i. ATURDIR

aturdir (v.) 

when you become so overwhelmed that you’re unable to focus and think straight.

He doesn’t want to get up. 

He really doesn’t. 

Like anyone else, rather than going to school, he would much prefer the choice to stay at home and chill out with all the time in the world. 

But that is not his reality. His reality is be a good kid, get goods grades and go to a good university so that he can find a good job, a good wife (or husband, who knows) and be happily ever after. Or maybe just finding the will to get out of bed so that he can actually be that good kid.

“Get up or you’re gonna be late for school!”

“Ugh… Five more minutes…” Sehun grunts, throwing the blanket over his head as if it’s going to make him invisible to his mum. 

With great strength, Mrs. Oh successfully strips Sehun of his beloved blankie and throws it away. The air condition suddenly becomes more chilling than it is suppose to be, leaving Sehun no choice but to give one short glare at the ceiling and unwillingly leave the comforts of his bed to face the world. 

Well, actually an impatient mother rather than the world. 

“You don’t have to look so emo, dear.” Mrs. Oh chortles, shoulders shaking a little with amusement. His son is looking like he hates the world. Brown eyes narrowed and thin lips pursed into a line, Sehun honestly looks like a walking dead with his ash-brown hair going at all directions. 

“Oh god, mum… You did not just say that.” Sehun grimaces, face contorting from embarrassment like any teen would. 

“Ohhh don’t give me that look.” Mrs. Oh laughs, giving herself a youthful look with a hint of tenderness. Her beautiful dark brown hair forms beautiful waves as the curls move gently from side to side, occasionally showing a hint of white among the locks, Sehun seems to have randomly noticed. “Isn’t that what you popular kids say nowadays?”

“I distinctively remember you hurrying me to get out of bed just a minute ago.” Sehun crosses his arms and ignores the side-comment. Well in truth, yes, Sehun is one of those “popular” kids at school. His kind-hearted, sassy but cute personality has earned him adoration from everyone at his school, ranging from the teachers to the students to the staff. He often puts quotation marks around the word “popular” due to the fact that he doesn’t consider himself to be one at all. He doesn’t really care about highschool social hierarchy, and all he wants is to enjoy his last year of highschool. 

“Well then why are you still sitting on your bed? Your father is already on his way to work so you’ll have to drive your own car to school.” Mrs. Oh retorts, obviously letting her sassiness in the way of the conversation. 

The words elegantly bounce off the four walls of the bedroom and into Sehun’s ears, making him pause. It’s not hard to know where he got his sass from, Sehun thinks. To avoid having sharp fingers directly pulling him out of bed, Sehun decides to just give one last grunt and finally get ready for school. As he begins to clean up and change, Mrs. Oh suddenly pops her head in through the door frame and says something that makes her son smile. 

“Oh and Sehun, happy birthday darling!” 

“Morning Hun.” A fluffy and sweet voice catches Sehun’s attention just when he steps out of his home. Lay, his best bud and childhood friend, is standing there with a half-asleep smiling expression but that’s just how he always is. “And before I forget, happy eighteenth birthday! I love you, bro.”

“Morning! Thanks for that wonderful birthday wish and I love you too.” Sehun returns the smile and throws his arm around Lay’s shoulder. “Hmmm, so. You look a little high, my friend. Has someone been a little naughty last night?” 

“What are you even talking about, Hun? My face has always been like this…” Oblivious as always, Lay frowns as he spaces out. What does Sehun mean by high? He thinks. Is it like flying in the sky, like unicorns?

“Ah, whatever.” The pale boy laughs at his best friend and pulls him walking. 

Sehun and Lay first met each other when they were about five. Lay had just moved in next door with his family and even though they were only tiny beans of humans, they’ve always taken care of each other well ever since then. 

Although Sehun is the popular kid at school, Lay truthfully isn’t as well liked (but still not doing too bad himself) probably due to his carefree nature and the tendency to not be scared to voice his own opinions. But Sehun always thinks that it’s more likely because Lay is a Khrono, one of the people who have the ability to time travel starting from the age of eighteen. This always ends up garnering the Monospatials’ attention who would do anything to rile up people, drive up the tension and beat up the unlucky kids. It’s unfair that those who have the special ability are always discriminated by the people that don’t. And so, Sehun has Lay’s back, just as he knows Lay would do anything for him too. 

Like any kind of neighbours that are also best friends, Lay waits for Sehun outside his door every morning and together, they go to school in Sehun’s car. Today is no exception, of course. As they walk into the school entrance, guys and girls are already flocking their way to Sehun’s direction, trying their best to fight for the school prince’s attention. As someone who always has a kind heart and doesn’t want anyone to feel left out, Sehun interacts with every one of them while Lay stands at the side with his back to the wall and arms crossed, smiling and looking on to the hectic scene. 

Lay truthfully doesn’t mind being the less popular one. Most of the time, he likes to be the observer. He looks around his surroundings and can easily decipher one’s intentions. For example, he thinks, the girl holding onto Sehun’s arm right now. The elbow area is an intimate part of the body. It’s easy to tell that the girl is trying to only briefly grab Sehun’s attention to avoid being desperate, hoping it would make her more memorable and create a positive impression on him while Sehun respectfully keeps his distance as always with a hand in between the two of them. Lay’s body language reading skills probably come from his father’s job as a diplomat and a lawyer. It’s important for the job. 

In actuality, this is why Lay’s spaces out a lot. It’s not because he is really thinking about unicorns but because he thinks to himself a lot. 

Suddenly, fingers click in front of Lay’s face that makes him snap out of his head space. He quickly diverts him attention to Sehun who is now standing right in front of him. 

“Hey, you spaced out again.” Sehun laughs as he looks at Lay’s surprised expression. 

“Oh sorry!” Lay breaths out as he too laughs. “Let’s go to class. What’s our first period today?”

“It’s the Khrono class, I think.” Sehun looks at his notebook and gives a small exasperated sigh. “You know, these classes are only to garner more hate for the Khronos. You’re teaching these Monospatial all about these time travelling things and they’re probably gonna think it’s not serious business.”

Lay nods as they walk along the corridors to their classroom. “Well,” he says, “It’s mostly to teach Khronos like me what to do when you time travel. It’s actually pretty useful when the situation comes.”

“You’re right, I guess.” Sehun still cringes at the idea of bullies always aiming at the Khronos. “Besides, the class is mandatory in every highschool.” 

“Exactly.” Lay mutters as he pushes the classroom door and walks in. “And who knows? You might need it one day!”

Sehun laughs at the thought of that. Khronos have a special genetic mutation in order to have the special ability to time travel. It’s known to be a one in ten chance of that happ