The Pool
[Choose Your Own Adventure]: Seoul High School
You blink at Kyuhyun in shock. He blinks back and slowly points at you who are now obviously female (what with your swimsuit and all), opening his mouth but with no words coming out.
;AAAA; I'm done for!!!
You quickly run up the pool and take your bag into the locker room. There is no lock on the main door. You hastily look for a cubicle and hide inside. You dress up as fast as you can. Halfway through, you hear the locker room door open.
You freeze. You try to make the sound of your breathing inaudible as well as the ruffling of your clothes as you put on your chest wrap and T-shirt.
Footsteps.
Coming closer.
And closer.
....
BANG! A cubicle door hits the wall.
You hear footsteps walking. And then another BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
He's opening them one by one. Dx WHAT DO I DO??
BANG!
He is at the cubicle right beside you now. You hear him walking and see his shadow outside your cubicle door. You quickly duck and try to squeeze yourself into the cubicle before yours.
BANG!
You cover your mouth and huddle inside the cubicle he had previously opened.
He didn't catch me. D: Made it on time. Now if only I could...
You wait for the moment where he is distracted by something... BANG!
You make a run for it.
"KIM HANEUL!!!!" he roars furiously.
"MIANHAE!" you cry out back.
You run out of the locker room along the sides of the pool, keeping your eyes on the pool gate. Kyuhyun comes out of the locker room and you hear him close behind you.
"HANEUL!" he yells.
Just before you reach the door, you slip because of the wet floor and tumble forward then sidewards into the 11 ft deep side of the pool. *SPLASH!*
"AAHHH!!" you scream. You feel an extreme rising pain in your right wrist and you find that you can't move it. It is excruciating. You try to kick yourself up and support yourself with your one functioning arm but you continue to sink. "HEL--!!" You choke on the water that is slowly going over your head. Everything becomes fuzzy. All is silent, and your vision slowly turns black as you try to hold on to the last breath of air that you have... You hear the sound of a splash that seems like it came from far away...
...
...
*COUGH COUGH*
"Kim Haneul!" a distant voice shouts. "WAKE UP, KIM HANEUL!"
You feel a pressure on your chest, and someone's face coming really close to yours. You feel the pounding pressure again. *COUGH COUGH* You cough out a lot of water. The voice gets louder and nearer. "Kim Haneul!" A pair of hands shakes you conscious.
"W-what happened?" you say weakly. "Agh, my head..." You try to sit up.
"No, you should lie down for now."
You squint at the drenched figure seated beside you.
"C-cho Kyuhyun?" You close your eyes. You open them again really wide. "CHO KYUHYUN???" You sit up quickly. A wave of dizziness hits you and you fall back down on the wet floor.
"I said just lay still," he says. "You almost drowned. If you didn't know how to swim, why would you come here?"
"I-I know how to swim, jerk," you say massaging your head. "OW!" You look at your right hand. "I can't... move it!" you cry.
"Give it to me," Kyuhyun says.
You hesitantly reach your hand out to him. He takes it and examines it.
"Oww..." Dx
"Mhm, it's definitely sprained but not fractured. You can see the swelling starting to arise," he lets go of your hand. "An ice pack will do and maybe a cast so that it won't get any worse. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
You are quite surprised at his concern. You shake your head. "Just a few scratches and bruises but that's nothing..."
"You should take care of yourself, Haneul. And scratches and bruises are only okay for guys. You're a gi--" he stops and swallows a lump in his throat. He looks down at his hands.
You don't know what to say. You try to steer your attention away by staring at your swollen wrist.
"Why?" he asks. "Why did you enter an all-guys school?"
You bite your lip. "Our family is poor and we had just gotten to the verge of bankruptcy. I was supposed to quit school and just work. But then, before my haraboji died, he left a check for a whole year's tuition payment enough for my last year. Thing is, I guess he forgot that I was a girl because he made it payable to only Seoul High School. He graduated from this school along with my appa. So I decided that I wasn't going to let something like that stop me. I sacrificed my gender in order to bring my family out of its pithole."
Kyuhyun says slowly in comprehension. "So that's why you went to Seoul High..."
"Neh..." you look at him with worried eyes. "Are you going to tell them about me?"
He is looking at his hands, opening and closing them, his eyes showing a mixture of anger, frustration, pity, and confusion. "Molla."
He rubs his face with his hands looking like he's about to blow his brains out.
"Please..." you say. "Please don't tell anyone. You can make me do whatever you want, just please don't tell them. I... I need to help my family..." tears stream down your face as you bow low to Kyuhyun, hoping that you'd get through to him through your pleading.
He looks at you with a very confused look on his face that says "I DONT FRIKKIN KNOW WHAT TO DO MYSELF". He says, "If you were a guy, I'd tell on you. But you're a girl! And if you were a guy, I'd have nothing to tell on about. But you're a girl! So..." He massages his temples with his fingers.
You just sit with your face resting on your knees. Blank expression but your thoughts are a whirlwind of the past, present, and future.
He gets up and rubs his neck. "I'll think about it."
You stand up in a hurry and grab his arm with your good hand. He turns to look at you and you look back into his eyes with desperation. "Please... help me. " He removes your hand from his arm saying, "Put an ice bag on your wrist." He turns around and continues walking to the exit.
Kyuhyun... please...
You feel the tears fall once more as you sink to the floor on your knees, helpless... hopeless...
Dear grandpa,
I'm about to lose everything.
You go to the gazebo in hopes of finding Flashlight guy there. He is.
"Annyeong," you greet.
"Annyeong," he replies.
"Long time no see," you smile sadly knowing he can't see your blotchy face in the dark.
"Neh. How have you been, Kim Haneul?" he asks as he jumps up on the ledge of the gazebo.
"Things are... so mixed up for me right now."
"How so?"
"... I can't tell you right now. Sooner or later though, you'll find out yourself."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing nothing... It's nothing," your voice cracks.
He puts an arm around you and lets you lean on his shoulder. "Come on... you can tell me. You need to let it out."
"... What would you do if someone lied to you about who they were? How would you react?"
"Me? Well... I'd be angry at first because he didn't trust me about who he really was. But I'm sure the guy has reasons. Why? Did someone lie to you?"
"You wouldn't understand... Maybe I shouldn't tell you yet."
Even this guy who I go to for comfort doesn't get it... He wouldn't get it...
He reaches to take your hand.
"Ow!"
"What's wrong? Are you hurt there?"
"Yeah, I broke my wrist... I need to get an ice pack or something..."
"I guess your seat mate is gonna have to copy your notes for you until you heal."
"OH CRAP, HOW AM I GOING TO PLAY THE DRUMS NOW??" you whine.
"Drums?"
"There's going to be an inter-school band competition and Heechul signed us up for it. I'm supposed to be the drummer but now that I've got this stupid injury, I can't. I don't know any other drummer in school. Do you play drums by any chance?"
"Nope. I can't even sing. But I know someone who is really good at drums."
"Jinjja? Who??"
"Choi Siwon."
"MWO??" you say in total surprise. "That uptight guy plays drums?"
"Mhm," Flashlight guy replies. "You should go ask him."
"I doubt that he will agree."
"... Well, he kinda stopped taking drum lessons... It's still worth a try though."
After several minutes, you get an icepack from the infirmary and return to the dorms to find Heechul waiting for you in the hallway...
"KIM HANEUL!!! I FOUND SOMETHING," Heechul shouts.
"SHHH," you reply. "People are sleeping, hyung."
"I FOUND THE PERFECT SONG," he cries out in joy.
"Jinjja?? Let me hear it!"
You go into the room and he plays the CD. He hands you the lyrics. As you listen, you read:
The words I didn't tell you
Keep appearing when I close my eyes
I think of you in the memories
That contain my remaining love.
When I had you by my side and wandered,
I regret those days
Don't you hear my true heart?
I'm waiting for you until the world ends
I'm waiting for you until the moment fate stops
I can give you everything now
Can't you come to me?
My precious person.
Erasing the memories with you
Like nothing ever happened
Even if I say I don't know
My heart recognizes you first
The times I spent with you
Are waiting for only you
My one and last love is you.
I'm waiting for you until the world ends
I'm waiting for you until the moment fate stops
I can give you everything now
Can't you come to me?
My precious person.
I can't forget
Or change this love alone
Words I say to myself linger in your place
That, like your hands, I couldn't take when you were by my side
I won't ever let you go again
I missed you.
I missed you
My heart has grown too much
Though the steps towards you are getting slow
I will love you like the first time we met
The love without regret in my heart that has stopped.
The music stops playing but you continue to stare at the lyrics. You slowly look at Heechul.
"Hyung... this is beautiful..."
"RIGHT??? His voice is pretty okay too but according to the note on the back of the lyrics, the song doesn't fit his voice so he wants someone with a more emotional voice to sing it."
"Who wrote this song?" you ask.
"Someone with the name 'Jasmine'. No idea who that is though."
Jasmine?
"Hmm... I don't really know either, but whoever he is, we need to find him. Hyung, how do you know that this person is a guy and not a girl?"
Heechul looks at you with a "IT'S-PRETTY-OBVIOUS-DUMDUM" face and puts his hands on his waist. "Uh, this is an all-boys school, Haneul. Hello? And guys usually use girl names when playing online games like World of Warcraft."
"... okay..."
"You meet up with him, Haneul. Figure out a way to find him since you're younger than me," Heechul says, bounding onto his bed. "I was the one who found the envelope anyway."
"All you had to do was stay in this room and wait," you mutter.
You write this on a piece of paper and stick it on the bulletin board in the dorm lobby:
------------------------------------------------------------
Jasmine,
Meet me at the roofdeck tomorrow at 6pm.
Kim Haneul
----------------------------------------------------------
You dust your hands together and walk back to your room.
The next day at 6 pm....
You are at the roofdeck waiting for Jasmine to come. You sit on the ledge where you and Donghae sat before when he asked you for help about Jessica. You sigh and shake the feeling off. There is the sound of the door to the roofdeck opening. When you turn around, a weirdo waves at you peeking from the door.
"Hyung, are you Jasmine?" you ask him.
"No," Heechul laughs. "I just wanted to peek if he was here already. Ah well, I'll just go to the room."
=_=
After a few more minutes, you hear the door opening once again.
"HYUUUNG GO BACK TO THE ROOM," you say without turning around.
"K-Kim Haneul?" you hear a voice squeak.
That's not Heechul...
You turn around and see that Jasmine is actually...
(A/N: From now on, if you don't see the link or if it seems like there's a missing word, click ctrl + A or command + A. ^^ more fun in suspense cause some people scan ahead while reading)
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