chapter 12 | it starts with l

Sunggyu gets the biggest shock the next day at school. He’d woken up like any other day, gone to school with Dongwoo and met up with Hoya. He had pushed through the throng of people to the manly smelling change room where his locker was unfortunately located, and as he listened to Hoya tell him about this new hip-hop song he liked, Sunggyu had discovered something peculiar.

            “What’s that?” Hoya asks, peering at the small slip of cream paper Sunggyu held in between his fingers.

            “I-I don’t know. It just fell out of my locker,” Sunggyu says, turning the paper over and examining it.

            “It’s a note, right? Read it!”

            “They probably got the wrong locker. Maybe I shouldn’t read it. What if it isn’t addressed to me?”

            “Oh, just read it. You never know until you look inside. It’s like what’s his name… the cat guy…”

            “Schrodinger?”

            “Yeah! Him!”

            Sunggyu sighs, flipping the slip of paper over again. “I suppose you have a point,” Sunggyu mutters. He slowly unfolds the slip of paper, revealing somewhat messy penmanship. Kim Sunggyu, meet me in the far back corner of the library directly after the last bell, the note reads. There is a bold L written on the bottom right corner. Sunggyu is rather perplexed because the note is actually addressed to him, although he doesn’t know who L is. And he’s also bewildered that he was instructed to go to the far back corner of the library, a corner that everyone knew was practically deserted. Not many people visited the library in the first place, and especially not at the far back corner. Sunggyu didn’t really know why; it wasn’t like the books were bad in that corner. Nobody went back there and that was that. No one ever really questioned it.

            “Woah, Sunggyu! Could someone perhaps be confessing to you?” Hoya says, apparently having read the note over Sunggyu’s shoulder.

            “C-confession?” Sunggyu exclaims somewhat quietly.

            “Yeah, a confession. I’ve gotten a few before. Usually what happens is you go to the place that was mentioned and you either say yes or no—”

            “Wait, you got them before?”

            “Yeah but only a couple of times. And that was only when I was cool,” Hoya says, looking off into the distance as if remembering the times when he was, as he would say, cool.

            Sunggyu pockets the slip of paper and shuts his locker. “Should I go after school like the note said?”

            “Of course! Whatever it is, you can’t stand them up. And besides, I’m really curious.”

            --

            Sunggyu walks, his head hung low. He wonders if this is some sick prank to humiliate him. Maybe Woohyun’s friends were not happy seeing him talk to a loser like Sunggyu and they wanted to show Sunggyu his place. But whatever it was, Sunggyu couldn’t really turn back now because he was already entering the library and making his way to the far back corner. The library is fairly big and empty, most people just wanting to leave the stressful atmosphere of school.

            Sunggyu weaves through the tall bookcases and finally arrives at the back corner. At first he thinks that he is alone and has indeed been stood up until he hears something. “Kim Sunggyu.”

            Sunggyu spins around and his breath catches in his throat. Standing by the window, letting the white curtains billow around his body, is a boy that Sunggyu recognizes almost straight away. Kim Myungsoo, a friend of Woohyun’s. Myungsoo was the quiet and mysterious boy whom he’d seen with Woohyun ever since the first day of school. Sunggyu had heard the rumours about Myungsoo – he received many confessions yet he never accepted any of them. He was handsome and dark, easily attracting girls and boys alike.

            Sunggyu thinks it’s so odd and unbelievable that Myungsoo even knows Sunggyu’s name; he’d just assumed that Myungsoo took no interest in anyone except Woohyun. It baffled Sunggyu further that Myungsoo would want to meet up with. And how did he know Sunggyu’s locker number? Why did he want to speak with Sunggyu? Sunggyu suddenly feels scared for his life. Myungsoo is scary enough but now that Sunggyu knows Myungsoo has business with him (he’s not sure what business, though), he just got scarier.

            “I need to talk to you,” he continues. Sunggyu thinks this might be the first time he’s ever heard Myungsoo’s voice or even been this close to him. He’s not sure how to feel about that.

            “A-About what?”

            “Stop playing along with Woohyun’s games,” he says bluntly and with a smoldering expression.

            “W-what? Playing along?”

            “Did you think that Woohyun likes you? He’s just playing with you. He thinks this is a game and you’re playing along.”

            “W-why are you telling me this? H-how do I know you aren’t lying?”

            “I’ve known him since we were kids. He tells me everything. He doesn’t like you. He’s just having fun playing with you.”

            Sunggyu tries hard to find his voice. “Why do you care?” he says quietly.

            Myungsoo takes a step out of the billowing curtains and towards Sunggyu, getting too close for comfort. “I care because I’m not heartless. And I don’t want to see Woohyun playing with people as if they’re toys. He’s a heartbreaker, Sunggyu, and you are no different to him than everyone else he’s hurt.”

            Sunggyu tries to swallow everything he’s just been told. It couldn’t be true, could it? Woohyun didn’t seem to mind Sunggyu’s presence and even invited him over to his home. Was everything really a lie? But Sunggyu can’t deny that it’s very possible. Sunggyu’s a loser and Woohyun couldn’t like someone like him. Sunggyu realizes how stupid he’d been for believing Woohyun. He was really an idiot.

            Sunggyu rubs his temples, his head starting to hurt. How could he be so stupid? He should never have gone to that club with Min Ji. If he’d just stayed home like he wanted to, none of this would have happened. Sunggyu vaguely remembers that Myungsoo is still there until he speaks again.

            “Would you like to help me teach Woohyun a lesson?”

            “W-what?” Sunggyu glances up to see that Myungsoo’s facial expression has softened, but only a tad.

            “Go out with me.”

            Sunggyu blinks. Did he hear Myungsoo right? “Sorry, I don’t think I heard you.”

            “Go. Out. With. Me,” Myungsoo repeats slower and louder.

            “Why?”

            “If you date me, Woohyun will see that he can’t always have things his way and that he can’t always win. I’m doing this for him.”

            Sunggyu isn’t really thinking straight – his mind is jumbled and confused. He’s not really contemplating the long term effects and he knows he’s blindly jumping into this but he nods anyways and he doesn’t really know why. 

Short chapter. Not proofread. Sue me.

I like how all of you were so against this stalker. Did anyone read the foreword? I did indeed mention myunggyu. 

And I know what you're thinking: "What the hell is this there is already a kind of not really love triangle between Yongguk, Sunggyu, and Woohyun! Why are you adding another person?" 

My answer for you is: You will have to wait and read on to find out! 

Also, I changed my username to namwooyu because theseventhchapter was just stupid and yeah. 

Oh my birthday is soon... maybe I will write a bonus chapter for my birthday? Maybe a day in the life of Hoya or Dongwoo. Maybe. 

Comments make me less lonely.