Lunch is just an hour of organized chaos.

And food.

When the bell rang to signal the beginning of the lunch hour, Sehun took his time to collect his books and go to his locker. On his way back to his locker, he didn’t hear any whispers.

That’s weird. Sehun thought to himself. Normally these kinda things don’t die down in 3 hours. More like 3 days.

Sehun walked to his locker. This time, he glanced around looking at the people who stared at him.

He recognized a few faces. Like the girl from science, the guys from gym, and Youngnam too.

He almost walked past his locker mistaking it as someone else’s. He never expected his locker to have something pink taped to it. And he never expected the pink thing to be so… Frilly.

Sehun hates these kinda things. Anything frilly automatically reminds him of Aunt Eunjung. She loves frilly things. Which explains why her wedding dress was a total nightmare to look at.

When Sehun took the pink thing off his locker, he realized it was a card. But not just a card, it was a heart shaped card.

It’s not even Valentine’s Day yet.

Sehun noticed that some people started to crowd around him to get a better look at his card. So reluctantly, Sehun opened the card. Inside, was a phone number.

I don’t have time to find out who this is. Plus, if someone does like me, they should tell me face-to-face so that turning them down is easier. Making me go through the extra effort is just plain irritating.

And with that, Sehun took the card, ripped it into many small pieces - because he doesn’t want others to start calling the person just to bother her - and threw it out.

Little did he know, that the girl who gave him the card, witnessed his every action. She felt as if he had ripped her heart into many small pieces, just like the poor card. So she silently turned away, and returned to her group of friends, head lowered in disappointment.

Sehun didn’t notice anything, so he continued to put his books back in his locker before going to the cafeteria. The lunch they sell at school isn’t toxic, but it isn’t delicious either. It’s just edible. So Sehun took a seemingly edible sandwich, paid $2 for it, and went to find a seat as far away from the chaos as possible.

But today, it seems as if chaos was interested in him. The main group of popular people called him, and even sent one of their people over to make Sehun sit with them. Sehun knew he couldn’t say no, because that’s the equivalent to death.

Sehun had no choice but to sit with them. The only one in this group that he recognized was the guy from his music class, Junghwa. So Sehun decided to sit next to Junghwa, knowing that he isn’t that bad.

One girl decided to get close to Sehun as soon as he sat down.

“So,” she twirled her dyed hair. “What was that pink card about?”

Sehun wasn’t interested in talking. He shrugged as he bit into his sandwich.

Not a bad sandwich, it’s edible, and tastes fairly good.

“Was it from your girlfriend?” the girl asked.

Sehun ignored her.

“Of course it wasn’t from his girlfriend, he doesn’t have one,” said one of the boys.

Sehun looked up from his sandwich to see who the guy was. It was Junghwa. Sehun smiled a little and nodded in thanks.

“Oh okay,” the girl sighed. “But by any chance, was it Eunmi?”

Sehun froze.

He hated that name, he hated the memories tied with that name, but most of all, he hated that girl.

“No,” Sehun’s voice was cold and sharp. “It wasn’t Eunmi.”

And with that, Sehun got up, abandoned the sandwich he had begin to grow fond of, and left the cafeteria. He didn’t want to talk about Eunmi. He didn’t want to talk at all. He just lost his appetite too. But at least he kind of knows why people were whispering about that.

Was she the one who put the card on my locker? Or do people just think history will repeat itself?

But if history does repeat itself, it’s already failing, Sehun noted.

He tried to shrug off the feeling, and went back to his locker. He had music and geography after the lunch hour. So Sehun decided to grab his clarinet (he takes instrumental music and he’s in the school band) along with his method book and geography notebook, and went to Mr. Wu’s room.

Luckily, Mr. Wu left it unlocked as usual. Even luckier for him, no one was inside. Sehun placed his things on the seat closest to the door, walked across the room, and sat in the seat beside the window.

As much as he tried to distract himself, his thoughts went back to the day that happened, and to Eunmi too.

Sehun realized it’s better if he didn’t sit and think all the time. Especially since he’s been doing exactly that all day. So he got up, and decided to walk around outside.

Sure, it’s cold, but that didn’t stop anybody. Sehun saw a few students sharing cigarettes near the back of the school, and some were wandering around, enjoying the slight wind and chilled air.

Like the wanderers, Sehun decided to walk around as well. And as cold and mature as he seems, Sehun loves playing in the snow. Especially making footprints in fresh snow.

So he did exactly that.

Sehun walked around in the fresh snow, leaving a trail of perfect footprints going around in circles behind him.

Once Sehun decided he had enough fun, he turned to look at the footprints, and smiled in satisfaction. Sehun liked finding satisfaction in simple things like this. But all fun has to come to an end, doesn’t it?

Sehun looked at his watch, and realized he only had 5 minutes to get his belongings from Mr. Wu’s room and then go to the music room. So he quickly walked back to the school, through the empty halls, up the stairs, and straight into room 202.

Sehun walked in without knocking, as usual. However, he didn’t notice Mr. Wu was watching him take his books and clarinet until he heard someone clear their throat and mutter something in Mandarin.

“You know Sehun, even though I leave this room unlocked, it doesn’t mean you can use it as your second locker.”

Sehun bowed and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Wu. I was actually in your classroom for a while until I decided I needed fresh air. So I went outside for a while.”

“No need to apologize,” Mr. Wu started. “I’m not mad at all. But I’m worried that someone may steal your things if you just leave it all here. So in the future, you should be more careful. Alright?”

“Alright then, Mr. Wu. I’ll be going now,” and on that note, Sehun tucked his books under his right elbow, and took his clarinet case in his left hand. He bowed once more before he left.

“Never skip your classes, okay?” Mr. Wu reminded Sehun as he left.

There were only 2 minutes left until the bell rang to signal period 4. People started crowding the halls, therefore making it a struggle for Sehun to get through. But even though it became a struggle to go through the halls, that didn’t stop Sehun at all.

Instead, he went outside. Sehun knew all the shortcuts to get to classes on time, or even earlier than just “on time”. And since the instrumental music room is underground, room 005, Sehun went around the building, and was headed towards the parking lot. Because near the parking lot, is a door that goes directly to the school’s lowest level.

As he neared the door, he quickened his pace. The temperature was dropping, and Sehun just wanted to be inside.

However, Sehun didn’t realize that the ground was covered in a layer of black ice. And because of his lack of realization, Sehun’s legs decided to betray him as he collapsed. His books had abandoned him, but his clarinet case was still held firmly in his left hand.

As Sehun slowly got up and cleaned off the snow that clung to his clothes, he felt a sharp pain in his right knee.

Well this day just keeps getting better and better, Sehun thought bitterly as he limped around, picking up his snow covered books.

The bell signalling the beginning of period 4 finally rang. Sehun would now be declared late unless his music teacher is late herself, or if she’s feeling generous.

Nevertheless, Sehun limped with speed. He went back inside, down the stairs, and walked right into room 005.

“I’m sorry I’m late Mrs. Choi I was just-,” Sehun stopped mid-sentence. There was no teacher in the room, and a few students were missing. Looking around, he realized his fellow clarinet player, Junghwa, wasn’t here. The only person Sehun recognized was a girl in the flute section.

That girl happened to be Eunmi.

Author's Note

I'm beginning to think this story is half rushed, half super slow. But oh well. Writing IOROS is funner than I expected it to be. My updates might be irregular because of school. Apologies in advance ;-;