Suhyeon, like everybody else, awaited for her brother’s reply as Suhyeok eyed her shortly then stayed his stares on On-jo as he turned over to see her.

“We got separated in the teacher’s office. I’m sure he will be fine.” Suhyeok announced, his entire face covered with sweat.

Daesu mumbled a vulgar word as he looks outside the window, “I’m sorry, for coming back alone.” Suhyeok quibbled, as guilt consumed his mind. He doesn’t question Cheongsan’s strength and knowledge, Suhyeok is wholly convinced that they will be able to see Cheongsan again, as a human, not the other way round.

Still, he felt guilty, he just took off the office to save his own arse.

Suhyeon, strutted next to On-jo as she silently cries to herself while worrying about her friend. She can’t imagine how pain must’ve her friend is feeling right now. On-jo just lose her best friend, now it’s Cheongsan who got separated from her.

If it was her that loses the two people she cares about the most that are present in the room she is in, it will be the end of her.

Who would be the motivation for her to stay alive if she has no one to care about?

The younger twin looked over her shoulder, and there he was. The guy that would make Suhyeon undoubtedly sacrifice herself, paying attention to Hyoryung and Jimin's gossiping.

Suhyeon tilted her head on On-jo as she patted her back to give her a little comfort as she took steps closer to her brother.

As Suhyeok spotted his sister approaching him on his peripheral vision, he immediately hid the name tag inside his coat. “Who’s name tag is that?"

“No one.”

“Right. I will just assume that the person who gave that to you is too blind not to see anything bad in you.” Suhyeon teased. And what Suhyeok did, made her remove her coat and wipe the neat part of it on her face.

Suhyeon’s face almost swelled with the aggressive caress of Suhyeok’s big hands on her now reddened face. “I will have my revenge when you least expect it, just you wait and see.” Her brother did not even take her seriously, Suhyeok just crack up at her as he put his arms around her and messes with her ragged hair.

Suhyeon scrunches her nose while her hand taps her brother’s back awkwardly, “Whatever you heard from Jimin and Hyoryung’s gossip, those aren’t true. Oh, and uh, don’t blame yourself too much. Cheongsan will come back to us?” She affirmed, diverting their conversation to a new subject.

Just the exact words Suhyeok needed. He wasn’t really sure what does he feel for On-jo but there is something inside him that tells him that Cheongsan is not telling the truth when they spoke on the staircase yesterday after On-jo walked out and the words came out of his mouth a few minutes ago.

Suhyeok can only make commands to Hyunjae but not to Cheongsan—he is too much stubborn. However, in Hyunjae’s case, he gets adamant wherever they converse about his romantic feelings towards his sister.

Lee Suhyeok speculates that Suhyeon reciprocates Hyunjae’s feelings for her. Obviously, he cannot read his sister’s mind, that is just his intuition. A strong intuition that is quite dangerous for Hyunjae’s soft heart.

“Hey, I know you’re trying to protect your friend but I already know.” Suhyeok chuckles as he messes his younger sister’s hair, “You’re a good friend. That’s good.” He added.

Joonyeong and On-jo departed the room to get the drone up in the science lab after the latter had a chat with Suhyeok. They needed to use it to find Cheongsan and see what is the situation outside the school.

”Hyunjae-ah, would you still pursue being a football player?” Suhyeon inquires, starting a conversation between the two of them.

“Do you really believe that we will get rescued?” Hyunjae swivels his head towards his best friend as his lips curved.

Suhyeon releases a hopeful smile as she shrugs her shoulders, “Hope is all I got. And can you stop being so pessimistic? You’re adopting Namra’s pessimism.” She remarked, playfully rolling her eyes.

“Oh yeah? I wonder how. As if Namra and I talk that much, we only talked twice. Actually, I had a thought last night before I sleep. I realized that we have something in common.”

“And what is that?” Suhyeon tilted her head as she is prepared to listen to Hyunjae’s answer.

Hyunjae clears his throat while his heart is pounding in his chest, “Well, first is, being in an influential family. Her mother loves to pressure Namra in terms of academics while my father keeps on lecturing and pushing me to have a successful career in the football field and to carry on our family’s legacy—which I am still confused about—I don’t know what’s my family’s legacy. Is it in real estate field or the one having a narcissist and neglectful of a father.” He elaborated. He does love football and it will always have a special place in his heart but being a professional player is not a part of his plans.

It wasn’t his dream.

Hyunjae only enrolled on his football training back when he was a kid was because of his father. With football, he can feel that special bond that they have as a father and son tandem.

Mr. Kim used to play for his football team in school when he was younger. It was approved by his mother that he will be a successful football player. Unfortunately, Mr. Kim’s mother died and his father became a little bit compulsive as he worried that Hyunjae’s grandmother will not give his son a single penny because Hyunjae’s father wanted to be a football player.

That is why Hyunjae’s grandfather discontinued all his football training and mandated him to focus on their company when he grew up after ensuring that the company will be theirs. That is when Mr. Kim, Chanhyun, Hyunjae’s father, gave up on his passion and embarks to have a love-hate relationship with his father.

Kim Chanhyun was unaware, that he came to be the person he used to despise. He was the kind of father that he vowed to himself that Hyunjae will never have. Or perhaps, he is still on the denial phase.

Football was only a hobby for Hyunjae as he has always been indulged in travelling, it is his parent’s fault because they constantly bring him whenever they have a business trip (then Hyunjae ended up being deserted by his parents in their hotel room).

Living on his own made Hyunjae interested in culinary too, hence he wanted to pursue cooking as a career. Which is most unlikely to happen because his parents—specifically his father will never let him.

Hyunjae’s parents exclusively provided him with two options: Engineering or business administration. And he doesn’t like either of them.

However, he could not complain about it and he will not dare to because Hyunjae will be merely told by his loving parents that he had no right to protest or whatsoever because that is how it is supposed to be.

Hyunjae must follow his parents, as always. Even if the thing that they ask him to do does not bring any joy to his heart.

After On-jo and Joonyeong had retrieved the drone from the science lab, the latter did the finishing touches and put a note on it.

Joonyeong holds the controller in his hands while his eyes were covered with the VR goggles whilst the monitor was on the table as the other students watches.

The drone is instantly utilized to locate where Cheongsan is. With the images they saw on the monitor, everyone, excluding their group has already turned.

“Wait, hold on,” Wujin called for Joonyeong to put the drone still as an arrow hit the zombie on the monitor.

“You’re right. That’s an arrow. Why?”

Suhyeon rolls her eyes as she heard Daesu’s question. “Didn’t you usually call Wujin brother-in-law?” She confided to Daesu’s ear as he bobbed his head gradually after realizing.

“That’s my sister. She had a competition today.”

Daesu agreed to shut his mouth as confusion mixed with dull facial expressions were seen on Wujin’s face.

Suhyeon hasn’t had an opportunity to meet Wujin’s older sister, however, she and Hyunjae have heard about her from Wujin, obviously, and Daesu too. Since their friend has this fascination and adoration towards Ha-ri, Wujin’s older sister.

Yesterday, Wujin wasn’t that worried about surviving this outbreak, but catching sight of the arrow that he associated with his sister on that monitor, his perception changed.

For the past twenty-four hours, Wujin believed that his older sister is not on the school campus and has already gone to the national team.

Having the impulse to give comfort to her friend without knowing what to do, Suhyeon did the only thing she is pretty good at. Patting a friends’ back.

Pretty lame. Suhyeon is aware of that.

Suhyeon, as mentioned quite a few times, that she is awful with words. Hence, she would rather walk the talk.

Suhyeon gently caresses Wujin’s back and then she hangs back to pat his shoulder as Wujin touched her hand on his shoulder and held it for a few seconds.

Hyunjae saw it all, he is just right there, behind Suhyeok as the guy distressed about Cheongsan’s whereabouts. Wujin already knows about Hyunjae’s feelings towards Suhyeon and Hyunjae is confident that Wujin will not do anything to compromise anything.

Wujin and Suhyeon are only close friends.

They have known each other longer than Hyunjae to Suhyeon. Hyunjae cannot compete with that, certainly, he is sort of used to Suhyeon having physical contact with her friends. Who is he to complain about it? Even Suhyeok does not mind it. And instead of getting jealous, he is impressed by Suhyeon being open about it.

May it be a guy or a lady friend, as long as she considers that person as a close and real friend, she will undoubtedly express physical affection towards you. And obviously, she has limits and boundaries, of course.

Being physically affectionate towards your friends is completely normal, there is nothing wrong with that. But you must know your limits and of course, consent.

Physical touch is one of Suhyeon’s love languages.

Suhyeok, however, dislikes skinship by anyone (except for Suhyeon and his mother). So, when Hyunjae saw him embrace On-jo after they have found Cheongsan in the music room, thousands of questions were running on his head. Especially how Suhyeok weirdly pushed himself away from On-jo after Namra witnessed the two of them hugging with a smile on her face when she looks away immediately.

A smirk emerges on Hyunjae’s face. He cannot wait to notify Suhyeon about what he just witnessed.

Jimin suggested finding help from the outside of the school since they have already found where Cheongsan currently resides since the drone was not fully charged before they use it.

As the group have expected, the unknown plague has spread to the entirety of Hyosan. Unattended cars are on the highways and zombies are everywhere.

But, in an unexpected turn of events, the group finds out that Jimin’s parents are dead and had already turned into zombies. Their bodies were inside the truck that their family-owned are located near to their high school.

As the drone gets too close to the vehicle, some of the zombies compiled close to it had a grasp of the drone then slaps it with its hand causing it to fall to the ground as it started to malfunction.

When the drone was completely destroyed, the youngsters went to their own posts. Hyunjae and Suhyeon sat on the floor as they leaned their backs on the side of the door that is without a barrier on it.

Hyunjae pokes Suhyeon on her shoulder then points his finger at Suhyeok and Namra standing in the window together.

Suhyeon furrowed her eyebrows, “Do you think he likes her?”

“I think so. Maybe.”

Suhyeon protested against what Hyunjae saw earlier. The hug that Suhyeok and On-jo shared. If Suhyeok knows about On-jo’s crush towards him and still acts like he reciprocates her feelings.

The man will receive a hard punch over his face.

“They look good together though, I am not gonna lie.”

The duo started talking about the possibilities of Namra and Suhyeok ending up together. They are even trying to be like cupid. Hyunjae’s to Namra and Suhyeok while Suhyeon’s to On-jo and Cheongsan. Hyunjae called his girl friend unfair, because almost everyone is aware of Cheongsan’s feelings towards On-jo, so it will be easier for her to play cupid.

Then, later on, the two of them bet on who would make the first move between Namra and Suhyeok. Hyunjae put his bet on Namra while Suhyeon bet on her brother which did not surprise Hyunjae. He thinks it has something to do with them being siblings, more specifically, twins.

Hyunjae wanders how does it feel to have a twin, or maybe even a sibling. A person he can call his brother or sister, too bad his parents decided not to have another child again. Maybe, Hyunjae as their primary source of migraine is enough for them.

It is a good thing Hyunjae met his best set of friends in Hyosan. They are more than enough. Although, he still feels bad about the incident he was a part of, somehow, Hyunjae was grateful that his parents chose Hyosan.

•─────⋅☾ 𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔶𝔵𝔳𝔦 ☽⋅─────•

this is probably the shortest chapter in this book hehe.

anyway, thanks for reading! <3