[#1] boy next door :: im youngmin

chapter twenty-six

Maybe she should have foreseen something was going to happen pretty soon when his trips to the post office with huge boxes turned from weeks to every other day before he came back to go out with her and the others, and the fact that he wouldn't let her inside his apartment anymore.

And when Donghyun asked him if he was ready for college, and Woojin aimed a kick at him under the table but accidentally hit Yuna. Youngmin looked ready to murder his two friends at that moment.

And that day they went to Busan and just sat on the beach for hours and hours until they had to run to the train station to get back to Seoul within the day, he just suddenly got up from his seat and held out his hand. "Would you dance with me tonight?"

She remembers tilting her head in confusion and asking why. "It's eight o'clock, why would we dance?"

He smiled at her, "Because we might never get the chance to go to prom together ever, so I want to dance with you just once." She just snorted, and takes his hand to let him pull her to her feet and put his arms around her waist, and her hands on his shoulders as they swayed in the silence but the sound of waves hitting the shore.

And the fact that just the night before, he said "see you again" instead of his usual "see you tomorrow" and she didn't even notice that something changed.

So, yeah, maybe she is pretty stupid, after all.

Woojin bought her a frappucino, a small awkward smile on his face as he sits in the chair opposite her in the cafe. "Did you really not know that he's going to college in Busan? I thought he brought you there to show you the city."

"He did." Yuna nods, taking a sip of her drink. "Never said a single detail about him going to college, though."

He tells her that Youngmin moved out from the apartment building at around six in the morning, with nothing but a large gym bag because he already mailed back all his stuff in packages to his parents.

"He's taking up streetdance at Busan National, I can't believe he didn't tell you anything." He frowns, scratching his head and reaching for his cup, then changes his mind midreach and takes out his phone. "Hold on, I'll call him. He's probably chilling at home at the moment."

So he dials Youngmin's number, laying out his phone in the middle of the table and setting the call on speaker. The phone starts ringing, and Woojin starts drumming his fingers on the table to the beat of Youngmin's ringtone.

As the phone keeps ringing and ringing, and he hasn't picked up yet, Yuna can slowly feel her heart beating faster as seconds tick by.

When he does pick up, she feels like her heart has just literally stopped. "Hey, Woojin."

"Hi, are you in Busan already?"

They can hear Youngmin shifting his phone before he answers, coughing, "Yeah, I am. How's Yuna?"

The second she hears her name, Yuna's eyes immediately widen and heat rushes up to her cheeks, but Woojin gives her a look and presses his finger to his lips, shaking his head, so she doesn't say anything and just takes another sip of her frappucino.

"Uh, Yuna was asking me earlier why you didn't tell her anything before you left for Busan."

Youngmin falls quiet on the other line, he doesn't speak for a really long time. Then, he suddenly picks up the phone and says, "I- I have to go, Woojin, my bro's telling me to go out to the farm for a minute. I'll call you back later, bye."

"Youngmin-"

He hung up. Woojin just stares at his phone, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Did he just- did he really-"

Yuna gives him an awkward smile, "Yeah, he did."

A moment later, her phone that's also lying on the table lights up with a notification of a call from Youngmin. She exchanges a quick glance with the boy in front of her and takes a deep breath before she reaches for the phone, trying to act normal.

"Hi, baby!"

But then he says that, and she feels like she's going to have a heart attack. Then he continues.

"I'm really sorry for leaving without telling anything, but I was deciding when to go back here when the landlord told me that someone was planning to move into my unit once I leave, so he suggested today. I'm really sorry-"

He continues to say a lot more things that she doesn't really listen to anymore because her brain has suddenly buffered the moment she heard him mention that someone is moving into his unit.

"Wait, wait- Someone's going to replace you as my neighbor? Already?"

"Yeah, the kid's name is Ahn Hyungseob."

__________

well that escalated quickly