oosun @sunscript tweeted.

congratulations on your graduation, @cyberlee hyung! 💐🎉 we are so proud of you, we love you sm 💛

3846 likes | 293 retweets

replies:

@cyberlee aww thanks sun, see you later 😊
@nishi_rk congratulations! 🥳
@parkwrites congrats my bff 👏 you deserve to party tonight (my treat) 😉
@chenleave oh wow congratulations!! 🥳🤸🏻‍♀️
@cornjay congrats dude 🫶 enjoy your corporate life soon 🫡
@simjake congratulations hyung! ❣️

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"it's not starting yet?" jay asked sunoo.

"nope, you're just in time. you guys can sit here," his roommate scoots over and taps the seat beside him. he also smiles at jake, who is standing behind jay.

today is heeseung's graduation and his friends are seated inside the university's coliseum to witness the ceremony and support him.

and of course, even though heeseung rejected him- jake wanted to show up and congratulate the guy who helped him with his projects. it's not like we're not friends, right?

he asked jay if he could tag along with him, and his best friend didn't mind at all. so now here he is, sitting beside jay while waiting for the ceremony to start.

they're sitting at the upper box section of the coliseum while the graduates are a floor just below them. jake even saw his cousin taking pictures around the stage.

"ni-ki's the official photographer?" he asked jay, completely clueless.

"i think so, since he's now the main photojournalist after jeno left." jay replied to him.

"wait," sunoo taps sunghoon's shoulder to get his attention. "isn't that your dad?"

sunghoon grimaced at the mention of his father. he stops fiddling on his phone then looks down below to where sunoo is pointing.

"ignore him. i think he's invited as a guest, he'll leave right after the ceremony starts."

"you're not going to greet him?" jay looks at him.

sunghoon shrugs, "he's here as a sponsor of this university, not as my father. he won't mind me ignoring his presence."

sunoo and jay looked at each other before nodding, dropping the topic completely. they focused on watching the program instead.

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jay park @cornjay tweeted.

congratulations again, @cyberlee 🎉🫡

572 likes | 92 retweets

replies:

@cyberlee thank you, baby ☺️
↪@cornjay SHTHEAD DELETE THIS ???? FVCK U
↪@cyberlee lmfaoooo

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"yay! heeseung hyung survived college!" sunoo yelled happily, running towards heeseung with a bouquet in his hand right after the ceremony.

the others followed after him, walking through the crowd of students wearing togas. sunoo called ni-ki to take a group picture, with heeseung at the center. they took more shots before ni-ki bid goodbye to do some errands.

heeseung smiled at them, now holding the flowers. "thanks again for coming guys."

"congratulations, hyung." jake musters up his courage and hands his gift in front of heeseung. "here, it's your graduation gift."

i guess he's still not giving up. jay looks away, his eyes catching sunghoon's meaningful stare instead.

it's like sunghoon's screaming 'why would you bring him here' to jay's face.

he wants to roll his eyes. it's not like i have the right to stop jake from coming. he's heeseung's friend too.

"ah, you didn't have to... thanks, jake." heeseung takes the gift from him, smiling. to jay's surprise, the guy turns to look at him after.

"where's your gift?"

jay scoffed, looking a bit taken aback. "who said i have one?" his reply got everyone laughing except for heeseung, who seemed to be pouting.

lee heeseung? pouting? yeah, something's wrong with this guy.

"don't believe jay, i'm sure your gift is there somewhere," sunghoon laughs again before putting his arm around heeseung. "party at club fort tonight, my treat as a celebration for your success."

heeseung shakes his head. "a party's a bit-"

"too much? too less? whatever, i don't care. you're the main event so you have to come, okay?" sunghoon grinned.

sunoo rolled his eyes at him. "you just want to party and you're making heeseung as an excuse."

"oops, guilty."

"i hate you."

"you're not the first one to say that," sunghoon shrugs, ignoring sunoo.

they continued to bicker, while jay looks around the coliseum. most of the students are now taking pictures with their family...

actually, he's been wanting to ask sunoo earlier about heeseung's parents but he couldn't find the right timing. they're not around, and i don't want to assume anything so i was just quiet the whole time.

he glanced at heeseung, who's busy listening to sunoo and sunghoon's quarrel. he looks fine to me, but he doesn't look like he's happy either.

whatever. why does it bother me anyway?

jay feels jake beside him, linking his arm around his. "what's wrong? you look worried."

"hmm? it's nothing. i was just thinking if i turned the stove off earlier haha..."

"what? that's so random." jake chuckles, "are you going to come to the party?"

"i'll try." he replied shortly.

-----

they decided to go outside of the coliseum after a few minutes, since it feels too crowded inside with all the families flocking their graduates.

"we could have dinner first before going to hoon's party." sunoo tried to plan out.

heeseung nodded while walking. "that's fine with me."

"alright, which restaurant?" sunghoon asked while typing on his phone again. "i'll make a reservation."

jay is walking behind them, listening to jake talk about random things beside him. he knows that jake still feels awkward to be around his friends, so he's trying to make his best friend feel comfortable again.

"...and i'm planning to try baking. what do you think?" jake looks at jay, waiting for an answer.

"i thought you don't like making food," jay glanced at him. "why would you want to bake?"

jake frowned. "why not? i want to. you can be my taste tester!"

oh great. "so i could die of food poisoning?"

"what? of course not! i could also make you something that you like..." his best friend's voice trailed off.

"something that i like?"

"yep, i know you like eating pastries. i could make some for heeseung too."

there it is. in the end, it's always for heeseung.

"do whatever you want."

jay distracted himself and tried to look around instead. his eyes caught a woman probably in her mid-forties, walking towards their direction.

she looks like someone.

wait...

everything clicked inside jay's mind when the woman stopped right in front of them.

"heeseung..."

he hears sunoo gasping softly, while heeseung remained stoic- his eyes suddenly feel empty.

"heeseung, i-"

"what are you doing here, mom?" heeseung cuts off his mother's words. he tried to sound kind, but his voice came out as ice.

"well, i wanted to come to your graduation on time but you weren't answering my calls..." she smiled at her son.

"sorry, mom. i was busy."

sunoo cleared his throat. "hello, mrs. lee! heeseung wanted to call you but he got really busy with the preparations for his graduation. i hope you're doing great, mrs. lee."

she pats sunoo's head. "you're still so lively dear. i'm doing great, thank you for asking."

sunoo and sunghoon pulled her to the side while still talking. she forgets about heeseung for a moment, clearly entertained by his son's friends.

"that's heeseung's mom? she looks young." jake commented, observing their conversation.

jay could almost feel the tension in the air. the older looked tough in front of his own mother, but jay saw how his hands were shaking.

he doesn't have any idea what's happening, but he stepped right beside heeseung and reached for his hand.

it's cold... he swallows before talking. "are you okay?" he whispers.

heeseung lets out a shaky breath, squeezing jay's hand tight.

"no, i'm not."

--------

heeseung's story will finally be revealed :) (to those who saw the song i posted yesterday, just 🤫🤐)

after his arc, we'll get near towards 1/2-3/4 of the book ^^