The Car Crash Club • Monsta X

xvii.

Hyungwon went back to the cemetery. He didn't really know why he felt he had to go, but he wanted to get out of the house for a walk and he'd just ended up there somehow. Hyungwon passed the gates, less hesitant than last time. He decided to stop by Jooheon's brothers' graves and maybe clean them up a bit, but Hyungwon walked around for half an hour without being able to locate the two headstones. He retraced his steps to the gate and tried to follow the same path Jooheon had taken the other day, but Hyungwon gave up after not being able to find the graves. He'd been wandering around in the cemetery for about an hour, and the longer he stayed, the more unnerved he became.

Hyungwon left the cemetery and went back home, his head starting to hurt a bit.

--

Monday came, and Hyungwon went to school but didn't see Jooheon the whole day. It felt weird to be disappointed. He barely knew Jooheon, certainly not enough to justify missing him. But the sleepover had been fun, Hyungwon had to admit. He couldn't remember ever having one before. Jooheon had been gone in the morning - Hyungwon vaguely recalled him saying something about having to run an errand for his mom - and Hyungwon hadn't heard from him since.

He wondered if Jooheon was avoiding him, if he'd done something wrong.

Maybe his pajamas hadn't been impressive enough.

Or maybe Jooheon hadn't been able to sleep. Hyungwon had taken to sleeping on the couch lately - he just didn't feel comfortable in his own room and he wasn't quite sure why - so Jooheon had offered to take the floor despite Hyungwon's protests. And when Hyungwon had woken up in the morning, his only company had been Mi-Yeon's night light.

Tuesday came, and Hyungwon didn't see Jooheon in the class they had together, but he thought he saw him leaving the building later that day. He tried to catch up with him, but when he got out to the parking lot, Jooheon was gone. Hyungwon wondered if they'd gone back to the restaurant from last time. He didn't know where else they went to hang out; it was his only lead. He debated just going home, but he found that he didn't want to return there just yet. He decided that he'd just walk to the restaurant and see if they were there, and if not, then it was fine, he could grab something to eat anyway.

He got to the restaurant and scanned over the customers, but he didn't see Jooheon or any of the others. Still, he couldn't clearly see every table from where he was standing, so he went over to the hostess' counter.

"Hi there, table for one?" she asked. It was the same girl as last time.

Hyungwon didn't even bother to cover his face; if she was staring, he just did his best to ignore it. "I'm not looking for a table," he said, still peering across the room. "I just wanted to know if you saw a few guys my age come in?"

"Sorry, we have a lot of customers, can you be more specific?"

"The same people I was sitting with last time," Hyungwon said, but he already sort of knew that they weren't there. Just a feeling.

The hostess frowned. "Last time?"

"I was here a few days ago," Hyungwon said, realizing that maybe she'd forgotten him. Of course she had; she probably saw a hundred people a day. "Sorry, you probably don't remember me, I-"

"No, I remember you," she said before pointing to the table they'd sat at. "You were over there, right? Thursday- no, it was Friday, wasn't it?"

Hyungwon felt a small surge of hope. "That's right. So have you seen any of the people I was sitting with come in today?"

She tilted her head slightly, eyebrows creasing upward toward the middle. "I remember you, but I don't remember there being anyone else." She tapped at the plastic menu in front of her, her polished nail carving out an even beat as she recalled what she knew, which didn't seem to be much.