Too long till I drown in your hands
Blue NeighbourhoodThis chapter has not been edited :3 I'll do that come tomorrow. Don't let that stop you from reading/subscribing/leaving comments and giving it your love ! :D
The title of the chapter has been taken from the song "Wild" from the trilogy.
[Daegu because I love Min Yoongi (Hehe) and I am not sure if Overseas Chinese High School is for real not a boarding school or, not but, just consider it to be so for the fic :D ]
Lu Han was the only child of Mr and Mrs. Lu, the famous designer duo and had been born out of the wedlock . Thus,, his existence was known to only a handful of people. The Lus had a high social standing and the news of having borne a son may cause loss of their face in the society and so, Han’s existence was a secret. He was sometimes passed off as a nephew, a friend’s son and finally, the son of a dead relative and was “adopted”. His parents had met during Preview in Daegu in the 90s when Daegu began promoting it’s fashion and textile industry and many representative from prestigious universities participated in the various fairs and exhibitions. He was born before his parents fell in love and got married even later. He was enrolled in an Elementary School in the Haidian district of Beijing nearest to his maternal grandparents’ home. Then, his bags were packed and he was moved to Daegu, South Korea and enrolled in Overseas Mandarin High School. As it was a Chinese international school, it wasn’t too difficult for him to make the transition from Beijing to Daegu, a foreign city. However, lack of boarding facility made him withdraw from the school within a year and join Gyeongsin High. He was in grade 9 when his parents got married and he began to meet his parents more than ever before. His father had decided that Keisung High School was a better choice for him and he made him change schools again. Because of the constant movement in every few years along with being a foreigner, Han never got to make friends. It wasn’t like he wasn’t friendly. He did have many friends since he was very social and a lot of local kids thought he was Korean but, one who had lived abroad. However, he always thought he was missing something. He didn’t have the kind of friend he wanted. By the time he joined Keisung High, he was as proficient as the native speakers and never let any accent creep into his speech.
He was in grade 12 of Keisung High when he met Kim Minseok again. He had first met Minseok when they had been eleven years old and had been standing at the Dong-bu bus terminal. He had been alone, swinging his legs while sitting on the bench. Minseok was a very chubby boy and Han had liked him instantly. He had been holding Han’s favourite flavour and the Chinese boy had stared at it with hunger clear in his eyes. An older man joined them on the bench and asked him if he wanted an ice-cream too. Han who was caught staring greedily, looked away, his face flushed. He had been taught many lessons of mannerisms and this was definitely not one of them. The older man left and came back a few minutes later with another cone in his hand and gave it to him. Minseok kept on his cone.
“Take it, kid.”
Han refused politely but, accepted it when he insisted. The Older Man was the Chubby Boy’s father. Appa Kim and Minnie. Han couldn’t quite catch the kid's name.
Was it Mingseok? Minsook?
So, he dubbed him Min in his head. Appa Kim asked him what was he doing alone and his parents whereabouts. Han in his broken Korean had tried to explain that his mother was in her office and he had a holiday, so he was roaming about exploring the city by himself.
Suddenly, Min spoke up, looking at his dad openly asking him if the other boy could go with them. Han had stared at him in surprise since the other boy had not uttered a single word up til then, yet he was asking his father for permission for tagging along a stranger. When Appa Kim looked at him and asked if he could join them, and if his parents would allow him to go, Lu Han had answered that his parents wouldn’t be looking for him until night. The older man agreed. As soon as the next bus came, they boarded it. Min’s dad bought ticket for all three of them including that of the Geoje Bus Depot for the local bus bound to Gujora Beach. Han was so excited. He kept on fidgeting in his seat with anticipation. Appa Kim asked him if he was having motion sickness and Lu Han explained it to him how he had never been to a beach before and how grateful he was to him. The Older Man laughed when the Chinese boy addressed him as ‘Appa Kim’ and Min had just snorted and muttered ‘Idiot’.
They could not take a ferry to Odeo as the tickets were expensive . Han didn’t mind. He was content looking at the sea. The blueness. The crowd, the bustling noise. The bright sunlight reflecting off the sand. They climbed the grassy green hill "The Hill of the Wind"and also visited Hakdong Black Pearl Mongdol Beach. Han collected some of the black pebbles and pocketed them. Min helped him in retrieving in some of them. They ran close to the shoreline but, didn’t wander too far. They chased each other and hurled fists of sand at the other, built sand castles. They were soaking wet in the evening from the waves which caught them unawares. Appa Kim had been sitting far away in the shade, sipping something. They were hungry by the time it got dark. Since it was the summers, the heat had helped them dry quickly. They went to the nearest stall where they bought two packets of ramyun and shared it among themselves. By the time they reached the town, it was well into the night. Appa Kim dropped him off at the Dong-bu bus terminal and both father and son had left. Lu Han, not knowing where else to go sat on the bench wondering if he should try going back to the hotel or, ask some stranger to allow him to call his mother on their phone. He had fallen asleep on the bench dreaming about the best day of his life. He had woken up sometime later to somebody shaking him. It had been his mother.
She had been crying, worried about having lost him. He felt a little guilty, however, he didn’t tell her how he had not missed her at all
*
He next time he met Min, the Chubby Boy of Dong-bu bus terminal was in Overseas Chinese High School two years later on the day he went to collect his official documents for transfer. Lu Han had been talking to Kris, the ‘Duizhang’ of their basketball team (comprising of the students from the Middle School; they had two teams. On each for the Middle and the High School ) when Min had come strolling in with Chen, one of the few kids of Korean origin in his batch and they had looked at each other in surprise.
Kris introduced Min as Xiumin and Han had frowned. He definitely remembered his name sounding nothing like Chinese two years back. Xiumin’s Mandarin too was atrocious and he kept his eyes away from Han. It confused him and hurt him. He had thought by the time they had left the beach, they had become friends. But, apparently, that was not the case. So Lu Han pretended not to recognise the other after his initial faltering and excused himself.
When he met Xiumin again at the Keisung Academy in grade 12, one could say he had well and truly forgotten the Chubby Boy of Dong-bu bus terminal because he was a memory from the time when Lu Han was alone and homesick. The time he attached with pain and loneliness and jumped from boarding school to boarding school, friends to friends. The time when he craved for love and affection. He didn’t like to remember it and hence, he had erased it from his mind.
Comments