p e r s o n a l l y ☆ 2jae

t h r e e

The next week Youngjae walked into school dressed in a black hoodie and sweatpants. This contrasted greatly from his usual, brightly coloured wardrobe. His hood was over his head and he stared straight down at the floor. From across the hall Jackson caught a gaze of him, doing a double take before finally realising the shadowy figure was indeed his best friend. Running quickly to catch him before he disappeared, Jackson bumped into numerous other students before he reached the latter, grabbing his shoulder and making Youngjae jump.

"Youngjae, everything OK?"

Jackson looked at his friend with hurt in his heart. Why wasn't he smiling? Had something happened over the weekend?

Youngjae's expression remained blank. He ignored the question and quickly shoved past.

Jackson was speechless, a rare occurrence that could only be explained by his immense confusion and concern. As if theatrically timed, Jaebeom walked past him, dressed fashionably in blue jeans and a tan over shirt.

"Hey Jackson," he mentioned quickly in passing without even looking him in the eyes.

Jackson didn't hate Jaebeom. Intimidated was a better word to describe his feelings toward the elder. Jackson knew the importance of age and respect and so never rushed to form any irrational opinions.
But this, all of this was too confusing for him to comprehend. Jackson quickly tried to search for his other friends in hopes to find an explanation.

Similarly, Jaebeom took a few moments and a long stare to identify Youngjae hiding within the mountain of black fabric. With a single objective in his mind, Jaebeom was ready to made the second biggest decision of the day (the first being the struggle to care enough to put together a presentable outfit).

"Hey. Hey Youngjae!" Jaebeom exclaimed slightly louder than he had anticipated, and with a tone that seemed uncomfortably optimistic.

Youngjae stopped in his tracks and turned slowly to face the other.

"What's up with the raccoon eyes? No sleep huh?"

Silence.

Jaebeom scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Sorry uh.. That wasn't meant to be mean but.."

Just get to the point Jaebeom.

Youngjae walked away to his locker, slowly organising his things whilst trying to ignore whatever confrontation was about to happen.
Jaebeom quickly followed when he realised he had already lost the latter's attention.

"Hey.. Hey Youngjae," the boy waited for Youngjae to reply, maybe hum or smile as an affirmation to this forced conversation. Instead he continued to look empty, ruthlessly staring into Jaebeom's soul.

"Wanna be friends?"

The recipient of this proposal looked confused. Youngjae furrowed his eyebrows before muttering a response.

"Why–"

"Because you're nice to everyone and you seem to be friends with ever–" but apparently Youngjae hadn't actually finished his train of thought.

"Why," he reiterated sternly, "would I want to be friends with you?"

It was an understatement to say people were shocked. Youngjae was known for taking in anybody with an ounce of loneliness on them, he was a friend of everyone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaebeom snapped back, clearing his throat to try and regain the composure that he'd quickly lost.

"Nobody likes you. You're.. You don't care about anything and.. And–" Youngjae wasn't good at acting cold, his chest ached at every passing second.

The elder rolled his eyes, trying his best to act indifferent, "Great speech, anything else you got to say while I'm here?"

"Yeah.." Youngjae replied, his tone dropping before quickly turning into a high pitched whine, "Stay away from me!"

And with that Youngjae slammed his locker shut, the sound ripping through the thick tension that had been formed. He stormed off, his feet echoing loudly against the dirty floor.