going seventeen | seventeen

Chapter 36: He made it easy

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"i'm going after jihoon—"

"let him be, didn't he say that he's fine?" chan questioned, "like he said, it's all just a stupid game. why would you want to go after him that much?" upon hearing that, soonyoung stopped on his tracks. the tension was burning once more and he could feel all eyes on him, especially minseul's.

and he hated it.

"shouldn't you let jihoon be alone sometimes?" minseul asked in a low volume, loud enough for soonyoung to hear.

he bit his lip. he didn't know if he should answer.

a quarter of a minute felt like an hour of soonyoung just standing by the doorway while everyone else watched. even some wondered what was going on inside his head. soonyoung himself didn't even know what to think of. in a span of fifteen seconds, he came to understand that this chaos was far worse than he had ever imagined.

standing next to his girlfriend by the doorway as he pondered over running after another person was something he never thought would be so troubling to him.

almost everyone in the room thought jihoon would really be fine on his own. after all, it's just the type of person he is. but soonyoung thinks otherwise; to him, they just don't know jihoon enough.

seungcheol was still standing up, fists still clenched from the heated argument that went on. he was frustrated over the way soonyoung is, but he wanted to understand him. just looking at soonyoung, he knew how badly the boy wants to go after jihoon and get out of the picture for a moment. he just knew.

"come, let's go after him," seungcheol broke the silence. "gyu and minseul, you should go eat up! you were gone for a while and you're lucky there's still a lot of food left."

"i saved some food for the both of you, just in case the boys devour every single thing on the table," hansol told the pair, as seungcheol walked off with his arm around soonyoung's shoulder.

minseul looked back at the two before taking a seat.

she really misses soonyoung.

"hyung, i don't understand."

"don't overthink, i'm just trying to work things out alright?" seungcheol assured, "you can count on me. i would never let you go through this alone."

seungcheol's assurance barely even worked for soonyoung. the younger's gaze was downcast at his feet as his voice became softer, "aren't you ashamed of me?"

"well i'm surprised and i really didn't expect this from you. but can i really dictate how you should feel and who you should love? i have no control over that, soon."

as soon as they reached the bedroom door, seungcheol knocked for a few times before peeping in. as expected, jihoon was there. he seemed to have stopped crying. the boy looked up to see who was there and was filled with suspicion and a spark of curiosity upon seeing seungcheol.

"i don't remember asking anyone to follow me in here," he mumbled.

"ah, i know, it's not just me though," seungcheol walked in and soonyoung trailed behind. "soon's here too. i just need some time to talk to the both of you. alone. the boys are too distracting for me."

there was a momentary pause before jihoon chuckled, "i could tell. chan couldn't even let a second pass without jumping in the conversation."