[SKZ Hyunsung] ENDlife

CHAPTER TWELVE

The holidays were over and the school year finally ended. Jisung luckily passed his exams despite slacking off here and there. All of his classmates were also very busy during the exam period and just as spring came, so meant the start of another school year. Jisung was finally in his third year and he was ecstatic when he learned that he was in the same class as Hyunjin.

"Seungmin!" Jisung rushed to his friend on the first day of school despite not being in the same class. "Let's have lunch together later."

"Don't we always?" Seungmin stated the obvious.

"It sucks that we aren't in the same class together. Maybe if we hassle the teachers enough they'll put us together."

"I think that'll only do the opposite. Anyways, our classes are literally next to each other so there's really no difference."

"I guess..." Jisung sighed. He wasn't very satisfied with the results though.

"By the way, did you see Hyunjin yet?" Seungmin suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Don't you two usually come to school together?"

"We do. But this morning when I went over to his place, Auntie said that he left early in the morning so I had to come alone."

"And he didn't tell you beforehand?"

"Nothing."

"That's really strange."

"Yeah... this has never happened before," Seungmin was clearly worried which also made Jisung worry too.

Ding. Dong. Dang.

When class started, Jisung went back to his classroom and saw Hyunjin sitting alone by the window. Jisung was happy to see his friend but something felt 'off' as if Hyunjin's aura was emitting an unapproachable message just by sitting there. It also seemed as if none of his classmates dared to walk close to Hyunjin.

"Hyunjin?" Jisung walked up cautiously.

Hyunjin looked up at him slowly, almost in a monotonous voice and said, "Morning."

"Uh, yeah. Morning!" Jisung was taken aback by Hyunjin's strange attitude. But he tried to not think too much about it and behave like the usual. "Isn't it great that we're in the same class together? Too bad Seungmin got split from us."

"Yeah..."

Something is odd, Jisung thought.

"Um, are you okay?" Jisung asked.

"I'm okay. I'm just tired. Sorry," Hyunjin said but was clearly avoiding any kind of socializing.

Hyunjin, who usually smiles a lot more and talks more whenever he is around his friend, suddenly became solemn. Jisung really wanted to ask what happened but for some reason, he felt scared.

The beginning of an exciting new school year did not feel exciting at all.

Hyunjin would walk off somewhere as if he was avoiding his friends whenever Jisung or Seungmin asked him out for lunch or just to hang out. Not long ago, they would be pouring their hearts out with both laughter and emotions, but now Hyunjin seemed to be shutting himself off from his friends.

"You really don't know what's going on?" Jisung decided to ask Seungmin when the two were alone.

"No. I went over to Auntie's place and she was... similar. She still smiled and greeted me happily but whenever I ask about Hyunjin, she hesitates. Something definitely happened between them."

"Did they have a fight?"

"I don't know. But even if they fought, Hyunjin would come to me and tell me what's going on. And they would patch things up easily but this time, I feel like the both of them are hiding something. To the point that Hyunjin is distancing himself from us too," Seungmin was more dejected than ever. Jisung never saw this side of Seungmin before either. It was clear that he was worried for his childhood friend and so was Jisung.