"If someone comes into your life and becomes a part of you, but for some reason he couldn't stay, don't cry too much... just be glad that your paths crossed and somehow he made you happy even for a while."

Summer came in a rush as the merciless heat wave crashed into Korea. When most people were busy applying sunblock as they embraced the fireball’s radiating heat at the coastlines of Korea, Hyunseung spent the last week of summer break stuck in school preparing Literature mock paper. Apparently, Miss Kim (soon to become Mrs Lee), his department head, was too busy settling logistics for her impending wedding to set the mock paper. Hyunseung brought up his left hand and blinked at the silver band, reminding himself not to be under the wire for his own. Doojoon was away for the whole week for some exchanged program in Japan, so the literature teacher decided to must as well do something constructive. And being Hyunseung, he could never escape the fate of a Virgo from being helpful. So here he was, pondering over a few of his favourite Shakespeare’s works, torn between comedy or tragedy for the last part of the paper.

Finding it necessary to stop his brain cells from over-pruning, Hyunseung decided to call it off for the day. He got up from his desk and exited the office, conveniently got himself a can of milk-soda from the vending machine before leaving the campus. He sipped on the sugary beverage as he walked mindlessly out of the almost soulless campus, aside from the janitors and a few teachers and students scattering around the canteen and library, immersing in their own business.

Comedy seems more interesting to write about...

Hyunseung’s mind started to trail off.

They need to score well for the mock test to boast their morale.

He walked past the wrought iron gate, noting the row of faded posters that Miss Kang had put up for the summer immersion programs, which should have already been removed by now for obvious reason.

The Merchant of Venice or A Midsummer Night’s Dream? The first one seems a little too depressing though. But perhaps an utter tragedy can bring out the students’ understanding of the literature context?

Hyunseung began crossing the road absentmindedly, making a mental note to inform Miss Kang about removing the poster before the school’s janitor does, because the last time some event posters were discarded without her acknowledgement had the eco-obsessed event coordinator going berserk about being disrespectful towards trees (which Hyunseung thought would’ve made more sense if it was towards a human being) and the janitor resigning; which then led to Doojoon having to exploit his charm to appease and listen to preaching about the history and manufacturing of paper for an hour over lunch, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t only have to put up craigslist ad to get a new janitor, but also a History teacher.

Hyunseung broke into random chuckle as he recalled Doojoon’s horrified expression and the way he stuttered while trying to explain how the hell he’d received a love confession from a “Kang Min Young shi”. It happened when the doe eye man was playing Draw Something by alternating between his own and Dojoon’s phones (because the elder had refused to play such lame guessing game, but Hyunseung knew better that Doojoon couldn’t draw more than circles and lines) when he accidentally opened up a new text from Doojoon’s phone.

Oh where was I? Hyunseung recollected his thoughts. MacBeth? Ah! They could analyse the driving forces behind Macbeth’s decision to murder Duncan! They could take a stand and argue on MacBeth’s intention—

Bam!

The next moment, the literature teacher had landed awfully hard on his fours; his sparkling white soda had spilt all over the concrete pavers. His heart died a little while watching his favourite drink crawled its way down the mild slope. And then he remembered seeing a flash of red, and he could now hear an angry screeching sound that loomed behind him. He turned his head and noticed a fiery-red motorbike sideswiped against the hard ground, its’ wheels still spinning wildly in the air.

“Motherfuker!”

Hyunseung snapped to the figure attached to the crashed mechanic, his allergic reaction to profanity made him scrunched up his face in distaste. A man masked in an edgy electric purple helmet slowly pushed himself out from the vehicle, examining his body as he sat beside his now dysfunctional piece of metal.

“Tch, lousy piece of crap.” The helmet guy chided as he kicked the helpless machine a few times, like how a toddler would throw a tantrum when he had carelessly broken his beloved toy car. The biker then directed his attention to the fallen person in front of him.

“Yah! You over there! Pay attention when you’re crossing the god damn street ‘k?! Look what happen now.” He pounded the gas tank a couple of time with his fist (as if it wasn’t already in a terrible enough state), “My baby’s all ruined, all thanks to you.” (yea and further thanks to you too)

Hyunseung rolled his eyes as he picked himself up, ignoring the dreadful bites on his elbows and knees as he stretched. He limped slightly towards the judging man, who was finally getting up from sitting on the ground.

“I’m sorry, I was kinda zoned out,” Hyunseung apologized regardless. “I hope you’re ok. I can compensate for the damage done to you and your bike.” Hyunseung stole one glance at the red engine gradually dying behind the helmet guy, cringing slightly at the writhing state of the vehicle. (Should I call the police too?) He revert his gaze back to the owner, feeling an annoyance building up when the stranger didn’t respond.

“Mr Purple Iron Man-shi, can you please take off your gear when someone’s talking to you? I believe that’s basic courtesy.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the said Iron Man dusted his pants off and chuckled lightly. He removed his head gear only to reveal a pair of mischievous orbs. “Come to think of it, now my plan to get a new baby will be so much easier. Maybe I should thank you instead huh?”

Hyunseung stared incredulously at those young pair of eyes and the smirk plastered on his chubby face. Just a moment ago, he was being yelled at for causing some property damage, and now what? He was deducing if this boy, yes a freaking teenage boy was having some bipolar issue. And did he just wasted his time trying to appease and make peace with a brat from an accident which was technically not fully his fault?

“I’d rather you not thank me for that.” Hyunseung mumbled. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be contacting your parents or something? I'll have to report this to the police too.”

The younger male raised an eyebrow,

“The hell? I already said it’s ok, I'll get the junk towed away. And well, my parents are not in town anyway.” He added the last line flatly.

Hyunseung chewed on his bottom lip while in thought, “Guardian? Relative or some sort?”

He waited patiently for an answer, but was tossed back with a combo of eyeball rolling, scoff and bored stare.

Assuming that he wasn’t going to get any response other than prolonged staring (just what’s up with the staring?), the older man simply grabbed the biker’s hand, flipping to his palm as he hastily scribbled down his name and contact number with the pen he found in his pocket. The latter’s eyes twinkled with amusement, feeling the tickled sensation as he bit back a giggle that was threatening to let loose.

“You’re pretty insistent aren’t you?” The young biker beamed, “I might think that you are actually hitting on me if you’re not actually…” He glanced at the Hyunseung’s distinct adam apple, “a guy. Jang— Hyunseung-shi?” He added playfully while reading the messy handwriting that was now marked on his palm.

Hyunseung sighed, mentally too tired to continue entertaining the kid.

“Contact me if you change your mind. Takecare kid.”

With that said, the labelled spoilt brat watched the beautiful stranger turned and limped back to collect his backpack and the scattered pieces of foolscap papers. Empathy held one of the most microscopic percentages if it did exist in the boy’s flamboyant character. He was about to turn when he heard the doe eye man gasped.

“Oh. My. God. No. Oh my god.”

Scattering papers no longer held Hyunseung’s attention as the he began rummaging through his backpack, emptying it, shoving his hands into his pockets, crawling around the pavement, literally sweeping the road with his bare hands as he continued his frantic search for something. The young punk watched in delight at the sudden change of situation, a smirk playing on his lips. Whether was it empathy or just curiosity, he decided to take a step forward, but something bulging under his foot caught his attention. He took a step back and noticed a silver ring right before his foot.

Stealthily, he picked up the ring, examining it briefly before grinning like a child who had found himself a candy wrapper at a corner of the playroom. He his heels and headed off towards the opposite direction, leaving behind the horror-stricken Hyunseung who had well, lost his freaking engagement ring, and the red bike which had lost all its glory within a split second due to the ring owner.

Till we meet again, Jang Hyunseung-shi.

He had this sly smile hidden beneath his purple helmet as he pocketed the ring.

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A/N: i think it's just me, but adult hyunseung and kid junhyung's interaction is kinda hard to write, at least for now x) oh i didn't spoil anything right? You shld've guessed that the brat is none other than our joker-nim. hee!
so hyunseung's brain actually works like when a circus clown is performing because too many things are happening at the same time, and i'm having too much fun writing this side of him xD sorry if that gives you headache. aha!
i'm hoping to keep this series as tight as possible, so pardon me if i start skipping timeline and cutting details (which may not be the case because i love being long winded =X)
I'll try to update once a week, not a promise though. haha! Once again thanks for reading <3