yugyeom

The next day,

I saw Chaeyoung walking to lunch.

Catching up with her, I slowed my pace a little.

"Hey Chaeyoung.. do you maybe wanna sit together at lunch today?"

Lately I hadn't been eating lunch with Mook or anyone else.

On occasion I ate with Chaeyoung but not often.

I usually just skipped it in order to study in silence or practice.

But due to the past events I figured it was better to spend more time with Chaeyoung and to actually become her friend.

She smiled at me as I neared and responded.

"Sure," she said.

I continued to follow her until I heard someone call my name.

Kunpimook.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

He was sitting at our usual table with all of our friends: Kookie, Nayeon, Amber, Mark, and Jackson.

"Gyeom," he started. "You gonna sit with us today?" he asked.

The rest of the table had been being their rowdy selves.

I looked over at Chaeyoung and then back at Mook.

"Uh.. yeah sure." I started, moving in their direction.

I quickly pulled Chaeyoung with me.

"Guys, I was just wondering.. could she maybe sit with us too?" I asked, holding Chaeyoung out in front of me.

Mook gave me a skeptical look and the rest of the table began to acknowledge our presence.

"Yeah, of course," Amber had answered for him. "We have room."

I smiled slightly and motioned for Chaeyoung to sit in the empty space next to Nayeon.

She nodded and sat down while the rest of the table greeted her.

A light feeling came to my chest as I was happy to see her associating with my friends.

I was about to sit as well before Mook tapped my shoulder.

"Gyeom, can I talk to you?" he said, not waiting for a reply and pulling me to the outside of the cafeteria.

"Dude, what're you doing?" I started.

Mook just looked me over. "Why have you been spending so much time with this girl Gyeom?" he began. "At first I was cool with it but now that you've been ditching me all the time for the past month? Not so much. You already said you weren't into her but then you're always with her. People have even started talking about it. So can you please tell me what's going on?"

"Mook, stop!" I began. "Maybe I want to hang around Chaeyoung because I care about her okay?"

He just scoffed. "Okay, but why all of a sudden? You never gave a sh*t about her before a couple weeks ago. So why now?"

"Her best friend died in her arms Kunpimook!" I shouted, earning a couple glares from the few people who were walking through the hall.

Mook stepped back and blinked confusedly. "What?"

I continued, running a hand through my hair due to my stress.

"That's why she acts so weird Mook. It's not just because she's psychotic or whatever you said. The reason she talks to 'herself' isn't because she's crazy. It's because her only friend got hit by a car and bled to death right in front of her! She couldn't help going insane Mook. I mean, could you blame her? I know that if the same thing happened to you, I'd've gone crazy. And I know you would've too if it was reversed."

Kunpimook just stared at me in awe. "Seriously?" he asked.

I nodded informatively. "That's why I need to be with her Mook. So that she won't feel alone and.. so she won't go completely insane. Before it's too late."

Mook took a second to reconcile his thoughts. Then he nodded slowly.

"Okay. " he stated. "I understand. And.. I'm sorry."

I grabbed his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

"It wasn't your fault Mook. You didn't know." I assured.

A moment later we re-entered the cafeteria to sit with the crew.

As we walked back to the table, I saw Chaeyoung laughing with Nayeon and Jackson.

It brought warmth to my heart to see them all getting along.

When we sat , I sat across from Mook and next to Chaeyoung.

"What've you guys been up to?" I asked the group.

"Just introductions," Kookie replied.

"Ah, cool." I said, smiling more than I needed to.

I couldn't help myself.

I was too happy due to the scene laid out in front of me.

Then Mook spoke up.

"Hey, Idk if they already told you but I'm Kunpimook. Nice to officially meet you." he spoke.

Chaeyoung smiled.

"Son Chaeyoung," she introduced. "And nice to meet you too."