my yellow | yungi

7

Jongho stays in the sick bay with mingi while Hongjoong and Yunho sit by the school swings, talking about the bullying situation.

"I'm glad to hear that you ignore them, but to have not told anyone is not okay. You didn't see what happened, but soonhee nearly punched mingi! If I hadn't stopped him..." Yunho trails off, not wanting to imagine it.

"He's never hurt us physically, only with his words. But mingi is a guy that feels very deeply. His entire mood can change from just one word or two, so I guess the bullies found his weak spot and haven't stopped attacking us from there since. The only people I know who can intimidate the bullies are seonghwa and his homies, because the bullies always run away whenever they see them."

"Soonhee's a bitch, I didn't know he was doing such things outside of choir practice, especially to students that aren't even part of choir." Yunho sighs.

"About that...there's something you need to know," hongjoong says hesitantly.

"What? I'm listening."

"Last year, mingi was working on his very first song in the studio, I was there too for morale support. The bully had apparently left his student card in there after recording his own stuff, and when he went back to get it, he ran into us. He heard mingi's song running in the speakers, and he said-- he said it was 'the worst piece of garbage he's ever heard.'" Hongjoong pauses to compose himself. Yunho's heart breaks into smithereens. "That really affected mingi's feelings, and for many months he didn't touch his guitar or listen to any of his own songs. So when he told me he started writing again, I was so proud of him. But then this happens. Why is the universe so cruel to us?"

Yunho put a hand on hongjoong's shoulder. "I don't know why. But all that matters is that soonhee is wrong. I know that because of the song mingi worked on this afternoon, with me, jongho and Sera. I bet if it was officially released to the public, it would be as popular as kpop songs."

Hongjoong nods, exactly at the moment his phone buzzes. He picks up the call and informs Yunho that mingi has woken up. They briskly walk back to the sick bay, where wooyoung, jongho's best friend is waiting outside.

"Woo, how is he? Is he saying anything?" Hongjoong asks.

"He's having some watermelon juice. All he's said so far is sorry and thank you."

"Fuck-" hongjoong pushes pass the door to the sick bay, leaving wooyoung and Yunho facing each other.

"Jongho said you're mingi's close friend. I'm wooyoung, hongjoong's younger brother." Wooyoung reaches a hand out to shake with Yunho's.

When they enter the room, they find another student on the bed opposite mingi's. The curtain around mingi's bed is closed for his privacy. When he gets the clear from hongjoong, Yunho slips past the curtain and takes hongjoong's seat by the side of the bed. The rest of his friends now leave to give them privacy.

"Feeling better?" Yunho starts off.

Mingi nods, but avoids eye contact with Yunho. "Do you..." His voice comes out croaky. "Do you have your mp3 player?"

Yunho digs into his backpack and pulls out his mp3 player, along with his earphones, handing them to mingi. He helps put the cup of watermelon juice on the side table, watching mingi plug in the earphones and press play. Yunho is happily observing mingi feel the music, getting a little shy when he remembers that it's him singing all those songs. Their eyes accidentally meet, but instead of looking away, mingi simply smiles innocently, as if everything that happened a few hours ago didn't happen. Yunho never imagined that a smile could cause him so much pain.

"Can I have a hug?" Mingi croaks out.

Of course, you can have anything you want.

They're immediately chest to chest, body fitting in each other's arms like two puzzle pieces side by side, refusing to let go.