CHAPTER ONE | The Somewhat Calm Before The Storm

"Yah! Kim Rowoon! Are you even listening to me?!" A shout in the boy's ear made him flinch and nearly fall back in his chair.

"W-what did you say Dawon?" He shook his head and looked over at his friend sitting across from him at the table, thick rimmed glasses needing to be pushed back up the bridge of his nose.

"Did you hear a single word I was saying to you just now?!”

Rowoon recomposed himself and shook his head no, feeling slightly embarrassed by the attention his friend's yelling had brought to them. Attention that didn’t last long since the mass of students in the cafeteria could care less what was going on with the two irrelevant boys.

Dawon grumbled and waved his spoon in front of Rowoon's face. "Dude. You've got to stop daydreaming all of the time."

Shrinking back, Rowoon nodded in agreement. "Yeah yeah, so w-what were you talking to me about?" He asked with a minor stutter.

Dawon shoved his spoon into his mouth and let out a sigh. "Now that I actually have your attention.... I was in the middle of explaining to you that my sister's dog ran away last night, and I couldn’t find him anywhere! I was up until one in the morning looking for that little monster! But nothing!”

“You m-mean that little rat dog?”

“Yes.”

“And this is a b-bad thing?”

“Yes. That’s why you’re going to help me find him tonight or else my sister’s going to come home and you're going to be minus one friend." He explained.

“Have you considered s-secretly switching the dog out w-with another?” Rowoon offered as a joke.

“Can’t. I don’t have the funds.” Dawon grumbled, shoving food into his mouth upsettingly.

Rowoon wasn’t surprised that his friend had even considered the possibility of such a ridiculous idea. It was too bad indeed that he didn’t have the cash for it. What a shame. "How did you manage to lose your s-sister's dog anyways?" His brow raised curiously.

"Well." Dawon began scooting the food around on his plate with his spoon "I uh... ah! It's not important! All I know is that that dog is my lifeline right now and that you and I have to find him at all costs!"

"And what is it you two think you’re going to be doing without us?" A slim, brown haired boy butted into their conversation as he placed his lunch tray on the table next to Dawon and sat down.

"You mean what they're going to be doing without you Hwiyoung?" The young girl that accompanied him corrected while pulling up a seat next to Rowoon. "I don't want any part in any kind of trouble you guys have gotten or are planning on getting yourselves into."

The boy, Hwiyoung, huffed and went straight into shoving his face with his kimchi fried rice. Sitting through a long period of geometry was enough to make him absolutely famished. If he had to look at any more lines, he figured that the lunch line was the best choice.

"Ah Sooyoung, you are seriously no fun." He spoke with his cheeks filled with food.

Sooyoung looked at him disgustedly and set her chopsticks down on the table. Suddenly she wasn't as hungry as she was before.

"It's not that I'm no fun. I just prefer not to be escorted home by the police for doing something stupid. You three seem to be exceptionally good at that." She implied.

"Hey! That was one time! And we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, ok?!" Dawon said in his defense.

"L-let’s just not talk about that incident again." Rowoon laughed nervously, nudging Sooyoung with his elbow.

"Whatever. We're going to look for my sister's runaway dog tonight. Are you going to help me or not?!" Dawon pressed his hands together in prayer and jutted out his lip, begging for his friend's help.

Rowoon sighed deeply and poked at the piece of meat sitting on the top of his rice with his chopsticks. "I guess s-so..." He gave in, knowing that his best friend wasn't going to take no for an answer. Even if he refused, he was sure Dawon would be showing up at his house later trying to drag him out anyways.

"Yes!!" Dawon cheered happily. "Ok, so see you two at my house around 7 maybe?" His eyes went from Rowoon to Hwiyoung, then to Sooyoung. "Sure you're not interested in going? How much trouble could we possibly get into?"

Sooyoung scoffed at Dawon’s bold statement.

"I'm in!" Hwiyoung gave them a thumbs up, continuing to shove his face with food in the meantime.

"It's still a no from me."Sooyoung pushed her tray away and slung her school bag over her shoulder as she got up from the table.

"You better watch what you wish for Dawon. You could have just jinxed yourself."

Hwiyoung lowered his spoon slowly and glanced over at his two friends to see their reaction to what she had said. Dawon seemed unfazed whereas Rowoon was staring passed the two boys at who he could only guess to be his usual target of interest.

"Ok, you three have fun tonight. I have lots of homework to get done so don't be showing up at my house at any time." Sooyoung smiled at them and patted Rowoon on the head, suddenly pulling him from his gaze. “Keep those two in line this time, will yah?" She grabbed the apple from her lunch tray and walked away from the table to go to her next class.

Dawon rolled his eyes at Sooyoung and noticed the developing looks of uncertainty on both Rowoon and Hwiyoung's faces. "Don't worry boys, everything is going to be fine. We're just going to find the dog and go home. easy as that." He assured them with a cheesy smile. If only he knew what kind of trouble was waiting for them.

Rowoon gave up a small laugh and began losing his concentration as his eyes went from his friends to the group of girls sitting a couple tables behind them. He had a clear view of one of the girls who was facing him with a charming smile gracing her soft, pink lips. His friend’s chatter seemed to become background noise as he focused on how she tucked a strand of her long black hair behind her ear. He was completely mesmerized by her. She and her friends always sat at the same table, which was Rowoon’s initial reasoning behind picking his own table. It was a prime spot for gazing upon the most breathtakingly beautiful girl in Woomin High, Bae Joohyun.

“Hey, Kim Rowoon! You better wipe that drool from your face lover boy.”

Dawon swiped his finger across his friend’s lower lip, plucking him back into reality. Rowoon frantically wiped at his mouth in case of actual leakage, but his face was dry.

“Sorry.” He murmured.

“What did I say about daydreaming?!” Dawon scolded him, threatening to hit the boy’s forehead with his spoon. Rowoon flinched as a result and shot his friend a threatening stare.

“Hit me and I’ll fight you.”

Dawon chuckled at his challenge and both he and Hwiyoung peered over their shoulders at the group of girls.

Bae Joohyun noticed their eyes on her immediately and offered them a shy smile and a small bow of the head. Dawon waved back at her with a cheeky smile and wiggly eyebrows that would creep anyone out. She started giggling and Rowoon couldn’t tell if it was a pity laugh or if she genuinely found Dawon to be funny. Either way, he couldn’t bring himself to look in her direction for long. He was still working on eye contact. It wasn’t his forte with people, especially someone like her.

Joohyun’s friend that was facing her on the opposite side of their table turned her body to look at them and her face distorted in disgust. She immediately turned back and slid to where she was blocking Joohyun from their view. Their group collectively snickered and muttered words like “ew” and “weirdos.”

Dawon and Hwiyoung brought themselves back into the table and pushed each other playfully.

“You see that? She’s totally into me.” Dawon joked.

“Totally.” Hwiyoung agreed sarcastically.

Rowoon shook his head and buried his face in his hands. “You guys are t-too much, you know t-that?” He grumbled through tightly locked fingers.

“Oh we know.”

“Now come on lover boy, we’ve got to get back to class early so I can copy those notes of yours.” Dawon got up from the lunch table and strung his bag over his shoulder. “C’mon.” He grabbed hold of Hwiyoung’s arm, prompting the boy to hurriedly shove the last couple bites of his food into his mouth before allowing himself to be dragged along.

Rowoon sighed deeply and picked up his bag, pulling both straps over his shoulders.

“Hurry child. Time is of the essence.” Dawon called to him loudly, knowing full well that it would bother him.

Rowoon hunched his shoulders and pushed his slipping glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. He mentally cursed Dawon out and quickly made his way down the aisle of lunch tables after his fleeting friends. They were already out of sight.

There was a split second that Rowoon took to sneak a peek at Joohyun, only to be met with round, beautiful eyes. His face instantly turned red and his direction wavered, resulting in him knocking his hip hard into the edge of one of the tables. The table screeched and shifted on impact causing the entire table of girls, including half of the lunchroom, to erupt into laughter; minus Joohyun whose brows knitted together out of concern for him.

“Watch where you’re going you giant!” A boy yelled from behind him, igniting more laughter amongst the students.

Rowoon bit down hard on his lip in order to keep his pain bottled up and hurriedly limped out of the cafeteria like nothing even happened. His cheeks were hot with fresh embarrassment.

Racing away as fast as his feet could carry him, he bumped shoulders with someone in the hallway without stopping to see who it was. That was a mistake.

Suddenly, with an unbelievable amount of force, Rowoon was yanked backwards by his forearm and shoved against one of the lockers. There was a loud crash as his back hit the metal and he choked out a whimper from deep within his gut.

Rowoon was surprised he hadn’t been knocked out from that. At this point he was kinda hoping he had been.

Glancing up through his disheveled hair, he locked eyes with the person who had hurled him. It was the last person he ever wanted to make trouble with. Woomin High’s very own white-haired psychopath, Kim Taehyung.

With hazel eyes blazing with anger, Rowoon concluded that today would be the day he died. His parents always did teach him to pay attention in school. He knew this wasn’t exactly what they meant, but the idea still applied in the presented situation.

“You should really watch where you’re going kid!” Yet again he was reminded that he had a terrible sense of spatial awareness.

“I-I-I—I’m s-s-sorry!” His stutter became more apparent as he frantically forced his words out in apology. In his head he cursed himself for having been born with such an impediment.

“Now you’re sorry?! Did I really have to throw you into the lockers to get an apology out of you?” Taehyung growled; his tone venomous.

Well, he didn’t need to attack him in the first place, Rowoon thought. A simple tap on the shoulder or a quick warning would have been a better choice of confrontation in his opinion. Not nearly breaking him in two with the strength of a gorilla!

“N-n-no, I—” Rowoon was cut off by Taehyung roughly grabbing his shirt collar and pinning him against the lockers with a suffocating amount of pressure being pressed against his throat. Rowoon was a tall guy, but Taehyung appeared much bigger than him in that moment.

If he wasn’t mistaken, he would say that Taehyung truly desired to kill him. The murderous look he had on his face said a lot about his intentions. Rowoon could only wonder why, as his windpipe was being crushed to smithereens, the guy was so infuriated by the fact that he had barely touched him. He also wondered why nobody was doing anything to stop him from literally murdering him in the halls of his own school.

“Kim Taehyung!”

The yell of a male’s voice from the end of the hall lead Taehyung to relieve some of the pressure on Rowoon’s throat, allowing him to get a few good breaths in.

Approaching with Dawon hot on his heels, Hwiyoung gripped down tightly on the boy’s arm and glowered at him with equally threatening eyes.

“Let him go.” His voice was like a low growl.

Taehyung scoffed and completely disregarded Dawon who was busy attempting to pry his hand from its place on Rowoon’s neck without any success.

“I said let go!” Hwiyoung raised his voice.

“Seriously dude! You’re suffocating him!” Dawon urged him to stop.

Taehyung retracted his hand with a smug grin and raised his hands in surrender. In doing so, Rowoon slid down the wall with Dawon supporting him, hacking and gasping for air. His friend was doing his best to keep him up, but he was a little too heavy.

“C’mon beanpole. Don’t let those long legs of yours fail you now.” Dawon whispered to him, with his face turning a faint red from straining himself to lift his friend back to his feet.

Rowoon was feeling lightheaded. “So that’s what it feels like to be strangled? Wouldn’t try that again…” He thought while willing his jelly legs to straighten themselves out.

Without another word, Taehyung frowned and stormed off through the crowd of gathered students that happily parted to make way for him. The same crowd that had gathered to watch, but not bother to step in to help him. School certainly was the best.

Hwiyoung stared in Taehyung’s direction even after he left. It was when Dawon asked him for help that his concentration broke. With his added strength, they heaved Rowoon onto his feet and helped him walked down the hallway.

“What a lunatic!” Dawon exclaimed. “That’s the last time I leave you alone string-bean! There are too many crazies in this school.”

Rowoon nodded and thanked them both. “I’ll be more careful next time…”

Well Isn't this great? I finally put up the first chapter. Feels so weird. But anyways...

The original first chapter was muuuch longer than this, but I decided to split it. 

Okie dokie. Thanks for reading! I'll keep uploading when I cannnn. o3o