THREE (1/2)
<u style="font-family:calibri;font-size:14px;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">Characters:</u>
(As they appear in chapter)
Jieun (22): [IU] Sunyoung's art school friend
Chunji (22): Sunyoung's art school friend
Jongdae (8), Kyungsoo (7), Zitao (7): orphans at the Sunny Ridges OrphanageTHREEJongin.
Jongin stirred as the sunlight filtered into the room and shined brightly on his face. What time was it? He groaned as he flipped around on the bed and felt a naked body next to him. Wait a second. Jongin looked around. This wasn’t his room either.
Jongin suddenly shot up and looked at the time. 10:30 AM. Oh, shit. Jongin groaned as he got up to put his clothes on.
Yesterday, after depositing Sunyoung at the bus stop, Jongin went over to the bar with Taemin and he had one too many drinks. One of Naeun’s friends Bomi happened to be there and one thing lead to another. In Jongin’s defense, he was drunk and he hadn’t been laid in a while. He was a man with needs, come on, it was inevitable. Jongin grabbed his keys and jacket and quietly left the still sleeping Bomi.
Taemin was probably gonna be pissed at him because he messed around with Naeun’s friend. But that was the least of his worries. Jongin gulped as he saw the 40+ missed calls from Victoria and 50+ texts from Henry inquiring his whereabouts. Jongin sighed as he got in his car and sped toward the orphanage. He was so screwed. He finally arrived at the place and grimaced. 11:45 AM. Oh my goodness. What was he gonna tell them? What if they told his grandpa? Jongin sighed as he braced himself for the worst and walked in. The first person he saw was Victoria, putting some decorations on the wall. She looked over at him and Jongin awkwardly started saying, “Uhhh… I…”
Victoria rushed over to him and said, “Are you okay? What happened? We thought something happened to you! You were out for so long so we called Sunyoung but she said she got home a long time ago. Is everything okay?”
She started touching his face and looking around for signs of physical injuries. Jongin didn’t know how to respond to the attention so he awkwardly said, “Uh, I’m fine. Sorry, I just went to my friend’s house and then completely knocked out.”
Victoria sighed in relief, “I’m so glad you are okay. You had us worried sick and-”
“Jongin~” Henry sang as he came over to hug the boy. Jongin grimaced as Henry latched on to him, “Thank goodness you’re okay!”
Jongin blinked, not really understanding what was happening. A) why were they worried about him and B) why weren’t they mad at him?
“Did you eat lunch?” Henry asked as he pulled away. Jongin shook his head no. Henry excitedly pulled Jongin to feed him while chattering about how
dangerous it was for pretty boys to be outside alone at night. Henry just kept talking to Jongin while he ate the soup. The only thing that crossed
Jongin’s mind was the hell they even care about him.
--
m style="line-height:1.6;">Sunyoung.
The bell finally rang to signify the end of lecture. Sunyoung woke up from her sleep and lazily walked out of class. She loved art and everything, but sometimes these classes were just too dry. Imagine taking a class solely on memorizing paintings and their names and the histories behind them.
“Someone obviously fell asleep during class.”
Sunyoung turned next to her and saw a familiar smile at her. She just laughed, “Hi, Byunghun. I guess I got caught.”
“Caught doing what?” another voice chimed in. Sunyoung looked over and saw her friends Jieun and Chunji walking with them.
“She probably fell asleep in class again,” Jieun mumbled, earning a playful glare at Sunyoung.
“Dude, I’m so hungry!” Chunji said, “Let’s go eat some rice cakes or something.”
“You always want to eat, you fatty!” Jieun said, lightly punching his stomach.
“Hey!” Chunji said defensively, “Food is meant to be eaten. Food belongs in here.” To emphasize his point, Chunji pointed at his stomach. Sunyoung laughed as Jieun and Chunji kept bickering. She was so thankful for the friends she met at art school.
Sunyoung and her family moved near the city just so she could attend this prestigious art school. Thus, she didn’t know a single soul here. Sunyoung is a pretty friendly girl so she wasn’t like super scared to mingle and stuff. But once school actually started, it was a bit intimidating. Everyone seemed to know each other somehow. Thankfully, Sunyoung met Jieun as they had the same sketch class together and they just clicked. They met Chunji and Byunghun a couple months later in a computer graphics class. Ever since then, the four of them always hung out together. Byunghun and Chunji were both majoring in computer graphics while Jieun was majoring in interior design and Sunyoung was focusing on oil-based paintings. It was so interesting to Sunyoung that such random group of people became really good friends.
“Hello! SUNYOUNG!??!”
Sunyoung shook her head as Byunghun’s hand waved in front of her face.
“I asked if you were down to go eat pizza!” Byunghun repeated himself. Sunyoung shook her head, “Sorry guys, it’s a Thursday. I have my volunteering, remember?”
Chunji nodded, “Yeah, yeah. You always go there instead of hanging out with us.”
Sunyoung smiled, “No, I don’t. I’m down to eat tomorrow!”
“Whatever,” Jieun said, “Just go punch the douchebag.”
Byunghun and Chunji looked at Jieun with a brow raised, “Douchebag?”
Jieun rolled her eyes, “Apparently some stuck up princess of a boy came recently to the orphanage. But he’s like a real dick.”
“Jieun,” Sunyoung said reprimanding, “Language. And he’s not that bad.”
“He dropped you off in the middle of nowhere at night!” Jieun said incredulously, “He picks on you and calls you mean things like hag! What do you mean he’s not that bad?!” The boys looked over at Sunyoung in shock, “What?!”
“Oh my goodness, you are totally overdramatizing everything,” Sunyoung replied, “He dropped me off at a bus stop. And he just… has a hard time expressing himself with words.”
“Wait, who is this guy?” Byunghun asked with a frown, “We should interrogate him to make sure he’s not gonna do anything weird to you.”
Sunyoung laughed, “No it’s fine!”
Byunghun’s frown didn’t disappear, “Just let me know if he bugs you and I’ll beat him up for you.”
“Thanks, Byunghun!” Sunyoung laughed, “But really, guys, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna go now. See you guys later!”
Byunghun, Jieun, and Chunji just waved back as Sunyoung left to get to the orphanage.
--
m style="line-height:1.6;">Jongin.
The dishes were sparkly clean, the kitchen was polished, and even the tables were spotless. Jongin looked at his hard work and gleamed. And he still had 20 minutes to spare before art class ensued once more. Strangely enough, Jongin actually found himself looking forward to these art classes. He wasn’t sure why though.
So these past couple days, his plan to corrupt Sehun was majorly failing. The boy didn’t care about Jongin at all and would give the shortest and curt answers. Jongin started to wonder if he should move on to another kid. Baekhyun had high potential, but he liked Sunyoung way too much, that teacher’s pet.
Though his corruption plan was failing, Jongin was pretty sure he was successful in annoying Sunyoung. It started off with rude comments about her appearance and then her teaching style and little things like that. Sunyoung would brush everything off with a smile, but he could tell that it was starting to affect her. There was a greater strain with every smile. And thus, Jongin found himself looking forward to the next class so he can utilize another new insult or prank to pull on the girl.
“Hello Jongin!” she greeted him with a smile. Jongin gave her a smirk, “Ah, lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Sure,” Sunyoung nodded, “Shall we go in the classroom?”
The classroom was extra noisy today. The loud trio (as Jongin came to call them) Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun, were obnoxiously throwing around a ball while the mischievous Amber was pulling a prank on Kyungsoo who was quietly reading a book. Jinri and Soojung were giggling in their corner while Zitao and Sehun were sleeping in the other corner.
“Hello guys!” Sunyoung said a little louder and chirpier than usual. The kids immediately returned to their seats and happily responded, “Hello Sunyoung teacher!”
Even still, Jongin was still amazed at how well behaved the kids were around Sunyoung. It’s like she cast some spell on them or something.
“How are you guys doing today?” she asked cheerfully.
“GOOD!” they replied. Baekhyun excitedly raised his hand and said, “I ate two whole bowls of pho by myself today!”
“Wow!” Sunyoung mused, “You’re growing up to be a big boy!”