“Kwangmin once cleaned my hair when a classmate spilled rice on me”

 

School session had just started yet Youngmin felt drained of every bit of energy he had left. Covering his face with a book, he opened his mouth widely to yawn that left his eyes watery. Lately, his sleeping schedule has been inconsistent ever since he and his twin brother decided to sign as Starship’s trainees. Sometimes they would arrive home as late as two in the morning after spending their little free time practicing at the company. It usually happens if one of them did not obtain the coach’s satisfaction, which is what happened yesterday. His twin, Kwangmin couldn’t get the hang of rapping just yet so they had to stay in late until the coach himself got tired of them.

 

Stifling another large yawn, Youngmin droned out the noise that was his teacher and laid his head on the table. Kwangmin was in the next class and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was already asleep. Everyone knows that Kwangmin would sleep just about anywhere he can rest his head on. Thinking of his twin caused a twinge of sadness to appear in his chest. Right now, they were kind of outcasted by their peers ever since news broke out that they were training to become idols. They were jeered at, taunted and some even laughed in their faces.

 

‘Hah! You and Kwangmin becoming an idol? Don’t make me laugh! Your talentless butts won’t last a second out there!’

 

Youngmin’s fists clenched unconsciously at that memory. He took those spiteful words as his motivation now; to prove to them all that he and his twin will become successful through hard work and dedication.

 

“Jo Youngmin! What is the answer to problem number 2?” his teacher’s angry bellows startled Youngmin out of his musings.

 

He immediately straightened up his form and stared at the board. A calculus problem. Yup, he was dead.

 

“Um, 25?”

 

Youngmin yelped when a chalk landed painfully on his head. “Pay attention in class! Being a wannabe idol gives you no excuse to rest!” the teacher yelled. The class sniggered, causing Youngmin’s cheeks to burn in embarrassment. Grabbing a pencil, he scribbled down the problems in lightning speed.

 

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Kwangmin stretched out his arms, groaning as his muscles were still sore from all the dancing. The recess bell had just rung and he was going to meet up with his twin to have lunch. He walked the short distance to Class A, his mind consumed with what he would eat.

 

The cafeteria is serving meat soup today, blergh. It tastes like pipe water.

 

As he slid the door open, Kwangmin’s eyes searched for Youngmin. His heart suddenly dropped to his stomach. A burly boy had dumped rice on Youngmin’s head while shrieking with laughter.

 

“You need to eat more, twin A, your face is looking a bit sunken. Is idol life too hard?” he mocked with a smirk on his large face.

 

Kwangmin immediately ran to his shaking twin. The bully looked up as he approached and laughed. “Oh look, twin B comes to the rescue!”

 

“Yah!” Kwangmin shouted, pushing him away from Youngmin. “If you touch my brother again, you will regret it!”

 

The bully shrieked in laughter. “And what are you going to do about it? Call up your idol friends? Wow, I’m so scared!”

 

Youngmin stood up suddenly, causing the chair to move back with a loud screech. The whole class went silent.

 

“I didn’t know a 16 year old could still be this juvenile,” he spoke calmly yet strongly. “If you are that envious of us, then I suggest that you audition yourself and see how gruelling the whole process is. Then again, no scouting agencies would ever take interest in someone as immature and idiotic like you. They would rather run to the other end of the world than be associated with the likes of you.”

 

The boy was left speechless. Never have Youngmin spoke up like that. Usually he was very quiet and kept to himself in class. Even when being bullied, he wouldn’t say a word, just the occasional ‘go away’.

 

Kwangmin smirked when he saw the shocked expressions of the students surrounding them. He grabbed grabbed Youngmin’s hand and led him out of the silent classroom. They headed into the boy’s toilet, ignoring the curious stares shot in their direction.

 

Youngmin shook his head at the sink, trying to remove the rice. Most of it dropped right off but some are still stuck on his hair. Kwangmin silently helped him picked out the hidden white grains. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Youngmin’s hands shaking.

 

“You okay?” Kwangmin asked. Youngmin sighed before leaning on the sink heavily.

 

 

“I’m sick of them,” he muttered. “I’m sick and tired of them constantly putting us down.”

 

Kwangmin stared at the boy before him sadly. “I know you are, I am too, but just keep in mind that we’ll be debuting in just a few more months. When they see us on that stage, those kids will be begging for forgiveness.”

 

When Youngmin remained silent, he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, I’m here okay. We’ll always have each other,” Kwangmin reassured. His twin cracked a smile and shrugged off his arm teasingly.

 

“I think I’m already getting tired of seeing your face every minute of every hour,” he joked.

 

“This face is the same face that you look in the mirror everyday!” Kwangmin exclaimed, “If you get tired of me, then you’re getting tired of yourself, which doesn’t make sense.”

 

“You don’t make sense right now,” Youngmin mumbled under his breath, bending down to wash his face.

 

“What was that?”

 

Instead of answering him, Youngmin pulled him out of the toilet and began walking back to their classroom slowly. All thoughts of lunch had slipped past their minds after that incident.

 

“Are you sure you want to go back to class?” Kwangmin asked worriedly. “Maybe we should just skip the rest of school and go home.”

Youngmin raised an eyebrow at him. “If we leave now, the others won’t take our words seriously. They would think that we’re just cowards running away, so we have to show up to prove to them who we are.”

Kwangmin nodded slowly his words. They reached his class first, Class B, and both boys halted their steps. “Well, I’ll see you later then,” Youngmin bid.

 

“Oh wait,” the other boy called out. He reached out a fist towards his twin. Youngmin rolled his eyes at the sight.

 

“Seriously?”

 

Kwangmin nodded vigorously and shook his fist, asking him to hurry. Youngmin snorted before stretching his right hand to bump Kwangmin’s. They wiggled their thumbs before continuing in an intricate of complicated hand shake practiced in their childhood days. Both boys were laughing by the end of it.

 

“See you soon. Remember, I've got your back.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I got yours too.”