Blueberry Jellies | Seongjoong

1

"You'll use your phone and your laptop too, right?" The young blue haired man, Hongjoong, asks one of his closest friends, Mingi. Hongjoong, a twenty one year old music major is currently sitting in the college canteen with his best (and only) friends: Mingi, Wooyoung and San.

"Of course! You'll definitely get VIP." Mingi assures him. Hongjoong nods to himself, calming down in the slightest. He is the hugest fan of Park Seonghwa, a solo singer and model. His world tour is coming up and the tickets go on sale tomorrow. Unfortunately for the young man, Seonghwa is extrememly popular, especially in their home country, so getting VIP tickets would be difficult to say the least.

His leg rapidly bounces up and down under the table while the rest of his friends nonchalantly chew their food. "Relax, everything will be okay! You're always so nervous for nothing." San scolds with a full mouth.

After seeing no response from the oldest, Wooyoung drapes his arm around his shoulders from beside him. "Why don't we go on a walk to clear your head? The weather's nice anyway!" He chirps, patting the blueberry-head twice on the shoulder.

"Sure." he simply mutters. The rest of his friends share a glance with each other before packing their things and standing up.

"You know what? You're probably so on edge all the time because you're too uptight about rules! You should break some rules sometimes- feel the thrill of doing something dangerous for a change." San playfully nudges Hongjoong when the group is outside, quickly approaching the exit of the campus.

Wooyoung fake gags from behind. "I'm sorry San, although I agree with you, I'll have to admit that was very corny."

Hongjoong shakes his head beside Mingi, deep in thought while Wooyoung and San squabble in the background.

Mingi offers a warm smile. "Don't worry too much, after tomorrow you'll be just fine! San was right, take it easy." he advises. "Thanks, Mingi. I'll try to but you know this mind of mine won't shut up until those tickets are under my name." He looks to the sky.

Mingi lightly giggles at how dramatic his friend is being, but he decides to try and be understanding even though he's never been in the same position. He knows how much Seonghwa means to Hongjoong after all, it's all he ever talks about. He even brings in his albums sometimes to show it off to the group, and sometimes the others catch him watching any of the celebrity's interviews on his phone instead of talking to his friends.

None of them mind, in fact they all find his dedication cute. They know how much this concert means to him, so they've all planned to help him buy tickets on campus tomorrow.

Suddenly, the group comes to a stop. Hongjoong snaps out of his daze and looks up from the footpath, wondering why they stopped when they haven't even arrived at the sweet shop yet.

He sees a small black tent with a man standing in front. This man looks to be middle aged, but he's covered from head to toe in black clothing, despite it being summy and hot outside. A tattered cardboard sign that reads "Jelly beans: 20c" hangs on the table right in front of the man.

"Doesn't he know that we don't use cents here? And twenty cents is so cheap!" Wooyoung comments. "True, plus it looks really shady..." San drifts off, head snapping towards Wooyoung. Both of their eyes light up and at the same time, they exclaim "Let's get some!"

"No you shouldn't! What if it's a drug or something? What if it's poisoned? What if-"

"Shut up Hongjoong, now that you've talked too much we're definitely going to get some for you." San retorts. Hongjoong panickingly looks up towards Mingi, who simply shrugs with a smirk on his face.

"Guys-" Hongjoong starts, but before he can continue to complain, Wooyoung and San already approach the man.

San hums in deep thought while looking at the different flavours in the cardboard box. "It seems like no one else is buying these." San whispers to Wooyoung, staring at the box filled to the brim. Wooyoung shrugs, not caring at all. "You like blueberry, right?" San asks loudly for Hongjoong. "I told you I'm not-"

"We'll take one packet of the blueberry ones please!" San cheerfully orders, handing the man the coins. Hongjoong stares at the man's face, extrememly suspicious. He wears a black face mask, and sunglasses, covering any indication of what he could be feeling. Hongjoong feels very vulnerable, realising that he can't even see the other's face, so how can he trust him?

When the boys happily skip away with their new pack of jellies, he finally speaks up. "Did you not see how shady that man looked? How can you trust him? And why did you only buy one packet?" He whines.

"See, this is what we meant! Stop being so paranoid all the time, not everyone out there is trying to kill you. And we only got one packet because we want just you to try them. You're the only one who's always so worried." Wooyoung sighs, throwing the jellies at the older.

Right before they leave, Wooyoung and San notice another man approach the shady tent. "That's odd, someone else actually trusts that guy too! Whatever, let's go." San whispers, glancing at the man with light brown hair one last time before speedwalking to catch up with Hongjoong and Mingi.

As soon as the group reach a bench, the other three stop in their tracks. "Sit." Wooyoung orders.

"Please, you eat them instead." Hongjoong complains yet again, however he still sits down. To his horror, even Mingi helps the boys open the packet as they all take one each. "Open wide!" San sqeaks, sending a shiver down Hongjoong's spine.

He opens his mouth to come up with more excuses, but before any sound comes out, all three boys stuff some sweets into his mouth at the same time. His eyes widen and he's about to scream until the strong flavour of the blueberry floods his tastebuds.

"It tastes good? See, I told you there was nothing to worry about." San reassures. Hongjoong can't deny that the sweet flavour is appealing to him, but he doesn't want to give his friends the satisfaction of that so he chews slowly with an angry pout.

The three see right through his lies and sit down beside him with a smile, handing him the rest of the jellies.

They spend the rest of their free time playing around and teasing each other in hopes of distracting Hongjoong from his anxiety for tomorrow. It works, as Hongjoong laughs along with them, eating up the entire packet of jellies quickly.

The rest decide to not mention it again while they wave off Hongjoong at the gate of his house. He smiles to himself, appreciative of his friends' care. They knew exactly what to do to take his mind off things, and he doesn't show it but he's very grateful.

He opens his front door and notices no one's home. He glances at the clock and sees that it's eight o'clock, meaning his mother won't be home for another two hours. His father will be abroad on a business trip for another while so that's another less thing to worry about. He thinks about watching TV for a bit, before giving up and just deciding to sleep early.

He fights his eyes to stay open while he changes his clothes and leaps into bed. Cuddling up to his blankets, he reflects on his day while slowly drifting off to sleep.