4AM °HOSHI

08

soonyoung was too occupied on the way to school and jihoon wasn't satisfied.

he sighed when soonyoung stopped in the middle of the route, much annoyance building up in his chest. he had been working on his new song till the wee hours, and the pink headed boy just wanted to reach his seat as soon as possible to get some snoozes.

he huffed, which sent his neatly blow-dried bangs flying everywhere. 'kwon soonyoung! stop texting with yooji and catch up, you slowpoke,' he turned his head and yelled, scaring a little kid on the way.

nearly earning an earful of scolding by the kid's mother, he dipped his head lightly in apology. but nothing could stop him from expressing his rage. 'yah taekwondo!'

soonyoung lifted his head up from his phone and rolled his eyes. he jogged to his impatiently waiting friend and hopped onto the bicycle.

to which jihoon sassed again.

'get off you lazy ass,' he growled, a little overreacted. 'run like a dog, just like what you used to do. i swear to god yooji is such an influence to you. a bad one, i may add.'

soonyoung looked at him in the eyes before covering his mouth with his palm. 'shush, kid. our hair colours will fade faster under the sun,' he smiled cheekily, hoping jihoon would step on the pedal for once.

'seriously are you trying to get away with this lame reason?'

'yeah.'

'stupid,' jihoon smirked. 'after bleaching your hair no colour is left so what will fade?'

'come on,' he whined. 'i'm kinda sick today.'

jihoon sent him a suspicious grimace before sighing again. he went full speed on his bicycle down the slope, sending the cool morning wind rushing through them.

soonyoung sneezed and rested his head on jihoon's back as he drove.

'oh god, did you catch a cold? you're so sweaty.' he could clearly sense the moisture on his shirt, which was slowly forming little spots.

'i walked home last night but i didn't have my hoodie on.' soonyoung sneezed again and he rubbed his nose. 'i am even too lazy to jog this morning, meh.'

the consequences of waking up late, of course there was a morning kiss from his taekwondo senpai - the legendary 3000 won brown plastic left side slipper - on his cheek and no breakfast.

the feeling of an empty stomach was bugging him even more, so after promising jihoon he'd treat him some bread, he wandered off to the bakery in front of school.

to his pleasant surprise, he spotted yooji walking towards his direction with her phone in hand, texting someone. he hid behind the telephone booth and planned to walk up to her as she passed by.

yooji frowned when her phone buzzed. with some annoyed, colourful words, she picked up unwillingly.

'what again?'

'yooji, can you just listen to me this time? it has been a long time. he had asked me for so many times and i couldn't keep declining.'

'ah why?' she asked in a frustrated whine.

'please, you are not a little girl anymore, yooji,' her mother tried to talk some sense into her daughter, but with no avail.

'mom,' she sounded like she was on the verge of bursting into tears. 'i just hate him.'

'yooji,' she wasn't pleased, but she tried to keep her voice calm. 'he's your father.'

'i don't have any fucking father!' she shouted to her phone. 'mom i hate you too!'

yooji panted heavily. she didn't mean to hurt her mother, but she didn't realize her choice of words only after hanging up the phone call.

soonyoung was beyond speechless as he accidentally heard her conservation. he cautiously looked through the glass panels of the phone booth and saw her.

she wasn't moving and her head was hung low. her fists were rolled into two hard icons of anger and her cheeks were red from all that pressure.

feeling empty and drained all of a sudden, he didn't even want to attend school anymore. and feeling confident all of a sudden, a little mischievous, he stood in front of yooji, blocking her way.

he decided to try out his luck.

yooji raised her head and her eyes widened. 'wait-'

soonyoung took out his hand from his pocket and pulled her wrist towards him. he turned back and looked at the school gates, with male and females students of both schools heading inside.

yooji followed his gaze and seemed to get his message. she let out a relieved grin. soonyoung spun her around and dashed off.

'let's skip school.'