37

"I...I hate you!"

Her words wouldn't stop echoing around his head.

The hatred flaring in her eyes, the cold expression settled across her face, Beomgyu couldn't get the image out of his head.

He was depressed even though it had been his fault.

Choi Jaewon was even more annoyed and heartbroken after her 'conversation' with Beomgyu on Sunday.

How could someone be so hung up on popularity?

She wanted to hate Choi Beomgyu so bad but how could she when her memories only showed her his beautiful smile? How could she hate him when all she could think of was how happy they were together?

On Monday, everyone knew Jaewon and Beomgyu had broken up. They also knew that Beomgyu was now dating Jisoo, the school's most popular girl.

Yes, he's dating Jisoo now. Apparently Jisoo asked him out and he said yes.

Jaewon forcefully opened her locker and threw her books inside before slamming it shut and catching sight of a blue hair weirdo who flinched.

"Sorry." she muttered, chuckling a little when she saw him.

A very sudden but small smile had formed on her face at the sight of Yeonjun getting scared. For a second, she forgot about Beomgyu.

and then he walked past her, arm resting around Jisoo's waist.

She scowled at him as Yeonjun stood up straight and glared. He didn't like him anymore than Jaewon did.

"Let's head to class together." He said to her and she nodded.

Yeonjun and Jaewon followed Beomgyu and Jisoo as they all had class together. Upon entering the classroom, TXT ran up to them and gave Jaewon a look.

"I'm fine guys." She rolled her eyes, grinning a little.

It warmed her heart, the way TXT cared about her.

"Sure you are. You're a strong woman." Soobin winked and she laughed.

Beomgyu on the other hand, watched the group with a jealous feeling in his chest before Kai came over.

"Hey bro." Kai said, an almost unnoticeable trace of bitterness in his voice before smiling.

Beomgyu sighed before saying hi.

Ever since he agreed to date Jisoo for popularity, Kai had been bitter towards him as he was her ex and still liked her. But Kai was actually a good person on the inside so there wasn't any 'revenge' thing happening.

"We're having dinner together at my place, wanna come?" Kai offered.

Beomgyu's eyes widened. He hadn't been invited to someone's house yet. Dating Jisoo really did make him more popular.

"Yeah sure." he shrugged trying to look cool.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Jaewon shoot him a glare but she looked away almost at once when Heuning Kai started doing aegyo for some reason.

Jaewon laughed and a small pang of pain hit Beomgyu's chest.

He missed her

❅ ❅ ❅

"I'm bored!" Huening Kai whined as he lay on Jaewon's lap.

The girl rolled her eyes in response while Yeonjun laughed.

"Aigo is our maknae bored?" he teased, reaching forward and squishing his cheeks.

At this, Jaewon laughed, finding it funny how Huening Kai's face expression changed to an annoyed one.

"That's my job." Soobin shot, pushing over Yeonjun who rolled over dramatically.

"Class is gonna start soon anyways, just wait a little longer Huening-ah." Taehyun sighed, holding his hand up to block the sunlight.

The group was sitting outside on the lawn together watching other students play around through the bright light produced by the sun. There was a gently breeze moving past everyone and constantly messing up their hair.

Yeonjun sat up, his hair moving around as the wind became stronger and held out his hand to Jaewon who took it without hesitation.

Choi Jaewon thought Yeonjun looked cute with his hair all messed up but she didn't dare say that out loud or even think of it again.

Jaewon wondered why her mind kept thinking of how good looking Yeonjun was these days. It was like ever since she and Beomgyu broke up, there had been a clear path in her mind and Yeonjun was almost always on it, blocking her thoughts and making her think things she never thought before.

For example, Jaewon now noticed his lips more often.

They looked so soft and pink, plump lips unlike most people she knew. They were extremely kissable and she was constantly cursing at herself for thinking so.

"Let's go." Taehyun said, standing up as well and pulling the girl away from her thoughts.

"Yeah..." Jaewon softly muttered but no one caught it.

The group all walked together to their next class as Huening Kai continued to whine on how bored he was until Soobin finally tackled him which led to the teacher nearby give them both detention for 'violence'.

❅ ❅ ❅

"These idiots." Taehyun muttered, rolling his eyes.

He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and leg in front of the other, patiently waiting for Soobin and Huening Kai who were still sitting in detention.

"Chill bro." Yeonjun answered, resting his arm over Taehyun's shoulder.

"Why did we agree to wait for them anyways?" Jaewon asked, feeling similar to Taehyun.

"Because we're nice." Yeonjun replied, grinning at the girl when he noticed her annoyed tone.

"Even though they're idiots?" Taehyun asked as Jaewon rolled her eyes.

"Hey! Who you calling idiots?" a new voice came and the trio looked up to see the remaining people of their group emerge from the detention classroom.

"Finally! Do you know how long we had to wait for you?" Taehyun asked as he stood up straight.

"Yeah! 5 minutes! 5 whole minutes for you brats." Yeonjun said, pretending to be strict but still grinning.

"Jeez you can't even wait 5 minutes for your friends." Huening Kai sad as he walked by Soobin.

"Everyone shut up." Jaewon finally said as they started 'arguing' and that was enough for them to stop talking.

A few seconds of silence passed and the 5 burst out laughing for a reason even they didn't know.

"We're all dumb idiots." Yeonjun coughed between laughs.

but their laughs came to a halt when they caught sight of Beomgyu waiting by the school exit.

Jaewon's usual cold expression was quick to find her face and for a second, TXT wondered where their friend went since her face changed so quickly.

"What do you want?" Jaewon asked with her cold voice.

A few students walking by glanced at them before realizing who was talking and quickly walking away, heads low.

"I...I just want to talk." Beomgyu stuttered, clearly nervous.

Well, his ex girlfriend was standing with a scary face and was surrounded by 4 boys who were ready to protect her no matter what. Who wouldn't be scared?

"I don't want to talk." Jaewon said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"Come on Jaewon please. I..I need to talk to you. I can't live like this!" Beomgyu sighed, throwing his hands up.

"That's dramatic you idiot. Now move, I don't wanna hear anything from you." Jaewon glared at him.

When Beomgyu refused to move, Yeonjun shoved him to the side ( much to the surprise of everyone ) and the group went on their way.

Choi Beomgyu stood still, staring at the girl he still liked as she went farther and farther away from him.

I...I hate you!

He closed his eyes, head throbbing. Beomgyu couldn't handle this anymore.

"BEOMGYU!"

Great now she's here

"Hey Jisoo." Beomgyu said, fake smiling as he turned to face his 'girlfriend'.

"We should do this! Together!" she said and shoved a paper into his hands.

A little tired and annoyed, Beomgyu held out the paper and read it, eyes widening a little when he saw what it was.

❅ ❅ ❅

"I hate this school." Jaewon scoffed as the lights turned low.

"Who doesn't?" Yeonjun asked, rolling his eyes.

The group was sitting in the auditorium for a special assembly that was just about to start after nearly 20 minutes of waiting. They were all bored and tired as it was still early in the morning.

"What does this guy even need to tell us that he did a whole assembly?" Soobin asked, whining a little.

"Who knows?" Taehyun replied, shifting his shoulder a little since Huening Kai was asleep on it.

"Did anyone bring their phones? I want to take blackmail photos."

"You aren't allowed to bring phones to assem-" Soobin stopped talking when Jaewon and Yeonjun both held out their phones towards Taehyun.

Taehyun grinned before taking Yeonjun's. Jaewon put hers back in her pocket as Soobin stared at her with an open mouth.

"Since when do I follow rules?" she asked in response, shrugging and hiding her smile.

Soobin scoffed and faced the stage where the principal stood. The rest of the group also did the same and Huening Kai finally woke up.

"Good morning students, welcome to our special announcements assembly." the principal started and Huening Kai yawned.

The head of the school launched into a speech about students trying their best and participating in school activities to show 'support' and 'maybe you will find your true passion' and by the end of it, everyone in the assembly hall wondered why they were there.

"Now for the main reason we're having this assembly." the principal spoke into the mike.

"Finally." Jaewon breathed out, rolling her eyes.

"Some students may have already seen this, but our school is holding a dance competition."

At the word 'dance', the group of friends looked up, focusing on the stage at once.

"This is a national competition that takes place between all schools around Korea and this year it will be held in Busan. It's a duet with 1 female and 1 male so if you have a partner or would like to sign up with someone, please do so."

Almost at once, Yeonjun glanced at Jaewon who was still staring at the principal with focused eyes.

Her eyes...

They were shining with hope, something Yeonjun had never seen the girl show. They looked so bright and beautiful as they reflected under the faint light in the auditorium.

"You're staring." came a whisper and Yeonjun turned his head to see a smirking Soobin.

"W...What?" Yeonjun stuttered, avoiding eye contact as he looked at the stage again.

"We all know your crushing on Jaewon." Soobin leaned forward and whispered into the blushing boy's ear.

"H..Hey! Who said that?" Yeonjun whisper yelled, protesting and pushing himself away from Soobin.

The black hair boy merrily chuckled before resting his back against his seat and watching the principal speak.

❅ ❅ ❅

"We should do it!" Yeonjun exclaimed the moment their first class was over.

"Do what?" Jaewon asked calmly, black hair falling over her face as she bent down to pick her bag.

Without thinking, Yeonjun leaned down to tuck her hair behind her ear. She looked up and their eyes met. Blushing, both pulled away from each other as the rest of the group chuckled.

It was so obvious he liked her.

"He's talking about the dance thing. Dance is his passion you know?" Taehyun answered as the group walked out of class.

"Do it! We could come to Busan and cheer you on!" Huening Kai claimed excitedly, already dreaming of going to Busan and watching their performance.

"Hey I haven't danced in forever. I'm not good enough." Jaewon said with a quiet voice.

She wanted to do it, she really did. But performing? She wasn't ready for that yet.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Yeonjun stopped Jaewon from walking further by grabbing onto her wrist.

The girl turned around to face him and once again their eyes met.

"We all saw you dance and you were amazing. Just practice a little with me and we'll be perfect." Yeonjun said, refusing to pull away this time.

Jaewon's cheeks turned bright red and so did Yeonjun as he realized he was still holding her hand. They both finally darted away from each other only to notice the other three had already left.

"I..I'm scared." Jaewon stuttered, not really sure why she was telling Yeonjun but at the same time trusting him.

"Why?" Yeonjun asked, stepping forward once again and facing her.

She looked up at him but only saw his beautiful brown eyes and plump kissable lips.

"I haven't performed since my mother passed away." she almost whispered.

"Jaewon, you can't spend your whole life staying away from the things you love just because your mother passed away. She would want you to be happy, she would want you to perform. She wouldn't want you to give up on doing the things you love." Yeonjun said, comforting her.

"You're right you're right but-" Jaewon froze when she saw Beomgyu and Jisoo.

Following her gaze, Yeonjun turned around to see the couple walking towards them. He rolled his eyes and moved to be beside Jaewon as they came.

"Are you doing the dance? We're going it together!" Jisoo gushed, arm firmly holding Beomgyu's who was tightly clutching the paper from yesterday in his hands.

Beomgyu forced a smile and Jaewon glared at him despite the fact she could see right through the smile.

"We're doing the dance alright, and we're going to win." Jaewon scowled at Jisoo, grabbing onto Yeonjun's arm and pulling him forward.

Yeonjun's eyes darted onto her fiery one's in surprise but when he saw her determined expression, he understood she was serious.

"That's right." he said firmly, returning Jaewon's grip.

Beomgyu's eye started down to their hands clasped together and a jealous feeling flooded his chest.

"We'll see you there then." Yeonjun said and then he and Jaewon turned around, leaving the hall.

"Oh I can't believe that bitch! Beomgyu, we have to win." Jisoo said, whining and looking at Beomgyu with puppy eyes.

"I know Jisoo." Beomgyu rolled his eyes before shoving the girl's hand off of him and walking out of campus.