School is quiet for the beginning of the week. Most of the lessons devolve into self-study as a way to keep the students quiet in the run up to Thursday. This time last year, Taehyeon didn't care much beyond the prospect of a day off school whilst the third year students take their tests. This year, his own future is looming before him.
Next year it will be his own turn to make or break the rest of his life. He isn't looking forward to an entire day sitting at a desk and filling out countless answer sheets. He highly doubts a clumsily made good luck charm handed to him by an underclassman on that fateful day will ease the burden at all. All the same, he is glad that Hyejin roped him into the little committee making charms for this year's exam victims.
Threading the vintage-style frayed twine through the holes in the card charms is a mindless task. Taehyeon can pay attention to the chatter of their little group when he needs to and he can zone out when his thoughts creep up on him.
Woobin hasn't contacted Taehyeon since Saturday. Taehyeon could take the initiative but he's feeling decidedly shy about the whole thing. He's finally had his first kiss. Whilst the shine of that fact hasn't totally worn away, he needs to polish up the memory more regularly than he would like.
If Woobin really likes Taehyeon enough to kiss him, he should like Taehyeon enough to talk to him.
"Who are you texting?" Hyejin asks.
For a while too long, Taehyeon hasn't had to be on guard throughout the day. Minjeong still isn't spending time with them. None of the terrible ideas to get Jeongwon to make up with Minjeong have been implemented. As much as Taehyeon empathises with Jeongwon, he's been glad of the break. He had never expected Hyejin to take over Minjeong's role as the nosiest person ever.
"Nobody," Taehyeon says. It's true. He isn't sending or receiving any messages at all. All he is doing is looking at an empty message thread. He can't be accused of lying. But just in case, he hides his phone under his bum.
"You can't be texting nobody," Hyejin says, shaking her head in disbelief. "He says such silly things."
Considering the rest of the group comprises of Bada, Jeongwon and Taeri, nobody else is interested in Taehyeon's phone. That might not be completely true.
"Nobody in 3rd year is messaging you, are they?" Bada asks. "We're not taking requests. We're already behind with these charms. We don't have the time to make anything special."
Taehyeon shakes his head quickly. "No, I know. I'll get back to work."
Taehyeon focuses on threading the strings through the holes in the crimped and pinked pieces of card.
They've been making the charms all day and even in their after school study time. Taehyeon can't claim to be paying attention to the charms but it isn't a cognition-heavy task. He threads the twine through the punched holes and ties a little knot. Easy peasy.
At the end of the day, Taehyeon's hands are cramping up. He wouldn't be able to send a text message if he tried. Luckily he is naturally too shy to attempt to contact Woobin anyway.
"Are you alright?" Bada asks as they share some instant noodles outside the convenience store near Taehyeon's house.
After three milliseconds of feeling guilty, Taehyeon thinks to turn the question back on his best friend.
"Are you alright? Why are we having a four day sleepover?"
Bada pouts. "Don't you want to hang out with me anymore?"
"Stop it," Taehyeon grumbles. "Of course I want to hang out with you. I love you more than, like, anybody else ever."
Bada narrows his eyes at Taehyeon. "Even more than your boyfriend Woobin?"
Taehyeon almost chokes to death. He chugs down some cola but the fizziness somehow worsens the blockage in his throat. Bada slaps his back and saves his life. It does make up for almost killing him, Taehyeon can admit that.
"Thanks," he wheezes. "I don't know about 'boyfriend' though. He's not exactly talking to me right now."
Bada slams his hand on the table. "What do you mean?"
"Well, he hasn't sent me a single text since Saturday."
"What have you said to him?" Bada asks.
"Well… nothing."
Bada smiles as though he is about to impart a great deal of wisdom. "He's probably just shy. He's dated one person before, right? I think that's what he said. It's new for him too. It's just going to take some time for one of you to get brave enough to reach out."
It is Taehyeon's turn to pout. Life really isn't fair at all. "You should be the one with the boyfriend. You're so good at this."
Bada grins, his face flushing almost prettily.
"I need to find you a boyfriend right now. Your talent shouldn't be wasted on helping me."
"I'm not so sure. You still have another boy problem that you will need some help with."
"What problem?"
"Who are you and what did you do with Mo Taehyeon?" Bada asks. He pinches Taehyeon's cheeks and pulls as though he thinks Taehyeon's face will tear away to reveal his true identity. "I never thought I'd see the day you forgot all about Lee Minjun."
"Oh, right." Taehyeon has lost his appetite. Well, not really but he thinks that a realisation like that should make him lose his appetite. He folds his arms on the table and takes a deep breath. "I haven't forgotten about him. He has a girlfriend now. He's always been unattainable but now it is even more official."
"So you're over him?" Bada asks. "Are you sure? You were really upset about it."
"I cried it all out," Taehyeon lies. "I'm over him. Officially."
Bada nods. Whether or not he believes Taehyeon, he doesn't say anything either way. Only the terribly pragmatic, "Does Minjun know that you're over him?"
Taehyeon sits up straighter. Of course Minjun doesn't know anything like that. "Does he need to know? I don't think it would matter to him. He'd be relieved that I'm not being weird about him anymore."
"If he'd be relieved, I think that would be a good thing too. If you think that he has been forcing himself to hang out with you, it would be nice to tell him that he doesn't need to try so hard any more."
Taehyeon didn't say anything about Minjun forcing himself to make time together. If that is how the situation seems to Bada, Taehyeon is grateful for the wake-up call in private. He would have been crushed if Bada said this in front of anybody else. Of course that is nothing compared to how destroyed he would have been if Minjun had said it.
Taehyeon has something to think about.