❝let this ending become

a new beginning.

setbacks will help us

become stronger.❞

a new beginning

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palpitations and breathlessness filled the bodies of all the participants and the rush of adrenaline added to the fun. it was finally the long awaited selection day.

chenle sat on the second row of the empty bleachers, watching the intense soccer selection as he chugged down the bottle of water in one go.

he had finished his basketball selection and he was obviously selected undoubtedly and so it explained as to why he decided to take a glimpse of how jeno's game was going on.

he was soon joined by an exhausted looking jaemin as the said boy slouched beside the chinese male while snatching the bottle from his hand and then throwing it right after upon realizing that it was actually empty.

chenle laughed his ass off while fetching another bottle of water from his bag and then tossing it over to jaemin. jaemin panted and wasted no time in chugging it down.

a shrilled whistle blown by the coach filled the air, bringing everyone to an abrupt stop. both chenle and jaemin immediately snapped their heads to the direction of the game.

the coach seethed, directing his statement to none other than juwon and jeno.

the said boys glared at each other, more like jeno was the one to actually throw a loathing glare towards juwon. they both proceeded to bow towards their tired coach, muttering some words of apology.

the coach dismissed the game and immediately left the soccer field, wanting to escape from the scorching heat of the sun.

chenle and jaemin stepped down from the bleachers and walked towards jeno. jaemin asked, passing him the towel.

chenle jeered at juwon who was slowly approaching them. juwon ignored chenle's rude remark and stood beside jeno.

juwon reluctantly placed his hand over jeno's shoulder, only to get yanked off.

in just a blink of an eye, a painful punch landed over juwon's cheek as he got pushed back due to the strong impact. jeno aggressively grabbed onto the latter's sweaty collar as he breathed heavily.

jeno yelled, frightening the boy. chenle and jaemin tried separating the two rivals before things could get any worser than this.

chenle shrieked upon noticing juwon's now reddened face due to being strangled by jeno.

jaemin shouted, snapping the older back to reality. the angered boy harshly pushed juwon on the ground as he stomped away from the field, not even waiting for his other two friends.

chenle asked, crouching next to juwon whose face was as white as sheet. he traced his trembling fingers over his neck and breathed out,

jaemin had his arms akimbo. letting out a hefty sigh, he mumbled.

chenle looked up, his eyes widening.

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randomly singing some songs that she had found on tiktok, hyeji changed back into her school uniform after a hectic day of practice.

stuffing her cheerleading uniform into her backpack, hyeji threw it over her shoulder and let out a tired yawn.

hyeji groaned upon hearing the familiar taunting voice. hyeji grumbled, turning around to face jiyeon and her two minions.

soojin leaned onto the doorframe, blocking the way for hyeji. yerin added.

hyeji threw her a ridiculed look, completely flabbergasted.

jiyeon rolled her eyes and stood infront of hyeji. their faces just a few centimeter apart from one another.

jiyeon spat, emphasizing on the word 'our boys', which earned a snicker from hyeji.

hyeji joked, bringing her face extremely close to jiyeon's, making her eyes widen.

soojin detached herself from leaning against the doorframe whereas yerin's breathing hitched in her throat, as they noticed jiyeon's flustered face.

jiyeon stammered to which hyeji nonchalantly shrugged her shoulder.

donghyuck butted in, annoyance lacing his husky voice.

stepping into the scene, donghyuck held onto hyeji's other free hand, intertwining it against his. he said whilst facing the girl.

soojin rambled, instantly getting cut off.

donghyuck replied coldly, boring his emotionless eyes into soojin's. he added.

with that, donghyuck pulled her out from the room and walked away.

soojin scoffed, her eyes eventually tearing up.

yerin was quick enough to comfort the girl.

jiyeon stood beside them with her mouth slightly agape. thoughts of hyeji weirdly rushing through her tangled mind.

hyeji jokingly shoulder bumped him, receiving a light smack on the back of her head.

donghyuck clutched onto the left side of his chest.

donghyuck ran his hand through his hair and flexed his muscle.

hyeji reminded him. donghyuck mumbled and let go off her hand as a tinge of redness immediately rushed upto his cheeks.

jisung waved at the duo from afar with a smile blooming over his lips as mark, who was beside him just chuckled at his cuteness. hyeji giggled at the boy and waved back.

donghyuck questioned.

mark answered.

jisung requested, looking at her with puppy eyes.

hyeji gave in.

hyeji voiced out. jisung answered with a smile.

hyeji asked again, completely unaware of the fact that her friend had a sibling.

donghyuck mumbled. hyeji nodded.

mark teased the girl. hyeji mumbled and rolled her eyes.

jisung timidly muttered.

donghyuck mocked whilst wriggling his eyebrows at jisung.

the latter blushed madly.

he whined. jisung paused as the three of them threw him a knowing look. jisung stomped his feet, resembling a stubborn baby.

as the four of them walks out of the school gate whilst teasing the youngest member, hyeji stops on her track when she felt her phone buzzing.

hyeji said, fishing out her phone from her blazer pocket.

she answered the call.

"hyeji? kwon hyeji?? is it really you??"

an anticipated voice greeted her from the other side, making her freeze. she felt the blood draining out from her body as a troop of chills marched down her spine.

"wait! please don't hang up!! i can't afford to lose you again!! not when i've finally found your contact number!! please i don't want anything between us to get awkward when i come to your school."

hyeji bit her lower lip, eyes darting from one spot to another as she noticed their face filled with concern.

"i know it's you hyeji! my sugarplum and i clearly remember how your voice sounds like. it's me–"

hyeji interrupted with her face scrunched in disgust at the given endearment.

donghyuck mouthed.

"babe please listen to me for once. it's been years since you shut me off. you didn't even give me the chance to explain myself–"

hyeji was starting to get pissed off. she rolled her eyes and sucked in a hefty amount of breath before bringing herself to answer,

"babe please–"

hyeji was infuriated by now.

all three of the boys widened their eyes. they yelled in unison.

"hyeji who was that–"

hyeji ended the call whilst walking straight towards donghyuck.

without even letting donghyuck continue his question, hyeji interjected with a statement that made their eyes widen once again.

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mrs. lee called out for her son who was at the doorstep, slipping in his pair of white converse.

her jeno mumbled whilst turning around to face his mom.

the mother trailed off as she caressed her son's cheeks.

jeno smiled sadly.

mrs. lee nodded acknowledgingly.

jeno bid goodbye and headed off towards the crematorium which was situated on the edge of the bustling city.

while safely crossing the roads, jeno walked past the several dark alleyways until he was held back because of a cry of help coming off from a corner.

the girl desperately called for her brother whilst running away from the bunch of guys.

one of the guys threatened before yanking her phone over the ground.

she pleaded as she immediately dropped on her knees, tears streaming down her face.

before the guy could bring his hand anywhere near to her face, jeno dashed over and threw a kick over his face.

jeno scoffed and licked his lower lip before glaring at the group of boys.

the one who got kicked on his face charges towards jeno with his fist but jeno was quick enough to get ahold of his fist and twist it around his back.

he yelled at his friends.

pushing him onto the wall, jeno switfly dodges all the flying kicks and punches until one of them managed to kick him on his lower abdomen.

jeno fell back. jeno threw a menacing blow over the guy's face, making sure to leave a huge bruise over his cheek.

when all of them were too weak to even fight back, jeno took this opportunity of pulling out his phone and he dialed the number of the nearest police station.

crouching next to them, he spoke.

jeno heard them groaning in pain. he scoffed at them before facing the terrified girl. jeno reminded the girl before taking off his coat and passing it over to her.

she mumbled whilst taking his coat and then wearing it over her petite body.

jeno asked with concern, as he noticed the bruises and scratches on her legs.

she mumbled. she stood up whilst accepting jeno's arm for support. suddenly, her phone rang as she immediately accepted the call and wailed for her brother to pick her up whilst bawling her eyes out.

jeno reassured the trembling girl.

stopping by the nearest bench, jeno sat beside the girl as they both waited for her brother.

the said girl snapped her head towards the direction of the voice. jeno instantly looked up as well but was taken aback upon realizing that it was none other than kim juwon.

jangmi cried as she ran towards her brother, hugging him tightly as relief washed over her body.

juwon panted and pulled away from the hug and held her face to examine the scratches on her face.

jangmi pointed towards jeno with a goofy smile spreading over her lips.

jeno stood up and scoffed yet again. jeno stared at him in disbelief.

juwon prevents him from leaving. juwon shuddered, eyes tearing up.

juwon continued as he held back his tears.

jeno sighed.

still jeno stared straight into juwon's eyes as his very own eyes started welling up with tears.

jeno blinked back his tears and cleared his throat. never

jeno walked away from the siblings as he now headed towards the direction to where lied the crematorium.

jangmi had her eyes focused solely on jeno the whole time until he was finally out of her sight. she gradually felt her cheeks heating up.

jeno traced his fingers over the glass, staring at jieun's picture that was neatly placed within it. he frowned upon noticing the bouquet of white roses kept beside her portrait.

taking the bouquet out, he studied the words scribbled on the card attached to it. it always had the same words written on it: i'm sorry. i'm really sorry. i'm sorry again.

on this very day, jieun's death anniversary, jeno would always find a bouquet of white roses lying beside her portrait.

jeno gently smiled and spoke, as if he was actually speaking to jieun in real life.

jeno softly chuckled with tears slowly falling off his eyes.

jeno paused as his hands dropped by his side.

jeno inaudibly voiced out as he felt his heart tearing apart with pain.

memories so painful flashed over his mind as he remembered the day he had found out that she had hung herself in her room during her very birthday celebration. he remembered the note she had left by her study desk before she had committed suicide. jieun had mentioned about how embarrassed she was and how much it hurt her to know that she could never earn pride for her family after what had happened to her.

when jeno could no longer hold himself back, he broke down into tears that spoke pain and agony.

gloom filled the air he breathed. whimpers of grief escaped his lips.

he drowned in his own pool of misery as he fell onto his knees whilst wailing like never before. it pained him to know that his sister was never coming back and that she was gone for good.