Chapter 3 : Woo Bin?

Ms Jung continues her monotonous lesson as she reads over a poem that no one seems to be paying attention to. Jong Suk repeats after her in his mind, trying to focus, listen to the words and understand the meaning. “A dagger pointed at me,” her tone changes dramatically as she reads on, “A cup of poison to be drained,” and her eyes start to redden at this point, “I must embrace you—” That’s as far as Jong Suk could manage go; her voice starts tuning out automatically and he is falling into the same hypnotised state the other students are in. His eye-lids feel heavy as Ms Jung’s voice backtracks into its monotonous state; it becomes a soft buzz in a far distance and Jong Suk starts nodding off, just like the rest of the class—but not for long.

Seung boy leans his elbow on the desk and props his chin onto his palm. “So, we meet again eh?” he whispers into Jong Suk’s ear, sending a chill down his spine. Jong Suk jerks up, darts his head in the direction of the shrill whisper. His mouth clamped shut he stares at Seung boy whose face is split into a smirk. Jong Suk settles back into the narrow backrest of his seat and smiles tentatively for a moment. Ms Jung’s voice had momentarily distracted him from the nervousness thumping in his heart, but now it is invading back to his chest.

Seung leans closer and Jong Suk feels his warm breaths waft against his neck, the smell of his thick fragrance nauseating down to Jong Suk’s stomach. He drags his chair to the very end of his desk, a momentary screech jerks few people around from their hypnotised sleep; they snap at him with annoyed looks and goes back to nodding off in no time. He leans as far away from Seung as possible, trying his best to not make it obvious.

“I’m Choi Seung Hyun,” he whispers and grins as he waits for Jong Suk’s reply.

The faster Jong Suk answers, the quicker this conversation will end and perhaps he will be spared hurling out everything in his stomach. “Lee Jong Suk,” he whispers back, “nice to meet you,” and nods slightly before fixing his attention back to the teacher, hoping it will make his intentions clear to Seung Hyun.   

“Oh babe…why are you so shy?” Seung’s whispers make his heart race with uncanny familiarity. He tries imaging a forest, the greenery freshening up the air, the fresh smell of rain, and the sweet melodies of birds—there is no one else there, only Jong Suk saunters down the nature’s path. He feels his heart slowing down to its usual rhythm, the hair standing on his neck gradually calms—just until a muscular arm snakes around his shoulders. Jong Suk’s eyes shoot open; he jumps to his feet, throwing the strangling arm off. His chair flies back and crashes onto the lockers with a loud thud.

Dead silence. Everyone is staring at him.

He can feel his face burning and glares at no one in particular. His heart is back on its tracks, racing like a runaway train, beads of sweat popping up along his temple. Air is thickening and the world seems to freeze in time, he feels his mind being dragged into that tunnel of torture. He needs to get out of here! Fast!

“Jong Suk?” Ms Jung sounds alarmed. Her voice momentarily distracts him, but he knows far too well that it won’t last for long.

“Do you want to go to the infirmary?” she asks, probably noticing the sweat gushed, trembling state Jong Suk’s body is in. He nods, without waiting for her confirmation, dashes to the nearest door at the back and runs out as fast as he could. He hurries down the hallway, turns at the end and heads to the rooftop.

Jong Suk grabs onto his shaking knees and heaves in short breaths, trying to steady his hammering heart. He hadn’t run that fast in a while—he was never the sporty type to begin with. He wonders if he should start exercising more often. Perhaps he could burrow Woo Bin’s weights. He has a whole range from 2KG to10KG; he has seen Woo Bin train his arms with the heaviest of them like it doesn’t weigh more than a pen. Somehow the thoughts of the dinosaur boy calms him down a bit, it washes away the nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Jong Suk shuffles across the empty rooftop toward the very end where there is a bench and lays down on it.  

His heavy eye-lids shut gradually and Jong Suk drifts into a deep sleep.

***

He doesn’t know how long he has been sleeping for, but a sudden chirpy voice wakes him up from his peaceful sleep.

“Lee Jong Suk…” the bubbly voice calls him again. He groans as the sunlight burns right into his face. Squinting his eyes at the sudden brightness he wonders who is calling him. Yawning, he arches his back and stretches against a rough floor; his back aches awfully. It doesn’t feel like he had slept for more than ten minutes. But why am I sleeping? Wasn’t I in the class a while ago…then it all flashes across his mind. The poem…the shrill voice…the chair…the run… He gasps and opens his eyes; a sharp pain runs down his back as he bolts up.

“Are you awake?” the booming voice says again. Jong Suk looks up to catch the visage of a lean girl. Her head is tilted slightly to get a proper view at Jong Suk, a strand of stray hair falls over her face, coving her doe eyes. “How are you feeling?” she asks, smiling brilliantly at him.

It takes a while for the words to register in Jong Suk’s mind, and when they do, he gives her a slight nod to confirm he is alright.

“I got worried when you suddenly ran out like that,” she invites herself to sit next to him on the bench. Jong Suk squirms away very slightly when her shoulder brushes against his. He wants to avoid anything that would cause those ‘attacks’ to invade him again. “Oh by the way,” she extends a hand at him “I am Kim Hyoyeon,” her eyes close halfway under a wide smile.

Will it be safe? Jong Suk wonders looking at the gentle looking hand. He hadn’t held hands with anyone except his aunt and from experience he knows the effect of people’s touch on him does not result anything good. He can’t afford to let the same thing repeat all over again. He smiles at her and bows, “I am Lee Jong Suk,” he says, hoping that she would have gotten the message and withdrawn her hand away. But to his surprise, the moment he stretches up, she snatches his hand in hers and gives it a good shake. Jong Suk’s eyes widen at the sudden action. His heart thumps heavy than usual. He holds his breath and waits for what comes next, but luckily it doesn’t come. Strange…He stares at the hand still being shaken by the unusually energetic girl.

“So, are you feeling better now?” she asks again. Pulling away from his hand, she ruffles through a grocery bag sitting on the bench next to her.

“Ah, yes…I’m alright now. Thanks for asking,”

“Here,” Jong Suk stares at the carton of milk and the bun in her hand “It’s nearly the end of lunch time now. I looked for you everywhere but couldn’t find. Thought you’d be here,” she forces it into his hands and stands up. “Eat this and come back to class when you are finished. I’ll leave you to rest for bit longer,” she grins again before turning on her heels and disappearing behind the door.

That was weird…he thinks eyeing at the food in his hand as if inspecting a suspicious parcel. She hadn’t poisoned it right? He sees no reason for anyone wanting to kill him. May be I should pay her for this, he notes in his head when he remembers his lunch money.

He wonders if he should get back to class…of course he should, but Seung Hyun would be there, right next to his seat. Will he try anything funny again? Perhaps he himself is being bit too over reactive, he concludes. It is normal for people to be that close…being that close doesn’t meant he is going to hurt me…but it can’t be helped…my body reacts automatically. How am I going to get use to this? He brings his hand up and holds it in front of his face. Hyoyeon shook my hand and it didn’t cause me an attack…

“Babe…there you are!” that familiar shrill voice echoes over to him from the other end of the rooftop. The owner of that voice steps closer to Jong Suk; he feels his heart losing its rhythm again. No, please not again…I have to get out of here! He jerks to his feet and hurries toward the door. Just few more long strides and he will be out of here, away from Seung Hyun’s eerier voice and ghostly touches. But a tight grip on his wrist stops him from going any further.

“Not so fast babe,” he chuckles, his voice starting to sound muffled. Jong Suk feels the heaviness invading him again; it snakes around his whole body, weighing him down until he can’t move a single muscle. It hits him faster this time as if his body is already stimulated to the assaulting touches.

“Why such beauties always try to escape from me..?” Seung Hyun’s fingers starts to slide down Jong Suk’s jawline, it slithers up and brushes across his lips. He says something else, but Jong Suk can no longer hear anything. The jumbled up noises become tunnelled and his vision fogs up. I have to breathe…breathe! But the air doesn’t move to his lungs. He has no control over his body.

“—Seung…Hyun” Jong Suk hears a familiar voice scream. He doesn’t know what is happening, but he can hear screams that sneaks into his ears once in a while. But the heaves of breaths he tries to pull in dominates over the ruckus.

Jong Suk gasps when that same sense of serenity overcomes his paralysed self. Familiar warmth spreads down to his last limb, pulling him out of that tunnelled up world.

He opens his heavy eyes gradually to find a familiar death glare right in front of him.

“W—Woo…Bin…?”

Jong Suk has never been so happy to see those predator eyes before. He sees no sign of Seung Hyun anymore and a sigh of relief leaves his mouth inevitably.

“Thanks,” Jong Suk utters smiling at Woo Bin.

“Out of my way!” the dinosaur boy groans, smacking Jong Suk on the shoulders as he walks past him, heading toward the bench at the end of the rooftop.

Did he really help me…? Or was I just imaging things?

***

“Oh, Seung-ah….you came,” a gruff voice escapes from the corner of the dark room. Seung Hyun feels his heart thumb unusually fast. He knew why he had been summoned here, but he doesn’t want to let him notice that.

“Yes, hyung-nim,” he keeps his voice as firm as he can. A single mistake can get him into deep hell. But how long can he pretend to ignore the topic…he doesn’t really know, still he has to at least give it a go. Perhaps if he brings out something else…something that would grab his hyung-nim’s attention strongly; is there anything like that? Ah, right…maybe about Kwon Yuri?

“I hear an interesting beauty has landed into our school,” the gruff voice speaks first. Is it too late? Seung Hyun wonders listening to the fire cracking in the barrel not too far from his reach. It is starting to irritate him how that squealing sound of stone on metal scrapes down to his bones, making the hair at the back of his neck stand up. He clenches his teeth.

He takes a moment to pretend to be thinking, then claps his hands and grins; “Kwon Yuri?” he doesn’t wait for an answer “Of course she is a beauty. And she is no longer that jerk’s girlfriend, they broke up long ago. Should I bring her t—”

“You know damn well who I am talking about,” his voice snaps “And it’s certainly not that !”

Seung Hyun stiffens at the last sentence. He sure knows who he is talking about. How come the news travels so fast? He tries to keep a poker face. He wonders if he can hide it properly. Acting has been his strong point, but that was two years ago.

“I’ll have to see it for myself it seems,” he says again, lowering the objects in his hands. Seung Hyun releases his gritted teeth when the scraping squeal has disappeared. Something flashes in the evening sunlight, then disappears into his denim trousers’ deep pocket.

He heightens to his full length, drops a heavy stone into one of his underlines gasp and slides his strong arms into a leather jacket. “I’ll go.”

A bolt of raw adrenaline shoots through Seung Hyun’s veins. He clenches his fists behind his back and bows very slightly.

AN: Soooo...what did you guys think? I don't know how this will go, but I'm excited to keep this story going! Helpful criticism is very welcome ^.^ Let me know what you thought...