40

The week almost flew with some sightseeing and more practice. Finally, the day before the concert, TXT arrived at the hotel they were staying in.

"JAEWON!"

"SOOBIN!"

The two people ran towards each other as if it was a drama and hugged each other causing the others to chuckle.

"And how are the maknae's?" Yeonjun asked, rolling his eyes at Soobin and Jaewon who were now talking frantically about their week.

Taehyun also rolled his eyes at the two before giving Yeonjun a small hug. Huening Kai did the same and then the group was finally together.

They really did miss each other

❅ ❅ ❅

"Damn I actually missed you idiots." Jaewon chuckled as they sat down to eat.

"Well surprisingly we missed you two as well." Taehyun replied as he picked his menu.

After ordering what they all wanted, they all talked, catching up with what had been happening the past week.

When Taehyun informed the duo that they didn't have to take the math test next week anymore, Jaewon and Yeonjun cheered, high fiving each other.

"Maybe I should have found a girl and signed up as well." Soobin muttered, crossing his arms as he still had to do the test.

"Jaewon why did you sign up with Yeonjun?"

"Um because he asked first?" the girl replied, shrugging just as the food arrived.

They ate and spent the rest of the day together.

❅ ❅ ❅

"Are you serious?" Jaewon asked with eyes wide open.

"Yes. We all want you to do a group activity before the performance." the teacher nodded at Jaewon.

"Shouldn't we be getting a good night's rest before the performance?" she asked, throwing her hands up.

The teacher froze for a second. Students glanced between him and Jaewon before he finally spoke again.

"I...I guess that's true but this was already planned so we're doing it." the teacher rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging and feeling a little embarrassed.

"Fine. Whatever." Jaewon slumped back in her seat, closing her eyes in frustration.

She and Yeonjun had practiced hard today and she was really tired. She wanted nothing more than to sleep in her warm and cozy bed upstairs. But noooo, now they had to do a group activity to 'have fun'.

"Pick a name from this hat to be your partner. Call out his or her name and then you both may take a flashlight and leave." a different teacher came and gave the hat to a student.

The random student slipped his hand inside and picked a paper while rolling his eyes.

"Junwoo." he said out loud and a male student in the back stood up.

They both waved at one another, grabbed a flashlight each, and left for the forest outside the hotel.

The hat moved around and people called names until it finally reached Jaewon.

She stuck her hand in and pulled out the piece of paper containing the name of her partner. Without a care in the world, she opened the slip and scanned it.

Her eyes widened and she sat up straight when she read the name.

"Who is it?" the teacher asked, noticing the hold up.

"Choi Beomgyu." Jaewon breathed out.

At the sound of his name, Jaewon's ex boyfriend looked up and stood.

"M...Me?" he stuttered, clearly confused.

"Um no! Beomgyu is my-" Jisoo started, getting up from her seat beside him.

"Beomgyu and Jaewon, please take your flashlights and leave." another strict woman interrupted.

Rolling her eyes, Jaewon stomped to the table in the middle, grabbed a flashlight, and walked out the reception lobby without waiting for Beomgyu.

"Hey Jaewon! Wait up!" the male yelled but she ignored him.

Running, Beomgyu finally caught up to her just as they entered the dark woods together.

"W..Wait!" Beomgyu squeaked and fumbled with his flashlight.

The poor boy was practically shaking as he was scared of the dark and whatever could be inside the woods.

Jaewon already knew Beomgyu was scared of the dark. That's why she turned on her flashlight and pointed it against him, looking away causally.

Beomgyu smiled thankfully but when he saw Jaewon avoiding eye contact with him, a sad smile met his face.

Finally, Beomgyu managed to turn on his flashlight and they both started walking again without another word.

"Jaewon-"

"Don't talk to me." she interrupted, not wanting to hear anything from him.

"Can I at least ask you something?" Beomgyu sighed.

She didn't see anything but he saw her nod through the faint light.

"What are we supposed to be finding?"

"Some sort of card with a number. It tells you the order you're performing in tomorrow." she answered much to his relief.

"But then won't two partners have two different numbers?" he asked and Jaewon shrugged.

"There will probably be card trading or something to determine the order." she said and he nodded.

Silence passed as the two searched for the card with a number on it, just wanting to go home already.

Jaewon wanted to go because she didn't want to be with Beomgyu and Beomgyu wanted to go because he didn't want to be in the dark.

"Jaewon can we talk?"

The girl didn't say anything.

"JAEWON!"

Beomgyu grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her towards him just as a branch snapped and fell down where she had been standing.

Jaewon gasped, arms falling onto Beomgyu's neck as he held her close. Breathing heavily, both looked up and their eyes met.

"What the actual fuck." Jaewon cursed, pulling away from him as she felt old familiar feelings bubble up inside her.

"I..I know right. That was really sudden." Beomgyu muttered, his cheeks red as he blushed.

His heart was beating wildly against his chest and he wanted nothing more than to pull her back and kiss her pink lips.

"Jaewon I-"

"Shut up." the girl shot and he noticed she was inspecting the branch that had just fallen.

"Can you actually listen to m-" Beomgyu stopped talking when the girl stood up holding a piece of paper.

"You found it!?" He exclaimed, shocked as she gave a small grin.

"What's the number?"

She opened the paper and as he neared her and leaned over her shoulder.

"Three." she said and closed it.

She turned around, suddenly noticing how close Beomgyu was and stumbled back, tripping over the process.

Beomgyu reached forward at once to catch her but then he lost his footing and fell as well, resulting to him on top of her as they laid still in the dark woods.

Once again, their eyes met and familiar feelings spread across their chest.

"Got off." Jaewon growled but Beomgyu didn't budge.

He just stared at her, eyes flashing small bits of hope and pain.

"I miss you." he whispered, so quietly Jaewon almost didn't catch it.

but she did.

"What?!"

Startled by her tone, Beomgyu finally pushed himself off the girl and stood up, holding out his hand to help her up.

She didn't take it and stood up by herself.

"I still like you." Beomgyu admitted as the girl dusted herself off.

"You're an idiot." she replied.

She hated how Beomgyu could still make her feel things she didn't want to feel.

"I'm not joking! Please...I swear I'll never do something stupid for popularity again! I really do care about you!" Beomgyu called desperately, grabbing her hand to prevent her from leaving.

"Let go or I'll beat your ass to pulp." she shot in response, feelings of anger shooting up inside of her.

She was going to blow.

"Jaewon-"

"Do you not understand? You fucking broke my heart. Why the hell do you think I'll accept you?" she finally yelled, ripping her arms away.

"Because I swear to god I love you!" he yelled.

.

.

.

"Y..You what?" she gasped, stepping away from him.

"I..I- wait Jaewon!" Beomgyu tried but was silenced by her.

"Love, is a strong word. What you feel for me isn't love." Jaewon glared at him, eyes full of fire and hate.

"I..I do, I promise you I do."

Another few seconds of silence passed with Jaewon glaring at him.

"Me or popularity?" she finally asked, standing straight and facing Beomgyu like the strong girl she was.

"W...What?" he stuttered, stepping away.

"Me or popularity?" Jaewon repeated, crossing her arms.

Beomgyu stayed silent causing Jaewon to finally break. She dropped her arms, eyes tearing as she felt overwhelming sadness.

"This is why we will never be together again." she hissed at him, frantically wiping her tears.

"Jae-" Beomgyu muttered, reaching forward to wipe her tears but she darted back, away from him.

"I can't believe you! What is it with you and popularity?" she groaned as more tears streamed down her face.

They both hated themselves in that moment. Beomgyu cause he knew he messed up and Jaewon because she still couldn't stop caring about the boy.

"I was bullied for a very long time." Beomgyu confessed to the girl who rolled her eyes in response.

"Everyone gets bullied somehow. That's just life." she replied, trying to wipe away her tears again.

"I know that but..." Beomgyu trailed off, looking down as memories filled his head.

"But what?" she asked, crossing her arms again.

"I hated it. I hated it so much."

Jaewon was about to talk back but froze when she heard the pained tone of his voice.

"They used to beat me up everyday, calling me ugly, telling me I would never fit in because I'm a stupid kid. I hated it so much." Beomgyu's eyes started tearing but he forced himself to push it back.

"I went home with bruises, bleeding almost everyday. The kids found it fun to see me limp." he said bitterly.

Jaewon had never seen this side of Beomgyu.

"My mom finally transferred me to a different school but I was made fun of there as well. A few girls even dated me this time only to break up and say it was a prank or a dare."

Jaewon felt her heartbreak as she imagined Beomgyu going through all of this.

"Popularity was my solution. Instead of being bullied everyday, I could just be happy and popular. I tried so hard for such a long time to be like those kids just because I didn't want to go home crying and bleeding everyday. Is that so bad?" he asked, breath hitching.

"Beomgyu..." Jaewon sighed and cursed at herself.

"I understand why you wanted to be popular, I really do. But, you're picking popularity over the wrong things now. You are wasting your life and forgetting what's important for this popularity. And even if you weren't popular, do you think I would have let anyone bully you ever again?"

At Jaewon's words, Beomgyu stayed silent, knowing everything she was saying was true.

At his silence, Jaewon sighed.

"Can you just give me another chance?" he muttered, wanting- no, needing to be with her again.

"I'm sorry but no. You have a girlfriend now just for popularity. Until you truly figure out what you want, I'm not going to be there for you."

Beomgyu closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before nodding.

"Let's head back now." Jaewon said and they both set off back towards the hotel.

They didn't talk to each other again.

❅ ❅ ❅

"What number did you get?" Yeonjun asked when she returned to their shared hotel room.

Instead of answering though, the girl simply walked up to him and fell against his chest.

Startled, the blue hair weirdo wrapped his arms around the girl and she returned the action, finding comfort in Yeonjun she had never felt before.

"Did he do something?" Yeonjun whispered, controlling his voice as he felt anger rise in him.

If that Beomgyu kid did anything to her-

"No. I'm just tired." she sighed, pulling away.

"You sure it's just that?" he asked.

Jaewon didn't reply. Instead, she stared at her reflection through the mirror in their room.

"Yeonjun."

"Yes?"

Jaewon turned to look at him, no signs of tiredness in her eyes anymore.

"I want to dye my hair."

Yeonjun blinked, confused by the sudden words.

"What?"

"I want to dye my hair." the girl repeated, now grabbing her wallet.

"R..Right now?" he stuttered before grabbing his phone and following the girl out the door.

"Yes! Right now."

He grabbed onto her hand to stop her from walking further away. He wanted to stop her as it was about to get late but at the sight of her determined eyes, he slowly let go.

"I'll go with you then." he said, nodding.

The girl smiled and they both set off towards the nearest hair salon they could find.

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( A/N: You aren't ready for the next chapter 😈 )