Best of You [ChanCheol] ✔

03

Class is twice as awful as the day before. He finds out that there's a retake for the written assignment he failed and for their choreography assignment, they would be put in sets of four. As hard as he hoped and prayed he;d be paired with his friends, he ended up with Hyunjin and two people he hardly ever spoke to. Hyunjin got acquainted easily enough and with that, introduced him to Ungjae (a guy with messy brown hair and more piercings in his ears than Chan himself had) and Gun Hak (who went by the name Leedo and had a really deep voice.) They were both pretty nice people and by the end of their class, the four had come up with an idea for the song they would perform, their practice times which worked its way around their own schedules and had exchanged numbers.

They're on the steps of the university building. The rain doesn't look like it'll be letting up soon and truthfully, Chan wonders whether he should call his brother or try and make a run of the station. Any way that would keep him dry.

"You guys want a lift?" It's Jimin. He's just walked out of the building, his boyfriend Yoongi (a music major) a step behind. Hyunjin accepts the offer in a heartbeat, walking over to Yoongi who greets him politely. Jimin looks at Chan who, after a thoughtful moment, accepts the offer as well. They run down the steps and slide into Yoongi's car quickly enough. Chan pulls out his phone and messages Jihoon to let him know. Yoongi asks him something, but he doesn't hear as he pulls up Minghao's contact to relay the message as well.

He jolts, Hyunjin having nudged him in the side when he doesn't respond immediately. "Excuse me?" He squeaks.

Yoongi meets his gaze in the rearview mirror before he looks back to the road. "I asked for your address," he states.

"Oh." He prepares to relay it when his phone goes off. It's Minghao asking him if he could head to Jihoon's workplace. He relays that address instead.

The rest of the drive is silent aside from the music and soft chatter between Jimin and Yoongi. Hyunjin and him eventually start up a conversation with a comment he makes only for them to pull up in front of the building Jihoon works at. With a quick thank you and goodbye, he jumps out and hurries up the steps, the rain still going hard.

The reception greeted him with a smile and let him through without a word (he spent a lot of time here when he took a year off before he applied to the university he was at.) He takes the elevator up to the third floor and it's different than he remembered. Somehow it's bigger. The walls have changed, now decorated according to whichever theme each side had. One wall was covered with various artists that have are well respected and have influenced the music industry into what it is now while another was covered with each person that worked here. He makes his way down the hallway right to the end. The door had the name Woozi on it and Chan smiled. Knocking twice, he opens the door in time to catch Jihoon whip around in his seat.

"Channie?" His eyes are wide with surprise, headphones hanging around his neck and mouth forming an 'o' shape. It's clear he hasn't looked at his phone yet.

"Hey, hyung." Chan closes the door behind him and takes the seat beside Jihoon. He eyes the music sheets and pages with his handwriting, words and lines scratched out and replaced. He looks up at Jihoon and smiles. "I got a lift. Thought I'd come through to you and we could head home together."

Jihoon rolls his eyes. "Minghao asked you to come, didn't he?"

"Maybe."

Jihoon sighs, but there's a hint of a smile as he nods. "Alright, just give me ten minutes."

He nods, standing up and informing Jihoon that he would wait downstairs. Pulling out his phone, he punches in the number and presses the phone to his ear. The nurse greets him in seconds and his call is redirected. He passes one or two staff on his way down and a few artists that greet him as he walks into the cafe section. The place was filled with everything their artists may need. From the dance studios right down to mini shopping centers in the building. When he was younger, he used to go to the merchandise section and look for Jihoon's album. His brother would just smile and take him over to the cafe area and buy him waffles or actual food.

He sits down at a table right as someone picks up. "Hello."

A sharp intake of breath has him coughing. He scurries for the bottle of water in his bag, surprise still dancing sharply within him because this has never happened before. In all his years of doing this, he's never been redirected to the same person. It was always someone different.

"Hey," Chan says, having finally composed himself. He keeps his hand over his mouth. "It's you again," he adds a moment later. When the person speaks again, he can hear their surprise.

"That it is," he says in a lilt. Despite the rain, this person's voice is still warm. Gentle. Softer than Chan would have expected of someone. He sounded like the sort of person who never got mad, and when he did, he didn't get mad the way others would get mad. Soft explanations and little to no yelling. "What can I do for you?"

Before he can stop himself, the words are falling off his tongue. "You can tell me what the deal is."

"The deal?" he asks and then he does something Chan definitely does not expect. He chuckles. It's softer than his voice. Lighter than air. It was the sort of chuckle you expect to turn into a belly aching laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He wants to be annoyed, but he can't. For whatever reason beyond him, he can't be annoyed with the fact that while he's being serious, this guy's laughing. Instead, he takes two deep breaths before responding. "The deal," Chan says simply. He knows that's not enough but it should be enough. Nevertheless, he continues. "When I call, they connect me to someone who isn't alright and yet somehow, this is the second time I'm being connected to you."

The person hums, as if taking this into consideration. Chan wonders if he's actually considering or whether he's pretending.

"There is no deal," he answers. "I'm doing alright, but they think that I'm not," he goes on to explain, his voice going down into a whisper with each word.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he can't help but ask, "Why would they think that you're not?"

There's a brief silence between them. Though as brief as it is, it feels exceptionally long. Neither of them utter a word and every possibility goes through his head. He tries to predict what the person will say next and really, he expects the worst.

"I'm not doing chemotherapy."

And he draws in a breath.

And fuck.

Fuck because he didn't expect that. And fuck because if his mom had told them that, he'd have been upset. He'd have cried his eyes out and been mad and told Jihoon to convince her to do it.

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

"It could matter," he says, and he means it. "It could matter because it could save you—"

"You sound like them," he interrupts. "What's your name?"

"Chan."

Another silence follows. The person sighs in what he assumes is exasperation. "I have to go. Nice talking to you, Chan."

"Wait—"

"Seungcheol. That's my name."

The line cuts and he's listening to the beeping sound when Jihoon finally comes downstairs. Without saying a word, Chan follows him out and they catch a cab.