walked in made it clear that he had sprinted instead.
Saya moved to sit against the back of the couch, hugging her legs for dear life. Jay kept one hand on her knee as Sunghoon unpacked the stuff he had bought: an aloe vera drink, Saya's favourite chocolate bar (which Jay thought was the worst kind, but he bit his tongue) and a pint of Cookies N' Cream. Suddenly, Jay didn't hate Sunghoon as much for leaving.
He went to give Saya the drink first, and after Jay gave him a look that screamed "Open it for her, dumbass", Sunghoon cracked the cap off and helped Saya's shaking hands wrap around the bottle.
Jay's phone began to ring, and a quick glance at the caller ID was enough to prompt Sunghoon to take over his role in comforting the girl. As Jay stood to answer the call, Sunghoon shimmied to rest against the back of the couch beside Saya, who immediately let her head fall onto his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her.
Jay went to his room to answer the call, having a hunch as to what the topic of conversation would be. He swiped "Accept" the second the door had closed.
"Hey, Heeseung."
"Hey," Heeseung breathed out, and the tiredness in his voice confirmed all of Jay's predictions. "Is Saya alright?"
"Not really," Jay admitted, sitting on the edge of his bed. "But she will be. How's Jake?"
"Locked himself in his room," Heeseung answered. Jay sighed at his response, knowing that Jake wasn't one to show his feelings, preferring to help others than to be given help himself. If there was anything Jay wanted from Jake, it was to just let people in. "He won't talk. I just dropped Ni-ki off at his place, I didn't want him to hear Jake crying; he already feels horrible that he can't do anything."
"Saya's pretty calm now, but she doesn't want to talk either," Jay said. "Do you know what happened?"
Heeseung clicked his tongue on the other line. "Not specifically. Saya brought Ni-ki back and Jake walked her down. It was taking a while though, so I looked out the window and it seemed like they were arguing. That's as much as I know."
"They remind me of you and Haesun—"
"Oh my God," Heeseung interrupted, "Don't even remind me of her."
His exasperated tone at the mention of his ex-girlfriend made Jay chuckle. Despite the heartache that once transpired, the girl was now only a name they could laugh at, remembering the insanity she brought to their lives in the last few months of her and Heeseung's relationship.
"The only difference is that Saya and Jake actually love each other," Jay added. Though he only meant it as an offhanded comparison, the comment silenced both him and Heeseung.
"Do you think they know that?"
"I doubt it."
— ## AUTHOR'S NOTE a very short chapter just to feed y'all 🚑🚑
i also wanna express my deepest appreciation for all the love this story has gotten it truly means the world to me i love reading comments and seeing the reading lists that my stories get added to it just makes my day so, thank you everyone for the support🫶🏻🫶🏻💕
