Taehyeon curses his loyal heart for flinching away from Minjun. Things must be bad if he can't even subconsciously justify taking advantage of a hug that was offered to him. Worst still, the person to reveal this fact is Lee Dongmin. He really has some nerve to turn up here.
Panting as he keels over in the doorway, Dongmin points at a boy Taehyeon has never seen before. As random boys go, this boy is pretty average and nondescript aside from the fact that he is clearly from a different school. He's a teenage boy with a neat bowl cut and Taehyeon has no idea why he's here.
"Who are you?" Bada's brother asks. Taehyeon is in two minds. He'd like to see Dongmin get his just deserts but he also doesn't know Haneul well enough to know what exactly he plans to do here.
Dongmin at least has the sense not to admit to his actual identity.
"I'm… I found a boy. This is a boy. He can join us in a room."
Dongmin points towards the boy helpfully. Although the boy is standing in the classroom with them all right now, he is wearing a bottle-green blazer over a jumper of the same colour. That is decidedly not the Jeonwon Metropolitan High School uniform. If Taehyeon squints, the name of the school embroidered onto the breast pocket of this boy's blazer looks familiar but Taehyeon's eyesight isn't the best.
It just seems like one hell of a coincidence because his brain is substituting the blur for lettering he has seen before. Of course, none of that is really relevant because getting some kid from another school to pad out the room count is even worse than Minjun's idea to pretend to be a second year student.
"Hi," Minjun says cheerfully. "My name is Lee Minjun. It's nice to meet you. Are you friends with Dongmin? If you and Dongmin join Taehyeon and Bada, that makes four. If we include the mean boy that's five. I think I should pretend to be a second year too and then there will be a group of six. Taehyeon, what do you think? It's a perfect plan."
Bada murmurs something to his brother and it seems that he is explaining something about Minjun. Taehyeon hopes that Bada is being very nice and complimentary because Minjun is very clearly trying his best here.
"That is the mean boy," Taehyeon whispers.
Minjun looks taken aback and frowns at Dongmin. Taehyeon regrets sharing the information but he's grateful that Minjun doesn't end up saying anything about it. In fairness, he doesn't have the chance to say anything.
"He's a new boy. He transferred to our school today so he doesn't have any friends. He'll be in our room on the trip," Dongmin says.
The new boy only slightly looks injured at the accusation that he has no friends but he doesn't refute it. He lifts his hand to wave shyly and mumbles something at the ground.
"What's your name?" Taehyeon tries. The new boy murmurs something incomprehensible. Taehyeon can see how he ended up agreeing with Dongmin. If Dongmin really does mean to fix things, Taehyeon doesn't have much hope for the week of the trip. They're still two people short of a full room but in the unlikely event they all end up together they'll have a tough time just making conversation. Taehyeon still wants to try again and show that he's friendly. "How did you end up transferring to our school at such a random time of the year?"
The boy's lips move but Taehyeon's ears strain for nothing. This is hopeless.
"That's so interesting, Cheon Geonwoong," Minjun says happily. "It's so nice that you were able to make a big change after realising that STEM wasn't for you. Our school isn't specialised so I guess you could do anything at all."
Inexplicably, the boy nods and smiles. Even Dongmin looks surprised now that he's caught his breath. "You can hear him?"
"Of course I can," Minjun says. He sounds uncertain of himself and looks around as though he wants someone to back him up.
Nobody else admits to being able to hear the new boy but Bada's brother has something to say. "You're the one being mean to my precious Bada, aren't you? Are you ready for me to ruin your life?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I'm going to kill you!"
Taehyeon doesn't know how he ends up between Dongmin and Haneul's fist but he regrets it.
***
Taehyeon hates seeing Bada cry. Today there is something a bit more pressing than the fact Bada is crying in the nurse's office.
"Bada, you have to tell your brother that this is all a big misunderstanding," Dongmin pleads.
"I can't believe your hot brother lied about not punching me and everyone believes it because you all agreed with him," Taehyeon grumbles. Bada wails loudly but at least that is because of what Taehyeon said and not Dongmin repeating himself like a broken record.
"I'm so sorry, Taehyeon. I panicked. My brother never usually lies so I always agree with whatever he says."
Taehyeon would chop his hand off if it wouldn't spite himself more than anyone else. He can't believe he's been betrayed by his own body. Holding hands is something of an unfortunate reflex at a time like this when he's meant to be sulking. He isn't about to tug his hand away now that Bada is clutching so tightly.
"It's fine," Taehyeon lies. He's not very good at pretending to be mad at Bada but he does his best to look sulky. "We don't have much time. How are we going to avoid getting split up on the trip?"
Bada hesitates and shakes his head. "I don't know. Maybe we can sneak away together and hang out during all the down time."
"That sounds a lot like giving up," Taehyeon grumbles.
"I'm not giving up," Bada protests so quietly that vindication settles unfortunately in Taehyeon's chest. They've got no hope. Dongmin might have tried to fix things but he didn't salvage any of their chances to enjoy the school trip. Maybe Taehyeon can just pretend to be ill on the day they're meant to leave. His parents already spent the money on paying for the trip but he can't help having a weak immune system.
No, that won't work. He can't leave Bada alone with no friends on the trip. No matter how bleak things look right now, Taehyeon can't abandon his best friend. The problem is that there's no easy way to include Bada on the fake illness plan. There is a more than insignificant chance that Bada would give the game away and insist that he was more sick than Taehyeon or something just to keep to the plan. Bada's parents can be snitches at the worst of times despite seemingly having good intentions so if Taehyeon's mom hears that Taehyeon and Bada happen to both be sick on the same day, she will know something is wrong.
"You're right," Taehyeon says agreeably. "We should just give up."
Bada very clearly doesn't like this turn of events at all. Luckily for him, Taehyeon will let him in on the fake sickness plan at the very last minute so that he can't ruin it by being accidentally honest.
"Bada," Dongmin pleads. He's annoying but Taehyeon doesn't know how to tell him to get lost in a way that will totally satisfy himself. A distraction arrives so Taehyeon can stop thinking about that.
"Oh," Minjun says, almost cheerily as he juggles the cartons in his arms and closes the door to the nurse's office behind him. "He's here too?"
Somehow Dongmin doesn't realise Minjun must be referring to him. Taehyeon envies that level of shamelessness but he is stuck the way he is. The way he is apparently is someone who tries to hold Minjun's hand when he's just being offered a carton of milk. If only Bada's brother was around to punch him again. Maybe getting knocked out will miraculously get everyone else to forget how embarrassing he's being too.
Minjun laughs and keeps ahold of the carton so that their fingers touch even as he tries to pass the other flavoured milks to Bada and Dongmin.
Oh, to be single and Minjun's type. Maybe if Taehyeon had committed to getting punched and choked out every day, Minjun would have kept humouring him all this time.