Chapter Two

“Himchan. His name’s Kim Himchan."

“Him? He’s Himchan?” Zico asks, incredulous. “You’re ting me.”

***

“You’re ting me,” Zico says again, leaning over Yongguk to look out at the blonde male from the window of the school bus. Said male is seen with a small group of people, being friendly and whatnot. Despite that, he looks comfortable, shoulders straight with confidence. “That’s Wimp-chan?”

Yongguk smacks at Zico’s shoulder. “Don’t be an .”

Himchan seems to be getting along well with them, even though it’s his first day being at TS High. The Himchan she knew was shy and twitchy around groups of people. The Himchan she sees is nothing like that. She too, like Zico, had a hard time coming to terms with New Neighbor actually being Himchan, but she, unlike Zico, can keep her opinions to herself just fine.

“Goddamn. I wonder what’s next. Flying pigs?”

Yongguk snorts. She shoves Zico, not hard enough to send him flying, but he got the message. He sits back properly but continues looking out the window, this time with a more respectable distance between them.

“He doesn’t even look like him, what the heck.”

Yongguk disagrees. His smile is still the same, so is the dimple beneath his eye. And if she squints, he does rather look like the Himchan she knew, albeit he’s definitely more than a little leaner, definitely taller, shoulders way broader, eyes less squinty, cheekbones sharp, chin even sharper, jaw more defined, adam’s apple much more prominent, hair definitely blonder—

‘Christ. Zico’s right. Hime-chan really doesn’t look like himself. Puberty, what’ve you done?’

Beside her, Zico lets out a low wolf-whistle. “That bruise, though. That looks nasty.”

“I know right.” A smirk toys at the corner of Yongguk’s lips. Himchan had his head turned, showing said bruise on the other side of his cheek. It was indeed nasty, spanning from his left cheek to the bottom of his eye, like a dark mark tainting a white canvas.

She continues to stare at said boy, noting the way how his defined features look under the glare of the late-afternoon sun. He looks more solid, more real somehow, as opposed to the rather… chubby Himchan she had known. There were no glasses obscuring his face, and she wonders if he’s wearing contacts or that his vision had magically gotten better.

(The Himchan she knew had been afraid of wearing contact lenses, said what if it melts my eyes when it’s hot out there? or some .)

Yongguk sees the way he stretches, and the way he puts an arm around Youngjae, all calm and casual. Like it was a normal occurrence. Not far away, she spots Daehyun leaning against the side of the other school bus; she had to chuckle a little at that, because the tanned-skinned boy was practically glaring daggers at Himchan, even though Youngjae looks more amused than smitten, really.

‘That boy, really…’

She looks back at Himchan, just in time to catch her childhood best friend throw his head back in laughter (although he does wince, most likely due to the bruise on his face), the little group around him following suit, showing their little quirks of amusement. Yongguk wonders what happened to the little boy who was painfully shy around crowds bigger than three people, who could barely speak up, let alone laugh so freely around strangers.

Just then, the bus driver honks once, twice. Himchan jolts a little at that, unwinding his arm from around Youngjae and smiling at the people around him. She watches his mouth move, takes note of the way he grasps some of them by the hand, nodding and grinning enthusiastically.

She turns back just as Himchan turns around, and almost knocks her forehead into Zico’s nose. “Get your giant nose outta my face.” she mutters, reaching up a hand to shove his face away herself. Zico angles his head away just in time to avoid the impact. Yongguk retracts her hand, but the movement was halted when Zico suddenly grabs at her wrist.

Yongguk stills.

Silently, she watches as he takes her right hand in both of his. His hands were rough, but his touch gentle as he ghosts his thumb over her knuckles, particularly careful around the fading red marks. She doesn’t dare speak as he looks up at her, eyes dark and unreadable. She holds his gaze, just like so many times she’s done before. Her heart thuds heavily in her chest, and she wonders if Zico would—

Let go. Zico abruptly let go. Just as suddenly, he looked away. She did the same, letting go of the breath she should have known she was holding. She looked up, and for a moment, she swore time stopped.

Dark, narrowed eyes stare back at her. His eyes were cold, cold and calculating, she realizes with a jolt. The moment ended as quickly as it happened, and Himchan looks away, locking his eyes with Zico instead.

Cold and calculating.

The Himchan she knew would always cower at the sight of Zico, always awkwardly averting his eyes, hastily pulling Yongguk away before she could cause any unwanted trouble. That, and also the fact he was always more than a little afraid of Zico. Rarely would Himchan meet his glare head-on.

‘Is he really Hime-chan? He’s so different…’

Himchan was the first to look away, when the girl waiting behind him tapped his shoulder, impatient. He flashed her a smile, allowing the line of people behind him to pass, all the while keeping his eyes on Yongguk. For some reason, she found it difficult to meet his eyes, but steeled herself to match his gaze with equal intensity, or so she hoped— she’s still rather flustered over the morning’s incident, even if it pains her to admit it (but not as painful as the bruise on his face, she’s sure). This time, his face was blank, but it soon melted into a smirk and cocked eyebrows as he nodded once at her, once at Zico, before sauntering towards the back of the bus.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. There was only the hacking sound of the bus as it starts moving, and the increasingly loud chatters of the other students.

The silence between them was awkward, until Zico chuckled. It sounds a little forced.

“So, you. You’re the one?”

“Yeah. Bloody bastard deserved it.”

The constriction around her chest loosens when Zico involuntarily snorts, amused. They’re okay.

“Didn’t know it was him, though,” she then added, almost as an afterthought, “I would’ve hit harder.”

Zico scoffs, a little disbelieving. Yongguk felt relief when he shifts, turning towards her. “When was this?”

Yongguk shrugs. “This morning.”

The male raises a brow, skeptical, and starts interrogating her. Just like that, they’re back to normal. It’s just them, Yongguk and Zico, Zico and Yongguk, good mates and all that junk.

By the time she’s done talking, the bus had reached their stop. They got off together, with Zico’s eyebrow seemingly permanently suspended above his hairline.

“…Really. He did that?”

Yongguk hums, spotting Yongnam walking off with Song Jieun from class 3-C in the opposite direction. It’s the first time she sees him walk a girl home. Usually he just kisses them goodbye and waves them off, or, if they’re getting off at the same place, he’ll see them off at the stop before heading his own way.

“New flavor of the month, huh?”

“I guess.” She studies them, paying close attention to the space between them (not too far, not too close), noting how the back of their hands would occasionally brush. “He seems pretty serious about her.”

And it’s true. Yongguk has noticed her twin brother paying more attention to his phone than usual, snatching it up when it so much as gives off an innocent beep. Sometimes she sees his face split into a large, gummy smile as his eyes scan across the screen, fingers firing off a reply at lightning speed; but more often than not his shoulders would slump, before he throws his phone back from where he got it, looking a little disappointed. She’s seen it happening countless times over the course of the past few weeks, and she wonders if it was Jieun all along.

She watches them turn the corner before looking away. Zico tilts his head, hoisting the strap of his messenger bag further up his shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go.”

The walk back home was spent in comfortable silence, and Yongguk determinedly does not turn to look at the third, most definitely blonde person trailing behind them. Right now, her mind is at peace, and she would like to keep it that way for as long as she could manage. She studiously keeps her eyes to the ground, watching the way Zico’s worn sneakers are in sync with hers. She only looks up when Zico elbows her side; he fractionally jerks his head upwards, a silent question in his eyes. Yongguk shakes her head— an equally silent answer.

After that, she keeps her gaze trained forward, only occasionally letting her eyes stray to Zico’s side profile. He seems a little… bothered. There was a slight tension in his shoulders she hasn’t seen in the morning. His eyebrows were furrowed— and Yongguk wonders.

‘What’s up with him?’

But the question went unspoken, because by then they have already reached the intersection. Normally, this is where Zico would take off, sometimes without saying a word, sometimes telling her he’ll see her tomorrow. But today, he hesitates, glancing backward. Out of impulse more than anything, she does the same, and—

— again, there was that time-stopping sensation when she meets Himchan’s eyes—

and then Zico’s stalking down the other fork in the r