27 — HEART, STOP MALFUNCTIONING!

sometimes even your emotions could get into the way.

[a/n: some of you will love this chapter, some of you will not, and i, as the author, hope that this doesn't disappoint anyone that much bc hshshs keep in mind that this isn't the main focus of the story. ]

—

seungyoun gazes at his friend with a light smirk. "you know, avoiding me wouldn't keep you from thinking about me, right?"

wooseok was making himself busy in the kitchen when suddenly seungyoun had to come around, ruining his peaceful morning. unlike the previous days, seungyoun has started to open up again, and for the first time in forever, he has no upcoming meetings with daniel. this is one of the rare mornings wooseok has gotten to see him, especially in a rather, playful way.

wooseok avoids his gaze as he proceeds to grab some eggs from the refrigerator. "why are you here?"

"dude, this is my house."

"i thought you're going out with daniel again."

"daniel has a few errands he must do, for he is quite a busy guy." seungyoun leans on the kitchen counter, distracting wooseok from making his breakfast. "he cares more about his responsibilities than i do."

"then why can't you do the same?" wooseok shoots back as an effort to bring him back to work. "aren't you supposed to be busy like him, heir to the cho corporations?"

seungyoun laughs. "you sound like you're shooing me away."

"i am. the house is way better without you around."

"kim wooseok, you do remember that i'm able to read your mind, right?" he pouts. "all those ignorant remarks you pull off yet your mind says otherwise. stop trying too hard to prove yourself, snowflake."

wooseok's breath hitches. he feels as if the everlasting ice in his body has been completely obliterated by the single word. his cheeks flush.

seungyoun's eyes widen. "man, out of all the nicknames i've given you — elsa, frostie, aquaman — none of them have resulted such emotions. you like to be called snowflake." he grins. "the exact nickname that daniel gave you, wow."

"no, i hate it!" wooseok yells as he breaks the eggs into a pan. "i hated it when he called me that, i wanted to break all the bones in his body until there's nothing left!"

seungyoun raises his eyebrow. "yet you like me."

wooseok flutters his eyes in surprise, the pan freezes in reflex, alongside with the eggs. he looks down, staring at what he has done.

"... calling you that." seungyoun glances down with him, concerned about the eggs. "uh, what just happened?"

"uh.. uh i did this in purpose!" wooseok grabs a fork from the counter and scratches the surface of the icy pan. "frozen eggs, just as delicious as frozen pizzas. pretty sure it's trending on twitter."

seungyoun grins in delight. "wow, you're so cute when you're flustered, snowflake."

"don't call me that!"

"what? cute or snowflake?"

"both!"

"okay, cute snowflake."

"for god's sake, it's too early for you guys to be flirting." seungwoo appears from his room as he goes to wash his hands. he looks down at wooseok's pan of frozen eggs. "that's a dreadful pair of eggs you got there, you sure you're okay?"

wooseok groans in exasperation. he throws the pan into the dishwasher, his cheeks red as ever. "i'm leaving."

"where are you going??" seungwoo pulls his hand.

"anywhere! anywhere other than here. i can't take it anymore." wooseok covers his face with his hands, his icy fingers sting as he did so. he exits the house without further explanation, leaving a concerned seungwoo clueless and an intrigued seungyoun a bit disappointed.

"yah, what did you do, cho seungyoun?" seungwoo asks him. "i've never seen him that flustered."

seungyoun laughs in satisfaction. "i have no idea, what i do know is that teasing him is seriously the best thing to do! i forgot how much entertaining it is. you should've seen his face."

"he looked nervous."

"yeah, his heart rate raised above normal level. i think i just broke him. clearly he left because he didn't want me to read his feelings again."

seungwoo purses his lips, thinking. if wooseok was only expressing annoyance, there's no reason for him to hide his feelings.

wooseok hates the fact that his best friend is able to read his mind. he hates the fact that he's experiencing all these emotions, all these complex anomalies recurring, and for the first time, he has something to hide from seungyoun, something he rather him not to know. he hates the fact that he couldn't defend himself from the latter's words. he hates the fact that he felt so vulnerable.

he hates the fact that his heart's malfunctioning, and it's not because of the ice.

he steps into one of seungyoun's cars and makes his leave, never minding the countless notifications redirected to him. he drives to the first place that popped into his head: xigma.

—

"look at that. strange, isn't it?"

minhee gestures at junho without trying to make it too obvious. hyeongjun raises his eyebrow in confusion. "what's wrong?"

"cha junho. look who he's sitting with."

hyeongjun didn't bother to appear subtle. he fully turns his body around just so that he can see clearly. junho is currently sitting at the table for two with park jisung, a fellow student from their year who is also in their class. he scrunches his face. "park jisung? i thought he's a part of chenle's circle of friends or something."

"well, considering that chenle's in junho's campaign team, i shouldn't be this surprised," minhee sighs. "but then again, it's mimicry junho. god knows what's he's planning out of him? jisung seems to be quite close with jaemin-hyung too.."

"i'm sure he's just lonely, minhee-yah." hyeongjun assures him. "robots need to have friends too, don't you think?"

he stares at the duo for the last time. "yeah, perhaps that's just it." when he glances forward again, his eyes are treated by yet another surprising sight. "woah... wooseok hyung? what are you doing here?"

minhee and hyeongjun did not expect to see thelatter sitting alone in the cafeteria during lunch break, occupying the largest table though he's there without anyone to accompany him. wooseok simply waves back at them, already awaiting their presence. "yah, what took you so long? i've waited for hours."

"we barely just finished our last period," minhee grabs a sandwich out of wooseok's plate, not bothering to take one himself. "you good?"

"i'm fine, just needed a fresh scenery, that's all," he ruffles hyeongjun's hair who has automatically taken the seat beside him.

"wow, hey favorite hyung~~~" yohan glides towards their table in excitement, followed by hangyul and dohyon from behind.

"hello, not my favorite dongsaeng."

"what's he doing here?" dongpyo comes out all of the sudden without signs of showing.

wooseok flinches. "yah, have you been shapeshifting yourself into dust? you scared the shit out of me—" he squints his eyes. "oh wow, since when did jaemin grow his hair that long?"

"hyung, that's not jaemin-hyung." hyeongjun whispers to him.

hangyul laughs. "you really do have shitty eyesight, do you?"

yohan nudges his waist. "look who's talking."

"wooseok-hyung, this is ahn yujin. she wanted to visit minhee, said that she has a few things to discuss with him." dongpyo announces lazily as if he was forced to partake in such introduction.

yujin quickly makes her way to minhee's seat, with the latter already just as excited to see her. wooseok groans without even sparing a single glance at the both of them. "seems like everyone's dating but me."

hangyul snickers. "you want me to find one from my batch, hyung?"

"sorry, i don't date minors, that ain't cool." he rests his head on the table, feeling a little bit unenergized.

yohan hits the table aggressively to wake him up. "yah, what's wrong with you? you look like shit."

"i'm fine." he mumbles.

it doesn't take long for yohan to turn on his phone. "lee eunsang, spill."

"yah, kim yohan!"

a little notification appears into the home screen.

EUNSANG.XMK: sowwy, i respect wooseok-hyung's privacy ^~^

yohan scowls. "yah, spill and i'll break junho and jisung up for you!"

EUNSANG.XMK: ๑>ᴗ<๑☆☆ nice try

"greetings, lady and gentlemen, it is i, most handsome guy in the world na jaemin, gracefully taking a seat in this spacious table of yours because i feel like it," jaemin (again) appears out of nowhere, swaying his hips dramatically as he carries his tray of food as if it's an offering to the gods. "i would also like to introduce you all to my best friend, lee jeno~"

the young man beside him clears his throat. "only best friend?"

"boyfriend! oh my, forgive me, my tongue slipped," jaemin continues to present the latter like a valuable product he just bought for sale.

"i'm glad that you're introducing me to everyone and all, but is this really necessary—"

"this is a boy, and i love this boy, and this is the boy i love. this is lee jeno."

wooseok raises both of his hands in surrender, can't believe that he has just ticked off another proof of his 'everyone is dating except for me' agenda.

"wow, i never knew jaemin-ssi had a boyfriend," yujin mumbles. "i could hear the sound hearts breaking at this point."

"yours too?" minhee asks her dilutely.

yujin shakes her head. "nah. i think i had it coming."

hangyul laughs at jaemin's cheesy introduction. "what, so you also call him uri uri jeno?"

"no, he's my jeno. he's just mine." jaemin grins widely as he aggressively pulls his lover's arm out of 'affection' as they sit down with whom jeno refers as a 'group of strangers' (other than hangyul, yohan, and wooseok, people he has quite known for quite a while now).

"wooseok-hyung, it's been a while," jeno refers to the older brother.

wooseok smiles. "jeno-yah, i'm glad you're still active with your significant other."

"oooh, is there a juicy backstory we have somehow missed?" dongpyo asks curiously, perking his lips.

"nothing much. i was a part of jaemin's campaign team back then before seungwoo's second term ended, for i believed he would be the perfect successor." he turns to jaemin. "and as a way to help him stay focused, i kicked jeno out of the campaign team. whoops. sorry, i just needed to make sure jaemin doesn't get distracted."

jeno scoffs. "i despised you til' the end of eleventh grade."

"well, at least it was worth it," wooseok hums. "it doesn't make sense to me how you guys are still going strong until now, especially knowing that jaem calls everyone 'chagiya' whenever he gets the chance."

jaemin gapes. "no, i don't!"

"yes, you do." the whole table says in unison.

"okay, maybe he does, but i'm not that bothered." jeno shrugs. "for sure, he has other names that he only uses to call me—"

"aish, let's just keep the private things private, shall we?" jaemin shoves him away and laughs uncomfortably. "anyway, wooseok-hyung. how's things going on with your love life?"

wooseok coughs. "yeah, not interested."

"wooseok hyung spent too much time with the other hyungs, i don't know what'll happen if i don't see them together," yohan sighs.

"perhaps he'll end up marrying one of them," dohyon suggests.

"that's ridiculous," minhee scrunches his face. "they're roommates."

"i came here to have a good time but i don't know why i feel so extremely attacked right now." wooseok pouts.

"wooseok-hyung! what do you suggest to doing for a first date?" yohan asks him all of the sudden like a relationship pop quiz.

wooseok pauses. "uh.. read a book together?"

"dude, are you a couple or a book club?" jaemin scoffs.

"yah, what did you do for your first date?"

"well, i planned out a whole day in the amusement park together for our first date," jaemin answers.

"and he booked a fancy restaurant that i like for our second," jeno points out.

wooseok looks at them confusedly. "are you his boyfriend or his credit card?"

"an amusement park date sounds nice.." yujin mumbles under her breath.

"let that be our first, then." minhee replies.

"hm??"

"i, uh, wait, i mean, i, uh, yeah." minhee quickly malfunctions like a broken stereo. "if you, i, you, i want, you want. yes."

yujin grins. "i have no exact idea what you just said but okay."

though he needlessly is happy for his friends, dongpyo couldn't resist the urge to barf, especially when minhee does his questionable attempts of trying to flirt.

jaemin stands up from his seat the moment he notices junho's presence not far from them. "it's been interesting talking with you guys but unfortunately my time has come to an end. i shall now quietly leave, also bringing jeno with me because he's mine.. come on, jenjen, we should return back to our usual seats— donghyuck's waiting."

they both wave goodbye before leaving. wooseok glances at the junho-jisung couple, observing them quietly. "they seem to stick with each other like glue."

"the thing is, this had only started from today," minhee points out. "strange, isn't it? seeing junho close to someone other than eunsang."

wooseok nods. he knows he should be concerned at the moment.. but a part of him decided to not think about it too much.

maybe.. we shall wait.

—

I HATE THIS CHAP SO MUCH UGHHHH but i was late by a day so here's a chap for y'all :-) I'm gonna revise this tomorrow but for now I'm sleepy asf and i got online school tomorrow so yeah sorry to keep you waiting :,)

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