Chapter Four

Ten and Yesol stood side by side as they waited in front of the apartment door. Their faces were blank as if the life was right out of them and they had no energy left. None of them moved a single bit. They just stood frozen, staring at the white door with lazy eyes.

From the other side, Yesol’s older sister, Yeeun, peaked through the peephole on her side of the door. She watched the duo look like complete idiots, not even trying to bother letting them in. She looked over at Yesol who had her hands by her side and her head tilted to the left. Yeeun rolled her eyes and sighed - even her posture was horrible. Shaking her head in disappointment, she then looked at Ten. She could tell that Yesol has rubbed off on him a lot.

It’s been 3 years already.

3 years since Ten started living with Yesol and Yeeun.

The oldest had enough watching the duo embarrass themselves. Though it was amusing, it was also highly uncomfortable.

She opened the door to let the two in, however when they saw the door open they didn’t budge. Yeeun waved her hand in front of them, seeing if they were actually awake. But there was still no response.

She sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to get the bucket of water…”

Startled, as if she got a defibrillator to the chest that jumpstarted her heart, Yesol jolted awake. “Welcome home!” she shouted.

Bluntly, Yeeun replied, “You’re the one who just came home.”

Yesol chuckled in embarrassment before saying with a salute, “We’re home!” as she dragged a, still, blank Ten into the apartment.

Once she entered the room she threw her bag on Ten’s face, allowing him to become fully awake while also letting him to suddenly greet the floor with a nice, “Hello.”

The two were too exhausted to bother with anything, so Ten just laid on the floor while Yesol sprawled herself on the couch. They had faced a long and incredibly harsh day, their minds weren’t able to keep up with their bodies any longer and tired themselves out.  

Back in their newfound clubroom, Principal Choi and Miss Jeong had explained what the actual club was going to be about. Their English teacher only said about the club being a Yearbook Committee that also contributes activities like the Social Committee.

Principal Choi strolled to the back of the classroom and sat on the dusty cupboard. All their heads turned around as they followed her lead, all but Taeyong’s. She crossed her arms and explained, “This year’s Yearbook Committee has failed to suffice us an actual working staff. And as for the Social Committee…”

“We’d like to not discuss about that,” Miss Jeong butted in.

“Right. It’s better off for all of you to not know what happened with them.” She coughed. “Therefore, we’ve formed the ten of you. And, of course, we didn’t just do it because we needed a way to save the school’s reputation, we know what each and every one of you are capable of.”

From the left of Principal Choi, Taeyong scoffed. His arms rested behind his head while his feet were on the desk as he leaned backwards.

“Yeah right,” he started, “like you actually paid attention to any of us.”

Rolling his eyes Jaehyun twisted himself to face the front of the classroom. “Maybe if you paid actual attention to what she does for us as our Principal, you wouldn’t be saying any of that,” he retorted.

“Oh yeah? C’mon Yoonoh, what good are you now? A stellar student who dropped to the lowest, you can’t talk,” Taeyong snapped.  

Everyone around them watched the two go at it again. As they heard Taeyong’s comeback, they were sure that Jaehyun had lost, but then they heard a chuckle.

“Lowest?” he said with a bitter tongue, “Look at where you’re at now, Taeyong. Lowest of lows, even your—” but before he could continue, he stopped himself.

Jaehyun mentally punched his cheeks swollen. The forbidden words almost escaped his mouth as he let his heart take over his mind. He swore to never mention that incident. He swore, no matter how far Taeyong goes with his insults, Jaehyun swore he would never mention her name in front of him. He had morals and ethics, he had a good heart after all. No matter how much he hated his step-brother, he would never say anything that would destroy Taeyong mentally.

“Even my what?” Taeyong asked, provoking him.

Jaehyun tightly closed his eyes and bit his tongue. He resisted saying anything to him about her for the almost 3 years, so he can’t start now. And he won’t.

“Even your friends didn’t even save you,” he replied.

Though he knew this would hit him like ten thousand bricks, Jaehyun knew it was better off for him to say this than mentioning that one specific person. And no matter how much he hated himself for even mentioning the people Taeyong hung out with, it was hard to hold back when all the Silver-haired boy would do is provoke him.