𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 | 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲

                                    

                                          
The knife of pain, already embedded between my ribs, twists in my stomach. Jisung isn't in his bunk. Seungmin and Hyunjin both avoid the topic, allowing me to feel sick on my own. Bile rises in my throat. Where is he?
                          
I mean... yeah, I looked in his notebook, but if he ran away, who knows what could happen? 
                          
With my heart halfway up my throat, I refuse Hyunjin's offer to help me walk to the cafeteria. My own wobbly legs hardly manage to carry me, and I'm not even the drunk one. Seungmin's eyes are slightly crossed, so I can spare a few seconds to be concerned for him. Someone probably spiked his bottle of water or something, but he'll walk it off.
                          
A sigh of unveiled relief spills out of me when I see a very disheveled Jisung, cowering on his chair beside that redhead from bunk 128. What's his name? Felix? Felix. Jisung must've crashed in bunk 128's extra bed.
                          
Hyunjin catches my line of sight. "Nuh-uh, buddy. I don't know what you did to make him yeet away like that, but you aren't going near him 'till he's ready."
                          
"I... I'm older than you?"
                          
"Whatever," Hyunjin says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You did something bad, and Seungmin and I didn't, so show some respect to the smartest one of us." Hyunjin glances at Seungmin. "Or the least hung-over from something. You stay here; I'll take Minnie to the nurse."
                          
"I'll help," I say, struggling to my feet. Knowing that Jisung is okay makes me feel a little more relieved, so my tense bladder finally releases as I stand. "Or I'll go clean up," I mumble, swiftly turning around so no one sees my dampened pants.
                          
Hyunjin snorts before gently taking Seungmin's arm. As I leave, he whispers small encouragements to the cross-eyed maknae of our bunk. We're a mess, the four of us—five, counting that boy, Jeongin, who catches up to me outside the port-a-potty. 
                          
"You alright? Jisung came into our bunk in the early am's, maybe an hour after you left? Daehwi says he was shaking and crying. What happened?" Jeongin asks, genuinely worried about a boy he met a couple hours ago. My heart begins beating quickly again.
                          
I take a deep breath. "I might have read something extremely personal of his, then told him at a party I crashed yesterday."
                          
Jeongin nods. "Yeah, Felix told me about the party." He purses his lips. "But I think something else happened, 'cause even Jisung wouldn't react to a diary-reading, or something like that, that terribly. Did anything else happen?"
                          
I blink. "What?"
                          
"Did anything else happen that could've triggered Jisung's... shocked state?" Jeongin asks. "Is it serious enough to take him to the nurse?"
                          
My mouth dries, and I try to reach back in my memory. Did anything else happen? "I don't know," I truthfully answer. "How do you think he'd respond to seeing me?"
                          
Jeongin only makes a 'yikes' face, so I take that as a "not well." As expected, of course. Hyunjin was right about that. 
                          
"If he's still a bit out-of-it tomorrow, then take him to the nurse, okay? I'm assuming he'll use your extra bed again tonight, so I can move his blankets and stuff over," I offer. Jeongin grins and nods, and we part ways. Between activities today, I subtly move a few of Jisung's items over to bunk 128. I change the covers to his softer sheets, but I'm extra careful not to pry into his more personal possessions. I leave the lyrics-notebook exactly where it is.
                          
At the end of the day, Hyunjin and I whisper to each other in the dark. "Cabin feels a bit empty with only the two of us here," Hyunjin says. 
                          
I nod, then realize he can't see me. "Yeah. How's Seungmin?"
                          
"Jaehyun, the nurse, said he was acting hungover, so I told him about last night. He said there's no way Seungmin's only a little hungover; apparently, he got food poisoning or something. I got him here just in time, honestly. If you think peeing your pants in the cafeteria was bad—"
                          
"Hyunjin, I'm worried about Seungmin, but I also want to be able to fall asleep soon."
                          
He lets loose a small chuckle, then heaves a sigh. "Y'know, Minho, this was supposed to be a relaxed summer. Instead, two of my bunkmates' romantic tension made them, like, hate each other, or something, and my best friend has food poisoning. Oh, and Jisung was sick earlier, too, so which of us will be next to get sick?"
                          
"I know what you mean, Jinnie. Hopefully neither of us will get sick. But look on the bright side: once we've resolved everything—and I'm sure we will; we have to—these months will go down in our personal history as one particular Hell of a summer," I say, trying to make a light joke out of it.
                          
"I guess," Hyunjin mumbles. "Night, Minho."
                          
"Night, Hyunjin."
                          
"Make sure your alarm is quiet."
                          
I can't help but smile into the darkness. 
                          
"Roger that."