Chapter Text
Sitting in the corner of the dance room was Jihoon, quietly hunched like he was in a place he didn't belong to.
His eyes traced the figure dancing in the center of the room—Soonyoung, moving and dancing in a form he could only ever dream of. That was how good Soonyoung was at what he did.
On the other hand, his eyes slowly traced to the figure next to Soonyoung—he was taller than Soonyoung, but unmistakably an omega.
One of the several Chinese junior transfer students—Xu Minghao.
For whatever reasons that Jihoon didnʼt want to say out loud, he wasn't comfortable seeing Soonyoung dance with him, even if they didnʼt dance in close proximity. It felt like watching someone take his belongings.
Not that Soonyoung was his or anything.
His train of thoughts were interrupted when the music stopped and the school bell started ringing, an indication of recess.
"I'm heading out for recess, see you later Young-ah," Jihoon mumbled as he got up from his sitting place.
Soonyoung waved at him goodbye as the door closed behind the smaller boy's back. Next to him, Minghao dropped on the floor, stretching his limbs as sweat clung onto his forehead.
"Hyung, who's that guy anyway? A friend? I see him come here from time to time," Minghao asked.
Soonyoung offered him water as he took it and murmured a 'thank you', sitting next to the young omega.
"You could say. He's a friend, but not just a friend. We've known each other for a long time. Maybe childhood sweethearts?" he answered, taking a chug of cold water.
Minghao nodded as he watched Soonyoung point at the speaker, taking a pause before he continued talking.
"The song the dance club uses—it's his. He wrote our songs."
"Oh, he's Lee Jihoon sunbaenim? I've heard my classmates talk about a sunbae who writes songs for the dance and theater club. He's your friend?"
Soonyoung nodded as he crushed the empty bottle and tossed it into the trash can, the bottle swiveling around the surface before ultimately falling in.
"A very close friend."
***
"And he was dancing next to this junior omega like, God, rip out my heart because I'm fucking jealous," Jihoon cursed out, head laid on the table as he stared at his food.
On the other side of the table, Wonwoo sat down with a gimbap in hand, obviously thinking that Jihoon was being dramatic.
"Ji, are you talking about Xu Minghao? The Chinese transfer student in class 1-B?"
Jihoon nodded. Wonwoo let out a sigh.
"Lee Jihoon, that guy is mated. Do you know Wen Junhui?"
"The Chinese guy from class A?"
"Yes, the Chinese guy from class A. Why do you only remember that he's Chinese?" Wonwoo mumbled, putting his gimbap down in disappointment.
Jihoon rolled his eyes. "Alright then, he's the Chinese guy from class A that teachers say is so handsome and good at acting, with grades that could put mine into shame."
"Your grades are good though," Wonwoo corrected, settling his hand on the table. "But yeah, that's him."
"What about Wen Junhui?"
"Xu Minghao's mated to him."
Jihoon blinked once. Twice.
"Wen Junhui's mated? I thought that guy was single as fuck. He looks like some virgin maiden who's never touched anyone before."
"Well, he's mated to Minghao. At least, that's what I heard from Gyu."
Jihoon almost laughed. "You trust the things that come out of that puppy's mouth?"
"Excuse me? That puppy is my boyfriend." Wonwoo looked at him offended, arms crossed like Jihoon had just slandered his entire bloodline.
"Did someone call me?" Mingyu excitedly said, waving his arms as he ran towards their table.
Jihoon could feel his soul leaving his body.
Mingyu was the definition of a golden retriever—sunshine energy radiating off him like his life depended on it, extremely huge but it was all for decoration, and hopelessly in love with Wonwoo.
Wonwoo was the same.
"Hyung, have you eaten yet?" Mingyu asked as he sat next to Wonwoo.
"What does it look like?" Wonwoo said as he shoved the gimbap in his own mouth, chewing on it like he was trying to prove something.
Mingyu just smiled.
"What are you guys talking about? I heard my name being summoned in the convo."
"The Chinese kid in your class," Jihoon said as he took a sip of water.
"Chinese kid?" Mingyu muttered as he took a moment to think, then it finally clicked who they were talking about. "Oh! Xu Minghao? The kid from the dance club? What about that guy?"
"Is it true that he's mated to Wen Junhui?" Jihoon asked, trying not to sound desperate.
Mingyu pursued his lips as he shrugged his shoulders. "I think it's true. I just heard some rumors here and there. He is mated though, that's one thing I know. Xu Minghao, I mean."
He leaned towards Wonwoo before taking a bite of his gimbap.
"I don't know if he's mated to Wen Junhui or not, but he is mated. I saw a mating mark on his neck a few weeks back when we were working on a group project."
Jihoon nodded, muttering 'I see' as he returned to his meal, touching the food but not eating it.
Mingyu leaned on the table as he raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you curious, hyung? Does it have something to do with Soonyoung hyung?"
"Xu Minghao was dancing with him and Jihoon's jealous," Wonwoo said, almost laughing as he watched embarrassment creep up on Jihoonʼs face.
"Stop it, I look like a fool for being jealous of a guy that's mated," Jihoon mumbled. He dragged a hand over his face as he buried himself into the table, like it could erase his past feelings.
"I mean, come on hyung, Seokmin told you to confess many times. You're stubborn and you could lose him to someone else, you know."
Jihoon let out a sigh, "Is it really called losing him when he's not even mine?"
"Don't say that, you're making me feel bad for you hyung," Mingyu complained but he received a side eye from Jihoon.
"My bad."
Jihoon stood up as he picked his tray up, getting out of the seat.
"Let's go, we still have to continue preparing for the school festival. Don't get lazy, punk," Jihoon said as he turned to place his tray.
Wonwoo and Mingyu followed him as they got off the bench, returning back to prepare for the school festival.
Jihoon headed up the stairs as he headed to the School Festival Committee's room, knocking on it before he heard someone tell him to come in.
"Hyung, I'm heading to the field for the sound check. Is there anything you need me to bring?"
An older omega emerged from the side, carrying boxes of supplies—not the person Jihoon expected to be there, but someone he's familiar with.
"Hannie hyung? Where's Cheol hyung?"
"Cheol took a trip to the teachers lounge to get permission to leave the school. Said he needed more stuff. He told you to go down for the sound check, there's nothing to bring yet."
Jihoon responded with a hum as he dropped on the couch. "Must be hard being the head of the committee."
Jeonghan set the boxes down as he took out several supplies and set them on the table.
"I told him to chill out since he's in his final year, but the guy's just too stubborn. I should have asked you to convince him, maybe he would've listened. He seems to listen to you a lot, Jihoonie."
Jihoon waved his hand, "Not more than he listens to you. Did you ask Shua hyung to convince him?"
"Joshuji's too busy for me now. He's attached to that sunshine kid—Seokminie, was it?"
Jihoon mentally cursed to himself, "Maybe I shouldn't have introduced Seokmin to Shua hyung. They're infatuated with each other."
Jeonghan let out a chuckle.
"But I like seeing Shua happy. He seems to really like the kid and they're so cute together."
Jeonghan put the boxes away as he finished taking out the items, carefully arranging the items as he glanced at Jihoon.
"How's it between you and Soonyoung?"
"Nothing's going on," Jihoon answered a little too fast.
"You should do something about it, you know," Jeonghan said as he walked up to Jihoon, settling next to him.
"You're in your second year now, it doesn't take too long before high school is over in a flash. You might regret it in the future."
Jihoon stood up, pulling at his cardigan as he walked out of the room.
"I should head out. Gotta go for the sound check, see you around hyung."
Before Jeonghan could respond, Jihoon ran out like he was trying to run away. He quickly headed down the stairs, not quite focusing on the road when he suddenly bumped into someone.
"Oh God, I'm sorry—" he said, stopping as he looked at the person.
It was Minghao.
"Oh, it's fine. Um, you're Jihoon sunbaenim, right? Soonyoung hyung's.. close friend," he says awkwardly, like he didn't know what to address him as.
Jihoon helped him pick up the things that fell down due to their collision.
"Yeah, I'm his friend. You're his junior from the dance club, right?" he asked back, eyes slowly tracing the younger boy until he saw it.
The mating mark.
It wasn't fresh, but he could see it faintly under the light.
"That's correct," Minghao answered as he picked up the last of the things that fell. "Thanks for you help, Jihoon sunbaenim."
"Just hyung is fine. And no problem, I should be more careful anyway. Sorry for bumping into you," Jihoon said as he stood back up.
"Oh, okay. Thank you, hyung. I'll see you around then."
Jihoon waved at him goodbye before heading down the stairs, going out through the door to the field.
"He's kinda a cute kid," Jihoon giggled to himself, as if Minghao was a child in his eyes.
"Jihoon hyung!"
Jihoon looked up to see Seokmin standing by the stage, holding up a checklist.
"Seokmin, how's the sound check going?"
"It's good, but can you take my place? Shua hyung is looking for me," Seokmin said as he let out a small giggle that made Jihoon roll his eyes.
"Got it, lovebirds. You can go, I'll take it from here."
Seokmin let out a squeal as he hugged Jihoon, much to the older boy's liking.
"Okay—no hugging, just go."
Jihoon watched as Seokmin jogged away and back into the school building, leaving him outside to finish the sound check.
"Hey, Lee! Can you hear me?"
Jihoon turned around as the sound, giving an 'okay' sign to the boy holding a mic on stage.
"Loud and clear! How are the other mics doing?"
"They're working perfectly fine! The speaker's working too, your song can be heard perfectly."
"That's good. I'm heading back in to check on the choir then, I'll leave it to you to finish things up here, okay?"
"No problem, boss."
With that, Jihoon check-listed all the boxes before leaving the clipboard on the speaker heading back into the school building.
He headed to the soundproof room to check on the choir's singing—perfectly in sync as they've practiced for the past month. He dismissed them before turning the lights off, leaving and locking the room.
They were three days away from the school festival and the committee was as busy as ever—Jihoon was definitely going to stay late today.
As the sun set and students started to leave, Jihoon continued to prepare like his life depended on it.
Seungcheol returned to the committee room a while ago with things prepared—extra tables, chairs, and mental support that he definitely needed.
"Oh my God, Jihoon. Tell me why I decided to be head of the committee?"
Jihoon looked at him with the eyes of someone who didn't care enough to answer, before returning to the checklist he was on.
"You tell me. I heard Hannie hyung tried to convince you out of it but you did it anyway."
"I should've told him to convince me harder."
"Hello beautiful people, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you two?" Jeonghan said as he dramatically walked in.
"Jeonghan-ah, you should've convinced me harder. I'm going to lose hair over this."
"You're still handsome either way."
"Stop flirting in front of me."
The two turned to Jihoon who looked like he woke up from the dead just to become a third wheel.
Jeonghan laughed.
"Jihoon, why are you still here? You better not overwork yourself. Your heat is soon, isn't it?"
"Next week, it's still long, take a chill pill hyung," Jihoon answered. Still, Jeonghan looked at Jihoon worried, because this wasn't the first time.
Several months back during the Sports Festival, Jihoon had gotten sick from overworking himself to the point his fever lasted over a week.
Jeonghan thought he was going to die.
Jihoon thought he was dramatic.
"Still, don't stay up late. Sleep once you're done," Jeonghan said as he sat next to Seungcheol to finish his work.
Jihoon nodded, although half the things Jeonghan said entered one ear then left through the other because he was too busy working.
When the clock hit 5, school finally cleared out as they finished their work.
Jihoon went back home, took a quick shower and cooked himself a simple dinner. His parents weren't around because they were working late shifts, but Jihoon was used to this.
Living alone.
In all honesty, he could live by himself if he wanted to. He made money—plenty of money, enough to support himself and his parents.
But his parents insisted he kept the money for college.
And Jihoon couldn't deny it.
His phone buzzed on the dining table, breaking the silence of an empty house as he slowly looked at it.
It was from Soonyoung.
Have u eaten?
The message shone on his face amidst the darkness as he picked it up, quickly typing back a message.
Eating rn.
He set his phone down to continue eating, picking at his food and finishing it before he washed the dishes and left for his room.
His room was dark, with instruments lined up by the side.
He sat behind the keyboard, turning it on to play a soft melody—the first song he ever composed for Soonyoung.
The melody was soft, but undeniably a love song—a song that screamed of yearning, for the person he could only admire from afar.
Before long, drowsiness knocked at his door as Jihoon got off the bench. He brushed his teeth before dropping onto his bed, comfortably rustling under the blanket.
He should sleep—he had a long day. He needed to rest before the festival.