Chapter 45: Circle of Support
Welcome to Touchstone
During her trek back to the dorms, her eyes mindlessly drop to her feet. She watches her boots sink into the snow with each step. Why does it feel much heavier today?
One moment she’s upright and the next, she feels pressure on both sides and then snow beneath her back. She looks up to find both Bobby and Junhoe grinning from ear to ear from above her.
“We got you this time!” they cheered upon their successful tackle. “You didn’t hear us coming–,”
Both of their shouting falls short and their smiles disappear as their eyes focus on hers.
“Are you okay?” Bobby softly asks.
For sure, Yiseul’s eyes appear glossy.
“You made her cry, you fools.”
Bobby and Junhoe are both dragged away from view and pulled off of Yiseul by Mino.
“Wait, did we really hurt you, dorm head?” Bobby asks, but is unable to get closer to check on her due to Mino’s grips on their jackets.
“Look, Yiseul,” Mino calls out and shoves the two boys to the ground, filling the air with their grunts. “They’ve got a taste of it as well.”
But, it does nothing to get Yiseul to stand up. She doesn’t say anything either. She certainly isn’t like her usual self. Mino leaves behind Junhoe and Bobby to walk closer to her. Gently, he helps her up and brushes the snow off of her back and legs.
“It’s probably cold being covered in snow, let’s go inside,” he says and leads her.
“Mino, aren’t you protecting the dorm head too much?” Junhoe teases, attempting at a joke to lighten the mood.
Instead of responding, Mino shoots a look over his shoulder that the boy is quick to catch.
***
Changing out of her clothes, she slips into bed. Grabbing her phone, she thinks to call her mom, but pauses when Mrs. Kang’s words from today come to mind. Right now, she didn’t have someone on her side. She wants to clear up the misunderstanding, but she doesn’t know where to begin.
Lost in her thoughts, she almost wants to ignore the knock on her door.
After the second knock though, she gives in and opens it.
Junhoe is in front of her, but struggles to maintain eye contact. He begins to stutter and Yiseul sympathizes with him.
She offers him a small smile. “Junhoe, I’m not upset. It didn’t hurt at all.”
He looks up and suddenly shouts, “Everyone to the common area! We’re having a meeting.”
He urges her to follow after him and surprisingly, the residents do show up. Of course, there are few lacking in presences.
Bobby pulls over a chair and Junhoe forces her to sit down.
“So, today, Bobby and I might have done something mean and we want to apologize,” Junhoe starts.
“This is why you’re calling a meeting?” Jisoo questions.
“No,” Junhoe answers. “I may be wrong, but I don’t think our tackle is the entire reason why dorm head is upset.”
Everyone’s attention shifts to Yiseul.
She finds herself shifting uncomfortably.
“Or is it, dorm head?” Junhoe prods for information. “Remember, Mino is going to beat us up if you say it is.”
“It isn’t,” she is forced to reveal.
Subtly, he releases a sigh of relief.
“Yiseul, is everything okay?” Jennie asks. “You can talk to us.”
“Well, maybe not Junhoe or Bobby or–,”
“Hey,” Junhoe is quick to jump in to stop Jisoo from continuing.
“I just realized that dorm head knows a lot about us, but we don’t know much about her,” Yunhyeong remarks.
Immediately, everyone finds themselves agreeing.
“You try to help us all the time. Can’t you also let us help you?” Donghyuk asks.
Yiseul can feel herself withdrawing. “There are just some things out of my control–,”
“Then, at least share,” Jennie softly urges.
Never has Yiseul seem so beside herself. The sudden sole attention on her is getting to be too much.
“Why don’t we all go out tonight?”
Heads turns away from her and now onto Hanbin. He’s sitting among the residents and Yiseul realizes she never even had the chance to notice he’s present.
“You wanted to bond, right, Yiseul? This is how you get people to be excited about bonding time,” he says with a smile.
***
“Drink up, Yiseul,” Jennie says as she hands the girl another mixed drink at the bar table.
Before Yiseul could protest, the group quickly distract her with question after question. By the sight of her easily pivoting from giving a straight answer, they all agree she isn’t drunk enough.
“What number is this?” Hanbin whispers in Jennie’s direction.
“I think this is her fourth drink,” Jennie responds.
Hanbin releases a nervous breath. “We’re just helping her loosen up, right?”
He looks beside him to see Mino. In one word of description, he looked stressed.
Jennie smacks their backs. “Will you two relax? The other girls are drinking as well.”
When they send looks of distress in her direction, she can’t help but chuckle.
“Look, Yiseul is trying really hard not to answer our questions. It’s exactly why she’s drinking. So, when she starts to open up, we’ll stop with the alcohol.”
“We’re not trying to give her alcohol poisoning,” Hanbin reminds
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