“So you were the son of a chaebol who got blamed for a crime he did not commit? Wow.” Suhyeon sighed in amusement. It was a big scandal a few years ago, even if his family name weren’t mentioned by the media. Then, she removed her head from Hyunjae’s shoulder and touches his jaw to turn his head in her direction.

“Hyunjae, what happened was an accident. You weren’t under the influence of any substance and you weren’t behind the wheel. Yes, you got scared, and that is completely normal.” Suhyeon asserted, watching at Hyunjae’s eyes while he was drowning in her gaze.

Hyunjae has fallen deep.

And everyone can notice it, except maybe, Suhyeon. Even Suhyeok can see it.

Like literally.

He is just outside the recording studio, squeezing himself into the right corner of the mirror just to have a better sight of what his younger sister was doing together with Hyunjae.

Hyunjae pursed his lips into a smile, “Do you still want to be my friend?” He asked.

“Are you seriously asking that? Of course! Besides, it wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault.” Suhyeon responded as a smile plastered on her face, a little bit disappointed with his question.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Hyunjae sighed before forcing a smile. It wasn’t the answer that he expected because it wasn’t supposed to be the question he would be answering. “Suhyeon, I wanted to say that I—”

Hyunjae rolls his eyes as he was interrupted by the door opening without a warning from the person behind the door.

“Hey, lovebirds! Would you like to make yourself useful and help us create an improvised toilet bowl?”

It was Wujin.

Hyunjae and Suhyeon did not answer instantly as Wujin looked away before he began to talk again. “Suhyeon.” He whispered, “Just know that your brother has been glancing at you two ever since you entered the room.” He declared openly, grinning from ear to ear.

The two people in the room looked over the window and saw Suhyeok gawking but he eventually turned away after noticing they were looking at him.

Hyunjae laughs at his friend while Suhyeon only rolled her eyes. Why is he even guarding them? It is not like they would do anything stupid inside a recording room especially when the brother of the girl Hyunjae fancies is just outside, together with their friends.

“Suhyeok! Wujin had snitched you already!”

It was Daesu’s voice, yelling. “You were late, I already know.” Suhyeok grumpily answered back.

Suhyeon and Hyunjae had already departed the room and begins to offer their help to their friends as they engineered an improvised toilet. Thanks to On-jo’s knowledge (with a little help from Namra) and the materials they needed are inside the room, the group’s invention was successful and productive.

In fact, Daesu was the first one to use the improvised toilet they made because he couldn’t control himself anymore and wanted to release what it has to be released from his body.

A little later, the room to the recording room was opened by Daesu while Joonyeong was waiting outside for his turn to use the toilet.

“Shit! Why don’t you just stay inside?” Suhyeok groaned.

Suhyeon's nose scrunches as a bad smell was coming from the other room. “I don’t know how can Joonyeong tolerate that smell.” She confided.

“Does it smell?”

“Daesu, I would die of suffocation in the first ten seconds if I was inside that room.” Hyunjae made a comment then, a slamming of the door was heard.

It was Joonyeong. Turns out, he also couldn’t stand the pungent smell inside the studio, hence he backed out.

“Stop being so dramatic. It doesn’t smell at all.” Daesu responded, weirdly defending the odour of his feces.

Hyunjae covered his nose with his fingers on it while Suhyeon borrowed his handkerchief to avoid herself from inhaling the unpleasant smell.

“There is nobody there. There are no lights in the stores and departments out there. They all ran away or died.” Namra expressed, she was standing next to On-jo while Hyunjae and Suhyeon were leaning in the windows together with Joonyeong.

“What do you mean by that?”

“No one’s coming here to save us.” Namra gave an answer to On-jo’s question.

Hyunjae heard Joonyeong scoffs lightly, “Why do you have to be so pessimistic?” He raises a question.

Namra mentioned her mother that she would tear apart the school just to look for her daughter. Suhyeon might add, Namra’s mother deeply cares about Namra, more specifically her studies. Everybody in the school knows about that, it is a piece of common information.

“I am just trying to point out the facts,” Namra replied to Jimin, with a straight face.

“We all know that no one’s coming. So I think we should just figure out what we're going to do next.” Jimin suggested.

“We have to wait to be rescued. We can’t leave somewhere safe to go somewhere dangerous.” On-jo remarked.

Namra eliminates her eyes from Jimin to On-jo, “And what if nobody comes?”

“We haven’t been waiting that long yet.” On-jo reacted, looking behind her shoulders.

Suhyeon understood where is On-jo coming from. It is kind of obvious that she is waiting for her father to arrive and rescue them. She wants them to wait for as long as they can but how can she be so certain that nothing horrible will ever happen to them in the next twenty-four hours.

“I’m sure somebody will come in the morning, maybe. There are a lot of choppers flying around. Let’s just wait until tomorrow, and we will see.” Suhyeok said while the others nodded their heads as a response.

Hyunjae softly snickers, “Yeah, maybe we will die out here also.” He silently whispered on Suhyeon. Just a second, Joonyeong dares to get inside the recording studio.

The cold night was tucked under a woollen dove-grey sky. Suhyeon closes her eyes as she feels the cold air brushing on her face while her hands are on the sill. She was there, standing, while the others were gathered at the table, some were on the floor, and Cheongsan were on the chair close to the windows.

“Are you cold?”

Suhyeon did not bother to look around, she already know that it was her brother. She shook her head, “No, not really.” She muttered.

“Well, are you hungry?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?”

Suhyeon just lifted an eyebrow while Suhyeok only beamed before cracking up. Suhyeok parted his younger sister’s hair receiving a groan from her.

“We’ll make it out alive here. All of us.” He spoke, patting his sister's back.

“Are you convincing me or yourself?”

“Maybe both of us? We just have to wait a little bit longer.” Suhyeok expressed, to lighten up the mood and not be in despair. “Anyway, I saw you with Hyunjae earlier.” He added, wiggling his eyebrows to annoy Suhyeon.

The younger twin chortled at her older brother's face, capturing Cheongsan’s attention. “What are you two talking about?” He implored, arising from his seat and stand behind the twins.

“Nothing, bro. I and my sister are just talking about Suhyeon’s possible feelings to our dear friend who is originally from the city.” Suhyeok replied, still poking fun at his sister.

“Do you like him?”

Suhyeon giggles in irony, that was the exact question Hyunjae asked her earlier today. Before she could talk, another question was thrown at her.

Suhyeon does not know how will she describe her feelings towards Hyunjae—if that so-called feelings does exist.

The way he looks at her, his eyes were gleaming as if he was staring into his first football jersey that his grandmother gifted to him back when he was a kid. The way he took care of her, even before today. Hyunjae has always been gentle and compassionate. He was very careful with every word coming from his mouth while he is talking to Suhyeon.

But of course, Suhyeon wasn’t aware of that.

Hyunjae cares about her, he always listens to her rants about his parents, school, and sometimes Suhyeok. He had never judge her entire being. And he does not tolerate Suhyeon’s immaturity and wrongdoings also. Hyunjae has been with her always and vice versa.

Kim Hyunjae is the epitome of a good friend. And a life without him, Suhyeon could barely see it.

“Hey, you two gossipers are too nosy. Hyunjae and I are just friends, or best friends. Nothing more and nothing less.”

The morning came and Suhyeon was regained consciousness by an audible snore.

With the lack of a clock inside the room, she was not sure what time is it. But then, what is the point of knowing the time when no one came to emancipate them. It was still the same old shit as yesterday.

Suhyeon slumbered sitting up last night because she wouldn’t like to put more dirt on her clothes and her brother restricted her to sleep on a cold floor.

Hyunjae, however, slept like a child on Suhyeon’s lap while her head swayed on Suhyeok’s broad shoulder as they shared with his coat using it as a blanket.

Cheongsan was the first one to wake up after Suhyeon, then Namra and On-jo. He strode towards the window and was later joined by On-jo.

“Morning,”

Suhyeon greeted Namra and was reciprocated with a greeting too. “Did you sleep well?” Namra inquired, her voice was hoarse.

“No,” Suhyeon quietly made a reply as she carefully moves her body to stretch her aching back from a bad posture from her sleep last night.

“I can’t wait for this thing to end,” Namra stated.

Suhyeon agrees with her statement as she bobs her head, “And I thought COVID-19 was the worst.”

It didn’t last long for Suhyeok to wake up by the noises of helicopters flying in the skies not far from the school.

If those assholes could roam Hyosan approximately every hour, how could they do not send a rescue team for them? Is that how unimportant they are that those adults have not thought about them?

“Did I hear that right?” He implored about the helicopter's passing by.

Suhyeon disappointedly sighs, “Yeah. But nobody came to rescue us.”

Suhyeok could not talk. He will not speak bullshit, especially after they got discontented. He reckoned that the authorities will start rescuing them. Perhaps, he put too much trust towards those people.

Suhyeon has never fully trusted an adult in her entire life. Even her parents. She puts her trust more in her brother and friends rather than her parents. Sure, they have done everything for them to survive but she just wasn’t able to put her trust in an adult.

All they ever do was to fuck it up.

Like now, they would not be trapped in their high school if a person who invented the zombie virus didn’t invent it in the first place.

Of course, why would they prioritize the students, they are just students. There is nothing special about them. They are young. They can be reckless and dumb.

But like the adults, they are human too, committing mistakes left and right.

Hyunjae has aroused from his slumber. Considering the catastrophe that they are facing right now, it was a decent sleep. Just the sleep. Because the second he opened his eyes, hunger came and then, thirst. Lastly, the endless thought of taking a shower.

Hyunjae got up from Suhyeon’s lap and greeted the lady beside her with a sleepy face. “Judging by the look on your face, there was no rescue team.” He murmured while Suhyeon responded with only a nod.

“Yesterday, before Wujin interrupted us, what were you trying to say?” Suhyeon interrogates to destruct herself with the thought that she is starving, however, the look on Hyunjae’s face looks like he had seen a ghost.

“Huh? What are—what are you talking about?”

Suhyeon concealed her laughter by biting her inner cheeks, “Never mind. Maybe I was just imagining things.” She dismissed the conversation, making Hyunjae feel uncomfortable while he sat there next to her.

Suhyeok, who listened to their entire conversation, was shitting himself and at the same time rejoicing. He is celebrating because Hyunjae’s a simp and very oblivious about the fact that Suhyeon already knows.

But on a serious note, Suhyeok has been yearning for Hyunjae to make a move to his sister. And yes, Hyunjae will have his blessings even if he does not ask for one. Yet, according to Wujin, there will be no confessions that are going to happen unless Hyunjae finds himself qualified for Suhyeon.

Honestly, Suhyeok admired the thought and he would agree with it if there are no zombies overrunning their school and possibly has dissipated to the entire town of Hyosan.

They are uncertain of their future. Still, Suhyeok was hoping that all of them will be rescued but as long as it hasn't happened yet, he wishes for Hyunjae to tell his sister about his feelings.

Only because Suhyeok believes that Suhyeon feels the same way as Hyunjae. Or maybe that was just a thought.

Could be real, could be not.

And honestly, Suhyeok strongly preferred the former.

Their group has assembled again around the table, having a conversation about what is happening in their surroundings. Once again, On-jo indicated that the group should keep waiting until the rescuers can come.

However, Hyoryung was a bit sceptical about how sure they are that people will come and rescue them.

“So? You want to go out there?” On-jo shot back another question.

Jimin, standing near the window engaged in their discussion. “Even if they come, they won’t find us if they don’t know that we are here.” She noted.

On-jo had another recommendation, and that they should put up a sign for help that is used internationally. Perks of having a father in a fire and rescue team. However, she seemed to have forgotten about what her dad taught her so they managed to decide to write SOS in the curtain.

•─────⋅☾ 𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔶𝔵𝔳𝔦 ☽⋅─────•

i hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading! <3