Seokjin waited for Taehyung for several hours before falling asleep without even realizing it. When he woke up in the morning, he realized with sadness that Taehyung hadn't returned and had probably spent the night in solitary confinement, just like Jimin since neither of them responded to his messages from the last night.

Hoseok, always so quick to respond to his messages, had not responded to his messages either and Seokjin told himself with pain that this must be proof of his guilt.

Jungkook hadn't responded to his pleading messages either and faced with his changing behavior from those close to him, Seokjin began to feel isolated.

However, he saw a message that he hadn't seen before falling asleep. It was a message from Seung that warmed his heart :

Hey Jin, I imagine that things are not going very well after what happened but I hope that things will be better tomorrow and that we can discuss it together to see what we can do to make the situation better.

Seokjin hastened to write:

Hey! I'm fine now, thank you.

Thanks also for your help yesterday.

Guilty, he added:

Seung, I'm really sorry for the way I behaved towards you, I didn't mean to be mean but I was just worried that others would be mean to you like they were to me.

I hope you understand and won't blame me.

Then, thinking that he was the only one he could ask at the moment, he wrote:

Do you know what Jungkook thinks about what happened yesterday?

Does he hate me?

He waited a little but no message came in response, probably because Seung was still asleep and Seokjin took the opportunity to get ready. He wanted to hurry to the canteen when it opened, before the other students arrived, so that he could return some food and go to a deserted place for breakfast before classes started. He didn't want to meet anyone while he was alone, without Taehyung and Jimin.

When he came out of the bathroom, fresh to start the day, he saw that Seung had responded to his messages.

I'm glad you're feeling better.

It's normal that I support my friend, don't mention it!

And for your attitude towards me in front of others, it's okay Jin, I don't blame you.

I understand and I thank you for thinking of this for me, but really, you shouldn't worry about me. I'm here for you and I'm not going to dump you for guys who aren't worth it.

Regarding Jungkook, I tried to have a conversation with him but he didn't want to talk about it with me. I think it's best for the two of you to discuss it.

If you feel like it of course.

Yes, I want it! Seokjin quickly replied even though he felt his heart racing at the thought of this conversation with Jungkook.

Are you sure ? Seung asked.

I can't guarantee that this conversation won't hurt you given what he said yesterday about the Japanese people.

Yes, I'm sure, Seokjin confirmed. It's okay even if it doesn't go well because at least I won't regret not having tried. I was planning to go eat somewhere alone, could you two join me there?

He didn't want to be alone with Jungkook, he preferred Seung to accompany him.

I'm going to ask him to come and even if he doesn't come, I'll come and eat there with you. Where do you want to meet?

He thought about the place where he had decided to eat, which he knew would be deserted at this time of the day.

Thank you ! Meet me at the changing rooms of the nautical center, I'm going there now.

He looked up from his phone and almost cried out when he saw that Yoongi, still resting on his cushion, was awake and looking at him.

"Taehyung hasn't come back," he noted, without paying attention to Seokjin's fear.

"Yoongi, you scared me!" Seokjin cried, placing a hand on his heart to try to calm the racing.

"Maybe you have something to reproach yourself for. Why are you out at this hour? Yoongi asked, sitting up and looking at his cell phone to see the exact time.

"No, I have nothing to reproach myself," Seokjin denied, "I'm just going to the canteen early so I don't run into anyone. And then I'll go join Jungkook and Seung."

"Why do you want to see Jungkook, I thought he hated you?" Yoongi asked.

"I..." Seokjin started hesitantly, "he didn't tell me he hated me, he said he hated the Japanese but I want to talk with him, to assure him that that doesn't make me any different, just like you told me yesterday. Then, if he doesn't want to trust me and remain my friend, then I won't force him, I swear."

Seokjin thought Yoongi was going to make a nasty remark but he didn't. However, he ended up making a proposition that he had never made to him:

"I can eat with you in the canteen if you want, no one will dare come and bother you and you won't need to hide to eat. Until Taehyung comes back," he clarified, as if he wanted Seokjin to understand that he wasn't proposing because he himself needed company but because Seokjin needed his friends.

"Oh, uh, thanks Yoongi," Seokjin said awkwardly, who was grateful but had other plans, "that's really nice of you but-"

"But you don't want to," Yoongi finished, "okay."

"No that's not it!" Seokjin quickly denied. "It's just that I have to go see Jungkook and Seung right away in a locker room of the sports center but if you can wait for me a little, then I'll be happy to join you!"

Yoongi seemed to be thinking and Seokjin feared he had upset him and thought he was going to withdraw his offer. So he was happy to hear him say:

"Meet me at the canteen in forty minutes and be punctual. Because, even if you are not here, I will start eating and leave as soon as I finish," he warned, as he wasn't used to waiting for anyone since he did everything on his own.

"It's understood!!" Seokjin said happily. "Thank you so much Yoongichi!"

Yoongi looked at him weirdly, like Seokjin had gone crazy.

"What did you call me?"

"Yoongichi!" Seokjin laughed, putting his hand over his mouth like a child caught at fault. " You're so nice to me, so I've been thinking of a nickname for you, I think Yoongichi suits you, it's sweet and it reminds me of the soft sounds of a cat yawning while stretching after its nap."

He was happy with the nickname he had chosen but he lost his smile when Yoongi replied:

"Don't call me that, I hate nicknames."

"O-okay, I'm sorry."

But deep down, Seokjin didn't give up on the idea of ​​making Yoongi accept his nickname because he could see that Yoongi wasn't really hating that, he just wasn't used to someone giving him an affectionate nickname. So he smiled without being able to help it.

"Why are you smiling again?" asked Yoongi who was observing him.

Seokjin thougt he must look weird because the day before, he was destroyed and now, here he was smiling for an affectionate nickname given to someone who said he was closed to friendship.

"Nothing important," he said nonetheless, "see you later Yoongi."

In the cold morning wind that made his hair dance, and under a sun sun without heat that timidly broke through, Seokjin headed towards the multi-sports area where the swimming pool was also located where they had their first swimming test and where the locker rooms were inevitably empty since no one came to swim before breakfast.

He was about to enter the building but a voice made him turn around.

"Take it, it is for you."

Seokjin turned around and felt a shiver run through him that had nothing to do with the cold.

"R-Raenjun," he stammered as he saw the boy approach him in the semi-darkness of the still sleeping school.

In his hand he held a a thick sheet of paper that the wind was blowing and Seokjin suspected that it was covered with a drawing of him, because this strange boy seemed to only have him as a model lately. Was Jimin his role model before he himself became one? He hadn't noticed at that time but it was possible that Raenjun had also followed Jimin and observed him all day.

"Here, this is for you," Raenjun repeated, handing him the paper.

"T-thank you," Seokjin said, forcing himself to grab the drawing. Being alone with him made him particularly nervous.

"Don't you want to watch it?"

"Yes, of course," Seokjin lied so as not to annoy him. If the othr boy saw that he was lying, he made no comment, content to observe with curiosity his reaction when his eyes finally landed on the drawing.

As he had guessed, Raenjun had drawn him. In the drawing, his eyes were closed and his mouth half open, as if he were sleeping. But that was not the case because one thing indicated that he was not in his bed: his hair in the wind was dancing in front of his forehead, like that morning, as if Raenjun had drawn it in seconds as he walked from the dorm - was he following him from the dorm?! Seokjin wondered in fear because he hadn't noticed it.

The half-open mouth on the drawing  gave the impression of inhaling a precious breath of air, which he immediately saw through mimicry. And this boost of oxygen calmed him down a little

"You like it?" Raenjun asked.

"It's..." Seokjin thought, choosing to answer honestly: "It's beautiful. You are truly an artist Raenjun."

He also hoped that his compliments would attract his sympathy and prevent him from wishing him harm.

"What do you think of the emotion on your face?" Raenjun asked, without thanking Seokjin for his compliments or seeming to be happy about it. He just seemed curious.

"It looks like my face is..." Seokjin began, frowning when he noticed that in the drawing, his eyebrows were furrowed when he was going to say that he looked calm. "...Concerned," he finished. "Yes, I look worried."

"Worried?" murmured Raenjun, who seemed displeased, as if this was not the answer he was expecting. "No, that's not the emotion I wanted, I dit it wrong... LOOK AT ME!" he suddenly yelled, scaring Seokjin who backed away so quickly that he tripped.

Terrified and panting because of his sudden accelerated heart rate, he didn't dare get up, just raised his face towards Raenjun who could read the fear there because Seokjin didn't know why he had yelled at him and he was suddenly stunned to see that the boy was laughing out loud.

"Ha ha ha!!" he laughed like a madman. "This is exactly the expression I wanted, surprise and... fear!" he said cruelly.

"Y-you came here to scare me?" Seokjin stammered while catching his breath.

"I came to look at the live model to see if I could do better," Raenjun said, "keep this drawing for me," he added, stepping forward and grabbing the paper that Seokjin had crumpled in his hand in falling and stuffed it in Seokjin's pocket without asking his opinion. "I'll take it back when I finish the next one so don't lose it."

"O-okay," Seokjin said before freezing and holding his breath when Raenjun grabbed his chin and brought his face closer to his.

He observed him from all sides, sometimes moving his face, sometimes rotating Seokjin's face, as if he wanted to memorize his features.

"No, no, it's not okay, it's not the right posture, not the right time..." he whispered. "I guess I'll see about that later."

Seokjindidn't understand his remark. Moreover, he didn't want there to be an "later" but he didn't say anything because Raenjun didn't seem to ask his permission. The other boy sighed then walked away from Seokjin without any form of greeting. It was only then that Seokjin allowed himself to breathe normally but he felt that his heartbeat had not returned to a regular rhythm.

"W-what a weird person," he muttered when he was sure the other couldn't hear him.

He hastened to get up and enter the building where he reached the changing rooms adjoining the swimming pool. There, the temperature was much higher than outside so he sat down on a bench and took off his jacket. Then, he took out his Ventolin from his pocket, which he administered feverishly.

He looked at his watch and saw that he had some time left before Seung and Jungkook arrived so he decided to go pass the time by walking by the pool, hoping that the other two would soon join him because he didn't want to miss his meeting with Yoongi. He smiled as he thought about Yoongi's shy offer and wondered how he could repay him for his kindness.

He walked around the pool several times, both frightened and amazed, as always, by the dangerous beauty that the water represented. It attracted him with its undulating blue, the wet caress it gave when he dared to dip his legs in it, but he knew that it was his mortal enemy and he would not risk dipping his legs in it if no one was there to rescue him if he were to slip.

As he looked at his watch again, he heard whispers and hurried footsteps behind him that made him turn aroundthinking it was Jungkook and Seung.

Too late.

Before he could see who was behind him, he felt hands roughly pushing him into the pool where he fell with a cry, far from one edge because of the momentum of the person who pushed it.

He was immediately dragged to the bottom by his weight and his heavy clothing and he swallowed water while trying to catch his breath after his cry which did not allow him to enter the water with oxygen to be carefully preserved.

Panicked, he began to beat his arms furiously to try to get to the surface. But for him, it was like flapping his arms to fly away: he couldn't do it. He cut through the water as if it were air, without ever coming out. His hair waving before his eyes as it had earlier danced in the wind.

In a flash of lucidity that terrified him, he understood what Raenjun's drawing represented: it wasn't him who closed his eyes and enjoyed the breeze, it was him who was drowning, surprised at having been pushed, terrified at the idea of ​​dying of asphyxiation, letting water enter through his half-open mouth when he lost consciousness...

The bubbles rose to the surface as he beat the water and despite all this agitation, he could only hear the sound of his heartbeat which was drumming in his ears as if it had moved there and telling him that it would soon stop if he did not give him the oxygen he needed. He was going to drown if he didn't manage to get out and finally breathe.

He felt his strength diminish with each movement he made, without understanding why he didn't get out of the water, why he couldn't find the edge of the pool where he could have held on. He had lost all his bearings and his wide-open eyes, too battered by the chlorine, could no longer see anything around him, nothing other than the blue of the bottom which covered the entire pool.

Where was the surface?!

Soon he was no longer able to distinguish it, as the blue turned to black, as his consciousness faded into nothingness. He was about to close his eyes when he saw two shadows diving into the water and at the moment, his foggy mind, as if it was no longer working properly, wondered with if they were not two sharks coming to devour him. He no longer had the strength to flee anyway and he let himself be carried without moving, waiting for his end.

When the shadows were close to him, he noticed that she had human arms and hands and it was with this that one of these shadows, arriving first at him, grabbed him and suddenly pulled him towards the surface.

When air passed through his lungs again, despite his extreme weakness which prevented him from moving, his body began to naturally expel the water that was there and he coughed and spluttered for several minutes, so much so that the inside of his chest burned him. But it was better to have no more air. He frantically sucked in air as soon as he could, as if to refill a reserve he didn't possess.

Finally, his irritated eyes began to see more and more clearly and his foggy mind gave him a clearer idea of ​​what was happening: he had come out of the water! Panting after coughing so much, he however realized that even though his head was above water, the rest of his body was there, he immediately grabbed onto the person holding him, for fear of sinking again.

"Easy, Jin, you're saved now, I've got you."

"J-Jungkook?" Seokjin said weakly, recognizing his voice and looking up at his face.

Jungkook nodded. He seemed particularly nervous but held Seokjin tightly to keep him from sinking. He had jumped fully clothed into the pool to get him out and his look seemed to express a thousand and one questions which he did not ask. He glanced at the person on the other side of Seokjin.

"I'm here too Jin," Seung said, attracting his attention and gently removing the hair that was plastered to his forehead and some of which was in front of his eyes. "You scared us, so much when we didn't find you in the locker room and saw you in the pool! You shouldn't walk around the pool alone, you were lucky we got there at time. Did you slip by accident or maybe you wanted something back?" he added, looking for something that Seokjin might have wanted to retrieve.

"N-no," Seokjin stammered, shaking all over, "s-someone p-pushed me..."

"Eh?!" Seung exclaimed, exchanging a look with Jungkook and the two looked around without seeing anyone. "Are you sure Jin?"

"Y-yes, I'm sure! I d-didn't fall alone, s-someone p-pushed m-me," Seokjin sobbed, still not recovered from his fright and who spontaneously clung to Jungkook's neck like a lifeline. "I w-want t-to go out of the p-pool..."

"Don't worry Jin, we'll get you out of here," Seung reassured him, quickly getting out of the water leaning on the edge.

He then held out his arms for Jungkook to walk over to him and let him hoist Seokjin out of the water. The two of them, Seung pulling and Jungkook pushing, managed to get him out of the water and he fell back limp on the edge, lying down and breathing frantically.

"I-I need- he whispered, as if he was on the verge of fainting, while Jungkook hoisted himself out of the water in turn splashing Seokjin unintentionally but without Seokjin having the strength to wipe his face.

"Your ventoline," Seung added, because he knew him well, "do you have one in the locker room? Or do you want to be taken back to your room? Or to the infirmary?"

"I-I have one h-here."

Seung nodded and with Jungkook doing the same, he supported Seokjin by wrapping an arm around his neck. The two boys then escorted him to the locker room where they placed him on the bench where he had left his things. Seung reached into Seokjin's jacket pocket and found a crumpled sheet of paper as well as Seokjin's ventolin which he put in his hand.

Quickly, Seokjin took several puffs of his inhaler and continued to squeeze it in his hand afterward, afraid of needing it again. He was still shivering but it was impossible to tell if it was from the cold or from panic.

"I'll see if I can find any towels," Jungkook decided.

While Jungkook went to get some dry towels so the three of them could dry off, Seung decided to help Seokjin undress since his clothes were soaked. Very confused because he still felt like he was going to pass out, his head was throbbing more and more due to lack of oxygen, Seokjin let himself go, letting Seung unbutton his uniform shirt.

It was only when he heard Seung scream in fear in front of him that he remembered, too late, that he had never undressed in front of anyone for a very particular reason and that he should never have let Seung undress him:

"J-Jin, w-what is that..." Seung stuttered, staring at his chest with horror, "...what is this scar?!"

_______

A/N : Seokjin's oldest secret is finally revealed...

I'm going to take a break from posting. I wrote all week because I was on spring break but the daily publishing pace became too hard for me so I'm going to space it out a little.