home, jaemin

jiyoung had still been jumbled up inside because of the stupid dream for nearly another week after that. all of her friends were scared and hoped for the best but it was really as if she was making no progress in recovering.

another problem was they couldn't understand what exactly she was really "recovering" from because she showed uncomfortableness whenever they brought it up and they didn't want to pressure her to tell them.

this didn't keep them from being curious or trying to help in any way, still trying their best to do what they thought would help her in the long run.

"jiyoung noona, look!" jisung said excitedly.

the older girl only lifted her head and smiled at his phone screen, showcasing his new high score.

♕

"no, i'm telling you- okay fine! jiyoung, do you think me or mark hyung have a better bending ability?" donghyuck asked, turning to the girl.

she looked between the two, trying to determine what her own opinion on the situation was. fire bending or water bending?

both were cool. she wished she could have either.

she shrugged, "both are nice, i guess."

her attention turned away from the two boys and back to her phone where she read tweets plastered on her phone.

mark and donghyuck looked between one another, sharing worried glances.

♕

the sound of running footsteps from behind went unannounced to jiyoung as she walked out of the school gates, finally ready to leave.

"hey jiyoung, wanna go to the convenience store, again?" chenle asked, tapping her shoulder lightly.

her body slightly jerked, not expecting him.

"sorry?" she tilted her head, looking at him and waiting for him to ask once again.

"wanna come to get ice cream with me?" he asked, deciding to change up his original question.

jiyoung smiled slightly but it was filtered more with sadness than happiness, "i don't think i can come today. i've got a lot of work to do and i have to help my dad out. i can try next week?"

chenle, a bit disappointed but understanding nevertheless, nodded.

"see you tomorrow."

♕

although renjun and jiyoung weren't of the best friends, they still weren't shy or awkward around one another.

in reality, they were quite alike.

"hey, jiyoung?" renjun softly nudged her shoulder, pulling her out of the small trance she had been in that made her stare off into space.

she hummed, looking away from the bright light shining into the room and turning to the dark brown-haired boy.

"wanna go to the art museum with me this weekend?" he asked.

one thing they both liked, art.

jiyoung once again showed the same pitiful smile chenle had seen just a day before, "i'm really busy this week. is it open next week?"

but as time passed onward, they all knew everything she wanted to do wouldn't be fulfilled. no matter how bad she may have wanted to do something with anyone, she'd say the same thing, "i have to help my dad."

friday, nayeon had finally come up to her with the same worry she held just a few days ago.

instead of talking to her at lunch when she seemed to be most out of it, nayeon decided to talk to her at the end of the day in hopes that maybe she'd manage to get more one on one with jiyoung.

"hey, jiyoung?" nayeon tapped her shoulder.

jiyoung whipped her backpack onto her shoulder and looked over at nayeon, "yes?"

nayeon glanced around the room at the scarce amount of students and stepped closer to keep the conversation moreover private.

"you know how lately you've been.." she trailed off, not exactly knowing how to express what's been going on with her counterpart.

jiyoung nodded, not needing her to continue to actually know what she was meaning to say.

"well, i know it's probably a lot for you to go through and i really don't want you to go through it alone but i know i'm probably no help. so instead, i want to recommend something for you."

jiyoung was more than happy to continue listening. although she tried to keep everything built up inside of herself, she knew she was looking worse and worse as the days went by and there wasn't anything she knew she could do to fix it.

so having one of the only people on earth she found herself close to try and recommend something because she truly didn't want to see her friend in any type of pain really meant a lot.

"so you know about my parents, jisungs parents, probably someone else's," she slightly laughed, "but i think you should check out jeno's mom. she's an acupuncturist and i really think it could help you."

jiyoung took the advice, thoroughly thinking about the benefits.

"but i mean, if you don't want to have all those needles on you, you could always check out his dad's office. he's a therapist and i'm sure he'd be more than happy to listen to whatever you need to say without any judgments. he always helps out jeno, me, and the others."

jiyoung took in all the information. maybe she would take nayeon up on the offer.

currently writing this at 2:39 AM on november 4th and trying to see if my rights will be taken away 😃