chapter 2

Few weeks passed after Doyoung got admitted to this school. He arrived quite early to his class. But he didn’t plug his air pods in his ears. He rather just sat still and took glances at the classroom door time to time. He always waited for Jeongwoo so that they can spend some time before class would start.

He saw how the classroom started getting full and most of the students arrived. But the one Doyoung was looking for was out of sight. The said boy took a look at his wristwatch and to his dismay the class would start in five minutes. A sigh escaped from his plump lips.

But after just a little while, he saw a running figure rushing towards the classroom. And after seeing the person’s face, Doyoung had a wide and heavenly smile drawn on his face. After entering the person noticed Doyoung and walked towards him with a smile but he was breathing heavily as he ran.

“I’m late.” The person said. Doyoung gave a small nod at that, “I know, Jeongwoo.”

“We’ll have lunch together okay? Bye I gotta copy Ruto’s homework real quick!” And before Doyoung could utter a single word, Jeongwoo was already on his way to his seat. Doyoung looked behind and saw how the said guy talked to Haruto about something and then he looked at Doyoung again, with a sheepish yet embarrassing smile. He came towards the shorter one and blinked. “Can I please copy your homework? Ruto forgot his homework copy.”

Doyoung was surely startled a bit. But him being the kind soul he is, got his copy out and swiftly handed it to Jeongwoo.

The latter smiled widely before taking the empty seat beside Doyoung and started writing as if his life depended on that. His hands were moving from one line to another super fast that his handwriting was barely understandable. It was as if he was having race with the sun to see who can move faster.

And in three minutes max, he was done. He closed one copy and handed it to Doyoung while breathing fast. “Thank you for the help, budd- Oh shit the teacher is coming!” And thus, Jeongwoo ran towards his seat and sat down.

That boy was just something else! Soon the classes came to an end as the lunch bell rang.

The students as usual made their ways to the cafeteria, some in groups and some alone. Doyoung started taking out his journal and some markers. He always liked to do some aesthetic work whenever he gets some free time, it eases his mind and also keeps him distracted from the social anxiety.

But as he was about to plug his air-pods in his ears his name was heard from a close distance. He looked at the desk behind him where the girl named Yujin was sleeping. He looked at Jeongwoo’s desk which was in the row beside and behind Yujin’s desk. But he found no one there until his eyes fell on Haruto’s desk which was right behind Yujin’s desk. There was Haruto who was getting tickled by none other than Park Jeongwoo.

“Wasn’t Jeongwoo supposed to hang out with you today?” The boy named Haruto aka Jeongwoo’s best friend said directly to Doyoung.

Doyoung was startled a bit but he still managed to nod slightly. Haruto whispered something to Jeongwoo making the younger one to finally let go off him and approach Doyoung in an instant.

Doyoung just blinked. “Let’s go?” Jeongwoo asked making the latter to blink again.

“Where?” Doyoung asked back. “To the cafeteria of course !” Jeongwoo’s remark made Doyoung to let out an  ‘ah’. “But I-” “Yes you have to eat, Doyoung-ah.” Seeing Jeongwoo’s pleading yet sincere expression, a sigh escaped the elder one’s mouth as he knew he was defeated.

But Doyoung didn’t expect Jeongwoo to introduce him to his friend group. It consisted four people and two were their senior as Jeongwoo mentioned when they were on the way with Haruto in Jeongwoo’s other side. Soon they reached a table where Doyoung was asked to sit between Jeongwoo and Haruto.

“Hello, I’m Yoon Jaehyuk!” The boy named Jaehyuk greeted Doyoung the moment he sat down. “Asahi.” The boy beside Jaehyuk recognized as Asahi said after receiving nudge  from his best friend. Doyoung slightly bowed, “I’m Kim Doyoung.”

And then the table fell silent for a small moment before Jeongwoo started talking and Jaehyuk teased him. Doyoung observed the interaction of the friend circle ; Jeongwoo and Jaehyuk talked the most and fooled around, Haruto laughed and occasionally threw some remarks, meanwhile Asahi was mostly silent and sometimes speaking one or two words. As Doyoung didn’t want it to seem odd, he got a medium sized sandwich while the rest got food to their likings too. It was going pretty well until Doyoung put his sandwich down after taking a really small bite.

He placed his sandwich on the one-time plate from before and focused on the story Jeongwoo was telling.

But suddenly Doyoung got caught off by Jaehyuk, “Doyoung-ah, why aren’t you eating your food?” Doyoung gulped a bit before replying, “I’m not hungry actually.”

Jeongwoo noticed Doyoung’s plate after Jaehyuk’s remark. Even if he wanted the shorter one to eat, he remained silent seeing how Doyoung got a bit uncomfortable at the topic. He couldn’t say anything to Jaehyuk in front of Doyoung too. So he just stayed still. “But you won’t get energy if you neglect your food like this, boy!” Jaehyuk said again.

Doyoung bit his bottom lip and took a look at the food. Even if he was a little hungry, he didn’t want to gain weight and be bullied for it yet again.

“Come on Doyoung-ah.” Jaehyuk said again, “Here have it.” And saying so he picked up the sandwich and held it right in front of Doyoung’s face. All the memories from his previous school came rushing back to Doyoung. His eyes looked gloomy and fearful. And without uttering a single word, he stood up and ran away from the cafeteria leaving a confused Jaehyuk, dissapointed Haruto and Asahi and a worried Jeongwoo behind.

“What just happened?” Jaehyuk asked to his friends making Asahi sigh. “He felt uncomfortable.” Jeongwoo looked at his friend with a helpless expression. “Go find him and clarify the misunderstandings, idiot.” And just as Haruto said, Jeongwoo ran from there to find his newly made friend, Doyoung.

He looked several places in the school but couldn't find Doyoung. He went to the male restroom and found no trace of Doyoung as well. But as he was about to leave, he heard someone letting out sobs from inside. Somehow he felt like it was his friend he was looking for. And following that single thought, he decided to wait.

But after a few minutes, the bell rang to Jeongwoo’s dismay. He anxiously started pacing around the restroom for that crying person to come out. And after a while, the person did come out with a pair of red and wet eyes, a red nose and puffy face.

“Doyoung-ah..” Jeongwoo softly called out making the said boy to notice his presence.

Doyoung had a slight change in his facial expression momentarily before his eyes got filled with gloom again. He took a short yet audible breath and started, “I-” But before he could proceed any further with his sentence, he felt a cold hand touching his right cheek in a soft and gentle manner.

“I’m sorry.” Jeongwoo said. “For what happened there.” He added with guilt and sadness in his tone. Doyoung looked down to his feet and sighed. “You don’t have to be sorry.” He spoke in a weak voice which was barely audible.

Jeongwoo placed his hand on from Doyoung’s cheek to his shoulder. “Jaehyuk hyung didn’t mean to offend you. He is actually so out-going and caring at the same time. He just didn’t think it through that you might feel uncomfortable at his action. He felt so guilty after you left.” Doyoung silently heard Jeongwoo’s voice. There was no one in that restroom except for them. And Jeongwoo’s voice filling the silence made Doyoung feel calm and better. “He didn’t offend me.” The shorter one spoke making the latter blink.

“Yes, I felt uncomfortable but I don’t blame him for that.” He paused and smiled which represented his feeling which was mixed with sadness.

“You know I got bullied for my weight, my face, my body at my previous school. When I started dieting to keep a slim figure, then didn’t stop. Rather they bullied me with food. They held the food in front of my mouth and teased me about it.”

Doyoung took a deep breath after that. “And they made me eat food forcefully. Sometimes I even vomited after eating too much food at once.” Jeongwoo’s lips twitched a bit as his eyes were glossy seeing Doyoung holding his tears back and struggling to talk.

“I just got reminded of those horrible memories after Jaehyuk hyung’s action, so I reacted like that. He didn’t offend me. I am just so sensitive.” Doyoung spoke as a teardrop finally made it’s way to his cheeks.

Jeongwoo gently wiped the tear-drop and held the latter’s soft cheeks again. “You are not sensitive and even if you are sensitive, it isn't bad. I will protect you if anyone with a low-mentality tries to insult you okay?” Doyoung nodded as a tear-drop fell right on the floor. A beautiful smile was drawn on Jeongwoo’s face as he ruffled Doyoung’s fluffy hair.

“Now let’s wait for this period to end or else we’ll receive detention.”

Doyoung nodded. He walked towards the mirror and looked at himself. The spots of his cheeks were slightly visible as his foundation got off. He bit his bottom lip and held hid his cheeks with his hands.

“Jeongwoo-yah..” He called out making Jeongwoo divert his attention to the elder one. “Yeah? What happened?” He asked seeing Doyoung holding his cheeks. “I need my foundation to cover some spots.” He slowly said. Even if the taller one wanted to protest saying the other looked beautiful like this, he didn’t wanna make things any more uncomfortable for Doyoung. So he asked, “Where is it?” Doyoung blinked but it showed the guilt he was feeling. “In my backpack.”

And the next moment, Jeongwoo found himself outside the classroom to fetch Doyoung’s backpack without getting noticed by the teacher.

He looked inside from the window and waved his hands to get his best friend’s attention. Haruto noticed his friend pretty soon and showed a gesture as if asking him what happened.

Jeongwoo pointed at Doyoung’s bag and mouthed it. Haruto furrowed his eyebrows together and lifted Jeongwoo’s bag from the desk beside him.

“This?” He mouthed back making the younger boy to face palm. “No Doyoungie’s bag!” He whispered and pointed to Doyoung’s bag again. Haruto let out an ‘ah’ and called Yujin who sat in front of him and behind Doyoung. Jeongwoo watched the two of them communicating for a few seconds before Yujin passed the backpack to Haruto.

Jeongwoo performed some small jumps from outside. But the hardest part was delivering the bag to Jeongwoo.

So when they were in the process of delivering the bag, the teacher caught them red-handed. He called Jeongwoo inside and the rest was history.

A sulky Jeongwoo entered the male restroom with a medium-sized backpack in his hands. His eyes widened seeing Doyoung already applying foundation on his cheeks. “You had one with you?”

The said boy followed the voice and looked at a shocked Jeongwoo. “You came? I thought maybe you wouldn’t.” Doyoung spoke making the latter to shake his head. “I wouldn’t leave my friend alone in a trouble, Doyoung-ah. But you had the foundation with you?”

Doyoung chuckled nervously. “I thought you forgot about me and when I checked my pockets, I found it.” A sigh escaped from the younger one’s lips. “Fine but since I got your bag, use that one.” Saying so he handed the backpack to Doyoung. The said boy looked here and there with a guilty smile on his lips and finally spoke, “This one is the one that was in my backpack.” He showed the foundation container in his hand. “So you’re telling me I went through all of that just to get you nothing ?!” Jeongwoo exclaimed and sighed.

“Did the teacher scold you?” Doyoung cautiously asked.

The taller one nodded with a pout on his lips, “I got detention.” He said and sighed again. Doyoung pressed his lips in a thin line before asking, “Do you want me to join you in detention?”

“You will?” Jeongwoo asked back making Doyoung to nod. “You did all of that for me after all.” Jeongwoo’s face changed to a crying expression as he hugged Doyoung. The bell rang at the exact moment but he was too occupied in hugging the latter to care.

“Thank you so much, Doyoungie!” Doyoung struggled in the embrace and whispered to make Jeongwoo let him go. But the other didn’t comply to that rather he hugged Doyoung even tighter. To him, it was probably a playful act of friendship. But to Doyoung, it somehow made his heart beat faster.

《《☆》》

This chapter is twice in size of chapter 1 wah- i'm surprised myself ! And yep I brought Ive's Yujin as their classmate :))