“D-DAD! STOP!”

“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT”

“DAD PLEASE STOP!!—”

*gasp* *gasp* Jun huffed uneven as he suddenly sat on his bed.

My heart is beating so fast I think it could actually burst out of my chest. I can feel my blood boiling because I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had this nightmare. This… memory. The sweat covering my body is nothing new. When I bath at night, I always think it’s useless. I’d still have to shower again in the morning. Even my hair gets all sweaty. I truly thank my alarm clock waking me up or else I think the dream would have devoured me, silently, without anyone knowing. My mom wouldn’t care anyway. She hasn’t stop repeating the same words since we arrived at our new house so I doubt she would even talk to me about anything not concerning that.

Jun stretched his trembling hand and tapped the clock to stop it from emitting the annoying sound that was driving him crazy. Yet, he was thankful of its existence. He brought his knees over his chest. He looked at the clock. It was 7am. He sighed and scratched his head. It was his first day in the new high school and he couldn’t afford to get there late. He still had 30 minutes and it was pressuring him. He got out of bed dragging his feet and prepared his stuff. By the time he realized it, he still had around 10 minutes so he grabbed a toast and got out the house. He stood outside and thought for a while. He then hesitantly turned back and opened the door to loudly whisper “b-bye mom”

On his way, he spotted people wearing the same uniform as him, running. , he was really late… ON HIS FIRST DAY. He ran behind the other kids not to get lost but accidentally bumped into some guy that was walking. The touch made them drop the books they were carrying. The black-haired guy, who was slightly taller than him, bent down to grab his books. Jun immediately copied the latter and separated his things from the guy’s. He got up and gave him the books, receiving a very warm smile. He paused a little before running away yelling “SORRY AND THANK YOU”

, , , he said as he entered the school. I don’t even know what class I’m in. He then stopped in track. Where the hell was he supposed to go? He spotted a room with a tag that read “principal”

Guess I’ll try there first. He stood in front of the door and knocked. Some seconds later, he heard “come in”.

He opened the door and it revealed a small room with lots of bookshelves. A bureau was placed in the middle and two chairs were set in front. The he-assumed-was-the-principal was sitting on a chair opposite to the other two “don’t be shy, come in, come in”

Jun bowed down before entering “good morning, sir”

“ah, you must be Wen JunHui? Sit, sit” smiled the man as he stretched his arm and shook Jun’s hand “my name is Han SeongSu. It’s a pleasure meeting you”

“The pleasure’s all mine, mister”

“what brings you here? Don’t tell me you came here just to salute me?” he laughed

“heh, heh, actually I came to get my classroom schedule and information about my case”

“that seems logic” he grabbed the phone and called someone. He then turned his chair to grab a folder that was on the shelf behind him. “we’re on our 2nd month, you missed quiet a lot”

“but—”

“I know. It says here you have quite the IQ. You won’t have problem adjusting to your new environment. You’re in class 3A. Someone will—” he was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was opened and a student entered. He bowed down “you called?”

“oh yes. Right in time. Meet the new student. His name is Wen JunHui.” He turned over to Jun “this is SeungCheol. He’s your class president and your school guide till you know everything you need to know.”

They shook hands “you can call me SCoups” the president said. Soon, the principal chased them out of the room. They exchanged some words on their way to their class. When Seungcheol opened the door, the classroom suddenly became quiet. They both stepped to the center and SCoups went to talk to the young, really young, teacher. Jun was left alone in front of the board so he shyly smiled and looked at his new classmates. He could hear whispers and wondered what they were about. He was really sensitive to rumors and gossip so he wanted to make the best impression. He wanted to show a good image. He made eye contact with some girls, but for some reason, they shyly turned their face and whispered something to the people next to them. “is there something on my face?” he asked himself while touching his cheeks. He heard the girls giggle and some guys smile at him. The teacher suddenly came to him “my, my, what a beauty—I-I mean, the girls think your beautiful”

Jun felt intimidated but decided not to say anything. “first day, first impression” he repeated in his head.

“please introduce yourself” said the teacher as she flipped her hair, making the students laugh.

Jun took some steps forward “My name is Wen JunHui. I’m Chinese but I’ve been living in Korea for more than 3 years now”

A guy raised his hand “do you have any sibling?”

“I-I do. But he… yeah, I do” Jun softly smiled, making the girls blush.

This time, a girl raised her hand “do you have a girlfriend?”

Whispers began again and Jun tensed up. Thankfully, the teacher intervened “that’s enough. The last question was unnecessary” she turned towards Wen “privacy should be respected but you can always tell me whatever you want”

“oookaaaay” interrupted SCoups “enough for today”. He led Jun to the back of the classroom where an empty table and chair were available. “this will be your seat” they heard some girls mumble stuff. “We’ll talk after class” he last said before going to his own seat.

Jun looked around. To his right were two tables, first a guy, then a girl…. Who stared creepily at him. In front of him stood a broad back. It looked like it belonged to a girl but Jun wasn’t carefree enough to bent down and look if the person wore a skirt. Lastly, to his left, next to the window, was a guy. He had earphones on but was looking at the board. The teacher had either not noticed the device or decided to ignore it for some reason. He had a sharp jawline and Jun wondered if it could actually cut. His black hair made his pale skin stand out and for some reason there was something familiar about it. When he looked his way, Jun immediately recognized him as the guy from this morning. He opened his mouth to say something but the latter turned his face, again facing the blackboard. Hein? Did he not recognize me? wondered Junhui.

Second and third period passed quickly and now Jun found himself walking with Seungcheol in the corridor. It was lunch time but Seungcheol said it would be the best moment to look around the school. Jun was glad his guide suggested that or else someone would have dragged him to the cafeteria. He didn’t have lunch money and this morning he didn’t have time to prepare a dosirak (lunch box). I should probably set the alarm to 6:30, thought Jun as he walked with his friend. They suddenly arrived at what appeared to be a library. “do you like to read, Jun?” asked SCoups as he grabbed a book from the shelf

“I like to read online” said Jun as he scratched his head. SCoups stared at him without saying anything, making the ambiance awkward. He mumbled “weird” then turned around and walked towards a sofa. Jun saw a man sleeping there with his earphones on. He was tall so his legs stuck out of the furniture. “Seokmin”

The latter had his eyes closed so he didn’t even see the president in front of him. “D.K!” Jun quickly assumed his nickname was D.K.

Since he didn’t answer the second time either, Seungcheol bent down, unplugged the earphones from the ears and yelled “D.K!!!!!”

The said man flinched and opened his eyes. The whole library turned over and once they saw it was the usual two, they continued doing what they were doing. The librarian still shushed them though “shhhh” with her finger on her lips.

“what do you want?” groaned Seokmin as he sat on the sofa

“do you know why they call you D.K?”

“yeah, cause—”

“cause you’re a ” blurted out Seungcheol with crossed arms and a straight face. Jun couldn’t contain his laughter anymore. Seokmin looked at him with judging eyes “who’s this guy?”

“he just transferred here and I’m his first friend”

First friend? Jun didn’t say anything. Seeing as the other also didn’t open his mouth, he stretched his hand “I’m Wen JunHui. Class 3A”

The latter looked at him weirdly before shaking his hand “Lee Seokmin” and then rubbing it on his temple, as if he had just dirtied it. Seungcheol rolled his eyes “sassy ”

The two began talking and Jun found himself wandering around the library. He spotted the familiar figure so he went to sit next to him “hey”

“jaw”, as Jun would like to call him, only looked at him for one second before averting his stare. The Chinese played with his fingers on the table and felt the atmosphere awkward. “is he this morning’s evil twin or something? He wondered. Just when he was about to stand up, he heard “do you also like to read?” in a very deep voice that sounded below zero.

Jun smiled “y-yeah, I do”

“what books do you have?”

Jun’s eyes wandered from his fingers to Jaw alternatively “A-Actually, I don’t have books. I read online”

He was expecting the latter to mock him or say something like what? That’s weird. But he didn’t. He placed the book on the table and crossed his arms. His eyes never left Jun’s. “why?”

Jun scratched his head for the nth time that day “why? Because books are expensive”

Jaw nodded and closed the book on the table “that’s a reasonable reason. I don’t see anything wrong with reading online but I know I won’t ever do it since I like to feel books. To feel the cover, the papers” he continued talking but Jun didn’t hear anything since he was so fascinated by how passionate the other guy was about books. “books are enough to answer any question” was the last thing he heard before Seungcheol called him from afar. “sorry. I have to go”

“okay”

Jun stood and was about to go, when his instincts made him stop “ummm What’s your name?”

“… Jeon WonWoo”

“nice to meet you. I’m Wen JunHui”

“I know”

“H-How do you know?”

“This is the third time we see each other and you said your name in class”

So, he did recognize me… then why did he ignore me in class?

He was called again by his friend so he left. “sheesh why were you talking to him, Jun?” asked Seungcheol

“huh? What’s wrong with Wonwoo?”

“you seriously don’t know anything” giggled DK as he started walking. The other two followed some steps behind. “you shouldn’t talk to him”

“Unless you tell me why, I won’t do as you say”

“Unless you want to be an outcast, don’t interact with him”

“outcast?”

“it’s not that serious. DK just likes to exaggerate a little like the little he is”

DK rolled his eyes “the only people who talk to him only do it because they share activities. Anyway, don’t interact with him, got it?”

Jun just sighed “yeah” and the other two took it fair enough.

…. Yeah right, like I’m gonna ignore him just because you guys tell me to, thought Jun as he walked behind the others. Keep talking like that and you’ll be the ones getting ignored.

SCoups suddenly stopped in his place, making DK bump his nose into the latter’s back “hey, hey, my nose”

Jun was grateful he distan