Seonghwa opened his dorm and dropped his backpack on the floor, throwing himself down onto his bed. His presentation was finally over. Thankfully it had gone well. He found it was hard to focus on school lately with how much he worried about Hongjoong.

Now that he knew what he was actually going through, he couldn't help but feel guilty for everything he hadn't done. There's so much he could have done to support him if he had just taken time to pull his head out of his ass.

But that was the past. And now he could do something.

His current plan had been an utter failure. Hongjoong said he wanted to get in at JYP or SM. But Seonghwa couldn't shake the feeling that that wasn't entirely true. Though he didn't really know Hongjoong well enough to be certain, he didn't seem like he wanted to go some big name company. It didn't really seem like the right fit.

He decided his best bet was to reach out to one of his friends. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of their numbers. Whose number did he even want?

He tried to think back to everyone he'd met when they met for lunch on accident and remembered the Australian guy he sat next to.

What was his name again? Chris.

Maybe he could subtly get it out of Hongjoong? No. It would be way too obvious that he was planning something.

He tried to think of anyone he knew that might know Chris. Then, it struck him.

He remembered Hongjoong explaining how he knew Jinyoung's boyfriend. Jaebeom was Chris' RA partner. So if he got Jaebeom's number from Jinyoung, he could talk to Chris.

Quickly, he pulled out his phone.

jinyoung

hey random question
can u give me your bf's number

why

personal reasons

i thought you had jackson's
number already
wait
shit
fuck
pretend you didn't see that

only if you give me jaebeom's
number

fine
here you go

Seonghwa added the number to his phone and sent a message. He had pretty much already figured out Jinyoung was seeing two different guys so it wasn't that big of a deal to him but he was glad he slipped up so he could get the phone number.

jaebeom

hi this is seonghwa
jinyoung's friend from the
double date

oh hi
how did you get my number

jinyoung

oh
that makes sense
what do you need

can you give me chris' number

sure

Seonghwa was surprised at how easy that interaction was, seeing he basically had to blackmail Jinyoung. He was grateful as he didn't know what he would say this time if he was asked for a reason.

chris

hey this is seonghwa
hongjoong's RA partner

i know who you are 😉

what does the winky face mean

you know what it means 😉

...
what has hongjoong told you

oh nothing...😉

stop using the winky face 😡

fine
he told me everything
and i mean eeeeeeverything 😏

he did WHAT
also that face is worse
go back to the winky face

you should've heard how freaked
out he was after you guys did it
it was pretty cute

Seonghwa smiled a bit at his phone. It was good to know he wasn't the only one that panicked.

chris

i wish i could've seen it haha

he also told me you guys are dating???

Seonghwa was shocked. Even he hadn't really told anyone. He thought they were taking things slow. So was he allowed to tell people too? Was there anyone he wanted to tell? He wasn't mad as he was totally fine with people knowing—as long as it wasn't the nosy freshmen on the floor.

Although they already had their assumptions anyways.

chris

yeah...

oh shoot did you know he told me??

no but it's okay!
i'm glad he wants to tell
people about me ☺️

if i'm being honest...
i kind of used to hate you
cuz you really hurt hongjoong
last year
but he explained that you both
talked and figured things out
so i'm giving you a chance

thank you
that really means a lot coming
from the person who took care
of him when i didnt
i promise i'll take care of him now

i trust you
also to be fair
i kinda shipped you guys anyways

what????

he always complained about you
but it was still all he talked about
i think he worried about you
about leaving you on your own

he worried about me???
i worried about him!!
i didn't have any right to figure out
where he was staying after he left so
i didn't know how he was doing
i was so scared he would change
his major because of me

nah mate
he likes music too much to be
swayed by a little bit of criticism

i see that now
but i was still worried
i felt so guilty

yeah
as you should
but that's the past and all you
can do now is make it up to him

that's why i wanted to text you

what's up?

i thought that since i've attacked
him so much for his dream career
i want to do something to help him
and since he won't accept my money
directly i thought maybe i could use
my dad's connections to get him
an audition

that's actually so sweet
i will definitely help
what do you need me to do?

actually i just wanted to ask you
some questions

alright shoot

so i tried to figure out what company
hongjoong wants to go to but his answer
seemed like a lie
idk how to explain it
ik i don't know him that well
but it just didn't sit right with me

what did he say?

sm or jyp

really???
i told him i was trying to get
in at jyp and he told me he really
wanted to go somewhere smaller

okay so i'm not crazy

no you're right
i don't know why he'd say that

do you know where he really
wants to go?

he always talks about how much
he likes the group Block B so
he's been looking into kq a lot
i thought that was his top choice

Seonghwa almost gasped. KQ was the company he actually had connections to!

chris

wait really???

yeah at least that's what I gathered
maybe he changed his mind??

i actually have ties to kq so i
was hoping he liked them

wait seriously!?
that's awesome mate!

this is really good news
omg i really want to surprise him
he deserves so much

he really does
make sure you let him know
before you schedule anything tho
as a music major i would be
VERY stressed if i only had
limited time to prepare

yeah i was thinking about that

that's actually so cool mate
kq is hard to get auditions
and they're expensive since
they're small

ik
i thought this was a more
obscure way i could lend him
money so he won't reject it

well
he might still reject it
knowing how annoyingly humble he is

true
but i'm going to try my best
to convince him
if you could help too
seeing how much he tells you
i'm sure he'll come to you for advice
once i tell him

ofc!
anything to help him out

thank you
it was good to talk to you
maybe we could meet up
sometime and talk about
last year?
i want to know all of the details
i need to know how much
damage i did so that i
don't ever do it again

yeah
i think it would be good for me too
you deserve to know

okay thank you

Seonghwa put his phone down and caught a tear as it was about to fall. He hadn't noticed his eyes getting watery. As much as it hurt him to know the pain he caused Hongjoong, he knew it was only fair that he see what damage he caused before he tried to make up for it.

Now that he knew Hongjoong actually wanted to go to KQ, he could make arrangements to get him an audition.