Chapter Text
"Jihoon, let's go to school now!"
Jihoon comes out of his room wearing the uniform of his course, medical technology. It was a white turtle-neck dress shirt and white slacks paired with white shoes. His hair is in its fluffy form like the usual.
Jeonghan smiles at him and ruffles his hair. Jeonghan is in his fourth year of architecture, tired and drained but whenever he sees Jihoon, he can't help but smile.
"Seungcheol is already waiting for us at our usual breakfast spot," Jeonghan says and picks up his bag from the sofa.
The two had been living in the same dorm for three years now. Jeonghan volunteered to stay with Jihoon because Jihoon didn't want to be alone inisde the dorm. His parents gave Jeonghan their trust to take care of the eldest of the Lee siblings. The other two were living together, too, since only a maximum of two people can stay in one dorm.
When they got to the restaurant where they usually eat their breakfast, Seungcheol was there waiting for them along the other two Lee siblings. Seokmin was similar to Jihoon, he was also bright and warm -- like a ball of sunshine. But Jihoon was the one being babied a lot by Seokmin and his other friends. Chan was a little opposite from his two elder brothers. He was shy and likes to keep to himself. He has the coldest demeanor out of the three but he is ready to protect his brothers at any given time.
Seungcheol and Jeonghan have been dating for five years already. They started dating at the last year of high school and now they are on their last years in college. Seungcheol took legal management since he wanted to become a lawyer along with Chan. But Chan has only started his first year of legal management. Seokmin took on veterinary as he loves taking care of animals.
"How are we feeling today, Jihoon?" Seungcheol asked as he sipped on his coffee. He ordered pancakes for his boyfriend and Jihoon.
"I'm doing good." Jihoon smiles at Seungcheol. "How about you? How are you?"
Seungcheol just gives him a nod and smiled softly. Jihoon sat down between his two brothers and waited for their food to arrive. He took out his reviewer and tried to study in the peaceful environment before he gets to school since he has a test today. None of them talked and just embraced the nice quietness of the environment while watching Jihoon study for his test.
The food arrived within a few minutes and they started eating. After eating, they all went to the university together and went to their respective buildings after promising each other to meet at lunch.
While walking down the hall towards his classroom, Jihoon stopped in his footsteps when he saw the university's popular bad boy, Kwon Soonyoung staring at the window. It looks like he was watching someone from outside the classroom. Jihoon tilts his head in curiosity and approached him. He silently stood beside him and tried to look at what Soonyoung was looking at.
Soonyoung must have noticed his presence since Jihoon heard him grunt.
"What are you doing here, short guy?" He growled, eyes sharp and piercing through Jihoon's soul.
"What are you looking at?" Jihoon answered his question with another question, still trying to find out what Soonyoung was looking at.
Soonyoung pushed Jihoon's forehead using his index finger making the smaller man stumble. A strong hand finds itself on Jihoon's waist before he could almost trip and fall. Jihoon looked up and saw his best friend from the same course, Jeon Wonwoo. But Wonwoo wasn't looking at Jihoon, instead he was glaring at Soonyoung for pushing his best friend harshly.
"Watch your actions, asshole," Wonwoo cursed at him. "Don't mess with the wrong people."
The latter rolled his eyes and walked away to the direction of the Engineering Department. Jihoon stood up properly and turned to Wonwoo with a bright smile. "Hey, I'm okay," he says, waving his hand. "You didn't have to do that. Come on, we'll be late for class."
"But he shouldn't have done that to you," Wonwoo muttered. "You were just asking him what he was doing. He didn't have to push you."
"Well, he is impatient." Jihoon said, pouting. "Did you study for the test today?"
Wonwoo chuckled and flicked Jihoon's forehead softly. "Of course I did. What do you expect from me?"
Wonwoo was at the top of their class and Jihoon was placed in second. Both are very smart but they don't compete for the number one spot unlike how most students are. That is why they became very close friends in the first place. They will just accept what will come and happen because it's fate, they say. It would be useless to despise one another just because of some numbers. That is, if Jihoon could ever despise someone.
A few hours passed and it was already time for lunch. Wonwoo and Jihoon walked together towards the cafeteria where the others were already waiting for their arrival. Jihoon immediately sees them at the table and runs to them with open arms. Wonwoo smiles at Jihoon and placed his hands inside the pockets of his slack.
Jeonghan greeted Jihoon with a warm hug and a whisper of 'I miss you'. Wonwoo grabbed a tray and fell in line to get food for him and Jihoon.
"How was your test?" Jeonghan asked Jihoon.
"It was fine. I got a good score at least." Jihoon smiled at him lazily.
"That's my baby!" Jeonghan praised. "But even if you get a low score, you'll still be my baby."
Seungcheol laughs softly and whispers to Seokmin and Chan, "I'm the boyfriend but he's treating Jihoon like his boyfriend than me." Which earned glared from the two brothers so Seungcheol just shuts his mouth. He meant it as a joke, of course. And the two brothers also treated it as a joke. Consider it as an inside joke for all of them.
Wonwoo comes back with a tray full of food and all of them started digging in. They talked about different and random stuff.
"I saw Soonyoung push Jihoon away a while ago," Wonwoo said after a few minutes of silence. "I'm glad I was there to catch him on time."
"Ugh! That Soonyoung!" Jeonghan rolls his eyes in disgust. "He's a good for nothing kid."
"Don't say that," Jihoon defended, softly glaring at Jeonghan. "We never know what he's going through that made him act like that."
"Hyung, you always say that to other bad people, too," Chan spoke up. "You always try to see the good side of them. Sometimes, it would be too much, you know? Like Soonyoung. I bet he has no good sides at all. He's been like that for as far as people know."
Jihoon shakes his head as he takes a bite of his chicken sandwich. "Believe me, there's good in every person." He smiled at them but the others were not convinced. "He was finding for someone in the medical technology department but I don't know who..."
"His Chinese cousin, Minghao," Seungcheol answered for him. "That's the only person he talks to besides his other friends, Mingyu, Junhui, Joshua and Vernon."
"Speaking of Vernon, here's his boyfriend coming right now," Seokmin pointed out.
All of them turned to where Seokmin was pointing at and saw Seungkwan running towards them with a blinding smile. Another happy virus of the group has joined them. Seungkwan is an accountancy student, same with Vernon. He and Vernon had been together for three years now but Seungkwan never really properly introduced him to his friends because he was quiet and shy.
"Hi, guys!" Seungkwan greeted. "I'm not late, am I?"
"No, we just started eating," Jihoon answered with a smile on his face. Seungkwan pinches his cheek and sits down beside Seokmin.
'Seungkwan," Jeonghan calls him. "What is your opinion on Soonyoung?"
"The bad boy Soonyoung?" Seungkwan asked and Jeonghan nodded. "People call him the wrath, actually. His patience is as thin as a thread and no one would even dare to approach him or even speak to him..."
Seungkwan continued rambling on and on about Soonyoung. If you need someone who knows all the teas and gossips in school, Seungkwan is surely the person you go to. He knows everything about everyone like some kind of mean girl -- like in the movie.
After classes, Jeonghan and Seungcheol waited for Jihoon and Wonwoo to come out of their building. Jihoon has an appointment with the hospital today and the couple will go with him for guidance. Wonwoo walks out with his and Jihoon's bag slung over his shoulder, Jihoon trails behind him looking tired and pale.
"He had an episode during one of our classes," Wonwoo explained the reason behind Jihoon's paleness. "Glad I had the pills with me and I got to calm him down."
Seungcheol walks up to Wonwoo and takes Jihoon's bag from him. "Good to know you're always there for him," Seungcheol whispers.
"Always," Wonwoo whispered back.
Jeonghan rans up to hug Jihoon gently. Whispering random sweet words to him. Taking him by the hand, they walked towards Seungcheol's car and drove to the hospital.
"You'll be okay, baby," Jeonghan said while pulling Jihoon closer to him. They were in the waiting room, waiting to be called. "You are brave and strong, you can do this."
The nurse called out Jihoon's name so he stood up and went inside the clinic, leaving Jeonghan and Seungcheol in the waiting room all by themselves. Jihoon looks around the very familiar place but whenever he comes here, he feels a sudden fear and anxiety. He remembers this place as the 'bad news center'. Sometimes, it would be good news -- great news even but majority were bad. That's why he hates going here but he has no choice.
"Good afternoon, Jihoon-ssi," the doctor greeted him with a smile. "I heard you had an episode today. Could you rate it a one out of ten for me? Ten being bad."
"A six," Jihoon said softly, avoiding eye contact.
"The test you took last week showed signs of no improvement but we can work on that." The doctor gave him a sincere smile. "Some patients have those moments when there is no improvement of their conditions but also no signs of it worsening. You have that situation right now. Since you had an episode today, I advise you to lessen the stress and reduce feeling exaggerated feelings which can worsen your condition. Did you do something that triggered your episode?"
Jihoon shook his head. "As far as I can remember, no."
"Then, we'll just have to look on that. I prepared you a series of test for today after hearing about your episode. Let's work on that, shall we?"
To be frank, Jihoon did badly on the series of test. His body didn't cooperate the way the doctor wanted it to so he prescribed him with even more medicine to help his condition. Jihoon took the pills and placed it inside his pocket, not letting Jeonghan and Seungcheol know that he did poorly today unlike other days.
He stood up and thanked the doctor. Mustering up the most genuine smile, he twisted the door knob and went outside the clinic. Jeonghan immediately smiled at him once he saw Jihoon's bright smile.
"How did you do?" Jeonghan asked him, patting his soft hair.
"I did great," he lied. "The doctor said that I'm getting better, actually, which is great news!"
"I'm so happy to hear that." Seungcheol stood up and patted Jihoon's shoulder. "I have to go to the bathroom for a second."
"Same here," Jeonghan announced. "We'll be back in a few, Jihoonie."
Jihoon nodded and went outside the hospital while the other two went to the bathroom. He just really wanted to get some fresh air and interact with old people who were walking around the garden. He started walking until he saw a familiar figure sitting on the bench. Jihoon glanced at him and started walking towards him.
"Hey."
The said man looked up tiredly but looks back down. "It's you again." He audibly sighs. "Leave me alone."
"I never seen you around here before," Jihoon sits beside him, ignoring the man's words just now. "What are you doing here? Surely, you have a reason."
"I said leave me alone."
Jihoon was thinking about something and an idea pops into his head like a light bulb turned on. He smiles and imaginarily pats himself on the back for creating such a great idea on the spot.
"I'm Jihoon. What's your name?" Jihoon leaned over to see the man's reaction. The man was just sitting with elbows on his knes and his big hands covering his face. Jihoon could see a few piercing on his ears and a small tattoo by his wrist. He tried tapping the man's shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?"
The man lifts up his head and glared at Jihoon. "What are you trying to do?" he hissed.
"You don't seem fine to me but that's okay," Jihoon purses his lips in a tight smile. "It's okay not to be okay."
"You don't know me."
"That's why I was asking for your name."
"You know my name, not this." He made a gesture to himself, saying that Jihoon doesn't know his story.
"What's your name?"
"You're really doing this, aren't you?" he asked, sighing in defeat as he reached out his hand towards Jihoon. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he mutters to himself.
"I'm Jihoon, and you are..?"
Jihoon takes his hand and shakes it softly. A buzz of electricity was felt when they both came in contact with each other's touch.
"Kwon Soonyoung."